Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints — September

The unabridged September volume of Alban Butler’s Lives, from the P. J. Kenedy 1903 reprint of the twelve-volume edition. Public domain.

SEPTEMBER 1 — ST. GILES, ABBOT

The Life of St. Giles was compiled by one who collected whatever memorials he could amass together without discernment, and who confounded the saint with the abbot of Arles of the same name. See Mabillon, Annal. Ben. t. 3, p. 433, et. Sæc. 3, Bened. in Proleg. And especially the learned dissertation and remarks of Stilting the Bollandist, Sept t. 1, p. 284. Also the Maurist monks, Hist. Littér. de la France, t. 10, p. 60.

About the End of the Seventh Century

THIS saint, whose name has been held in great veneration for several ages in France and England, is said to have been an Athenian by birth, and of noble extraction. His extraordinary piety and learning drew the admiration of the world upon him in such a manner, that it was impossible for him to enjoy in his own country that obscurity and retirement which was the chief object of his desires on earth; and he dreaded the sunshine of temporal prosperity and the applause of men, as fraught with dangerous poison, which easily insinuates itself into the heart. Therefore, leaving his own country, he sailed to France, and chose a hermitage first in the open deserts near the mouth of the Rhone, afterward nigh the river Gard, and lastly, in a forest in the diocess of Nismes. He passed many years in this close solitude, using no other subsistence than wild herbs or roots, and water, conversing only with God, and living rather like an angel than a man; so perfectly was he disengaged from earthly cares, and with so great purity of affections, with such constancy and ardor was his soul employed in the exercises of heavenly contemplation. His historian relates, that he was for some time nourished with the milk of a hind in the forest, and that a certain prince discovered him in hunting in those woods, by pursuing the chase of that hind to his hermitage, where the beast had sought for shelter at his feet. The reputation of the sanctity of this holy hermit was much increased by many miracles which he wrought, and which rendered his name famous throughout all France. Some, by mistake, have confounded this saint with one Giles, whom St. Cæsarius made abbot of a monastery near the walls of Arles, and whom he sent to Rome with his secretary Messianus in 514, to pope Symma chus, to obtain of him a confirmation of the privileges of the metropolitical church of Arles. But the Bollandists prove very well, in a long and learned dissertation, that the great St. Giles lived only in the end of the seventh, and beginning of the eighth century, not in the sixth; and that the French were at that time masters of the country about Nismes. Messianus and Stephen, in the second book of the life of St. Cæsarius, inform us, that the French took Arles in 541, the year before the death of St. Cæsarius; after which the Goths yielded up to them that whole province. St. Giles was highly esteemed by the French king; but could not be prevailed upon to forsake his solitude. He, however, admitted several disciples, and settled excellent discipline in the monastery of which he was the founder, and which, in succeeding ages, became a flourishing abbey of the Benedictin Order, though it has been long since converted into a collegiate church of canons. A considerable town was built about it, called St. Giles’s, which was famous in the wars of the Albigenses. This saint is commemorated in the Martyrologies of Bede, Ado, and others; and is the patron of many churches in France, Germany, Poland, &c.

Entire constant solitude, is a state which few are able to bear with unabated fervor in the uninterrupted exercises of arduous penance and contemplation. A man in solitude, whom sloth often warps, or whose conversation is not always with God and his holy angels, is his own most dangerous tempter and worst company. Aristotle having defined man a social creature,* or one born for society, added, that he who lives alone must either be a god or a beast. But that philosopher was unacquainted with the happiness of religious contemplation. The ancient Christian proverb is more exact, that he who lives always alone is either an angel or a devil. This state therefore is not without snares and dangers; nor does a hermitage necessarily make a saint. But when a person, by an extraordinary call, embraces it with fervor, and strenuously applies himself to all the exercises of holy retirement and penance, such a one being disengaged in his affections from all earthly ties, exchanges the society of a vain and sinful world for that of God and holy spirits, and the contagious commerce of foolish toys for the uninterrupted glorious employment of the angels, and has certainly attained the highest degree of happiness under heaven; this state is its novitiate, and in some degree an anticipation of its eternal sweet and noble employ. He who accompanies these most fervent exercises of contemplation and divine love with zealous and undaunted endeavors to conduct others to the same glorious term with himself, shall be truly great in the kingdom of heaven.1

SEPTEMBER 1 — TWELVE BROTHERS, MARTYRS

Felix, Donatus, Arontius, Honoratus, Fortunatus, Sabinianus, Septimius, Januarius, Felix, Vitalis, Satyrus, and Repositus, were natives of Adrumetum in Africa, and after suffering grievous torments for the faith in that city, were sent into Italy, where they finished their glorious martyrdom at Benevento, in the persecution of Valerian in 258, or according to others in that of Dioclesian. See Baronius Annot. in Martyr, Rom. and Georgi Annot. in Adonis Martyrol.

SEPTEMBER 1 — ST. LUPUS, OR LEU, ARCHBISHOP OF SENS, C

He was a saint from the cradle, and brought up in the sanctuary, like another Samuel, in learning and piety among the clergy of Orleans, his native city. It was always a favorite devotion with him to visit often the tombs of the martyrs, honoring God in his faithful servants who had glorified his divine name by the sacrifice of their lives. Studying to walk in their spirit, he subdued his flesh by austere fasts, watching in holy prayer, humiliations, and penance. Being extremely sensible of the sufferings and necessities of all that were in distress, he carried his hospitality and charity to a degree, which on any other occasion would have been esteemed profusion. Having succeeded Artemius in the archbishopric of Sens in 609, he signalized himself by the most zealous discharge of every branch of the pastoral duty, and showed that as no dignity could inspire him with pride, so no application to public employments could divert him from constant attention to God. When the safety of his country demanded his assistance, he was active in maintaining the public tranquility; and after the death of king Theodoric, he supported the party of his son Sigebert, to the utmost of his power. Afterward when king Clotaire was become master of Burgundy, he sent Farulph thither to take care of his affairs. This minister was exasperated against the saint because he did not bring him presents; accused him falsely to the king, and was seconded in his calumnies by Medigisil, abbot of St. Remegius’s in the suburbs of the Sens, whose aim it was to supplant St. Lupus in his archbishopric.

Clotaire had not yet learned how dangerous a thing it is in a prince to listen to, or encourage informers, those caterpillars of the state; and, being seduced by the artifices of flattering slanderers, banished St. Lupus, and gave orders to Landegesil, a pagan officer, to conduct him to Ausene, a village in Vimeu, not far from Lyons. The holy bishop being come thither, and finding profane temples in which the people of the country worshipped false gods, believed he was sent by God for their conversion, which he soon compassed by his zealous preaching and example. By restoring sight to a blind man he converted Landegesil, the duke or governor, and baptized him with several that were still pagans, in the armies of the Franks. In the mean time St. Vinebaud, abbot of St. Lupus at Troyes, and the citizens of Sens, solicited king Clotaire to recall St. Lupus. That prince, who was then near Rouen, was made sensible of the injury he had done the holy man, and of the slanders of his accusers. He therefore disgraced and detested them, sent for St. Lupus, prostrated himself at his feet to ask him forgiveness, caused him to eat at his table, and sent him back to his church loaded with presents. The saint never showed the least resentment against his enemies, sought no other revenge than by conferring the greatest benefits on his calumniators, and by the evenness of temper with which he bore his disgrace, gave the highest mark of true heroism and sincere virtue. He died happily about the year 623, on the 1st of September, at the manor of Brinon, which still belongs to his church. His body was carried back to Sens, and buried as he had ordered, out of humility, under the water-conduit pipe in the church of St. Columba. His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology, and in those of Ado and Usuard. See his life written soon after his death in Surius, and F. Velde the Bollandist, t. 1, Sept. p. 248. See also Cointe’s Annales Eccl. Franc. An. 613, n. 4, Fleury,1. 37, n. 16, t. 4. Rivet, Hist. Littér. t. 4, p. 192.

SEPTEMBER 1 — ST. FIRMINUS, II. B. C

He was the third bishop of Amiens. His father Faustinian, prefect of Gaul, who had been baptized by St. Firmin the martyr (whose life see on the 25th of September), in his honor gave him his name. Eulogius, the second bishop of Amiens, who had assisted at the council of Cologne in 346, and at that of Sardica in 347, being dead, St. Firmin II. was placed in that see, which he administered with great zeal and sanctity during forty years. He was buried in the church of our Lady, now called of St. Acheul, a martyr of that country, which he had built; from which St. Salvius in the seventh age translated it into the cathedral on the 2nd of January. The dispute concerning them, raised by the regular canons of St. Acheul, was determined in favor of the secular canons of the cathedral by the opening of his shrine in 1715. See Gallia Christ. Gova, t. 10, p. 1152.

SEPTEMBER 2 — SAINT STEPHEN, KING OF HUNGARY, C

From his life written by Chartuiz and from the historians Bonfinius, in Hist. Hungar.1. 1. Hermanus Contractus, &c. See also Czuittinger, Specimen Hungariæ Litteratæ, p. 1, t. 1. The Elzivirian edit. of Resp. et Status Hungariæ, p. 117, 154. Antonius Pagi in Baron. and Gabriel de juxta Hornad, L. de Initiis Religionis Christianæ Inter Hungaros. Francofur. 1740.

A. D. 1038.

GEYSA, the fourth duke of the Hungarians,* by conversing with certain Christian captives, and afterward certain holy missionaries, as Piligrinus, bishop of Passaw, St. Wolfgand, bishop of Ratisbon, &c., or their disciples, became infinitely delighted with the sanctity of the maxims of our holy faith, and was convinced of its divine truth and original by the motives and arguments which are, as it were, the stamp which God has put upon his revelation in order to confirm it to us. And though he had reason to fear great disturbances from the ferocity of his people upon a change of religion, he despised such dangers, and was baptized together with his wife Sarloth, and several of his officers and courtiers. Sarloth was so penetrated with the wonderful mysteries of religion, and so strongly affected with the great ideas of eternity, that she walked in the paths of heroic perfection with a fervor not inferior to that of the saints. Being some time after with child, she was assured by St. Stephen, the protomartyr, in a dream, that she bore in her womb a son who should complete the work she and her husband had begun, and abolish idolatry in that nation. The child was born in 977 at Gran, the ancient Strigonium, at that time the metropolis of the country, and on account of the abovementioned vision was christened Stephen. St. Adalbert, bishop of Prague, who for some time preached the gospel to the Hungarians, and, according to the German historians, baptized St. Stephen, had certainly no small share in the honor of his education, and Theodatus, an Italian count of singular piety, was his tutor; these two holy persons by their example and instructions were, under God, the great instruments of his future sanctity. Geysa died in 997, and Stephen, who had been chosen waywode, that is, leader of the army or duke, some time before, then took the reins of the government into his hands.

His first care was to settle a firm peace with all the neighboring nations. This being done, he turned his thoughts wholly to root out idolatry, and as much as in him lay to make Christ reign in the hearts of all his subjects. Performing himself the part of a missionary, he often accompanied the preachers, and pathetically exhorted his people to open their eyes to the divine truth. Many, however, were so obstinately attached to the superstitions of their ancestors as to take up arms in defence of idolatry: and having at their head a count of great interest and valor named Zegzard, with a numerous army, they laid siege to Vesprin. St. Stephen placed his confidence in the Lord of Hosts, and prepared himself for the engagement by fasting, alms-deeds, and prayer, invoking particularly the intercession of St. Martin and St. George. Though inferior to the rebels in the number of his forces, by the divine assistance, he gave them a total overthrow, and slew their leader. To give to God the entire glory of this victory, he built near the place where the battle was fought, a great monastery in honor of St. Martin called the holy hill; and besides estates in land he bestowed on it one-third part of the spoils. It is immediately subject to the holy see, and is called in Hungary the Archabbacy. St. Stephen having quelled the rebels found himself at liberty to prosecute his design; which he did by inviting into his dominions many holy priests and religious men, who, by their exemplary lives and zealous preaching, sowed the seed of faith, civilized that savage nation by the precepts of the gospel, built churches and monasteries, and some of them obtained the crown of martyrdom.

The zealous prince founded the archbishopric of Gran or Strigonium, and ten bishoprics, and sent Astricus or Anastasius, the new elected bishop of Coloctz, to Rome, to obtain of Pope Sylvester II. the confirmation of these foundations and of many other things which he had done for the honor of God and the exaltation of his holy Church, and, at the same time, to beseech his holiness to confer upon him the title of king, which his subjects had long pressed him to assume, and which he now only asked to satisfy their desires, and that he might with more majesty and authority accomplish his great designs for promoting the glory of God, and the good of his people. Miceslas, duke of Poland, upon marrying a Christian princess, the daughter of Boleslas duke of Bohemia, had embraced the faith in 965. About thirty-four years after this, he sent an embassy to Rome to obtain the title of king confirmed to him by the authority of the apostolic see. Sylvester II. who was then pope, was disposed to grant his request, and prepared a rich crown to send him with his blessing.* But the extraordinary zeal piety, and wisdom of St. Stephen deserving the preference, his holiness delivered this crown for him to his ambassador Astric, together with the present of a cross, granting, by a special privilege, that it should be carried before him in his armies. At the same time he, by a bull, confirmed all the religious foundations which our holy prince had made, and the elections of the bishops. St. Stephen went to meet his ambassador upon his return, listened standing, with great respect, to the pope’s bulls whilst they were read, and fell on his knees as often as the name of his holiness was repeated. To express his profound sense of religion, and to inspire all his subjects with a holy awe for whatever belonged to the divine worship, he treated the pastors of the Church with honor and respect. The same prelate who had brought the crown from Rome, anointed and crowned him king with great solemnity and pomp in the year 1000.†

The good prince, by a public act, and with extraordinary devotion, declared that he put all his dominions under the special patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and never ceased most earnestly offering his daily prayers to implore her powerful intercession for obtaining the divine blessing upon all his subjects. Whence, in many medals and coins of this kingdom, she is styled patroness of Hungary. It is incredible with what ardor the king exhorted his people, especially his domestics, to the practice of all virtues. With a view to propagate on earth the divine honor and praise beyond his own life, and to the end of time, he filled Hungary with pious foundations. At Alba he built a stately church in honor of the Mother of God, in which the kings of Hungary were afterward both crowned and buried. This city St. Stephen made his usual residence, whence it is called Royal Alba, to distinguish it from Alba Julia or Weissemberg in Transylvania. He founded, in old Buda, the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul and in Rome on mount Cœlio the church of St. Stephen, with a college of twelve priests; also an inn and hospital on the Vatican-hill for the entertainment of Hungarian pilgrims; and he built a church at Jerusalem; not to mention the magnificent monastery of St. Bennet, and many other churches in Hungary. Throughout all his dominions he commanded tithes to be paid to the churches, though these are redeemed to this day in many places by the noblemen for a certain sum of money.

St. Stephen, who would seek no alliance but by which piety might be strengthened in his realm and family, took to wife Gisela, sister to St. Henry, king of Germany, who was shortly after crowned emperor; and that holy prince admirably seconded and assisted our saint in all his pious designs. St. Stephen abolished many barbarous and superstitious customs derived from the ancient Scythians, and by severe punishments repressed blasphemy, murder, theft, adultery, and other public crimes. To put a stop to incontinence and idolatry he commanded all persons to marry except religious and churchmen, and forbade all marriages of Christians with idolaters. He was of most easy access to people of all ranks, and listened to every one’s complaints without distinction or preference, except that he appeared most willing to hear the poor, knowing them to be more easily oppressed, and considering that in them we honor Christ, who being no longer among men on earth in his mortal state to receive from us any corporal services, has substituted and recommended to us the poor in his place and right. The good king provided for their subsistence throughout his whole kingdom, and took them, especially the helpless orphans and widows, under his special protection declaring himself their patron and father. Not content with his genera charities and care for all the indigent, he frequently went privately about to discover more freely the necessities of any that might be overlooked by his officers. One day it happened, that, whilst he was dealing about his plentiful alms in disguise, a troop of beggars set upon him, threw him down, beat him, plucked him by the beard and hair, and took away his purse, seizing for themselves what he intended for the relief of many others. The king esteemed himself happy to suffer in the service of his Redeemer, and addressed himself in these words to the Blessed Virgin; “See, O queen of heaven, in what manner I am requited by those that belong to your Son, my Divine Saviour. As they are his friends, I receive with joy this treatment from their hands.” He learned, however, from this accident no more to expose his person, but he renewed his resolution never to refuse an alms to any poor person that asked him. His nobles rallied him on this occasion; but he rejoiced in all humiliations, and God was pleased to testify how agreeable his sincere and heroic piety was, by conferring on him many extraordinary graces; with the gifts of prophecy and many miraculous cures.

How difficult soever it may seem to practise extraordinary severities and humiliations in the midst of a court, and surrounded by the most flattering objects of softness and pride, where such gospel maxims are seldom heard, yet the extraordinary fervor of our saint found means for the exercise of both. He desired to serve and wash the feet of poor men in public; but the fear of giving offence to his subjects, whose minds were not yet framed to imbibe such ideas of a prince’s humility, made him only do it privately. He lost no part of his time in vain amusements or idle company; but divided himself between the duties of religion, and those of his station. To the former, he regularly allotted many hours every day; and the latter, he sanctified by religious motives, and by the constant recollection of his soul. Thus, if he was not able always to praise God with his tongue, he did it without intermission by his life, all his actions being directed to the same point of God’s holy will and greatest glory. His charitable and zealous application to all external duties of life, and to the government of his kingdom; his alms-deeds, mildness, temperance, patience, and other virtues, succeeding one another in their victories and repeated heroic acts, sanctified his whole life, and made it, as it were, one uninterrupted sacrifice to God. The least faults of frailty and inadvertence by which its perfection might be impaired, he labored to expiate by daily penance and tears. The shining example of his virtue was a continual most powerful sermon to those who conversed with him. His happy influence over his children was most sensible in the virtuous courses they pursued. St. Emeric, his eldest son, walked in his steps with so much fervor as to be in his youth the admiration of Christendom. Rising always at midnight he recited matins privately on his knees, pausing a little in devout meditation at the close of every psalm. Many wonderful things are related of his virtues and miracles; to comprise his character in one word, nothing could be more amiable, more pious, or more accomplished, than this young prince. His father trained him up not only in the perfect practice of the most heroic piety, but also formed him in the art of government.

St. Stephen’s excellent code of laws, to this day the basis of the laws of Hungary, are inscribed to his son duke Emeric. In fifty-five chapters the pious legislator has comprised the wisest and most holy regulations of the state. He pathetically exhorts his son to sincere humility (which he calls the sole exaltation of a king), to patience, meekness, assiduous and devout prayer, charity, compassion for the poor, the protection of all that are in distress, &c. He forbids, on pain of severe punishments, all grievous public crimes, especially of impiety and irreligion, as a violation of the Sunday or a fast-day, talking in the church, a culpable neglect to call in the priests to assist dying persons, &c. He commands the most religious respect to be paid to all holy things, and to the clergy.1 These wholesome laws he caused to be promulgated throughout his dominions, and had them always most strictly observed; as on the exact execution of the laws the tranquillity of the state depends.

The protection of his people engaged him sometimes in war, wherein he was always victorious. The prince of Transylvania, his cousin, invader his dominions; St. Stephen defeated him in battle, and made him prisoner; yet gave him his liberty, and restored him his dominions, requiring of him this only condition, that the gospel should be allowed to be freely preacher in them. The saint was never the aggressor in any war; that with the Bulgarians was obstinate; but they were at length overcome, and obliged to receive the laws which he prescribed them. There is no saint whose virtue is not exercised by tribulation. Sickness deprived St. Stephen of all his children. St. Emeric the eldest was carried off the last. He had then begun to sustain a great part of the burden of the state, and to be both a comfort and assistance to his father. The interest of the state, and that of the infant Church of his kingdom, conspired with nature to make this stroke more severe; but the good king bore the loss with entire resignation, adoring in it the holy will of God. St. Emeric was canonized by Benedict IX. and is honored among the saints on the 4th of November. This affliction weaned the king’s heart more and more from the world, and he desired, if it had been possible, to reserve to the care of his own soul the remaining part of his life, that being freed from all worldly concerns, he might be preparing for his last passage. But, as the affairs of both the Church and State did not allow this, he continued to endure the toil of business, knowing that he was accountable to God for the least neglect or omission in the particular duties of his station towards his Creator, his subjects, or himself. He endeavored, however, to redouble his fervor in all his religious exercises, and applied himself particularly to those which are more immediately preparatory for a happy death, to which he principally directed his devotions and charities.

Though brave and expert in war, he had always been a lover of peace; but, from this time, he took a resolution to spill no blood in war, in which he earnestly begged the interposition of Divine Providence, which did not fail him. For to hostilities he, after this, opposed no other arms than fasting, prayers, and tears, and by them alone was ever victorious. The Bessi, a fierce nation of Bulgarians, the most implacable enemies of the Hungarians, made a furious irruption into his territories; but, moved with veneration for the sanctity of the holy king, they on a sudden repented of their enterprise, begged, and easily obtained, his friendship, and returned peaceably home. St. Stephen, by an act of justice, caused some of his own subjects to be hanged on his frontiers, for having plundered them in their retreat. After the death of our saint’s good friend St. Henry, the emperor, his successor Conrad II. invaded Hungary with a powerful army in 1030, and advanced so far, that St. Stephen was compelled to lead out his army against him, though still trusting in God that the effusion of blood would be prevented. All things seemed to be disposed for a decisive battle, when St. Stephen again recommended himself and his earnest desire of peace to the Blessed Virgin; and to the surprise of all men, the emperor on a sudden turned his back with his army, and without having executed anything, marched home into Germany with as great precipitation as if he had been defeated.

St. Stephen labored three years under a complication of painful distempers. During this time four palatins, exasperated at the strict execution of justice which he caused to be observed, entered into a conspiracy to take away his life. One of them got into the king’s chamber in the night with a dagger under his cloak; but let it fall in a fright upon hearing the king ask, who was there. Seeing himself discovered, he threw himself at the feet of his sovereign, and obtained his pardon; but his accomplices were executed. The saint perceiving that his last hour drew near, assembled his nobles, and recommended to them the choice of a successor, obedience to the holy see, and the practice of Christian piety. He then again commended his kingdom to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, and after having received the sacraments of penance, the viaticum, and extreme-unction, happily expired on the feast of the Assumption of our Lady, the 15th of August, in 1038, being threescore years old, of which he had reigned forty-one from the death of his father, and thirty-eight from the time he had been crowned king. His sacred remains were honored with miracles, and forty-five years after his death, by an order of the pope at the request of the holy king St. Ladislas, were enshrined and placed in a rich chapel which bears his name within the great church of our Lady at Buda. He was canonized by Benedict IX. in the manner described by Benedict XIV.2 Innocent XI. appointed his festival on the 2d of September, in 1686, with an office for the whole Church, the emperor Leopold having on that day recovered Buda out of the hands of the Turks, after many signal victories over those infidels. In Hungary, his chief festival is kept on the 20th of August, the day of the translation of his relics.

Virtue is the most excellent dignity, and the only good of rational beings, as St. Austin observes.3 Genius, learning, power, riches, and whatever else a man enjoys, are only good when made subservient to virtue. Hence the ancient Stoics called such external goods conveniences, not good things, because, said they, virtue alone deserves the name of good.4 This is our glory, our riches, and our happiness in time and eternity. To acquire and continually improve in ourselves this inestimable treasure is the great business of our lives. Yet how careless are the generality of mankind in this particular! Many spare no pains to cultivate their minds with science, or to excel in accomplishments of the body, and in every qualification for the world, yet neglect to reform and regulate their heart. Half that attention which they give to their body or studies, would make them perfect in virtue. An hour, or half an hour a day, employed in holy meditation, pious reading, and self-examination, would be of infinite service in this most important and noble study. This would teach us the divine maxims of virtue, inspire us with its sublime sentiments, and instruct us in its exercises; and a constant attention and watchfulness in all our actions would inure us to the practice, and ground us in perfect habits of it. Were we but thus to learn well one virtue every year, we should soon be perfect saints. Holy kings upon the throne never suffered any avocations or business to be an impediment to this earnest application to the science of a Christian. Virtue no sooner gains the empire in the hearts of men but it rules and sanctifies the whole circle of their actions, makes all the employments of their state an uninterrupted exercise of its various acts, and advances daily in fervor and perfection.

SEPTEMBER 2 — ST. JUSTUS, ARCHBISHOP OF LYONS, C

His virtues rendered him so conspicuous whilst he served the church of Vienne in quality of deacon, that he was advanced to the metropolitan see of Lyons about the year 350. In this exalted station he showed by the whole tenor of his conduct that he feared nothing but God, hoped for nothing but from God, and regarded not the applause or presents, but wants of those that approached him. His patience and temper were proof against every trial: the ardor of his zeal made him severe in reproving everything that deserved reproof. His attachment to discipline and good order was inviolable, and his love of peace, concord, and unity, sincere and constant. He was circumspect everywhere, and in all things. A great council of western prelates being assembled at Aquileia, in the reign of Gratian, in 381, Saint Justus of Lyons, with two other bishops from Gaul, assisted at it. The chief affairs there debated, regarded the Arians, and St. Ambrose managed everything in that venerable assembly. That holy bishop had a particular respect for our saint, as appears from two letters which he addressed to him concerning certain questions of the holy scripture.

It happened a little before this council, that at Lyons, a certain madman, who had stabbed some persons in the street, took sanctuary in the great church; and St. Justus, in order to appease the mob, delivered him into the hands of a public officer, upon the promise that the prisoner’s life should be spared. Notwithstanding this he was despatched by the populace. The good bishop was apprehensive that he had been accessary to his death, and was by that irregularity disqualified for the ministry of the altar; and having long desired to serve God in retirement, he made use of this occasion to resign the pastoral charge. The extreme opposition of his flock seemed an impediment to his design. But his journey to the council afforded him a favorable opportunity, and in his return he stole from his friends in the night at Torrente, and bending his course to Marseilles he there took shipping with a lector of his church named Viator, and sailed to Alexandria. Concealing his character he lived unknown in a numerous monastery in Egypt, surpassing the whole community in the fervor of his penance. After some years he happened to be discovered by one who came from Gaul, to visit the monasteries in Egypt. The whole house was much surprised at so extraordinary an example, and the Church of Lyons had no sooner notice, but a priest called Antiochus was sent to conjure him, in the name both of the clergy and people, to return; but he was not to be prevailed upon. Antiochus determined to bear him company in his solitude and penance, and the saint shortly after died in his arms, about the year 390. His body was soon after translated to Lyons. St. Justus is commemorated on this day in the Roman Martyrology, and in those of Bede, Ado, and Usuard. The village of St. Just in Cornwall takes its name from this saint. See his elegant and accurate ancient life, with the notes of Stilting the Bollandist, Sept. t. 1, p. 365. Tillemont, t. 8, 546, Fleury,1. 18, n. 10, Dom. Rivet, Hist. Littér. t. 1, part 2, p. 254. The two brothers of Ste. Marthe, Gallia Christiana Vet. edit. t. 1, p. 293.

SEPTEMBER 2 — SAINT WILLIAM, BISHOP OF ROSCHILD, C

St. William was an English priest of eminent sanctity and zeal, and chaplain to king Canutus. In one of the voyages which that prince made from England to Denmark, the zealous servant of God who attended him, was so moved with compassion at the sight of the ignorance, idolatry, and superstition under which that nation groaned, that he desired to stay behind to preach Christ, and the pure maxims of the gospel.* He gained innumerable souls to God, and was advanced to the episcopal see of Roschild, in the island of Zealand. King Swein contracted an incestuous marriage with a near kinswoman, the daughter of the king of Sweden. The holy pastor endeavored in vain to remove so pernicious a scandal by remonstrances, and at length proceeded to a sentence of excommunication, which severity brought the king to his duty. The same king having once caused some persons to be put to death without a public or legal trial, the saint met him at the church-door the next day, and holding out his pastoral staff, forbade him to enter the house of God till his hands were cleansed from the blood he had unjustly spilt; and seeing some of the courtiers draw their swords, he presented his neck, saying, he was ready to die in the defence of the Church of God. The king who had always the highest veneration for the holy prelate, entered into himself, bitterly bewailed his sin, and after doing penance and making satisfaction, was conducted into the church by the bishop himself. In this example, whilst we commend the pastor’s zeal, to whom nothing was dear on earth besides God’s honor, we ought not to be less edified with the humble dispositions in which the king received correction. From that time the saint and the penitent concurred, with all their strength, in the most perfect union of hearts, to promote the cause of piety and religion. Upon the death of the king his corpse was conveyed to Roschild, the burial-place, and at that time the ordinary residence of the kings of Denmark. St. William is said to have prayed on this occasion that he might not be separated from his friend, and dying at the same time he was interred together with him, and in the same place, in 1067, having passed forty years in Denmark. Baronius in his Annals, and some others, confound him by mistake with St. William, a regular canon of Paris, who was abbot of Eskille in the diocess of Roschild, in the following century, on whom see April 6th, and Hist. Littéraire de la France, t. 9, p. 117. On this holy bishop see Saxo Grammaticus, the learned Danish historian who flourished in the next century. Hist. Daniæ, c. 11, 12. Kransius, Wandaliæ,1. 4, c. 33. Cressy, Ch. Hist. of Brit. b. 34.

SEPTEMBER 2 — B. MARGARET, V. M. AT LOUVAIN, IN BRABANT

She was martyred on the banks of the Dyle or Deel, by certain ruffians, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, because she would not consent to sin; for St. Thomas teaches1 that all Christian virtues, being protestations of our faith, and proofs of our fidelity to God, they are a true motive of martyrdom. She was buried first on the bank of the river where she suffered, and was honored with miracles. Her body was soon after translated to the church-yard of the collegiate church of Saint Peter, in Louvain, and deposited in a chapel contiguous to it, built on purpose, first of wood, since of stone, which, by piercing the wall, is now united to that church. Her immemorial veneration at Louvain, and the exposition of her relics in this chapel, and distributions of the same, approved by the archbishops of Mechlin, are proofs of her rank in the Belgic Martyrologies. See an account of her martyrdom in Cæsarius, the Cistercian monk of the same age at Heisterbac, near Bonne, Dia1.1. 6, c. 34. Another life, published with notes by Stilting, t. 1, Sept. p. 592; Molanus, &c. She lived in the time of Henry I. duke of Brabant, who died near Cologne, in 1235, and was buried in the chancel of St. Peter’s church at Louvain.

SEPTEMBER 3 — SAINT SIMEON STYLITES, THE YOUNGER

From Evagrius, Hist.1. 5, c. 21, p. 448, and1. 6, c. 23, p. 471, with the notes of Reading and W. Lowth, Ibid. Cambridge, 1720. Jos. Assemani, Comm. in Cal. Univ. Also Janning, t. 5, Maij, p. 298.

A. D. 592.

THIS saint was born at Antioch in 512, and retired, when yet a child, into the monastery of Thaumastore, or the Admirable Mountain, situated in the deserts of Syria, near Antioch. For several years he served a holy hermit who was a monk of the same place, and lived not far from the community upon a pillar. Simeon labored with his whole strength to be a faithful imitator of all his virtues. Meeting one day with a young leopard, and not knowing what it was, he put a rope about its neck, and thus brought it to his master, saying he had found a cat. The good hermit, seeing the furious beast tamely obeying a child, began to conceive greater thoughts of him; and not long after, in 526, having had sufficient experience of his fervor, ordered him to make a pillar, and to live upon it. The youth obeyed, as if it had been the voice of God, and lived successively upon two pillars, within the inclosure of the monastery, threescore and eight years, in great austerity, and in the exercises of assiduous contemplation. God manifested his sanctity by a great number of miracles, which he performed chiefly in curing the sick, foretelling things to come, and knowing the most secret thoughts of others. Evagrius, the historian, was an eye-witness to many, and assures us that he had experienced his knowledge of the thoughts of others in himself, when he visited him for spiritual advice.* A great concourse of people of all nations, as well Romans as Barbarians, resorted to this eminent servant of God, who was honored by the whole world, particularly by the emperor Mauritius. When the Samaritans effaced the holy images that were in the churches, St. Simeon wrote to the emperor Justin in defence of the respect which is due to them. This letter is quoted by St. John Damascen, and by the second council of Nice. The saint fell ill about the year 592, and Gregory, the patriarch of Antioch, being informed that he was at the point of death, went in all haste to assist at his last moments; but, before he arrived, St. Simeon was departed to the Lord. He is honored by the Greeks on the 24th of May, and by the Latins on the 3d of September.

The fervor of the saints in bewailing their sins, in singing the divine praises, and in sighing after the glorious society of the heavenly spirits, made them seem to forget all concerns of the world. In these heavenly exercises they found the greatest delights and the most holy and pure joy The great St. Antony having spent the whole night in prayer, when the morning called him to other duties, was heard to lament that the rising sun interrupted the sweet entertainment of his soul with God: though, by recollection and frequent aspirations at his manual labor and other employments. he in some measure continued his prayer the whole day. What a reproach is the holy ardor of the saints to our sloth, delicacy, and self-love! How loudly does the pillar of St. Simeon condemn our indolence! Nature, it is true, is weak, and stands in need of some relief; but if a lazy, unwilling mind is to be judge of its want of strength, the judgment will be partial in favor of our passions.

This holy pastor, who was a native of Aquitain, leaving the court of king Clotaire, passed some time in the study of the holy scriptures under St. Sulpitius of Bourges, and was appointed by St. Eligius first abbot of the monastery and seminary which he founded at Solignac, two leagues from Limoges, in the year 631. Our saint was afterward obliged to take upon him the government of the abbey of Cougnon, in the duchy of Luxembourg, but was soon after called to the court of king Sigebert, who, in 645, had succeeded his father, Dagobert I. in Austrasia, leaving all the rest of France to his younger brother, Clovis II. Both these brothers were religious, and their reigns peaceable. Sigebert made use of the advice of St. Remaclus in founding the royal abbey of Stabuletum, now called Stavelo, in the Ardennes, in the bishopric of Maestricht and duchy of Limburg. The same prince founded the abbey of Malmandurium, now called Malmedi, also in the forest of Ardenne. The direction of both these foundations was committed to St. Remaclus, till, upon the resignation of St. Amand, in 650, he was chosen bishop of Maestricht,1 in which charge he labored with great humility and zeal in preaching to his flock, and relieving the poor. Sighing under the weight of exterior employs, and fearing he should, amidst them, forget himself, he procured the consent of his clergy and of king Childeric II. to resign his see to St. Theodord, and to retire to Stavelo, which design he carried into execution in 662. The reputation of his sanctity moved many noblemen and others to embrace a penitential monastic state under his direction in that house. Remaclus walked before them in the narrow paths of true Christian perfection, encouraging them, both by words and example, to fervor in all religious exercises. He remitted nothing in his austerities on account of his old age, but rather strove continually to redouble his pace as he drew nearer to the end of his course, lest, by sloth in the end, he should forfeit his crown. In his last moments he strongly exhorted his religious brethren to the love and practice of perfect self-denial, obedience, holy poverty, patience in painful employments and labors, assiduity in holy meditation and prayer, the most profound humility, and constant peace and union. He died about the year 664, and was buried at Stavelo. His body is still preserved there, and the church, when rebuilt by St. Poppo in 1040, was dedicated to God under the patronage of Saint Remaclus. One arm was given to the abbey of Solignac, in 1268; and some small portions of his relics to the churches of Paderborn and Bamberg. See his life, compiled by a monk of Stavelo, about the year 850, extant in Mabillon (Act. Bened. p. 494.) A second life, written in the following century by Heriger, abbot of Laubs; and The Triumph of Saint Remaclus, in two books, compiled by Geoffrey, prior of Stavelo, in 1070, with an account of many miracles; also a MS. life of this saint, written by Thietmar, abbot of Gemblours, in 1100. See likewise Le Cointe, Annales Eccl. Franc. ad ann. 662, Miræus, Fleury,1. 38, n. 58

SEPTEMBER 3 — ST. MANSUET, FIRST BISHOP OF TOUL, IN LORRAIN AND APOSTLE OF THAT PART OF THE ANCIENT BELGIC GAUL

Some have thought him a disciple of St. Peter, the apostle: but Limpen, the Bollandist, shows that he could not have founded this church before the reign of Constantine, and that he flourished in his and his son’s time, and died about the year 375, as appears from the catalogue of his successors in that see. St. Gerard, bishop of Toul in 971, made a solemn translation of his relics, repaired his church, and founded under his patronage the rich monastery which bears his name. See Martenne, t. 3, Anecdot. Col. 1024, et Collectionis, t. 6, p. 637. Calmet, Hist. de Lorraine. Mabillon, Annal. t. 4,1. 56 and 57. The Bollandists, t. 1, Sept. p. 636.

SEPTEMBER 3 — ST. MACNISIUS FIRST BISHOP OF CONNER IN IRELAND*

According to Colgan, he was a disciple of St. Olcan, who was disciple of St. Patrick, and died on the 3d of November, 513. But, in the annals of Tigernach, and in the ancient scholiast of the Ængusian Martyrology, he is mentioned under the 3d of September. The annals of Innisfallen place his death in 506. See Colgan, Act. Sanct. p. 375; and Ware, p. 217; also Welde the Bollandist, t. 1, Sept. p. 663. St. Macnisius has a proper mass among those approved for Ireland by Clement XII., printed at Paris in 1734.

SEPTEMBER 4 — SS. MARCELLUS AND VALERIAN, MARTYRS

From St. Gregory of Tours,1. De Glor. Mart. c. 54, and the Acts of their Martyrdom, Inserted in the Chronicle of Tournus, compiled by Falco, monk of that place, in the eleventh age, published by F. Peter Fr. Chifflet, at Dijon, in 1664, in an appendix to his Histoire de Tournus.

A. D. 179.

ANTONINUS PIUS and his adopted son and successor, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, surnamed the Philosopher, were renowned for their wisdom, moderation, and attention to the good of the Roman empire. The latter is no less admirable for the government of himself, if his meditations† are the portraiture of his practice. His virtues and wise administration are represented to advantage by Crevier; but their lustre is not without shades. In the very book of his meditations, where he commends necessary resignation to death, he condemns that of the Christians,1 which he ascribes to mere obstinacy. Their constancy he had experienced, having raised the fifth general persecution of the Church, and published fresh edicts, by which he commanded Christians to be punished with death, as is attested by Saint Melito, quoted by Eusebius.2 After his victory over the Quadi and Marcomanni, in 174 he ordered peace to be restored to the Christians; but did not check the fury of the populace, or of particular governors, who, in several places, often availed themselves of former laws made against them.

The horrible massacre of the martyrs at Lyons and Vienna happened in the year 177. In the former of these cities Marcellus and Valerian withdrew themselves from the tempest by a seasonable flight, and preached the gospel in the neighboring provinces, and were crowned with martyrdom it 179. Marcellus was apprehended in the country near Chalons, and, after enduring many torments in that city was buried alive up to the middle, in which posture he died on the third day, which was the 4th day of September. St. Valerian fell into the hands of the persecutors near Tournus, a town built on the Saone, between Macon and Challons. After suffering the rack and being torn with iron hooks, he was beheaded at Tournus on the 15th of September. The relics of St. Marcellus are honorably kept in the great church which bears his name at Challons, and belongs to a royal monastery, which king Gontran founded in his honor. A church was built at Tournus over the tomb of St. Valerian, before the time of St. Gregory of Tours.3 SS. Marcellus and Valerian are honored as the apostles of that country. The great abbey of St. Valerian at Tournus is the head of a monastic congregation to which it gives its name. It was a small monastery when, in 875, Charles the Bald gave it to the monks of the Isle of Nermoutier, or Ner, or Hero, on the coast of Poitou, who had been expelled by the Normans. They carried with them the relics of St. Filibert, or Filbert, their founder. This abbey was rebuilt in 1018; from which time it took the name of St. Filbert. In the sixteenth age the Huguenots plundered this church, and burnt part of the relics of St. Valerian; but the principal portion escaped their sacrilegious search. The abbey of Tournus was converted into a college of secular canons in 1627; only the dignity of abbot was retained with an extensive jurisdiction and large revenue. It was enjoyed in commendam by cardinal Fleury.

The two holy martyrs, whom we honor on this day, made the whole tenor of their lives a preparation to martyrdom, because they devoted it entirely to God by the constant exercise of all virtues. To be able to stand our ground in the time of trial, and to exercise the necessary acts of virtue in the article of death, we must be thoroughly grounded in strong habits of all virtues; and we shall not otherwise exert them readily on sudden and difficult occasions. He whose soul is well regulated, and in whose heart virtue has taken deep root, finds its practice easy, and, as it were, natural in times of sickness, persecution, or other occasions. Nay, he makes everything that occurs matter of its exercise, subjects to himself even obstacles, and converts them into occasions of exerting the most noble and heroic virtues, such as resignation, patience, charity, and good-will toward those who oppose or persecute him.

SEPTEMBER 4 — THE TRANSLATION OF SAINT CUTHBERT

Bede relates, in the life of St. Cuthbert, that the saint charged his disciples before his death, that rather than ever fall under the yoke of schismatics or infidels, they would, when threatened with such a calamity, take with them his mortal remains, and choose some other dwelling.1 In the year 875 the province of Northumberland was so cruelly infested by Danish pirates, and Lindisfarne was so much exposed to their continual ravages, that Sardulf the bishop, Eadred the abbot, and the community of the monks, left that place, and carrying with them that sacred treasure, wandered to and fro for seven years.2 In 882 they rested with it at Concester, a small town a few miles from the Roman wall, where the bishop’s see continued one hundred and thirteen years, as Camden remarks. Both king Alfred and the Danish leader granted peace for a month to all persons that fled to the saint’s shrine, and Alfred gave to his church all the land that lies between the Tyne and the Tees, as Matthew of Westminster, or whoever is the author of that compilation called the Flores of the English history, assures us. In 995, in the fresh inroads of the Danes, bishop Aldunc retired with the saint’s body to Rippon, and four months after to Durham, a place strong by its natural situation, but not habitable, till the people of the country, on this occasion, cut down the wood, and raised a small church, and cells for the monks. The body of the saint remained without being tainted with the least corruption, as Hoveden and all our other historians prove it to have been found whenever it was visited; and many miracles were wrought at his shrine, accounts of which are found in the above-mentioned historians, and others, especially in the History of the Church of Durham, written in 1100, not by Turgot, the prior, as Selden imagined, but by Simeon, a monk of that house, as Mr. Bedford proves in his accurate edition of this work. The author relates how, a little before his time, bishop William had, by the authority of the Conqueror, placed the monks of Weremouth and Jarrow in the Cathedral at Durham. A yearly memorial of the translation of St. Cuthbert’s body to Durham was kept on this day. See his life, and Simeon of Durham, Hist. Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis, published by Tho. Bedford, Londini, 1732. Hearne’s Ductor Historicus, on Lindisfarne, t. 2, p. 372; and the anonymous monk of Durham, in 1060, author of the History of the Transactions and Miracles of St. Cuthbert, in Mabillon sæc. Ben. 4, part 2, p. 275.

SEPTEMBER 4 — ST. IDA, WIDOW

The father of this saint was a count, who lived in great favor with Charle, magne, emperor and king of France, in whose court she had her education. From her childhood she learned to contemn the world in the midst of its splendor, to esteem virtue and the divine grace as the only good, and to propose to herself no other object in all her actions and desires than to walk always with God, and to study, with her whole strength, to discover and to accomplish his holy will. Whilst many others wearied themselves and exhausted their vigor and strength, in the empty pursuit of vanity and ambition, and sought satisfaction and pleasure in the region of misery and death, Ida trembled for herself lest she should ever suffer herself to be imposed upon by such false appearances. As it is upon the affections and maxims of the soul, and the opinions which she conceives of things, that all depends, it was the saint’s first care, by assiduous prayer, pious meditation, and reading, to cultivate and daily improve those which religion and piety inspire; and herein she was exceedingly strengthened by the example and conversation of the holy virgins Odilia and Gertrude, the daughters of Pepin. The emperor gave her in marriage to a favorite lord of his court, named Egbert, and bestowed on her a great fortune in estates, not only on account of her merit, but also to recompense her father’s services. The happy couple lived in the most perfect and holy union of hearts, and continually excited each other to greater fervor in the practice of all good works.

The death of her husband left her a widow whilst she was yet very young; and this state she sanctified by redoubling her devotions, self-denials, and austerities. She considered the arduous task which every Christian has upon his hands, of purifying his heart from all that is sensual and inordinate, and to put on affections which are perfectly pure and holy, by which a soul is fitted and adorned that she may deserve to be associated at death with the spotless angels, and that she may bear the image of God, the infinite source and model of meekness, patience, and all other virtues. She esteemed it the true fruit of living, to make life one uninterrupted series of good actions, closely linked to one another; and to this end she devoted her whole time, and all her thoughts and actions, those which she employed in her temporal affairs, and in the care of her family, being equally directed to the same, and furnishing her each with fresh occasions of patience, meekness, beneficence, self-denial, charity, penance, or other heroic virtues. The great revenues of her estates she chiefly employed in relieving the poor, and felt no greater pleasure than in clothing and feeding Jesus Christ in his members. She surpassed in the world the penitential practices of cloisters. That she might prolong her prayers, and wait on God in the presence of his altars with greater recollection, and unobserved by men, she built herself a little retired chapel within a church which she had founded near her own seat in the diocess of Munster. Her exercises of piety, and the heavenly favors she often received in prayer, were generally known only to God; so carefully did she conceal them as much as possible from the eyes of men. The close of her penitential life was a long and painful sickness, in which, far from ever letting fall the least word of complaint, she never mentioned her sufferings. Having shone as a bright light to the infant Church of Germany, she passed to eternal rest before the middle of the ninth century. See her life written by Uffing, a monk of the tenth age; and the remarks of F. Suysken the Bollandist, t. 2, Sept. p. 255.

SEPTEMBER 4 — ST. ROSALIA, V

She was daughter of Sinibald, lord of Roses and Quisquina, who deduced his pedigree from the imperial family of Charlemagne. She was born at Palermo in Sicily, and despising in her youth worldly vanities, made herself an abode in a cave on Mount Pelegrino, three miles from Palermo, where she completed the sacrifice of her heart to God by austere penance and manual labor, sanctified by assiduous prayer, and the constant union of her soul with God. She died in 1160. Her body was found buried in a grot under the mountain in the year of the jubilee, 1625, under pope Urban VIII., and was translated into the metropolitical church of Palermo, of which she was chosen a patroness. To her patronage that island ascribes the ceasing of a grievous pestilence at the same time. On her life and miracles, see the disquisitions of Stilting the Bollandist, which fill one hundred and forty pages.

SEPTEMBER 4 — ST. ROSA OF VITERBO, V. OF THE THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS

She was refused admittance in the Franciscan nunnery in Viterbo; there fore led a solitary life in a cottage adjoining, in the most austere penitential practices, and in assiduous contemplation and prayer. She died about the year 1252. Her body is shown enshrined in the church of this nunnery entirely incorrupt; her face appears full of flesh, and as if the corpse was just dead. She is honored on the 6th of March, the day of her death, and on the 4th of September, the day of her translation. Her two lives are not in all parts authentic. See Wading’s Annals of the Order ad an. 1252, n. 17, and Suysken the Bollandist, on her two lives, and the Acts of her canonization, t. 2, Sept. p. 414.

SEPTEMBER 4 — ST. ULTAN FIRST BISHOP OF ARDBRACCAN IN MEATH* IN IRELAND

Amongst the many eminent virtues of this saint, Colgan mentions his extensive charity in providing for all the foundling children in Ireland. He died in 656. See Colgan MSS. ad 4 Sept.

SEPTEMBER 5 — ST. LAURENCE JUSTINIAN, C. FIRST PATRIARCH OF VENICE

From his original Life written by his nephew Bernard Justinian, in Bollandus Jan. 8, and from his Italian Life, elegantly compiled by F. Maffei. See also Helyot. Hist. des Ord. Relig. t. 2, p. 359: and Opera S Laureutii Justiniani, Proto-Patriarchæ Venetiarum, published by F. Nicolas Antony Justiniani, a Benedictin monk, at Venice, in two volumes, 1756.

A. D. 1455.

ST. LAURENCE was born at Venice, in 1380. His father Bernardo Justiniani* held an illustrious rank among the prime nobility of the commonwealth: nor was the extraction of his mother Querini less noble. By the death of Bernardo she was left a disconsolate widow, with a nursery of tender children; though very young, she thought it her duty to sanctify her soul by the great means and advantages which her state afforded for virtue, and resolutely rejected all thoughts of any more altering her condition. She looked upon herself as called by her very state to a penitential and retired life, and devoted herself altogether to the care of her children’s education, to works of charity, fasting, watching, assiduous prayer, and the exercises of all virtues. Under her inspection, her children were brought up in the most perfect maxims of Christian piety. Laurence discovered, even from the cradle, an uncommon docility, and an extraordinary generosity of soul; and disdaining to lose any part of his time, loved only serious conversation and employs. His mother, fearing some spark of pride and ambition, chid him sometimes for aiming at things above his age: but he humbly answered, that it was his only desire, by the divine grace, to become a saint. Reflecting from his infancy that he was made by God only to serve him, and to live eternally with him, he kept this end always in view, and governed all his thoughts and actions so as to refer them to God and eternity.

In the nineteenth year of his age he was called by God to consecrate himself in a special manner to his service. He seemed one day to see in a vision the eternal wisdom in the disguise and habit of a damsel, shining brighter than the sun, and to hear from her the following words: “Why seekest thou rest to thy mind out of thyself, sometimes in this object, and sometimes in that? What thou desirest is to be found only with me: behold, it is in my hands. Seek it in me who am the wisdom of God. By taking me for thy spouse and thy portion, thou shalt be possessed of its inestimable treasure.” That instant he found his soul so pierced with the charms, incomparable honor, and advantages of this invitation of divine grace, that he felt himself inflamed with new ardor to give himself up entirely to the search of the holy knowledge and love of God.* A religious state appeared to him that in which God pointed out to him the path in which he might most securely attain to the great and arduous end which he proposed to himself. But, before he determined himself, he made his application to God by humble prayer, and addressed himself for advice to a holy and learned priest called Marino Querini, who was his uncle by the mother’s side, and a regular canon in the austere Congregation of St. George in Alga, established in a little isle which bears that name, situate a mile from the city of Venice, toward the continent.† The prudent director, understanding that he was most inclined to a religious state, advised him first to make trial of his strength, by inuring himself to the habitual practice of austerities. Laurence readily obeyed, and in the night, leaving his soft bed, lay on knotty sticks on the floor. During this deliberation, he one day represented to himself on one side honors, riches, and worldly pleasures, and on the other, the hardships of poverty, fasting, watching, and self-denial. Then said to himself: “Hast thou courage, my soul, to despise these delights, and to undertake a life of uninterrupted penance and mortification?” After standing some time in a pause, he cast his eyes on a crucifix, and said: “Thou, O Lord, art my hope. In this tree are found comfort and strength.” The ardor of his resolution to walk in the narrow path of the cross, showed itself in the extreme severity with which he treated his body, and the continual application of his mind to the exercises of religion. His mother and other friends, fearing lest his excessive mortifications should prove prejudicial to his health, endeavored to divert him from that course, and, with this view, contrived a proposal of an honorable match to be made him. The saint perceiving in this stratagem that his friends had entered into a conspiracy to break his measures, fled secretly to the monastery of St. George in Alga, and was admitted to the religious habit.

By the change of his state he found no new austerities which he had not before practised; his superiors even judged it necessary to mitigate the rigors which he exercised upon himself. He was only nineteen years of age, but surpassed, in his watchings and fasts, all his religious brethren. To make a general assault upon sensuality, he never took any useless recreation, subdued his body by severe discipline, and never came near a fire in the sharpest weather of winter, though his hands were often benumbed with cold; he allowed to hunger only what the utmost necessity required, and never drank out of meals; when asked to do it under excessive heats and weariness, he used to say: “If we cannot bear this thirst, how shall we endure the fire of purgatory?” From the same heroic disposition proceeded his invincible patience in every kind of sickness. During his novitiate he was afflicted with dangerous scrofulous swellings in his neck. The physicians prescribed cupping, lancing, and searing with fire. Before the operation, seeing others tremble for his sake, he courageously said to them: “What do you fear? Let the razor and burning irons be brought in. Cannot he grant me constancy, who not only supported, but even preserved from the flames, the three children in the furnace?” Under the cutting and burning he never so much as fetched a sigh, and only once pronounced the holy name of Jesus. In his old age, seeing a surgeon tremble who was going to make a ghastly incision in a great sore in his neck, he said to him: “Cut boldly; your razor cannot exceed the burning irons of the martyrs.” The saint stood the operation of this timorous surgeon without stirring, and as if he had been a stock that had no feeling. At all public devotions he was the first in the church, and left it the last; he remained there from matins, whilst others returned to their rest, till they came to prime at sunrise.

Humiliations he always embraced with singular satisfaction. The meanest and most loathsome offices, and the most tattered habit, were his desire and delight. The beck of any superior was to him as an oracle; even in private conversation he was always ready to yield to the judgment and will of others, and he sought everywhere the lowest place as much as was possible to be done without affectation. When he went about the streets begging alms with a wallet on his back, he often thrust himself into the thickest crowds, and into assemblies of the nobility, that he might meet with derision and contempt. Being one day put in mind, that by appearing loaded with his wallet in a certain public place, he would expose himself to the ridicule of the company, he answered to his companion: “Let us go boldly in quest of scorn. We have done nothing if we have renounced the world only in words. Let us to-day triumph over it with our sacks and crosses. Nothing is of greater advantage toward gaining a complete victory over ourselves, and the fund of pride which is our greatest obstacle to virtue, than humiliations accepted and borne with cheerfulness and sincere humility. To those which providence daily sends us opportunities of, it is expedient to add some that are voluntary, provided the choice be discreet, and accompanied with heroic dispositions of soul, clear of the least tincture of affectation or hypocrisy. Our saint frequently came to beg at the house where he was born, but only stood in the street before the door, crying out: “An alms for God’s sake.” His mother never failed to be exceedingly moved at hearing his voice, and to order the servants to fill his wallet. But he never took more than two loaves, and wishing peace to those who had done him that charity, departed as if he had been some stranger. The store-house, in which were laid up the provisions of the community for a year, happening to be burnt down, St. Laurence, hearing a certain brother lament for the loss, said cheerfully: “Why have we embraced and vowed poverty? God has granted us this blessing that we may feel it.” Thus he discovered his ardor for suffering the humiliations, hardships, and inconveniences of that state, for the exercise and improvement of the heroic virtues of which they afford the occasions, and in which consist its chief advantages. When he first renounced the world, as often as he felt a violent inclination to justify or excuse himself (so natural to the children of Adam, upon being unjustly reprehended or injured), in order to repress it, he used to bite his tongue; and he at length obtained a perfect mastery over himself in this particular. Whilst he was superior, he was one day rashly accused in chapter of having done something against the rule. The saint could have easily confuted the slander, and given a satisfactory account of his conduct; but he rose instantly from his seat, and walking gently, with his eyes cast down, into the middle of the chapter room, there fell on his knees, and begged penance and pardon of the fathers. The sight of his astonishing humility covered the accuser with such confusion and shame, that he threw himself at the saint’s feet, proclaimed him innocent, and loudly condemned himself.

St. Laurence so much dreaded the danger of worldly dissipation breaking in upon his solitude, that from the day on which he first entered the monastery, to that of his death, he never set foot in his father’s house, only when with dry eyes he assisted his mother and brothers on their death-beds. Some months after his retreat from the world, a certain nobleman who had been his intimate friend, and then filled one of the first dignities in the commonwealth, returning from the East, and hearing of the state he had embraced, determined to use all his endeavors to change his purpose. With this design he went to St. George’s with a band of musicians, and, on account of his dignity, got admittance; but the issue of the interview proved quite contrary to his expectation. Upon the first sight of the new soldier of Christ he was struck by the modesty of his countenance, and the gravity and composure of his person, and stood for some time silent and astonished. However, at length offering violence to himself, he spoke, and both by the endearments of the most tender friendship, and afterward by the sharpest reproaches and invectives, undertook to shake the resolution of the young novice. Laurence suffered him to vent his passion: then with a cheerful and mild countenance he discoursed in so feeling a manner on death and the vanity of the world, that the nobleman was disarmed, and so penetrated with compunction, that, cutting off all his worldly schemes, he resolved upon the spot to embrace the holy rule which he came to violate; and the fervor with which he went through the novitiate, and persevered to his death in this penitential institute, was a subject of admiration and edification to the whole city.

St. Laurence was promoted to the priesthood, and the fruit of the excellent spirit of prayer and compunction with which he was endowed, was a wonderful experimental knowledge of spiritual things, and of the paths of interior virtue, and a heavenly light and prudence in the direction of souls. The tears which he abundantly shed at his devotions, especially whilst he offered the adorable sacrifice of the mass, strongly affected all the assistants, and awaked their faith; and the raptures with which he was favored in prayer were wonderful, especially in saying mass one Christmas-night. Much against his inclination he was chosen general of his Order, which he governed with singular prudence, and extraordinary reputation for sanctity. He reformed its discipline in such a manner as to be afterward regarded as its founder. Even in private conversation he used to give pathetic lessons of virtue, and that sometimes in one short sentence; and such was the unction with which he spoke on spiritual matters in private discourses, as to melt the hearts of those who heard him. By his inflamed entertainments he awaked the tepid, filled the presumptuous with saving fear, raised the pusillanimous to confidence, and quickened the fervor of all. It was his usual saying, that a religious man ought to tremble at the very name of the least transgression. He would receive very few into his Order, and these thoroughly tried, saying, that a state of such perfections and obligations is only for few, and its essential spirit and fervor are scarce to be maintained in multitudes; yet in these conditions, not in the number of a religious community, its advantages and glory consist. It is not therefore to be wondered at that he was very attentive and rigorous in examining and trying the vocation of postulants. The most sincere and profound humility was the first thing in which he labored to ground his religious disciples, teaching them that it not only purges the soul of all lurking pride, but also that this alone inspires her with true courage and resolution, by teaching her to place her entire confidence in God alone, the only source of her strength. Whence he compared this virtue to a river which is low and still in summer, but loud and high in winter. So, said he, humility is silent in prosperity, never elated or swelled by it; but it is high, magnanimous, and full of joy and invincible courage under adversity. He used to say. that there is nothing in which men more frequently deceive themselves than humility; that few comprehend what it is, and they only truly possess it who, by strenuous endeavors, and an experimental spirit of prayer, have received this virtue by infusion from God. That humility which is acquired by repeated acts is necessary and preparatory to the other; but this first is always blind and imperfect. Infused humility enlightens the soul in all her views, and makes her clearly see and feel her own miseries and baseness; it gives her perfectly that true science which consists in knowing that God alone is the great All, and that we are nothing.

The saint never ceased to preach to the magistrates and senators in times of war and all public calamities, that, to obtain the divine mercy, and the remedy of all the evils with which they were afflicted, they ought, in the first place, to become perfectly sensible that they were nothing; for, without this disposition of heart, they could never hope for the divine assistance. His confidence in God’s infinite goodness and power accordingly kept pace with his humility and entire distrust in himself, and assiduous prayer was his constant support. From the time he was made priest he never failed saying mass every day, unless he was hindered by sickness; and he used to say, that it is a sign of little love if a person does not earnestly endeavor to be united to his Saviour as often as he can. It was a maxim which he frequently repeated, that for a person to pretend to live chaste amid softness, ease, and continual gratifications of sense, is as if a man should undertake to quench fire by throwing fuel upon it. He often put the rich in mind, that they could not be saved but by abundant alms-deeds. His discourses consisted more of affective amorous sentiments than of studied thoughts; which sufficiently appears from his works.*

Pope Eugenius IV. being perfectly acquainted with the eminent virtue of our saint, obliged him to quit his cloister, and nominated him to the episcopal see of Venice in 1433. The holy man employed all manner of entreaties and artifices to prevent his elevation, and engaged his whole Order to write in the same strain, in the most pressing manner, to his holiness: but to no effect. When he could no longer oppose the repeated orders of the pope, he acquiesced with many tears; but such was his aversion to pomp and show, that he took possession of his church so privately that his own friends knew nothing of the matter till the ceremony was over. The saint passed that whole night in the church at the foot of the altar, pouring forth his soul before God, with many tears; and he spent in the same manner the night which preceded his consecration. He was a prelate, says Dr. Cave,1 admirable for his sincere piety towards God, the ardor of his zeal for the divine honor, and the excess of his charity to the poor. In this dignity he remitted nothing of the austerities which he had practised in the cloister, and from his assiduity in holy prayer he drew a heavenly light, an invincible courage, and indefatigable vigor, which directed and animated him in his whole conduct, and with which he pacified the most violent public dissensions in the state, and governed a great diocess in the most difficult times, and the most intricate affairs, with as much ease as if it had been a single well regulated convent.

Though he was bishop of so distinguished a see, in the ordering of his household he consulted only piety and humility; and when others told him that he owed some degree of state to his illustrious birth, to the dignity of his church, and to the commonwealth, his answer was, that virtue ought to be the only ornament of the episcopal character, and that all the poor of the diocess composed the bishop’s family. His household consisted only of five persons; he had no plate, making use only of earthenware; he lay on a scanty straw bed covered with a coarse rag, and wore no clothes but his ordinary purple cassock. His example, his severity to himself, and the affability and mildness with which he treated all others, won every one’s heart, and effected with ease the most difficult reformations which he introduced both among the laity and clergy. The flock loved and respected too much so holy and tender a parent and pastor not to receive all his ordinances with docility and the utmost deference. When any private persons thwarted or opposed his pious designs, he triumphed over their obstinacy by meekness and patience. A certain powerful man who was exasperated at a mandate the zealous bishop had published against stage entertainments, called him a scrupulous old monk, and endeavored to stir up the populace against him. Another time, an abandoned wretch reproached him in the public streets as a hypocrite. The saint heard them without changing his countenance, or altering his pace. He was no less unmoved amidst commendations and applause. No sadness or inordinate passions seemed ever to spread their clouds in his soul, and all his actions demonstrated a constant peace and serenity of mind which no words can express. By the very first visitation which he made, the face of his whole diocess was changed. He founded fifteen religious houses, and a great number of churches, and reformed those of all his diocess, especially with regard to the most devout manner of performing the divine office, and the administration of the sacraments. Such was the good order and devotion that he established in his cathedral, that it was a model to all Christendom. The number of canons that served it being too small, St. Laurence founded several new canonries in it, and also in many other churches; and he increased the number of parishes in the city of Venice from twenty to thirty.

It is incredible what crowds every day resorted to the holy bishop’s palace for advice, comfort, or alms; his gate, pantry, and coffers were always open to the poor. He gave alms more willingly in bread and clothes than in money, which might be ill spent; when he gave money it was always in small sums. He employed pious matrons to find out and relieve the bashful poor, or persons of family in decayed circumstances. In the distribution of his charities, he had no regard to flesh and blood. When a poor man came to him, recommended by his brother Leonard, he said to him, “Go to him who sent you, and tell him, from me, that he is able to relieve you himself.” No man ever had a greater contempt of money than our saint. He committed the care of his temporals to a faithful steward, and used to say, that it is an unworthy thing for a pastor of souls to spend much of his precious time in casting up farthings.

The popes held St. Laurence in great veneration. Eugenius IV. having ordered our holy bishop to give him a meeting once at Bologna, saluted him in these words: “Welcome, the ornament of bishops.” His successor, Nicholas V. earnestly sought an opportunity of giving him some singular token of his particular esteem; when Dominic Michelli, patriarch of Grado, happened to die in 1451,* his holiness, barely in consideration of the saint, transferred the patriarchal dignity to the see of Venice. The senate, always jealous of its prerogatives and liberty above all other states in the world, formed great difficulties lest such an authority should in any cases trespass upon their jurisdiction. Whilst this affair was debated in the senate-house, St. Laurence repaired thither, and, being admitted, humbly declared his sincere and earnest desire of rather resigning a charge for which he was most unfit, and which he had borne against his will eighteen years, than to feel his burden increased by this additional dignity. His humility and charity so strongly affected the whole senate, that the doge himself was not able to refrain from tears, and cried out to the saint, conjuring him not to entertain such a thought, or to raise any obstacle to the pope’s decree, which was expedient to the Church, and most honorable to their country. In this he was seconded by the whole house, and the ceremony of the installation of the new patriarch was celebrated with great joy by the whole city.

St. Laurence, after this new exaltation, considered himself as bound by a new tie to exert his utmost strength in laboring for the advancement of the divine honor, and the sanctification of all the souls committed to his care. Nor did it perhaps ever appear more sensible than in this zealous prelate, how much good a saint, when placed in such a station, is, with the blessing of heaven, capable of doing; nor how much time a person is able to find for himself and the service of his neighbor, who husbands all his moments to the best advantage, and is never taken up with any inordinate care of his body, or gratification of self-love. St. Laurence never, on his own account, made any one wait to speak to him, but immediately interrupted his writing, studies, or prayers, to give admittance to others, whether rich or poor; and received all persons that addressed themselves to him with so much sweetness and charity, comforted and exhorted them in so heavenly a manner, and appeared in his conversation so perfectly exempt from all inordinate passions, that he scarcely seemed clothed with human flesh, infected with the corruption of our first parent. Every one looked upon him as if he had been an angel living on earth. His advice was always satisfactory and healing to the various distempers of the human mind; and such was the universal opinion of his virtue, prudence, penetration, and judgment, that causes decided by him were never admitted to a second hearing at Rome; but in all appeals his sentence was forthwith confirmed. Grounded in the most sincere and perfect contempt of himself, he seemed insensible and dead to the flattering temptation of human applause; which appeared to have no other effect upon him than to make him more profoundly to humble himself in his own soul, and before both God and men. His good works he studied as much as possible to hide from the eyes of others. When he was notable to refrain his tears, which proceeded from the tenderness and vehemence of the divine love, and from the wonderful spirit of compunction with which he was endowed, he used to accuse himself of weakness and too tender and compassionate a disposition of mind. But these he freely indulged at his private devotions, and by them he purified his affections more and more from earthly things, and moved the divine mercy to shower down the greatest blessings on others.

The republic was at that time shaken with violent storms, and threatened with great dangers.* A holy hermit, who had served God with great fervor above thirty years in the isle of Corfu, assured a Venetian nobleman, as if it were from a divine revelation, that the city and republic of Venice had been preserved by the prayers of the good bishop. The saint’s nephew, who has accurately written his life in an elegant and pure style, mentions several miracles wrought by him, and certain prophecies, of which he was himself witness. It appeared in many instances how perfectly the saint was mortified in his senses. A servant presenting him vinegar one day at table instead of wine and water, he drank it without saying a word. Out of love for holy poverty, in order to disengage his heart from the things of this world, he never had any books bound, but only sewed.

St. Laurence was seventy-four years old when he wrote his last work, entitled, The Degrees of Perfection; he had just finished it when he was seized with a sharp fever. In his illness his servants prepared a bed for him; at which the true imitator of Christ was troubled, and said: “Are you laying a feather-bed for me? No: that shall not be. My Lord was stretched on a hard and painful tree. Do not you remember that St. Martin said, in his agony, that a Christian ought to die on sackcloth and ashes?” Nor could he be contented till he was laid on his straw. He forbade his friends to weep for him, and often cried out, in raptures of joy, “Behold the Spouse; let us go forth and meet him.” He added, with his eyes lifted up to heaven, “Good Jesus, behold I come.” At other times, weighing the divine judgments, he expressed sentiments of holy fear. One saying to him that he might go joyfully to his crown, he was much disturbed, and said, “The crown is for valiant soldiers; not for base cowards, such as I am.” So great was his poverty that he had no temporal goods to dispose of, and he made his testament only to exhort in it all men to virtue, and to order that his body should be buried without pomp, as a private religious man would be, in his convent of St. George; though this clause was set aside by the senate after his death. During the two days that he survived, after receiving extreme unction, the whole city came in turns, according to their different ranks, to receive his blessing. The saint would have even the beggars admitted, and gave to each class some short pathetic instruction. Seeing one Marcellus, a very pious young nobleman, who was his favorite disciple, weep most bitterly, he comforted him, giving him the following assurance: “I go before, but you will shortly follow me. Next Easter we shall again meet in mutual embraces.” Marcellus fell sick in the beginning of Lent, and was buried in Easter-week. St. Laurence, closing his eyes, calmly expired on the 8th of January, in the year 1455, being seventy-four years old, having been honored with the episcopal dignity twenty-two years, and four with that of patriarch. During the contestation about the place of his burial, his body was preserved entire, without the least ill savor or sign of corruption, sixty-seven days, and interred, according to a decree of the senate, on the 17th of March. The ceremony of his beatification was performed by Clement VII. in 1524, and that of his canonization by Alexander VIII. In 1690. His festival is kept on the 5th of September, the day on which he was consecrated bishop.

With St. Laurence Justinian, we must first labor strenuously in sanctifying our own souls before we can hope to preach to others with much fruit. Only He can inspire into others the perfect sentiments of Christian virtue, and instruct others well in the great practical truths of religion, who has learned them by experience, and whose heart is penetrated with them. The pastoral obligation is of great extent; it is not confined to those who are charged with the ministry of the word, and the distribution of the sacraments; it regards not only pastors of souls; every king is, in some measure, a pastor of his whole kingdom; and every parent and master to those that are under their care. He will be accountable to God for the loss of their souls, who is not, in a qualified sense, an apostle or pastor to all that are under his charge.

SEPTEMBER 5 — ST. BERTIN, ABBOT

This illustrious saint, an excellent model of monastic perfection, was nobly born in the territory of Constance in Switzerland, about the year 597. He learned from his infancy to love and esteem only virtue, and to contemn the world, and whatever did not directly tend to unite his heart more perfectly to God. Excited by the example of his kinsman, St. Omer, who embraced the monastic state in the great abbey of Luxeu, in Burgundy, he and two individual companions, named Mommolin and Ebertran, or Bertran, consecrated themselves to God in the same house. Bertin was then very young, but he distinguished himself in the fervent exercise of all virtues among five hundred religious brethren, under the direction of the holy abbot Walbert, who governed that monastery with great reputation after the death of St. Eustachius, the immediate successor of St. Columban. This abbey had been established by its holy founder an excellent seminary of sacred literature, and soon became so famous as to furnish many countries with learned and zealous prelates. St. Omer, St. Mommolin, and St. Bertin, did honor to this school by the progress which they made in their studies; for they all became very learned in ecclesiastical discipline, and in the holy scriptures.1 Their studies were sanctified by an eminent spirit of mortification and prayer, and by being referred to the same end to which these holy men directed all their actions. St. Omer being made bishop of Tarvanna, the ancient metropolis of the Morini, in Artois, about the year 637, labored with wonderful success in cultivating a vineyard which had long lain wild. The abbot of Luxeu, understanding how much he stood in need of assistants endowed with the spirit of the apostles, sent to him, about the year 639, St. Bertin, Saint Mommolin, and Ebertran.

The country of the Morini had formerly received the seed of divine faith, but only superficially and imperfectly, and had then for almost a whole century been as it were an abandoned field. Incredible were the fatigues, persecutions and sufferings of these holy men in rooting out vice and idolatry, and in civilizing a people who were at that time in a great measure barbarians. Powerful in words and works they reaped, by the divine blessing, a most abundant harvest. St. Mommolin, and St. Bertin, and Ebertran, built their first small monastery on a hill on the banks of the river Aa, a league from Sithiu, being half way to Watten. This church is still a place of great devotion, and is still called St. Mommclin’s or the Old monastery. This place being very narrow, confined by the river and marshy grounds, soon grew too narrow for the numbers that flocked thither to take the religious habit. Whereupon the holy founders, mounting the river in a boat, came a league higher to the place where now St. Bertin’s monastery stands. The ground, which was a part of the estate of Sithiu, St. Omer bestowed on them, being larger than St. Mommolin’s-hill, and then encompassed with marshes. St. Mommolin was the first abbot both of the Old monastery and afterward of St, Peter’s (now St. Bertin’s) in Sithiu. But upon the death of St. Acharius, bishop of Noyon, St. Mommolin was chosen to fill that see about the year 659, and, taking with him Ebertran, appointed him abbot of St. Quintin’s. St. Bertin, who had formerly declined that dignity, was left abbot of Sithiu. Under the government of our saint the reputation of this monastery (first dedicated in honor of St. Peter, but now from him called St. Bertin’s) seemed to equal, if not to surpass, that of Luxeu.* Rigorous abstinence and fasting was one of the first articles of the discipline established in this house; the subsistence of one hundred and fifty monks who were here assembled, consisted chiefly of roots, herbs, bread, and water. Their prayer was almost continual; and they were taught to sanctify by it all their exterior employments; the singing of the divine praises was never interrupted in their choir either day or night, the monks therein succeeding each other in different companies; the most painful labor never excused any from this duty, or from any part of their nocturnal watchings. The number of the monks increasing, St. Bertin obtained of St. Omer the church of our Lady, which the bishop had built on a hill at a little distance from the first monastery; this second abbey was called New Sithiu. When the bishopric was erected at St. Omer, this church, dedicated to God under the patronage of our Lady, was made the cathedral.*

St. Bertin had the comfort to see his monastery flourish with illustrious examples of penance and monastic regularity, rivalling those which had formerly edified the world in the deserts of Egypt. Many noblemen renounced the world to pass their life under his direction in the fervent exercises of holy contemplation and penance. Whatever donations were made to the monastery, they were only received by Bertin as the patrimony of the poor, to whose relief he faithfully applied the greatest part of the revenue of his house, very little sufficing for the abstemious maintenance of the monks. A certain rich lord called Heremar, having given him his estate of Warmhoult, on the river Peen, the saint erected in it another monastery, the church of which he caused to be dedicated under the patronage of St. Martin; and St. Winoc was appointed by him the first abbot in 695. St. Bertin, finding himself sinking under the weight of decrepit old age, resigned his dignity in the year 700, in favor of a beloved disciple, whose name was Rigobert, that he might have the advantage and pleasure of closing his life in the humble state of obedience and dependence. From that time he shut himself up in a little hermitage dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, near the cemetery of his monks, in which place he passed the nights and days in almost perpetual prayer, observing all the exercises of regular discipline with the fidelity and humility of the most fervent novice. Having always a singular devotion for St. Martin, he got Rigobert who succeeded him in the government of the abbey, to erect a chapel under the invocation of that saint in the most honorable part of the church. The modern authors of the life of St. Bertin say, that he died at the age of one hundred and twelve, on the 5th of September, 709. He was buried in the chapel of St. Martin which Rigobert had built by his directions, though it was not completely finished till after his death. His relics are exposed in a silver shrine, enriched with gold and precious stones. This famous monastery was much enriched by Walbert, count of Ponthieu, and lord of Arques, who taking the religious habit in this house about the year 700, bestowed on it a considerable part of his estate, and died abbot of another house. St. Bertin is named on this day in the Roman Martyrology. See in Mabillon (Act. Ben. t. 3, p. 105), two lives of St. Bertin, the first short, the other longer, both written by Folcard, a monk of St. Bertin’s, who, being invited into England by the Conqueror, was made abbot of Thorney in Cambridgeshire. See also other short lives of this saint in the Bollandists, t. 41, or 2d of September, p. 549, with their curious notes, and those of Mabillon, by which the chronology of Duchesne and Miræus is to be corrected. Also Martenne Anec. t. 3, p. 446, et Vet. Monum. t. 6, p. 614.

SEPTEMBER 5 — ST. ALTO, ABBOT

This saint was a Scottish holy monk, who, travelling into Germany, was famous for many miracles, and founded, by the liberality of king Pepin, the abbey of Altmunster* in Bavaria, about the middle of the eighth century. In the midst of a barbarous nation, at that time over-run with ignorance, vice, and superstition, the extraordinary humility and devotion of this saint infused into many the perfect maxims and spirit of holy religion, and his single life was a sensible demonstration of the power of divine grace in raising vessels of weakness and corruption to the most sublime state of sanctity. He is honored in Germany on the 9th of February, which seems to have been the day of his death. But the British calendars commemorate him on the 5th of September. The abbey of Altmunster was repaired and given to Brigitin nuns in the fifteenth century. See Aventinus, Annales Biorum,1. 1, Raderus, Bavaria Sancta, t. 1, p. 68. Chatolain, Not. Bolland, ad 9 Feb. Colgan gives his life on the 9th of February. Act. SS. Hil. p. 301.

SEPTEMBER 6 — ST. PAMBO OF NITRIA, ABBOT

Form Palladius in Lauslac. Rufin. Hist Patr. Sozomen, Cotelier Apoth. Patr. pp. 637, 641, and 628. See Tillemont, t. 8, p. 445.

A. D. 385.

ST. PAMBO betook himself in his youth to the great St. Antony in the desert, and desiring to be admitted among his disciples, begged he would give him some lessons for his conduct. The great patriarch of the ancient monks told him, he must take care always to live in a state of penance and compunction for his sins, must perfectly divest himself of all self-conceit, and never place the least confidence in himself, or in his own righteousness, must watch continually over himself, and study to act in everything in such a manner as to have no occasion afterward to repent of what he had done, and that he must labor to put a restraint upon his tongue and his appetite. The disciple set, himself earnestly to learn the practice of all these lessons. The mortification of gluttony was usually laid down by the fathers as one of the first steps towards bringing the senses and the passions into subjection: this consisting in something that is exterior and sensible, its practice is more obvious, yet of great importance towards the reduction of all the sensual appetites of the mind, whose revolt was begun by the intemperance and disobedience of our first parents. Fasting is also, by the divine appointment, a duty of the exterior part of our penance. What a reproach are the austere lives which so many saints have led to those slothful and sensual Christians whose God is their belly, and who walk enemies to the cross of Christ,1 or who have not courage at least by frequent self-denials to curb this appetite? No man can govern himself who is a slave to this base gratification of sense. St. Pambo excelled most other ancient monks in the austerity of his continual fasts. The government of his tongue was no less an object of his watchfulness than that of his appetite. A certain religious brother to whom he had applied for advice, began to recite to him the thirty-eighth psalm: I said I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. Which words Pambo no sooner heard, but without waiting for the second verse, he returned to his cell, saying, that was enough for one lesson, and that he would go and study to put it in practice. This he did by keeping almost perpetual silence, and by weighing well, when it was necessary to speak, every word before he gave any answer. He often took several days to recommend consultations to God, and to consider what answer he should give to those who addressed themselves to him.

By his perpetual attention not to offend in his words, he arrived at so great a perfection in this particular, that he was thought to have equalled, if not to have excelled St. Antony himself; and his answers were seasoned with so much wisdom and spiritual prudence, that they were received by all as if they had been oracles dictated by heaven. Abbot Pœmen said of our saint: “Three exterior practices are remarkable in abbot Pambo: his fasting every day till evening, his silence, and his great diligence in manual labor.”2 St. Antony inculcated to all his disciples the obligation of assiduity in constant manual labor in a solitary life both as a part of penance, and a necessary means to expel sloth, and entertain the vigor of the mind in spiritual exercises. This lesson was confirmed to him by his own experience, and by a heavenly vision related in the lives of the fathers, as follows, “Abbot Antony, as he was sitting in the wilderness, fell into a grievous temptation of spiritual sadness, importunate thoughts, and interior darkness; and he said to God; Lord, I desire to be saved; but my thoughts are a hindrance to me. What shall I do in my present affliction? How shall I be saved?” Soon after he rose up, and going out of his cell, saw a man sitting and working; then rising from his work to pray; afterward sitting down again, and twisting his cord: after this, rising to prayer. He understood this to be an angel sent by God to teach him what he was to do, and he heard the angel say to him: “Do so and thou shalt be saved.” Hereat the abbot was filled with joy and confidence, and by this means he cheerfully persevered to the end.3 St. Pambo most rigorously observed this rule, and feared to lose one moment of his precious time. Out of love of humiliations, and a fear of the danger of vainglory and pride, he made it his earnest prayer for three years that God would not give him glory before men, but rather contempt. Nevertheless God glorified him in this life, but made him by his grace to learn more perfectly to humble himself amidst applause. The eminent grace which replenished his soul showed itself in his exterior, by a certain air of majesty, and a kind of light which shone on his countenance, like what we read of Moses, so that a person could not look steadfastly on his face. St. Antony, who admired the purity of his soul, and his mastery over his passions, used to say, that his tear of God had moved the divine Spirit to take up his resting-place in him.

St. Pambo, after he left St. Antony, settled in the desert of Nitria on a mountain, where he had a monastery. But he lived some time in the wilderness of the Cells, where Rufinus says he went to receive his blessing in the year 374. St. Melania the Elder, in the visit she made to the holy solitaries who inhabited the deserts of Egypt, coming to St. Pambo’s monastery on mount Nitria, found the holy abbot sitting at his work, making mats. She gave him three hundred pounds weight of silver, desiring him to accept that part of her store for the necessities of the poor among the brethren. St. Pambo, without interrupting his work, or looking at her or her present, said to her that God would reward her charity. Then turning to his disciple, he bade him take the silver, and distribute it among all the brethren in Lybia and the isles who were most needy, but charged him to give nothing to those of Egypt, that country being rich and plentiful. Melania continued some time standing, and at length said: “Father, do you know that here is three hundred pounds weight of silver?” The abbot, without casting his eye upon the chest of silver, replied: “Daughter, he to whom you made this offering, very well knows how much it weighs without being told. If you give it to God who did not despise the widow’s two mites, and even preferred them to the great presents of the rich, say no more about it.” This Melania herself related to Palladius.4 St. Athanasius once desired St. Pambo to come out of the desert to Alexandria, to confound the Arians by giving testimony to the divinity of Jesus Christ. Our saint seeing in that city an actress dressed up for the stage, wept bitterly; and being asked the reason of his tears, said he wept for the sinful condition of that unhappy woman, and also for his own sloth in the divine service; because he did not take so much pains to please God as she did to ensnare men.5 When abbot Theodore begged of St. Pambo some words of instruction: “Go,” said he, “and exercise mercy and charity toward all men. Mercy finds confidence before God.” To the priest of Nitria who asked him how the brethren ought to live, he said: “They must live in constant labor and the exercise of all virtues, watching to preserve their conscience free from stain, especially from giving scandal or offence to any neighbor.” St. Pambo said, a little before his death; “From the time that I came into this desert, and built myself a cell in it, I do not remember that I have ever eaten any bread but what I had earned by my own labor, nor that I ever spoke any word of which I afterward repented. Nevertheless, I go to God as one who has not yet begun to serve him.”6 He died seventy years old, without any sickness, pain, or agony, as he was making a basket, which he bequeathed to Palladius, who was at that time his disciple, the holy man having nothing else to give him.7 Melania took care of his burial, and having obtained this basket, kept it to her dying day. St. Pambo is commemorated by the Greeks on several days. It was an usual saying of this great director of souls in the rules of Christian perfection: “If you have a heart, you may be saved.”8

The extraordinary austerities and solitude of a St. Antony or a St. Pambo, are not suitable to persons engaged in the world; they are even inconsistent with their obligations; but all are capable of disengaging their affections from inordinate passions and attachment to creatures, and of attaining to a pure and holy love of God, which may be made the principle of their thoughts and ordinary actions, and sanctify the whole circle of their lives. Of this all who have a heart, are, through the divine graee, capable. In whatever circumstances we are placed, we have opportunities of subduing our passions, and subjecting our senses by frequent denials; of watching over our hearts by self-examination, of purifying our affection by assiduous recollection and prayer, and of uniting our souls to God by continual exterior and interior acts of holy love. Thus may the gentleman, the husbandman, or the shop-keeper, become an eminent saint, and make even the employments of his state an exercise of all heroic virtues, and so many steps to perfection and to eternal glory.

SEPTEMBER 6 — ST. ELEUTHERIUS, ABBOT

A Wonderful simplicity and spirit of compunction were the distinguishing virtues of this holy man. He was chosen abbot of St. Mark’s near Spoleto, and favored by God with the gift of miracles. A child who was possessed by the devil, being delivered by being educated in his monastery, the abbot said one day: “Since the child is among the servants of God, the devil dares not approach him.” These words seemed to savor of vanity, and thereupon the devil again entered and tormented the child. The abbot humbly confessed his fault, and fasted and prayed with his whole community till the child was again freed from the tyranny of the fiend. St. Gregory the Great not being able to fast on Easter-eve, on account of the extreme weakness of his breast, engaged this saint to go with him to the church of St. Andrew’s and put up his prayers to God for his health, that he might join the faithful in that solemn practice of penance. Eleutherius prayed with many tears, and the pope coming out of the church, found his breast suddenly strengthened so that he was enabled to perform the fast as he desired. St. Eleutherius raised a dead man to life. Resigning his abbacy, he died in St. Andrew’s monastery in Rome about the year 585. His body was afterward translated to Spoleto. See S. Greg. Dia1.1. 3, c. 14, 21, 33,1. 4, c. 35.

SEPTEMBER 6 — ST. BEGA, OR BEES, V

She was a holy Irish virgin, who flourished about the middle of the seventh century, led an anachoretical life, and afterward founded a nunnery in Copeland near Carlisle. Her shrine was kept there after her death, and became famous for pilgrims.* There is in Scotland a place called Kilbees from her name, according to a note of Th. Innes on the manuscript calendar kept in the Scotch College of Paris. See Alford, Annal. t. 2, p. 294, Monast. Anglic. Suysken, t. 2, Sept. p. 694, &c.

The Irish Calendar commemorates on this day St. Macculindus, bishop of Lusk, who departed to our Lord in 497. See Colgan, MSS.

SEPTEMBER 7 — ST. CLOUD, CONFESSOR

From St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. Fr.1. 3, c. 11, and 18, and from the Life of this saint, with the remarks of Mabillon, Sæc. Ben. 3, p. 136. See Abbe Lebeuf, Hist. du Diocèse de Paris, t. 7, An 1757, Stilting, t. 3, Sept. p. 91.

A. D. 560.

ST. CLOUD, called in Latin Chlodoardus, is the first and most illustrious saint among the princes of the royal family of the first race in France. He was son of Chlodomir king of Orleans, the eldest son of St. Clotilda, and was born in 522. He was scarce three years old when his father was killed in Burgundy in 524; but his grandmother Clotilda brought up him and his two brothers Theobald and Gunthaire at Paris, and loved them extremely. Their ambitious uncles, Childebert king of Paris, and Clotaire, king of Soissons, divided the kingdom of Orleans betwixt them, and stabbed with their own hands the two elder of the nephews, Theobald and Gunthaire, the former being ten, the latter seven years old. Cloud, by a special providence, was saved from the massacre, and cut off his hair with his own hands, by that ceremony renouncing the world, and devoting himself to the service of God in a monastic state. He had many fair opportunities of recovering his father’s kingdom; but, young as he was, he saw by the light of grace that all that appears most dazzling in worldly greatness is no better than smoke, and that a Christian gains infinitely more by losing than by possessing it. In the true estimation of things, he most emphatically deserves to be styled a king who is master of himself, and has learned the art of ruling those passions to which kings are often miserably enslaved. This victory over himself the pious prince gained, and constantly maintained by humility, meekness, and patience, by austerity of life, watchfulness, assiduous prayer, and holy contemplation. By this means he enjoyed in a little cell a peace which was never interrupted by scenes of ambition or vanity, and he tasted in the service of God too solid a joy to think of exchanging it for the racking honors or bitter pleasures of a false world, or of converting the tranquillity and real delight which he possessed into the dangers, confusion, and perplexity of a court. Coarse clothing gave him more satisfaction than the richest purple could have done; he enjoyed in his own breast and in his cell all he desired to possess in this world, and he daily thanked God who had drawn him out of Babylon before he was infected with its corrupting and intoxicating Circean wine. His contempt of all earthly things increased in proportion as he advanced in virtue and heavenly light.

After some time he removed from his first abode to put himself under the discipline of St. Severinus, a holy recluse who lived near Paris, from whose hands he received the monastic habit. Under this experienced master the fervent novice made great progress in Christian perfection; but the neighborhood of Paris being a trouble to him who desired nothing so much as to live unknown to the world, he withdrew secretly into Provence, where he passed several years, and wrought many miracles. Seeing he gained nothing by the remoteness of his solitude, after his hermitage was once made public by many resorting to him, he at length returned to Paris, and was received with the greatest joy imaginable. At the earnest request of the people he was ordained priest by Eusebius, bishop of Paris, in 551, and served that church some time in the functions of the sacred ministry. He afterward retired to Nogent on the Seine, now called St. Cloud, two leagues below Paris, where he built a monastery dependent on the church of Paris. In this monastery he assembled many pious men, who fled out of the world for fear of losing their souls in it. St. Cloud was regarded by them as their superior, and he animated them to all virtue both by word and example. All his inheritance he bestowed on churches, or distributed among the poor; the village of Nogent he settled on the episcopal see of Paris, as is mentioned in the letters patent, by which this place was erected into a duchy and peerage in favor of the archbishop.1 St. Cloud was indefatigable in instructing and exhorting the people of the neighboring country, and piously ended his days at Nogent about the year 560. He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the 7th of September, which seems to have been the day of his death. The monastery has been since changed into a collegiate church of canons, where the relics of the saint are still kept, and the place bears his name.

John Picus, prince of Mirandula, who died in the year 1494, the thirty second of his age, a prodigy of wit and learning, and after his conversion from the love of applause and pleasure had lived a truly Christian philosopher, expressed himself on the happiness of holy retirement and contempt of the world as follows:2 “Many think it a man’s greatest happiness in this life to enjoy dignity and power, and to live in the plenty and splendor of a court; but of these you know I have had a share; and I can assure you I could never find in my soul true satisfaction in anything but in retreat and contemplation. I am persuaded the Cæsars, if they could speak from their sepulchres, would declare Picus more happy in his solitude than they were in the government of the world; and if the dead could return, they would have chosen the pangs of a second death rather than risk their salvation a second time in public stations.”

SEPTEMBER 7 — ST. REGINA, CALLED IN FRENCH, ST. REINE, V. M

After undergoing many cruel torments, she was beheaded for the faith at Aliza, formerly a large town called Alexia, famous for the siege which Cæsar laid to it, now a small village in the diocess of Autun in Burgundy. Her martyrdom happened in the persecution of Decius, in 251, or under Maximian Herculeus in 286, as some Martyrologies mention. She is honored in many ancient Martyrologies. Her relics are kept with great devotion in the neighboring abbey of Flavigni, a league distant, whither they were translated in 864, and where they have been rendered famous by miracles and pilgrimages, of which a history is published by two monks of that abbey. See Lubin, Not. in Martyr. Rom. p. 41, Sussaye, Martyr. Gallic. Suysken, the Bollandist, t. 3, Sept. p. 24 ad 43.

SEPTEMBER 7 — ST. EVURTIUS, BISHOP OF ORLEANS, C

Flourished in the reign of Constantine the Great, and died about the year 340. His name is famous in the ancient western Martyrologies, but his history of no authority, as Stilting complains. Three translations have been made of his relics. A famous abbey at Orleans bears his name. See Gallia Christ. Nov. t. 8, p. 1573, and Stilting.

SEPTEMBER 7 — ST. GRIMONIA OR GERMANA, V. M

Was an Irish maiden of illustrious birth, who left her country to consecrate herself to God. She was martyred in defence of her chastity in the place of her retirement in Picardy in the diocess of Laon. On the spot a chapel was built which grew famous for her relics and miracles, and grew into a considerable town, called from its original Capelle. In the wars in the fifteenth century her relics were translated to the abbey of regular canons of Hennin Lictard, between Douay and Lens, where she is honored together with St. Proba her fellow martyr. See Stilting, ad 7 Sept. p. 80.

SEPTEMBER 7 — ST. MADELBERTE, V

Abbess of Maubeuge, niece to St. Aldegundis (honored on the 30th of January), had the happiness to be educated in her monastery with her sister Aldetrudis, who, upon the death of her aunt, was chosen second abbess of Maubeuge, and succeeded by her sister Madelberte. This last died about the year 705. She is honored on the 7th of September in the Belgic and other Martyrologies. Her relics were translated from Maubeuge to Liege by St. Hubert about the year 722. See Perier the Bollandist, p. 109.

SEPTEMBER 7 — SS. ALCHMUND AND TILBERHT, CC. BISHOPS OF HEXHAM IN NORTHUMBERLAND

The former was consecrated to this see in 767, and passed to eternal glory on the 7th of September, 780. Gilbert or Tilberht succeeded him in the episcopal dignity, which he held to his happy death in 789. Their eminent sanctity is celebrated by Simeon of Durham, Roger of Hoveden, the Annals of Peterborough, and all our Martyrologies. The history of the translation of their relics by a canon regular of the monastery of Hexham, an eye-witness, in the middle of the twelfth century, is published by Mabillon, Act. SS. sæc. 3, part 1, and Suysken the Bollandist, p. 117.

SEPTEMBER 7 — ST. EUNAN, FIRST BISHOP OF RAPHOE IN IRELAND

In the Province of Ulster

THE monastery founded there by St. Columb, and restored by St. Adamnar., being converted into an episcopal see, St. Eunan was appointed to govern it. He is the titular saint of the Church, and a mass for his festival on the 7th of September is approved by pope Clement XII. among the masses printed for the Irish churches, at Paris, in 1734.

SEPTEMBER 8 — THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN

The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary announced joy and the near approach of salvation to the lost world: therefore is this festival celebrated by the Church with praise and thanksgiving. It was a mystery of sanctity, and distinguished by singular privileges. Mary was brought forth into the world, not like other children of Adam, infected with the loathsome contagion of sin, but pure, holy, beautiful and glorious, adorned with all the most precious graces which became her who was chosen to be the mother of God. She appeared indeed in the weak state of our mortality; but in the eyes of heaven she already transcended the highest seraph in purity, brightness, and the richest ornaments of grace. I am black, but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.1 The spouse says to her much more emphatically than to other souls sanctified by his choices, graces: As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters.2 Thou art all fair, and there is not a spot in thee.3 Man was no sooner fallen in Paradise through the woman seduced by the infernal spirit, but God promised another woman whose seed should crush that serpent’s head. I will put enmities, said he to the serpent, between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her hee1.4 This curse is evidently to be understood of the devil who seduced Eve, and with implacable malice sought the destruction of her posterity. It is not the real serpent that is here meant; the sense would be too low; and why should the serpent, which was not in fault, be so treated, and the true offender the devil, who had either taken the figure of the crafty serpent, or concealed himself in that reptile, escape all punishment? The Hebrew original expresses the latter part of this prophecy as follows: It (i. e. her seed) shall crush thy head.5 In the birth of the Virgin Mary was the accomplishment of this solemn prediction begun.

To understand the great present that in her God bestowed on the world, we must consider her transcendant dignity, and the singular privileges by which she was distinguished above all other pure creatures. Her dignity is expressed by the evangelist when he says, That of her was born Jesus, who is called the Christ.6 From this text alone is that article of the Catholic faith sufficiently evinced, that she is truly Mother of God. It is clear this is not to be understood as if she could be in any sense mother of the Divinity, the very thought whereof would imply contradiction and blasphemy, but by reason that she conceived and brought forth that Blessed Man who subsisting by the second divine person of the adorable Trinity, is consequently the natural, not the adoptive Son of God, which was the Semi-Nestorian error broached by Felix and Elipandus. In the Incarnation the human nature of Christ was assumed by, and hypostatically, that is, intimately and substantially, united to the person of God the Son, so that the actions done by this nature, are the actions of that Divine Person, whose assumed or appropriated nature this is. Hence we truly say with St. Paul, that we are redeemed by the blood of a God, and with the Church, that God was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered and died on the cross; all which he did in that human nature which he had wonderfully taken upon him.

Nestorius, a man ignorant in ecclesiastical learning, but vain, opinionated, and presumptuous to a degree of extravagance, introduced a new heresy, teaching that there are in Christ two persons no less than two natures, the divine and human united; not intrinsically, but only morally, by the divinity dwelling in the humanity of Christ as in its temple. Thus the heresiarch destroyed the incarnation, held two Christs, the one God, and the other man, and denied the Blessed Virgin to be the mother of God, saying she was mother of the man Christ, whom he distinguished from the Christ who is God. The constant faith of the Catholic Church teaches, on the contrary, that in Christ the divine and human nature subsist both by the same divine person, that Christ is both truly God and truly man, and that the Virgin Mary is the Mother of God by having brought forth him who is God, though he derived from her only his assumed nature of man. The errors of Nestorius were condemned in the general council of Ephesus in 431, and from the ancient tradition of the Church, the title of the Mother of God was confirmed to the Virgin Mary. Socrates and St. Cyril of Alexandria, prove that this epithet* was given her by the Church from primitive tradition; and it occurs in the writings of the fathers who flourished before that time, as in the letter of St. Dionysius of Alexandria to Paul of Samosata,7 in the Alexandrian manuscript of the Bible, which, according to Grabe,8 was written before the year 390, &c. So notorious and ordinary was this appellation, that, as St. Cyril of Alexandria testifies, Julian the Apostate reproached the Christians that they never ceased calling Mary Mother of God:† and so clearly was Nestorius convicted in this point, as to be obliged to confess this title, though he never departed from his heretical tenets.

The dignity of mother of God is the highest to which any mere creature is capable of being raised.‡ What closer alliance could any pure creature have with the Creator of all things? What name could be more noble, what prerogative more singular, or more wonderful? He who was born of the Father from all eternity, the only-begotten and consubstantial Son, Maker and Lord of all things, is born in time, and receives a being in his nature of man from Mary. “Listen and attend, O man,” cries out St. Anselm,9 “and be transported in an ecstasy of astonishment, contemplating this prodigy. The infinite God had one only-begotten co-eternal Son: yet he would not suffer him to remain only his own, but would also have him to be made the only son of Mary.” And St. Bernard says;10 “Choose which you will most admire, the most beneficent condescension of the Son, or the sublime dignity of the Mother. On each side it is a subject of wonder and astonishment that a God should obey a woman, is a humility beyond example, and that a woman commands a God, is a preeminence without a rival.” The first, which is the humiliation of him who is infinite in itself can bear no comparison with the other; but the astonishing exaltation of Mary transcends what we could have imagined any creature capable of. No creature can be raised to what is infinite: yet the object or term of this dignity of Mary is infinite, and the dignity has a nearer and closer relation to that object than could have been imagined possible by creatures, had not omnipotence made it rea1.11 To this transcendent dignity all graces and privileges, how great and singular soever, seem in some measure due. We admire her sanctity, her privileged virginity, all the graces with which she was adorned, and the crown with which she is exalted in glory above the cherubims; but our astonishment ceases when we reflect that she is the Mother of God. In this is everything great and good that can suit a mere human creature, naturally comprised.

To take a review of some other singular privileges of this glorious creature, we must further consider that she is both a mother and a spotless virgin. This is the wonderful prerogative of Mary alone; a privilege and honor reserved to her, which shall not be given to any other, says St. Bernard. The ancient prophets spoke of it as the distinguishing mark of the Mother of the Messiah, and the world’s Redeemer, and frequently call the Christ Jehovah or the true God, as Dr. Waterland demonstrates by many passages. This was the miraculous token of the assured deliverance of mankind by the long-expected Saviour, which God himself was pleased to give to the incredulous king Achaz, doubtful and anxious about his present deliverance from his temporal enemies. The Lord himself shall give you a sign, said Isaias: Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanue1.12 This must evidently be understood of the Messiah, to whom alone many qualities and epithets in this and the following chapter can agree, though a son of the prophet mentioned afterward was also a present type of the king’s temporal deliverance. The title of Virgin must here mean one who remained such when a mother; for this circumstance is mentioned as a stupendous miracle.* Jeremy also, contemplating this mystery in spirit,13 expressed his astonishment at this prodigy unheard of on earth, that a woman should encompass in her womb a man, the great Redeemer of the world.

The perpetual virginity of the Mother of God has been denied by several heretics. Ebion and Cesinthus had the insolence to advance that she had other children before Jesus: but this impious error is condemned by all who receive the holy gospels, by which it is manifest that Jesus is the first-born. In the fourth age Helvidius, and soon after him Jovinian, pretended she had other children after Christ. Jovinian, and among modern Protestants, Beza, Albertin, and Basnage,14 will not allow her the title of Virgin in the birth of Christ. Against these errors the Catholic Church has always inviolably maintained that she was a virgin before, in, and after his birth; whence she is styled ever Virgin. This article is defended in all its points by St. Jerom,15 St. Epiphanius,16 and other fathers. St. Jerom shows that the expression of the evangelist, that Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born,17 no ways intimates that he knew her afterward, as no one will infer that because God says: I am till you grow old, he should then cease to be, &c. The same father proves, that first-born in the sacred writings means the first son, whether any other children followed or no; and that those who were called the brothers of our Lord according to the Hebrew phrase, were only cousins-german, sons of another Mary, called of Alphæus and of Cleopnas, sister to the Blessed Virgin. He confirms the belief of her perpetual virginity from the testimony of St. Ignatius, St. Polycarp, St. Irenæus, St. Justin, &c. St. Epiphanius further observes, that no one ever named Mary without adding the title of virgin; and that had she had other children, Jesus would not have recommended her on the cross to St. John, &c. The fathers apply to her many emblems and types of the old law and the prophets expressive of this prerogative, calling her the Eastern Gate of the Sanctuary shown to Ezechiel, through which only our Lord passed,18 the bush which Moses saw burning without being consumed, Gideon’s fleece continuing dry whilst the earth all round it was wet, &c. Her virginity was not only a miraculous privilege, but also a voluntary virtue, she having, by an early vow, consecrated her chastity to God, as the fathers infer from her answer to the ange1.19 Such a privileged mother became the Son of God. The earth, defiled by the abominations of impurity, was loaded with the curses of God, who said; My spirit shall not remain in man for ever, because he is flesh.20 But God choosing Mary to take himself flesh of, prepared her for that dignity by her spotless virginity, and on account of that virtue said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.21 It is by imitating her perfect purity according to our state, that we shall recommend ourselves to our heavenly spouse, who is the lover of chaste souls, and is called by St. Gregory Nazianzen, the virgin by excellence, and the first of virgins. In the example and patronage of Mary we have a powerful succor against the opposite most abominable and destroying vice. We can only be victorious in its most dangerous conflicts by arming ourselves with her sincere humility, perfect distrust in ourselves, constant spirit of prayer and flight of the shadow of danger, and with the mortification of our own will, and of our senses and flesh.

The Virgin Mary was the most perfect model of all other virtues. St. Ambrose, in the beginning of his second book, On Virginity, exhorts virgins in particular to make her life the rule of their conduct: “Let the life and virginity of Mary,” says he, “be set before you as in a looking-glass, in which is seen the pattern of chastity and virtue. The first spur to imitation is the nobility of the master. What more noble than the Mother of God!—she was a virgin in body and mind, whose candor was incapable of deceit or disguise; humble in heart; grave in words; wise in her resolutions. She spoke seldom and little; read assiduously, and placed her confidence, not in inconstant riches, but in the prayers of the poor. Being always employed with fervor, she would have no other witness of her heart but God alone, to whom she referred herself, and all things she did or possessed. She injured no one, was beneficent to all, honored her superiors, envied not equals, shunned vainglory, followed reason, ardently loved virtue. Her looks were sweet, her discourse mild, her behavior modest. Her actions had nothing unbecoming, her gait nothing of levity, her voice nothing of overbearing assurance. Her exterior was all so well regulated that in her body was seen a picture of her mind, and an accomplished model of all virtues. Her charity knew no bounds; temperate in her diet, she prolonged her fasts several days, and the most ordinary meats were her choice, not to please the taste, but to support nature. The moments which we pass in sleep, were to her a time for the sweetest exercises of devotion. It was not her custom to go out of doors, except to the temple, and this always in the company of her relations,” &c. The humble and perfect virtue of Mary raised in St. Joseph the highest opinion of her sanctity, as appeared when he saw her with child. “This is a testimony of the sanctity of Mary,” says St. Jerom,22 “that Joseph, knowing her chastity, and admiring what had happened, suppresses in silence a mystery which he did not understand.” Another ancient writer improves the same remark crying out:23 “O inestimable commendation of Mary! Joseph rather believed her virtue than her womb, and grace rather than nature. He thought it more possible that Mary should have conceived by miracle without a man, than that she should have sinned.” Yet this sanctity of Mary, which was a subject of admiration to the highest heavenly spirits, consisted chiefly in ordinary actions, and in the purity of heart and the fervor with which she performed them. All her glory is from within!24 From her we learn that our spiritual perfection is to be sought in our own state, and depends very much upon the manner in which we perform our ordinary actions. True virtue loves to do all things in silence, and with as little show and noise as may be; it studies to avoid whatever would recommend it to the eyes of men, desiring to have no other witness but him who is its rewarder, and whose glory alone it seeks. A virtue which wants a trumpet to proclaim it, or which affects only public, singular, or extraordinary actions, is to be suspected of subtle pride, vanity, and self-love.

To study these lessons in the life of Mary, to praise God for the graces which he has conferred upon her, and the blessings which through her he has bestowed on the world, and to recommend our necessities to so powerful an advocate, we celebrate festivals in her honor. This of her nativity has been kept in the Church with great solemnity above a thousand years. The Roman Order mentions the homilies and litany which were appointed by pope Sergius in 688 to be read upon it; and a procession is ordered to be made on this day from St. Adrian’s church to the Liberian basilic or St. Mary Major.25 In the Sacramentary of St. Gregory the Great, published by Dom. Menard, particular collects or prayers are prescribed for the mass, procession, and matins on the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with a special preface for the mass.26 A mass with particular collects for this festival occurs in the old Roman Sacramentary or Missal, published by cardinal Thomasius, which is judged by the learned to be the same that was used by pope Leo the Great, and some of his predecessors.27 This feast is mentioned by St. Ildefonsus, in the seventh century.28 The Greeks (as appears from the edict of the emperor Emmanuel Comnenus), the Copts in Egypt, and the other Christian Churches in the East, keep with great solemnity the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin.* St. Peter Damian pathetically exhorts all the faithful to celebrate it with great devotion.29

We celebrate the anniversaries of the birth-days of earthly princes, who on those occasions dispense freely their favors and liberalities. How ought we to rejoice in that of the Virgin Mary, presenting to God the best homage of our praises and thanksgiving for the great mercies he has shown in her, and employing her mediation with her Son in our behalf! We shall doubtless experience the particular effects of her compassion and goodness on a day observed by the whole Church with so great devotion in her honor. Christ will not reject the supplications of his mother, whom he was pleased to obey whilst on earth. Her love, care, and tenderness for him, and the sorrows which she felt for his sake in the state of his mortality: those breasts which gave him suck, those hands which served him, must move him to hear her; the titles and qualities which she bears, the charity and graces with which she is adorned, and the crown of glory with which she is honored, must incline him readily to receive her recommendations and petitions.

SEPTEMBER 8 — ST. ADRIAN, M

This saint was an officer in the Roman army, who, having persecuted the Christians in the reign of Maximian Galerius, was so moved by their constancy and patience, that he embraced their faith, and suffered many torments and a glorious martyrdom for the same at Nicomedia, about the year 306, in the tenth or last general persecution. His relics were conveyed to Constantinople, thence to Rome, afterward into Flanders, where they were deposited in the Benedictin abbey of Decline, dedicated in honor of St. Peter, in the time of the first abbot Severald. Baldwin VI., earl of Flanders, surnamed of Mons, because he married the heiress of that county, bought of a rich lord, named Gerard, the village of Hendelghem, in which stood a famous chapel of our Lady. The count founded there in 1088, the town now called Geersbergen or Gerard’s-mount, on which, by a famous charter, he bestowed great privileges. Besides many pious donations made to that place, he removed thither this abbey of St. Peter, which has since taken the name of St. Adrian, whose relics, which it possesses, have been rendered famous by many miracles. Geersberg, called in French Grammont, stands upon the Dender in Flanders, near the borders of Brabant and Hainault, St. Adrian is commemorated in the Martyrologies which bear the name of St. Jerom, and in the Roman, on the 4th of March, and chiefly on the 8th of September, which was the day of the translation of his relics to Rome, where a very ancient church bears his name. See on the translation of his relics to the abbey of Geersberg, Gramay’s Antiquitates Gerardi-montii, p. 40. Sanderus in Flandria Illustrata, &c. Stilting, p. 231.

SEPTEMBER 8 — ST. SIDRONIUS, M

He was crowned at Rome in the persecution of Aurelian; his principal festival is kept on the 11th of July. Baldwin IV., surnamed of Lille and the Pious, founded the collegiate churches of canons at Harlebeck, near Courtray, at Aire, and at Lille, in which last he was buried. His widow, Adela, after his death in 1067, went to Rome, received the religious veil from the hands of pope Alexander II., and, bringing back with her the relics of St. Sidronius, enriched with them the Benedictin nunnery of Meessene, two leagues from Ipres, which she had founded, and in which she died. See Miræi, Annales Belgici, p. 609. Adela, the foundress, is honored among the saints in this famous monastery, on the 8th of January. See Gramaye, p. 182. Lubin in Martyr. Rom.

SEPTEMBER 8 — ST. SIDRONIUS, M

He was crowned at Rome in the persecution of Aurelian; his principal festival is kept on the 11th of July. Baldwin IV., surnamed of Lille and the Pious, founded the collegiate churches of canons at Harlebeck, near Courtray, at Aire, and at Lille, in which last he was buried. His widow, Adela, after his death in 1067, went to Rome, received the religious veil from the hands of pope Alexander II., and, bringing back with her the relics of St. Sidronius, enriched with them the Benedictin nunnery of Meessene, two leagues from Ipres, which she had founded, and in which she died. See Miræi, Annales Belgici, p. 609. Adela, the foundress, is honored among the saints in this famous monastery, on the 8th of January. See Gramaye, p. 182. Lubin in Martyr. Rom.

SEPTEMBER 8 — SS. EUSEBIUS, NESTABULUS, ZENO, AND NESTOR, MARTYRS

In the reign of Julian the Apostate, Eusebius, Nestabulus, and Zeno, three zealous Christian brothers at Gaza, were seized by the pagans in their houses, where they had concealed themselves: they were carried to prison, and inhumanly scourged. Afterward the idolators, who were assembled in the amphitheatre at the public shows, began loudly to demand the punishment of the sacrilegious criminals, as they called the confessors. By these cries the assembly soon became a tumult; and the people worked themselves into such a ferment that they ran in a fury to the prison, which they forced, and haling out the three brothers, began to drag them, sometimes on their bellies, sometimes on their backs, bruising them against the pavement, and striking them with clubs, stones, or anything that came in their way. The very women, quitting their work, ran the points of their spindles into them, and the cooks took the kettles from off the fire, poured the scalding water upon them, and pierced them with their spits. After the martyrs were thus mangled, and their skulls so broken that the ground was smeared with their brains, they were dragged out of the city to the place where the beasts were thrown that died of themselves. Here the people lighted a fire, burned the bodies, and mingled the bones that remained with those of camels and asses, that it might not be easy for the Christians to distinguish them. This cruelty only enhanced the triumph of the martyrs before God, who watches over the precious remains of his elect, to raise them again to glory. With these three brothers there was taken a young man named Nestor, who suffered imprisonment and scourging as they had done; but as the furious rioters were dragging him through the street, some persons took compassion on him on account of his great beauty and comeliness, and drew him out of the gate. He died of his wounds, within three days, in the house of Zeno, a cousin of the three martyrs, who himself was obliged to fly, and, being taken, was publicly whipped. See Theodoret, Hist.1. 3, c. 7, and Sozomen,1. 5, c. 9.

SEPTEMBER 8 — SAINT CORBINIAN, BISHOP OF FRISINGEN, C

He was a native of France, being born at Chatre, on the road to Orleans, and he lived a recluse fourteen years in a cell which he built in his youth, near a chapel in the same place. The fame of his sanctity, which was increased by the reputation of several miracles, and the prudence of the advice which he gave in spiritual matters to those who resorted to him, rendered his name famous over the whole country, and he admitted several fervent persons to form themselves into a religious community under his discipline. The distraction which this gave him made him think of seeking some new solitude in which he might live in his former obscurity; and his devotion to St. Peter determined him to go to Rome, and there choose a cell near the church of the prince of the apostles. The pope, whose blessing he asked, becoming acquainted with his abilities, told him he ought not to live for himself alone, whilst many nations, ripe for the harvest, were perishing for want of strenuous laborers, and ordaining him bishop, gave him a commission to preach the gospel. Corbinian was affrighted at such a language, but being taught to obey, lest he should resist the voice of God, returned first to his own country, and, by his preaching, produced great fruit among the people. In a second journey to Rome he converted many idolators in Bavaria, as he passed through that country. Pope Gregory II. sent him back from Rome into that abandoned vineyard, commanding him to make it the field of his labors. Corbinian did so, and having much increased the number of the Christians, fixed his episcopal see at Frisingen, in Upper Bavaria. Though indefatigable in his apostolic functions, he was careful not to overlay himself with more business than he could bear, lest he should forget what he owed to his own soul. He always performed the divine office with great leisure, and reserved to himself every day set hours for holy meditations, in older to recruit and improve the spiritual vigor of his soul, and to cast up his accounts before God, gathering constantly resolution of more vigilance in all his actions. Grimoald, the duke of Bavaria, who, though a Christian, was a stranger to the principles and spirit of that holy religion, had incestuously taken to wife Biltrude, his brother’s relict. The saint boldly reproved them, but found them deaf to his remonstrances, and suffered many persecutions from them, especially from the princess, who once hired assassins to murder him. They both perished miserably in a short time. After their death, St. Corbinian, who had been obliged to conceal himself for some time, returned to Frisingen, and continued his labors till his happy death, which fell out in 730. His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology. See his life, with an account of many miracles wrought by him, compiled by Aribo, his third successor in the see of Frisingen, thirty years after the saint’s death, extant in Surius, Mabillon, Acta Bened. t. 3, p. 500; and The History of Frisingen, published in folio, in the year 1724. See also Bulteau, Hist. Monast de l’Occid. t. 2, Suysken the Bollandist, p. 261.

SEPTEMBER 8 — ST. DISEN, OR DISIBODE, B. C

This saint was a holy Irish monk, who, having in his youth grafted learning upon sanctity, illustrated not only his own island, but also France and part of Germany. By preaching he had taught many souls to walk in the narrow paths of Christian perfection in his native country, when he travelled into France about the year 652. His zealous exhortations, enforced by the weight of his example, produced wonderful fruit in all places which were blessed with his presence. Sermons infected with vanity, studied eloquence, or a worldly spirit, lose their attractive force; but sincere humility and a perfect spirit of piety, gave to the words of our saint a secret energy which opened to him the hearts of those to whom he spoke, and made the pure maxims of the gospel to sink deep into their souls. The example of his meekness, patience, and charity, softened the most hardened. St. Disibode founded the great monastery, called from him Disenberg, at present a collegiate church of canons in the diocess of Mentz; and, on account of the extraordinary success of his apostolic labors, was himself ordained a regionary bishop without any fixed see. He died about the year 700. See in Surius the history of his life and miracles, written by St. Hildegardis, abbess of Mount St. Robert, or Rupert, at Bingen, in the Lower Palatinate on the Rhine, about the year 1170. Also Solier, p. 581.

SEPTEMBER 8 — THE FESTIVAL OF THE HOLY NAME OF THE VIRGIN MARY

On Sunday Within the Octave of Her Nativity

THIS festival was appointed by pope Innocent XI., that on it the faithful may be called upon in a particular manner to recommend to God, through the intercession of the B. Virgin, the necessities of his Church, and to return him thanks for his gracious protection and numberless mercies. What gave occasion to the institution of this feast was a solemn thanksgiving for the relief of Vienna, when it was besieged by the Turks in 1683.* If we desire to deprecate the divine anger, justly provoked by our sins, with our prayers we must join the tears of sincere compunction, and a perfect conversion of our manners. This is the first grace we must always beg of God, that he would bring us to the dispositions of condign penance. Our supplications for the divine mercies, and our thanksgivings for benefits received will only thus be rendered acceptable. By no other means can we deserve the blessing of God, or be recommended to it by the patronage of his holy mother. To the invocation of Jesus it is a pious and wholesome practice to join our application to the Virgin Mary, that, through her intercession, we may more easily and more abundantly obtain the effects of our petitions. In this sense devout souls pronounce, with great affection and confidence, the holy names of Jesus and Mary.

SEPTEMBER 9 — SS. GORGONIUS, DOROTHEUS, AND COMPANIONS, MM

From Lact.1. de Mort. Persec. et1. 6, Inst. Euseb.1. 8.

A. D. 304.

DOROTHEUS was first chamberlain to the emperor Dioclesian; Gorgonius and Peter were under chamberlains. They were the three principal eunuchs of the palace; had sometimes borne the weight of the most difficult affairs of state, and been the support both of the emperor and of his court. When the palace of Nicomedia was set on fire, probably by the contrivance of Galerius, who unjustly charged the Christians with it, Dorotheus, with Gorgonius, and several others under his dependence, were very cruelly tortured, and at length strangled. Peter having refused to sacrifice, was hung up naked in the air, and whipped on all parts of his body. After the executioners had torn his flesh in such a manner that the bones started out, without being able to shake his constancy, they poured salt and vinegar into his wounds; then had a gridiron brought, and a fire made, on which they broiled him as we do meat, telling him at the same time that he should continue in that condition if he would not obey; but he was resolute to the last, and died under the torture. The bodies of St. Dorotheus and his companions were cast into the sea by an order of Dioclesian, lest the Christians should worship them as gods, as Eusebius mentions: which mistake of the heathens could only arise from the veneration which Christians paid to the relics of martyrs. The martyr Gorgonius, whose name was famous at Rome, seems different from the former. The Liberian Calendar published by Bucherius mentions his tomb on the Lavican way, and he was honored with an office in the sacramentary of pope Gelasius. Sigebert in his chronicle on the year 764, Rabanus Maurus in his Martyrology and others, relate that St. Chrodegang obtained from Rome, of pope Paul, the relics of St. Gorgonius, and enriched with that treasure his great monastery of Gorze, situated two leagues from Metz. Among the poems of pope Damasus is an epitaph on St. Gorgonius.1

The martyrs show by example, that a true Christian is invincible in virtue and fortitude; for, as St. Gregory Nazianzen says, he looks upon misfortunes and crosses as the seeds of the most heroic virtues; therefore he exults in adversity. Torments do not discompose the serenity of his countenance; much less do they change the steadfastness of his heart. Nothing is able to pull him down; everything yields to the magnanimity and wisdom of this philosopher. If he is stripped of the goods and conveniences of life, he has wings to raise him even to heaven. He flies even to the bosom of God, who abundantly makes him amends for all, and is to him all things. He is in the world with a body as if he were a pure spirit. In the midst of passions and sufferings, he is as invincible as if he were impassible: he lets himself be vanquished in everything except in courage; and where he submits, he triumphs by humility, patience, and constancy, even in torments, and in death itself. Do we maintain this character even under the light trials we meet with?

SEPTEMBER 9 — ST. OMER, B. C

From his life in Mabillon, t. 2, Act Bened. p. 629, written forty or fifty years after his death by one who received the account of his actions from persons who were present at his death. See also the Bollandists.

A. D. 670.

ST. OMER, called in Latin Audomarus, was the only son of Friulph and Domitilla, persons of noble extraction, and possessed of a plentiful fortune, in the territory of Constance, now an imperial town in Suabia near the Switzers. The place of his birth was called Guldendal (i. e. Golden valley), not far from the Lake of Constance. He was born about the close of the sixth century. The thoughts of his parents were wholly taken up in him, and his education was their chief care. Though they applied him to the study of human literature, their principal aim was to train him up in the most perfect maxims and practice of virtue and religion. The saint made the most happy progress, and his father (charmed with his virtue, and moved by his feeling discourses on the great truths of eternal salvation), upon the death of his wife Domitilla, sold his estate, distributed the price of his whole substance among the poor, and accompanied his son to the monastery of Luxeu, situated in the diocess of Besançon. St. Eustasius, who had succeeded St. Columban the founder in the government of that house, received them kindly, and they both made their religious profession together with great fervor. The humility, obedience, mildness, and devotion, accompanied with an admirable purity of manners, which shone forth in every action of Omer, distinguished him among his brethren in that house of saints. His proficiency in sacred literature was very remarkable, and his reputation spread over the whole kingdom. The city of Tarvanne or Terouenne, the capital of the ancient Morini in Belgic Gaul, stood in need of a zealous pastor; and that extensive country, which contained great part of what is now called Lower Picardy, Artois, and Flanders, was overrun with the thorns of vice and error, when king Dagobert, at the suggestion of several zealous persons, looked about his dominions for a person every way the best qualified to establish the faith and practice of the gospel in that important and most extensive part of the French empire. The abbey of Luxeu was at that time the most flourishing school of learning and piety in all France, and a fruitful seminary of holy prelates. In it St. Omer was pointed out as a person the most capable of this arduous employment, and proposed as such to the king by St. Acarius bishop of Noyon and Tournay. The choice was applauded by that prince, and also by the bishops and nobility of the whole kingdom. St. Omer had been happy in his retreat above twenty years, when he was torn by violence from the pleasure of his solitude. Upon receiving the message with a severe command to obey without demur, he cried out: “How great is the difference between the secure harbor in which I now enjoy a sweet calm, and that tempestuous ocean into which I am pushed, against my will, and destitute of experience!” The deputies, without listening to the objections which his humility formed against the choice, presented him to the bishops, by whom he was obliged to receive the episcopal character, toward the close of the year 637.

The humility with which the saint entered upon this weighty charge drew down upon his missions the most abundant blessings of heaven. Assiduous prayer was his comfort and support under his labors, and he consecrated all his thoughts to the obligations of his ministry; and by his endeavors, the spirit of piety soon began to reign where that of the world and the devil had before prevailed. Much the greatest part of the inhabitants of this country were still slaves to superstition and the worship of idols, though several holy prelates had taken no small pains for their conversion. St. Fuscian and St. Victorious, who are honored on the 11th of December, had long before carried the gospel among them: also St. Quintin, who is honored on the 31st of October. These three saints suffered under Rictius Varus in the beginning of the reign of Dioclesian and Maximian Herculeus. In the following age, St. Victricius, bishop of Rouen, labored to convert them; but through a want of pastors during the incursions of the Suevi, the Vandals, and the Alans, even the few Christians that remained, were fallen into a strange corruption of manners. Likewise St. Remigius sent two holy priests, Antimund and Adelbert,* between the years 500 and 552, to preach to the Morini, but with little success. To complete the great and difficult work of their conversion was reserved for St. Omer.

This holy prelate, assisted by the powerful grace of God, threw down their idols, demolished their temples, and instructed the deluded people in the saving doctrine of eternal life. It was the first part of his pastoral care to reestablish faith in its purity among the few Christians he found, whose reformation was a task no less difficult than the conversion of the idolators. Yet such was the success of his labors, that he left his diocess not inferior to those that were then most flourishing in France. Though his discourses were full of a divine fire which could scarce be resisted, his exemplary life preached still more powerfully; for it was not easy for men to reject a religion which they saw produce so many good works, animate men with se divine a temper, and such a spirit of devotion towards God, and of meekness, humility, and beneficence toward all men, whether friends or enemies. It made many lay themselves out continually in redeeming captives, feeding the poor, comforting the sick, reconciling enemies, and serving every one without any other view than that of promoting their eternal salvation, and the glory of God. This was the character of our holy bishop and his fellow-laborers who were employed under his direction. The chief among these were St. Mommolin, St. Bertin, and St. Ebertran, monks whom St. Omer invited to his assistance from Luxeu. He founded the abbey in Sithiu, now called St. Bertin’s, in 654, in which he applied the monks not only to manual labor, but many among them to sacred studies; so that this famous abbey became one of the greatest seminaries of sacred learning in France, and was possessed of a very large and curious library in the eleventh and twelfth centuries,1 at which time schools were established in all the priories dependent of this monastery. Several immediate disciples of St. Bertin were persons eminently learned. St. Omer also built the church of our Lady at Sithiu, with a small monastery adjoining, and a burial-place for the monks of St. Bertin’s or old Sithiu. The author of his life recounts many miracles performed by him. In his old age he was blind some years before his death; but that affliction made no abatement in his pastoral concern for his flock. When St. Aubert, bishop of Arras and Cambray, translated the relics of St. Vedast from the cathedral to the monastery which he had built in his honor, St. Omer and St. Lambert, bishop of Tongres, assisted at that ceremony in 667, and the former is related to have recovered his sight for a short time on that occasion. The most probable opinion is that St. Omer died in the year 670, on the 9th of September, the day on which his feast is celebrated. His body was buried by St. Bertin at our Lady’s church, which is now the cathedral.*

SEPTEMBER 9 — ST. KIARAN, ABBOT IN IRELAND†

He was converted by hearing a passage of the gospel read at church. He put himself under the discipline of St. Finian, who, admiring his great proficiency and fervor, foretold that half the monasteries of Ireland would receive a rule from him.‡ St. Kiaran afterward founded a numerous monastery in the isle of Inis-Aingean, which was bestowed on him by king Dermitius. Committing the government of this house to another, he built, by the liberality of the same king, another great monastery and school in West Meath, called Cluain-Macnois,§ on the river Shannon, which soon became a bishop’s see, Allemagne in his inaccurate Monasticon Hib. thinks in the life-time of our saint; but Cummian, in his letter to the abbot Segienus in the seventh century, does not give him the title of bishop.1 The monastic rule, or as it is called in the Annals of Ulster, the Law of Kiaran, was very austere.|| This saint died on the 9th of September in 549, and was honored as chief patron of Connaught in the same manner as St. Brigit was of Leinster. See his Acts quoted by Usher, Antiq. p. 471, Suysken the Bollandist, t. 3, Sept. p. 370 to 383. Sir James Ware, &c.

SEPTEMBER 9 — ST. OSMANNA, VIRGIN

She was descended from an illustrious family in Ireland, and retired to France to live in a state of virginity. She fixed her residence in Lesser Brittany, served God there in a solitude with great fervor, and died near St. Brieuc, about the seventh age. For several centuries her relics were kept in a shrine in a chapel dedicated to God under her patronage in the abbatial church of St. Deny’s near Paris; but part of them was dispersed by the Calvinists in 1567. She is mentioned in several Martyrologies under this day. See her two lives, one by Capgrave, the other shorter and more exact, published by Suysken. Act. SS. tom. 3, Sept. 419.

SEPTEMBER 9 — ST. BETTELIN, HERMIT. C

Ingulphus, in his history of Croyland, mentions four disciples of St. Guthlau who led penitential lives in separate cells not far from that of their director; viz. Cissa a young nobleman lately converted to the faith; 2. Bettelin who served St. Guthlac, and was of all others most dear to him; 3. Egbert; 4. Tatwin. After the death of St. Guthlac they continued the same anchoretical life in their cells with the leave of abbot Kenulph, and died happily in the same manner of life. Their bodies were burnt with those of the monks and the church in the ninth century, by the Danes, incensed at finding no treasure in the monastery.

St. Bettelin or Beccelin, patron of the town of Stafford, in which his relics were kept with great veneration, is related by Capgrave to have lived a hermit in the practice of the most austere penance, and of continual prayer, in the forest near Stafford. But the legend given us by Capgrave, which is also found in MS. before his time, is of no authority; it is not impossible but part of the relics of the disciple of St. Guthlac might have been conveyed to Stafford before the plunder and burning of Croyland by the Danes. See Capgrave, Wilson in the first edition of his English Martyrology on the 12th of August, and in the second on the 29th of September, Molanus, and others on the 9th of September. Suysken the Bollandist on this day, p. 446.

SEPTEMBER 10 — ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO, C

His life was written by several hands, principally by three pious and learned men of his Order, very soon after his death; viz. Peter de Monte Rubiano in the Marca of Ancona; 2dly, by Henry of Urimarla; 3dly by Jordan de Saxonia. See also Nævius, in his Eremus Augustiniana, p. 166; Brulius Historiæ Peruanæ ordinis Eremitarum St. Augustini,1.15; and Suysken, Act. SS. t. 3, Sept. p. 636.

A. D. 1306.

THIS saint received his surname from the town which was his fixed residence for the most considerable part of his life, and in which he died. He was a native of St. Angelo, a town near Fermo, in the Marca of Ancona, and was born about the year 1245. His parents were of mean condition in the world, but rich in virtue, and he was reputed the fruit of their prayers, and a devout pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Nicholas of Bari, in which his mother especially, who was then stricken in years, had earnestly begged of God a son who should faithfully serve him. At his baptism he received the name of his patron, and appeared by his towardly dispositions from his infancy to be gifted with an extraordinary share of divine grace. In his childhood he spent whole hours together at his prayers with wonderful application of his mind to God, and he heard the divine word with the utmost eagerness, and with a modesty which charmed all who saw him. He had a tender love for the poor, and used to conduct home those that he met, in order to divide with them whatever he had for his own subsistence. From his infancy he made it a cardinal maxim to renounce all superfluities, practised great mortifications, and from his tender age contracted a habit of fasting three days a week, namely, on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, to which, when he was grown up, he added Mondays, allowing himself on these days only one refection, and that of bread and water. From his very infancy he seemed exempt from the weaknesses and passions to which children are generally liable; his greatest pleasure was in reading good books, in his devotions, and in pious conversation, and his heart was always in the church. His parents neglected nothing that was in their power to improve his genius and happy dispositions. In his studies, as his parts were quick, his apprehensions lively, and his memory and judgment strong, so his progress was rapid.

He was yet a young student, when, for his extraordinary merit, he was preferred to a canonry in our Saviour’s church. This situation was extremely agreeable to his inclination, as by it he was always employed in the divine service. But he aspired to a state which would allow him to consecrate his whole time and thoughts directly to God, without interruptions or avocations. Whilst he was in this disposition, a sermon preached by an Austin friar or hermit, on the vanity of the world, determined him to take a resolution absolutely to quit the world, and to embrace the Order of that holy preacher. This he executed without loss of time, entering himself a religious man in the convent of that Order of Tolentino, a small town in the ecclesiastical state. He went through his novitiate under the direction of the preacher himself, and made his profession before he had completed the eighteenth year of his age. His humility made him look on all his brethren as so many superiors, and he studied in all things as much as possible to do the will of every one, that he might the more perfectly learn to deny his own, and the love of humiliations gave him particular affection for the meanest and most mortifying employments in the house, and he embraced whatever was most painful and abject with the greatest pleasure. Such was the unalterable sweetness of his temper, and the equality of his mind, that he never betrayed the least impatience or irregularity of humor: a mark of the constant tranquillity of his soul, and the perfect victory which he had gained over himself. His extraordinary fasts and austerities showed that he looked on his body as a constant enemy to his soul. The disciplines and iron girdles with which he afflicted it, are shown to this day in his convent. His ordinary food was only coarse bread with pulse or herbs; his bed was the bare floor, with a stone for his pillow. In obedience to his general, he once in time of sickness took a mouthful of flesh-meat; but immediately begged with tears, that since he had satisfied his precept, he might be allowed net to eat any more; to which the general assented.

He was sent successively to several convents of his Order at Recanati, Macerata, and others; in that of Cingole he was ordained priest by the bishop of Osimo. From which time, if he seemed an angel in his other actions, he appeared like a seraph at the altar; so wonderfully did the divine fire which burned in his breast manifest itself in his countenance, and sweet tears flowed in streams from his eyes. Devout persons strove every day to assist at his mass as at a sacrifice offered by the hands of a saint. In the secret communications which passed between his pure soul and God in contemplation, especially after he had been employed at the altar or in the confessional, he seemed already to enjoy a kind of anticipation of the delights of heaven. The last thirty years of his life he resided at Tolentino, and his zeal for the salvation of souls produced there wonderful fruit. He preached almost every day, and his sermons were always signalized by remarkable conversions. His exhortations, whether in the confessional or in giving catechism, were always such as reached to the heart, and left lasting salutary impressions on those that heard him. What time could be spared from those charitable functions, he spent in prayer and contemplation. He was favored with visions, and wrought several miraculous cures. For the exercise of his virtue he was long afflicted with divers painful distempers. His holy death happened on the 10th of September in 1306, and he was canonized by Eugenius IV. in 1446. His body was buried in the church of his convent at Tolentmo, in a chapel in which he used to say mass, and his tomb there is held in veneration.

The saints, how much soever they had subdued their passions, and strengthened themselves in habits of all virtues, always watched with extraordinary vigilance over all their words and actions, and every motion of their hearts, knowing this life to be a state of perpetual warfare and danger. To prevent all attacks from the enemy, it is the duty of a Christian to be always provided, and in time of peace to expect his return; this disposition will contribute to keep him at a distance; and a neglect of it will certainly invite him to take advantage of our supine sloth, and, by subtle stratagems, or by open force, easily to overthrow us at unawares. By frequent self-examination, the practice of self-denial, the dispositions of humble fear and compunction, and by watchfulness against all occasions of danger, we must continually be armed, and ready to repulse him: if we leave the avenues of our soul open or unguarded, and trust him within our gates, he enters smoothly, but, like a cancer, brings death.

SEPTEMBER 10 — ST. PULCEHRIA, V. EMPRESS

From Sozomen,1. 9, Theodorus Lector, the Paschal Chronicle of Alexandria, &c. See amongst the moderns Tillemont, t. 15, and especially Orsl. Stilting the Bollandist, t. 3, Sept. p. 504. Pinius the Bollandist, ib. t. 5, p. 778, in an Appendix, and Benedict XIV.’s Bull to grant an office in her honor to several Congregations of Regular Canons, to the Jesuits, &c. an. 1752.

A. D. 453.

IN this incomparable princess virtue shone forth on the imperial throne in the brightest lustre, and showed itself equally happy in itself, and equally invincible in the trials of adversity and those (which are usually more dangerous) of flattering prosperity. The empress Pulcheria was granddaughter to Theodosius the Great, and daughter to Arcadius, emperor of the East, and his wife Eudoxia. She was born in 399, and had three sisters; Flaccilla, who was the eldest, but died soon, and Arcadia and Marina who were younger than Pulcheria. Arcadius was a weak prince, always governed by his wife and his eunuchs; he reigned thirteen years and three months from the death of his father Theodosius, and died on the 1st of May, in the year 408, having lived thirty-one years and some months. He left a son eight years old, and appointed for his minister and tutor Anthemius, one of the wisest men in the empire, who had been a constant friend to St. Aphraates and St. Chrysostom. St. Pulcheria was only five years old when she lost her mother, and nine when she lost her father; but for her prudence and piety she was, from her infancy, the miracle of the world. On the 14th of July in 414, though only fifteen years of age, she was declared, in the name of her young brother, Augusta and partner with him in the imperial dignity, and charged with the care of his instruction, though but two years older than him. Her wisdom, capacity and sedateness, in which she far exceeded any of her age, supplied her want of experience. To cultivate her brother’s mind, and give him an education suitable to his rank, she placed about him the most learned and virtuous masters, and made it her first concern to instil into him sentiments of religion and piety, being sensible that all other qualifications are useless and often dangerous when not guided by these principles. She taught him to pray with great devotion, to love the places of divine worship, and to have a great zeal for the Catholic Church and its holy doctrine. Whatever was valuable in that prince, was, under God, owing to Pulcheria, and if she did not make him greater, all agree that nothing was wanting on her side. She also took care of the education of her two surviving sisters, who, to the end of their lives, endeavored to tread in her steps.

Out of a motive of perfect virtue (not out of views of prudent policy lest suitors for marriage should embroil the state) at fifteen years of age she made a public vow of virginity, and induced her sisters to do the same. They had a share in all her employments except those that regarded the state; they ate together, were united in all acts of devotion and charity, and what time was not devoted to exercises of piety, and to useful studies, they employed in working tapestry or embroidery. Pulcheria only absented herself when she was obliged to attend upon business of the state, finding a solitude in the palace itself. The penitential austerities which she practised, were such as seemed rather to suit a recluse than one who lived in a court. Men were denied entrance in hers and her sisters’ apartments for avoiding the least suspicion or shadow of danger; and she never saw or spoke to any man but in public places. The imperial palace, under her direction, was as regular as a monastery. Upon all emergencies, in imitation of Moses, she consulted heaven by devout prayer; then listened to the advice of able counsellors before she took any resolution in matters of weight. The imperial council was, through her discernment, composed of the wisest, most virtuous, and most experienced persons in the empire; yet, in deliberations, all of them readily acknowledged the superiority of her judgment and penetration. Her resolutions were the result of the most mature consideration, and she took care herself that all orders should be executed with incredible expedition, though always in the name of her brother, to whom she gave the honor and reputation of all she did. She was herself well skilled in the Greek and Latin tongues, in history and other useful branches of literature; and was, as every one must be who is endowed with greatness of soul, and a just idea of the dignity of the human mind, the declared patroness of the sciences, and of both the useful and polite arts. Far from making religion subservient to policy, all her views and projects were regulated by that virtue; and by this the happiness of her government was complete. She prevented by her prudence all revolts which ambition, jealousy, or envy might stir up to disturb the tranquillity of the Church or State; she cemented a firm peace with all neighboring powers, and abolished the wretched remains of idolatry in several parts. Never did virtue reign in the Oriental empire with greater lustre, never was the state more happy or more flourishing, nor was its name ever more respected even among the barbarians, than whilst the reins of the government were in the hands of Pulcheria.

Theodosius was twenty years old when it was thought proper for him to marry, and, by the advice of Pulcheria, he pitched upon Athenais, the daughter of an Athenian philosopher, who had given her an excellent education but had disinherited her. She came to court to procure his will to be made void on that account, and, by her beauty, genius, and uncommon accomplishments, raised the admiration of every one, insomuch that the emperor judged her most worthy to be made his consort. She was first baptized, for she had been brought up an idolater. Her name Athenais being derived from Athena or Minerva, she changed it into that of Eudocia, and Theodosius was married to her on the 7th of June, 421. Two years after. in 423, he declared her Augusta. This marriage made no alteration in the state, the chief administration being still entrusted to Pulcheria, till the eunuch Chrysaphius, a great favorite with the emperor, prepossessed Eudocia against her, who had been long mortified at the great sway her sister had in the government. In 431 Nestorius was condemned in the council of Ephesus. Chrysaphius and Eudocia were indefatigable in their intrigues and practices to ruin Pulcheria; and the emperor (whose misfortune was supine indolence, and weakness of understanding), after having been long deaf to their insinuations, at length was so far worked upon as to give heartily into all that they said against her. Upon their suggestion he sent an order to St. Flavian, bishop of Constantinople, to make her a deaconess of his church. The good prelate waited on the emperor, and urged cogent reasons against the proposal. Finding the prince resolutely bent on the thing, he went home, promising to return to court at an appointed time; but he first sent a private message to Pulcheria, desiring her to take care to be out of the way. The princess understood by this hint the contrivance of her enemies, and retired to a country seat in the plains of Hebdomon, with a resolution of spending the remainder of her days in silence and holy retirement. This happened in the year 447. The consequences of this removal were most unhappy both to the emperor and to the State and Church; for the eunuch and empress, out of revenge, persecutes St. Flavian, patronized Eutyches, the heresiarch, whom he had condemned, and supported Dioscorus and other Eutychians in the most outrageous acts of fury and violence in the Latrocinale of Ephesus in 449. Theodosius himself was prevailed upon blindly to publish an edict, declaring an approbation of all these proceedings, and of the second council of Ephesus, as he styled the violent assembly of Dioscorus and the other furious heretics, usually called the Latrocinale or assembly of robbers.

Pulcheria looked upon her retreat as a favor of heaven, and in it she consecrated all her time to God in prayer, contemplation, and the exercise of good works. She made no complaints of her brother’s ingratitude, of the empress who owed everything to her, or of their unjust ministers. Her desire was both to forget the world and to be forgotten by it, esteeming herself most happy in having no other business on her hands than that of conversing with God, and meditating on divine truths. Nothing could have drawn her from the pleasure she enjoyed in this sweet solitude but the dangers which threatened the Church and State, and compassion for her brother, whose credulity was so basely abused. Seeing at length impiety and malice carried to the highest pitch, and pressed by the letters of the holy pope St. Leo, she boldly went to court, and having procured admittance, spoke in such a manner to the emperor, that, upon the spot, he opened his eyes, saw the brink of the precipice to which he had been pushed by designing persons, disgraced Chrysaphius, banished him into an island, and caused him there to be put to death. The emperor was thus happily disabused of his errors a little before his death, which happened on the 29th of July, in the year 450, the forty-ninth of his age, and forty-first of his reign. His widow Eudocia retired into Palestine, where she ended her days.

St. Pulcheria, by the death of her brother, remained mistress of the Eastern empire. To strengthen her authority she chose a partner in the throne, who was an excellent general, a wise statesman, very zealous for the Catholic faith, exceeding virtuous, and particularly charitable to the poor. His name was Marcian; he was a native of Illyricum, and a widower. By a former marriage be had a daughter named Euphemia, who married Anthemius, afterward emperor of the West. Pulcheria, judging it might be of great advantage to the State, and enhance Marcian’s credit and authority, proposed to marry him, on condition that she should be at full liberty to preserve her vow of virginity. Marcian readily embraced the proposal; and these two great souls governed together like two friends who had in all things the same views and sentiments, which all centred in the advancement of religion, piety, and the public weal. They received favorably, and with great joy, four legates sent by St. Leo the Great to Constantinople, and their zeal for the Catholic faith deserved the highest commendations of that pope, and of the general council of Chalcedon, which, under their protection, condemned the Eutychian heresy in 451. They did their utmost to have the decrees of this synod executed over all the East, but met with great difficulties in Egypt and Palestine, from the obstinacy of the Eutychians in those parts. St. Pulcheria wrote herself two letters, one to certain monks, another to an abbess of nuns, in Palestine, to convince them that the council of Chalcedon did not revive Nestorianism, but condemned that error together with the opposite heresy of Eutyches.1

This great empress built many churches, and among these, three in honor of the Blessed Virgin, namely, that of Blaguerna, that of Chalcopratum, and that of Hodegus.2 In this last she placed a famous picture of the Blessed Virgin, which the empress Eudocia had sent her from Jerusalem, as the work of St. Luke the Evangelist.3 Historians assure us that volumes would be required to sum up all the churches, monasteries, and especially the hospitals which St. Pulcheria founded and richly endowed. After despatching public affairs, her whole employment was to pray, read good books, and visit and serve the poor with her own hands. Sozomen relates, that she was admonished by several visions to procure a solemn translation to be made of a considerable part of the relics of the forty martyrs, which she enclosed in a rich shrine. That historian, who was an eye-witness to this ceremony, makes mention of the extraordinary devotion with which the people applied cloths and handkerchiefs to those relics.4 This good empress having been all her life the protectress of the Church, and the tender mother of the poor, she at her death gave to these latter, by her will, all her goods or private estates, which were very considerable in different parts of the empire. If we consider her great actions and heroic virtues, we shall be persuaded that the great commendations which St. Proclus in his panegyric on her, St. Leo, and the general council of Chalcedon bestowed on this empress, were so far from being compliments or strains of eloquence, as to fall far short of her extraordinary merit, which no words can sufficiently celebrate. A little before her death she had finished the court of the church of St. Laurence, in her own palace, which was of most excellent workmanship. She passed from a temporal to an eternal crown in 453, on the 10th of September, being sixty-eight years and some months old. Marcian punctually executed her will in favor of the poor, and being enriched with the treasure of his devotion, almost boundless charities and good works, followed her to immortal bliss on the 26th of January, 457, aged threescore and five years, having reigned six and a half. His memory is blessed for his virtues, and for the great services he did religion. Leo, a native of Thrace, was chosen his successor in the empire. Both Latins and Greeks celebrate the feast of St. Pulcheria as of a holy virgin. The learned pope Benedict XIV. expresses a singular veneration for her memory.

In the first year of the eighth general persecution, raised by Valerian, St. Cyprian was banished by the proconsul of Carthage to Curubis. At the same time the president of Numidia* proceeded with more severity against the Christians, tortured many, and afterward put several to barbarous deaths, and sent others to work in the mines, or rather in quarries of marble; for Pliny tells us there were no other in Numidia. Out of this holy company some were frequently culled to be tormented afresh, or inhumanly butchered, whilst others continued their lingering martyrdom in hunger, nakedness, and filth, exhausted with hard labor, and tormented with daily stripes, and perpetual reproaches and insults. St. Cyprian wrote from the place of his banishment to comfort and encourage these gallant sufferers for their faith.1 He tells them, that hearing of their glorious conflicts he earnestly desired to wait upon them in person, and hasten to their embraces; but was not able, being himself in banishment, and confined to the limits of the place appointed for him. He adds: “Yet in heart and spirit I am with you, and my letter must perform the office of my tongue, in expressing to you the joy of my soul for the glory of your virtues, and the share I reckon myself to have in it, though not by a participation of your sufferings, yet, by the communion of charity. It is impossible for me to be silent when I hear such glorious things of my nearest and dearest friends, whom the favorable providence of God hath vouchsafed to honor with such extraordinary graces; some of your happy company having already attained the crown of martyrdom, whilst others stay yet behind in bonds, or in the mines, and by the delay of their consummation, encourage our brethren to follow their example, and to aspire after like honors with them. Their slow and lingering torments enhance their crowns, and each day of their continuance in a state of suffering will entitle them to a distinct reward. That our Lord should prefer you to the highest honors, I cannot wonder, since you have all along proceeded in one regular and uniform course of faith and obedience; and the Church hath ever found you peaceable and orderly members, diligent and faithful in the charge committed to you; careful always of the poor; vigorous and constant in defence of the truth; firm and strict in your observance of her discipline” (viz., never giving in to the faction of those who encouraged unreasonable relaxations); “and, to crown your other virtues you now, by your example, lead on the rest of your brethren to martyrdom.—As to the entrance you made upon your gallant confession by being beaten with clubs, Christians should not shrink at a club, who have all their hopes founded in the wood of the cross, by which they were redeemed unto life eternal. A servant of Christ discerns in wood a figure of his salvation, and embraces in it the instrument by which he is preferred to the martyr’s glory. They have manacled your feet with fetters marked with infamy; but they cannot reach your souls; and that iron sits rather as an ornament upon persons devoted to God. Happy are the feet so bound, which are moving forward in their blessed journey to paradise. You have nothing but the ground to receive your weary limbs after the labors of the day; but surely you will not account it a punishment to lie on the ground with your master Christ. Your bodies are loathsome and nasty for want of bathing;* but your spirits are cleansed in the inner man, proportionably as the flesh of the outer suffers through dirt and filth. Your bread is poor and scanty; but man doth not live by bread alone, but by the word of God. You are in want of clothing to keep out the cold; but he who hath put on Christ is abundantly clothed and adorned. The hair of your head, when half of it is shaved, hath a dismal and ignominious aspect;† but nothing can misbecome a head, renowned for its adherence to Christ. How will all these deformities, which make such a shocking appearance in the eye of the Gentile world, be recompensed in eternal glory with honors pro portionable to your disgrace! Neither can your religion suffer, even from that hard circumstance, that the priests among you have not the liberty, nor the opportunity to offer, and celebrate the divine sacrifice;‡ but you present yourselves victims to God with the sacrifice of a contrite and humbled heart, which he will not despise, and which you cease not to offer day and night.”

The holy archbishop goes on pathetically encouraging the confessors to take the cup of salvation with readiness and alacrity, and to receive with courage and constancy that death which is precious in the sight of God, who graciously looks down upon their conflict, approves and assists their ardor, and crowns them when victorious, recompensing the virtues which himself hath wrought in them. That great saint puts them in mind that their crowns would be multiplied by all those whom their courage should excite to virtue. “Accordingly,” says he, “a great number of our lay-brethren have followed your example, have confessed our Lord, and stand thence entitled to a crown with you; as being united to you in the bonds of an invincible charity, and not suffering themselves to be divided from their bishops, either in the mines, or in the prison. Nor are you without the company of tender virgins, who move forwards to their crown with the double title of virgins and martyrs. Even the courage of children hath approved itself beyond their age, and the glory of their confession hath surpassed their years; so that your blessed troop of martyrs hath each age and sex to adorn it. How strong, my beloved brethren, is even now the sense of your victory! How joyful must it be to you to consider that each of you stand in readiness to receive the promised recompense at the hands of God: that you are secure of the issues of the last judgment: that Christ affordeth you his gracious presence, and rejoiceth to see the fortitude and patience of his servants who follow his steps to their joy and crown. You live in daily expectation of being dismissed to your proper home, to your heavenly habitation,” &c. The confessors thanked Saint Cyprian for his letter, which, they say, had alleviated their stripes and hardships, and rendered them insensible of those noisome exhalations with which the place of their confinement abounded. They tell him, that by gloriously confessing his faith in the proconsul’s court, and going before them into banishment, he had sounded the charge to them, and animated all the soldiers of God to the conflict. They conclude begging his prayers, and say: “Let us assist one another by our prayers, that God and Christ, and the whole choir of angels may lend us their favorable succor when we shall most want it.”2 This glorious company of saints is commemorated on this day in the Roman Martyrology.

SEPTEMBER 10 — ST. FINIAN, CALLED WININ BY THE WELSH, B. C

He was born in Ireland about the beginning of the sixth century, travelled abroad for his spiritual improvement, and returning home, founded the monastery of Maghbile. He was at length chosen bishop, and since his happy death, is honored as chief patron of Ulster in Ireland. See Colgan, Usher, and Britannia Sancta.

SEPTEMBER 10 — ST. SALVIUS, BISHOP OF ALBI IN LANGUEDOC

He was the seventh bishop of Albi, which see had been founded by St. Clarus, who is said to have suffered martyrdom in the third age, and who is honored the 1st of July. Before this he had been employed in the first offices of magistracy in the province; but his love for retirement, and the desire of being wholly freed from the distractions which impede a constant union with God, induced him to embrace the monastic state, in which he exhibited an example of piety to his brethren, who afterward chose him for their abbot. He chiefly confined himself to a cell at a distance from the rest. Here, being seized by a violent fever, he grew so ill, that he lay for dead in the opinion of all about him. Indeed the saint himself was always persuaded that he really died, and was restored to life by a miracle; be that as it will, he was soon after taken from his retreat, and placed in the see of Albi. He lived as austere as ever, and constantly refused the presents that were made him; but, if anything were forced upon him, he on the spot distributed the whole among the poor. The patrician Mommolus having taken a great number of prisoners at Albi, the saint followed, and redeemed them all. Salvius flourished in the reigns of Gontran, Childebert, and Chilperic: he withdrew the last of these princes from an error he had fallen into concerning the Trinity. In the eighteenth year of his episcopacy, an epidemic disorder made great havoc among his flock: at this season of peril, it was in vain his friends advised him to be careful of his health; animated with a zeal, unwearied as it was undaunted, he flew everywhere he thought his presence necessary. He visited the sick, comforted them, and exhorted them to prepare for eternity by the practice of such good works as their condition admitted. Perceiving that his last hour was near, he ordered his coffin to be made, changed his clothes, and prepared himself with a most edifying fervor, to appear before God. He did not long survive the synod of Brennac, at which he assisted in 580.* See the Roman Martyrology, St. Greg. of Tours, and the Gallia Christ. Nova, t. 1, p. 5.

SEPTEMBER 11 — SS. PROTUS AND HYACINTHUS, MARTYRS

The saints whose victory the Church commemorates on this day are honored among the most illustrious martyrs that ennobled Rome with their blood, when the emperors of the world attempted, with the whole weight of their power, to crush the little flock of Christ. Their epitaph, among the works of pope Damasus, calls them brothers, and informs us, that Hyacinthus sustained the first conflict, but that Protus obtained his crown before him. They are said, in the Acts of St. Eugenia, to have been eunuchs and retainers to that virtuous lady and martyr, who is honored on the 25th of December. Their martyrdom, and that of Eugenia, is placed in these acts under Valerian, in 257, but the Liberian Calendar assures us, that St. Basilla, who seems to have been a companion of St. Eugenia, received her crown on the 22d of September, in the persecution of Dioclesian, in 304, and was buried on the Salarian Way. St. Avitus of Vienne, about the year 500, Fortunatus, and others, make mention of St. Eugenia among the most celebrated virgins and martyrs.1 The ancient calendar, drawn up in the pontificate of Liberius, mentions the festival of SS. Protus and Hyacinthus on the 11th of September, as celebrated at their tomb on the old Salarian Way, in the cemetery of Basilla, who lay buried at some distance. Her name ought rather to be written Bassilla, as it is in the Liberian Calendar; for it is derived from Bassus. This cemetery was afterward comprised under that of St. Priscilla, who was buried not far off on the new Salarian Way.2 Saints Protus and Hyacinthus are honored in the sacramentary of St. Gregory, in the ancient Martyrology, published by F. Fronto, and in those of Bede, Usuard, Vandelbert, &c. Pope Damasus, in 366, removed the earth which hid the tomb of these two martyrs from the view of the faithful; and, during his pontificate, a priest named Theodorus built over it a church, as appears from an ancient epitaph published by Baronius. Anastasius relates, that pope Symmachus afterward adorned it with plates and vessels of silver. Pope Clement VIII., in 1592, caused the sacred remains of SS. Protus and Hyacinthus to be removed from this church into the city, and to be deposited in the church of St. John Baptist, belonging to the Florentines; of which translation an account is given us by Sarazanius, an eye-witness, in his notes on the poems of pope Damasus. A considerable part of their relics was given to the Benedictin abbey at Mulinheim, now called Saligunstat (i. e. seat of the blessed), in the diocess of Mentz, in 829, as Eginhard and others relate; part to the church of St. Vincent at Metz, about the year 972, &c. See Perier the Bollandist, t. 2, Sept. p. 758. Pope Damasus’s poems, carm. 27, p. 74. Tillemont, Persecut. de Valerien, art. 6.

What words can we find sufficiently to extol the heroic virtue and invincible fortitude of the martyrs! They stood out against the fury of those tyrants whose arms had subdued the most distant nations; to whose yoke almost the whole known world was subject, and whose power both kings and people revered. They, standing alone, without any preparation of war, appeared undaunted in the presence of those proud conquerors, who seemed to think that the very earth ought to bend under their feet. Armed with virtue and divine grace, they were an over-match for all the powers of the world and hell; they fought with wild beasts, fires, and swords; with intrepidity and wonderful cheerfulness they braved the most cruel torments, and by humility, patience, meekness, and constancy, baffled all enemies, and triumphed over men and devils. How glorious was the victory of such an invincible virtue! Having before our eyes the examples of so many holy saints, are we yet so dastardly as to shrink under temptations, or to lose patience under the most ordinary trials?

SEPTEMBER 11 — ST. PAPHNUTIUS, B. C

The holy confessor Paphnutius was an Egyptian, and after having spent several years in the desert, under the direction of the great St. Antony, was made bishop in Upper Thebais. He was one of those confessors who, under the tyrant Maximin Daia, lost their right eye, and were afterwards sent to work in the mines. Sozomen and Theodoret add, that his left ham was cut; by which we are to understand that the sinews were cut so as to render the left leg entirely useless. Eusebius takes notice, that this punishment was inflicted on many Christians in that bloody reign. Peace being restored to the Church, Paphnutius returned to his flock, bearing all the rest of his life the glorious marks of his sufferings for the name of his crucified master. The Arian heresy being broached in Egypt, he was one of the most zealous in defending the Catholic faith, and for his eminent sanctity, and the glorious title of confessor (or one who had confessed the faith before the persecutors, and under torments), was highly considered in the great council of Nice. Constantine the Great, during the celebration of that synod, sometimes conferred privately with him in his palace, and never dismissed him without kissing respectfully the place where the eye he had lost for the faith was once situated.

The fathers of the council of Nice, in the third canon, strictly forbid all clergymen to entertain in their houses any women, except a mother, aunt, sister, or such as could leave no room for suspicion.* Socrates1 and Sozomen2 relate, that the bishops were for making a general law, forbidding all bishops, priests, deacons, and subdeacons, to live with wives whom they had married before their ordination; but that the confessor Paphnutius rose up in the midst of the assembly and opposed the motion, saying, that it was enough to conform to the ancient tradition of the Church, which forbade the clergy marrying after their ordination. These authors add, that the whole council came into his way of thinking, and made no new law on that point. On account of the silence of other writers, and on the testimonies of St. Jerom, St. Epiphanius, and others, Bellarmin and Orsi3 suspect that Socrates and Sozomen were misinformed in this story.* There is, however, nothing repugnant in the narration; for it might seem unadvisable to make too severe a law, at that time, against some married men, who, in certain obscure churches, might have been ordained without such a condition. St. Paphnutius remained always in a close union with St. Athanasius, and the other Catholic prelates. He and St. Potamon, bishop of Heraclea, with forty-seven other Egyptian bishops, accompanied their holy patriarch to the council of Tyre, in 335, where they found much the greater part of the members who composed that assembly to be professed Arians. Paphnutius seeing Maximus, bishop of Jerusalem, among them, and full of concern to find an orthodox prelate who had suffered in the late persecution, in such bad company, took him by the hand, led him out, and told him, he could not see that one who bore the same marks as he in defence of the faith, should be seduced and imposed upon by persons that were resolved to oppress the most strenuous asserter of its fundamental article. He then let him into the whole plot of the Arians, which, till that moment, had been a secret to the good bishop of Jerusalem, who by this means was put upon his guard against the crafty insinuations of hypocrites, and fixed forever in the communion of St. Athanasius. We have no particular account of the death of St. Paphnutius; but his name stands in the Roman Martyrology on the 11th of September. See Stilting, p. 778.

SEPTEMBER 11 — SAINT PATIENS, ARCHBISHOP OF LYONS, C

God, by an admirable effect of his holy providence, was pleased to raise up this holy prelate for the comfort and support of his servants in Gaul, under the calamities with which that country was afflicted during great part of the fifth century. For his extraordinary virtues he was placed in the archiepiscopal chair of Lyons some time before the year 470: many think soon after the death of St. Eucherius in 450.1 By the dignity of his see he was metropolitan of the province called the Second of Lyons; but he diffused the effects of his boundless charity over all the provinces of Gaul. Providence wonderfully multiplied his revenues in his hands, to furnish him with abundant supplies to build a great number of rich and stately churches, to repair, adorn, and embellish many old ones, and to feed the poor in the greatest part of the towns in Gaul, as Apollinaris Sidonius assures us.2 That illustrious contemporary prelate and friend of our saint declares, that he knew not which to admire and praise more in him, his zeal for the divine honor or his charity for the poor. By his pastoral solicitude and assiduous sermons many heretics were converted to the faith, and the Catholic Church every day enlarged its pale. A great field was opened to the holy prelate for the exercise of his zeal; for the Burgundians, who were at that time masters of the city of Lyons, were a brutish and savage nation, and infected with the heresies of the Arians and Photinians. St. Patiens found the secret first to gain their hearts, and afterward to open their understandings, convince them of the truth, and draw them out of the abyss of their errors.

The forty-eighth sermon among those attributed to Eusebius of Emisa, which is ascribed by the learned to our saint, is a confutation of the Photinian and Arian heresies.* By order of St. Patiens, Constantius, a priest among his clergy, wrote the life of St. Germanus of Auxerre, which work he dedicated to our saint, and to Censurius of Auxerre. All pastoral virtues shone in an eminent degree in this apostolic bishop, says St. Apollinaris Sidonius. Like another Ambrose, he knew how to join severity with compassion, and activity with prudence and discretion. He seems to have died about the year 480.3 His name is honored on the 11th of September in the Roman Martyrology. See Apollinaris Sidonius, Tillemont, Dom. Rivet, Hist. Littér. de la France, t. 2, p. 504.

SEPTEMBER 12 — ST. EANSWIDE, V. ABBESS

From her like in Capgrave: another MS. life by Ralph Buckland; Harpsfield, sæc. 7, c. 10, Alford’s Annals t. 2, p. 640; Lambert’s Peramb. of Kent, fol. 160; Narrat. vet. de SS. Angl. qulesc. ap. Hickes, Thesaur. ling Sept. Diss. Ep. p. 115, t. 1.

Seventh Age.

ST. ETHELBERT, the first Christian king among the English, was succeeded in the kingdom of Kent by his son Eadbald, who, though he was at first an impious and idolatrous prince, became afterward a zealous Christian and a fervent penitent, as appears from his religious foundations, and from the letters which were addressed to him by the popes. His daughter Eanswide added lustre to her birth by the eminent sanctity of her life. The great truths of our holy religion sank so deep in her tender heart, that from her infancy, her whole delight was in prayer and the love of God. Hence she despised the world, and all its foolish vanities and amusements. She rejected all proposals that tended to engage her in marriage, fearing the duties of that state, though good and just in themselves, would interrupt her darling exercises of devotion and heavenly contemplation. Having, by perseverance and importunity, obtained at length her father’s consent, she founded a monastery of nuns upon the sea-coast, hard by Folkstone, in Kent. Hare she sacrificed the affections of her heart to her heavenly Spouse night and day in penance and prayer, till she was called to rest from her labors on the last day of August, in the seventh century. The sea having afterward swallowed up part of this priory, the nunnery was removed to Folkstone, and the saint’s relics were deposited in that church which had been built by her father, king Eadbald, in honor of St. Peter; but, after this translation of her relics, was often known by her name. St. Eanswide was famous for many miracles; her chief festival in the English calendar was kept on the 12th of September, probably the day of the translation of her relics, or of the dedication of some church in her honour.

Holy retirement, perfect purity of mind and body, and the uninterrupted exercises of heavenly contemplation and prayer, are then only great and excellent virtues, when founded in sincere humility, and improved by divine charity. By neglecting this, many may so quit the world, and embrace a severe course of life, as only to be martyrs of the devil, by seeking themselves even in the things they have renounced. The saints, who made this sacrifice to God, were always solicitous to render it complete, and they showed themselves more perfect as they saw more and more their own spiritual poverty, and continually aspired with the utmost ardor after greater perfection; for, as St. Bernard remarks, no one is perfect but in proportion to the fervor with which he labors to become more so, and to the sincere humility wherewith he sees how far he falls short in every duty, and how much he is a slothful and unprofitable servant.

SEPTEMBER 12 — ST. GUY, C

From his life in Surius; also Miræus, in his Fasti, and Annales, Gramaye in Bruxella, p. 10, and particularly in Sanderus, in Chron. Brabant, at Lacâ Partheniâ, sect. 41, 42. The Bollandists, t. 3, Sept. p. 36.

About A. D. 1012, or rather 1033.

ST. GUY, in Latin Guido, commonly called the Poor Man of Anderlecht, was born in the country near Brussels, of mean parents, but both very virtuous, consequently content and happy in their station. They were not able to give their son a school education, nor did they on that account repine, but redoubled their diligence in instructing him early in the rudiments of the Christian doctrine, and in all the maxims of our holy religion, often repeating to him the lesson which old Toby gave his son, “We shall be rich enough if we fear God.” But their own example was the most powerful constant instruction, and inspired him more strongly than words could do with the Christian spirit of humility, meekness, and piety, and with a fear of God, animated by charity, which is fruitful in all manner of good works. Guy was from his cradle serious, obedient, mild, patient, docile, and an enemy to the least sloth. He conceived the highest sense of all religious duties, and was inured, both by his parents’ care and by his own fervor, to the practice of them. The meanness of his condition much delighted him as soon as he was of an age to know its value. He rejoiced to see himself placed in a state which Christ had chosen for himself. This conformity to his divine Master, who lived and died in extreme poverty, and the humiliation inseparable from his condition, were very pleasing to him, and it was his chief care to make use of the advantages it afforded him for the exercise of all heroic virtues. He showed to the rich and the great ones of the world all possible respect, but never envied or coveted their fortunes, and sighed sincerely to see men in all states so eagerly wedded to the goods of the earth, which they so much overrate. When he met with poor persons who grieved to see themselves such, he exhorted them not to lose by murmuring, impatience, and unprofitable inordinate desires the treasure which God put into their hands. The painful labor, hardships, inconveniences, and humiliations to which his condition exposed him, he looked upon as its most precious advantages, being sensible that the poverty which our Redeemer chose was not such a one as even worldlings would desire, abounding with all the necessaries and comforts of life, but a poverty which is accompanied with continued privations, sufferings, and denials of the gratification of the senses. The great curse which Christ denounces against riches regards the inordinate pleasure that is sought in the abundance of earthly goods, and in the delights of sense.

St. Austin says, that God ranks among the reprobate, not only those who shall have received their comfort on earth, but also those who shall have grieved to be deprived of it. This was the misfortune which Guy dreaded. In order to preserve himself from it, he never ceased to beg of God the grace to love the happy state of poverty in which divine providence had placed him, and to bear all its hardships with joy and perfect resignation, in a spirit of penance, without which all the tribulations of this world are of no advantage for heaven. The charity which Guy had for his neighbor was not less active than his love of mortification and penance. He divided his morsel with the poor, and often fed them whilst he fasted himself. He stole from himself some hours every day to visit the sick, and carried to them all that he was able. At his labor he was faithful and diligent; and a spirit of prayer sanctified all his actions. Such was his life even in his youth. As virtue is infinitely the most precious inheritance that parents can leave to their children, his father and mother entertained, as much as was in their power, this rich stock of pious inclinations which grace had planted in their son, and daily begged of God to preserve and increase in that innocent heart the holy fire which he himself had kindled. Their prayers were heard: Guy’s early virtues, by diligent culture and exercise, grew up with him to greater strength and maturity, and advanced more and more towards perfection.

As Guy was one day praying in the church of our Lady, at Laken, a mile from Brussels, the curate of the place was charmed to see his recollection and devotion, and, taking an opportunity afterward to discourse with him, was much more struck with the piety and unction of his conversation, and retained him in the service of his church in quality of beadle. This church is the most ancient of all the famous places of devotion to the Blessed Virgin in those parts. The name of Laken signifies a convent or house in a moist or marshy ground, as Sanderus shows. The saint, who rejoiced to have an opportunity of being always employed in the most humble offices of religion, embraced the offer with pleasure. His business was to sweep the church, dress the altars, fold up the vestments, take care of the linen and other movables used in the service of God, ring the bell for mass and vespers, and provide flowers and other decorations which were used in that church: all which he performed with the utmost exactness and veneration which the most profound sense of religion can inspire. The neatness and good order that appeared in everything under his direction edified all that came to that church; for, out of a true spirit of religion, the servant of God looked upon nothing as small which belonged to the service of God, or to the decency of his house. His religious silence, modesty, and recollection in the church seemed to say to others, “This is the house of the Lord: tremble you that approach his sanctuary.” During his employments he walked always in the divine presence, praying in his heart. When they were done, he refreshed his soul at the foot of the altar in fervent exercises of devotion; and often passed whole nights in prayer. He chastised his body by rigorous fasts, and endeavored, by constant compunction and the severity of his penance, to prevent the anger of his Judge at the last day. Had it been reasonable to form a judgment of the enormity of his sins by the humble sentiments he entertained of himself, and by the penitential tears he shed, he would have passed for the most grievous sinner upon the face of the earth; whereas the sins he so grievously bewailed were only the lightest faults of inadvertence, such as the just fall into, and which only his great purity of heart could have discerned, and which it magnified in his eyes. To wipe away these daily stains (through the merits of Christ’s passion applied to his soul) he lived in constant compunction, learning every day to become more watchful over himself in all his words and actions, and in all the motions of his heart. By humility and meekness he was sweet and courteous to all, showing that true virtue is amiable to men, and that nothing so much civilizes the human soul. Out of his small salary he found a great deal for the poor; and, for their sake, he always lived himself in the greatest poverty, and often begged to procure them relief. For his humiliation God permitted the following trial to befall him.

A certain merchant of Brussels persuaded him to endeavor, by a little commerce, to gain something for the succor of the poor, and offered to put him in a way of thus making a more plentiful provision for them, by admitting him into a partnership in trade with himself. Guy’s compassion for the necessitous wrought more powerfully with him than any other regard could have done; nor was it easy for him to throw off the importunities of his tenderness for them. The bait was specious, and he was taken by it: but God did not suffer him long to remain in that illusion. The vessel, which was chiefly freighted by his partner, perished in going out of the harbor, and Guy, whose place in the church of Laken, upon his quitting, had been given to another, was on a sudden left destitute. He saw his mistake in following his own prudence, and in forsaking a secure and humble employment in which Providence had fixed him, to embark, though with a good intention, in the affairs of the world, in which by dissipation, his virtue would perhaps have been much impaired, and worldly attachments secretly have taken root in his heart. For, though this employment was good in itself, yet he considered that God had justly punished his rashness in forsaking a station so suitable to the practice of piety, and had in mercy turned another way that affluence which might more probably have produced in him an affection to avarice or luxury, than have enlarged his charity. For plenty, riches, and worldly prosperity do not always, like soft distilling rains and dew, cherish, refresh, and increase the tender plant of virtue; but much more frequently, like a flood, wash away the earth from its roots, and either utterly extirpate it, or leave it oppressed and buried in rubbish, according to the maxims of eternal truth, condemning the spirit of the world, which the experience as well as reason of mankind confirms. This St. Guy clearly saw under his disappointment, and he condemned himself for the false step he had taken.

Another danger to which he had lived long exposed, was the persecution, if we may so call it, of the applause and praises of the world, which his virtue drew upon him in his low station. He had always carefully studied to arm himself against this temptation by the most sincere humility and constant watchfulness; but now, upon a review of his heart and whole conduct, he resolved to avoid this flattering enemy, by seeking out some foreign retirement. In this disposition, and in a spirit of penance for his reputed fault, he made an austere pilgrimage, first to Rome, and then to Jerusalem, and visited all the most celebrated places of devotion in the Christian world. Being returned as far as Rome, he there met Wondulf, dean of the church of Anderlecht (a little town about two miles from Brussels), who, with some others, was ready to set out for the Holy Land. Guy was prevailed upon by them to be their guide, and to take another penitential journey thither. The dean and his companions were all carried off by a pestilential distemper, just as they were going to set sail from Palestine to return to Europe. Guy attended them in the time of their sickness, took care of their funerals, and, after seven years’ absence, returned to Anderlecht. The subdean of the chapter gave him an apartment in his house, not suffering him to return to Laken. The fatigues of his journeys, and other great hardships he had undergone, brought upon him a complication of distempers, of which he died soon after, on the 12th of September, about the year 1012, or rather 1033.* The canons buried him honorably in the ground belonging to their church. Many miracles that were performed by his intercession gave occasion to Gerard II. bishop of Arras and Cambray, about the year 1090, to order his sacred bones to be taken up, and a chapel to be built over the spot where they had been buried in the church-yard; for Anderlecht and Brussels were then in the diocess of Cambray thought they are now in that of Mechlin. In place of this chapel a magnificent collegiate church, under the patronage of St. Guy, was erected, and his relics translated into it in 1112. This church is endowed with very rich canonries, and is famous over the whole country.

SEPTEMBER 12 — ST. ALBEUS, B. C

This saint, who is honored as chief patron of Munster, one of the four provinces of Ireland, was converted by certain Britons, and had travelled to Rome before the arrival of St. Patrick among the Irish. After his return home, he became the disciple and fellow-laborer of that great apostle of his country, and being ordained by him first archbishop of Munster, fixed his see at Emely,* which has been long since removed to Cashel. With such a commanding authority did this apostolic man deliver the dictates of eternal wisdom to a rude and barbarous people, such was the force with which, both by words and example, he set forth the sanctity of the divine law, and so evident were the miracles with which he confirmed the heavenly truths which he preached, that the sacred doctrine easily made its way to the hearts of his hearers; and he not only brought over an incredible multitude to the faith of Christ, but infused into many the perfect spirit of the gospel, possessing a wonderful art of making men not only Christians but saints. King Engus having bestowed on him the isle of Arran, he founded in it a great monastery, which was so famous for the sanctity of its inhabitants, that from them the island was long called Arran of Saints. The rule which St. Albeus drew up for them is still extant in old Irish, as bishop Usher testifies. Though zeal for the divine honor and charity for the souls of others fixed him in the world, he was always careful, by habitual recollection and frequent retreats, to nourish in his own soul the pure love of heavenly things, and to live always in a very familiar and intimate acquaintance with himself, and in the daily habitual practice of the most interior perfect virtues. In his old age it was his earnest desire to commit to others the care of his dear flock, that he might be allowed to prepare himself in the exercises of holy solitude for his great change. For this purpose he begged that he might be suffered to retire to Thule, the remotest country toward the northern pole that was known to the ancients, which seems to have been Shetland, or, according to some, Iceland, or some part of Greenland: but the king guarded the ports to prevent his flight, and the saint died amidst the labors of his charge in 525, as the Ulster and Inisfallen Annals testify.† See Usher, Antiquit. p. 409. Sir James Ware, Antiquit. Hibern. p. 319, and on the bishops of Ireland, with additions, by Harris, p. 491.

SEPTEMBER 13 — ST. EULOGIUS, C. PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA

From Nicephorus’s Chronicle, the Paschal Chronicle, Photius, Bibl. Cod. 181, 208, 220, 230, &c.

a.d. 608.

ST. EULOGIUS was a Syrian by birth, and embraced young the monastic state in that country. The Eutychian heresy was then split into various sects, as it usually happens among such as have left the centre of union These, by their tyranny and the fury of their contests, had thrown the churches of Syria and Egypt into much confusion, and a great part of the monks of Syria were at that time become remarkable for their loose morals and errors against faith. Eulogius learned from the fall of others to stand more watchfully and firmly upon his guard, and was not less distinguished by the innocence and sanctity of his manners than by the purity of his doctrine. Having, by an enlarged pursuit of learning, attained to a great variety of useful knowledge in the different branches of literature, he set himself to the study of divinity in the sacred sources of that science, which are the holy scriptures, and the tradition of the Church explained in its councils, and the approved writings of its eminent pastors. From the time of his retreat he made this his chief study, to which he directed everything else; and, as his industry was indefatigable, his parts quick, his apprehensions lively, and his judgment solid, his progress was such as to qualify him to be an illustrious champion for the truth, worthy to be ranked with St. Gregory the Great and St. Eutychius as one of the greatest lights of the Church in the age wherein he lived. His character received still a brighter lustre from his sincere humility and spirit of holy compunction and prayer. In the great dangers and necessities of the Church he was drawn out of his solitude, and made priest of Antioch by the patriarch St. Anastasius, who was promoted to that dignity in 561, and, dying in 598, was succeeded by Anastasius the Younger. Saint Eulogius, whilst he lived at Antioch, entered into the strictest connexions with St. Eutychius, patriarch of Constantinople, and joined his forces with that holy prelate against the enemies of the truth,

The emperor Justinian and his nephew and successor, Justin the Younger, had been the plunderers of their empire, and the grievous oppressors of their subjects; the former to support his extravagance and vanity, the latter to gratify his insatiable avarice and scandalous lusts. Justin II, dying in 576, after a reign of ten years and ten months, Tiberius Constantine, a Thracian, and a virtuous prince, was raised to the throne. He applied himself to heal the wounds caused during the former reigns, both in the Church and State. His charities in all parts of the empire were boundless, and all his treasuries were open to the poor. Amongst the evils with which the Church was then afflicted, the disorders and confusion into which the tyranny of the Eutychians had thrown the church of Alexandria, called aloud for a powerful remedy, and an able and zealous pastor, endued with prudence and vigor to apply them. Upon the death of the patriarch John, St. Eulogius was raised to that patriarchal dignity toward the close of the year 583, at the earnest desire of the emperor, who, having reigned only six years and ten months, died the same year, leaving his son-in-law, Mauritius, his successor in the imperial throne. Our saint was obliged to make a journey to Constantinople, about two years after his promotion, in order to concert measures concerning certain affairs of his church. He met at court Saint Gregory the Great, and contracted with him a holy friendship, so that, from that time, they seemed to be one heart and one soul. Among the letters of St. Gregory, we have several extant which he wrote to our saint. St. Eulogius composed many excellent works against the Acephali, and other sects of Eutychians. Photius has preserved us valuable fragments of some of these treatises; also of eleven discourses of our saint, the ninth of which is a commendation of a monastic life; likewise of his six books against the Novatians of Alexandria, in the fifth of which he expressly sets himself to prove that the Martyrs are to be honored.1 Photius makes no mention of the treatise of St. Eulogius against the Agnoëtæ, a sect of Eutychians, who ascribed to Christ, as man, ignorance of the day of judgment, and many other things. St. Gregory the Great, to whose censure the author submitted it, sent him his approbation with high commendations, saying, “I have not found anything but what is admirable in your writings, &c.”2 St. Eulogius did not long survive St. Gregory, for he died in the year 606, or, according to others, in 608.

We admire the great actions and the glorious triumphs of the saints; yet it is not so much in these that their sanctity consisted, as in the constant habitual heroic disposition of their souls. There is no one who does not sometimes do good actions; but he can never be called virtuous who does well only by humor, or by fits and starts, not by steady habits. It is an habitual poverty of spirit, humility, meekness, patience, purity, piety, and charity, which our Divine Master recommends to us. We must take due pains to plant the seeds of virtue in our souls, must watch and labor continually to improve and strengthen them, that they may be converted into nature, and be the principle by which all the affections of our souls, and all the actions of our lives are governed. If these pure heroic sentiments perfectly possess and fill our hearts, the whole tenor of our conduct, whether in private or in public life, will be an uniform train of virtuous actions, which will derive their perfection from the degree of fervor and purity from which they spring, and which, according to the essential property of virtue, is always improving and always improveable.

SEPTEMBER 13 — ST. AMATUS, B. C

St. Amatus, called in French Amé, was born of a wealthy family, and had the happiness to learn the spirit of Jesus Christ, not that of the world, from the example and assiduous instructions of his pious parents. Being applied young to his studies, he discovered in them a clear apprehension, and a solid judgment; but set bounds to his curiosity in his application to profane sciences, religiously practising the maxim of St. Jerom, that it is better never to learn what cannot be known without danger. In the meantime his ardor was unquenchable in learning the true science of the saints, that is, the knowledge of God and himself: and in the most profound humility of heart he never ceased to ask of God the grace of his most pure and holy love. His parents were careful to fence his mind from his infancy against the love of vanity and pleasure, and against the other snares that are incident to youth; they watched to remove out of his way all dangers of bad company, and whatever could in the least sully the purity of his mind, take him off from the gravity of his deportment, and his application to his studies, or damp his ardor in the pursuit of virtue. In this they were to him themselves a constant spur, being aware that the corruption of a young man’s mind in one particular, generally draws others after it, and that to fall from fervor into slackness, or into the least habitual infidelity to divine grace, is to slide insensibly, and, as it were, blindfold into the broad way of vice.

Amatus, formed by these maxims to virtue, seemed in his youth to have already attained to perfection; but this consists in more and more strenuous endeavors always to advance higher. He some time deliberated with himself what course of life to steer, in which every desire of his soul, every action of his life, might be a step advancing in a direct line towards that happiness for which he was created by God; and him he consulted, by earnest and humble prayer, upon this important and critical choice. The issue of his deliberation was, that with the consent and advice of those to whom prudence or duty obliged him to listen, he embraced an ecclesiastical state. No sooner had he from the bottom of his heart said to God, that he was his portion and his inheritance for ever, but prayer, sacred studies, and exercises of charity and other virtues, became his whole employment. It was his great comfort and joy that the very habit which he wore freed him from many dangers and importunities of the world, and exempted him from visits, amusements, and idle employments, which in other states various circumstances make sometimes necessary, and which though they may be sanctified by a good intention yet are often dangerous, and always great consumers of the little time we have here, to purge our affections, to strengthen our souls in habits of virtue, and to lay in a due provision for eternity by actions which are the most conducive to those great purposes. Such being his inclinations and views, there was no danger of his entertaining any superfluous commerce with the world by frequenting its company or amusements: a commerce always pernicious and contrary to the spirit of ecclesiastics, and which the world itself is just enough to condemn, even though by allurements it invited them into the snare. The closest retirement afforded our saint leisure and means for all those exercises of compunction, devotion, and heavenly contemplation, and for laying in a good store of sacred learning and practical knowledge, by which he qualified himself for the high functions of the ministry to which he aspired. He prepared himself afresh for every new step in holy orders by the fervent practice of virtue, and by all suitable dispositions, that when he was raised to the priesthood he might receive the plenitude of its graces. Out of a desire of greater perfection he took the monastic habit at Agaunum, a monastery at that time famous both for regular discipline, and the sacred studies. St. Amatus, with the leave of the abbot, dwelt in a little cell cut in a rock, with an oratory adjoining which is now called our Lady’s in the rock.

Some time after, Amatus was chosen bishop of Sion in the Valais,* about the year 669. In this exalted station the example of his virtue shone forth with new lustre, and greater authority; he was enabled to deal his alms more plentifully among the poor, and was furnished with the means of everyway exerting his zeal more powerfully in advancing the divine honor, and the spiritual good of souls. He preached, instructed, comforted, and relieved all persons according to their particular necessities. In a word, he was an accomplished pastor, sanctifying both himself and those that were committed to his charge. He had governed his diocess almost five years, when the devil, jealous of the victories which the holy pastor daily gained over his empire, stirred up against him certain wicked instruments, who could not bear in others that virtue which they had not courage to practise themselves.

Theodoric III. son of Clovis II. king, first of Austrasia, afterwards of all France, was for several years abandoned to vice and evil counsellors, and is the first of those who, governing by the mayors of his palace, are called by some historians the Idle Kings. Ebroin, mayor of his palace, was one of the wickedest tyrants that ever had any share in the administration of the French kingdom; the murder of St. Leodegarius, and other holy bishops and saints, of which he was the author, are instances of his injustice, cruelty, and irreligion. The enemies of St. Amatus found it an easy matter to accuse him before such a king and such a minister, of crimes which had not the least foundation in truth; some say, of accusing Ebroin of tyrany. Theodoric, without further examination, or so much as allowing the holy man a hearing, banished him to St. Fursey’s monastery at Peronne, where St. Ultan, the abbot, treated him with all imaginable respect and veneration. The holy exile rejoiced in his disgrace to find the tranquillity of holy retirement, in which he enjoyed a sweet calm, with the happy means of living to himself and God, conversing always in heaven, and giving free scope to his zeal in the practice of the most rigorous and penitential austerities. The flagrant injustice that was done him never drew from him the least complaint, though no synod had been assembled to hear him, no sentence of deposition issued out, no crime so much as laid to his charge in a juridical manner. The only circumstance which afflicted him was to see a wolf intruded by the king into his see, not to feed, but to devour his flock.

After the death of St. Ultan, St. Mauront was charged with the custody of St. Amatus, and took him first to the monastery of Hamaye; but soon after built a new abbey upon an estate of his own, at a place called Breüil or Broile, now Merville (that is, Little Town), upon the Lis in Flanders. St. Amatus removed with him to Breüil. St. Mauront rejoiced to be possessed of such a guest, and resigned to him the government of that abbey. St. Amatus, both by words and example, excited the monks to fervor and humility, and having settled the house in excellent order, shut himself up in a little cell near the church, in which he occupied his soul with so much ardor in heavenly contemplation, as scarce to seem to be any longer an inhabitant of the earth. Thus he lived five years with these monks, and only left them to become an intercessor with Christ in his glory for them, about the year 690. Ebroin, who had sacrificed many innocent bishops and noblemen to his cruel Policy, was himself massacred in 679. King Theodoric died in 691, but entering into himself some time before his death, had severely condemned himself for having unjustly persecuted St. Amatus, and in satisfaction made several donations to the abbey of Breüil. Gramaye takes this house to have been a community of secular priests; but that they were monks is evident, since the Capuchin friars, in digging up the ground, found remains of their bodies buried in the monastic habit, as Castilian remarks.1 In the incursions of the Normans these monks retired with the relics of St. Amatus first to Soissons, but soon after to Douay.* This translation was made on the 1st of May, in 870, by Eruannicus, abbot of Breüil, and St. Bainus, fifth bishop of Tarvanne,2 when these relics were deposited in the chapel which St. Mauront had built in honor of St. Amatus, soon after his death, in the church of our Lady, which, four years after, began to be called St. Amatus’s or St. Amé’s, when these monks obtained of John, bishop of Arras and Cambray, king Charles the Bald, and Baldwin I., surnamed the Iron-armed (who had been made by that prince sovereign count of Flanders and Artois or the Morini), proper authority to remove from Breüil, and fix their residence at this church in Douay. The monastery thus settled at Douay, was secularized, and converted into a college of canons in 940. A priory and a holy chapel subsisted long after this at Breüil, on the spot where St. Mauront received St. Amatus, and where both led an anachoretical life. The land to this day belongs to this church of St. Amatus or Amé, in Douay. The relics of St. Mauront were translated to St. Amé’s in Douay, from Marchiennes, in 1485. See the life of St. Amatus, written before the translation of his relics, or the destruction of the monastery of Breüil, or Merinville, or Merville. Also Bulteau,1. 3, c. 36; Gramaye, Antiqu. Duac. p. 202; Castillion, Chronol. Eccl. Belgic. seu Episc. Belgic. in Duaco, p. 38, 39; and D. Henry and D. Tachereau in the last part of Gallia Christiana, and the Bollandists, p. 120–133.

SEPTEMBER 13 — ANOTHER ST. AMATUS, OR AME ABBOT AND CONFESSOR

Is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on this day. His youth he consecrated to God in the most fervent exercises of all virtue in the monastery of Agaunum, and was called by obedience to Remiremont in Lorrain, and constituted abbot of that numerous community. Continually enlarging the capacity of his soul by purifying his desires, and inflaming his affections more and more, he received continually new accessions of grace and virtue, and thereby made perpetual approaches towards the fountain of all perfection. He considered that a uniform religious life is not an idle dull round of the same exercises, but a daily advancing in fervor and purity of heart, by which all the regular practices of devotion and penance become, as it were, every day new. Thus persevering and improving in every grace, and in every virtue, he happily attained to the prize of eternal bliss, to which he was called about the year 627. His relics are enshrined at Remiremont, of Romberg, in the diocess of Toul. See his life, and those of his two successors, SS. Romaric and Adelphus, written in a clear plain style by a monk of that house, who lived under the two latter; extant in Mabillon, Acta Bened. t. 2, p. 135, 415, 602. See also Bulteau, Hist. Monast. d’Occid. t. 1. p. 419. The Bollandists, t. 3, Sept. p. 95.

SEPTEMBER 13 — SAINT MAURILIUS, BISHOP OF ANGERS, C

In the fifth century, leaving a large estate and a tender mother at Milan, in order to serve God in holy retirement, he addressed himself to St. Martin of Tours, by whom he was directed in the narrow path of Christian perfection. He founded a monastery on a hill called Prisciac, near the village Calon on the Loire, four miles from Angers, to which he often retired, even after he was made bishop, and where, after his death, his body rested and was held in great veneration till it was translated from this church, which bore his name, into that of St. Martin, by Nesing, bishop of Angers, about the year 970. It is there exposed in a rich shrine, and has been honored with many miracles. His Life was written by St. Magnobodus, bishop of Angers, about two hundred years after his death, and by others. That which bears the name of St. Gregory of Tours does not seem to be his work. See the Bollandists, p. 64, who prefer his life by Magnobodus.

SEPTEMBER 14 — THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

A. D. 629.

THE miraculous appearance of the cross to Constantine,* and the discovery of that sacred wood by St. Helen,1 gave the first occasion to this festival, which was celebrated under the title of the Exaltation of the Cross on the 14th of September, both by the Greeks and Latins as early as in the fifth and sixth ages,2 at Jerusalem from the year 335. The recovery of this precious instrument and memorial of our redemption out of the hands of the infidels, in the reign of Heraclius, in the seventh century, was afterward gratefully commemorated on the same day; and the feast of the Invention or Discovery of the Cross has been removed in the Latin Church to the third of May ever since the eighth century. The history of the recovery of this sacred relic from the Persians is gathered from the continuation of the Paschal Chronicle, Theophanes, Cedrenus, and other historians.

Chosroes II., the most barbarous and perfidious king of Persia, availing himself of the weakness of the reign of the cruel and covetous usurper Phocas, broke peace with the empire, upon the specious pretence of revenging the murder of the emperor Mauritius and his family, whom Phocas had most inhumanly massacred. But the conduct of this barbarian showed how opposite his views were to those of public justice, and that his aim was merely to gratify his ambition, and his implacable hatred of the Christian and Roman name. The Persians, meeting with no opposition, plundered Mesopotamia and part of Syria. Heraclius, prefect of Africa, being pressed by the chief statesmen and senators to assume the purple, and rid the empire of a usurper, went with his forces by sea to Constantinople, after a successful battle made Phocas prisoner, and put him and his children to death in the year 611, the tyrant having reigned eight years and four months. The new emperor, by suppliant entreaties, begged a peace of Chosroes, with the proffer of an annual tribute; but the haughty barbarian dismissed his ambassadors without an audience, and in the first year of the reign of Heraclius the Persians took Edessa and Apamea, and advanced as far as Antioch: in the second they took Cæsarea in Cappadocia; in the fourth Damascus, and in the fifth (which was the year 614) in the month of June they possessed themselves of Jerusalem, filling that city with outrages which cannot be mentioned without horror. Many thousands of clerks, monks, nuns, and virgins were cruelly massacred, ninety thousand Christians were sold for slaves to the Jews, and afterward many of them were tortured and slain. The churches, even that of the holy sepulchre, were burnt, and all the rich movables were carried away, among which were an infinite number of consecrated vessels, many precious relics, and that part of the wood of the true cross, which had been left there by St. Helena. The patrician Nicetas found means, by the help of one of the friends of Sarbazara, the Persian general, to save two holy relics, namely the sponge with which the soldiers gave our Saviour vinegar to drink; and the lance which pierced his side; both which he sent to Constantinople. The sacred sponge was exposed to the view of the people in the great church, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, on the 14th of September, the same year. The sacred lance was brought thither on the Saturday, the 26th of October: it was publicly venerated in the great church on the following Tuesday and Wednesday by the men, and on Thursday and Friday by the women. The patriarch Zachary was carried away captive into Persia, with a great multitude of other persons. During his absence the abbot Modestus took care of the city of Jerusalem, and began to rebuild several churches and monasteries that had been destroyed. The next year the Persians took Alexandria, and plundered all Egypt; and in the year following they conquered Carthage. These losses and calamities forced Heraclius again suppliantly to beg peace of the victorious tyrant, who laughed at his request, and blasphemously declared, “That he would never let those men rest, so long as they should adore one who had been crucified by other men, and should refuse to worship the sun.” Heraolius depending wholly upon the Saviour of the world, whose glory he was to assert, in the extreme poverty of the state, borrowed the gold and silver which were found in the churches, and coined them into money, to raise an army for the protection of his subjects. Saez, lieutenant-general to the Persian king, took Ancyra, pillaged all Galatia, and being advanced as far as Chalcedon, offered to treat of peace. Heraclius sent to him seventy noblemen of great worth to negotiate with him; but the perfidious infidel put them all in chains, and carried them into Persia. When he arrived there, his master caused him to be flayed alive, because he had not brought with him Heraclius himself, whom he had once seen, and had received presents from.

The emperor resolved at length to carry the war into Persia itself, to oblige the infidels to return home for the defence of their own country. That he might not leave any enemies behind him, he concluded a peace with the chan of the Turci Avari, who had attacked him on the side of Thrace, and in the year 622, the twelfth of his reign, began his march toward Persia immediately after Easter. When he put himself at the head of his army, holding in his hand a picture of Jesus Christ, he protested to his soldiers, that he would never abandon them till death, and set before them how the enemies of God had overrun their country, rendered the cities desolate, laid the countries waste before them, burnt the sanctuaries, profaned the holy altars with blood, and defiled the sanctity of the most holy places by their brutal lusts and debaucheries. With this army he defeated the Persians the same year in Armenia, and in the ensuing summer took the city Gazac in Persia, and burnt in it the fine temple, and the palace of Chosroes, in which was a rich statue of that prince, sitting under a dome, which represented the heavens with the sun, moon, and stars, and round about it angels holding sceptres in their hands, with machines to make a noise like thunder. Leading his army back to take winter quarters at Albana, he there, out of compassion, released fifty thousand Persian captives he had brought with him, and supplied them with necessaries; which act of humanity made them all to pray with tears for his success, and that he might deliver Persia from a tyrant, who by his cruelty and exactions was the destroyer of mankind. The emperor’s campaigns in 624 and 625, were still more successful against numberless armies of the enemy. Sarbazara, a Persian general, arrived with a strong army before Chalcedon, and was seconded by the perfidious chan of the Avari, who, having broken the truce, attacked Constantinople on the European side of the Straits. They were, however, both repulsed by the Christians in July, 626, and in their disorder slew one another. This deliverance was looked upon as miraculous, obtained by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, as the Paschal Chronicle, Theophanes, and particularly Cedrenus relate.

On the 12th of December, in 627, Heraclius gave the Persians an entire overthrow, almost without any loss on his side, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ninive, under the command of Rezastes, who was himself found among the slain, with his shield and armor of massy gold; and with him fell most of the field officers and the greatest part of the Persian army. The proud Chosroes was driven from town to town, yet continued obstinately deaf to all proposals of peace. Heraclius, in his pursuit, burnt down all the king’s houses of pleasure, but often released prisoners without a ransom, though the barbarian detained even his ambassadors. The disdain with which Chosroes rejected all means of peace, even though Heraclius was master of the greatest part of Persia, extremely exasperated his subjects; and his general Sarbazara, who was near Chalcedon, upon information that his master had condemned him to die, openly revolted from him to the Romans. Chosroes locked himself up with his wives and children in the strong city of Seleucia on the Tigris, and being there seized with a dysentery, declared Mardesanes or Medarses, his son by Sirem, the most beloved of his concubines, his successor, and ordered preparations to be made for his coronation. His eldest son Siroes, provoked at this injustice, appealed to the nobles, took up arms, released the Roman prisoners whom he sent back to Heraclius, seized on his father, bound him in chains, and threw him into a strong dungeon which Chosroes had lately fortified to keep his treasure in. Exasperated more and more at his father’s arrogance, even though the tyrant saw himself in his power, Siroes set no bounds to his rage, allowed him only a small quantity of bread and water for his subsistence, and bade him eat the gold which he had amassed by the oppression of so many innocent people. He sent his satrapes and his enemies to insult him, and caused Mardesanes, whom he would have crowned, and all the rest of his children, to be murdered before his eyes. In this manner was the old king treated for five days together, during which time he was frequently shot at and wounded with arrows, but not mortally, that his death might be the more lingering. He expired on the fifth day of these wounds. Thus, by God’s just judgment, perished Chosroes II., by the hands of an unnatural son, having himself mounted the throne by imbruing his hands in the blood of his father Hormisdas, and filled not only his own kingdom, but all the East, with murders and desolations, during a reign of thirty-five years.* Siroes concluded a firm peace with Heraclius, released all the Roman prisoners, and among the rest, Zachary, patriarch of Jerusalem; restored the provinces which the Christians had lost, and, among other spoils, the true Cross, which had been carried into Persia fourteen years before by Sarbazara, when he took Jerusalem.

The emperor brought this precious relic with him to Constantinople, where he made his entry with a most splendid triumph. In the beginning of the spring of the following year, 629, he embarked to carry the cross again to Jerusalem, and to return thanks to God in that holy place for his victories. He would carry it upon his own shoulders into the city, with the utmost pomp; but stopped suddenly at the entrance of the city, and found he was not able to go forward. The patriarch Zachary, who walked by his side, suggested to him, that his pomp seemed not agreeable to the humble appearance which Christ made, when he bore his Cross through the streets of that city; “You,” said he, “walk in your gaudy imperial robes; he was meanly clad: you have on your head a rich diadem; he was crowned with a wreath of thorns; you go with your shoes on: he walked barefoot.” Hereupon the emperor laid aside his purple and his crown, put on mean clothes, went along barefoot with the procession, and devoutly replaced the Cross where it stood before. It still continued in the silver case in which it had been carried away, and the patriarch and clergy, finding the seals whole, opened the case with the key, venerated it and showed it to the people. The original writers always speak of this portion of the Cross in the plural number, calling it the pieces of the wood of the Cross,† which shows that it consisted of different pieces. This solemnity was performed with the most devout thanksgiving, and honored with miraculous cures of several sick persons. The ceremony of exposing this sacred relic, as the most lively memorial of the sufferings of our Divine Redeemer, to the veneration of the faithful, on this and several other days, was very solemn, and is often mentioned both before and after the recovery of this part of the Cross from the infidels. With what pomp and respect the like was done with the part of the Cross that was kept at Constantinople, and with what devotion and order the emperor, his court, the clergy, and all ranks among the people assisted at this religious act, is described at length by the emperor Constantine Porphyrogeneta, both on this feast of the Exaltation of the Cross,4 and on certain other solemn days.5

“About seven days before the 1st of August, the holy Cross (i.e. that large portion which Constantine the Great deposited in the imperial palace at Constantinople) was taken out of the holy treasury in which it was kept with other precious relics and rich holy vessels, betwixt the third and sixth ode of matins then singing. It was laid on the ground, that the Protopapa or chief priest of the palace might anoint it all over with balsam and precious perfumes. Then it was set up in the church of the palace of our Lady of the Pharos, or opposite to the Pharos, exposed to the veneration of the people. After matins, the clergy of the palace assembled before it, singing hymns in praise of the Cross, called Staurosima, or, of the Cross. Then the princes and lords came to venerate it before they assisted at the Sunday’s procession, in which they attended the emperor every Sunday and holiday to the divine service in the church of the palace, or on certain great festivals to some other principal church in the city. The chief priest then took up the Cross on his head, having on a purple cassock, and over it a rich Scaramangium (or great cope which covers the whole body), and, attended by the clergy and others in procession, carried it through the golden hall, before the oratory of St. Basil, and placed it to be venerated by all the senate; then proceeded to the palace of Daphne, and exposed it in the church of St. Stephen. On the 28th of July the priests began to carry the Cross through all the streets and to all the houses, and afterward round the walls of the city, that by the devotion of the people, and their united prayers, God would, through the Cross and merits of his Son, bless and protect the city and all its inhabitants. On the 13th of September it was brought back to the palace, and placed on a rich throne in the Chrysotriclinium, or golden hall, where the clergy sang the hymns in praise of the Cross during its Exaltation there. It was afterward carried through all the apartments of the palace; then deposited in the chapel of St. Theodorus. In the evening it was delivered back to the keeper of the sacred treasure. Next morning it was carefully cleaned by the Protopapa and the keeper, and again deposited in the rich case in the treasury.” See the emperor Constantine Porphyrogeneta,1. 2, c. 8. In the eleventh chapter he writes with what devotion and pomp the three great crosses kept in the great palace were taken out in the third or middle week of Lent, and exposed to veneration; one in the new church of this great palace, another in the church of St. Stephen, in the palace of Daphne; the third in the patriarchal church of St. Sophia. All were brought back on Friday in the same week with a procession, torches, adoration of the princes, senate, &c., hymns, &c., as above.

Our Divine Redeemer is the spiritual king of our souls; and it is by the love and spirit of his cross that he must reign in them. By this happy instrument he has rescued us from the power of sin, and conquered death and hell. But do not our sloth and malice still hold out against him? Have the boundless excess of his love, and the omnipotent power of his grace yet triumphed over our hearts? Is his holy cross planted there? does it daily grow and spread itself in our affections? The spirit of the cross, or of Christ crucified, is the spirit of that perfect humility, meekness, charity, patience, and all other virtues, which he preaches to us by his cross. So long as self love, pride, sensuality, or impatience, find any place in us, we are so far strangers to this spirit of Christ, and enemies to his cross. We justly glory in this holy instrument of our salvation, in this adorable and sweet mystery of love, in this most tender and precious memorial of our infinitely amiable God and Saviour, and of the price by which he has redeemed us, and made us, by so many new strict titles, his own. But can we look on a crucifix, or form the cross on our foreheads, without being pierced with grief, and covered with shame and confusion to see ourselves so little acquainted with it, and its happy fruits; so filled with the contrary spirit of the world? Let us most earnestly and assiduously conjure our loving Saviour, by his holy cross, and by his infinite love and mercy, to subdue our obstinacy, to extinguish in us whatever opposes his sweet reign, perfectly to form his spirit in our hearts, and entirely to subject all our powers and affections to himself. He promised, that when he should be exalted on his cross, he would draw all things to himself. Is it possible that the malice of our hearts should be able to resist so wonderful a mystery of Love? Let us beg, that he fulfil his gracious word to us, and that his spirit of humility, meekness, and pure love, may at length triumph in us. Then we shall begin to taste the most sweet hidden manna that is found in the cross, that is, in the devout remembrance and contemplation of that mystery, and in the participation or imitation of it by patient suffering. Then shall we understand the glory, the happiness, and unspeakable advantages and treasures that are its portion.

SEPTEMBER 14 — S. CATHARINE, OF GENOA, WIDOW

Catharine or Catterinetta Fieschi Adorno, was born at Genoa, in 1447. Her father, James Fieschi, died viceroy of Naples under Renatus of Anjou, king of Sicily.* From the first dawn of her reason, she appeared to be a child of spiritual benedictions. By a singular privilege of divine grace, and the attention of virtuous parents, she seemed from the cradle entirely exempt from frowardness, and little passions of anger or the like vices, with which infancy itself is often stained. It was something still more admirable and more edifying in her, to see a tender child, to join with the most perfect simplicity of heart, and obedience to her parents and others, a serious love of prayer, the most heroic practices of self-denial, and the most tender devotion, particularly toward the sacred passion of Christ. That at twelve years of age she was favored by God with extraordinary supernatural comforts and illustrations of the Holy Ghost in prayer, we are assured by her own testimony. Experience teaches, that by humble obedience, and fervent love of prayer, the most tender age is capable of making great advancement in the paths of divine love and interior solid virtue; and that the Holy Ghost delights wonderfully to communicate himself to those who so early open their hearts entirely to him. But whilst he attracts them after the sweet odor of his ointments, he prepares them for the most severe trials, which furnish them with occasions for the exercise of the most heroic virtues, and perfect the crucifixion of inordinate attachments in their hearts. This conduct of divine providence St. Catharine experienced.

At thirteen years of age she earnestly desired to consecrate herself to the divine service in a religious state, thinking a contemplative life the most secure for her, and it best suited her inclinations. But she was overruled by obedience to her parents, and by the advice of those from whom she hoped to learn what the divine will required of her. Three years after, she was married by her father to Julian Adorno, a gay young nobleman of Genoa. Her husband, drunk with youth, and giddy with ambition, brought on her a long series of grievous afflictions, which she suffered during ten years, and which, by the good use she made of them, exceedingly contributed to her more perfect sanctification. His brutish humor afforded a perpetual trial to her patience; his dilapidation of hid own patrimony, and of the great fortune she had brought him, perfected the disengagement of her heart from the world, and his profligate life was to her a subject of continual tears to God for his conversion. This, her prayers, patience, and example at length effected, and he died a penitent in the third Order of St. Francis. Catharine had a cousin named Tommasa Fieschi, who being left a widow about the same time, made her religious profession in an austere nunnery of the Order of St. Dominic, and died prioress in 1534.

Our saint seeing herself freed from the servitude of the world, and in a condition now to pursue the native bent of her inclination to live altogether to herself and God, deliberated some time in what manner she might best execute her holy desire. At length, in order to join the active life with the contemplative, and to have the happiness of ministering to Christ in his most distressed and suffering members, she determined to devote herself to the service of the sick in the great hospital of the city. Of this house she lived many years the mother superior, attending assiduously upon the patients with incredible tenderness, performing for them the meanest offices, and dressing herself their most loathsome ulcers. So heroic is this charity, that with regard to the institutions set apart for the relief of the poor, and attendance on the sick, Voltaire forgets his usual censorious malignant disposition in regard to religious institutions, to give them due praise. He declares that nothing can be nobler than the sacrifice which the fair sex made of beauty and youth, and oftentimes of high birth, to employ their time at the hospitals in relieving those miserable objects, the sight of which alone is humbling to our pride, and shocking to our delicacy. In overcoming this repugnance of nature in doing many offices about certain patients, it cost our saint much difficulty in the beginning, till by perseverance she had gained a complete victory over herself.

Her charity could not be confined to the bounds of her own hospital; she extended her care and solicitude to all lepers and other distressed sick persons over the whole city, and she employed proper persons, with indefatigable industry, to discover, visit, and relieve such objects. Her fasts and other austerities were incredible, and it was her constant study to deny her senses every superfluous gratification, and still more vigorously to humble her heart, and overcome her own will in everything. Even whilst she lived in the world with her husband, it was a rule with her never to excuse herself when blamed by others, but always to be readily inclined sincerely to accuse and condemn herself. She made it her constant earnest request to God, that his pure and holy love might reign in her heart, and in her whole conduct, by the extinction of all inordinate self-love, and in this sense she took for her device that petition of our Lord’s prayer: Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. The necessity of the spirit of universal mortification and perfect humility to prepare the way for the pure love of God to be infused into the soul, is the chief lesson which she inculcates in the two principal treatises which she wrote, the first entitled, On Purgatory, and the second called, A Dialogue. In this latter work she paints strongly the powerful effects of divine love in a soul, and the wonderful sweetness and joy which frequently accompany it.* St. Catharine having suffered the martyrdom of a tedious and painful illness, in which, for a considerable time, she was scarce able to take any nourishment, though she received every day the holy communion, expired in great peace and tranquillity, and her soul went to be united to the centre of her love on the 14th day of September, 1510, she being sixty-two years old. The author of her life relates certain miracles by which God was pleased to testify her sanctity to men. Her body was taken up eighteen months after her death, and found without the least sign of putrefaction. From that time it was exposed aloft in a marble monument in the church of the hospital, as the body of a saint; and she was honored with the title of Blessed, which pope Benedict XIV. changed into that of Saint, styling her in the Martyrology St. Catharine Fieschi (in Latin Flisca) Adorn0.1 See her life compiled by Marabotti, her confessor, published in 1551; also her works. And the comments of Sticker the Bollandist, ad 15 Sept. t. 5, p. 123. For the justification of her doctrine, and the commendations of her sanctity, see Parpera, the Oratorian’s book entitled B. Catharine Genuensis illustrata. Printed at Genoa, A. D. 1682.

SEPTEMBER 14 — ST. CORMAC, BISHOP OF CASHEL AND KING OF MUNSTER IN IRELAND

He is called the son of Cuillenan, and was descended from king Engus, who was baptized by St. Patrick; and was probably the first bishop of Cashel. He is much celebrated by the Irish writers, not only for his great learning, but for his piety, charity, valor, and magnificence; and is styled by them a saint, poet, and king. He was slain in 908, fighting against Flan, king of Meath and monarch of Ireland. He wrote in Irish a history called the Psalter of Cashel, still extant in MS. as Ware tells us; and is commemorated on this day in the Irish Martyrology See Colgan, Ware, &c.

SEPTEMBER 15 — ST. NICETAS, MARTYR

From his Acts in Surius, and from Socrates, Sozomen, &c. See Stilting, t. 5, Sept. p. 38.

Fourth Age

SAINTS SABAS and NICETAS are the two most renowned martyrs among the Goths. The former is honored on the 12th of April, the latter, whom the Greeks place in the class of the great martyrs, is commemorated on this day. He was a Goth, born near the banks of the Danube, and converted to the faith in his youth by Theophilus, who was bishop of the Scythians and Goths in the reign of Constantine the great. When Valens ascended the imperial throne in the East, in the year 364, the nation of the Goths was divided into two kingdoms. Athanarie, king of the Eastern Goths, who bordered upon the Roman empire toward Thrace, being a savage prince, and a declared enemy to the Christian religion, in 370, raised a furious persecution against the Church in his dominions. By his order, an idol was carried in a chariot through all the towns and villages, where it was suspected that any Christians lived, and all who refused to adore it were put to death. The usual method of the persecutors was to burn the Christians with their children in their houses, or in the churches where they were assembled together; sometimes they were stabbed at the foot of the altar. In the numerous army of martyrs, which glorified God amongst that barbarous people, on this occasion, St. Nicetas held a distinguished rank. It was by the fire that he sealed his faith and obedience with his blood, and, triumphing over sin, passed to eternal glory.

By the lively expectation of a happy immortality, and the constant remembrance of the divine judgments, the saints courageously overcame all the assaults of the devil, the world, and their own flesh. We have these enemies to fight against, nor can we expect any truce with them so long as we remain in this mortal state. They are never more to be feared than when they lull us into a false confidence by seeming themselves to sleep. We must always watch, by assiduous prayer, self-denial, and flight of all dangerous occasions, that we may discover and shun all the dangerous arts and stratagems by which our crafty enemies seek to decoy or betray us into ruin; and we must always hold our weapons in our hands, that we may be ever ready to repulse all open assaults. Many have fallen in the security of peace who had vanquished the most violent persecutions. If we do not meet with the fiery trials of the martyrs, we are still in danger of perishing in a calm, unless we arm ourselves with watchfulness and fortitude.

SEPTEMBER 15 — ST. NICOMEDES, M

He was a holy priest at Rome, who was apprehended in the persecution of Domitian for his assiduity in assisting the martyrs in their conflicts, and for interring their bodies. Refusing constantly to sacrifice to idols, he was beaten to death with clubs about the year ninety. His tomb was on the road to Nomento, and he is commemorated on this day in the sacramentary of St. Gregory the Great, and in the Martyrologies of St. Jerom, Bede, &c. See the Acts of SS. Nereus and Achilleus.

SEPTEMBER 15 — ST. JOHN THE DWARF, ANCHORET OF SCETE

St. John, surnamed, from his low stature, Colobus, that is, the Little or the Dwarf, was famous among the eminent ancient saints that inhabited the deserts of Egypt. He retired, together with an elder brother, into the vast wilderness of Sceté, and putting himself under the direction of a holy old hermit, he set himself, with his whole heart, and with all his strength, to labor in subduing himself, and in putting on the divine spirit of Christ. The first condition which Christ requires, the preliminary article which he lays down for his service, is a practice of perfect self-denial, by which we learn to die to ourselves, and all our vicious inclinations. So long as inordinate self-love and passions reign in the heart, they cannot fail to produce their fruits; we are imperceptibly governed by them in the circle of our ordinary actions, and remain habitually enslaved to pride, anger, impatience, envy, sensuality, and other vices, which often break forth into open transgressions of the divine law; and a lurking inordinate self-love, whilst it holds the empire in the affections, insinuates itself under subtle disguises, into all our actions, becomes the main-spring of all the motions of our heart, and debases our virtues themselves with a mixture of vice and imperfection. Virtue is generally defective, even in many who desire to serve God, because very few have the courage perfectly to vanquish themselves. It is strange that men should be so blind, or so cowardly, in a point of such infinite importance, since Christ has laid down the precept of perfect abnegation and humility as the foundation of the empire of his divine grace and love in a soul: upon this all the saints raise the edifice of their virtue. He who builds not upon it, builds upon sand. He who, without this precaution, multiplies his alms, his fasts, and his devotions, takes a great deal of pains to lose, in a great measure, the fruit of his labors.

Our holy anchoret, lest he should be in danger of missing his aim, resolved to neglect no means by which he might obtain the victory over himself. The old hermit who was his director, for his first lesson, bade him plant in the ground a dry walking-stick which he held in his hand, and water it every day till it should bring forth fruit. John did so with great simplicity, though the river was at a considerable distance. It is related that when he had continued his task without speaking one word, in the third year, the stick, which had taken root, pushed forth leaves and buds, and produced fruit; the old hermit gathering the fruit carried it to the church, and giving it to some of the brethren, said: “Take, and eat the fruit of obedience.”1 Posthumian, who was in Egypt in 402, assured St. Sulpicius Severus, that he was shown this tree, which grew in the yard of the monastery, and which he saw covered with boughs and green leaves.2 St. John used to say, that as a man who sees a wild beast or a serpent coming towards him, climbs up a tree to be out of their reach; so, a person who perceives any evil thoughts coming upon him, in order to secure himself against the danger, must ascend up to God by earnest prayer. Being yet a novice in the monastic state, and much taken with the charms of heavenly contemplation, he said one day to his elder brother: “I could wish to live without distraction, or earthly concerns, like the angels, that I might be able to serve and praise God without interruption.” Saying this, and leaving his cloak behind him, he went into a more secret part of the wilderness. After being absent a week, he returned, and knocked at the door of his brother’s cell. Being asked his name, he said: “I am your brother John.” “How can that be?” replied the other; “for my brother John is become an angel, and lives no more among men.” St. John begged pardon for his rashness, and acknowledged that this mortal state does not admit such a perfection, but requires that contemplation and manual labor mutually succeed and assist each other, and confessed that man’s life on earth is labor and penance, not fruition. It was one of this saint’s maxims: “If a general would take a city, he begins the siege by debarring it from supplies of water and provisions; so by sobriety, fasting, and maceration of the flesh, are our affections and passions to be reduced, and our domestic enemy weakened.”

How careful he was to watch against all occasions of danger, appears from the following instances. As he was praying and plying his work in platting mats, on the road to Sceté, he was one day met by a carrier driving camels, who reviled him in the most injurious terms. The saint, for fear the tranquillity of his soul should be any way impaired, threw down the work he had in his hands, and ran away. Another time, when he was reaping corn in the harvest, he ran away, because he heard one of the reapers angry with another. Happening, one day as he was going to the church of Sceté, to hear two persons wrangling together, he made haste back to his cell, but walked several times round it in profound recollection, before he went in, that he might purify his ears from the injurious words he had heard, and bring his mind perfectly calm to converse with God. By this continual watchfulness over himself, he acquired so perfect a habit of meekness, humility, and patience, that nothing was able to cloud or disturb his mind. When one said to him: “Thou hast a heart full of venom,” he sweetly answered: “That is true, and much more so than you think.” By the following example he inculcated to others the great necessity of overcoming ourselves, if we desire truly to serve God. A certain young man entreated a celebrated philosopher to permit him to attend his lectures. “Go first,” said the philosopher, “to the marble quarries, and carry stones to the river, among the malefactors condemned to the mines, during three years.” He did so, and came back at the end of that term. The philosopher bid him go again, and pass three years in receiving all sorts of injuries and affronts, and make no answer, but give money to those who should most bitterly revile him. He complied likewise with this precept, and upon his return the experienced tutor told him he might now go to Athens, and be initiated in the schools of the philosophers. At the gate of that city sat an old man who made it his pastime to abuse those who came that way. The young novice never justified himself, nor was angry, but laughed to hear himself so outrageously railed at, and being asked the reason, said: “I have given money these three years to all who have treated me as you do; and shall not I laugh, now it costs me nothing to be reviled?” Hereupon the old man replied; “Welcome to the schools of philosophy: you are worthy of a seat in them.” The saint added: “Behold the gate of heaven. All the faithful servants of the Lord have entered into this joy by suffering injuries and humiliations with meekness and patience.” To recommend tenderness and charity to those who labor in converting others to God, he said: “It is impossible to build a house by beginning at the top in order to build downward. We must first gain the heart of our neighbor before we can be useful to him.”

It was a usual saying of this saint: “The safety of a monk consists in his keeping always his cell, watching constantly over himself, and having God continually present to his mind.” As for his own part, he never discoursed on worldly affairs, and never spoke of news, the ordinary amusement of the slothful. Some persons one day to try him, began a conversation with him, saying; “We ought to thank God for the plentiful rains that are fallen this year. The palm-trees sprout well, and our brethren will easily find leaves and twigs for their work in making mats and baskets.” St. John contented himself with answering: “In like manner when the Spirit of God come down upon the hearts of his servants, they grow green again, as I may say, and are renewed, shooting, as it were, fresh leaves in the fear of God.” This reply made them attempt no more any such conversation with him. The saint’s mind was so intent on God in holy contemplation, that at his work he sometimes platted in one basket the twigs which should have made two, and often went wrong in his work, forgetting what he was doing. One day, when a driver of camels, or a carrier, knocked at his door to carry away his materials and instruments for his work, St. John thrice forgot what he went to fetch in returning from his door, till he continued to repeat to himself, “the camel, my platting instrument.” The same happened to him when one came to fetch the baskets he had made, and as often as he came back from his door, he sat down again to his work, till at last he desired the brother to come in and take them himself.

St. John called humility and compunction the first and most necessary of all virtues. By the fervor and assiduity of his prayer and heavenly contemplation, all his discourse on God was inflamed. A certain brother coming one day to see him, designing to speak to him only for two or three minutes, being in haste to go back to his cell, so ardent and sweet was their conversation on spiritual things that they continued it the whole night till morning. Perceiving it day, they went out of the saint’s cell, the one to return home, the other to conduct him some steps and falling into discourse of heaven, their entertainment lasted till midday. Then St. John took him again into his cell to eat a morsel for his refection; after which, they parted. St. John seeing a monk laugh in a conference, sat down, and bursting into tears, said: “What reason can this brother have to laugh, whilst we have so many to weep?” A certain charitable devout young woman, named Paësia, falling into poverty, and gradually into a disorderly life, the monks of Sceté entreated St. John to endeavor to reclaim her from her evil courses. The saint repaired to her house, but was refused entrance, till persisting a long time, and repeating that she would have no reason to repent that she had spoken to him, he got admittance. Then sitting down by her, he said, with his accustomed sweetness: “What reason can you have to complain of Jesus, that you should thus abandon him, to plunge yourself in so deplorable an abyss?” At these words she was struck to the quick: and seeing the saint melt into tears, she said to him: “Why do you weep so bitterly?” St. John replied: “How can I refrain from weeping, whilst I see Satan in possession of your heart?” She said: “Is the gate of penitence yet open to me?” The saint having answered that the treasures of the divine mercy are inexhaustible, she replied: “Conduct me whither you please.” Hereupon, he, rising up, said: “Let us go.” The penitent followed him without saying another word, and without giving any orders about her household or servants; a circumstance which he took notice of with joy, as it showed how entirely she was taken up with the thought only of saving her soul. She spent the remainder of her life in austere penance, and died happily soon after in the wilderness, having no other pillow than a hillock to lay her head on. John learned by a revelation, that her short but fervent penance had been perfect before God. When our saint drew near his end, his disciples entreated him to leave them, by way of legacy, some wholesome lesson of Christian perfection. He sighed, and that he might, out of humility, shun the air of a teacher, alleging his own maxim and practice, he said: “I never followed my own will; nor did I ever teach any other what I had not first practised myself.” St. John died about the beginning of the fifth century. See Cotelier, Apoth. Patrum, litt. i. pp. 468 to 484. Rosweide,1. 5, Vitæ Patrum, translated into Latin by Pelagius, deacon of Rome, who was chosen pope in 558. Tillemont, t. 10, p. 427.

SEPTEMBER 15 — ST. AICARD, OR ACHART, ABBOT, C

Auschaire, the father of this saint, an eminent officer in the court and armies of king Clotaire II. and Ermina his mother, were distinguished for their birth and riches among the prime nobility of Poitou. Ermina’s particular character was a tender devotion and extraordinary piety, and this treat sure she desired above all things to see her son inherit in that perfection in which it is possessed by the saints. There flourished at Poitiers at that time two renowned seminaries of piety and learning; one was the episcopa palace, the other the monastery of St. Hilary in the suburbs of the city (now a collegiate church, whereof the kings of France are abbots). In this latter Aicard had his education till he was sixteen years of age, when his father called him home in order to introduce him to court, and teach him to aspire to the highest military honors. The devout mother trembled at the thought of the dangers of forgetting God, to which she apprehended he would be exposed in that state, and earnestly desired, that, as their ambition for their son’s advancement ought to have no other view than that he should become a saint, whatever choice was made, this end alone should be considered in it. To terminate the debate between the parents, the youth was called upon to declare his inclinations. These he expressed to his father with so much earnestness, and in so dutiful and respectful a manner, as drew tears from the aged parent’s eyes, and extorted his consent upon the spot, that seeing his son chose God alone for his patron, he should be at liberty to consecrate himself to the divine service, in whatever manner he desired to consummate his sacrifice.

Aicard, without further delay, repaired to the abbey of St. Jouin in Poitou near the borders of that province, a house then renowned for the severity of its discipline, and the sanctity of its monks. From the first day that he entered this monastery, to the end of his life, he exerted all his endeavors and strength to become every day more resigned, more patient, more humble, more exact in every observance of his rule, and more fervent in the practices of devotion and penance, and in the divine love: thus he never suffered anything to abate his ardor, or to deaden the strong desires of his soul in the pursuit of virtue, studying always to discover whatever defects impaired the perfection of his affections or actions, severely condemning himself, and dalily saying with fresh vigor: I have said behold now I have begun. One day being in the garden he seemed to hear a voice which repeated the seventh verse of the eighty-third psalm, that the just shall always go forward from virtue to virtue, growing continually in wisdom, till they arrive at the vision of God; and was wonderfully delighted with this motto and characteristic of true virtue. The saint’s parents, after his retreat, founded the abbey of St. Bennet at Quinzay, about three miles from Poitiers, and committed the same to the direction of St. Philibert,* who, for fear of the tyranny of Ebroin, had been obliged to leave his monastery of Jumieges, which he had founded in Neustria, or what is now called Normandy. This holy abbot peopled Quinzay with a colony from Jumieges, as he had done a little before another monastery which he founded in the isle of Hero, on the coasts of Poitou. St. Philibert constituted St. Aicard first abbot of Quinzay, but finding it impossible to return himself to Jumieges, which he looked upon as the principal among all the religious foundations he had ever established, he resigned that abbacy to St. Aicard, and remained himself at Quinzay. There were then at Jumieges, nine hundred monks, among whom St. Aicard exceedingly promoted all the exercises of monastic perfection, and sacred studies among those whom he judged best qualified for them.1 He at first exhorted his religious brethren only by his example; and this manner of exhorting, dumb as it was, proved most effectual.

His assiduity in prayer, his modesty, his meekness, the austerity of his penance, and his scrupulous observance of every part of the rule, made every one extremely desirous to hear him speak whom they saw do so well. He soon satisfied their impatience, by giving them admirable lessons on all the duties of Christian perfection, especially on self-denial and the entire disengagement of the heart from the world and all creatures. His instructions were delivered in so tender and pathetic a manner, that every word made a deep impression on the hearts of all that heard him. It was the custom in his community for every monk to shave his crown on all Saturdays. St. Aicard having once been hindered on the Saturday, began to shave himself very early on the Sunday morning, before the divine office; but was touched with remorse in that action, and is said to have seen in a vision a devil picking up every hair which he had cut off at so undue a time, to produce against him at the divine tribuna1.2 The holy man desisted, and passed the day with his head half shaved; and in that condition grievously accused and condemned himself in full chapter with abundance of tears. Those who truly consider the infinite sanctity of God, and the great purity of affections and fidelity in all duties which we owe to him, watch, like Job, with holy fear over their hearts in all they do, being well assured that no failures will escape the vigilance of their accusers, or the all-piercing eye and rigorous justice of their Judge. St. Aicard, in his last moments, being laid on ashes and covered with sackcloth, said to the monks, “My dear children, never forget the last advice, and, as it were, the testament of your most tender father. I conjure you in the name of our divine Saviour always to love one another, and never to suffer the least coldness toward any brother to take place for a moment in your breasts, by which perfect charity, which is the mark of the elect, may suffer any prejudice in your souls. In vain have you borne the yoke of penance, and are grown old in the exercises of religious duties, if you do not sincerely love one another. Without this, martyrdom itself cannot render you acceptable to God. Fraternal charity is the soul of a religious house.” Having spoken these words, lifting up his hands and eyes towards heaven, he happily surrendered his soul into the hands of his Creator on the 15th of September, about the year of our Lord 687, in the sixty-third of his age. A church was built at Jumieges in his honor. During the incursions of the Normans and Danes his relics were conveyed to Hapres, a priory between Cambray and Valenciennes, dependent on the great abbey of St. Vaast, and have since remained at the disposal of this monastery. See the life of St. Aicard in Surius and Baillet, 15 Sept. and another, older and more accurate, in Mabillon, Act. Bened. Sæc. 2, p. 954, &c. Also the commentaries and notes of Perier the Bollandist, t. 5, Sept. p. 80, and, on his translation, Baldericus, in his Chronicon Cameracense.

SEPTEMBER 15 — ST. APER OR EVRE, B. C

He was born at Troyes in Champagne, as was his sister, the holy virgin Apronia, honored at Troyes and Toul on the 15th of July. Upon the death of St. Auspicius, sixth bishop of Troyes, in Champagne, about the year 486, he was chosen to fill that chair, for which he was prepared by a life devoted to the divine service from his infancy. Baronius, F. Peter Chifflet, and F. Longueval think him the same with Aper, who was married, had been a judge, and, after having led for some years a worldly life, was converted to God, and served him with great fervor, as we learn from three letters of St. Paulinus to him. But the authors of the new Gallia Christiana, and Calmet, in his history of Lorrain, show, that this Aper must have been above one hundred years old before he could have been bishop, which is incredible. Nor does it appear that the bishop had ever been married; on the contrary, he had served God in continency from his youth. He might, however, be the same to whom Sidonius Apollinaris wrote with respect. In the history of his life, his zeal, austerity, devotion, and miracles are set forth. He governed that diocess seven years, and was buried in the new church which he had begun to build in the suburbs, and which was finished by his successor. This church was dedicated under the title of St. Martin, but very soon after bore the name of St. Aper, whose relics and miracles rendered it famous. A monastery was soon after built to this church; and, in the decline of the sixth century, the abbot Apollinaris governed both this church and that of Agaunum. St. Leo IX. bishop of Toul, afterward pope, carried certain relics of St. Mansuetus (first bishop of Toul in the reign of Constantine the Great) and of St. Aper with him, and by them cured many of his attendants of the pestilence on the road, as is related by Wibert, archdeacon of that holy pope, in his life. The chief part of the relics of St. Aper is to this day kept with veneration in his church. See the life of St. Aper among the lives of the bishops of Toul, published by Martenne, t. 3, Anecd. Col. 991, and by Calmet, Hist. de Lorraine, t. 1, inter Instrum. col. 121, ed. 2da; also The History of the Bishops of Toul, &c.

SEPTEMBER 16 — ST. CORNELIUS, POPE, M

From Eus.1. 6, c. 43. S. Pacianus, ep. 23. S. Cypr. ep. 52, ed. Pam. 55, ed. Oxon. ad Antonianum, item ep. 44, &c. ed Oxon. See Berti, Diss. Hist. t. 2, p. 167. Orsi and Tillemont. Suysken, t. 3, Sept. p. 18.

A. D. 252.

THE holy pope Fabian having been crowned with martyrdom on the 20th of January, in the year 250, the see of Rome remained vacant above sixteen months, the clergy and people not being able all that while, through the violence of the persecution, to assemble for the election of a bishop. St. Cyprian says, that such was the rage of the persecutor Decius, that he would more easily have suffered a competitor in his empire than a bishop in Rome. At length, however, when that emperor was taken up in opposing the revolt of Julius Valens, or in his wars against the Goths, at a distance from Rome, Cornelius was chosen to fill the apostolic chair in 251. St. Cyprian testifies that he was a person of an unblemished character and virginal purity, remarkable for his humility; meek, modest, peaceable, and adorned with all other virtues; that he was not advanced to the episcopal dignity on a sudden, but had gone through all the orders of the clergy, as the previous steps, and served the Lord in the functions of each distinct order, as the canons require. At the time of Saint Fabian’s death he was a priest in the Roman Church, and had the chief share in the direction of affairs during the vacancy of the holy see. Far from aiming at, or desiring the supreme dignity in the Church to which he was raised, he suffered violence, says the same St. Cyprian, and was promoted to it by force and compulsion. In this we see the character of the Spirit of God, which teaches holy men in humility and distrust sincerely to fear and decline such posts, which presumption, vanity, and ambition make others seek and invade, who, by this mark alone, are sufficiently proved to be most unworthy. And Cornelius, by gradually proceeding through all the functions of the ministry, according to the spirit of the Church, had attained all the graces and virtues by which he was qualified for that high station. The election of Cornelius was made by a due assembly of almost all the clergy of Rome; a great number also of the laity, who were present, consented to and demanded his ordination. The concurring suffrages of sixteen ancient and worthy bishops (two of whom were Africans), who happened then to be in Rome, confirmed the same, and the elect was compelled to receive the episcopal consecration. St. Cyprian and other bishops, according to custom, despatched to him letters of communion and congratulation. Matters were thus settled when the devil found in Novatian an instrument to disturb the peace of the Church.

This man had been a Stoic philosopher, and had gained a considerable reputation by his eloquence. He at length embraced the faith, but continued a catechumen, till falling dangerously ill, and his life being despaired of, he was baptized in bed, not by immersion, which was then the most usual method, but by infusion, or the pouring on of water. Recovering, he received not the seal of the Lord by the hand of the bishop, says St. Pacian, that is to say, the sacrament of confirmation. Both these defects were, by the ancient discipline of the Church, bars to holy orders. The Clinici, or persons who had been baptized in bed in time of sickness, were declared irregular, and excluded from the priesthood; not as if such a baptism was defective, but in detestation of the sloth and lukewarmness by which such persons put off their baptism till they were in immediate danger of death. Novatian, notwithstanding this double irregularity, was afterward ordained priest. The persecution coming on, he kept himself shut up in his house, and when the deacons solicited him to go and assist his brethren, he went away in a rage, saying he would no longer serve the Church, being fond of another kind of philosophy. Afterward, with a view to make himself conspicuous by opposing the pastors, he became very rigid, and complained that some that had fallen in the persecution were too easily admitted again. By this pharisaical zeal he made a small party, and counted some among the confessors, who were in prison at Rome, in his interest. He was much emboldened in his cabals by Novatus, a wicked priest of Carthage. This man having strenuously abetted the deacon Felicissimus in the schism which he raised against St. Cyprian about the beginning of the year 251, to avoid the sentence of excommunication with which St. Cyprian threatened him, fled to Rome, and there, joining Novatian, either first stirred him up to commence an open schism, or at least very much encouraged him in it. So notoriously were ambition and faction the aim of this turbulent man, that though at Carthage he had condemned the conduct of St. Cyprian towards the lapsed as too severe, he was not ashamed to ground his schism at Rome upon the opposite principle, calling there the self-same discipline of the Church a criminal relaxation of the law of the gospel.

To frame a clear conception of this controversy, it is necessary to observe that those Christians who in the persecution had offered incense to idols, were called Sacrificati and Thurificati; others who purchased with money of the imperial officers libels or certificates of safety, as if they had offered sacrifice (by which they were guilty of the same scandal), were called Libellatici, or certificate-men. All the lapsed, upon giving marks of sincere repentance, were admitted by the Church to a course of severe canonical penance, which was shorter and milder with regard to the certificate-men than to apostates; which term being completed (or abridged by an indulgence given by the bishop), they were received to communion. If any penitent, during the course of his penance, happened to be in danger of death, the benefit of absolution and communion was granted him. This discipline was confirmed by several councils at Rome, in Africa, and other places, and at this Novatian took offence, pretending that the lapsed ought never to be again admitted to penance, or to receive absolution, not even after having performed any course of penance, or in the article of their death. Yet he did not bid them despair, but left them to the divine mercy, exhorting them privately (though excluded from the communion of the rest of the faithful) to make application to God for mercy, hoping that he would be moved to show them compassion at the last day. Novatian soon added heresy to his schism, maintaining that the Church had not received from Christ power to absolve sinners from the crime of apostasy, how penitent soever they might be. His followers afterward taught the same of murder and fornication, and condemned second marriages.* His disciples were called Novatians and Cathari, that is, pure. Having separated many persons from the communion of Cornelius, he decoyed three bishops, from a corner of Italy, to come to Rome, and ordain him bishop of that city. One of these bishops returned soon after to the Church, bewailing and confessing his guilt, and was admitted by St. Cornelius to lay-communion; for he remained deposed from his dignity, as well as the two other bishops who were concerned with him, and pope Cornelius sent others to fill up their sees. Thus Novatian was the first antipope, though he was author not only of a schism, but also of a heresy, and was acknowledged bishop only by heretics. On account of his errors he is called by St. Cyprian,1 “A deserter of the Church, an enemy to all tenderness, a very murderer of penance, a teacher of pride, a corrupter of the truth, and a destroyer of charity.”

St. Cornelius assembled at Rome a synod of sixty bishops, in which he confirmed the canons, by which it was ordained to admit the lapsed that were penitent to public penance; and bishops and priests, who had fallen, only to the rank of layman, without power of exercising any sacerdotal function. Novatian, who was there present, and obstinately refused to communicate with such penitents, was excommunicated. The confessors, Maximus a priest, Urbanus, Sidonius, Celerinus, and Moses, who had been seduced by Novatian to favor his schism, were disabused by the letters of St. Cyprian and the evidence of truth and justice, and were all received to communion by St. Cornelius, to the great joy of the people, as appears from a letter of this pope to St. Cyprian,2 and from a fragment of the last of his four letters to Fabius bishop of Antioch, preserved by Eusebius. This historian informs us, that there were in the Church of Rome, in the time of pope Cornelius, forty-six priests, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, forty-two acolytes, fifty-two exorcists, lectors, and janitors, or door-keepers, and one thousand five hundred widows and other poor persons whom the Church maintained.

St. Cyprian exceedingly extols the zeal and piety with which St. Cornelius behaved in his pastoral charge; and the courage and steadfastness with which he adhered to his duty in the most perilous times. “Should not he be ranked among the most illustrious martyrs and confessors,” says he, “who continued so long under the expectation of tormentors and savage executioners from the enraged tyrant, to mangle his body; to behead, or to burn, or to crucify; or, with some new and unexampled invention of malice and cruelty to tear and torture the bowels of this intrepid champion, opposing the dreadful edicts, and, through the mighty power of his faith, despising the torments wherewith he was threatened! Though the goodness of God hath hitherto protected his bishop, yet Cornelius gave sufficient evidence of his love and fidelity, by being ready to suffer all he could suffer, and by his zeal conquering the tyrant (Decius) first, who was soon after conquered in battle.”3 Our saint, who deserved by his constancy to be ranked among the martyrs in the persecution of Decius, attained to his crown a short time after. Decius being defeated by the Goths in Thrace perished in a bog, toward the end of the year 251, and was succeeded by Gallus the general of his army, who had betrayed him. The respite which this revolution seemed to give the Church was of a short continuance. A pestilence which ravaged the empire, alarmed the superstition of the new emperor, who thought he should appease the anger of his false gods by taking vengeance on the Christians, though his persecution is called by most writers a part of the seventh, or a continuation of that of Decius, whose edicts he put more rigorously in execution than that emperor himself had ever done. Pope Cornelius was the first person that was apprehended at Rome. Having made a glorious confession of his faith, he was sent into banishment to Centumcellæ, now called Civita Vecchia. St. Cyprian wrote him a congratulatory letter upon the news of his happiness in suffering for Christ.4 In this epistle he clearly foretells the approaching conflicts of them both, and says God had (by a special revelation) advertised him of his own, and that he therefore earnestly exhorted his people to prepare for it in continual watchfulness, fasting, and prayer. He adds: “Whoever of us shall be first favored with a removal hence, let our charity persevere with the Lord for our brethron in never-ceasing prayers unto the Father for our brethren and sisters.”

St. Cornelius was called to eternal bliss in 252, on the 14th of September, on the same day on which St. Cyprian was martyred six years after, though they are commemorated together in the present Roman Martyrology, on the 16th. The Liberian Calendar mentions, that St. Cornelius having been banished to Centumcellæ, slept in the Lord on the 14th of this month. St. Jerom tells us, in his life of St. Cyprian, that this holy pope was brought back from Centumcellæ to Rome, and there suffered death, which is confirmed by Eusebius in his chronicle, by St. Prosper in his, by St. Eulogius of Alexandria quoted by Photius (Bibl. p. 1622). St. Pacianus (ep. 2, ad Symphor.) St. Cyprian, writing to his successor St. Lucius (ep. 58), and in a letter to the next pope Stephen (ep. 67), styles Cornelius a blessed martyr. His relics were first interred in the cemetery of Calixtus, where St. Leo I. built a chapel in honor of them; Adrian I. placed them in a stately church which he built in the city to bear his name, as Anastasius relates. In the reign of Charles the son of Louis Debonnaire, the sacred remains of St. Cornelius were translated to Compeigne in France.* where the emperor built a church and monastery of canons to receive them, which in 1150 was put in the hands of Benedictine monks; of which famous abbey of St. Cornelius a considerable portion of these relics is to this day esteemed the richest treasure. The head and one arm were removed to the abbey of Inda, on the river of that name, near Aix la Chapelle, and there honored with pilgrimages to this day, and miracles. Part of this arm and other bones were translated from Inda to Rotnay or Rosnay, formerly a monastery founded by St. Amand in the diocess of Cambray, now in that of Mechline, between Courtray and Tournay, and converted long since into a collegiate church of canons.5

St. Irenæus, Origen, and other fathers observe, that most of the heretics were spared in the persecutions, which fell either solely, or at least most heavily upon the Catholics. This was sometimes owing to the subterfuges of the heretics, often to the persecutors. St. Cyprian, in his last letter to pope Cornelius,6 makes the same remark concerning the Novatians; but attributes it to the devil. “Who,” says he, “are the servants of God, whom the devil so molests? Who are truly Christians, whom Antichrist with all his might opposes? For the devil troubles not himself with those whom he hath already made sure of, nor does he labor to conquer those that are now in his power. The great enemy of the Church overlooks them as his captives, and passes them by without thinking them worth his notice, whom he hath already seduced and alienated from the Church, and employs his pains and stratagems upon those in whom he observes Christ to dwell. Although, if it should so fall out, that one of that wretched company should be seized, he could have no reason to flatter himself with any hopes upon his confession of Christ; since it is an agreed rule, that whoever suffers without the Church, is so far from being entitled to the crown of faith, that he continues obnoxious to the punishment of having forsaken it.”

SEPTEMBER 16 — ST. CYPRIAN, M. ARCHBISHOP OF CARTHAGE

We have his life written by Pontius, his deacon, an eye-witness to his principal actions; also two-fold genuine copies of extracts from the Presidial Acts of his two examinations, and of his martyrdom. The saint’s epistles furnish us with ample memoirs. See his life compiled by Tillemont, t. 3, and best by Dom. Maran, the Maurist monk, prefixed to the edition of this father’s works, prepared by Baluze, before his death, but published by Maran in 1726. The Cyprianic annals of Bishop Pearson, and some of Dodwell’s Dissertations, printed in the Oxford edition, are of great service. Maran has corrected several mistakes, particularly relating to the schism of Novatus, into which Pearson, Tillemont, and all who had written before him, had been led. See also the life of St. Cyprian compiled in French by M. Lombert, who printed a French translation of all his works in 1672. Another elegant translation of the same was printed at Rouen in 1716, with learned remarks; and Suysken the Bollandist, t. 3, Sept. p. 191.

A. D. 258.

THASCIUS CYPRIAN was a native of Carthage, his father being one of the principal senators of that city. He made great improvements in philosophy and all the liberal arts, applied himself to the study of oratory and eloquence with great success, and was made public professor of rhetoric at Carthage. This employment was anciently most honorable, and all this time he lived suitably to the rank of his birth in great pomp and plenty, in honor and power, wearing a splendid attire, and never stirring abroad without a pompous retinue, and a crowd of clients and followers waiting upon him. He tells us in his book to Donatus, that he had lived a long time amidst the fasces, which were the Roman emblem of the supreme magistracy: but he deplores that he was then a slave to vice and evil habits. The far greater part of his life he passed in the errors of paganism, and he was upon the borders of old age when he was rescued from the darkness of idolatry, and the servitude of vice and errors.

There resided at Carthage a holy old priest, whose name was Cecilius. With him Cyprian contracted an acquaintance, and by his discourses on the excellency of the Christian religion, he began to relish exceedingly its divine truths, and the sanctity of its precepts; but still his carnal heart made strong efforts in favor of the world and his passions. He describes, in his book to Donatus, the struggle which he felt within himself, as follows: “lay,’ says he, “in darkness, and I floated on the boisterous sea of this world a stranger to the light, and uncertain where to fix my feet. I then thought what I was told of a second birth, and the method of salvation by it, propounded by the divine goodness, extremely hard and impracticable. I could not conceive how a man could receive the principles of a new life from the sacred laver of regeneration, cease to be what he was before, become quite a new person, and though still retaining the same bodily constitution, put off the old man, and be entirely renewed in the spirit of his mind. For how (thought I to myself) is so great an alteration possible or practicable? How shall I do to leave off on a sudden, and in an instant, radicated customs, in which I am grown old? How can one who remains still in the midst of those objects which have so long struck and charmed his senses, strip himself of all his former inclinations and inveterate habits? These, time and continuance have made natural to me, and they are closely riveted in the very frame of my being. When is it known that a person is transformed into an example of constant frugality and sobriety, who has been always accustomed to sumptuous and dainty fare, to live in plenty, and to indulge his appetites without restraint? How rarely does a man become content with plain apparel and unornamented dress, who hath been used to sparkle in gold and jewels, and embroidered garments! The man of ambitious views, who pleases himself, and glories in the ensigns of power and authority, can never love an inglorious private life.—In like manner, there is almost a necessity, that wine should engage, that pride should swell, that anger should inflame, that greediness of gain should devour, that ambition should amuse and please, and that lust should tyrannize over a man who hath long indulged such inclinations. These, and such as these, were frequently my soliloquies, for as I was deeply entangled and ensnared in the errors of my former life, which I judged it impossible for me ever to disengage myself from, I gave way to the solicitations of my usual vices, added strength to them by indulgence, and despairing of any possible cure, hugged the chain which was become natural to me, so that I looked upon it as a part of myself. But as soon as the life-giving waters of baptism had washed out the spots of my soul, my heart had received the light of the heavenly truth, the Spirit of God had descended upon me, and I was thence become a new creature, presently all my difficulties were surprisingly cleared, my doubts were resolved, and all my former darkness was dispelled. Things appeared easy to me, which before I looked upon as difficult and discouraging: I was convinced that I was able to do and suffer all that which heretofore had seemed impossible. I then saw that the earthly principle which I derived from my first birth, exposed me to sin and death; but that the new principle which I had received from the Spirit of God, in his spiritual birth, gave me new ideas and inclinations, and directed all my view to God.” He goes on professing all this to have been in him the pure gift and mercy of God, and ascribing it wholly to the power of his grace; which, he adds, we are bound continually to ask with earnestness and humility, as by it alone we are enabled to will and to do.

Cecilius, the holy priest, was the happy instrument in the hands of God, of his conversion; and Cyprian ever after reverenced him as his father and guardian-angel, and to express his gratitude would from that time be called Thascius Cecilius Cyprian, joining the name of his benefactor (whom he acknowledged under God the author of his spiritual life) with his own. Cecilius had, in return, the greatest confidence in his virtue, and on his death-bed recommended his wife and children to his care and protection; for he had been married before he was raised to the priesthood. Cecilius left behind him the most excellent character for all good qualities, and Cyprian became, as it were, the heir of his piety, says Pontius. This author takes notice, that the fervent convert set himself with great eagerness to read the holy scriptures, and to inform himself of all those lessons which would be of use to him, in his great design of obtaining God’s favor. Finding the sacred oracles very copious in the commendation of purity and continence, he made a resolution to practise those virtues for the more easy attainment of true perfection. Soon after his baptism he sold his whole estate, and gave almost all the money, and whatever else he possessed, for the support of the poor; by which, says Pontius, he gained two points of principal importance, renouncing and despising all secular views (than which nothing is more fatal to all the true interests of piety and religion) and fulfilling the law of charity, which God himself prefers to all sacrifices. With the study of the holy scriptures St. Cyprian joined that of their best expositors, and in a short time became acquainted with the most approved ecclesiastical writers. He was particularly delighted with the writings of his countryman Tertullian, scarce passed a day without reading something in them, and when he called for them used to say: “Reach hither my master,” as St. Jerom relates. But though he admired his genius, and the variety of his learning, he was upon his guard not to imitate any of his faults or errors.* St. Cyprian led a retired penitential life, and by the fervor of his conversion made such wonderful progress in the exercises of a virtuous life, that whilst he was yet in the rank of the Neophytes or persons lately baptized, at the earnest request of the people, he was raised to the priesthood; his extraordinary merit being judged sufficient reason for dispensing with the rule laid down by St. Paul against admitting Neophytes to holy orders.

During the short time that he served the Church in the sacerdotal functions he did many great things; and within less than a year after, Donatus, bishop of Carthage, dying, the clergy and people conspired to demand that he should be raised to that high dignity in the Church. At the first news of this motion, the humble servant of Christ fled, judging himself unfit for so weighty an employment, and begging that some more worthy person, and one of his seniors, might be chosen to that dignity. His declining it made the people keener in their desires, as it showed him to be the more worthy. A great multitude beset his house, and guarded all the ways that led to it, so that he could not make his escape from them. He attempted to get out at a window, but finding it in vain, he yielded, and showed himself to the people, who were impatiently waiting for him, divided between hope and fear. He was received with great joy, and consecrated with the unanimous approbation of the bishops of the province in the year 248, as bishop Pearson and Tillemont prove. Five priests with some of the people opposed his election, alleging that he was yet a novice in the Church. St. Cyprian treated these persons as if they had been his best friends, and expressed so much goodness toward them, that everybody admired him for it. In the discharge of the episcopal functions he showed abundance of piety, charity, goodness, and courage mixed with vigor and steadiness. His very aspect was reverend and gracious beyond what can be expressed, says Pontius, and no one could look him in the face without a secret awe upon his spirits: his countenance had a happy mixture in it of cheerfulness and gravity; his brow was neither too contracted nor too open, but equally removed from both extremes of gaiety and severity, so that a person who beheld him might doubt whether he should love or respect him most: only this was certain, that he deserved the highest degrees both of respect and love. His dress was of a piece with his countenance, neither affectedly sordid, nor pompous. How careful he was of the poor when he was bishop, may be judged from his tenderness for them whilst he was only a catechumen.

The Church enjoyed peace under the reign of Philip for above a year after St. Cyprian’s promotion to the see of Carthage. But Decius, who was sent by that emperor to chastise certain rebels in Pannonia, was proclaimed emperor by them, and advancing toward Italy, gained a great victory over Philip’s forces, who was killed by his soldiers at Verona, and his son at Rome in 249. Decius began his reign by raising a bloody persecution against the church. The cruel edict reached Carthage in the beginning of the year 250. It was no sooner made public, but the idolators, in a kind of sedition, ran to the market-place, confusedly crying: “Cyprian to the lions: Cyprian to the wild beasts.” The saint was publicly proscribed by the name of “Cecilius Cyprian, bishop of the Christians;” and every one was commanded not to hide or conceal his goods. By his remarkable conversion and great zeal, his name was so odious to them, that in derision they called him Coprianus, alluding to a Greek word which signifies dung. He was often sought for by the persecutors on this occasion. St. Cyprian consulted God, according to his custom, what he ought to do. It is the part of a hireling to fly when the flock is left destitute in time of danger. But there were at that time many weak ones among the faithful at Carthage, as appeared by the great number of those that soon after fell: the havoc which the enemy made there would have probably been much greater if providence had not preserved St. Cyprian, that by his active zeal and authority he might maintain discipline, and repair the ruins caused by the persecution. In order to procure to his flock all necessary support and comfort during the storm, the holy bishop was persuaded that the precept of flying from one city to another held good in his case: and during his deliberation he was favored with a vision, in which Christ commanded him to consult his own safety by a prudent retreat, as Pontius testifies in his life, and as Saint Cyprian himself assures us.1 The clergy of Rome, who by severe glances reflected upon his flight, as if by it he had in some measure forsaken the flock, were not apprised of his motives, or of these circumstances. Moreover, by his staying at Carthage, the heathens would have been provoked to fall more severely upon the whole Church.

During his recess, though absent in body, yet he was with his flock in spirit, supplying the want of his presence by frequent letters, pious counsels, admonitions, reproofs, exhortations, and hearty prayers to heaven for the welfare and prosperity of his Church. He exhorted them to continual prayer to God, saying: “What hath moved me more particularly to write to you in this manner, was an admonition which I received in a vision from heaven, saying unto me: ‘Ask and you shall have.’ ”2 He assured them that the Christians, by falling into sloth and a relaxation of manners during the long peace, had deserved this scourge for their trial and amendment; and that this storm had been discovered by God before it happened, to a devout person at Carthage, by a vision of the enemy under the figure of a net-fencer (a kind of gladiator) watching to destroy the faithful, because they did not stand upon their guard.3 In the same epistle the saint mentions another revelation of God, which he himself, though the last of all his servants, as he styles himself, had received concerning the end of the persecution, and the restoration of the peace of the Church.4 St. Cyprian during his absence committed the care of his Church to certain vicars, of whom some were bishops, as Caldonius and Herculanus; some priests, as Rogatian, Numidicus, and Tertullus. By frequent letters he warned and exhorted his flock, encouraged the confessors in the prisons, and took care that priests in turns should visit them, and offer the sacrifice of the altar, and give them the holy communion every day in their dungeons. Two affairs at that time gave him much disturbance; the schism of Novatus and Felicissimus, and a controversy about the absolution of the lapsed.

Felicissimus, a turbulent clerk of Carthage, had with five priests opposed the election and ordination of St. Cyprian. During the retreat of that holy pastor, Novatus, a priest of Carthage, formed an open schism. He was a man of an unquiet disposition, covetous, presumptuous, a lover of novelty, and suspected by the bishops in point of faith. He had robbed the widows and orphans, misapplied the revenues of the Church, and suffered his aged father to perish with hunger in a certain village, without so much as taking care to bury him. For these and other reasons the brethren were very urgent to have him deposed and excommunicated. The time of his trial was near at hand, when the persecution beginning, no assemblies could be held. In order to prevent his condemnation, he separated himself from his bishop, persuading some others to do the same, and pretending to ordain Felicissimus for his deacon, a man like himself, who had been convicted of several frauds and robberies: they were joined in their schism by five other priests, and held their assemblies upon a mountain. Some among the lapsed and confessors, who were angry at St. Cyprian’s severity toward the former, adhered to them; for Novatus received, without any canonical penance, all apostates that desired to return to the communion of the Church.5 St. Cyprian, finding other remedies only served to make the schismatics more insolent, sent a commission to the bishops and priests, whom he had appointed to act in his stead, to declare the ringleaders among them excommunicated; which was done according to his orders. About the beginning of the year 251, St. Cyprian wrote to his flock, exhorting them to beware of being misled by the schism, which he calls more dangerous than the persecutions of the pagans. “There is,” says he, “one God, and one Christ, and but one episcopal chair, originally founded on Peter, by our Lord’s authority. There cannot therefore be erected another altar, or another priesthood. Whatever any man in his rage or rashness shall appoint, in defiance of the divine institution, must be a spurious, profane, and sacrilegious ordinance.”6 Novatian and Novatus having kindled a schism at Rome against pope Cornelius, St. Cyprian wrote his excellent book. On the Unity of the Church, in which he more fully explains the same principles, which overthrow all schisms and heresies which can arise in the Church. The case of the absolution of the lapsed who returned penitent to the Church, gave more exercise to the zeal of our holy pastor than the schism itself.

Virtue, which had stood the fiercest persecution, is often seen to melt at the first ray of prosperity; so dangerous are its flattering blandishments. St. Cyprian complains in many parts of his works,7 that the peace which the Church had enjoyed,* had enervated in some Christians the watchfulness and spirit of their holy profession, and had opened a door to many converts who had not the true spirit of our faith: from which sources a sensible relaxation was discoverable in the manners of many. Their virtue therefore being put to the test, in the persecution raised by Decius, many wanted courage to stand the trial. The lapsed, whether apostates who had sacrificed to idols, or Libellatici who, without sacrificing, had purchased for money certificates that they had offered sacrifice, were not admitted to assist at the holy mysteries, before they had gone through a most rigorous course of public penance, consisting of four degrees, and of several years’ continuance, as is prescribed for much less heinous sins than that of apostasy, in the canonical epistle of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, written about that time. When, during this penitential term, absolution was given in danger of death, if the penitent recovered he was obliged to accomplish his course as to the austerities enjoined him. Relaxations of these penances, called indulgences, were granted on certain extraordinary occasions, as on account of the uncommon fervor of a penitent; of which several instances occur in ecclesiastical antiquity: also, on occasion of a new violent persecution being raised in the Church.

Thus St. Cyprian, in 252, when the persecution of Gallus began to threaten the Church, decreed, “that all the penitents should receive the peace of the Church who professed themselves ready to enter the lists afresh; there to abide the utmost heat of battle, and manfully to fight for the name of the Lord, and for their own salvation.” For the reasons of which indulgence he alleged that it was necessary “to make a general rendezvous of Christ’s soldiers within his camp, who are desirous to have arms put into their hands and seem eager for the engagement.—So long as we had peaceable times, there was reason for a longer continuance of penitents under a state of mortification; yet so as to relax it in the case of sickness and danger. Now the living have as much need of communion as the dying then had, unless we would leave those naked and defenceless whom we are exhorting and encouraging to fight our Lord’s battle: whereas we should rather support and strengthen them with the body and blood of Christ. The design of the eucharist being to be a defence and security for those who partake of it, we should fortify them whose safety we are concerned for, with the armor of our Lord’s banquet. How shall they be able to die for Christ, if we deny them the blood of Christ? How shall we fit them for drinking the cup of martyrdom, if we will not first admit them to the cup of the Lord?”8 It was also customary to grant indulgences to penitents who brought tickets from some martyr going to execution, or from some confessor in prison for the faith, containing a request in their behalf, which the bishop and his clergy examined, and often ratified. This practice was established in Africa in Tertullian’s time,9 in Egypt, in the days of St. Dionysius of Alexandria,10 in Asia, as appears from the acts of St. Pionius, and in other places. In St. Cyprian’s time this custom degenerated in Africa into a great abuse by the multitude of such tickets, and their often being given in too peremptory terms, and without examination or discernment, to the great prejudice of souls, and the relaxation of the discipline of penance.

St. Cyprian being informed of the mischief which threatened his flock in June, 250, severely condemned it by three letters which he despatched together, one to the martyrs and confessors, the second to the priests and deacons, and a third to his people. In the first,11 he expresses the utmost concern to the confessors that they had not been better instructed by his priests in the rules of the gospel than they appeared to have been, and that by their recommendation, “some priests had presumed to make oblations for the lapsed,* and to admit them to the holy eucharist; that is, indeed, to profane the body of our Lord.—And as a further aggravation,” says he, “they have admitted these sinners to communion before any submission made by them to penitential discipline, before any confession made of their heinous and crying sin, and before any imposition of hands made by the bishop and his clergy unto penance. Such priests, instead of approving themselves the true shepherds of the sheep, become as bad to them as butchers and murderers. For a mischievous condescension is, in effect, a cheat: nor are those who have fallen raised by such helps, but rather cast down, and pushed upon destruction.” He adds: “I beseech you, with all possible earnestness, to set before your eyes the examples of your predecessors, and to consider how careful other martyrs, who are gone before you, were in making such grants; duly weigh the reasonableness and justice of the petitions which you hand to me.—I again entreat you, that you see the persons, acquaint yourselves with their circumstances, and be assured that their humiliation comes very near the just measures of a legitimate and full satisfaction.” The saint’s letter to the priests12 is a much more severe rebuke, that some of their order (whom he threatens to restrain from offering, that is, to suspend), forgetting the rules of the gospel, as well as the rank which they held in the Church, rashly and hastily admitted penitents to communion upon the tickets of confessors; “though,” says he, “they have not performed their penance, made no humble confession of their sin, nor received the imposition of hands from the bishop and his clergy; the holy eucharist is administered to them, in defiance of the scripture, which saith: Whoever shall eat or drink unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, (1 Cor. 11:27).” Fleury remarks that St. Cyprian here does not take the word exomologesis, with Tertullian, for the whole course of penance, but for a part of it, according to the Greek word, namely, confession, which was made either publicly or privately, after penance was ended, before receiving reconciliation by the imposition of hands.13 The holy bishop, in his letter to his people, recommends to them to restrain by their advice, the forwardness of such confessors within the limits prescribed by the gospe1.14 He, however, dispenses in case of sickness, or other extreme danger, and allows such, with tickets from the martyrs, to be reconciled, “when they have made the humble confession of their sin before any priest or deacon,* whom they can procure to attend them.”15 Lucian, and certain others among the confessors at Carthage, wrote an imperious letter to St. Cyprian upon this subject,16 but the holy pastor strenuously maintained his point.17

The see of Rome being then vacant, St. Cyprian wrote concerning this affair to the clergy of that Church, who, by an excellent answer, confirmed the same law of holy penance, and discipline of the Church.18 They were by that time well satisfied of the just reasons St. Cyprian had for his retreat; and condemn over hasty absolutions. “God forbid,” say they, “that ever the Roman Church should be so easy and compliant, or have so little regard to the interests of religion, as to relax the severity and rigor of its discipline. The remedy too hastily applied can do those that are fallen no sort of service; but through a mistaken compassion, would fester the wound received by the first offence, and to their greater destruction, deprive the unhappy souls of the advantages they might reap from a true repentance. For how is it possible that the medicinal grace of forgiveness should have its effect, if he who hath the dispensation of it becomes fond of increasing the danger, by contracting the time which should be allowed for the removal of it, by a legitimate and proper penance? If he chooses only to skin over the wound, and will not allow due time for the operation of his medicines, nor for closing it by surer and slower degrees? This, if we would speak out plainly, is not to cure but to kill.—Let penitents knock at the doors of the Church; but let them not proceed to violence, nor to break them open. Let their tears and lamentations, coming from the very bottom of their hearts, plead their cause for them, and speak their shame and sorrow for their sin. Nay, if they have really a just horror of their guilt, and would have the deep and dangerous wounds of their consciences handled skilfully, they should even ask with shame. Let them ask, agreeably to the rules of the gospel, with modesty and humility.—The mercies of God may be considered; but then his justice should also be remembered.—He hath prepared a heaven, but he hath prepared a hell too,” &c. A letter also which the confessors at Rome wrote out of prison to these in Africa (much extolled in this and St. Cyprian’s letters, though not now extant) contributed very much to the support of discipline.

St. Cyprian writes of a certain priest named Gains, who admitted the lapsed to communion, and of such others; “Let them be suspended from their monthly dividend.”19 For the revenues of the clergy then consisted chiefly of the oblations of the faithful, which were divided every month into four parts, one of which was assigned to the bishop, and one to his clergy, so that the bishop’s share equalled that of all his clergy together. The other two parts were allowed to the poor, and the expenses of oratories or churches.20 The Roman clergy tell St. Cyprian, in another letter, that they hoped the impatience of the lapsed would wear off with time; “and then they will be thankful,” say they, “that they have been kept in hand for a season, till their cure could be depended on.”21 The schismatics Novatus and Felicissimus supported the cause of the lapsed, and the rebellious clergy and confessors; but Novatus retired to Rome in the beginning of the year 251, where St. Cornelius was chosen pope in June that same year. St. Cyprian congratulated with him upon his election, and they joined their forces against the double schism kindled both at Rome and in Africa.

At the end of the year 250 the persecution was considerably abated at Carthage upon the expiration of the proconsul’s annual authority. It ceased by the death of the two Decii, father and son, who perished together, by the treachery of Gallus, their general, as they were fighting against the Carpi, a Scythian nation, near Abrutum in Mysia, part of Scythia, in November, 251, the elder Decius having reigned about two years and six months. St. Cyprian was returned to Carthage in April that same year, after an exile which he calls of two years, though it seems only to have continued about fourteen months, as Tillemont observes. Soon after his return he held a numerous council at Carthage, in which the schismatics were condemned, and it was ordered that the lapsed should remain in a course of penance. St. Cyprian granted them afterward a plenary indulgence in a second council which he held at Carthage soon after Easter the following year, the persecution of Gallus then beginning to threaten the Church, as has been already mentioned. Our saint is thought to have read in the first of these councils his treatise, On the Lapsed, which he published soon after he came out of his retreat.*

Visions continued very frequent in the Church in that age, as the learned Mr. Dodwe1122 has proved, tracing the evidences of this prophetic spirit through almost every writer, from the apostolic age to this period, namely, from the works of Hermas, Clemens, Romanus, Ignatius Polycarp, Quadratus, Justin, Melito, Tertullian, Origen, Dionysius, Alexandrinus, &c. St. Cyprian mentions several visions with which God had favored him and many other persons. He assures us, that he received from God an express order to fly and lie concealed when he was proscribed or outlawed in the reign of Decius. Pontius, in his life, tells us, that it was purely owing to his fear of offending God, which induced him rather to obey the commands of God than to be crowned with martyrdom against the will of God, to whom in everything he was entirely devoted. He so firmly depended on the truth of those admonitions which he received from heaven, that he was persuaded he should commit a sin by suffering, if he had not then concealed himself, when our Lord commanded him to do so. This historian observes, that he was preserved by a merciful Providence, lest his weak flock should have been totally dispersed, and the discipline of penance enervated in it by the persecutions, first of the heathens, and afterward of the lapsed. During which dangers this skilful manager bound up the wounds of the brethren, and, by his watchfulness, defeated the stratagems by which the cunning enemy sought to impose upon those that were found not to be upon their guard. Such circumstances render the vision more credible at those times when miraculous powers were frequent.

St. Cyprian, in his eleventh epistle to his priests and deacons,23 mentions several other visions; one by which he was moved to exhort them to continual prayer. “I received,” says he, “an admonition from heaven, in a vision, saying, Ask, and you shall receive. Next, my people were directed in the same vision to ask for certain persons; but they could not agree in asking, which exceedingly displeased him who had said, Ask, and you shall receive; because it is written, God maketh men to be of one mind in a house.”24 He subjoins the vision of the net-fencer, representing the devil threatening the people, which pointed out the impending persecution of Decius; and gives an account of a third vision, in which it was shown him that this persecution was drawing towards an end, in the following words: “To the least of all his servants, who hath many sins to account for, and in all respects is unworthy of such a condescension, God, in his infinite mercy, hath been pleased to give the following direction, saying, ‘Bid him be secure and easy, for settled times are coming: and, as to the intervening delay of them, there is reason for it, seeing there are some yet remaining to be proved in this trial.’ Even as to the point of spare diet, we have some intimation from above, with a manifest view of preventing any declensions in the vigor of heavenly virtue, through the allurements of the world; and of disengaging the mind from the weight and incumbrance of satiety, that it might more easily and expeditely watch for prayer.” The English editor observes, that this letter was written in 250, when there was no human appearance of times growing more peaceable. The departure of the Decii from Rome soon after, upon their expedition, made some abatement in the persecution, and their unexpected death put an end to it. The event proved the author to be neither an enthusiast nor an impostor, who depended with great assurance upon these visions, especially those which promised peace to the Church; of which he writes again:25 “Let us animate one another, and endeavor to make all possible improvements in virtue, that when our Lord shall mercifully vouchsafe that peace to the Church which he hath promised, we may return to her new men,” &c. When some of the lapsed had written to St. Cyprian, humbly and modestly begging penance and reconciliation, the holy bishop said of them, “The Lord is my witness how much I congratulate with them for this regular and Christian conduct, who hath been pleased also to reveal to me how highly acceptable it is in his sight.”26 He speaks of several other divine revelations which he received:27 he was often directed by them in promoting persons to holy orders, and in other occurrences. He was forewarned by God of the revival of the persecution under Gallus; of which he wrote to pope Cornelius as follows: “A storm is coming, and a furious enemy will speedily declare himself against us; the struggle will not be like the late one (that under Decius), but more sharp and insupportable. This we have had frequently revealed to us from above, and the merciful providence of God doth often remind us of it; through whose assistance and compassion for us, we trust that he who, in times of peace, hath foretold to his soldiers the approaching battle, will crown them with victory when engaged in it.”28 Upon these revelations he, by a plenary indulgence, admitted the lapsed, who had entered upon a course of penance, to the benefit of reconciliation and communion.

In the beginning of this persecution, in July, 252, pope Cornelius made a glorious confession of his faith at Rome, and was banished to Centumcellæ St. Cyprian congratulated him hereupon by a letter,29 in which he foretells both his and his own approaching martyrdom. “Since it hath pleased God,” says he, “to advertise me of our approaching trial, I cease not to endeavor by exhorting my people to prepare for it, and to join with me in continual watchfulness, fasting, and prayer. Let us cry to God continually, and deprecate his wrath: for this is our heavenly armor, which will enable us to stand our ground with constancy and courage. Let us agree in remembering each other at this time of peril and distress—and whichsoever of us shall first be favored by our Lord with a removal hence, let our affection still persevere before the Lord for our brethren, in never-ceasing prayers for them.” These two great saints lived in the closest and most constant union together; we have eight letters of St. Cyprian to that holy pope, besides a synodal epistle; and it appears by these that he wrote to him many others. After the martyrdom of St. Cornelius, which happened the same year, 252, on the 14th of September, St. Cyprian wrote a letter of congratulation to his successor, St. Lucius, who was no sooner elected than banished. Being recalled, he died about five months after his election, on the 4th of March, attaining to a “glorious martyrdom,” as St. Cyprian assures us.30

The pestilence, which broke out first in Ethiopia, in the reign of Decius, and ravaged successively all the provinces of the empire, fell most heavily of all upon Africa. It grew more violent under Gallus; afterward destroyed the armies of Valerian in Persia, and seemed to redouble its virulence in the reign of Gallien. It is mentioned also under Claudius II. in 270, though its chief havoc is confined to the space of twelve years, from 250 to 262.31 St. Cyprian describes this distemper, that it began by a sinking of the strength, with colliquative evacuations, and grievous inflammations of the larynx and parts adjacent: these symptoms were followed with an inward heat of the bowels, convulsions of the stomach, violent retchings and vomitings, fiery redness of the eyes, and mortifications in several parts, which required amputations of limbs; a weakness contracted in the whole frame rendered the body almost incapable of motion; a dullness of hearing or a dimness of sight also came upon the patients.32 This fatal contagious distemper swept away daily vast numbers, seizing whole families one after another, without sparing one individual person in them.33 All, in this dreadful juncture, were in the utmost consternation, every one striving to shift for himself, and get to the greatest distance from the infection. The heathens deserted and exposed their nearest friends, turning the dying patients out of the doors, as if they could shut death out with them. Living carcasses rather than men lay destitute up and down the streets, begging the assistance of passengers. Ye many were intent upon an unnatural and cruel plunder of the goods of others.

St. Cyprian, in this time of desolation, assembled the Christians at Carthage, and spoke to them strongly on the duties and advantages of mercy and charity, teaching them that they ought to extend their care not only to their own people, but also to their enemies and persecutors. The faithful readily offered themselves to follow his directions. Their services were severally distributed; the rich contributed large alms in money; the poor gave only their personal labor and attendance, having nothing else to bestow. Every one was ambitious to engage in a service wherein they might so eminently approve themselves to God the Father and Christ, the Judge of all, and in which they had at their head so great a leader and commander as their good bishop. How much the poor and necessitous were, not only during this pestilence, but at all times the objects of our saint’s most tender care, appears from the concern he expressed for them, and the orders he frequently gave about them in his epistles, even during his absence. It was one of his usual sayings: “Let not that sleep in thy coffers which may be profitable to the poor. That which a man must of necessity part with, some time or other, it is wisdom for him to distribute so, that God may everlastingly reward him.”

All orders of men shared the good bishop’s attention, but the clergy above the rest. So solicitous was he that they should be wholly taken up in the spiritual function of their charge, that he reckoned it among the great disorders which had crept into the Church during the long continuance of peace before Decius, that some bishops, “neglecting their high trust, entered upon the management of secular affairs.”34 In the town of Furnis, one Geminius Victor had, in his last will, appointed Geminius Faustinus, a priest of that church, his executor. The sixth among the apostolic canons (framed in various synods during the three first centuries) and other synodal decrees of the earliest ages, forbade any bishop, priest, or deacon, to engage himself in secular business, under pain of being deposed. Bishop Fell observes, that the Roman laws made it penal for any one to refuse the office of executor or guardian, when offered. Wherefore, in this case, the synods inflicted the penalty on him who should appoint a bishop, priest, or deacon, either executor or guardian, forbidding “any remembrance of him to be made at the eucharist (or mass), or any oblation to be made for him after his death. The reason of which was, that the clergy should not be distracted from their holy ministrations—that they might attend their altar and their sacrifices without interruption, and fix all their attendance upon religious duties,” as Saint Cyprian says. Wherefore he ordered “that the name of the said Victor should not be mentioned at the altar—that no oblation should be made for his repose, nor the customary prayers of the Church be offered up on his behalf,” as was usually done for the faithful departed. St. Cyprian hoped, by this instance of severity, to prevent any person from calling down to a lower employment the priests and ministers of God, whose whole time and care should be devoted to his altar.35

In the persecution of Gallus, some priests, who celebrated the holy eucharist early in the morning, made use of water only in the chalice, for fear of being discovered by the scent of the wine. This abuse St. Cyprian condemned and confuted.36 He mentions the sign of the cross used at baptism, and on other occasions,37 and says, “A Christian is fortified by the defensive sign of the cross.”38 Several cities in Numidia having been distressed by an incursion of barbarians, who were not subject to the Romans, a great number of Christians of both sexes were carried into captivity by them. Upon this accident eight bishops wrote to St. Cyprian, imploring his assistance for the redemption of the prisoners. St. Cyprian shed many tears upon reading these letters, and was particularly concerned on account of the danger to which the virgins were exposed. At his recommendation the clergy and people of Carthage raised a sum amounting to a hundred thousand scstertii, that is, about seven hundred and eighty-one pounds English.* This money St. Cyprian sent to those bishops, charging them to have recourse to him again upon all such occasions.39

About the year 255 began the controversy concerning the validity of baptism given by heretics. St. Cyprian having been consulted by eighteen bishops of Numidia concerning that point, answered, that such a baptism is null, and to be reiterated; which decree he soon after confirmed in a synod of seventy-two bishops, which he held at Carthage, The pretended reasons for this mistaken notion he sums up in his epistle to Jubaianus.40 In what manner St. Stephen maintained the tradition of the Church upon this head, has been related in the life of that holy pope and martyr. What the behavior of St. Cyprian would have been had he seen the controversy determined by the decision of the Church, cannot be doubted from the principles which he himself lays down.41 Nor did he question the superior authority of St. Stephen; though in a point which he thought to belong merely to discipline, not to faith, he thought he might maintain the custom which he found established at Carthage by a predecessor named Agrippinus. Neither was he unacquainted with the dignity of the Roman see, which he calls “The chair of Peter, the principal church, the origin of the sacerdotal unity; whither perfidy cannot find access.”42 If he for some time betrayed a warmth in this controversy, how much he repented of it appears by the book which he afterward wrote on patience; and, if he offended, this was effaced by his perfect charity and glorious martyrdom, as St. Austin frequently repeats.

Whilst this controversy was carried on, the Church enjoyed some tranquillity. For Gallus did not reign full two years, being slain by his own troops. Emilianus, who had revolted against him, met with the like fate after four months, and Valerian, who next stept into the throne, was favorable to the Christians, till, through the instigation of Macrianus, his general, he raised a most bloody persecution in 257, which raged three years and a half, till that emperor was taken prisoner by the Persians.* St. Cyprian so effectually encouraged his flock to martyrdom, that many who has fallen under Decius, and been by an indulgence reconciled by St. Cyprian, upon the approach of the persecution of Gallus, in it courageously suffered martyrdom; whose example is made use of to confound the harshness of Novatian in rejecting such penitents, in the work of a learned contemporary writer against that heresiarch, which has sometimes been ascribed to St. Cyprian. Indefatigable was the zeal of our holy bishop in exhorting the confessors, and in procuring them all possible succor. He was also careful in devoutly honoring the memory of the martyrs, after their triumphs, by sacrifices of thanksgiving to God on their annual festivals. For this purpose, in his retirement, during the first of these persecutions, he sent this charge to his clergy at Carthage:43 “As to those confessors who die in prison, observe the days on which they depart this life, that they may be commemorated with honor, as those of the martyrs are.—We offer up here the usual sacrifices and oblations in commemoration of them.” He says, in another letter to his clergy, speaking of certain martyrs: “We constantly offer sacrifices for them, upon the yearly return of those days, wherein we celebrate the memorial of the martyrs’ sufferings.”

The saint describes in his epistles the wonderful constancy with which the martyrs endured the most unheard-of torments. They were scourged, beaten, racked, and roasted; their flesh was pulled off with burning pincers; some were beheaded with swords, others were run through with spears; often more instruments of torment were employed about the same man than his body had limbs. They were plundered and stripped, chained and imprisoned, thrown to wild beasts, or burnt at stakes. When the persecutors had run over all their old methods of tortures and executions, they studied to invent others more barbarous. They not only varied, but repeated the torments, and where one ended, another began. This cruelty they added to all the rest, that they tortured them without leaving them hopes of dying soon, stopping them in their journey to heaven. Many were purposely kept upon the rack, that they might die piecemeal, and that their pains might be lingering: no intervals or times of respite were given them, that the sense of their torments might be without intermission, unless some chanced to give their executioners the slip, by expiring in the midst of their pains. All this did but render the faith and patience of the martyrs more illustrious, and make them more earnestly long for heaven. They tired out their tormentors, overcame the sharpest engines of execution, and smiled at the busy officers that were raking in their wounds; when their flesh was wearied and consumed, their virtue and fidelity to God were unconquerable. The multitude beheld with admiration these heavenly conflicts, and stood astonished to hear the servants of Christ in the midst of all this, with unshaken souls, making a free and bold confession of him, destitute of any external succor, but armed with a divine power, and the shield of faith. The holy bishop ceased not to prepare his people for the combat, by having this saying often in his mouth. “All present evils are to be endured for the hope of good things to come.” He was preserved, by a special providence, during two such violent storms, that he might be the support of a weak flock, and the father of many fervent penitents and holy martyrs. The third storm in which he was involved, was the eighth general persecution raised by Valerian in the fourth year of his reign, of Christ 257.

In that very year St. Cyprian was apprehended at Carthage, and on the 30th of August presented before Aspasius Paternus, the proconsul of Africa, in the council-chamber. This magistrate said to him: “The most sacred emperors Valerian and Gallien have done me the honor to command me by their letter, that I oblige all who follow not the Roman worship immediately to conform to it. What is your name and quality?” Cyprian said: “I am a Christian and a bishop. I know no other gods besides the one true God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that is therein. This God we Christians serve; his mercies we implore both day and night for ourselves, for all men, and for the safety of these very emperors.” When the proconsul further asked him if he persevered in that resolution? He replied that, “A purpose so well founded, and a will which hath once devoted itself to God, can never be altered.” The proconsul said: “Go then into banishment to the city Curubis.” The martyr answered: “I will go.” The proconsul said: “The emperors have done me the honor to write to me to find out not only bishops but also priests; I would therefore know what priests live in this city.” Cyprian answered: “The Roman laws wisely forbid us to become informers; and I cannot discover them. But they may be found at home.” The proconsul said: “I will find them.” He added: “I have orders also to forbid the holding of your assemblies in any place, or entering into the cemeteries. Whoever observes not this wholesome ordinance, shall be put to death.” To which Cyprian made answer: “Then obey your orders.” The proconsul having commanded that he should be banished to Curubis, the saint arrived there on the 13th or 14th of September. Curubis was a small town fifty miles from Carthage, situated in a peninsula upon the coast of the Lybian sea, not far from Pentapolis. The place was pleasant and healthy, in a good air, and though situated in a desert country, green meadows, and the conveniency of fresh water (scarce and valuable things in many parts of Africa) were not wanting. The saint was attended by his deacon Pontius, and some others; and met with kind and courteous usage. He was favored with a vision the night after his arrival, by which God forewarned him of his approaching martyrdom, and which Pontius gives in the very words in which St. Cyprian related it. “Before I went to sleep,” said he, “there appeared to me a young man of a very uncommon stature, who led me to the palace, and placed me before the tribunal of the proconsul, who, as soon as he cast his eyes upon me, began to write a sentence in a pocket-book. The young man who stood behind him, and read it, signified to me by signs the substance of it; for stretching out his hands at full length so as to represent a sword, he made a cross stroke over one hand with the other, imitating the action of beheading a person, so that no words could have made the thing more intelligible. I immediately apprehended that this was to be the death which was prepared for me, and I addressed myself to the proconsul for a short reprieve, till I could settle my affairs. He wrote again in his pocket-book; and I guessed that he granted my request of a reprieve till the morrow, by the evenness of his countenance, and the openness of his brow. This the young man intimated to me by twisting his fingers one behind another.” This, says bishop Fell, was a known mark of the thing in question being postponed; as bending the thumb was a mark of condemnation, and holding it straight a token of acquittal. The reprieve of a day signified a year; and the bishop suffered on the same day in the following year. This warning he took for a divine promise of the honor of martyrdom. The reason of his desiring a reprieve was for settling the affairs of his Church, and, for an opportunity of expressing by a last effort, his tenderness for the poor, upon whom he accordingly bestowed almost all he was then possessed of. Pontius doubts not but God granted him this respite because he desired it for these purposes.

A messenger arrived about that time from Rome, sent by pope Xystus, to advertise St. Cyprian that new and very bloody edicts were speedily expected. No sooner were they published but St. Xystus was immediately sacrificed, on the 6th of August, 258, somewhat above a month before St. Cyprian. Our saint received from Rome information of his martyrdom, and that the order which Valerian (who was set out upon his Persian expedition) sent to the senate, imported, “that bishops, priests, and deacons should forthwith suffer.”44 From that time St. Cyprian lived in the daily expectation of executioners arriving to take off the heads of such as were marked out for victims. Meanwhile divers persons of the first rank and quality, even several pagans, met together, and endeavored to persuade him to secrete himself, with offers of a commodious and safe retirement. But he had so set his affections upon things above, that he utterly neglected all lower interests. He took all opportunities of encouraging the servants of God, and spoke with most ardent affection upon religious subjects, always wishing the momen of his martyrdom might overtake him whilst he was discoursing upon God He prepared himself for it by those exercises of compunction and penance, the spirit of which he so excellently expressed in his treatise, On the Lapsed, and by which he studied to purify his soul more and more, that it might appear without spot or stain before the God of infinite sanctity. He devoted his time to penance, and made heavenly contemplation the favorite employment of his retirement, by which he raised his soul to God by the most inflamed love, and longing desires and prayers to be united to him for evermore, according to the maxim which he lays down in the close of his book On Mortality, where he says: “To this delightful society of the blessed, and to Christ who is at the head of it, let us hasten, my brethren, upon the wings of desire, and of an holy love. Let God and Christ be witnesses, that this is the main bent of our wishes, and the sum of our most ardent hopes. Then our rewards will be proportioned to the earnestness of our present desires, if they proceed from his love.”

Our saint was still at Curubis when Galerius Maximus succeeded Paternus in the government of Africa. The new proconsul recalled St. Cyprian to Carthage, that he might more readily come at him as soon as he should receive the new edicts which he expected from Rome. The bishop, by his order, resided at his own gardens or country-house near the city, which he had sold for the benefit of the poor when he was baptized, but which afterward fell again into his hands. He desired to give this estate again, with the rest of his fortune, to the poor; but could not do it at that dangerous season for fear of exasperating the persecutors. The sanguinary order reached Carthage about the middle of August, whilst the proconsul was at Utica, which shared with Carthage the honor of being his residence for part of the year. Maximus despatched a guard to conduct him to Utica; but St. Cyprian being desirous to suffer in the midst of his own flock, stepped aside, and took shelter in a more private place, till the proconsul being returned to Carthage, he showed himself again in his own gardens. Galerius, upon notice given him, sent the prince (that is, the chief of those who served under the magister Officiorum) with another officer, to seize him by surprise. But nothing could happen suddenly or unexpectedly to the blessed man, who was always ready and prepared for any event. He, therefore, came forth with all imaginable cheerfulness and courage, and all the marks of an undaunted mind. The officers putting him into a chariot betwixt them, carried him to a country seat at Sextus, where the proconsul was retired for his health, six miles from Carthage. The proconsul not being then ready, deferred the trial till the next day, and the martyr was conducted back to the house of the chief officer that had apprehended him, situated in the street of Saturn, between the streets of Venus and Salus. Upon the rumor that Thascius was taken, the city was alarmed; the very pagans flocked together, and testified their compassion; for he had been well known among them; and they remembered the excess of his charity towards all in the late instance of the public distress and pestilence. The multitude that was gathered together was very great, in proportion to the extent of the city of Carthage, which was inferior to none but Rome for the number of its inhabitants.

St. Cyprian was guarded that night by the chief of the officers in a courteous manner, and his friends were allowed to sup with him. The next morning, which the conscience of the blessed martyr, says Pontius, rendered a day of joy to him, he was conducted by a strong guard to the prætorium or court of the proconsul, about a furlong from the officer’s house where he had passed the night. The proconsul not being yet sitting, he had leave to go out of the crowd, and to be in a more private place, where the seat he got was accidentally covered with a linen cloth, as if it were to be a symbol of his episcopal dignity, says the deacon Pontius; by which it appears that bishops had then such a badge of distinction, at least at the public divine service. One of the guards who had formerly been a Christian, observing that the sweat ran down the martyr’s body, by the length and hurry of his walk, offered to wipe it off, and to give him dry linen in exchange for that he had on, which was wet, linen garments being common in hot countries. This was the soldier’s pretence; his meaning was to get into his possession some of the holy man’s garments and sweat, as Pontius observes. The bishop excusing himself, replied: “We seek to cure complaints, to which perhaps this very day will put a final period.” By this time the proconsul was come out, and being seated on his tribunal, he ordered the martyr to be brought before him, and said: “Art thou Thascius Cyprian?” The martyr answered: “I am.” PROCONSUL: “Art thou the person who hath been bishop and father to men of ungodly minds?” CYPRIAN: “I have been their bishop.” PROCONSUL: “The most sacred emperors have commanded thee to conform to the ceremonies of the Roman religion.” CYPRIAN: “I cannot.” PROCONSUL: “Consider better of thy own safety.” CYPRIAN: “Obey your orders. In so manifestly just a case there is no need of consideration.” Upon this the proconsul consulted with his friends, and coming to the resolution to condemn him, said: “Long hast thou lived with an irreligious heart, and hast joined great numbers with thee in an unnatural conspiracy against the Roman deities, and their holy rites: nor have our sacred and most pious emperors, Valerian and Gallien always august, nor the most noble Cæsar Valerian, been able to reclaim thee to their ceremonies. Since thou hast been a ringleader in crimes of such an heinous nature, thou shalt be made an example to those, whom thou hast seduced to join with thee; and discipline shall be established in thy blood.” Then he read the following sentence written in a tablet: “I will that Thascius Cyprian be beheaded.” To which Cyprian subjoined: “Blessed be God for it.” The Christians who were present in crowds, said: “Let us be beheaded with him;” and they made a great uproar.

When the martyr went out of the court, a great number of soldiers attended him, and he was guarded by centurions and tribunes marching on each side of him. They led him into the country, into a large plain, thick set with high trees; and many climbed up to the top of them, the better to see him at a distance by reason of the crowd. St. Cyprian being arrived at the place appointed, took off his mantle, fell upon his keees, and prostrated himself before God. Then he put off his Dalmatic,* which he gave to the deacons, and remained in a linen vestment or shirt expecting the executioner, to whom he ordered a sum of twenty-five golden denarii, amounting to about six pounds English, to be given. He himself bound the napkin over his eyes; and he desired a priest and a deacon to tie his hands. The Christians spread before him napkins and handkerchiefs to receive his body. His head was struck off on the 14th of September, 258. For fear of the insults of the heathens, the faithful conveyed his body for the present into an adjoining field, and they interred it in the night with great solemnity on the Mappalian way. Two churches were afterward erected to his memory, the one on this place of his burial, called the Mappalia, the other on the spot where he suffered, called Mensa Cypriana or Cyprian’s Table, because there he was made a sacrifice to God. Both are mentioned by Victor.45 The proconsul Galerius Maximus died a few days after him, but in a very different manner. In the Liberian calendar, and that published by F. Fronto, his festival is placed on the 14th of September; but since the fifth age, has been joined with that of St. Cornelius on the 16th. Certain ambassadors of Charlemagne returning from Aaron king of Persia, through Africa, obtained leave of the Mahometan king of that country to open the tomb of St. Cyprian (which they found entirely neglected) and to carry his relics into France, which they deposited at Arles, in 806, according to Ad0,46 or in 802, according to Agobard. Leidrarde, archbishop of Lyons, with the king’s consent, removed them to Lyons, and deposited them behind the altar of St. John Baptist; a poem upon this translation was written by Leidrarde’s successor, Agobard. Charles the Bald caused them to be translated to Compeigne, and lodged with those of St. Cornelius, in the great abbey which he built, and which is called St. Corneille. Part of the relics of SS. Cornelius and Cyprian is kept in a shrine in the collegiate church of Rosnay near Oudenarde in Flanders.47

It is a maxim of our holy faith which St. Cyprian strongly inculcates, that we must follow the saints now in desire if we hope to reign with them hereafter: “We have solemnly renounced the world,” said he, “and therefore whilst we continue in it, should behave like strangers and pilgrims. We should welcome that happy day (of our death) which is to fix us, every one in our proper habitation, to rescue us from the embarrassments and snares of this world, and remove us to the kingdom of heaven. Who amongst us, if he had been long a sojourner in a foreign land, would not desire a return to his native country? What person, when he had begun to sail thither, would not wish for a prosperous wind to carry him to his desired home with expedition, that he might the sooner embrace his friends and relations? We must account paradise our country. There friends, and parents, and brethren, and children without number, wait for us, and long to congratulate our happy arrival. They are in secure possession of their own felicity, and yet are solicitous for ours. How great will be our common joy, upon the transports of our meeting together in those blessed abodes! How unutterable must be the pleasures of that kingdom, which have no allay or intermission, having eternity added to the highest degrees of bliss! There we shall meet with the glorious choir of the apostles; with the goodly company of the prophets; with an innumerable multitude of holy martyrs; there we shall be blessed with the sight of those triumphant virgins who have subdued the inordinate lusts of the flesh; and there we shall behold the rewards of those who, by feeding the hungry and succoring the afflicted, have with their earthly treasure purchased to themselves a treasure in heaven.”48

SEPTEMBER 16 — ST. EUPHEMIA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR

The city of Chalcedon was the theatre of her glorious martyrdom; she suffered in the persecution continued by the successors of Dioclesian, about the year 307. The eminent sanctity of this holy virgin, loaded with the fruits of all Christian virtues, excited the rage of the devil, and of his instruments, the persecutors; but all the efforts of heir malice only rendered her virtue the more triumphant and glorious. Having embraced the holy state of virginity, she, by the black or dark-colored garments which she wore, declared to all men her steady purpose of taking no share in the earthly pleasures and amusements which fill the hearts, set an edge on the passions, and take up the most precious part of the time of worldlings. The exercises of penance and religion were the serious occupations to which she totally de voted herself; and as the love of God reigned in her heart, it was her constant study to walk always before him, to labor in all her actions to please him, and, by the humility of her heart and whole deportment, by the mortification of her senses, by the constancy and fervor of her devotion, by the heavenliness of her conversation, and activity of her zeal and charity, to make continually higher advances towards heaven. Whatever was not God, appeared to her empty and contemptible; she found no pleasure or delight but in what tended to unite her heart more and more to him here by love; and she thirsted after his presence and fruition in the kingdom of his glory, panting, and longing to be dismissed from the pilgrimage of this world, and from the corruptible tabernacle of the body. God was pleased to hear her sighs, and crown her humble desires. She was apprehended by the persecutors, and cruelly tortured by the command of an inhuman judge named Priscus. The torments she underwent were represented in the most moving manner, in a famous picture kept in the great church at Chalcedon, accurately described by St. Asterius. Whilst one soldier pulled her head back, another with a mallet beat out all her teeth, and bruised her mouth, so that her beautiful tender face, her hair and her clothes were covered with blood. After having suffered many other torments, she was laid in a dungeon, where prayer was her whole comfort, joy and strength. Being at length condemned to be burnt alive, she ascended the pile with such an admirable cheerfulness in her countenance as bespoke the interior sweet joy of her soul going to eternal life. Thus she finished her course.

She is honored as one of the chief martyrs of the Grecian Church, and her festival is an holyday over almost all the East. Four churches in Constantinople formerly bore her name. One at Chalcedon was exceedingly spacious and famous, in which the fourth general council condemned Eutyches in 451. The fathers in it acknowledged the Church much indebted to the intercession of this holy virgin for the happy issue of that affair.1 Evagrius, the historian, testifies2 that emperors, patriarchs, and all ranks of people resorted to Chalcedon to be made partakers of the blessings which God abundantly conferred on men through her patronage, and that manifest miracles were there wrought.3 These relics were translated into the great church of Saint Sophia at Constantinople; and above all other such holy treasures, excited the rage of Constantine Copronymus, as Theophanes, Zonaras, and Cedrenus relate. In what manner they were then concealed, and afterward recovered, is recorded by Constantine, bishop of Tio in Paphlagonia, in an oration on that subject.4 The sacred remains of Saint Euphemia are now preserved at Syllebria, a metropolitical see, on the Propontic shore between Constantinople and Adrianople, as we are informed by prince Cantemir,5 but a portion is possessed by the church of the Sorbonne at Paris, which was a present made by a great master of Rhodes. St. Euphemia had a church at Rome in the time of St. Gregory the Great, probably the same that is now standing, and was repaired by Urban VIII. On St. Euphemia see Saint Paulinus, St. Peter Chrysologus, and chiefly St. Asterius in his discourse quoted by the seventh general council. Her acts have not been here made use of. See Stilting, t. 5, Sept. p. 252.

SEPTEMBER 16 — SS. LUCIA AND GEMINIANUS, MM

Under Dioclesian

THEIR names are celebrated in the most ancient western Martyrologies. Lucy was a noble widow lady at Rome, and received the crown of martyrdom together with Geminianus. See Sticker the Bollandist, p. 286.

SEPTEMBER 16 — ST. NINIAN OR NINYAS, BISHOP, C

This saint, who became the apostle of the southern Picts, was son to a prince among the Cumbrian Britons, who inhabited Cumberland and Galloway. From his cradle it seemed his only delight to visit churches, to discourse on heavenly things, and to be employed in exercises of devotion and piety. Whilst others take so much pains in their education to advance themselves in the world, our noble youth, sensible of the inestimable treasure of holy faith which he had found, thought nothing difficult, and no labor great, that he might improve his soul in the knowledge and practice of religion. With this view, he bid adieu to the world, cut off the very root of covetousness, sensuality, and ambition, by renouncing whatever might flatter, or afford fuel to those passions, and forsaking a court, his friends, and country, undertook a long journey to Rome. In that city he spent many years, applying himself with his whole heart to the exercises of the most heroic Christian virtue, and to the study of the sacred sciences.

In this race he ran, as it were, with the strides of a giant, and his soul was daily more and more inflamed with a mighty love and zeal for God, whose honor he studied in all things to promote. This motive and a compassion for his native country, which had received the grace of faith more slowly and more imperfectly than the southern provinces of Britain, engaged him at length to return home, to impart to his countrymen a share of that blessing in which their happiness consisted, and which was the great and sole end of their very being. Those few who had already received some tincture of the faith, he taught to set a due value on so great a treasure, and to apply themselves with their whole strength to cultivate the same in their hearts. He brought the idolators of that province into the paths of eternal life, softened the fierce temper of Tudovald, king of the Picts, and built a church of stone at Whithern, now in Galloway; and as the northern Britons had never before seen any such building of stone, the town, according to Bede and Malmesbury, took from this edifice its name (importing a white house, in Latin Candida Casa), since changed into Whithern. This saint fixed here his episcopal see, and dedicated the church in honor of St. Martin, whose tomb he probably had devoutly visited in his journey through France. He converted from idolatry the Cumbrians, and all the provinces of the southern Picts, as far as mount Grampus. The rest of North Britain was converted by SS. Columba and Palladius. The former was the apostle of the northern Picts in 565. The Scots, who, passing from Ireland, settled in part of the country possessed by the Picts in North Britain, acknowledge St. Palladius for their first bishop,* though their modern historians tell us, that they received the first seeds of faith in the year 200, under king Donald, by certain missionaries sent from pope Victor. It is not to be doubted but the light of faith had penetrated among the Caledonian Britons before they were subdued by the Roman arms, in the expedition of Severus, in 208, as appears by Tertullian. (1. adv. Judæos, c. 7.) The church of Whithern became a seminary of apostolic men and many glorious saints. St. Ninian died on the 16th of September in 432. He was illustrious for many miracles, and his relics were kept with veneration, till the change of religion, in the church which bears his name at Whithern. See his acts, and especially Bede,1. 3, c. 4. The Saxon Chronicle, ann. 560. Alcuin, ap. Usser. Primord. p. 669. William of Malmesbury,1. 3, de reg. Angl. John Fordun, Scotochron.1. 3. Leland, de Script. c. 33. Usher, Ant. Eccl. Britan. c. 15, p. 347. Alford’s Annals, ann. 432. Sticker the Bollandist, t. 5, Sept. p. 318.

SEPTEMBER 16 — ST. EDITHA, VIRGIN

She was born in 961, being natural daughter of king Edgar by Wulfrida or Wilfrith, a noble lady whom that prince had ravished; for which he underwent a penance of seven years, as hath been related in the life of St. Dunstan. Edgar, after the death of his wife, endeavored with great importunity to marry Wulfrida: but she constantly rejected his solicitations, and took the religious veil in the monastery of Wilton, of which house she was shortly after chosen abbess. Her daughter Edith, or Eadgith, was brought up by her in this religious community, and thus rescued from the corruption of the world before she had any taste for its deceitful pleasures. Ignorance of vice being the most perfect fence of innocence, the Roman Martyrology draws from this circumstance the eulogium of St. Editha, that, “being from her tender years dedicated to God in a monastery, she may be said rather not to have known the world, than to have left it.” She never knew the enchantments of sin, or the allurements and snares of the world, which she only feared at a distance; and her tender heart was always open to God, because always a stranger to any other love. Wulfrida took a particular care to improve her religious sentiments by repeating constantly to her lessons of Christian perfection, and setting before her eyes the most illustrious examples of sanctity. Editha repaid her care with an admirable docility, and proficiency in the school of virtue. She was admitted very young to her religious profession, for which the consent of the king her father was obtained with much difficulty. She united the active life of Martha with the contemplation of Mary, and though it was her greatest delight to hear the voice of her heavenly spouse speak to her heart in silence and retirement, she frequently deprived herself of that celestial pleasure, that she might attend and serve him in his distressed members. She fed the poor, took care of the sick, and dressed their most foul and loathsome sores, preferring the leprous to the king’s children. Her abstinence and other austerities were wonderful, and she wore a hair cloth next her skin. She had a great devotion to the memory of her crucified spouse, which she expressed by the constant use of the sign of the cross.

When she was but fifteen years old, her royal father pressed her to undertake the government of three different monasteries: of which charge she was judged then most capable, such was her extraordinary virtue and discretion. But she humbly declined all superiority, and chose to remain in her own community, subject to her mother, who was abbess there. Soon after this refusal, Edgar died, and was succeeded by his son Edward the Martyr. Upon the death of the latter, the nobility, who adhered to the martyred king, desired Editha to quit her monastery, and ascend the throne; but she preferred a state of humility and obedience to the prospect of a crown, says the author of her life. She built the church of St. Denis at Wilton; to the dedication of which she invited the holy archbishop St. Dunstan. This prelate during mass was observed to weep exceedingly; the reason of which he afterward discovered to be, because he learned that Editha should shortly be taken out of this world, and translated to the regions of everlasting light; whilst we, said he, shall still continue sitting here below in darkness and in the shades of death. According to this prediction, forty-three days after this solemnity, she happily reposed in our Lord, on the 16th of September, 984, being but twenty-three years old. St. Dunstan, who had assisted her in her last illness, performed the funeral solemnity, she being buried in the church of St. Denis. William of Malmesbury, who lived in the beginning of the twelfth century, assures us that her festival was kept with great devotion. See her life in Capgrave; and William of Malmesbury de Pontific. Ang1.1. 2, c. 4, and de Regibus Ang1.1. 2, c. 13. Suysken the Bollandist, t. 5, Sept. p. 364.

Our calendars mention another St. EDITHA or EADGITHE, daughter to Earl Frewald, who died a nun at Ailesbury.

SEPTEMBER 17 — ST. LAMBERT, MARTYR BISHOP OF MAESTRICHT, AND PATRON OF LIEGE

From his life, written by Godescalc, deacon of Liege, in Mabillon, sæc. 3. Ben. and in Canisius Lect. Antiq. t. 2, part 1,1. 142, with the animadversions of Basnage. This work was compiled, with candor and sincerity (not in 773, as Le Cointe and some others mistook, but about 729), from the relation of those who attended the saint, as Dom. Rivet demonstrates, Hist. Littér. de la France, t. 4, p. 58. Stephen, bishop of Liege, Anselm. and Nicholas, canons of the same church, Rainer, monk of St. Laurence’s, near that town, Giles of Orval, and Sigebert, have also written lives of St. Lambert: that published by Godescalc is the foundation of all the rest; but that compiled by Stephen is the most elegant and methodical. See also Miræns, Annal. Belgic. ad annos 656, 676, 692, 696. Suysken the Bollandist, t. 5, p. 518. Gall. Chr. Nov t. 3, p. 827. Martenne, &c.

A. D. 709.

ST. LANDEBERT, called in latter ages Lambert, was a native of Maestricht, and born of a noble and wealthy family, who had been Christians for many descents. His father caused him to be instructed from his infancy in sacred learning, and afterward recommended him to St. Theodard to perfect his education. This holy bishop had succeeded St. Remaclus, first, in the government of his two great abbeys of Malmedi and Stavelo, and, ten years after, when the former retired to Stavelo, in the episcopal see of Maestricht. He had such an esteem for this illustrious and holy pupil, that he spared no attention in instructing and training him up to the most perfect practice of Christian virtue. St. Theodard, in 669, resolved to go to king Childeric II. who resided in Austrasia, to obtain an order of that prince for the restitution of the possessions of his church, which had been usurped by certain powerful persons; but was assassinated upon the road by those who withheld his possessions, and torn limb from limb, in the forest of Benalt, near Nemere, since called Spire. He is honored as a martyr on the 10th of September. St. Lambert was chosen to succeed him, with the consent of king Childeric and the applause of his whole court, where the saint was in great repute. Lambert regarded she episcopal charge as a burden too heavy for his shoulders, as saints have always done, and, trembling under its grievous obligations, set himself earnestly to discharge them without human respect or fear, imploring light and strength from above by assiduous humble prayer. Childeric II reigned first in Austrasia, Vulfoade being at that time mayor of his palace, whilst Theodoric III. succeeded his brother Clotaire III. in Neustria and Burgundy, under whom Ebroin tyrannically usurped the dignity of mayor of the palace. So detestable did the cruelty of this minister render the reign of the prince, that his subjects deposed him, so that Childeric became king of all France, Theodoric and Ebroin being shorn monks, the former at St. Denis, the latter at Laxeu; to which condition they both consented, that their lives might be spared. King Childeric II., a debauched and cruel prince, was slain by a conspiracy of noblemen in the year 673, the eleventh of his reign, and Theodoric, his brother, leaving the monastery of St. Denis, was again acknowledged king in Neustria, and Dagobert II. the son of king Sigebert, in Austrasia.

This revolution affected St. Lambert, merely because he had been heretofore greatly favored by Childeric. He was expelled from his see, in which was placed one Faramond. Our saint retired to the monastery of Stavelo, with only two of his domestics; and, during the seven years that he continued there, he obeyed the rule as strictly as the youngest novice could have done. One instance will suffice to show with how perfect a sacrifice of himself he devoted his heart to serve God according to the perfection of his state. As he was rising one night in winter to his private devotions, he happened to let fall his wooden sandal or slipper, so that it made a noise. This the abbot heard, and, looking upon it as a breach of the silence then to be observed in the community, he ordered him that had given occasion to that noise, to go and pray before the cross. This was a great cross, which stood in the open air before the church door. Lambert, without making any answer, or discovering who he was, laid down the upper garment he was going to put on, and went out as he was, barefoot, and covered only with his hair shirt; and in this condition he prayed, kneeling before the cross, three or four hours. Whilst the monks were warming themselves after matins, the abbot inquired if all were there. Answer was made, that he had sent one to the cross, who was not yet come in. The abbot ordered that he should be called; and was strangely surprised to find that the person was the holy bishop, who made his appearance quite covered with snow, and almost frozen with cold. At the sight of him the abbot and the monks fell on the ground, and asked his pardon. “God forgive you,” said he, “for thinking you stand in need of pardon for this action. As for myself, is it not in cold and nakedness, that, according to St. Paul, I am to tame my flesh and to serve God?”

Whilst St. Lambert enjoyed the tranquillity of holy retirement, he wept to see the greatest part of the churches of France laid waste. When Theodoric reascended the throne, he appointed Leudisius, son of Erchinoald, mayor of his palace. Ebroin at the same time left the monastery of Luxeu, and sacrilegiously broke the sacred engagements of his vows. He had already made the whole kingdom of Theodoric feel the effects of his power and tyrannical dispositions, when, in 677, he became mayor of the palace to that prince, and absolute master in Neustria and Burgundy, and soon after also in Austrasia, when, upon the death of Dagobert II. (who was murdered by a conspiracy of his nobles, through the contrivance of Ebroin) Theodoric was acknowledged king of the whole French monarchy. Dagobert II. had filled his dominions with religious foundations, and, after his death, was honored at Stenay, where he was buried, as a martyr. Ebroin, who had in this prince’s life-time extended his violences to several churches subject to him, especially that of Maestricht, after the death of this king, oppressed them with greater fury, and persecuted our holy bishop without control. He was, however, overtaken by the divine vengeance; for, three years after the martyrdom of St. Leodegarius, he was himself slain in 681. A nobleman, called Hermenfred, whose estate he had seized, and whom he had threatened with death, watched him one Sunday before it was light, as he came out of his house to matins, and killed him with a blow which he gave him on his head with a sword. From this and other instances we see, as Fleury remarks, that at that time even those noblemen and princes, who were most employed, and who had the least sense of religion and piety, did not exempt themselves from attending at the divine office even in the night.

Pepin of Herstal (grandson of St. Pepin of Landen, by St. Bega and Ansegesil) being made mayor of the palace, set himself to repair the evils done by Ebroin, expelled the usurping wicked bishops whom he had intruded into many sees, and, among many other exiled prelates, restored St. Lambert to the see of Maestricht. The holy pastor, from the exercise of the most heroic virtues, to which he had devoted the time of his exile and retirement, returned to his flock animated with redoubled fervor, preaching and discharging his other functions with wonderful zeal and fruit. Finding there still remained many pagans in Taxandria, a province about Diest in Brabant, he applied himself to convert them to the faith, softened their barbarous temper by his pattence, regenerated them in the holy water of baptism, and destroyed many temples and idols. He frequently visited and conferred with St. Willibrord, the apostle of Friesland. Under the weak reigns of the slothful kings, the greatest disorders prevailed in France, and every bold and powerful man set himself above the laws, and put himself at the head of a seditious faction. Of this the death of St. Lambert furnishes us with a flagrant example. Pepin, who resided at his castle of Herstal, near Liege, on the Maes or Meuse, lived for some years in a scandalous adultery with a concubine named Alpais, by whom he had Charles Martel. St. Lambert reproved the parties with so much earnestness, that some say certain friends of the lady thence took occasion to conspire against his life. Others assign the following occasion of his death; Two brothers, by their violences and plunders of the church of Maestricht, were become insupportable, and could not be restrained by the laws. At this, certain relations of St. Lambert were so exasperated, that, finding themselves driven to the last extremity, they slew the two brothers. Dodo, a kinsman of the two young men that were slain, a rich and powerful officer under Pepin, and related to Alpais, resolved to revenge their death upon the innocent and holy bishop, and attacked him with a considerable body of armed men, at Leodium, then a small village, now the city of Liege. St. Lambert had retired to sleep after matins, when Dodo with his troop broke into his house. The bishop would not suffer his two nephews nor any of his domestics to take arms to defend him, saying, “If you love me truly, love Jesus Christ, and confess your sins unto him. As for me, it is time that I go to live with him.” Then prostrating himself on the ground, with his hands extended in form of a cross, he prayed, shedding many tears. The troop of enemies, entering the house, put to the sword all they met, and one of them, throwing a dart at the holy bishop, slew him. This unjust death, suffered with so great patience and meekness, joined with the eminent sanctity of the life of this holy bishop, has been looked upon as a degree of martyrdom. It happened on the 17th of September, 709, St. Lambert having held the episcopal dignity forty years from the time he succeeded St. Theodard. His body was conveyed in a bark to Maestricht, where it was interred in St. Peter’s church. Several miracles which ensued excited the people to build a church on the spot where the house stood in which he was slain. His successor, St. Hubert, translated thither his relics in 721. At the same time he removed to the same place the episcopal see, as it had been formerly transferred from Tongres to Maestricht, by St. Servatius.

Fortitude, which appears most heroical and most conspicuous in martyrdom, is a cardinal virtue, and the mother of many glorious virtues, as courage, greatness of soul, tranquillity of mind under all dangers, patience, longanimity, constancy, and perseverance. It is the band and support of all other virtues. As the root of a tree bears the trunk, branches, (flowers, and fruit, so fortitude sustains, and is the strength of the whole system of moral and Christian virtues, which sink at the first shock without it. This, therefore, is an ingredient of every perfect virtue, by which a man is ready to suffer any hardships or death, to expose himself to any dangers, and to forego all temporal advantages rather than swerve from the path of justice. By confounding rashness, inconsiderate hardiness, and fury, with courage, many form a false idea of fortitude, which is defined, “a considerate alacrity in bearing hardships and undergoing dangers.” It moderates in us the two opposite extremes of fear and confidence, it teaches us reasonably to fear dangers and death, and to decline and avoid them, when nothing obliges us to expose ourselves to them: for to be foolhardy and needlessly to precipitate ourselves upon danger, is the height of folly and vice, and the strongest mark of a corrupt and abandoned heart. But it is true fortitude to undertake and encounter all dangers, when duty or the cause of virtue requires it. How noble and heroical is this virtue of fortitude! how necessary in every Christian, especially in a pastor of souls, that neither worldly views nor fears may ever in the least warp his integrity, or blind his judgment!

SEPTEMBER 17 — ST. COLUMBA

, V. M.THIS saint was a holy nun in the monastery of Tabanus, who was beheaded for her faith by the Moors, under their king Mahomed, in Spain, in 853. Her body was thrown into the river Guadalquivir, but recovered by the Christians. Her relics are venerated, part in the priory of St. Columba, part in the royal abbey of our Lady at Niagara, but both in Old Castile. See St. Eulogius, Memor.1. 3, c. 10, and Suysken the Bollandist, t. 5, p. 622.

SEPTEMBER 17 — ST. HILDEGARDIS, V. ABBESS

She was born of most noble parentage, in 1098, in the county of Spanheim, in the Lower Palatinate of the Rhine, and educated, from the eighth year of her age, in the monastery of the Mount of St. Disibode, under the care of a very pious nun called Jutta, her relation, and sister to the count of Spanheim. Hildegardis excited herself to a contempt of the world, by representing to herself the phrenzy which possesses a great part of mankind in the world, by what springs they are moved, how in pursuit of empty imaginary honor, or profit, they are driven into the most laborious and hazardous attempts, how easily they swallow the most bitter and poisonous pills when they are gilt over by ambition or avarice, how eagerly they hunt after the troubles of worldly greatness, and basely adore the gaudy nothings of this life. Full of gratitude to God who had rescued her out of that region of darkness, she gave herself to serve him with her whole heart. She was favored with heavenly visions, and St. Bernard, who preached the crusade in that country, examined and approved her prophetic spirit.* It belongs only to God to vouchsafe to certain souls such favors; which are to us more a subject of admiration than of edification. For any one to fall into foolish desires of walking in such wonderful ways, is a certain mark of pride and presumption, and a dangerous illusion. Simplicity and humility is the character of true piety, which aims not at extraordinary gifts above itself. Hence the patience, the mortification, the profound humility and devotion of which this saint set us the most wonderful examples, are what it concerns us chiefly to study in her life.

Being chosen abbess, she seemed still to live always in the presence of God, always united to God, always conversing interiorly with God; and with Mary at the feet of Jesus, listening to his divine instructions; yet applying herself with Martha to the active life, serving him in his spiritual daughters with so much sweetness, and attention, as if this care took up all her thought. Her community becoming much too numerous for the hermitage of Mount St. Disibode, she removed with it to Mount St. Rupert, near Binghem, so called because St. Rupert or Robert, duke of Binghem, there ended his mortal pilgrimage. St. Hildegardis wrote the life of that saint, that of St. Disibode, and several letters to the popes Eugenius III., Anastasius IV., Adrian IV., and Alexander III., the emperors Conrad III. and Frederic I., and other great personages. She changed the habit of St. Bennet for that of the Cistercians, and died on the 17th of September, in the year 1179, of her age eighty-two. See her life compiled by Theodoric, a monk, thirty years after her death: Cave, Hist. Littér, t. 2, p. 242, and her epistles Bibl. Patr. t. 23. See also Fabricius Bibl. med. et Infimæ Latinit. vol. 3, p. 773; Stilting the Bollandist, t. 5, Sept. p. 630, &c.

SEPTEMBER 17 — SAINT ROUIN, IN LATIN RODINGUS, AND CHRODINGUS FIRST ABBOT OF BEAULIEU IN ARGONNE

He was a native of Ireland, where he embraced the monastic state, and received priesthood. Having afterwards left his own country, he retired to the monastery of Tholey in the diocess of Treves, and became a perfect model of all virtues to the monks, who, according to some writers, elected him their superior. Here he was so often interrupted by the visits of those who came from all parts to consult him, that he quitted the monastery and retired to Verdun, to be near Paul, the holy bishop of that city, where he spent two years. After this, he resolved to settle in the forest of Argonne, but being refused permission by the person to whom it belonged, he went to Rome with his disciples. Upon his return to France he obtained the consent he wished for, and taking up his residence in the forest, he there laid the foundation of the abbey of Beaulieu, which still subsists and is dependent on the congregation of St. Vannes.

The church was dedicated under the invocation of St. Maurice and his companions: and the new community soon became very generous. The holy founder was honored with the protection of king Clovis II. and his queen St. Bathildes: and was also greatly esteemed by Childeric, king of Austrasia, who confirmed the new establishment by his diploma, and endowed it with land. The saint having governed his monastery thirty years, called for a successor, and retired into a solitary place in the neighborhood, out of which he never went, except on Sundays, or when his presence was necessary in the community. He died on the 17th of September, about the year 680, at the age of eighty-six, and was buried in the church of his abbey. He is mentioned in the Gallican and Benedictine Martyrologies. See D. Menard,1. 2, Observ. in Mart. Ben. et addit. and Mabillon addit. Sec. 4, Ben.

SEPTEMBER 17 — SS. SOCRATES AND STEPHEN, MM

Their names are illustrious in the British Martyrologies. They suffered during the persecution of Dioclesian. Many churches in Wales were formerly dedicated to their memory; and they are thought to have glorified God by their death in that part of Britain. See Wilson’s English Martyrology, the Roman Martyrology, and Britannia Sancta.

SEPTEMBER 18 — ST. THOMAS, OF VILLANOVA, C. ARCHBISHOP OF VALENTIA

From his life composed by Michael Salon, a native of Valentia; the same by Jerom Canton, and Nicasius Baxius, two religions men of his Order; and chiefly from the memoirs furnished for this canonization, prefixed to his works. Pinius, t. 5, Sept. p. 799.

A. D. 1555.

ST. THOMAS, the glory of the Church of Spain, in these later ages, was born at Fuenlana in Castile in 1488; but received his surname from Villanova de los Infantes, a town where he had his education, situate about two miles from the place of his birth. His parents, Alphonsus Thomas Garcias and Lucy Martinez, were also originally of Villanova. Their fortune was not affluent; but it contented all their wishes, and with their prudent frugality enabled them liberally to assist the poor. Instead of selling that corn which was not necessary for the subsistence of their family, they made bread of it, which they bestowed on the necessitous, and they usually observed the same rule with regard to their cattle, and the rest of the produce of their small estate. This charitable disposition was the most valuable part of their son’s inheritance, and proved one of the most distinguishing virtues in his character during the whole course of his life. When but seven years old he studied every day by various little contrivances to do whatever lay in his power in favor of poor persons, often depriving himself of part of his meals for this purpose, and gathering together what scraps he could find at home, or whatever else he could presume on his parents’ consent to give: nor were they backward in approving his conduct on such occasions, or in giving what he asked them for the indigent. This virtue was accompanied in the saint with a practice of assiduous mortification, a modesty and sweetness which charmed every one, perfect love of purity which was never sullied, a predominant love of truth which abhorred the shadow of a lie, and a regular piety and devotion, which made him even from his infancy spend hours together on his knees in the church with extraordinary fervor. The first words which his parents had taught him lo pronounce were the names of Jesus and Mary; and during his whole life he had the most tender devotion to the mother of God. His excellent wit began to appear in the school at Villa Nova; and at the age of fifteen he was sent to the university of Alcala, which had been lately founded by cardinal Ximenes, the great patron of learning, and the celebrated prime minister under Ferdinand and Charles V. Our saint pursued his studies there with a success that drew all eyes upon him, and the cardinal, out of a regard to his merit, gave him a place in St. Ildefonso’s college. By the regularity of his own conduct he engaged many of his fellow-students in the practice of Christian perfection. He mortified his senses, with abstinence and great severities; and his whole time was divided between prayer, study, and actions of charity, so that he had none left for pastimes and diversions.

After eleven years spent at Alcala he commenced master of arts, and was made professor of philosophy in that city, being then twenty-six years old. His father had built him a house against his return home from his studies; but this the saint, with the leave of his mother, converted into a hospital. After ho had taught two years at Alcala, he was invited with the promise of an honorable stipend, to the same employment at Salamanca, a place famous for its ancient university, which had been founded there by Alphonsus IX., king of Leon, in 1200, and for the many great men who flourished in it. The motives which prevailed with the saint to comply with this invitation were chiefly a desire of shunning the applause which he received at Alcala, and the hopes of removing certain impediments which arose from his friends in the former place, and obstructed his fixed design of quitting the world. He taught moral philosophy two years at Salamanca; during which time he considered what religious retreat he should make choice of. After the most mature deliberation, in which he took a review of the rules of several orders, and considered the spirit of their respective founders, he determined to enter himself among the Hermits of St. Austin. He took the habit in a most rigorous and exemplary house of that institute at Salamanca in 1518, about the time that Luther apostatized from the same order in Germany.

His behavior in his novitiate was such as showed he had been long inured to austerities, to the renouncing his own will, and the exercises of holy contemplation. The simplicity of his behavior in his whole conduct charmed his fellow-religious, and made them admire how he seemed totally to forget that he had been professor in a famous university. Soon after the term of his novitiate was expired, he was promoted to priestly orders in 1520, and employed in preaching the word of God, and in administering the sacrament of penance. Of these functions he acquitted himself with such dignity and success that he was surnamed the apostle of Spain. Neither did he interrupt these employments, or allow himself any relaxation in his monastic rules or austerities, whilst he taught with wonderful applause, a course of divinity, in the public school of the Augustinians, at Salamanca. He was afterward successively prior at Salamanca, Burgos, and Valladolid, was twice provincial of Andalusia, and once of Castile; and behaved himself in all these stations, with a sweetness and zeal which equally edified and gained the hearts of all his religious brethren, so that he governed them rather by the example of his most holy life than by the authority of his charge. His charity made him accessible to all who wanted his assistance advice, or comfort, and the prudence, skill, and spiritual light with which he applied remedies to the various maladies of human souls manifestly discovered how great a blessing God bestows on a people when he sends them directors animated with his divine spirit, and enlightened by himself. This heavenly succor the saint found in the constant close union of has soul with God. He fell into frequent raptures at his prayers, especially at mass; and though he endeavored to hide such graces and favors, he was not able to do it; his face, after the holy sacrifice, shining like that of Moses, sometimes dazzled the eyes of those that beheld him.

Preaching once in the cathedral church at Burgos, and reproving with zeal the vices and ingratitude of sinners, he held in his hand a crucifix, and cried out from the bottom of his heart with a broken voice: “O Christian, look here, O Christian—” Saying this he was not able to go on, being ravished in an ecstasy. Preaching also at Valladolid on Maunday-Thursday before the emperor Charles V., and explaining the words of St. Peter to our Lord, at the washing of the feet, he repeated: “Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Thou Lord of all creatures! thou Creator of the angels! thou God of infinite majesty, washest my feet! The Sovereign Monarch those of a vile creature! the Master his servant’s! the Innocent, a sinner’s feet!” Here falling into a rapture, he broke off his sermon, and remained for some time with his eyes lifted up to heaven, pouring forth abundance of tears. The emperor chose him for one of his preachers; afterward made him one of his counsellors, received his advice as an oracle of heaven, and sometimes wrote to him when at a distance. For a proof how great the authority of our saint was with that prince, the authors of his life give the following instance. This emperor had signed an order for the execution of certain persons of quality condemned for treason; and neither the archbishop of Toledo, nor his own son Philip, nor all the nobility of Spain, were able, by the warmest solicitations, to move him to mercy. At length our saint, at the request of Philip of Spain, went to him, and by discoursing some time with him, prevailed upon the angry monarch to grant what he asked. When the princes and nobles expressed their surprise thereat, the emperor told them, that when the prior of the Austin Friars of Valladolid desired to obtain anything of him, he rather commanded than asked it; so strongly did he incline him to what he pleased, by persuading him that it was the will of the Almighty. “He is a true servant of God,” said that prince, “and though he abides among mortals, he is worthy the honor due to those who enjoy the crown of immortality.”

Persons of all qualities and conditions consulted him. Nor is it to be expressed with what zeal, prudence, and charity, he endeavored to advance the glory of God among men, especially among those that were committed to his charge. He was most zealous to maintain regular discipline in his Order, and a great enemy to discourses of news among his brethren, or whatever else might dissipate their minds, or introduce the world into their hermitages. When any of his subjects had committed any grievous fault, he joined fasting and bloody disciplines with earnest prayer and tears, that it would please the Lord of mercy to bring back the strayed sheep, for which he had shed his blood. He bore patiently the infirmities and imperfections of others, accommodating himself, like St. Paul, to the humors and weaknesses of every one, where no duty was injured. When he was provincial, he visited his convents with singular diligence, and was particularly careful about four things. The first was the worship of God, that the divine service should be performed with the utmost reverence and attention; that a moderate pause should be observed in the middle of each verse by those that sung in choir; and that all things belonging to the altar should be kept with great neatness and cleanness. The second thing which he recommended, was assiduous reading of the holy scriptures and pious books, with holy meditation, without which he said it is impossible for devotion to last long. Thirdly, he was very solicitous to settle all the religious in every convent in the most perfect concord and union, exhorting every one to the most sincere and tender fraternal charity. Fourthly, he procured that every one should be employed according to his talents, and in those offices for which he was fittest.

Whilst the saint was performing the visitation of his convents, he was nominated by the emperor Charles V. to the archbishopric of Granada, and commanded to repair to Toledo. He obeyed; but undertook the journey with no other view than that of declining the dignity; in which, by his urgent importunities, he succeeded according to his wish. George of Austria, uncle to the emperor, resigning some time after, the archbishopric of Valentia, to pass to the bishopric of Liege, the emperor, who was then it Flanders, thought of not venturing to offer him this see because he knew how grievous a mortification it would be to his humility. He therefore ordered his secretary to draw up a placet, or letter of recommendation or nomination, for him to sign in favor of a certain religious man of the Order of St. Jerom. Afterward, finding that the secretary had put down the name of F. Thomas of Villa Nova, he asked the reason. The secretary answered, that he thought he had heard this name; but would easily rectify the mistake. “By no means,” said the emperor; “this has happened by a particular providence of God. Let us therefore follow his will.” So he signed the placet for St. Thomas, and it was forthwith sent him to Valladolid, where he was prior. The saint wept bitterly upon receiving the news, and used all means possible to excuse himself. But prince Philip, who was regent of Spain during his father’s absence, was not easily to be overcome; and the archbishop of Toledo, and several others, fearing lest the nomination should be by any means frustrated, engaged the saint’s provincial to command him, in virtue of his religious obedience, and under a threat of excommunication, to submit to the emperor’s will.

Pope Paul III. sent the bull for his consecration, and that ceremony was performed at Valladolid by cardinal John of Tavera, archbishop of Toledo. The saint set out very early next morning for Valentia. His mother, who had converted his house into a hospital for the use of the poor and sick, and resolved to spend the rest of her days in their service, entreated him to take Villa Nova in his way, that she might have the satisfaction of seeing him before she died. But the holy bishop, having recommended that affair to God, according to his usual custom, went directly to his diocess, being persuaded that his present character obliged him to postpone all other considerations to that of hastening to the flock committed to his care. He travelled on foot, in his monastic habit, which was very old, with no other hat than one he had worn ever since his profession, accompanied by one religious man of his Order, and two servants. Upon his arrival at Valentia, he retired to a convent of his Order, where he spent several days in penance and devout prayer, to beg the grace of God, by which he might be enabled worthily to acquit himself of his charge. He took possession of his cathedral on the first day of the ensuing year, 1545; which he was prevailed upon to do with the usual ceremonies, amidst the rejoicings and acclamations of the people. But when he was led to the throne prepared for him in the church, he cast away the cushions and silk tapestry, fell upon his knees on the bare floor, embraced the foot of the cross, and adored our Lord, pouring forth a torrent of tears; and, before he rose up, he humbly kissed the ground. The chapter, in consideration of his poverty, made him a present of four thousand ducats towards furnishing his house, which he accepted of in an humble and civil manner, and thanked them for their kindness; but he immediately sent the money to the great hospital, with an order to lay it out in repairing the house, and for the use of the poor patients. The first using he did after the public ceremonies were over, was to visit the prisons of his bishopric, and judging them too dark and inconvenient, he ordered them to be changed, and made commodious.

It is often said, that “Honors change manners:” but our saint kept not only the same perfect humility of heart, but, as much as possible, the same exterior marks of a sovereign contempt of himself and all worldly vanity. He went almost as meanly apparelled as before; and even kept for some years the very habit which he brought from his monastery, which he sometimes mended himself, as he had been wont to do in his convent. One of his canons surprising him one day in the fact, said, he wondered he would so meanly employ his time, which a tailor would save him for a trifle. The servant of God said, that he was still a religious man, and that that trifle would feed some poor man; but he desired him to tell nobody of what he saw him doing. Ordinarily he wore only old clothes, insomuch that his canons and domestics were ashamed of him, himself alone not blushing. When he was pressed by them to put himself into a dress and equipage suitable to his dignity, his answer was, that he had made a vow of poverty, and that his authority did not depend upon his dress or appearance, but was to be supported by his zeal and vigilance. With much ado, his canons gained so far upon him that he cast away his woollen hat, and wore one of silk. Upon which he used afterward sometime to show his hat, and merrily say: “Behold my episcopal dignity: my masters the canons judged it necessary that I should wear this silk hat, that I might be numbered among the archbishops.” The frugality of his table was not less extraordinary, and he continued to observe the fasts and abstinence prescribed by his rule: nor would he ever suffer any expensive fish to be bought for his table, saying, the superfluous price would feast some poor person; and that he was not master, but only dispenser of the goods of the Church. In Advent and Lent, upon Wednesdays and Fridays, and on vigils, he contented himself with a little bread and water, fasting till night. His palace was a true house of poverty: there was no tapestry to be seen in it; nor did he use any linen, unless when he was sick: he oftentimes took his rest upon a bundle of dry sticks, with no other pillow but a hard stone.

He discharged all the duties of a good pastor, and visited the churches of his diocess, preaching everywhere, both in the towns and villages, with such zeal and affection, that the words which came from his mouth seemed so many flashes of lightning, or claps of thunder. His sermons were followed with a wonderful change of the manners and lives of men, in all places he visited, so that one might say he was a new apostle or prophet raised by God to reform that people. Having ended his visitation, he assembled a provincial council, where, with the advice of his fellow-bishops, he made holy ordinances to cut off the abuses he had taken notice of in his visitation, especially to establish a perfect reformation of his clergy. To effect that of his own chapter it cost him much difficulty and time; though he at last gained his point. On all emergencies, like another Moses, he had recourse to the tabernacle to learn the will of God: he often spent nights and days in his oratory to beg light from above. The saint perceiving that his servants made a difficulty to disturb him at his devotions when persons came to consult him, gave them a strict charge, that as soon as any one asked for him, they should immediately call him, without making the party wait; giving them this reason, that though solitude and retirement were his sweetest delight, since he had accepted the archbishopric be was no longer his own master, but was engaged in the service of his flock. By his assiduity in prayer he obtained so excellent a gift of counsel and prudence, that when he had passed sentence, of given his opinion in any matter of importance, the lawyers were wont to say, there was no room for any further doubt. When any affair of great consequence was to be despatched, or any notorious sinner or public malefactor appeared deaf to all exhortations, the holy pastor spent whole nights in prayer, and to render his prayers more efficacious, he accompanied them with tears and with some extraordinary austerities and alms. Thus he obtained of God several wonderful conversions of obstinate sinners and malefactors, especially of two wicked priests. One of these he had conjured, in the most tender and vehement expressions, to remember how dear a price his soul cost our Redeemer, and finding him not sufficiently softened, he threw himself down before a crucifix, and pouring out a deluge of tears, uncovered his back, and tore his body with a discipline, so that his garments were all stained with his blood. Which charity moved the other to begin to weep for himself, and to cast himself at his feet, beseeching him to forbear exercising that cruelty against himself, saying: “It is I that have sinned, and that deserve all punishment,” &c.1

St. Thomas was most bountiful and tender toward all his servants. His bishopric was worth eighteen thousand ducats per annum; two thousand of which were paid to prince George of Austria, as a pension reserved to him upon his resignation: twelve thousand the saint gave to the poor, not reserving one penny for the following year, and he allowed himself only four thousand to defray all the expenses of his family, repairs of his palace, &c. There came to his door every day about five hundred poor people, and each of them received an alms, which was ordinarily bread and pottage, with a cup of wine and a piece of money. He took all poor orphans under his particular care; and for the space of eleven years that he was archbishop not one poor maid was married who was not helped by his charity. He brought up all the foundling infants in his diocess with the tenderness of a careful mother, often visited them all, and gave extraordinary recompenses to those nurses that were particularly tender and diligent. To his porters, to make them more diligent in finding children that were exposed by their parents, he gave a crown for every foundling they brought him. When, in 1550, a pirate had plundered a town in his diocess, near the sea-coast, the archbishop immediately sent four thousand ducats, and cloth worth as much more, to furnish the inhabitants with necessaries, and to ransom the captives.

Nor was he only the support of the poor himself, but he engaged the great lords, and all that were rich, to make their grandeur appear, not by pomp and vanities, but by becoming the fathers and protectors of their vassals, and by their profuse liberality to the necessitous. He exhorted them to be richer in mercy and charity, than they were in earthly possessions. “Answer me, O sinner,” he would say, “what can you purchase with your money better, or more necessary, than the redemption of your sins?” At other times he would say, “If you desire that God should hear your prayers, hear the voice of the poor. If you desire that God should prevent your wants prevent those of the indigent, without waiting for them to importune you; especially anticipate the necessities of those who are ashamed to beg; to make these ask an alms, is to make them to buy it.” His charity towards his neighbor, and all his other virtues, received their perfection from the most ardent love of God which burnt in his pure breast, and which he expressed both by works and by the most tender words and sweet sighs. “Thou commandest me, O Lord,” said he sometimes in imitation of St. Austin, “to love thee in all things, and above all things; and thou commandest me this very strictly, under pain of being for ever deprived of the vision of thy beautiful and amiable face, which the angels desire continually to behold. And what! is it possible, O my God, that I should be so ungrateful and so base as to stand in need of such a precept? After having been created by Thee to thy own image, and redeemed with the infinite price of the blood of thy dear Son; after having received so many and so great favors, do I stand in need of a command to love thee? Ah! my God, thou confoundest me by this precept. But, O infinitely sweet and delicious command! O light burden! I return Thee immortal thanks, O my God, for having obliged me by so holy and so desirable a law, to love Thee. What could be so agreeable and pleasant, so just and so glorious as to love Thee? Is it possible that any creature, capable of knowing Thee, should not love Thee? If I were forbid to love Thee, this ought to seem impossible and intolerable to me. This affrights me above all the other evils and torments of hell. O wretched creatures who are condemned to that unhappy place, because you love not, but hate and blaspheme your Creator! is this the acknowledgment you render him? May I perish, O my God, rather than ever cease to love Thee. If I forget Thee, let my own right hand be forgotten. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember Thee, and always make Thee the object of my joy and love,” &c.2 And again, “Who can be excused from so sweet and light a precept? How justly is he damned eternally who chooses rather to burn in hell than to love Thee.”3

St. Thomas not being able, through the weakness of his health, to assist in person at the council of Trent, deputed thither the bishop of Huësca in his place. Most of the Spanish bishops that went, repaired first to Valentia to receive his advice. The saint lived in perpetual fear and apprehension under the grievous obligations of the episcopal charge, and used to say, that “he was never so much afraid lest he should be blotted out of the number of the predestinated, as since he had been enrolled in the list of bishops.” He had often employed his interest at Rome and at the court of Spain for leave to resign his dignity. God was pleased at length to hear his prayer, by calling him to himself. The blessed man having been forewarned by a vision that he should die on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, was taken ill of a quinsy, attended with a violent fever, on the 29th of August. He began his immediate preparation for his passage by a general confession of his very least faults, which he made with many tears, as if he had been the greatest of all sinners. Then he received the viaticum; on which occasion, by a most pathetic exhortation which he made, he moved all that were present to weep bitterly. And having commanded all the money then in his possession (which amounted to four thousand ducats) to be distributed among the poor in all the parishes of the city, he then ordered all his goods to be given to the rector of his college, except the bed on which he lay. Being desirous to go naked out of the world, he gave this bed also to the jailer, for the use of prisoners, but borrowed it of him till such time as he should expire. Understanding that some money had been brought in for him, he caused it to be immediately sent to the poor at midnight. On the 8th of September, in the morning, perceiving his strength to decay, he caused the passion of our Lord according to St. John to be read to him, during which he frequently lifted up his eyes bathed in tears towards a crucifix. Then he ordered mass to be said in his presence, and after the consecration, recited the psalm, In te, Domine, speravi, &c., streams of tears falling from his eyes; after the priest’s communion he said that verse, Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit; at which words he rendered his soul into the hands of God, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, the eleventh of his episcopal dignity, of our Lord 1555. He was buried, according to his desire, in the church of the Austin Friars at Valentia: was beatified by Paul V. in 1618, and canonized by Alexander VII. in 1658. His festival was appointed to be celebrated on the 18th of September. His sermons, and his exposition of the book of Canticles, printed in two volumes in quarto, breathe an admirable spirit of humility, and the ardent love of God and our Blessed Redeemer. The relation of many miracles wrought through his intercession and by his relics, with most authentic attestations, may be seen in the process of his canonization prefixed to his works.

Nothing can be more vehement or more tender than his exhortation to divine love. “O wonderful beneficence!” he cries out; “God promises us heaven for the recompense of his love. Is not his love itself a great reward? a blessing the most desirable, the most amiable, and the most sweet! Yet a recompense, and so immense a recompense, further waits upon it. O wonderful excess of goodness! Thou givest thy love, and for this thy love thou bestowest on us paradise. Such and so great a good is thy love, that to obtain it, all torments and fatigues ought joyfully to have been undergone. Yet this thou bestowest on us free cost; and then givest heaven for its reward. O Omnipotent Jesus, give me what thou commandest. For though to love Thee be of all things the most sweet; yet it is above the reach and strength of nature. I am, notwithstanding, inexcusable, if I do not love Thee; for thou grantest thy love to all who desire or ask it. I cannot see without light: yet if I shut my eyes in the midst of the noon-day light, the fault is in me, not in the sun.”4

SEPTEMBER 18 — S. METHODIUS, BISHOP OF TYRE, M

This illustrious father of the Church was bishop, first of Olympus, a town on the sea coast, in Lycia, as St. Jerom and others testify; or, according to Leontius, of Byzantium or Patara, which see was then probably united to that of Olympus. He was translated to the bishopric of Tyre, probably after the glorious martyrdom of St. Tyrannio who suffered under Dioclesian. Such translations of bishops were not then allowed except in extraordinary cases of necessity. St. Methodius was crowned with martyrdom at Chalcis in Greece toward the end of the last general persecution, says St. Jerom; consequently about the year 311 or 312. Saint Jerom usually styles him the most eloquent Methodius.

His works were famous among the ancients; and in large quotations and extracts in Photius, St. Epiphanius, St. Jerom, and Theodoret, we have considerable fragments of many valuable writings of this father, especially of his book, On Free-will, against the Valentinians, and that, On the Resurrection of the Bodies, against Origen. His Banquet of Virgins, often mentioned by ancient writers, was published entire by Leo Allatius at Rome in 1656; by F. Poussines, the Jesuit, at Paris, in 1657; and by F. Combefis, the Dominican, with notes in 1672. See also the notes on it collected by Fabricius, in the end of the second volume of the works of St. Hippolitus, printed at Hamburgh, 1718. This book was composed in imitation of a work of Plato entitled, The banquet of Socrates, and is an eulogium of the state and virtue of virginity. In it a matron named Gregorium is introduced telling her friend Eubulus (that is Methodius himself) all the conversation of ten virgins in an assembly at which she was present. A discourse is put into the mouth of each of these virgins in commendation of holy virginity. Marcella, the first, teaches that Christ, the prince of virgins, coming from heaven to teach men the perfection of virtue, planted among them the state of virginity, to which a particular degree of glory is due in heaven.1 Theophila, the second virgin, proves that marriage is good, instituted by God, and necessary for the propagation of the world; but not so necessary since the world was peopled, as before. The precept, however, still subsists, that some persons marry, but this is far from obliging all men; so that virginity embraced for the sake of virtue is a more perfect state than marriage.2 She observes that eating on Good-Friday or on fast days was forbidden, yet allowed to those that were sick and not able to fast.3 In the following discourses the excellency of holy virginity is displayed, which the author calls, “The greatest gift of God to man, and the most noble and most beautiful offering that can be made by man to God,4 the most excellent among all vows,5 but a virtue the more difficult, and surrounded with the greater dangers as it is of higher excellence.”6 He inculcates, that to be truly a virgin, it is necessary not only to keep continent, but also to purify the mind from all sensual desires, pride, and vanity, and to watch and labor incessantly lest idleness and negligence give an entrance to other sins.7 St. Methodius was surnamed Eubulus or Eubulius: and so he calls himself in this and his other works. His style is diffusive, swelling, and full of epithets: and he is fond of comparisons and allegories. See St. Jerom in Catal., c. 83. Photius, Cod. 237, p. 963. Ceillier, t. 4, p. 26. Stilting, p. 768.

SEPTEMBER 18 — ST. FERREOL, MARTYR

St. Ferreol was a tribune or colonel, lived at Vienne in Gaul, and was secretly a Christian. St. Julian of Brioude, a native of that city, and a person of high birth, lodged in his house, and made public profession of the Christian faith. When the persecution began to rage, St. Julian withdrew into Auvergne, and lay some time concealed in the house of a widow at Vinicelle near the town of Brioude, upon the banks of the Allier. Certain pursuivants having got information about him, the servant of Christ discovered himself to them, that the widow who had concealed him might not be brought into danger. The soldiers cut off his head upon the spot, and carried it back with them to Vienne that his execution might strike a terror into the rest of the Christians. Crispin, governor of that part of Gaul, caused St. Ferreol to be apprehended upon suspicion. Finding him refuse to offer sacrifice, he told him, that as he had the honor to serve his country in so eminent a station, it became him to set to others an example of obedience. The martyr answered: “I do not so much overrate the honors and riches which I enjoy. If I may be allowed to live and to serve God, I am well satisfied; if even this seem too much, I am willing to resign my life itself rather than to abandon my religion.” The judge commanded that he should be scourged, and then laid in the dungeon loaded with chains. On the third day after this, his chains fell off his hands and legs, and seeing the door of the prison open, and his guards asleep, he made his escape, and went out of the city by the gate which led to Lyons. He swam over the river Rhone, and was got as far as the river Geres which falls into the Rhone two leagues above Vienne, when he fell again into the hands of the persecutors, who tied his hands behind his back, and led him part of the way with them, till being seized with a sudden fit of savage cruelty, they cut off his head near the banks of the Rhone, about the year 304. The Christians of Vienne interred his body with great veneration near the same river, and the citizens experience his protection by frequent benefits which they receive from God, through the prayers which they put up at his tomb, says the author of his acts. The relics of St. Ferreol are kept in the great church which is built in his honor near the river, at Vienne: those of St. Julian are preserved in the stately church which bears his name at Brioude, in the diocess of Clermont in Auvergne. St. Julian is commemorated on the 28th of August. St. Mamertus, bishop of Vienne, discovered the head of St. Julian, about the year 474; and the first church of St. Ferreol, which was built over his tomb, out of the city, being in a ruinous condition, he about the same time translated his relics into a new church which he built within the walls, where it now stands. See the acts of St. Julian of Brioude, which were read in the church in the time of St. Gregory of Tours, whose second book, On the Glory of Martyrs, contains nothing but a history of miracles wrought by the merits of this glorious martyr. Their acts are published by Bosquet, Hist. de l’Eglise Gallic. t. 2, p. 176. The acts of St. Ferreol, though not original, are nevertheless authentic, and conformable to the relation given by St. Gregory of Tours,1. 2, de Glor. Mart. c. 1, &c. See these in Ruinart, Act. Sincer. p. 462. Ceillier, t. 3, p. 526. Tillem. t. 5, p. 282. These acts of St. Ferreol and those of St. Julian were written before St. Mamertus discovered St. Julian’s head, or had translated the relics of St. Ferreol into the city. The larger acts of St. Ferreol, which place his martyrdom at Brioude, published by du Sausay are of no authority. See Dom. Rivet, Hist. Lit. t. 2, pp. 420, 422.

SEPTEMBER 18 — ST. JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO, C

Joseph Desa was born the 17th of June, 1603, at Cupertino, a small village of the diocess of Nardo, between Brindisi and Otranto, six miles from the coast of the gulf of Tarento. His parents were poor, but virtuous. His mother brought him up in great sentiments of piety; but treated him with great severity, punishing him frequently for the least fault, to inure him to an austere and penitential life. From his infancy he gave signs of an extraordinary fervor, and everything in him seemed to announce that he already tasted the sweets of heavenly consolations. He was very attentive to the divine service, and in an age when the love of pleasure is generally predominant, he wore a hair shirt, and mortified his body by divers austerities. He was bound apprentice to a shoemaker, which trade he applied himself to for some time.

When he was seventeen years of age he presented himself to be received amongst the Conventual Franciscans, where he had two uncles of distinction in the Order. He was nevertheless refused because he had not made his studies. All he could obtain was to be received amongst the Capuchins in quality of lay-brother; but after eight months he was dismissed as unequal to the duties of the Order. Far from being discouraged he persisted in his resolution of embracing a religious state. At length the Franciscans, moved with compassion, received him into their convent of Grotella, thus called from a subterraneous chapel dedicated to God under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin. This convent was situated near Cupertino. The saint having finished his novitiate with great fervor, he made his vows, and was received as lay-brother amongst the Oblates of the Third Order. Though employed in the meanest offices of the house, he performed them with the most perfect fidelity. He redoubled his fasts and austerities; he prayed continually, and slept only three hours every night. His humility, his sweetness, his love of mortification and penance, gained him so much veneration, that in a provincial chapter held at Altamura in 1625, it was resolved he should be admitted amongst the Religious of the Choir, that he might thus qualify himself for holy orders.

Joseph begged to go through a second novitiate, after which he separated himself more than ever from the company of men, to unite himself more closely to God by prayer and contemplation. He looked upon himself as a great sinner, and imagined it was through mere charity that the religious habit was given him. His patience made him bear in silence and with joy the severest rebukes for faults which he had not committed: and his obedience was such that he executed without delay the most difficult duties enjoined him. So many virtues rendered him the object of universal admiration. Being ordained priest in 1628, he celebrated his first mass with inexpressible sentiments of faith, of love and respect. He chose a retired cell that was dark and incommodious. He would often go to pray to the most unfrequented oratories, that he might give himself up more freely to contemplation. He divested himself of everything that was allowed him by his rule, and when he saw himself thus naked, he cried out, prostrate before his crucifix: “Behold me, O Lord, bereft of all earthly things: be thou, I beseech thee, my only good: I look upon every other thing as a real danger and as a loss to my soul.”

After having received the priesthood he passed five years without tasting bread or wine; during which time he lived only on herbs and dry fruits; and even the herbs that he ate on Fridays were so distasteful that only himself could use them. His fast in Lent was so rigorous that for seven years he took no nourishment but on Thursdays and Sundays, except the holy eucharist which he received every day. His countenance in the morning was extremely pale, but after the communion it became florid and lively. He had contracted such a habit of fasting, that his stomach could no longer bear any food. His desire of mortification made him invent different instruments of penance. During two years he suffered many interior trials which tormented him exceedingly; but to this storm a profound calm succeeded.

A report being spread that he had frequent raptures, and that many miracles were wrought by him, the people followed him in crowds as he was travelling through the province of Bari. A certain vicar-general was offended at it, and carried his complaints to the inquisitors of Naples. Joseph was ordered to appear; but the heads of his accusation being examined, he was declared innocent, and dismissed. He said mass at Naples in the church of St. Gregory the Armenian, which belonged to a monastery of Religious. The holy sacrifice being finished, he fell into an ecstasy, as many eye-witnesses attested in the process of his canonization.1 The inquisitors sent him to Rome to his general, who received him with harshness, and ordered him to retire to the convent of Assisium. Joseph was filled with joy at this news, on account of the great devotion he had to the holy founder of his Order. The guardian of Assisium treated him also with roughness. But his sanctity shone forth more and more: and persons of the highest distinction expressed an ardent desire to see him. He arrived at Assisium in 1639, and remained there thirteen years. At first he suffered many trials, both interior and exterior. His superior often called him hypocrite, and treated him with great rigor. On the other hand, God seemed to have abandoned him; his religious exercises were accompanied with a spiritual dryness that afflicted him exceedingly; the impure phantoms which his imagination represented to him, joined to the most terrible temptations, cast him into so deep a melancholy, that he scarce dare lift up his eyes. His general being informed of his situation, called him to Rome, and having kept him there three weeks, he sent him back to his convent of Assisium.

The saint, on his way to Rome, experienced a return of those heavenly consolations which had been withdrawn from him. At the name of God, of Jesus, or of Mary, he was, as it were, out of himself. He would often cry out: “Vouchsafe, O my God, to fill and possess all my heart. O that my soul was freed from the chains of the body, and united to Jesus Christ! Jesus, Jesus, draw me to yourself; I am not able to live any longer on the earth.” He was often heard to excite others to the love of God, and to say to them: “Love God; he in whom this love reigns, is rich, although he does not perceive it.” His raptures were as frequent as extraordinary. He had many, even in public, to which a great number of persons of the first quality were eye-witnesses, and the truth of which they afterward declared upon oath. Amongst those, John Frederick, duke of Brunswick and Hanover, was one. This prince, who was a Lutheran, was so struck with what he had seen, that he abjured his former tenets, and embraced the Catholic faith. Joseph had also a singular talent for converting the most obdurate sinners, and quieting the minds of such as labored under any trouble. He used to say to some scrupulous persons who came to consult him: “I neither like scruples nor melancholy; let your intention be right, and fear not.” He explained the most profound mysteries of our faith with the greatest clearness; and this sublime knowledge he owed to the intimate communication he had with God in prayer.

His prudence, which was remarkable in the conduct of souls, drew to him a great concourse of people, and even of cardinals and princes. He foretold to John Casimir, son of Sigismund III. king of Poland, that he would one day reign for the good of the people, and the sanctification of souls, and advised him not to engage in any religious Order. But this prince having afterward entered among the Jesuits, took the vows of the scholars of the society, and was made cardinal by pope Innocent X. in 1646. Joseph dissuaded him from the resolution he had taken of receiving holy orders. What the saint foretold came to pass; for, Uladislas, eldest son of Sigismund, dying in 1648, John Casimir was elected king of Poland; but after some time resigned his crown and retired into France, where he died in 1672. It was this prince who himself afterward disclosed all the circumstances of the fact which we have here related.

His miracles were not less remarkable than the other extraordinary favors he received from God. Many sick owed their recovery to his prayers. The saint falling sick of a fever at Osimo, the 10th of August, 1663, foretold that his last hour was near at hand. The day before his death he received the holy viaticum, and after it the extreme unction. He was heard often to repeat those aspirations of a heart inflamed with the love of God: “Oh! that my soul was freed from the shackles of my body, to be reunited to Jesus Christ! Praise and thanksgiving be to God! The will of God be done. Jesus crucified, receive my heart, and kindle in it the fire of your holy love.” He died the 18th of September, 1663, at the age of sixty years and three months. His body was exposed in the church, and the whole town came to visit it with respect; he was afterward buried in the chapel of the Conception. The heroism of his virtues being proved, and the truth of his miracles attested, he was beatified by Benedict XIV. in 1753, and canonized by Clement XIII. in 1767. Clement XIV. inserted his office in the Roman Breviary. See the Life of St. Joseph of Cupertino, written in Italian, by count Dominic Bernini in 1722, and dedicated to Innocent XIII. Agelli has given an abridgment of it in 1753, with an account of twenty-two new miracles. We have another abridgment of the life of this saint by Pastrovicchi, also in 1753. See also F. Suysken, Comment. et Not. p. 992.

SEPTEMBER 19 — ST. JANUARIUS, BISHOP OF BENEVENTO AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS

From Bede and other Martyrologists. The modern acts of St. Januarius were compiled by John, a deacon belonging to the church of Naples, about the year 920, who complains that the memoirs he made use of had been adulterated by certain superfluous circumstances foisted into them. See Tillemont, t. 5, and F. Putignano Soc. J. de Redivivo, Sanguine D. Januaril, Neapoii, 1723, in three volumes quarto. Stilting, t. 6, Sept. p. 762. et seq.

A. D. 305.

ST. JANUARIUS, a native some say of Naples, others of Benevento, was bishop of this latter city, when the persecution of Dioclesian broke out. Sosius, deacon of Miseno,* Proculus, deacon of Puzzuoli, and Eutyches, or Eutychetes, and Acutius, eminent laymen, were imprisoned at Puzzuoli for the faith, by an order of Dracontius, governor of Campania, before whom they had confessed their faith. Sosius, by his singular wisdom and sanctity, had been worthy of the intimate friendship of St. Januarius, who reposed in him an entire confidence, and for many years had found no more solid comfort among men than in his holy counsels and conversation. Upon the news that this great servant of God and several others were fallen into the hands of the persecutors, the good bishop determined to make them a visit, in order to comfort and encourage them, and provide them with every spiritual succor to arm them for their great conflict; in this act of charity no fear of torments or danger of his life could terrify him; and martyrdom was his recompense. He did not escape the notice of the inquisitive keepers, who gave information that an eminent person from Benevento had visited the Christian prisoners. Timothy, who had just succeeded Dracontius in the government of that district of Italy, gave orders that Januarius, whom he found to be the person, should be apprehended, and brought before him at Nola, the usual place of his residence; which was done accordingly. Festus, the bishop’s deacon, and Desiderius, a lector of his church, were taken up as they were making him a visit. They had a share in the interrogatories and torments which the good bishop underwent at Nola. Some time after the governor went to Puzzuoli, and these three confessors, loaded with heavy irons, were made to walk before his chariot to that town, where they were thrown into the same prison where the four martyrs already mentioned were detained: they had been condemned, by an order from the emperor, to be torn in pieces by wild beasts, and were then lying in expectation of the execution of their sentence.† The day after the arrival of St. Januarius and his two companions, all these champions of Christ were exposed to be devoured by the beasts in the amphitheatre; but none of the savage animals could be provoked to touch them. The people were amazed, but imputed their preservation to art-magic: and the martyrs were condemned to be beheaded. This sentence was executed near Puzzuoli, as Bede testifies, and the martyrs were decently interred near that town. Some time after the Christian faith was become triumphant, towards the year 400, their precious relics were removed. The bodies of SS. Proculus, Eutyches, and Acutius were placed in a more honorable manner at Puzzuoli: those of SS. Festus and Desiderius were translated to Benevento: that of Sosius to Miseno, where it was afterward deposited in a stately church built in his honor.

The city of Naples was so happy as to get possession of the relics of St. Januarius. During the wars of the Normans, they were removed, first to Benevento, and, some time after, to the abbey of Monte-Vergine; but, in 1497, they were brought back to Naples, which city has long honored him as principal patron. Among many miraculous deliverances which it ascribes to the intercession of this great saint none is looked upon as more remarkable than its preservation from the fiery eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, now called La Somma, which is only eight miles distant, and which has often threatened the entire destruction of this city, both by the prodigious quantities of burning sand, ashes, and stones, which it throws up on those occasions to a much greater distance than Naples; and, by a torrent of burning sulphur, nitre, calcined stones, and other materials, which, like a liquid fire, has sometimes gushed from that volcano, and, digging itself a channel (which has sometimes been two or three miles broad), rolled its flaming waves through the valley into the sea, destroying towns and villages in its way, and often passing near Naples.* Some of these eruptions, which in the fifth and seventh centuries threatened this city with destruction, by the clouds of ashes which they raised, are said to have darkened the sky as far as Constantinople, and struck terror into the inhabitants of that capita1.1 The intercession of St. Januarius was implored at Naples on those occasions, and the divine mercy so wonderfully interposed in causing these dreadful evils suddenly to cease thereupon, especially in 1685, Bennet II. being pope, and Justinian the younger emperor, that the Greeks instituted a feast in honor of St. Januarius, with two yearly solemn processions to return thanks to God. The protection of the city of Naples from this dreadful volcano by the same means was most remarkable in the years 1631 and 1707. In this last, whilst cardinal Francis Pignatelli, with the clergy and people, devoutly followed the shrine of St. Januarius in procession to a chapel at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, the fiery eruption ceased, the mist, which before was so thick that no one could see another at the distance of three yards, was scattered, and at night the stars appeared in the sky.2

The standing miracle, as it is called by Baronius, of the blood of St. Januarius liquefying and boiling up at the approach of the martyr’s head, is likewise very famous. In a rich chapel, called the Treasury, in the great church at Naples, are preserved the blood, in two very old glass vials, and the head of St. Januarius. The blood is congealed, and of a dark color; but, when brought in sight of the head, though at a considerable distance, it melts, bubbles up, and, upon the least motion, flows on any side. The fact is attested by Baronius, Ribadeneira and innumerable other eye-witnesses of all nations and religions, many of whom most attentively examined all the circumstances. Certain Jesuits, sent by F. Bollandus to Naples, were allowed by the archbishop, cardinal Philamurini, to see this prodigy; the minute description of the manner in which it is performed is related by them in the life of F. Bollandus.3 It happens equally in all seasons of the year, and in variety of circumstances. The usual times when it is performed are the feast of St. Januarius, the 19th of September; that of the translation of his relics (when they were brought from Puzzuoll to Naples), the Sunday which falls next to the calends of May; and the 20th day of December, on which, in 1631, a terrible eruption of Mount Vesuvius was extinguished, upon invoking the patronage of this martyr. The same is done on extraordinary occasions at the discretion of the archbishop.* This miraculous solution and ebullition of the blood of St. Januarius is mentioned by pope Pius II. when he speaks of the reign of Alphonsus I. of Arragon, king of Naples, in 1450; Angelus Cato, an eminent physician of Salerno, and others, mention it in the same century. Almost two hundred years before that epoch, historians take notice that king Charles I. of Anjou, coming to Naples, the archbishop brought out the head and blood of this martyr. The continuator of the chronicle of Maraldus says the same was done upon the arrival of king Roger, who venerated these relics, in 1140. Falco of Benevento relates the same thing. From several circumstances this miracle is traced much higher, and it is said to have regularly happened on the annual feast of St. Januarius, and on that of the translation of his relics, from the time of that translation, about the year 400.4

Miracles recorded in holy scripture are revealed facts, and an object of faith. Other miracles are not considered in the same light; neither does our faith rest upon them as upon the former, though they illustrate and confirm it; nor do they demand or admit any higher assent than that which prudence requires, and that which is due to the evidence or human authority upon which they depend. When such miracles are propounded, they are not to be rashly admitted: the evidence of the fact and circumstances ought to be examined to the bottom, and duly weighed; where that fails it is the part of prudence to suspend or refuse our assent. Also if it appears doubtful whether an effect be natural or proceed from a supernatural interposition, our assent ought to lean according to the greater weight of probability, and God, who is author of all events, natural and supernatural, is always to be glorified. If human evidence set the certainty of a miracle above the reach of any doubt, it must more powerfully excite us to raise our minds to God in sentiments of humble adoration, love, and praise; and to honor him in his saints, when, by such wonderful means, he gives us sensible proofs of the glory and favor to which he exalts them, and of the tenderness with which he watches over their mortal remains to raise them one day in a state of glorious immortality.

SEPTEMBER 19 — ST. THEODORE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, C

After the death of St. Deusdedit, archbishop of Canterbury, Oswi, king of Northumberland, and Egbert, king of Kent, sent a virtuous and learned priest, named Wighard, to Rome, that he might be consecrated bishop, and duly confirmed to that important see by the pope himself. Wighard and most of those that attended him died in Italy of the plague; and Vitalian, who then sat in St. Peter’s chair, pitched upon Adrian, abbot of Niridian, near Naples, to be raised to that dignity. This abbot was by birth an African, understood Greek and Latin perfectly well, and was thoroughly versed in theology, and in the monastic and ecclesiastical discipline. But so great were his fears of the dignity to which he was called, that the pope was compelled by his entreaties and tears to yield to his excuses. He insisted, however, that Adrian should find a person equal to that charge, and should himself attend upon and assist him in instructing the inhabitants of this remote island in the perfect discipline of the Church. How edifying and happy was this contention—not to obtain—but to shun such a dignity! Adrian first named to the pope a monk called Andrew; but he was judged incapable of the necessary fatigues on account of his bodily infirmities, though otherwise a person extremely well qualified. There was then at Rome a Grecian monk, named Theodore, a native of Tarsus, in Cilicia, a man of exemplary life, and well skilled in divine and human learning, and in the Greek and Latin languages, who was sixty-six years old. Him Adrian presented to the pope, and procured him to be ordained bishop, promising to bear him company into England.

Theodore, being ordained sub-deacon, waited four months that his hair might grow, that it might be shaved in the form of a crown; for the Greek monks shaved their heads all over. At length pope Vitalian consecrated him bishop, on Sunday the 26th day of March, in 668, and recommended him to St. Bennet Biscop, who was then come a third time to Rome, but whom the pope obliged to return to England with St. Theodore and Adrian, in order to be their guide and interpreter. They set out on the 27th of May; went by sea to Marseilles; and from thence by land to Arles, where they were entertained by the archbishop John, till Ebroin, mayor of the palace, had sent them permission to continue their journey. Saint Theodore passed the winter at Paris with the bishop Agilbert, who had formerly been bishop of Winchester, in England. By his conversation, the new archbishop informed himself of the circumstances and necessities of the Church of which he was going to take upon him the charge: he also learned the English language. Egbert, king of Kent, hearing his new archbishop was arrived at Paris, sent one of the lords of his court to meet him, who having obtained leave of Ebroin, waited on him to the port of Quentavic, in Ponthieu, now called St Iosse-sur-Mer. Theodore falling sick, was obliged to stay there some time. As soon as he was able to travel, he proceeded on his voyage, with St. Bennet Biscop, and took possession of his see of Canterbury on Sunday the 27th of May, 669. Adrian was detained in France some time by Ebroin, who suspected that he was sent by the emperor to the kings of England on some designs against the French. He stayed a considerable time, first with Emmo, archbishop of Sens, and afterward with St. Faro, bishop of Meaux. Ebroin being at last satisfied, he was permitted to follow St. Theodore, by whom he was made abbot of St. Peter’s, at Canterbury.

St. Theodore made a general visitation of all the churches of the English nation, taking with him the abbot Adrian. He was everywhere well received, and heard with attention; and, wherever he came, he established sound morality, confirmed the discipline of the Catholic Church in the celebration of Easter, and introduced everywhere the Gregorian or Roman chanting in the divine office, till then known in few of the English churches, except those of Kent. He regulated all other things belonging to the divine service, reformed abuses, and ordained bishops in all places where he thought they were wanting. He confirmed St. Wilfrid in the see of York,1 declaring the ordination of Ceadda irregular in two respects,—because he was intruded to the prejudice of St. Wilfrid, and because he had not received his consecration by lawful authority. Ceadda replied that he had been ordained against his inclinations, confessed himself unworthy of that dignity, and retired with joy to his monastery of Lestinguen. But St. Theodore made him bishop of the Mercians, or of Litchfield, which see was vacant by the death of Jaruman.

St. Theodore was the first archbishop of Canterbury, after St. Austin, who presided over the whole Church of England. He was founder of a most famous school at Canterbury, which produced many great men. For Theodore and Adrian themselves expounded the scriptures, and taught all the sciences, particularly astronomy and ecclesiastical arithmetic for calculating Easter; also how to compose Latin verses. Many under them became as perfect in the Latin and Greek languages as they were in their own tongue. Britain had never been in so flourishing a condition as at this time since the English first set foot in the island. The kings were so brave, says Bede, that all the barbarous nations dreaded their power; but withal such good Christians, that they aspired only after the joys of the kingdom of heaven, which had been but lately preached to them. All men’s minds seemed only bent on the goods of the life to come, to use the words of our venerable historian. St. Theodore established schools in most parts of England, and it is hard to say whether we ought most to admire the zeal and unwearied labors of the pastors, or the docility, humility, and insatiable ardor of the people, with whom to hear, to learn, and to practise seemed one and the same thing.

In 670, St. Theodore held a national council at Heorutford, which Cave, Mabillon, and many others, take to be Hertford; though it seems more probably to have been Thetford, as Ralph Hidgen2 and Trevisa3 positively affirm. And in this council Bisi, bishop of the East-Angles, sat next to the archbishop. It is ordained in one of the canons, that no man leave his wife, unless in the case of adultery; and that even in this case a true Christian ought not to marry another. This synod enacted, that a council should be assembled annually on the 1st of August at Cloveshoe, which Mr. Somner proves to be Abingdon, in Berkshire, which was on the borders of the Mercian kingdom, and was anciently called Shovesham, and originally Clovesham. The archbishop quotes, in this synod, for the regulation of Easter, and other points, a book of canons; by which Dr. Smith understands the council of Chalcedon, some others St. Theodore’s Penitential: but no such decisions are found in either; and it was probably a code of canons of the Roman Church which was here appealed to. The Eutychian and Monothelite heresies having made great havoc in the East, St. Theodore held another synod, in 680, at Hetfield, now called Bishop’s Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, in which the mystery of the Incarnation was expounded, the five first general councils were received, and the abovesaid heresies condemned.

In 678, at the request of king Egfrid, St. Theodore divided the see of York into three bishoprics, and constituted so many new bishops in the room of St. Wilfrid, who refused to come into that project. In the following year, St. Theodore ordained St. Erconwald bishop of London. War breaking out between Egfrid, king of the Northumbers, and Ethelred, king of the Mercians, a great battle was fought near the Trent, in which Elfwin, the amiable young brother of Egfrid, was slain. Upon this news, St. Theodore, relying upon the divine assistance, immediately set out, to extinguish the flame of war which both kings were bent on carrying on with greater fury than before the engagement: but the authority of the good bishop, and the religious motives which he made use of, disarmed them at once, and our saint was so happy as to cement a firm and cordial peace between the two nations, upon no other condition than that of paying the usual mulct to king Egfrid for the loss of his brother. Few things have rendered the name of St. Theodore more famous than his Penitential or Code of Canons, prescribing the term of public penance for penitents, according to the quality and enormity of their sins.* By this Penitential, it appears,4 that when a monk died, mass was said for him on the day of his burial, on the third day after, and as often again as the abbot thought proper: also that the holy sacrifice was offered for the laity, and accompanied with fasting.5

St. Theodore being above fourscore years of age, and seized with frequent fits of sickness, was desirous to be reconciled to St. Wilfrid. He therefore requested the exiled holy prelate to come to him at London, begged his pardon for having consented with the kings to his deprivation, without any fault on his side, did all he could to make him amends, and restored him to his entire see of York; for which purpose he wrote strong letters to Alfrid, king of Northumberland, who had succeeded his brother Egfrid; to Ethelred, king of the Mercians; to Elfleda, abbess of Streneshal, and others who opposed St. Wilfrid, or were interested in this affair; and he had the comfort to see his endeavors everywhere successful St. Theodore was twenty-two years archbishop, and died in 690, aged fourscore and eight years; his memory is honored on the 19th day of September, which was that of his death. He was buried in the monastery of St. Peter, which afterward took the name of St. Austin. See Bede,1. 4, c. 1, 2, 21,1. 5, c. 8, and the lives of St. Wilfrid, and of St. Bennet Biscop. Ceillier, t. 17, p. 740. Wilkins, Concil. Magnæ Britan. t. 1, p. 42, and the learned Mr. Johnson’s Collection of Canons of the Church of England, vol. 1, ad an. 673.

SEPTEMBER 19 — SS. PELEUS, PA-TERMUTHES, AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS

The holy confessors who were condemned to the mines in Palestine, during the course of the last general persecution, built little oratories, where they met to the divine service, which under their sufferings was their solid comfort. Firmilian, governor of Palestine, informed the emperor Galerius of the liberty they had taken, and the tyrant sent an order that they should be sent, some to the mines in Cyprus, others to those on mount Libanus, and others to other places. Firmilian being in the mean time beheaded himself for his crimes, the officer upon whom the command was devolved after his disgrace, removed the servants of God to the new places of their banishment, according to the tenor of the imperial rescript; but first caused four of their number to be burnt alive. These were Peleus and Nilus, two Egyptian priests, Elias, also a priest, and Pa-Termuthes, an Egyptian of singular learning and reputation. This last was the person to whom Eusebius and St. Pamphilus addressed their apology for Origen. See Eus. Hist. de Martyr. Palestinæ, c. 13.

SEPTEMBER 19 — ST. LUCY, VIRGIN

She was daughter to a king of the Scots, and retired into France to serve God in obscurity. She chose for herself a solitary place on the north side of the river Meuse in the diocess of Verdun, where she lived in the practice of the most sublime virtues, till God called her to a happy immortality in the year 1090. She was buried in a church built by herself on the summit of a mountain near her own cell; and was enrolled in the number of the saints by Henry bishop of Verdun.* Her relics are kept during the summer season in the church of Mount St. Lucy, but in winter in the parish church of Sampigny; of both which churches she is the titular patroness. The former belonging to the Minims was erected under her invocation, in 1625, by the prince of Phalneburg, of the house of Guise, and by his wife, who was sister to Charles IV. duke of Lorraine. The shrine of Saint Lucy is much resorted to by pilgrims; it was visited in 1609 by the duchess of Lorraine of the house of Mantua, and in 1632 by Louis XIII., king of France, who was then at the siege of St. Myhel in Lorraine. See the Hist. of Lorraine, t. 3, p. 218; Cle. Act. SS. t. 6, Sept. p. 101. Dempster, Camerarius, Lahier, and her MS. life, written in 1747.

SEPTEMBER 19 — ST. EUSTOCHIUS, BISHOP OF TOURS

Was descended from an illustrious family of Auvergne, and, according to Gregory of Tours, was a man of eminent virtue. Being raised to the see of Tours after the death of St. Brice in 444, he strenuously defended, in the council of Angers, the privileges of the Church, which were invaded by a law of Valentinian III., and had a principal share in drawing up the regulations made in that council concerning discipline. He increased the number of parishes in his diocess, and built in the city of Tours a church, wherein he deposited the relics of SS. Gervasius and Protasius, which St. Martin had received from Italy. He died in 461, and was buried in the church built by St. Brice over the tomb of St. Martin; his name occurs this day in the Roman Martyrology. See St. Gregory of Tours, Hist.1. 2, c. 1 et 14,1. 10, c. 31. Baillet, on the 19th Sept. F. Longueval, Hist. de l’Egl. Gall. t. 2, p. 77, et 114.

SEPTEMBER 19 — ST SEQUANUS, IN FRENCH SEINE, ABBOT

He was born in the little town of Maymont in the extremity of Burgundy. His parents gave him an excellent education, and permitted him to embrace an ecclesiastical state, to which he was inclined from his infancy. Having received the clerical tonsure from the hands of his pastor, the sanctity of his life soon recommended him to the bishop of Langres, who promoted him to the priesthood. The saint having suffered some persecution from persons who had envied his merit, he took occasion from thence to execute a resolution he had long before formed, of quitting the commerce of the world; and put himself under the direction of abbot John, who governed the monastery of Reome, in Auxois, since called Moutier St. Jean. Here he perfected himself in the study of the holy scriptures, and in the practice of all religious virtues. After some time he built a monastery in the forest of Segestre, near the source of the river Seine, which still bears his name. The regular discipline which he established there, rendered it famous, and drew to it a number of disciples. God was pleased to honor him with the gift of miracles, which added new lustre to his sanctity. He died, according to the most probable opinion, on the 19th of September, about the year 580; and his relics are kept in his monastery. He is mentioned in the Martyrologies of Ado and Usuard under the name of St. Sigon. See his life, by one of his disciples, in Mabil. sec. 1, Ben. St. Gregory of Tours, c. 88, de Glor. Confes. Hist. du Monast. de Reomé, ou Moutier St. Jean; Baillet, &c.

SEPTEMBER 20 — SAINT EUSTACHIUS AND COMPANIONS, MM

See the Bollandists, t. 6, Sept. p. 107.

ST. EUSTACHIUS, called by the Greeks Eustathius, and before his conversion named Placidus, was a nobleman who suffered martyrdom at Rome, about the reign of Adrian, together with his wife Theopista, called before her baptism Tatiana, and two sons Agapius and Theopistus. These Greek names they must have taken after their conversion to the faith. The ancient sacramentaries mention in the prayer for the festival of St. Eustachius, his profuse charities to the poor, on whom he bestowed all his large possessions, some time before he laid down his life for his faith. An ancient church in Rome was built in his honor, with the title of a Diacony; the same now gives title to a cardinal. His body lay deposited in this church, till, in the twelfth age, it was translated to that of St. Denis near Paris. His shrine was pillaged in this place, and part of his bones burnt by the Huguenots in 1567;1 but a portion of them still remains in the parish church which bears the name of St. Eustachius in Paris.2

How noble is it to see integrity and virtue triumphing over interest, passion, racks, and death, and setting the whole world at defiance! To see a great man preferring the least duty of justice, truth, or religion, to the favor or menace of princes; readily quitting estate, friends, country, and life, rather than consent to anything against his conscience; and at the same time meek, humble, and modest in his sufferings; forgiving from his heart and tenderly loving his most unjust and treacherous enemies and persecutors! Passion and revenge often make men furious; and the lust of power, worldly honor, applause, or wealth, may prompt them to brave dangers; but these passions leave them weak and dastardly in other cases, and are themselves the basest slavery, and most grievous crimes and misery. Religion is the only basis on which true magnanimity and courage can stand. It so enlightens the mind as to set a man above all human events, and to preserve him in all changes and trials steady and calm in himself; it secures him against the errors, the injustices, and frowns of the world, is by its powerful motives the strongest spur to all generous actions, and under afflictions and sufferings a source of unalterable peace and overflowing joy, which spring from an assured confidence that God’s will is always most just and holy, and that he will be its protector and rewarder. Does religion exert this powerful influence in us? Does it appear in our hearts, in our actions and conduct? It is not enough to encounter dangers with resolution; we must with equal courage and constancy vanquish pleasure and the softer passions, or we possess not the virtue of true fortitude.

SEPTEMBER 20 — ST. AGAPETUS, POPE, C

This holy pope was a native of Rome, and being received among the clergy discharged the inferior functions of the ministry in the church of SS. John and Paul. His great sanctity recommended him to the love and veneration of all that knew him, and pope John II. dying on the 26th of April, 535. Agapetus, who was at that time archdeacon, was chosen to fill the holy see and ordained on the 4th of May. He healed by mildness the wounds which had been made by dissensions, and by the unhappy schism of Dioscorus against Boniface II. in 529. The emperor Justinian, being apprised of his election, sent to him a profession of his faith, which the holy pope received as orthodox, and, in compliance with his request, condemned the Acæmetes monks at Constantinople, who were tainted with the Nestorian heresy. Hilderic, king of the Vandals in Africa, having been deposed by Gilimer, Justinian took that occasion to break the alliance which the emperor Zeno bad made with Genseric, and in the year 533, the seventh of his reign, sent Belisarius with a fleet of five hundred sail into Africa. That experienced general made an easy conquest of the whole country, and took Carthage almost without opposition. Justinian sent to the churches in Jerusalem the vessels of the ancient Jewish temple, which Titus had formerly brought to Rome and which Genseric had carried from thence to Carthage. He reestablished the temporal government of Africa, which he divided into seven provinces Zeugitana, named heretofore the Proconsular, that of Carthage, Byzacena and that of Tripoli, which four had for governors men of consular dignity the three others, Numidia, Mauritania, and Sardinia, had only presidents all these were subject to the Præfectus Prætorio of Africa, who resided at Carthage. Each province had its primate, though in Numidia that dignity was not annexed to any particular see, but was enjoyed by the oldest bishop in the province, as in the time of St. Cyprian. These churches being restored to the Catholics, both the emperor and the bishops of Africa wrote to the pope, entreating him to allow that such Arian bishops as came over to the Catholic faith, should retain their sees. Agapetus answered them both that he could not act in that point against the canons, and that the Arian bishops ought to be satisfied with being received into the Catholic Church, without pretending to be admitted among the clergy, or to retain any ecclesiastical dignity. The emperor having built the city Justinianæa, near the village where he was born, desired the pope to appoint the bishop of this new see his vicar in Illyricum.

Theodatus, king of the Goths in Italy, hearing that Justinian was making preparations for an expedition to recover Italy, obliged pope Agapetus to undertake a voyage to Constantinople in order to divert him from such a design. About the same time the Catholic abbots at Constantinople wrote to St. Agapetus, to acquaint him with the disorders and dangers into which that Church was fallen. Epiphanius, patriarch of Constantinople, dying in 535, Anthimus, bishop of Trebizond, was called to that see, by the interest of the empress Theodora. He passed for a Catholic, but was in truth an enemy to the council of Chalcedon, as well as that princess herself. The removal of Anthimus to Constantinople so much encouraged the Acephali, that Severus, the false patriarch of Antioch, and other chiefs of that sect, repaired thither, and filled that Church with confusion. Agapetus informed these Catholic abbots that he was coming himself to Constantinople; whereupon they waited his arrival. St. Gregory the Great relates1 that the good pope, in his journey through Greece, cured a man who was lame and dumb, by saying mass for him. St. Agapetus reached Constantinople on the 2d of February in 536, and was received by the emperor with respect. The pope, true to his trust, pressed him on the business which had brought him thither; but that prince had proceeded too far to think of drawing off his forces from the expedition into Italy. St. Agapetus therefore began to treat of religious affairs. He absolutely refused to admit Anthimus to his communion, unless he publicly subscribed the council of Chalcedon, and would by no means allow of his translation to the see of Constantinople. The empress employed all her power and all her artifices to gain this point of him.* The emperor also plied him both with large promises, and with threats of banishment; but the holy man was inflexible, and at length Anthimus went back to Trebizond, for fear of being compelled to receive the council of Chalcedon. The pope declared him excommunicated, unless by subscribing that synod he declared himself a Catholic; which drew upon the saint the whole fury of the Eutychian party, and of the empress. His constancy, however, baffled all their efforts, and Mennas, a person of great learning and piety, was chosen patriarch of Constantinople, and consecrated by the pope. Several petitions were delivered to St. Agapetus, containing complaints and accusations of heresy, and other crimes, against Severus, and certain other bishops of the party of the Acephali, which the pope was preparing to examine in a council, when he fell sick, and died at Constantinople on the 17th of April, in 536, having sat about eleven months, and three weeks. His body was brought to Rome, and interred in St. Peter’s church on the Vatican, on the 20th of September, the day which the Western Church has consecrated to his memory. The Greeks commemorate his name on the day of his death, the 17th of April. See his epistles and other monuments, Conc. t. 5; also Liberatus Breviar. c. 21, 22, and Anastasius’s Pontifical, especially the new edition, or Liber Pontificalis, seu de Gestis Rom. Pontificum, quem cum Cod. MSS. collatum emendavit et supplevit Joannes Vignolius, Bibl. Vaticanæ Præfectus alter: Romæ, 1756, three vol. in 4to. Cle. t. 6, Sept. p. 163.

SEPTEMBER 21 — ST. MATTHEW APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST

Matt. 9 Mark 2 Luke 5. See Tillemont, Calmet, Ceillier, Hammond, &c.

ST. MATTHEW is called by two evangelists Levi, both which names are of Jewish extraction.* The latter he bore before his conversion, the other he seems to have taken after it, to show that he had renounced his profession, and was become a new man. St. Mark calls him the son of Alphæus; but the conjecture which some form from hence, that he was brother to St. James the Less, has not the very shadow of probability. He seems to have been a Galilæan by birth, and was by profession a publican, or gatherer of taxes for the Romans, which office was equally odious and scandalous among the Jews. The Romans sent publicans into the provinces to gather the tributes and this was amongst them a post of honor, power, and credit, usually conferred on Roman knights. T. Flavius Sabinus, father of the emperor Vespasian, was the publican of the provinces of Asia. These Roman general publicans employed under them natives of each province, as persons best acquainted with the customs of their own country. These collectors or farmers of the tributes often griped and scraped all they could by various methods of extortion, having frequent opportunities of oppressing others to raise their own fortunes, and they were usually covetous. On this account even the Gentiles often speak of them as exactors, cheats, and public robbers.* Zaccheus, a chief among these collectors, was sensible of these occasions of fraud and oppression, when he offered four-fold restitution to any whom he had injured.

Among the Jews these publicans were more infamous and odious, because this nation looked upon them as enemies to their privilege of natural freedom which God had given them, as persons defiled by their frequent conversation and dealing with the pagans, and as conspiring with the Romans to entail slavery upon their countrymen. Hence the Jews universally abhorred them, regarded their estates or money as the fortunes of notorious thieves, banished them from their communion in all religious worship, and shunned them in all affairs of civil society and commerce. Tertullian is certainly mistaken when he affirms that none but Gentiles were employed in this sordid office, as St. Jerom demonstrates from several passages in the gospels.1 And it is certain that St. Matthew was a Jew, though a publican. His office is said to have particularly consisted in gathering customs of commodities that came by the lake Genesareth or Tiberias, and a toll which passengers paid that came by water; of which mention is made by Jewish writers. Hence the Hebrew gospel published by Munster renders the word Publican in this place by, “The Lord of the Passage.” St. Mark says, that St. Matthew kept his office or toll-booth by the side of the lake, where he sat at the receipt of custom.

Jesus having lately cured a famous paralytic, went out of Capharnaum, and walked on the banks of the lake or sea of Genesareth, teaching the people that flocked after him. Here he espied Matthew sitting in his customhouse, whom he called to come and follow him. The man was rich, enjoyed a very lucrative post, was a wise and prudent man, and perfectly understood what his compliance would cost him, and what an exchange he made of wealth for poverty. But he overlooked all these considerations, and left all his interests and relations to become our Lord’s disciple, and to embrace a spiritual kind of commerce or traffic. We cannot suppose that he was before wholly unacquainted with our Saviour’s person or doctrine, especially as his custom-office was near Capharnaum, and his house seems to have been in that city, where Christ had resided for some time, had preached and wrought many miracles, by which he was in some measure prepared to receive the impression which the call of Christ made upon him. St. Jerom says, that a certain amiable brightness and air of majesty which shone in the countenance of our divine Redeemer, pierced his soul, and strongly attracted him. But the great cause of his wonderful conversion was, as Bede remarks, that, “He who called him outwardly by his word, at the same time moved him inwardly by the invisible instinct of his grace.” We must earnestly entreat this same gracious Saviour that he would vouchsafe to touch our hearts with the like powerful interior call, that we may be perfectly converted to him. He often raises his voice in the secret of our hearts: but by putting wilful obstacles we are deaf to it, and the seed of salvation is often clicked in our souls.

This apostle, at the first invitation, broke all ties; forsook his riches, his family, his worldly concerns, his pleasures, and hi profession, His conversion was sincere and perfect, manifesting itself by the following marks. First, it admitted no deliberation or delay: to balance one moment between God and sin or the world, is to resist the divine call, and to lose the offered grace. Secondly, it was courageous; surmounting and bearing down all opposition which his passions or the world could raise in his way. Thirdly, it was constant; the apostle from that moment looked no more back, but following Christ with fervor, persevered to the end, marching every day forwards with fresh vigor. It is the remark of St. Gregory, that those apostles who left their boats and nets to follow Christ, were some time afterward found in the same employment of fishing, from which they were called: but St. Matthew never returned to the custom-house, because it was a dangerous profession, and an occasion of avarice, oppression, and extortion. St. Jerom and St. Chrysostom take notice, that St. Mark and St. Luke mention our apostle by the name of Levi, when they speak of his former profession of publican, as if it were to cover and keep out of sight the remembrance of this apostle’s sin, or at least to touch it tenderly; but our evangelist openly calls himself Matthew, by which name he was then known in the Church, being desirous out of humility to publish his former infamy and sin, and to proclaim the excess of the divine mercy which had made an apostle of a publican. The other evangelists, by mentioning him in his former dishonorable course of life under the name of Levi, teach us, that we ought to treat penitent sinners with all modesty and tenderness; it being against the laws of religion, justice, and charity, to upbraid and reproach a convert with errors or sins which God himself has forgiven and effaced, so as to declare that he no longer remembers them, and for which the devil himself, with all his malice, can no longer accuse or reproach him.

St. Matthew, upon his conversion, to show that he was not discontented at his change, but looked upon it as his greatest happiness, entertained our Lord and his disciples at a great dinner, in his house, whither he invited his friends, especially those of his late profession, doubtless hoping that by our Saviour’s divine conversation, they also might be converted. The Pharisees carped at this conduct of Christ, in eating with publicans and sinners. Our divine Saviour answered their malicious secret suggestions, that he came for the sick, not for the sound and healthy, or for those who conceited themselves so, and imagined they stood in no need of a physician; and he put them in mind, that God prefers acts of mercy and charity, especially in reclaiming sinners, and doing good to souls, before ritual observances, as the more necessary and noble precept, to which other laws were subordinate. Commerce with idolators was forbidden the Jews for fear of the contagion of vice by evil company. This law the proud Pharisee extended not only beyond its bounds, but even against the essential laws of charity, the first among the divine precepts. Yet this nicety they called the strict observance of the law, in which they prided themselves, whereas in the sight of God it was hypocrisy and overbearing pride, with a contempt of their neighbors, which degraded their pretended righteousness beneath the most scandalous sinners, with whom they scorned to converse, even for the sake of reclaiming them, which the law, far from forbidding, required as the first and most excellent of its precepts. Christ came from heaven, and clothed himself with our mortality, in the bowels of the most tender compassion, and of his infinite mercy for sinners: he burnt continually with the most ardent thirst for their salvation, and it was his greatest delight to converse with those that were sunk in the deepest abyss, in order to bring them to repentance and salvation. How affectionately he cherished, and how tenderly he received those that were sincerely converted to him, he has expressed by the most affecting parables, and of this St. Matthew is, among others, an admirable instance.

The vocation of St. Matthew happened in the second year of the public ministry of Christ, who, soon after forming the college of his apostles, adopted him into that holy family of the spiritual princes and founders of his Church. The humility of our saint is remarked in the following circumstance. Whereas the other evangelists, in describing the apostles by pairs, constantly rank him before St. Thomas, he places that apostle before himself, and in this very list adds to his name the epithet of the publican. He delighted in the title of Matthew the Publican, because he found in it his own humiliation, magnified by it the divine mercy and grace of his conversion, and expressed the deep spirit of compunction in which he had his former guilt always before his eyes. Eusebius and St. Epiphanius tell us, that after our Lord’s ascension, St. Matthew preached several years in Judea and the neighboring countries till the dispersion of the apostles; and that a little before it he wrote his gospel, or short history of our blessed Redeemer, at the entreaty of the Jewish converts, and, as St. Epiphanius says, at the command of the other apostles. That he compiled it before their dispersion appears, not only because it was written before the other gospels, but also because St. Bartholomew took a copy of it with him into India, and left it there.* Christ nowhere appears to have given any charge about committing to writing his history or divine doctrine; particular accidents gave the occasions. St. Matthew wrote his gospel to satisfy the converts of Palestine;2 St. Mark, at the pressing entreaties of the faithful at Rome;3 St. Luke, to oppose false histories;4 St. John, at the request of the bishops of Asia, to leave an authentic testimony against the heresies of Cerinthus and Ebion.5 It was nevertheless by a special inspirauor of the Holy Ghost, that this work was undertaken and executed by each of them. The gospels are the most excellent part of the sacred writings. For in them Christ teaches us, not by his prophets, but by his own divine mouth, the great lessons of faith and of eternal life; and in the history of his holy life the most perfect pattern of sanctity is set before our eyes for us to copy after. The gospel of St. Matthew descends to a fuller and more particular detail in the actions of Christ, than the other three, but from ch. 5 to ch. 14 he often differs from them in the series of his narration, neglecting the order of time, that those instructions might be related together which have a closer affinity with each other. This evangelist enlarges chiefly on our Saviour’s lessons of morality, and describes his temporal or human generation, in which the promises made to Abraham and David, concerning the Messias to be born of their seed, were fulfilled; which argument was a particular inducement to the Jews to believe in him.

St. Matthew, after having made a great harvest of souls in Judea, went to preach the faith to the barbarous and uncivilized nations of the East. He was a person much devoted to heavenly contemplation, and led an austere life, using a very slender and mean diet; for he ate no flesh, satisfying nature with herbs, roots, seeds, and berries, as St. Clement of Alexandria assures us.6 St. Ambrose says,7 that God opened to him the country of the Persians. Rufinus8 and Socrates9 tell us, that he carried the gospel into Ethiopia, meaning probably the southern and eastern parts of Asia. St. Paulinus mentions,10 that he ended his course in Parthia. Venantius Fortunatus relates, that he suffered martyrdom at Nadabar, a city in those parts. According to Dorotheus, he was honorably interred at Hierapolis in Parthia. His relics were long ago brought into the West. Pope Gregory VII. in a letter to the bishop of Salerno, in 1080, testifies that they were then kept in a church which bore his name in that city. They still remain in the same place.

St. Irenæus, St. Jerom, St. Austin, and other fathers, find a figure of the four evangelists in the four mystical animals represented in Ezechie1,11 and in the Apocalypse of St. John.12 The eagle is generally said to represent St. John, who, in the first lines of his gospel, soars up to the contemplation of the eternal generation of the Word. The calf agrees to St. Luke, who begins his gospel with the mention of the priesthood. St. Austin makes the lion the symbol of St. Matthew, who explains the royal dignity of Christ; but others give it to St. Mark, and the man to St. Matthew, who begins his gospel with Christ’s human generation.

In the gospel, The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, hath declared him,13 and hath delivered to us the most sublime truths. Wherefore St. Austin writes,14 “Let us hear the gospel, as if we listened to Christ present.” The primitive Christians always stood up when they read it, or heard it read.15 St. Jerom says: “While the gospel is read in all the churches of the East, candles are lighted, though the sun shine, in token of joy.”16 St. Thomas Aquinas always read the gospel on his knees. In this divine book not only the divine instructions of our Blessed Redeemer are delivered to us but moreover a copy of his sacred life on earth is painted before our eyes. As St. Basil says;17 “Every action and every word of our Saviour Jesus Christ is a rule of piety. He took upon him human nature that he might draw as on a tablet, and set before us a perfect model for us to imitate.” Let us study this rule, and beg the patronage of this apostle, that the spirit or Christ, or that of his humility, compunction, self-denial, charity, and perfect disengagement from the things of this world, may be imprinted in our hearts.

SEPTEMBER 21 — ST. MAURA, V

She was nobly born at Troyes in Champagne in the ninth century, and inner youth obtained of God by her prayers the wonderful conversion of her father, who had till then led a worldly life. After his happy death, Maura continued to live in the most dutiful subjection and obedience to her mother, Sedulia, and by the fervor of her example was the sanctification of her brother Eutropius and of the whole family. The greatest part of the revenues of their large estate was converted into the patrimony of the poor. The virgin’s whole time was consecrated to the exercises of prayer, to offices of obedience or charity, in attending on her mother and serving the poor, or to her work, which was devoted to the service either of the poor or of the Church: for it was her delight in a spirit of religion to make sacred vestments, trim the lamps, and prepare wax and other things for the altar. As order in what we do leads a soul to God, according to the remark of St. Austin, she was regular in the distribution of her time, and in all her actions. She spent almost the whole morning in the church, adoring God, praying to her divine Redeemer, and meditating on the circumstances of his sacred life and passion. Every Wednesday and Friday she fasted, allowing herself no other sustenance than bread and water, and she walked barefoot to the monastery of Mantenay, two leagues from the town, where she prayed a long time in the church, and with the most perfect humility and compunction laid open the secrets of her soul to the holy abbot of that place, her spiritual director, without whose advice she did nothing. The profound respect with which she was penetrated for the word of God, and whatever regarded the honor of his adorable name, is not to be expressed. So wonderful was her gift of tears, that she seemed never to fall upon her knees to pray but they streamed from her eyes in torrents. God performed many miracles in her favor; but it was her care to conceal his gifts, because she dreaded the poison of human applause. In her last sickness she received the extremeunction and viaticum with extraordinary marks of divine joy and love, and reciting often the Lord’s Prayer, expired at those words, Thy kingdom come, on the 21st of September, 850, being twenty-three years old. Her relics and name are honored in several churches in that part of France, and she is mentioned in the Gallican Martyrology. See her life written by St. Prudentius of Troyes, who was acquainted with her. Also Goujet and Mezangui, Vies de Saints.

SEPTEMBER 21 — ST. LO. IN LATIN LAUDUS, BISHOP OF COUTANCES IN NORMANDY

He was descended from a noble family in the same diocess of which he became afterward bishop, and was consecrated by St. Gildard or Godard, archbishop of Rouen and metropolitan of Neustria, about the year 528. A little after his consecration, he applied to St. Melanius of Rennes for instructions to advance the glory of God. He was present at the second, third, and fifth councils of Orleans, and by proxy at the fourth council of the same city. It was he who performed the funeral ceremony of St. Paternus or Pair, bishop of Avranches. It is said, that succeeding to the family estate, he enriched his diocess and endowed it with the lands of Briovere (now St. Lo), Courci, Trielli, &c. It is also asserted that the castle of Briovere was his family seat, and that for this reason in the fifth council of Orleans he signs himself not Lo of Coutances, but Lo of Briovere.* The holy bishop governed his diocess with equal zeal and virtue till the year 568, when he went to receive the reward of his labors in heaven. Romachaire, one of his priests, succeeded him. He was an Englishman born, and for piety and learning esteemed one of the first men of his age. The incursions of the Normans caused the relics of St. Lo to be translated to Thouars in Poitou, in the ninth century. His feast, which is celebrated this day at Coutances, is of the first class, with an octave. It is inserted in the Roman Martyrology on the 22d of September. There is a town in Normandy which bears the saint’s name, and a parochial church at Rouen dedicated under his invocation. See the acts of the saints: l’Abrégé de la Vie des Evêques de Coutances by Rouault, Coutances, 1742, in 12mo. Trigan, Hist. Eccles. de Normand. pp. 94, 128, et. 458.

SEPTEMBER 22 — SAINT MAURICE AND HIS COMPANIONS, MM

From the autnentic account of their martyrdom, compiled a hundred and fifty years after it happened, by St. Eucherius, bishop of Lyons, who quotes their acts, and the relation of Isaac, the holy bishop of Geneva. This last-mentioned prelate received the particulars of this history of these martyrs from Theodore, bishop of Octodurum (in whose diocess they had suffered), who assisted at the council of Aquileia in 381, and must have seen persons who had been eye-witnesses, or at least lived upon the spot when the inhuman butchery was committed. The gravity and sanctity of St. Eucherius are set off by the modest simplicity of his style in this piece, which is acknowledged a sincere and incontestable history by Ruinart (Acta sincera, p. 290), Tillemont, Baillet, and all Catholic critics. This account is perfectly conformable to the Acts of these martyrs which were common in that country in the fifth, nay, says Mosheim, in the fourth century, as appears from certain circumstances related from them by the author of the life of St. Romanus, who wrote before the close of the fifth century. The same is confirmed by the title of a sermon of St. Alcimus Avitus, written about the year 490, preserved among his works, though the sermon itself be lost. (Op. Sirmondi, t. 2.) The truth of this history is nevertheless attacked by some Protestant historiaos. The minister Dubordier raised the contest, and was followed by Hottinger: Moyle exerted more erudition and subtilty in the same controversy, and Dr. Gilbert Burnet (Præf. in Lactant. de Mort. Persec. &c.) retailed his objections with greater confidence than strength. The learned Dr. Hickes defended against him the authenticity of these Acts, and the controversy became warm between these eminent antagonists, when their opposite political principles concerning passive obedience were made to interfere. Dr. Hickes demonstrates no stress can be laid on the silence of Eusebius who lived in the East, or of others, and, that though Maximian at first favored the Christians, yet in certain circumstances, especially in the army, he put many to death for the faith. Constantius spared the Christians; but was only made Cæsar in 293, whereas this massacre most probably happened soon after Maximian was associated to the empire in 286. Neither is it certain that the territory where it was committed was in Constantius’s dominions: and, were it so, his power as Cæsar could not tie up that of the emperor, especially over his own soldiers, wherever he marched with them. Mosheim, who allows these arguments of Moyle to lose their weight when they are put into the balance against the authority with which this history is supported, yet forms an objection from certain Greek Acts which place the martyrdom of St. Mauricius (after suffering many torments for the space of ten days) with his companions, under Maximian. at Apamea in Syria. (See Mosheim, Comm. de Rebus Eccl. ante Constantinum M. Helmstadii., 1753, p. 588.) He confounds St. Maurice of Agaunum with another St. Mauritius, M. who is mentioned by Theodoret; (Serm. 8. do curand. Græcor. Affect.), but his modern Greek Acts can claim no authority. Before Dr. Hickes entered the lists with Burnet, bishop Stillingfleet had confuted the exceptions of Moyle to this history, which Dr. Burnet then began to urge in conversation. (Origin. Britann. p. 71.) To the authorities produced by Stillingfleet in favor of these martyrs and their Acts, we seem authorized to add the testimony of Prudentius Psychom. v. 36. whose silence some have faisely pleaded against these Acts. See F. Jos. Lisle, Ben. of the Congr. of St. Vannes, Defense de la Vérité du Martyre de la Légion Thébenne, 1737. In octavo. Also Baldesano, Historia di S. Mauritio; F. John Clé the Bollandist, t. 6, Sept. p. 308 to 403, and App. ib. 895 to 920. N. B. The acts in Surius are interpolated: for mention is made in them of king Sigismund. and of the Rule of Agaunum which was instituted in 515. whereas St. Eucherius of Lyous subscribed the first council of Orange in 441. But F. Chifflet discovered an exact copy which he published, and which Ruinart proves to be the genuine work of St. Eucherius. It is from these acts we are to argue against Dubordier, &c. The martyrdom of SS. Maurice and his companions is mentioned in the life of St. Severin of Agaunum, written soon after the year 500; in the two works, still more ancient, already quoted: In the Martyrologies of St. Jerom, Florentinius, &c. In the council of Agaunum, an. 515, in St. Gregory of Tours, De Glor. Mart.1. 1, c. 75; in Fortunatus,1. 2, carm. 15. From all these authorities it is evident, that our holy nartyrs were held in great veneration in the sixth age.

A. D. 286.

THE emperor Carus, who had impiously assumed the title of a god, being killed by lightning, and his son Numerianus Augustus being cut off by the treachery of his uncle Aper, Dioclesian, a man of low birth, was saluted emperor by the army which he then commanded in the East, on the 17th of September, 284. He defeated and slew Carinus, the second debauched son of Carus, the year following, in Mæsia, and after this victory took the haughty name of Jovius from Jupiter, and creating Maximian Cæsar, allotted to him the care and defence of the West. The Bagaudæ, a people consisting chiefly of peasants in Gaul, who had been attached to the interest of Carinus, took up arms to revenge his death, under two commanders, Amandus and Ælian. Dioclesian ordered Maximian to march against them, and on that occasion declared him Augustus and partner in the empire; and this new emperor assumed the surname of Herculeus, from the god Hercules. In this expedition the most judicious historians place the martyrdom of the Thebean legion. It seems to have received its name from being raised in Thebais or Upper Egypt, a country full of zealous Christians. This legion was entirely composed of such; and St. Maurice, who seems to have been the first commanding officer that was then with it, might make it a point to admit no others among them.

Dioclesian, in the beginning of his reign, was no enemy to the Christian religion, and employed many who openly professed it, near his own person, and in posts of trust and importance, as Eusebius assures us. Yet even private governors, and the giddy populace, were at liberty to indulge the blindest passion and fury against the servants of Christ; and Maximian, on certain extraordinary occasions, stained his progresses with the blood of many martyrs. The Thebean legion was one of those which were sent by Dioclesian out of the East to compose his army for his expedition into Gaul. Maximian in crossing the Alps made a halt with his army some days, that the soldiers might repose themselves in their tedious march, while some detachments filed off towards Triers. They were then arrived at Octodurum at that time a considerable city on the Rhone, above the lake of Geneva, now a village called Martignac or Martigni in the Valais. Its episcopal see seems to have been transferred to Sion in the sixth century. Here Maximian issued out an order that the whole army should join in offering sacrifice to the gods for the success of their expedition. The Thebean legion hereupon withdrew itself, and encamped near Agaunum, now called St. Maurice, three leagues from Octodurum. The emperor sent them repeated orders to return to the camp and join in the sacrifices; and, upon their constant and unanimous refusal, he commanded them to be decimated. Thus every tenth man was put to death, according as the lot fell; the rest exhorting one another all the while to perseverance. After the first decimation, a second was commanded, unless the soldiers obeyed the orders given; but they cried out over their whole camp, that they would rather suffer all extremities than do anything contrary to their holy religion. They were principally encouraged by three of their general officers, Maurice or Mauricius, Exuperius, and Candidus. St. Eucherius does not style St. Mauricius the tribune, but Primicerius, which was the dignity of the first captain, next to that of the tribune or colonel. He calls Exuperius Campiductor or Major, and Candidus the senator of the troops.

The emperor sent fresh threats that it was in vain they confided in their multitude; and that if they persisted in their disobedience, not a man among them should escape death. The legion, by the advice of their generous leaders, answered him by a dutiful remonstrance, the substance of which was as follows: “We are your soldiers, but are servants of the true God. We owe you military service and obedience; but we cannot renounce Him who is our Creator and Master, and also yours, even whilst you reject him. In all things which are not against his law we most willingly obey you, as we have done hitherto. We readily oppose all your enemies, whoever they are; but we cannot dip our hands in the blood of innocent persons. We have taken an oath to God before we took one to you: you can place no confidence in our second oath should we violate the first. You command us to punish the Christians: behold we are all such. We confess God the Father, author of all things, and his Son, Jesus Christ. We have seen our companions slain without lamenting them; and we rejoice at their honor. Neither this extremity to which we are reduced, nor any provocation have tempted us to revolt. We have arms in our hands, but we do not resist, because we had rather die innocent than live by any sin.”

This legion consisted of about six thousand six hundred men, who were all well armed, and might have sold their lives very dear. But they had learned to give to God what is God’s, and to Cæsar what is Cæsar’s, and they showed their courage more in dying than they had ever done in the most hazardous enterprises. Maximian having no hopes of overcoming their constancy, commanded his whole army to surround them, and cut them to pieces. They made no resistance, but dropping their arms, suffered themselves to be butchered like innocent sheep, without opening their mouths, except mutually to encourage one another; and not one out of so great a number failed in courage to the last. The ground was covered with their dead bodies, and streams of blood flowed on every side. Maximian gave the spoils of the slain to his army for their booty, and the soldiers were making merry over them, when Victor, a veteran soldier, who belonged not to that troop, happened to pass by. They invited him to eat with them, but he, detesting their feast, offered to retire. At this the soldiers inquired if he was also a Christian. He answered that he was, and would always continue one: upon which they instantly fell upon him and slew him. Ursus and Victor, two straggling soldiers of this legion, were found at Solodora, now Soleure, and massacred upon the spot. Their relics are still preserved at Soleure. There suffered at Turin, about the same time, SS. Octavius, Adventitius, and Solutor, who are celebrated by St. Maximus in his sermons, and by Ennodius of Pavia, in his poems. These martyrs were styled by Fortunatus, “The happy legion.” Their festival is mentioned on this day in the Martyrologies of St. Jerom, Bede, and others. St. Eucherius, speaking of their relics preserved at Agaunum, in his time, says, “Many come from divers provinces devoutly to honor these saints, and offer presents of gold, silver, and other things. I humbly present this monument of my pen, begging intercession for the pardon of my sins, and the perpetual protection of my patrons.”1 He mentions many miracles to have been performed at their relies, and says of a certain woman who had been cured of a palsy by them, “Now she carries her own miracle about her.”2 The foundation of the monastery of St. Maurice at Agaunum is generally ascribed to king Sigismund in 515; but Mabillon3 demonstrates it to have been more early, and that Sigismund only repaired and enlarged it.*

In the martyrs we learn the character of true fortitude, of which virtue many may form a very false idea. Real valor differs infinitely from that fury, rashness, and inconsiderate contempt of dangers, which the basest passions often inspire. It is founded in motives of duty and virtue; it doth brave and great things, and it beareth injuries and torments; nor this for hope or reward, the desire of honor, or the fear of punishment; but out of a conscience of duty, and to preserve virtue entire. So infinitely more precious is the least part of integrity than all the possessions of this world, and so much does it overbalance all torments, that, rather than suffer it to be lost or impaired in the least point, the good man is ready to venture upon all perils, and behaves amidst them without terror. This foundation of great and heroical performances, this just and rational, this considerate and sedate, this constant, perpetual, and uniform contempt of dangers, and of death in all its shapes, is only derived from the Christian principle. The characters of true virtue go along with it, especially patience, humility, and gentleness. The Christian hero obeys the precepts of loving his enemies, doing good to those that persecute him, bearing wrong, and being ready to give his coat, without repining, to him that would take away his cloak.

SEPTEMBER 22 — SAINT EMMERAN, BISHOP OF POITIERS, M. PATRON OF RATISBON

This holy pastor was a native of Poitiers, of an illustrious family, and in his youth made a generous sacrifice of the greatest temporal advantages this world could afford, to consecrate himself to God in the ministry of the altar. Being afterward, for his great learning and sanctity, chosen bishop of Poitiers, in the seventh century, he preached the pure maxims of the gospel with indefatigable zeal, without respect of persons, in all the towns and villages of his diocess, instructed all persons publicly and privately, provided relief for the corporal necessities of the poor, and, seeking out the most hardened sinners in their houses, he, with wonderful sweetness and tender eloquence, drew them out of their disorders, and led them, by the rules of sincere and perfect penance, into the paths of everlasting salvation.

After having labored thus several years in the sanctification of souls in his own country, he was so touched with compassion for the unhappy state of so many thousands of blind infidels and idolators in Germany, that he resigned his episcopal charge,* and went to preach the gospel in Bavaria. Theodon, who commanded in that country with the title of duke, under king Sigebert III., detained him a long time at Ratisbon, and, being desirous to fix him there, offered him large revenues and lands. The saint modestly refused to accept of them, saying it was his only desire to preach Christ crucified. His whole conduct manifestly made it appear that he sought nothing but the salvation of souls, and he converted a great multitude of idolators. After having preached there three years, and gained to God an incredible number of infidels and sinners, he undertook a pilgrimage to Rome to venerate the relics of the apostles and martyrs, and to consult the chief pastor upon certain difficulties. A troop of assassins, stirred up by the clamors and slanders of a wicked woman, pursued the holy man, and, having overtaken him when he was advanced three days on his journey, they massacred him in the most inhuman manner, by cutting off his fingers, then his hands, ears, nose, legs, and arms. They left him, a maimed trunk, weltering in his blood, and in that condition he died with incredible tranquillity of soul and patience in 653. St. Emmeran is honored as patron of the city of Ratisbon, and of the great monastery which there bears his name. See his life written by Aribo, bishop of Frisingen, in the following century: also Raderus in Bavaria Sancta, t. 1, p, 42. Cointe, ad ann. 652. Suysken, p. 454.

SEPTEMBER 23 — ST. LINUS, POPE, M

See Euseb.1. 3, c. 2, St. Epiphan. Hær. 27, c. 6.

ST. LINUS was the immediate successor of St. Peter in the see of Rome, as St. Irenæus, Eusebius, St. Epiphanius, St. Optatus, St. Austin, and others assure us. Tertullian says1 that St. Clement was appointed by St. Peter to be his successor; but either he declined that dignity till St. Linus and St. Cletus had preceded him in it, or he was at first only vicar of St. Peter, to govern under him the Gentile converts, whilst that apostle presided over the whole church, yet so as to be chiefly taken up in instructing the Jewish converts, and in preaching abroad.2 St. Linus, succeeding St. Peter, after his martyrdom, sat twelve years,3 and is named among the martyrs in the canon of the Roman mass, which is certainly older in this part than the sacramentary of Gelasius, and of the greatest authority in this point. It is not indeed impossible that he might be called a martyr on account of his sufferings for the faith, without dying by the sword. St. Linus was buried on the Vatican hill, near the tomb of St. Peter.

This saint distinguished himself among the illustrious disciples of the apostles, who were formed upon their model to perfect virtue, and filled with the holy spirit of the gospel. How little are we acquainted with this spirit of fervor, charity, meekness, patience, and sincere humility; without which it is in vain that we bear the honorable name of Christians, and are a reproach and scandal to so sacred a profession!

SEPTEMBER 23 — ST. THECLA, V. M

See Tillemont, t. 2, p. 60, who has gleaned the following circumstances of the life of this glorious saint from the writings of many primitive fathers, no genuine acts of this holy virgin being extant. Tertullian and St. Jerom inform ns, that St. John deposed a priest at Ephesus for having forged false acts of SS. Paul and Thecla, and a book under that title was condemned by pope Gelasius The life of St. Thecla, published by Basil of Selucia in the fifth age, is compiled from these false acts; couse quently of no authority. See Stilting the Bollandist, t. 6. Sept. p. 546. Her Greek acts published at Antwerp in 1608, are mentioned by Lambecius at Vienna, Catal. Bibl. Vindeb. t. 8, p. 243, others more ancient are given us by Grabe, Spicil. Patr. t. 1, p. 95. See Fabricius Bibl. Græc. t. 9, p. 146.

The First Age

ST. THECLA, whose name has always been most famous in the Church, and who is styled by St. Isidore of Pelusium and all the Greeks the protomartyr of her sex, was one of the brightest ornaments of the apostolic age. She was a native of Isauria or Lycaonia. St. Methodius, in his Banquet of Virgins, assures us that she was well versed in profane philosophy, and in the various branches of polite literature, and he exceedingly commends her eloquence, and the ease, strength, sweetness, and modesty of her discourse. He says that she received her instructions in divine and evangelical knowledge from St. Paul, and was eminent for her skill in sacred science. The same father extols the vehemence of her love for Christ, which she exerted on many great occasions, especially in the conflicts which she sustained with the zeal and courage of a martyr, and with the strength of body equal to the vigor of her mind. St. Austin, St. Epiphanius, St. Ambrose, and other fathers mention, that St. Paul by his preaching converted her to the faith at Iconium, probably about the year 45, and that his discourses kindled in her breast a vehement love of holy virginity, which state she eagerly embraced, in an age which seemed very tender for so great a resolution. Upon this holy change she broke off a treaty of marriage, which had been set on foot by her parents, with a rich, comely, and amiable young nobleman, of one of the best families in the country.

St. Gregory of Nyssa says,1 that this blessed virgin undertook the sacrifice of herself, by giving death to the flesh, practising on it great austerities, extinguishing in herself all earthly affections, and subduing her passions by a life dead to the senses, so that nothing seemed to remain living in her but reason and spirit: the whole world seemed dead to her as she was to the world. St. Chrysostom, or an author of the same age, whose homily is attributed to that father, lets us know that her parents perceiving an alteration in her conduct, without being acquainted with the motive upon which she acted, plied her with the strongest arguments, mixed with commands, threats, reprimands, and tender persuasives, to engage her to finish the affair of her marriage to their satisfaction. The young gentleman, her suitor, pressed her with the most endearing flatteries and caresses, her servants entreated her with tears, her friends and neighbors exhorted and conjured her, and the authority and threats of the civil magistrate were employed to bring her to the desired compliance. Thecla, strengthened by the arm of the Almighty, was proof against all manner of assaults; and regarding these worldly pagan friends as her most dangerous enemies, when she saw herself something more at liberty from the fury of their persecution, she Look the first favorable opportunity of escaping out of their hands, and fled to St. Paul to receive from him comfort and advice. She forsook father and mother, and a house abounding in gold and riches, where she lived in state and plenty: she left her companions, friends, and country, desiring to possess only the treasure of the love and grace of God, and to find Jesus Christ, who was all things to her.

The young nobleman to whom she was engaged, still felt his heart warm with his passion for the saint, and, instead of overcoming it, thought of nothing but how to gratify it, or to be revenged of her, from whom he pretended he had received a grievous affront. In these dispositions he closely pursued, and at length overtook her, and, as she still refused to marry him, he delivered her into the hands of the magistrates, and urged such articles against her, that she was condemned to be torn in pieces by wild beasts. Nevertheless her resolution was invincible. She was exposed naked in the amphitheatre, but clothed with her innocence; and this ignominy enhanced her glory and her crown. Her heart was undaunted, her holy soul exulted and triumphed with joy in the midst of lions, pards, and tigers: and she waited with a holy impatience the onset of those furious beasts whose roarings filled even the spectators with terror. But the lions, on a sudden forgetting their natural ferocity, and the rage of their hunger, walked gently up to the holy virgin, and laying themselves down at her feet, licked them as if it had been respectfully to kiss them; and, at length, notwithstanding all the keepers could do to excite and provoke them, they meekly retired like lambs, without hurting the servant of Christ. This wonderful circumstance is related and set off with the genuine beauties of unaffected eloquence, by St. Ambrose,2 St. Chrysostom, St. Methodius, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and other fathers.

She was at another time, by the divine interposition, delivered from the power of fire, and preserved without hurt in the midst of the flames, as St. Gregory Nazianzen,3 St. Methodius, and others testify: who add that she was rescued from many other dangers, to which the rage of persecutors exposed her. A very ancient Martyrology which bears the name of St. Jerom, published by Florentinius, mentions that Rome was the place where God extinguished the flames to preserve the life of this holy virgin. She attended St. Paul in several of his apostolical journeys, studying to form her own life upon that excellent model of Christian perfection. She is styled by St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Chrysostom, St. Austin, and others, a virgin and martyr. Her sufferings justly purchased her this latter title, though Bede, in his Martyrology, tells us that she died in peace; which is proved also from other authorities by Papebroke4 and Tillemont.5 The latter part of her life she spent in devout retirement in Isauria, where she died, and was buried at Seleucia, the metropolis of that country. Over her tomb in that city a sumptuous church was built under the first Christian emperors, which bore her name, was visited by SS. Marana and Cyra, two female anchorets mentioned by Theodoret, and crowds of pilgrims, and rendered famous by many miracles, as we learn both from Theodoret, St. Gregory Nazianzen, Basil of Seleucia and others. The great cathedral at Milan is dedicated to God in honor of St. Thecla, and has been long possessed of part of her precious remains.

If we desire to please Christ, we must imitate the saints in their love of purity, and in strict chastity according to the circumstances of our state. To obtain this great virtue, we must earnestly beg it of God, praying him to inspire us with his holy fear, to create in us an abhorrence of all sin and dangerous occasions, to cleanse our affections, and to teach us to set the strictest guard upon all our senses, especially upon our eyes, ears, and tongue. Secondly, We must study sincere humility of heart, and live in an entire distrust of ourselves, and fear of dangers. To forget our weakness, or to presume upon our own resolution or strength, is equally foolish, fatal, and criminal. Thirdly, We must shun all occasions, which may incite and fire our passions, especially all fond friendships or intimacies between young persons. Even such as are begun in the spirit, without the utmost precautions, will degenerate into a carnal affection. Fourthly, We must always be employed, always eager in some serious exercises which must never leave us one moment idle. Devotions and labor or business must be alternately called in, so that the devil may always find our mind taken up. Fifthly. We must live in the habitual practice of frequently denying our inclinations, and mortifying the senses. If we give our appetites full liberty in things that are not forbidden, they will quickly master us, and crave gratifications that are unlawful, with too great violence to be restrained by us. We shall not lose courage at the name of penance and mortification, as many are apt to do, if we look up at our eternal reward, and if we have before our eyes the austerities which the most tender virgins joyfully embraced for the sake of virtue. The habit of self-denial once acquired will raise us above our senses, render us masters of ourselves, make the remaining part of our life easy, and restore us in some measure to the happy state which our first parents enjoyed before their sin. We shall be so much the more perfectly conformed to the image of the Son of God, the more the old man is crucified, and the body of sin is destroyed in us.

SEPTEMBER 23 — ST. ADAMNAN, ABBOT

He was the eighth in descent from the great Nial, king of Ireland, and from Conal the Great, ancestor of St. Columbkille. His parents were eminent for their rank and virtue. He was born in the year 626, at Rathboth,* now called Raphoe, in the county of Donegal, and embraced a monastic life with great humility and fervor, in the monastery which had been founded there by his kinsman St. Columb. Afterward, following the steps of his holy kinsman, he left Ireland, and retired to the celebrated monastery of Hij, of which he became fifth abbot. In 701 he was employed by Longsech, king of Ireland, on an embassy to Alfred king of the Northern Saxons, to demand of the latter a reparation of the injuries committed by his subjects on the province of Meath, and carrying off the effects of the inhabitants before the troops of the Irish could arrive to chastise those invaders. Adamnan succeeded happily in this negotiation: he was favorably received by the Saxon monarch, and obtained full satisfaction for all the damages done to his countrymen in the foregoing year. While he continued in England he laid aside the custom of his predecessors, and conformed to the true time of celebrating Easter. Upon his return home, says Bede,1 he used his utmost endeavors to guide his monks of Hij, and all those who were subject to that monastery, into the road of truth, which he himself walked in, but was not able to prevail. He therefore sailed into Ireland, his native country, and there preached to the natives, and with modest exhortations explained to them the true time for observing Easter: by which means he brought almost the whole Island to a conformity with the universal Church in that point of discipline. Having remained in Ireland to celebrate that festival according to the canons, he afterward returned to Hij, and earnestly recommended to his own monks to conform in this particular to the Catholic custom; but did not compass his ends before his death, which happened in 704. However, he left among them a judicious treatise. On the right time of keeping Easter, which disposed them some time after to forsake their erroneous computation.

St. Adamnan wrote the life of St. Columbkille; he also wrote certain canons, and a curious description of the Holy Land, as that country stood in his time. This book furnished Bede with his principal memorials,1. De Locis Sanctis; and is published by Gretzer, and by Mabillon, t. 4, Act. Ord. St. Benedicti, p. 456. He mentions the tombs of St. Simeon and St. Joseph at Jerusalem, many relics of the passion of Christ, the impression of the feet of our Saviour on Mount Olivet, covered with a church of a round figure, with a hole open on the top, over the place of the impression of the footsteps; he also mentions grasshoppers in the deserts of the Jordan, which the common people eat, boiled with oil, and a portion of the Cross in the Rotunda Church in Constantinople, which was exposed on a golden altar on the last three days of Holy Week, when the emperor, court, army, clergy, and others went to the church at different hours, to kiss that sacred wood.2 The festival of St. Adamnan is kept with great solemnity in many churches in Ireland, of which he is titular patron, and in the whole diocess of Raphoe, of which he was a native. The abbatial church of Raphoe was changed into a cathedral soon after, when St. Eunan was consecrated the first bishop: of whom Sir James Ware could not find any further particulars. See Ware, p. 270, Colgan in MSS. ad 23 Sept. Suysken, t. 6, Sept. p. 640.

SEPTEMBER 24 — SAINT GERARD, BISHOP OF CHONAD, M

From his exact life in Surius, Bonfinius, Hist. Hung. Dec. 2,1. 1, 2. Fleury, t. 9. Gowget Mezangui and Roussel, Vies des Saints, 1730. Stilting, t. 6, Sept. p. 713. Mabillon, Act. Ben. sæc. 6, par. 1, p. 628.

A. D. 1046.

ST. GERARD, the apostle of a large district in Hungary, was a Venetian, and born about the beginning of the eleventh century. He renounced early the enjoyments of the world, forsaking family and estate to consecrate himself to the service of God in a monastery. By taking up the yoke of our Lord from his youth he found it light, and bore it with constancy and joy. Walking always in the presence of God, and nourishing in his heart a spirit tender devotion by assiduous holy meditation and prayer, he was careful that his studies should never extinguish or impair it, or bring any prejudice to the humility and simplicity by which he studied daily to advance in Christian perfection. After some years, with the leave of his superiors, he undertook a pilgrimage to the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem. Passing through Hungary, he became known to the holy king St. Stephen, who was wonder, fully taken with his sincere piety, and with great earnestness persuaded him that God had only inspired him with the design of that pilgrimage, that he might assist, by his labors, the souls of so many in that country, who were perishing in their infidelity. Gerard, however, would by no means consent to stay at court, but built a little hermitage at Beel, where he passed seven years with one companion called Maur, in the constant practice of fasting and prayer. The king having settled the peace of his kingdom, he drew Gerard out of his solitude, and the saint preached the gospel with wonderful success. Not long after the good prince nominated him to the episcopal see of Chonad or Chzonad, a city eight leagues from Temeswar. Gerard considered nothing in this dignity but labors, crosses, and the hopes of martyrdom. The greatest part of the people were infidels, those who bore the name of Christians in this diocess were ignorant, brutish, and savage. Two-thirds of the inhabitants of the city of Chonad were idolators; yet the saint, in less than a year, made them all Christians. His labors were crowned with almost equal success in all the other parts of the diocess. The fatigues which he underwent were excessive, and the patience with which he bore all kinds of affronts was invincible. He commonly travelled on foot, but sometimes in a wagon: he always read or meditated on the road. He regulated everywhere all things that belonged to the divine service with the utmost care, and was solicitous that the least exterior ceremonies should be performed with great exactness and decency, and accompanied with a sincere spirit of religion. To this purpose he used to say, that men, especially the grosser part (which is always the more numerous), love to be helped in their devotion by the aid of their senses.

The example of our saint had a more powerful influence over the minds of the people than the most moving discourses. He was humble, modest, mortified in all his senses, and seemed to have perfectly subdued all his passions. This victory he gained by a strict watchfulness over himself. Once finding a sudden motion to anger rising in his breast, he immediately imposed upon himself a severe penance, asked pardon of the person who had injured him, and heaped upon him great favors. After spending the day in his apostolic labors, he employed part of the night in devotion, and sometimes in cutting down wood and other such actions for the service of the poor. All distressed persons he took under his particular care, and treated the sick with uncommon tenderness. He embraced lepers and persons afflicted with other loathsome diseases with the greatest joy and affection; often laid them in his own bed, and had their sores dressed in his own chamber. Such was his love of retirement, that he caused several small hermitages or cells to be built near the towns in the different parts of his diocess, and in these he used to take up his lodgings wherever he came in his travels about his diocess, avoiding to lie in cities, that, under the pretence of reposing himself in these solitary huts, he might indulge the heavenly pleasures of prayer and holy contemplation; which gave him fresh vigor in the discharge of his pastoral functions. He wore a rough hair shirt next his skin, and over it a coarse woollen coat.

The holy king St. Stephen seconded the zeal of the good bishop as long as he lived. But that prince’s nephew and successor Peter, a debauched and cruel prince, declared himself the persecutor of our paint: but was expelled by his own subjects in 1042, and Abas, a nobleman of a savage disposition, was placed on the throne. This tyrant soon gave the people reason to repent of their choice, putting to death all those noblemen whom he suspected not to have been in his interest. St. Stephen had established a custom that the crown should be presented to the king by some bishop on all great festivals. Abas gave notice to St. Gerard to come to court to perform that ceremony. The saint, regarding the exclusion of Peter as irregular, refused to pay the usurper that compliment, and foretold him that if he persisted in his crime God would soon put an end both to his life and reign. Other prelates, however, gave him the crown; but, two years after, the very persons who had placed him on the throne turned their arms against him, treated him as a rebel, and cut off his head on the scaffold. Peter was recalled, but two years after banished a second time. The crown was then offered to Andrew, son of Ladislas, cousin-german to St. Stephen, upon condition that he should restore idolatry, and extirpate the Christian religion. The ambitious prince made his army that promise. Hereupon Gerard and three other bishops set out for Alba Regalis, in order to divert the new king from this sacrilegious engagement.

When the four bishops were arrived at Giod near the Danube, St. Gerard, after celebrating mass, said to his companions: “We shall all suffer martyrdom to-day, except the bishop of Benetha.” They were advanced a little further, and going to cross the Danube, when they were set upon by a party of soldiers, under the command of duke Vatha, the most obstinate patron of idolatry, and the implacable enemy of the memory of St. Stephen. They attacked St. Gerard first with a shower of stones, and, exasperated at his meekness and patience, overturned his chariot, and dragged him on the ground. Whilst in their hands the saint raised himself on his knees, and prayed with the protomartyr St. Stephen: “Lord, lay not this to their charge; for they know not what they do.” He had scarce spoken these words when he was run through the body with a lance, and expired in a few minutes. Two of the other bishops, named Bezterd and Buld, shared the glory of martyrdom with him: but the new king coming up, rescued the fourth bishop out of the hands of the murderers. This prince afterward repressed idolatry, was successful in his wars against the Germans that invaded his dominions, and reigned with glory. St. Gerard’s martyrdom happened on the 24th of September, 1046. His body was first interred in a church of our Lady near the place where he suffered; but soon after removed to the cathedral of Chonad. He was declared a martyr by the pope, and his remains were taken up, and put in a rich shrine in the reign of St. Ladislas. At length the republic of Venice, by repeated importunate entreaties, obtained his relief of the king of Hungary, and with great solemnity translated them to their metropolis, where they are venerated in the church of our Lady of Murano.

The good pastor refuses no labor, and declines no danger for the good of souls. If the soil where his lot falls be barren, and he plants and waters without increase, he never loses patience, but redoubles his earnestness in his prayers and labors. He is equally secure of his own reward if he perseveres to the end; and can say to God, as St. Bernard remarks: “Thou, O Lord, wilt not less reward my pains, if I shall be found faithful to the end.” Zeal and tender charity give him fresh vigor, and draw floods of tears from his eyes for the souls which perish, and for the contempt of the infinite and gracious Lord of all things. Yet his courage is never damped, nor does he ever repine or disquiet himself. He is not authorized to curse the fig-tree which produces no fruit, but continues to dig about it, and to dung the earth, waiting to the end, repaying all injuries with kindness and prayers, and never weary with renewing his endeavors. Impatience and uneasiness in pastors never spring from zeal or charity; but from self-love, which seeks to please itself in the success of what it undertakes. The more deceitful this evil principle is, and the more difficult to be discovered, the more carefully must it be watched against. All sourness, discouragement, vexation, and disgust of mind are infallible signs that a mixture of this evil debases our intention. The pastor must imitate the treasures of God’s patience, goodness, and longsuffering. He must never abandon any sinner to whom God, the offended party, still offers mercy.

SEPTEMBER 24 — ST. GERMER OR GEREMAR, ABBOT

His parents, Rigobert and Aga, were of the prime nobility in the territory of Beauvais. He was born at their castle in the village Warandra, in the reign of king Clotaire; married a pious lady named Domana, and whilst yet a layman, built a monastery in honor of St. Peter, called the Island, which was afterward destroyed by the Normans, and is now an estate belonging to St. Germer’s abbey. Germer, by the advice of St. Owen, made his monastic profession in the monastery of Pental, in the territory of Rouen. He was soon after chosen abbot, but finding the monks averse to regularity, he left the abbacy, and led an anchoretical life in a cave near the river Seine five years and six months. His only son Amalbert, dying, was buried in St. Peter’s monastery. Germer, with the estate which reverted to him from his son’s death, founded the monastery of Fley or Flaviacum, now St. Germer’s, five leagues from Beauvais toward Rouen, in which he assembled a community of fervent monks, in 655. Having governed this house three years and a half, he happily died on the 24th of September, 658. His body was interred in the church of his abbey, which soon after took his name. His relics, for fear of the Norman plunderers, were conveyed secretly to Beauvais, where they are still kept in the cathedral, except the bones of one arm, which have been given back to St. Germer’s. In 1643 Aug. Potier, bishop of Beauvais, placed monks of the congregation of St. Maur in this abbey, and erected in it a great school for the humanity studies to the end of rhetoric. See Gallia Chr. Nova, t. 9, p. 788, Mabillon, Act. Bened., &c.

SEPTEMBER 24 — ST. RUSTICUS, COMMONLY CALLED ST. ROTIRI BISHOP OF AUVERGNE

Upon the death of St. Venerand, bishop of Auvergne, which happened the 24th of December, 423, there arose a sharp contest about the choice of a successor. But it is said that God signified his will in an extraordinary manner, in consequence of which the vacant see was conferred on Rusticus, a person remarkable for the sanctity of his manners. He was a native of the diocess, and had the administration of a parish there. This is all that with any certainty is known concerning his life. There were in this age two other bishops of the same name; one of Lyons, and the other of Narbonne. St. Rusticus of Auvergne died about the end of the reign of Valentinian III. He is mentioned on this day in the Roman Martyrologies. See St. Greg. of Tours, Hist.1. 3. c. 13, Baillet, &c.

SEPTEMBER 24 — ST. CHUNIALD, OR CONALD, PRIEST

He was one of those eminent Scottish. or Irish missionaries who left their native country to carry the faith of Christ into Germany. He was for many years the constant companion of St. Rupert,* bishop of Saltzburg, in all his apostolical functions. He is mentioned in some Martyrologies on the 27th of February, but his feast is kept on the 24th of September, the day of the translation of his relics. See Colgan, Act. SS. p. 769.

SEPTEMBER 24 — ST. PACIFICUS, OF SAN SEVERINO, C

From authentic memoirs of his life published in Rome in 1786, entitled Compendio delia Vita del B. Pacifico.

[SUPPLEMENT TO SADLIER’S ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF BUTLER’S LIVES OF THE SAINTS.]

A. D. 1653–1721.

ST. PACIFICUS was born at San Severino, in the year 1653. His parents, Antony Maria Divini and Maria Angela Bruni, were not less illustrious by their noble birth than by their virtuous life and the exact education of their children in the ways of piety and grace. He was baptized on the 1st of March, under the names of Charles Antony, which he retained until he entered the order of St. Francis. He began early to give indications of that exalted piety to which it pleased God to raise him. He showed no taste for the ordinary amusements of children, but spent his time in making little altars, and adorning them with the pictures of the saints, before which he was seen to pray for several hours. As he grew up, he increased in humility and devotion, and daily frequented the churches, assisted at the divine office, heard several masses, and listened attentively to the word of God delivered in sermons and catechetical discourses. But he did not allow these occupations to interfere with his studies, his attendance at school, and other duties, wherein he was so exact, that his masters were accustomed to point him out to his school-fellows as a perfect model of piety and obedience. So great was the respect inspired by his saintly conversation, that wherever he appeared, his companions instantly abandoned any light or improper discourses in which they had been engaged, and willingly received his reproofs, and listened to his earnest exhortations to piety and the fear of God.

His excellent parents, who had suffered many losses in their worldly substance, died while he was yet young, and left him to the care of his maternal uncle. He was a man of rough and severe disposition, harsh and disagreeable to all that approached him; and, utterly forgetting the soft and delicate manner of life to which his nephew had been accustomed, he employed him in the lowest and most humiliating domestic occupations, and even allowed him to be subject to the insolence and contemptuous treatment of his servants. But Charles fulfilled their commands with alacrity and cheerfulness, and patiently endured all their persecutions, remembering the sufferings of our blessed Jesus upon the cross. Nor did he refuse to carry burdens and comply with other humbling injunctions, in the sight of those who well remembered that in his parents’ life-time he had been used to be well clothed and carefully attended. He rejoiced in the low estimation in which he was held, and took advantage of the situation in which he was placed to collect the leavings and broken meat from his uncle’s table, for the poor who came thither for relief.

By this humble and saintly conduct, he rendered himself worthy of that divine grace which called him to a closer union with God. To dedicate himself to his service, he resolved, in his seventeenth year, after having taken counsel of his confessors and other spiritual directors, to retire wholly from the world, and secure his innocence by the severe mortification and solitude of a conventual life. Having diligently considered in which of the religious orders he could best comply with his ardent desire of following our blessed Redeemer in self-mortification and abasement, he humbly begged to be admitted into the strict order of minor observants of St. Francis. The fame of his sanctity was so well established, that he was joyfully received as a novice, and clothed with the habit in the convent of Forano, in the diocess of Osimo, on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, in 1670, under the name of brother Pacificus. The year of his noviciate he distinguished by the most punctual discharge of the minutest obligations imposed by the severe rule of life he had embraced; and, not content with the ordinary prayer prescribed to novices, he spent all the time left at his own disposal in a chapel dedicated to St. Francis, within the enclosure of the noviciate. His resolution of abstaining from flesh meat was never violated, and he fasted every Saturday on bread and water. During the time of mental prayer, he remained immovably fixed in the contemplation of the heavenly mysteries, until the voice of his superior interrupted his meditation, and retiring from the choir, he returned to the chapel before-mentioned to continue his prayer. He never failed in the duties enjoined by the rule for the practice of humility and mortification.

In this manner, he displayed such purity, singleness and innocence of heart, that he was unanimously admitted to make his solemn profession on the anniversary of the feast whereon he had entered the order. In obedience to the will of his superiors, he applied himself to the study of philosophy and theology; but without allowing them to detach his heart from the love of prayer and constant union with God. It is not given to us to describe the earnest affection and profound humility wherewith he prepared to receive the sublime dignity of the priesthood. By many of the faithful who assisted at his first mass, he was observed to sigh and shed tears abundantly; and so ardent was his devotion towards this august sacrifice, that he never, save when prevented by illness, abstained from celebrating the holy mysteries, during which the bystanders were moved by his fervor to tears of compunction and piety.

When he had completed his course of studies, he was appointed to teach philosophy to his brethren; but feeling himself called to labor in the vineyard of the Lord, he obtained leave to resign his chair, and wholly devote himself to preaching and hearing the confessions of the faithful whom he treated with such a spirit of unction and mildness, that many were brought to God, and he was esteemed a sure guide to those that sat in darkness and he shadow of death. But the perfection of his virtue lay in the observance of every ordinary duty. Neither loss of sight nor an ulcer in his leg, with which he was affected, could prevent him from faithfully assisting with the res: of the community at the Matins and other prayers, by night as well as by day. Prostrating himself upon the ground, which he frequently kissed, the fervently adored the most holy Sacrament of the Altar, and was heard at times to exclaim, in the fulness of his heart, “My God and my all!” Upon the vigils preceding the festivals of the Church, especially those dedicated to our blessed Lady, he fasted on water and a small piece of bread, which he had kept for the week before exposed to the scorching heat of the sun. He went almost barefoot and without any covering on his legs, although the ulcers before-mentioned inspired compassion and horror in all who chanced to see them. Not a sigh, not a complaint ever escaped his lips; he cheerfully endured all in imitation of the most bitter sufferings of our Lord Jesus, to whom be glory evermore! He sought the poorest and roughest habit, and the only ornaments of his cell were a crucifix, a breviary, and one or two pictures. His eyes were never raised from the ground, and his silence was seldom broken, lest his mind should be distracted from a continual sense of the presence of God; and he seldom spoke to any but his superior and director, save when his zeal urged him to encourage his brethren in fervor and perseverance. His charity would not allow him to entertain the slightest judgment to their prejudice, so that when the conduct of one was represented to him as a violation of the rule, he sweetly replied, “Who can tell what his motives may have been?”

The respect and admiration excited by his exemplary life, induced the brethren to elect him guardian or Superior of the Convent of Our Lady of Grace in his native city, an office which he was compelled, after much reluctance, to accept. His virtues now shone forth, as a bright and shining light to guide those under his care, to the imitation of his sedulous conformity with the rigorous discipline prescribed in that severe house, and of his fervent love of God. This and all his other virtues were built upon the solid foundation of a most lively faith; not consisting merely in that belief which the church teaches to be necessary for salvation, but rising to that clearer and more heavenly insight into the mysteries of faith, which, on earth, excites in the soul a more intimate conviction of their truth and beauty, and in the saints daily gathers new strength and vigor, until death unites them to God; when the veil, before which they have so long adored in profound awe, being withdrawn, their knowledge becomes intuitive, and the spark of faith is merged in the bright effulgence and clear vision of heaven. It stirred up in him such a full conviction of the divine mysteries, that he would gladly have shed his blood in attestation of their truth. His countenance brightened and he seemed out of himself, as often as he recited the Apostles’ or the Athanasian creed. His familiar discourses and his sermons illustrated the mysteries of faith; he exhorted his penitents to believe firmly all that the holy Church teacheth, and would tell them to make an act of faith in the holy tribunal of penance. When he chanced to find children playing in the cloisters, he taught them to recite acts of faith, contrition, and the Christian virtues; and meeting children tending flocks or herds in the country, he would enter into loving discourses with them, and instruct their simple minds in the doctrines and practices of religion. To those more advanced in age, he was wont to explain how faith without good works is dead, and withereth like a plant wanting moisture, and so produceth not fruits into eternal life.

He felt a burning zeal and desire that our holy faith, wherewith his soul was so deeply penetrated, should be made known to distant and barbarous nations, and he prayed earnestly to God for the victory of the defenders of Christendom over their Mahometan foes, in the fierce war that raged in those days between them. If his superiors would have consented, he would have flown upon wings of love to spread the knowledge of our holy faith in the most distant parts, for whenever he heard his brethren speak of the difficulties, dangers, and sufferings, to which missionaries are exposed among infidels, he would exclaim, with a countenance all on fire, “O that I could be placed in such a situation!” But, as he well knew that the grace he so ardently desired was denied him, he labored, by continual fastings and austerity, to purify his soul, and render himself more and more worthy of receiving the vivid impressions which the divine mysteries leave upon the heart of God’s chosen servants. He would have fasted every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, but his superior having restricted him to two days’ fast in the week, he cheerfully obeyed; although upon the last two days he never went down to the public meals, but one of the brethren placed in his cell two small pieces of bread, with a vessel containing less than a pint of water, to serve both for morning and evening; yet it was often found that he had not even touched them. But the flame of faith he nourished, with the fuel of constant and deep meditation upon the mysteries of our Saviour’s passion, in honor whereof he oftentimes said mass at the altar dedicated to Jesus crucified; and performed, moreover, the pious exercise of the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, and excited others to follow his example, and tread with him the rugged way to Calvary, by a contemplation of the twelve mysteries into which the exercise is divided.

When sickness confined him to his bed, he frequently rose up to go to the church, but was recalled by the voice of his superiors (to which he never failed in obedience), commanding him to remain in bed; where beating his breast, and giving vent to the overflowing feelings of his heart, he filled the bystanders with admiration and love of God. But most of all, in the august sacrifice of the mass, were his faith and reverence made manifest. His sighs were heard by all, and his tears flowed in copious streams. During the communion, and especially the receiving of the chalice, he felt his soul steeped in the delicious enjoyment of the food of angels; and afterwards, until he returned into the sacristy, his countenance, usually pale and wasted, was overspread with a lively flush. He trembled with sudden fear, as he ended the memento for the dead, through pity and compassion towards the souls who are enduring the dreadful torments of purgatory. It pleased God, on several occasions, to show to the world how acceptable to Him was the surpassing devotion of his servant during the unbloody sacrifice. Pacificus was wont to celebrate mass at a place called Cimarella, at some distance from his convent; and although his companion was obliged to dry his habit, which had been soaked with the rain and melting snow that had fallen during their journey thither, not a drop had touched him. He never allowed a day to pass without offering up the great victim of the new law, save during the last three years of his life, when blindness being added to his former deafness, he could no longer satisfy the cravings of his devotion: but he received the holy communion frequently, and heard each day all the masses that were celebrated in the conventual church. In like manner, his veneration for holy things was displayed in his zeal for God’s house, wherein he would sternly reprehend any violation of the respect due to it; and he taught all, both by word and example, with what respect the priests, who are the living temples of the Lord, are to be treated, as the seraphic St. Francis prescribes in his rule. Next to God, he entertained a most tender devotion to Our Blessed Lady, The Queen of Heaven, to whom he had recourse in all the necessities of his soul. He invoked her sweet name, and glorified the fulness of graces wherewith she is adorned, desiring that she might be praised, reverenced and invoked by all. He fasted rigorously on the vigils of her festivals; and on these days, his countenance, usually wan and pallid, became fresh and florid, remaining so until the following day. His affection was rewarded by Our Loving Mother; for he passed to eternal rest upon the 24th of September which is dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy. Pacificus felt a particular devotion towards his good angel, the chaste spouse of Mary, St. Joseph, and St. Francis of Asisium, whose custom of keeping seven lents during the year he faithfully followed, even in his old age, until his superiors commanded him to abandon it.

His faith was equalled by his constant and unwavering hope and trust in the mercies and graces of God. With what contempt did he look upon the things of this earth, vile and transitory as they are, and fix all his desires on heaven, exclaiming, “Heaven, heaven! The things of this world pass quickly away! Would that we knew what heaven means!” Men in their afflictions sought comfort from him, and he, with a heart overflowing with sympathy and sweetness, would raise his eyes to heaven, and tell them to have patience and to hope. He trusted in the intercession of his chief protectress, Mary, ever blessed St. Joseph, and his patrons; but, most of all, in the promises which God has made to his servants. It stirred up tender emotions in those who heard him exclaim, “Oh heaven! heaven!”—and, as the end of his life drew near, his expressions and affections increased daily in fervor and hope. On one occasion, during the month of July, 1721, the bishop of San Severino came to visit him: and, after having spent some time in pious conversation with him, was returning to his episcopal residence, when Pacificus suddenly rejoined him, exclaiming, “My lord,—heaven, heaven! and I shall soon follow you.” All present stood still in astonishment at these prophetic words, whose truth was soon proved, for the bishop died in fifteen days, and Pacificus within two months.

His confidence in God not only preserved him from sinking under the temptations to which his virtue was exposed from the malice of the devil, but God was pleased to make it a sure anchor of hope in the common wants and necessities of life. Thus, when the convent over which he presided was utterly unprovided with the means of subsistence, an unknown benefactor brought a considerable sum of money to the procurator, for the relief, he said, of the present wants of the convent of F. Pacificus. Sometimes the cook, finding all their store exhausted, ran to tell him that there was no dinner for the brethren: he calmly replied, “Shall we not eat?” well knowing that before the hour of dinner their benefactors would supply all that was necessary. On one occasion, the procurator told him, in a complaining tone, that their alms were exhausted; but he quietly answered, “Let us not despond, for God will not fail in the helps which His Divine Providence sends.” Scarcely were the words spoken, than an unknown person, from a distant place, presented himself to the procurator, and gave him a large alms, which sufficed for the wants of the convent for a long time.

Forasmuch as out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, the discourse and conversation of Pacificus were ever of the love of God. His boundless goodness was his constant theme; and he was accustomed to protest to all with whom he conversed, that he was resolved always to love God above everything created; to Him he referred all his thoughts and actions, and was often heard to exclaim, “Deus meus et omnia. Quis es tu dulcissime Jesu, et quis sum ego vermiculus terræ?” “My God and my all! Who art thou sweetest Jesus, and who am I, a poor worm of the earth?” The fire of heavenly charity produced a physical effect upon him—shooting sparkles of real light from his eyes; and so great was the warmth excited in his body, that he never approached the fire in the coldest winters, but kept his window open to moderate the heat which inwardly burned within his breast. He was filled with affliction and sorrow of heart as often as he reflected upon the injuries and insults of men against our loving Jesus; and many attested, after his death, the powerful effects which his exhortations to the love of God wrought upon their souls. In order not to interrupt his union with God, he always recited the rosary while passing through the streets or along the cloisters; and one of his brethren, whose cell was near his, hearing him repeat the Our Father aloud during the greater part of the night, advised him to take some rest; but he answered, “We must not caress the body;” and so saying he went on with his prayer. His companions were often edified and moved to devotion by hearing the fervent ejaculations and aspirations which he made to God; for, as he was deaf in the latter part of his life, he was obliged to raise his voice louder, that he himself might hear it: and once hearing the sound of music, he suddenly burst forth into the ejaculation, “O what will it be in heaven!” His love of God produced not a slavish dread of incurring the punishment of sin, but a filial affection and reverence towards his Heavenly Father, which would not allow him to commit the slightest offence that could be displeasing to him. He avoided sin through love of God, not through fear of chastisement; he performed His law in gladness of heart, for his hope rendered him secure of the infinite mercy and retribution of his Lord. In proportion to his love of God was the zeal which he displayed in bringing others to the like filial detestation of whatever could offend Him; and, most of all, during the time that he announced the divine word to the faithful, were his eloquence and energy directed to stir up in men a horror and dread of taking the holy name of God in vain; and many were by his means led to compunction and repentance, and the abandonment of this abominable vice. The love which he entertained towards God, was nourished by a perfect charity towards his neighbor. With what persuasive sweetness and solemn earnestness did he labor, in the holy sacrament of penance, to urge and encourage men to love God! With what solicitude did he convince them of the enormity of sin, and the delights and consolations of those whose heart belongs wholly to God! This, indeed, is true charity, and love of our neighbor,—which mourns over his faults as of they were our own,—which guides our brother into the right path,—and, compassionating his weakness and his relapses, leads him onwards to heaven. Where is there charity like unto that which seeks to unite all men in a bond of detestation of sin, and earnest striving after heaven? His penitents declared, upon oath, that they had never felt so much comfort and relief from the sacrament of penance, as when they confessed their sins to Pacificus. On one occasion, a man advanced in years came to his cell, and, kneeling down, requested him to hear his confession; but he told him to confess his sins first to Our crucified Saviour, and he would then give him absolution. Meanwhile, Pacificus took several turns about the room, saying his beads. The penitent again besought him to hear his confession: and the servant of God, after keeping him a few minutes longer, heard his confession, and showed him the enormity of his transgressions, exciting him to fresh sorrow, and resolution of avoiding them for the future; so that, detesting all his past sins, he began a new course of life, and completely abandoned his for mer evil habits. Even in this world, his charity and zeal for the extirpation of sin, and the kindling of perfect love in the hearts of all men, was displayed in the conversion of many abandoned sinners.

So great, indeed, was the tender affection of Pacificus towards his neighbors, whereby he sought to relieve their souls from the burden of sin, and heal the wounds and assuage the pain which it had caused, that all who were in affliction or tribulation, fled to him for comfort and help. He felt their misfortunes and miseries, as if they were his own, and strengthened them in suffering and resignation to the Divine will. He was commonly styled, “the loving father of the afflicted and sorrowful;” and men of all ranks, from the lowest to the highest, sought and obtained consolation from him. In the processes made for his beatification, are many attestations, that none ever had recourse to him without being eased and supported in their disquiet and anguish of mind.

But his practice of the corporal works of mercy almost exceeded the spiritual virtues which have been already described. Even before he entered the order of St. Francis, his charity to the poor had attracted them to his uncle’s house; but after his religious profession, he set no bounds to his commiseration and desire of assisting them. If his vow of poverty left him without the means of giving alms, he aided them by his prayers, and begged his friends to supply their wants. Not content with this, he often left his own food untouched,—taking only a few morsels of bread dipped in wine,—that it might be given to the poor, who are daily relieved at the door of the convents in Catholic countries. But, most of all, did his heart burn with the desire of freeing the souls, who are afflicted in purgatory, from their most cruel and bitter torments. He remembered that “it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins;” and therefore he cheerfully took upon himself to satisfy, both by prayer and mortification, some portion of the punishment which the souls of the members of the suffering Church are doomed to undergo. He offered up fervent prayers in their behalf, and every day recited for them the whole of the office for the dead; adding thereto corporal sufferings, through the vehemence of his desire to see them freed from their torments, and united to the beatific vision and enjoyment of God.

Moreover, he was often chosen to be the judge and umpire in the differences and dissensions of others, and by his means peace and harmony were restored between parties at variance. And so effectual were his exhortations and so lasting the reconciliations which he produced, that he was generally called “Pacificus,” that is, the peacemaker both in deed and name. Thus was he inflamed with the fire which Our Lord came to cast upon the earth, and thus was he a perfect imitator of the Blessed Jesus, who died for love.

While he attained to such perfection in those virtues which are common to all Christians, it cannot be supposed that he fell short in the practice of those peculiar virtues to which he had bound himself by his religious vows. His spirit of poverty led him to detest all that savored of worldly riches and ostentation, and to seek in his dress, and everything that could be called his own, whatever was poorest and most worn. But he remembered the saying of St. Bernard, paupertas mihi semper placuit, sordes verò nunquam; and out of respect to his priestly character, endeavored, as St. Bonaventure recommends, to unite this virtue with outward cleanliness and decency. While he was superior, he would never allow the brethren to go out on the appointed days, to beg more bread, as long as there was any remaining in the convent. Surpassing and wonderful, in like manner, was his pure, virginal chastity, for he would never permit any one to see any part of his body uncovered, or even to dress his ulcers, save once or twice, when he allowed Brother Vittorio, who was greatly in his confidence, to do it. With the same jealousy he kept a guard over his eyes, through which evil thoughts so often enter the mind. When he walked in the streets or in the cloisters, he drew his hood down over his face, in such a way, that some of his brethren could never see the color of his eyes; and for the same reason he would never converse with strangers, or even his own sister, for more than a few seconds.

Spiritual writers tell us, that obedience cannot exist, unless it be grounded upon humility; and therefore did Pacificus deem himself unworthy of the esteem of men, and endeavor on every occasion to avoid their praises, and seek to draw upon himself contempt; in a word, to attain this virtue in its fullest extent and perfection. His habit was always the oldest and most threadbare that he could find; in the convent he obeyed the orders of his very inferiors; in the refectory, he sat in the lowest place, although, as being senior, his place was next to the superior; and even while he was guardian, he could hardly be induced to sit in his proper place; he received harsh words, reproof, and sarcasms, without a murmur,—only raising his eyes to heaven, he would usually say, “Be it so for the love of God.” He used every artifice to hide his mortifications and cruel disciplines from others, and anxiously sought to conceal the supernatural powers which God had imparted to him.

Who can say with what severe mortifications and fasts he subdued his body? Besides fasting, as we have seen, three times in the week, until his superiors restricted him to Friday and Saturday, whereon he sometimes did not even taste a morsel of bread, or a drop of water, and the Lents of St. Francis, he made the little that he did eat a means of additional mortification, by mixing his food with ashes, as was attested by many who observed him attentively.

Besides the regular disciplines prescribed by rule three times in the week, he cruelly scourged himself thrice each day, with chains or cords, so as to fill all those with horror who heard the whistling of the lash, or saw the abundance of blood which he shed during the flagellation. Covered with hair-shirts, he undertook long journeys, over thorns and sharp stones, slept little, never approached the fire, and kept the window and door of his cell open, in the most rigorous winters, in order to hear the bell summoning him to the duties of the community. Thus did he keep his body subject to the spirit, and thus did he enter into glory, by sorrow and tribulation.

But from the description of these virtues, and the wonderful effects produced by them, we must turn to the closing scenes of his pure and spotless life. Besides being deprived of sight and hearing for several years, he had been all along afflicted with the violent pain and the suppuration of the ulcers in his legs, when on a sudden they closed of themselves; but the absorption of so much ulcerous matter in the blood produced a violent fever, which attacked him on the 16th of September, in 1721. He was well aware that his illness would terminate in his death, foretold by him, as we have seen, two months before, and, therefore, he endured it, with all its torment and suffering, with resignation and patience, blessing and praising God for His mercies, praying Him to give him the courage to undergo still greater agony and tribulation for His sake. He continued to repeat the acts of faith, hope, and charity, in the exercise of which his whole life had been engaged; but with what devotion, with what lively and fervent acts of humility, of faith, and religion and love, did he welcome the Lord of Glory, whom he had served so long and so faithfully, when he received him for the last time! His limbs had lost their vigor and action; but, gathering the little strength that remained, he was enabled to place himself upon his knees, and he recited in a weak but still audible voice, that most tender prayer of St. Bonaventure, which begins, “Sacrosanctæ, et Individuæ Trinitati;” and when, with those feelings of love and adoration, which no man can adequately describe, he had been comforted and strengthened with the bread of angels, he would fain have gone down to the church, as was his custom, to return thanks to God for having vouchsafed to visit him; but his superiors restrained him. Meanwhile, he ceased not giving praise and glory to God, and earnestly recommended himself to His infinite mercy; and, after some time, not being aware, through his defect in sight and hearing, of the presence of any one in his room, he rose from his bed, and placing himself devoutly on his knees, recited three Ave Marias, saying at the end, with singular earnestness, “Let these be, O my God, in satisfaction for my sins.” He would have prayed much longer, but his illness prevented him; and, as it became every moment more and more violent, the holy Sacrament of Extreme Unction was administered, which he received with the deepest feelings of faith and devotion. The physician then informed him that he had not much longer to live: he received the tidings with joy and gladness of heart, eagerly wishing to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. His brethren saw it was necessary to refresh his parched throat and mouth, and endeavored to make him swallow a few drops of some restorative; but, in spite of his desire to comply with their command, he could not succeed in swallowing a single drop. As, however, it was absolutely necessary that he should take it, the infirmarian bethought himself of a much more efficacious means, and presenting the restorative anew, told him to drink it in honor of Our blessed Lady, whose feast the Church celebrated upon that day. On hearing her most sweet name, he took fresh strength, and swallowed every drop of it, without the slightest difficulty, to the surprise of every one present.

On the eighth day, his superiors judged it advisable to give him the last absolution, and the indulgence, in articulo mortis, according to the custom of the order. He was again prevented from kneeling down during this solemn rite, but, to gratify his devotion, was allowed to remain sitting upon his bed; when, folding his arms in the form of a cross upon his breast, and casting his eyes towards heaven, he received the general absolution and indulgence. As his departure was evidently at hand, his companions were summoned to his cell, to recite for him the “Recommendation of the Soul to God.” Whilst his confessor was suggesting acts of resignation to the Divine will, he was observed to form the sign of the cross, and he endeavored to beat his breast, in spite of his extreme weakness. As he lay thus upon his right side, pressing a crucifix in his hand, and showing by the motion of his lips (for he had lost the use of speech) that he was making acts of faith and love, the brethren began the Recommendation of the Soul. At the words, “Profieiscere, anima Christiana,” “Go forth, O Christian soul,” he bowed his head, as if in obedience to his superior, who pronounced them; and, joining his hands, sweetly yielded up his soul to God, on the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, in the year seventeen hundred and twenty-one, of his age the sixty-sixth, fifty-one whereof had been spent in the order of St. Francis.

The cause of the beatification of the servant of God was brought before Benedict XIV. in 1752, and was by him referred to the Congregation of Rites in the following year. The Cardinal Duke of York was appointed reporter; and, under his auspices, and those of Monsignor Charles Erskine (afterwards Cardinal), Promotore della Fede, the decree for his beatification was issued by Pius VI. in 1785. He was solemnly canonized by Gregory XVI. on Trinity Sunday, May 25, 1839.

SEPTEMBER 25 — ST. CEOLFRID, ABBOT

From Bede, Hist.1. 5, et1. de Vitis Abbat. Wirim. Item,1. de Temporibus. See Leland de Scriptor Bulteau, Hist.1. 4, Pitseus, and Suysken, t. 7, Sept. p. 123.

A. D. 716.

CEOLFRID is the same Teutonic name with Geoffroy, and signifies joyful, as Camden remarks. The saint was nobly born in Bernicia, and related to St. Bennet Biscop, with whom he joined in the generous resolution of quitting the world. With him he made a journey to Rome, partly out of devotion, and partly for improvement in sacred studies and divine knowledge. After their return he was St. Bennet’s assistant in the foundation of his monastery of St. Peter at Wiremouth, on the north bank of the river, in the bishopric of Durham. St. Ceolfrid would have regarded it as his greatest felicity on earth, if he could have been as much forgotten by all creatures, and contemned by every one as he contemned and studied to forget himself: and he lived in his community as St. Antony and St. Hilarion lived on their mountains, in the most profound recollection, and in the practice of the most austere penance. When St. Bennet built the monastery of St. Paul at Jarrow, he sent Ceolfrid, with seventeen monks, to lay the foundation of that house, and appointed him abbot. Our saint governed this abbey seven years in St. Bennet’s life-time, and was constituted at the desire of that saint, in his last sickness, abbot also of Wiremouth: from which time he presided, for twenty eight years, over both those monasteries, which for their propinquity and constant connexion were usually esteemed as one, and were generally subject to one abbot. St. Ceolfrid was diligent and active in everything he took in hand, of a sharp wit, mature in judgment, and fervent in zeal. Bede, who had the happiness to live under this admirable man, has left us most authentic testimonies of his learning, abilities, and extraordinary sanctity. He was a great lover of sacred literature, and enriched the libraries of his two monasteries with a great number of good books: but banished those which could only serve to entertain curiosity. To how great a pitch he carried the sacred sciences in his monasteries, Bede is an instance. He was himself very learned. Naitan, king of the Picts, sent to him, desiring to be informed concerning the right time of celebrating Easter, and the true form of the clerical tonsure. The holy abbot strongly proved and recommended to him the Catholic custom of observing Easter and the Roman tonsure called St. Peter’s, by a letter which Bede hath inserted in his history.* The king received it with great joy and satisfaction, and commanded both points to be received and observed throughout his dominions. This king likewise desired our saint to send him builders, who might erect a stone church, after the manner of the Romans, promising to dedicate it in honor of St. Peter. The abbot complied also with this request.

St. Ceolfrid, finding himself broken with age and infirmities, and no longer capable of teaching his monks, by word and example, the perfect form of monastic observance, resigned his abbacy. The monks entreated him on their knees to alter his resolution: but were obliged to acquiesce, and, upon his recommendation, chose Hucthbert, or rather Hubert, a very learned priest, abbot of both monasteries, in which then lived six hundred monks. This being done, the saint having sung mass in the morning, made them a strong exhortation to mutual love and concord; and, for fear of being stopped by the grandees of the kingdom, who all held him in great veneration, set out immediately with a design to perform a pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles at Rome. On the road, besides the canonical hours, he every day sung the whole psalter twice over, and also offered to God the saving victim in the mass which he sung every day, except one when he was upon the sea, and the three last days of his life. After travelling one hundred and fourteen days he arrived at Langres in France, where, being stopped by sickness, he happily died on the 25th of September, in the year of our Lord 716, of his age seventy-four, of his sacerdotal character forty-seven, and his abbatial dignity thirty-five. He was buried in the church of the three twin martyrs, SS. Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Meleusippus. His relics were afterward removed to his monastery of Jarrow, and thence, in the time of the Danish devastations, to Glastonbury.1 Leland saw a square stone at Jarrow: on which was this inscription:2 “The dedication of the church of St. Paul at Jarrow, on the ninth day before the calends of May, in the fifteenth year of king Ecfrid, and the fourth of the abbot Ceolfrid, the builder of this church.”

The example of all the saints shows us, that virtue is not to be attained without serious endeavors, and much pains. We must counteract our depraved inclinations, which have taken a wrong bent, that they may recover their due rectitude; the seeds of all virtues must be planted in our hearts with such care, that they may take root, spring up, prosper, and bring forth fruit every day more and more abundantly. The various exercises of piety, religion, and penance, and all the conditions upon which God has promised his graces to us, must be performed with fervor, constancy, and perseverance. The slothful and fainthearted think everything above their strength, though they are never weary in laboring for this wretched world. If they set about the business of their salvation in good earnest, they will soon do with ease and pleasure that which their indolence made them to look upon as impossible: and they will quickly find that there is a most delicious hidden manna in true virtue. Its possession is to the soul a spring of uninterrupted pure joy, far beyond the vain delights of the world, and the filthy pleasures of sin, even if these latter were not mixed with the bitter draughts which always attend them.

SEPTEMBER 25 — SAINT BARR, OR FINBARR, FIRST BISHOP OF CORK, C

He is called by some St. Barrus, or Barrocus. He lived in the sixth age; was a native of Connaught, and instituted a monastery or school at Lough Eirc,* to which, as to the habitation of wisdom, and the sanctuary of all virtues, such numbers of disciples flocked, as changed, as it were, a desert into a large city. This was the origin of the city of Cork, which was built chiefly upon stakes, in marshy little islands formed by the river Lea. St. Finbarr’s disciple, St. Caiman, son of Lenin, founded the famous episcopal see of Cloyne, of which he was the first bishop: he died on the 4th of November, in 604. St. Nessan, who succeeded St. Finbarr in his school, and built the town of Cork, was another eminent disciple, trained up under his discipline, and is honored at Cork, on the 17th of March, and 1st of December. Sir James Ware and Tanner take notice, that some, with a MS. copy in the king’s library at London, ascribe to St. Finbarr a letter on the ceremonies of baptism, printed among the works of Alcuin. The right name of our saint, under which he was baptized, was Lochan; the surname Finbarr or Barr the White, was afterward given him. He was bishop of Cork seventeen years, and died in the midst of his friends at Cloyne, fifteen miles from Cork. His body was buried in his own cathedral at Cork, and his relics, some years after, were put in a silver shrine, and kept there, this great church bearing his name to this day. St. Finbarr’s cave or hermitage was shown in a monastery which seems to have been begun by our saint, and stood to the west of Cork. It was afterward given to the canons regular of St. Austin, and was called Gill Abbey, from Gill Æda ô Mugin, a famous bishop of Cork, in 1170, who so much increased this house as to be regarded as its principal founder. On St. Finbarr see his MS. life in Trinity College, Dublin, MS. 31, Giraldus Cambren. De Mirabilibus Hibern.1. 2, c. 49, Mr. Ch. Smith. Ancient and Present State of Cork, t. 1, &c. t. Colgan in MSS. ad 25 Sept.

SEPTEMBER 25 — SAINT FIRMIN, BISHOP OF AMIENS, M

If we may rely on his acts, he was a native of Pampelone, in Navarre, initiated in the Christian faith by Honestus, a disciple of St. Saturninus of Toulouse, and consecrated bishop by St. Honoratus, successor to St. Saturninus, in order to preach the gospel in the remoter parts of Gaul. He preached the faith in the countries of Agen, Anjou, and Beauvais, and, being arrived at Amiens, there chose his residence, having founded there a numerous Church of faithful disciples. He received the crown of martyrdom in that city, whether under the prefect Rictius Varus, as Usuard says, or in some other persecution from Decius, in 250, to Dioclesian, in 303, is uncertain. Faustinian buried him in his field called Abladana, where Firmin II. (who is honored on the 1st of September) built the first church under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin. St. Salvius, in the beginning of the seventh century, translated his relics into the cathedral. St. Godefrid made another translation of them about the year 1107, and bishop Theobald put them into a gold shrine about the year 1200. See Gall. Chr. Nova, t. 10, p. 1150. Tillemont and Stilting.

SEPTEMBER 25 — SAINT AUNAIRE, BISHOP OF AUXERRE

He was descended from a distinguished family of the Orleanois, and lived in his youth at the court of Gontran, king of Burgundy. But, having renounced the world, he submitted himself to the direction of Syagrius, bishop of Autun, then celebrated for learning and virtue. He was placed in the see of Auxerre about the year 570. He assisted at the fourth council of Paris in 573, as well as at two other councils which were held some years after at Macon. Zealous to restore discipline in his diocess, he assembled a synod, where forty-five statutes were framed, the first of which condemned superstitious observances on New Year’s day. He was indefatigable in his vigilance and care over the purity of manners, and constantly instructed his people in all the duties that regard the Christian dispensation. For their and his own edification he caused to be written the lives of St. Amatus and St. Germanus, two of the most illustrious of his predecessors. He augmented also the revenue of his church, that the sacred ceremonies of religion might be performed with greater decency. He had a brother named Austrein, who was bishop of Orleans, distinguished also for his virtues, though it does not appear that he was canonized. Aida, his sister, was mother to St. Leu of Sens. She lived in the perfect practice of Christian duties; and her feast is kept a Orleans in the church of Saint Aignan. Saint Aunaire died the 25th of September, about the year 605. He is mentioned on this day in the Roman Martyrology. See his anonymous life published by Labbe, Bibl. MSS. t. 1, and the history of the bishops of Auxerre, in Chron. Monachi Antissiod Baillet, &c.

SEPTEMBER 26 — SS. CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA MM

The empress Eudocia, wife of Theodosius the Younger (who chose her for his consort on account of her learning and skill in philosophy), wrote the history of SS. Cyprian and Justina in a beautiful Greek poem, consisting of three books, commended by Photius, who has given on abstract of this work; but the poem itself is lost, with many other elegant poetical compositions of that princess. The authentic acts of these martyrs are likewise lost. But we have still extant the confession of St. Cyprian, written by himself, the same that was made use of by St. Gregory Nazianzen and Eudocia; also two other genuine pleces, the one entitled. The Conversion of Justina and Cyprian; the other, An Account of their Martyrdom. Also Prudentius, hymn. 13, p. 215. St. Gregory Naz. Or. 18. (though they, by mistake, confound this St. Cyprian with the bishop of Carthage), and Photius, Bibl. Cod. 184, give us the history of these martyrs. On their Latin nets see Card. Baronius, &c. On the Greek of two sorts, Lambecius, Bibl Impel. Vindeb. t. 8, p. 247, 257, 262, Montfauc. Bibl. Coislin. p. 210. See Tillemont, t. 5, Ceillier, t. 4, p. 89, Orsl, t. 4, p. 80, Jos. Assemani in Cal. Univ. t. 5, p. 269 ad 2 Oct.

A. D. 304.

ST. CYPRIAN, surnamed the Magician, was an illustrious instance of the divine grace and mercy. He was a native of Antioch (not the capital of Syria, but a small city of that name, situated between Syria and Arabia), which the Romans allotted to the government of Phœnicia, to the jurisdiction of which province this martyr was subject. The detestable superstition of his idolatrous parents put them upon devoting him from his infancy to the devil, and he was brought up in all the impious mysteries of idolatry, judicial astrology, and the black art. In hopes of making great discoveries in these infernal pretended sciences, he left his native country, when he was grown up, and travelled to Athens, Mount Olympus in Macedon, Argos, Phrygia, Memphis in Egypt, Chaldæa, and the Indies, places at that time famous for superstition and magical arts. When Cyprian had filled his head with all the extravagances of these schools of error and delusion, he stuck at no crimes, blasphemed Christ, and committed secret murders, to offer the blood, and inspect the bowels of children, as decisive of future events. His skill was employed in attempting the modesty of virgins; but he found Christian women proof against his assaults and spells.

There lived at Antioch a young lady called Justina, whose birth and beauty drew all eyes upon her. She was born of heathen parents, but was brought over to the Christian faith, and her conversion was followed by that of her father and mother. A pagan young nobleman fell deeply in love with her, and finding her modesty inaccessible, and her resolution invincible, he applied to Cyprian for the assistance of his art. Cyprian was no less smitten with the lady than his friend, and heartily tried every secret with which he was acquainted to conquer her resolution. Justina, perceiving herself vigorously attacked, studied to arm herself by prayer, watchfulness, and mortification, against all his artifices and the power of his spells. “She defeated and put to flight the devils by the sign of the holy cross,” says Photius, from Eudocia.1 St. Cyprian writes in his Confession:2 “She armed herself with the sign of Christ, and overcame the invocation of the demons.” St. Gregory Nazianzen adds: “Suppliantly beseeching the Virgin Mary that she would succor a virgin in danger, she fortified herself with the antidotes of fasting, tears, and prayers.” Cyprian finding himself worsted by superior power, began to consider the weakness of the infernal spirits, and resolved to quit their service. The devil, enraged to lose one by whom he had made so many conquests of other souls, assailed Cyprian with the utmost fury, and, having been repulsed in several other assaults, he at length overspread the soul of the penitent sinner with a gloomy melancholy, and brought him almost to the brink of despair at the sight of his past crimes. God inspired him in this perplexity to address himself to a holy priest named Eusebius, who had formerly been his school-fellow: by the advice of this priest he was wonderfully comforted and encouraged in his conversion. Cyprian, who, in the pressure of his heart, had been three days without eating, by the counsel of this charitable director took some refreshment, and, on the following Sunday, very early in the morning, was conducted by him to the assembly of the Christians; for though it was forbidden for persons not initiated by baptism to assist at the celebration of the divine mysteries, this did not regard other devotions, to which such as were under instruction in the faith might be admitted. These assemblies were then held very early in the morning, both to watch in prayer, and for fear of the heathens. So much was Cyprian struck at the awful reverence and heavenly devotion with which this act of the divine worship was performed, that he writes of it:3 “I saw the choir of heavenly men, or of angels, singing to God, adding at the end of every verse in the psalms the Hebrew word Alleluia, so that they seemed not to be men.”* Every one present was astonished to see Cyprian introduced by a priest among them, and the bishop was scarce able to believe his own eyes; or at least to be persuaded that his conversion was sincere. But Cyprian gave him a proof the next day, by burning before his eyes all his magical books, giving his whole substance to the poor, and entering himself among the catechumens. After due instruction and preparation, he received the sacrament of regeneration from the hands of the bishop. Agladius, who had been the first suitor to the holy virgin, was likewise converted and baptized. Justina herself was so moved at these wonderful examples of the divine mercy, that she cut off her hair in order to dedicate her virginity to God, and disposed of her jewels and all her possessions to the poor. St. Gregory Nazianzen beautifully describes the astonishing change that was wrought in Cyprian, his edifying deportment, his humility, modesty, gravity, love of God, contempt of riches, and assiduous application to heavenly things. The same father tells us, that, out of humility, with earnest entreaties, he prevailed to be employed as sweeper of the church. Eudocia, quoted by Photius, says he was made door-keeper; but that, after some time, he was promoted to the priesthood, and, after the death of Anthimus the bishop, was placed in the episcopal chair of Antioch. Joseph Assemani thinks, not of Antioch, but of Damascus, or some other city in Syria.

The persecution of Dioclesian breaking out, Cyprian was apprehended, and carried before the governor of Phœnicia, who resided at Tyre. Justina had retired to Damascus, her native country, which city at that time was subject to the same presidial; and, falling into the hands of the persecutors, was presented to the same judge. She was inhumanly scourged, and Cyprian was torn with iron hooks, probably at Damascus. After this they were both sent in chains to Dioclesian, residing at Nicomedia, who, upon reading the letter of the governor of Phœnicia, without more ado, commanded their heads to be struck off: which sentence was executed upon the banks of the river Gallus, which passes not far from the city of Nicomedia. Theoctistus, also a Christian, was beheaded with them for speaking to Cyprian as he was going to execution. Their relics were procured by certian Christians who came from Rome, and were carried by them thither on board their vessel. In the reign of Constantine the Great a pious lady, named Rufina, of the family of Claudius, built a church in their memory, near the square which bears the name of that prince. These relics were afterward removed into the Lateran basilic.

If the errors and disorders of St. Cyprian show the degeneracy of human nature corrupted by sin, and enslaved to vice, his conversion displays the power of grace and virtue to repair it. How strangely the image of God is disfigured in man by sin appears by the disorders of his spiritual faculties, the understanding, and will, in which the divine resemblance was stamped in the creation. Not only beasts and other creatures have revolted from his dominion, and the shattered frame of his body is made a pray to diseases and death, but his will is rebellious, and the passions strive to usurp the empire, and destroy in his soul the government of reason and virtue. Also the understanding, that should be the eye to the blind will, is itself blind, and the light within us is become darkness. In the state of innocence it was clear, serene, and free from the vapors of the passions: it directed the verdict of the imagination and the senses, and gave to the soul, by intuition and without study, a full view into all speculative natural truths, suited to man’s condition; but its most valuable privilege was, that it taught man all the practical rules and notions of moral virtue firm and untainted, so that he carried this law in his bosom, and had but to look into his own conscience for the direction of his actions in the practice of all moral virtue, which, by the strong assistance of grace, was always easy to him. His understanding was also enlightened by a perfect divine revelation, and his will found no obstacle in the exercises of all theological and other supernatural virtues. The most fatal consequence and punishment of his disobedience we deplore in the extravagances, folly, crimes, and errors into which men are betrayed when they become once enslaved to their passions. Religion and faith alone secure us from these dangers, enlighten our understanding, and offer us the means to restore the rectitude of the will.

SEPTEMBER 26 — ST. EUSEBIUS, POPE, C

He succeeded St. Marcellus in the pontificate, and strenuously maintained the discipline of the Church in the rigorous observance of the penitential canons, with regard to penitent sinners, especially those who had denied the faith in the persecution. Many, offended hereat, having at their head a turbulent man named Heraclius, gave him great disturbance on this account; but the true pastor stood his ground with invincible patience. He was banished into Sicily by the tyrant Maxentius, but was called thence by God in a short time to eternal test, in 310. The Liberian Calendar informs us that he sat only four months and sixteen days. See pope Damasus’s epitaph or poem on this holy confessor.

SEPTEMBER 26 — ST. COLMAN ELO, ABBOT, C

This eminent saint, who was born in the province of Meath in Ireland, left his own country very young, in order entirely to devote himself to the divine service. The more perfectly his heart was disengaged from the love of creatures the more vehemently he found his soul attracted to God, and inflamed with divine love. Hence proceeded his ardor for the exercise of holy contemplation and prayer, and the constant union of his soul with God, whom he made the centre of his heart, and his whole happiness. Having lived a considerable time upon Mount Bladin in Leinster, and at Connor in Ulster, he returned into Meath, and built there the great monastery of Land. Elo (now Lin-Alli, in the King’s County), in which he trained up many in religious perfection. His surname was given him from this place, to distinguish him from several other Irish saints of the same name. He was closely linked with St. Columbkille before that saint left Ireland. St. Colman Elo died on the 26th of September, 610. See Usher’s Antiqu. c. 18, &c.

SEPTEMBER 26 — ST. NILUS, THE YOUNGER, ABBOT

This saint was of Grecian extraction, and born at Rossano in Calabria, in 910. From his infancy he was fervent in religious duties, and in the practice of all virtues, and made considerable progress both in profane and sacred learning. He engaged in wedlock with a view to the sanctification of his soul by the faithful discharge of the duties of that holy state, and was careful in it to nourish and improve the sentiments of virtue in his heart by frequent hours of holy retirement. These he devoted to religious meditation, reading, and prayer, lest the seeds of piety should be choked amidst the cares and business of the world. Though his attention to his obligations as a Christian held the first place with him, this was so far from encroaching on his duties to others, that it made him more diligent in them. But then he was careful to shun idle conversation, and the vain pleasures and diversions of the world, which are apt to blot out those serious thoughts which are impressed upon our minds in the time of holy retirement. After the death of his wife, his love of solitude moved him to take sanctuary in his beloved harbor of a monastery, from the embarrassments of a public life, and the glittering temptations of the world. He therefore retired about the year 940, into a convent belonging to the church of St. John Baptist at Rossano, where his mind was entirely employed in conversing with God. The reputation of his extraordinary sanctity was soon spread over the whole country, and many repaired to him for spiritual advice. In 976 the archbishop Theophylactus, metropolitan of Calabria, with the lord of that territory, named Leo, many priests and others, went to see him, rather desiring to try his erudition and skill, than to hear from his mouth any lessons for their edification. The abbot knew their intention, but having saluted them courteously, and made a short prayer with them, he put into the hands of Leo a book in which were contained certain maxims concerning the small number of the Elect, which seemed to the company too severe. But the saint undertook to prove them to be clearly founded in the principles laid down, not only by St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, St. Ephrem, St. Theodore the Studite, and other fathers, but even by St. Paul, and the gospel itself; adding, in the close of his discourse: “These maxims seem dreadful, but they only condemn the irregularity of your deportment. Unless your lives be altogether holy, you will not escape everlasting torments.” These words struck terror into all that heard the saint speak, which they expressed by deep sighs and groans. One of the company then asked the abbot, whether Solomon was damned or saved. To which he replied: “What does it concern us to know whether he be saved or no? But it behoves you to reflect, that Christ denounces damnation against all persons who commit impurity.” This he said, knowing the person who put that question to be addicted to that vice. The saint added: “I would desire rather to know whether you will be damned or saved. As for Solomon, the holy scripture makes no mention of his repentance, us it docs of that of Manasses.”

Euphraxus, a vain and haughty nobleman, was sent governor of Calabria from the imperial court at Constantinople. St. Nilus made him no presents upon his arrival, as other abbots did; on which account the governor sought every occasion of mortifying the servant of God. But shortly after falling sick, he sent for the saint, and falling on his knees, begged his pardon and prayers, and desired to receive the monastic habit from his hands. St. Nilus refused a long time to give it him, saying: “Your baptismal vows are sufficient for you. Penance requires no new vows, but a sincere change of heart and life.” Euphraxus was not to be satisfied, and continued so urgent that the saint at length gave him the habit. The governor made all his slaved free, distributed his personal estate among the poor, and died three days after in great sentiments of compunction.

St. Nilus refused the bishopric of Capua, and rejected pressing invitations to go to Constantinople; but the Saracens conquering Calabria, Aligern, abbot of Mount Cassino, bestowed on him the abbey of Bright-Valley, where St. Nilus took refuge with his community. He spent there fifteen years; then ten years in the monastery of Serperi.

The emperor Otho III. coming to Rome to expel Philagatus, bishop of Placentia, whom the senator Crescentius had set up antipope against Gregory V., St. Nilus went to intercede with the pope and emperor, that the antipope might be treated with mildness, as he was a bishop, and was received with great honor. Otho making a pilgrimage to mount Gargano, paid a visit to St. Nilus, but was surprised to see his monastery consisting of poor scattered huts, and said: “These men are truly citizens of heaven, who live in tents as strangers on earth.” St. Nilus conducted the emperor first to the oratory, and after praying there some time, entertained him in his cell. Otho pressed the saint to accept some spot of ground, in whatever part of his dominions he should choose it, promising to endow it with competent revenues. St. Nilus thanked his majesty: but returned him this answer: “If my brethren are truly monks, our divine Master will not forsake them when I am gone.” In taking leave, the emperor said to him: “Ask what you please, as if you were my son: I will give it you with joy and pleasure.” The abbot laying his hand upon the emperor’s breast, said: “The only thing I ask of you is, that you would save your soul. Though emperor, you must die, and give an account to God, like other men.” Our saint was remarkable for an eminent spirit of prophecy, of which many instances are recorded in his life. In his old age in 1002, he retired to Tusculum, near Rome, where he died in 1005, being about ninety-six years old. A community was formed in that place after his death, called of Grotto Ferrata, at Frescati, which still follows the rule of St. Basil. See the life of St. Nilus, compiled by a disciple of the saint in Baronius, Annal. t. 10; Fleury,1. 57, n. 5; D’Andilly, Saints Illustres; Barrius De Antiquitate Calabriæ cum notis Thomas Aceti,1. 5, c. 2, p. 362, 366; S. John of Meda; Richard Diet. p. 318.

SEPTEMBER 27 — SAINTS COSMAS AND DAMIAN, MARTYRS

See Ado’s Martyrol. with the comments of Monsignor Georgi, Bede, Usuard, St. Gregory the Great, and St. Gregory of To us. Their acts are so disfigured by modern Greeks, as to be of no account. See also Stilting, t. 7, Sept. p. 431.

About the year 303.

SAINTS COSMAS and DAMIAN were brothers, and born in Arabia, but studied the sciences in Syria, and became eminent for their skill in physic. Being Christians, and full of that holy temper of charity in which the spirit of our divine religion consists, they practised their profession with great application and wonderful success; but never took any gratification or fee,* on which account they are styled by the Greeks Anargyri, that is, without fees, because they took no money. They lived at Ægæ or Egæa, in Cilicia, and were remarkable both for the love and respect which the people bore them on account of the good offices which they received from their charity, and for their zeal for the Christian faith, which they took every opportunity their profession gave them to propagate. When the persecution of Dioclesian began to rage, it was impossible for persons of so distinguished a character to lie concealed. They were therefore apprehended by the order of Lysias, governor of Cilicia, and after various torments were beheaded for the faith. Their bodies were carried into Syria, and buried at Cyrus. Theodoret, who was bishop of that city in the fifth century, mentions that their relics were then deposited in a church there, which bore their names.1 He calls them two illustrious champions, and valiant combatants for the faith of Jesus Christ. The emperor Justinian, who began his reign in 527, out of a religious regard for the treasure of these precious relics, enlarged, embellished, and strongly fortified this city of Cyrus; and finding a ruinous church at Constantinople, built in honor of these martyrs, as is said, in the reign of Theodosius the Younger (who died in the middle of the fifth age), raised a stately edifice in its room, as a monument of his gratitude for the recovery of his health in a dangerous fit of sickness, through their intercession, as Procopius relates.2 To express his particular devotion to these saints, he built also another church under their names at Constantinople. Marcellinus, in his chronicle,3 and St. Gregory of Tours,4 relate several miracles performed by their intercession. Their relics were conveyed to Rome, where the holy pope St. Felix, great-grandfather to St. Gregory the Great, built a church to their honor, in which these relics are kept with veneration to this day.

These saints regarded it as a great happiness, that their profession offered them perpetual opportunities of affording comfort and relief to the most distressed part of their fellow-creatures. By exerting our charity toward all in acts of benevolence and beneficence, according to our abilities; and in treating enemies and persecutors with meekness and good offices, we are to approve ourselves followers of Christ, animated with his spirit. Thus we shall approach nearest in resemblance to our divine original, and show ourselves children of our heavenly Father, who bears with the most grievous sinners, inviting them to repentance and pardon, and showering down his mercies and benefits upon them. He only then arms himself with his justice against them, when they by wilful malice forfeit his grace, and obstinately disappoint his gracious love and kindness. His very nature is boundless goodness, and continual emanations of mercy descend from him upon his creatures. All the scattered perfections and blessings which are found in them, come from this source. In the imitation of the divine goodness, according to our abilities, at least in the temper of our mind, consists that Christian perfection, which, when founded in the motive of true charity, is the accomplishment of the law. Men engaged in professions instituted for the service of their neighbor, may sanctify their labor or industry, if actuated by the motive of charity towards others, even whilst they also have in view the justice which they owe to themselves and their family, of procuring an honest and necessary subsistence, which is itself often a strict obligation and no less noble a virtue, if it be founded in motives equally pure and perfect.

SEPTEMBER 27 — SS. ELZEAR, COUNT OF ARIAN, AND DELPHINA

St. Elzear was descended of the ancient and illustrious family of Sabran in Provence; his father, Hermengaud of Sabran, was created count of Arian in the kingdom of Naples; his mother was Lauduna of Albes, a family no less distinguished for its nobility. The saint was born in 1295 at Ansois, a castle belonging to his father in the diocess of Apt. Immediately alter his birth, his mother, whose great piety and charity to the poor had procured her the name of The Good Countess, taking him in her arms, offered him to God with great fervor, begging that he might never offend his divine majesty, but might rather die in his infancy than live ever to be guilty of so dreadful an evil. The child seemed formed from his cradle to piety and virtue; nor could he by any means be satisfied if he saw any poor beggar, till he was relieved; for which reason his nurses and governess were obliged to have their pockets always furnished with bread and small money, in order to give something to every poor person they met when they took him abroad; and it was his delight to divide his dinner with poor children. The first impressions of virtue he received from his mother, but these were perfected by his religious uncle, William of Sabran, abbot of St. Victor’s at Marseilles, under whom he had his education in that monastery. In his tender age he wore a rough knotty cord, armed with sharp pricks, which galled his flesh, so that it was discovered by blood issuing from the wounds. The abbot severely chid him for this and some other extraordinary austerities which he practised, calling him a self-murderer; yet secretly admired so great fervor in a tender young lord.

The saint was only ten years old when Charles II., king of Sicily, and count of Provence, caused him to be affianced to Delphina of Glandeves, daughter to the lord of Pui-Michel, she being no more than twelve years of age. Three years after, in 1308, the marriage was solemnized at the castle of Pui-Michel: but, at the suggestion of the young lady, they both secretly agreed to live together as brother and sister. The austerity with which they kept Len, revived the example of the saints of the primitive ages; and they fasted almost in the same manner Advent and many other days in the year. They lived seven years at Ansois: after which they removed to the castle of Pui-Michel. Elzear had till that time lived with his parents in the most dutiful and respectful subjection to them. He left them, with their consent, only for the sake of greater solitude, and that he might be more at liberty to pursue his exercises of devotion and piety. The saint was twenty-three years old when, by their deaths, he inherited his father’s honors and estates; but these advantages he looked merely upon as talents and instruments put into his hands to be employed for the advancement of piety, the support of justice, and the relief and protection of the poor. By fervent and assiduous prayer, and meditation on heavenly things, he fortified his soul against the poison of all inordinate love of creatures; he perfectly understood the falsehood and illusion of all those things which flatter and dazzle the senses, and he had a sovereign contempt and distaste for all that can only serve to feed self-love. Eternal goods were the sole object of his desires. He recited every day the office of the Church, with many other devotions, and he communicated almost every day, striving to do it every time with greater devotion. He said one day to Delphina: “I do not think a man on earth can enjoy any pleasure equal to that which I feel in the holy communion. It is the greatest delight and comfort of a soul in her earthly pilgrimage, to receive most frequently this divine sacrament.” In prayer he was often favored with raptures and heavenly graces. By the constant habitual union of his soul with God he never found any difficulty in keeping it recollected in all places and at all times. He often watched great part of the nights on his knees in prayer. His devotion was not morose, because it was true and perfect; it rendered him always pleasant, mild, and agreeable to every one in conversation, though if in company the discourse turned on worldly trifles his thoughts took their flight so intensely toward God, that he was not able to listen to what was said, or he found some genteel excuse to withdraw to his closet.

It is a dangerous mistake to imagine that one can be devout merely by spending much time in prayer, and that devout persons can fall into a slothful and careless neglect of their temporal concerns. On the contrary, only solid virtue is able to do business, and to despatch it well. It taught Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be careful housekeepers, and excellent masters of families; it taught Moses to be a great legislator and commander, Josue to be a brave general, David a wise king, and the Machabees invincible soldiers. In like manner St. Elzear was rendered by his piety itself most faithful, prudent, and dexterous in the management of temporal affairs, both domestic and public; valiant in war, active and prudent in peace, faithful in every duty and trust, and diligent in the care of his household. When he first began to keep house at Pui-Michel, he made the following regulations for his family, which he took care to see always observed.

“1. “Every one in my family shall daily hear mass, whatever business they may have. If God be well served in my house, nothing will be wanting. 2. Let no one swear, curse, or blaspheme, under pain of being severely chastised, and afterward shamefully dismissed. Can I hope that God will pour forth his heavenly blessings on my house, if it is filled with such miscreants who devote themselves to the devil? Or, can I endure stinking mouths which infect houses, and poison the souls of others? 3. Let all persons honor chastity, and let no one imagine that the least impurity in word or action shall ever go unpunished in Elzear’s house. It is never to be hoped for of me. 4. Let all men and women confess their sins every week: and et no one be so unhappy as not to communicate at least on all the principal festivals; namely, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and the feasts of our Lady. 5. Let no persons be idle in my house. In the morning, the first thing shall be, that every one raise his heart to God with fervent prayer and oblation of himself, and of all his action then let all go to their business, the men abroad, the women at home. In the morning a little more time shall be allowed for meditation; but away with those who are perpetually in the church to avoid the business of their employments. This they do, not because they love contemplation, but because they desire to have the work done for them. The life of the pious woman, as described by the Holy Ghost, is not only to pray well, but also to be modest and obedient, to ply her work diligently, and to take good care of the household. The ladies shall pray and read in the mornings, but shall spend the afternoons at some work. 6. I will have no playing at dice, or any games of hazard. There are a thousand innocent diversions, though time passes soon enough without being idly thrown away. Yet I desire not my castle to be a cloister, nor my people hermits. Let them be merry, and sometimes divert themselves; but never at the expense of conscience, or with danger of offending God. 7. Let peace be perpetually maintained in my family. Where peace reigns, there God dwells. Where envy, jealousy, suspicions, reports, and slanders are harbored in one family, two armies are formed, which are continually upon the watch and in ambush to surprise one another, and the master is besieged, wounded, and devoured by them both. Whoever will well serve God, he shall be dear to me; but I will never endure him who declares himself an enemy of God. Slanderers, detractors, and disorderly servants, tear one another to pieces. All such as do not fear God cannot be trusted by their master; but they will easily make a prey of his goods. Amidst such, he is in his house as in a trench, besieged on every side by enemies. 8. If any difference or quarrel happen, I will have the precept of the apostle inviolably observed, that the sun set not before it be appeased; but, in the instant that it falls out, let it be quashed, and all manner of bitterness laid in the tomb of forgetfulness. I know the impossibility of living among men, and not having something to suffer. Scarce is a man in tune with himself one whole day; and if a melancholy humor comes on him, he knows not well what he himself would have. Not to be willing to bear or pardon others, is diabolical; but to love enemies, and to render good for evil, is the true touchstone of the sons of God. To such servants my house, my purse, and heart, shall be always open: I am willing to regard them as my masters. 9. Every evening all my family shall assemble to a pious conference, in which they shall hear something spoken of God, the salvation of souls, and the gaining of paradise. What a shame is it, that though we are in this world only to gain heaven, we seldom seriously think of it; and scarce ever speak of it but at random! O life, how is it employed! O labors, how ill are they bestowed! For what follies do we sweat and toil! Discourses on heaven invite us to virtue, and inspire us with a disrelish of the dangerous pleasures of the world. By what means shall we learn to love God if we never speak of him?—Let none be absent from this conference upon pretence of attending my affairs. I have no business which so nearly toucheth my heart as the salvation of those that serve me. They have given themselves to me, and I resign all to God, master, servants, and all that is in my power. 10. I most strictly command that no officer or servant under my jurisdiction or authority injure any man in goods, honor, or reputation, or oppress any poor person, or ruin any one under color of doing my business. I will not have my coffers filled by emptying those of others, or by squeezing the blood out of the veins, and the marrow out of the bones of the poor. Such blood-sucking wicked servants, to enrich their masters, damn both masters and themselves. Do you imagine that a master who giveth five shillings in alms, wipeth away the theft of his servants who have torn out the entrails of the poor, whose cries for vengeance mount up to heaven? I had rather go naked to paradise, than, being clothed with gold and scarlet, be dragged with the impious rich man into hell. We shall be wealthy enough if we fear God. Any substance acquired by injustice or oppression will be like a fire hidden under the earth, which will rend, waste, and throw down or consume the whole. Let fourfold be restored if I be found to have anything which is another’s; and let my dealings be public, that all who have been aggrieved on my account, may find redress. Shall a man whose treasures are in heaven, be so fond of earthly dirt? I came naked out of the womb of my mother, and shall quickly return naked into the womb of our common mother, the earth. Shall I, for a moment of life between these two tombs, hazard the salvation of my soul for eternity? If so, faith, virtue, and reason, would be wholly eclipsed, and all understanding blasted.”

St. Elzear set himself the first example, in every point, which he prescribed to others. He was particularly careful that if any one let fall the least injurious or angry word against another, he should ask pardon, and make satisfaction, this humiliation being the most easy and effectual remedy of a passion which always takes its rise from pride. Delphina concurred with her husband in all his views, and was perfectly obedient to him. No coldness for so much as one moment ever interrupted the harmony or damped the affections of this holy couple. The pious countess was very sensible that the devotions of a married woman ought to be ordered in a different manner from those of a religious person; that contemplation is the sister of action, and that Martha and Mary must mutually help one another. Her time was so regulated, that she had certain hours allotted for spiritual exercises, and others for her household affairs and other duties. The care with which she looked into the economy of her house was a sensible proof of the interior order in which she kept her own soul. Nothing was more admirable than her attention to all her domestics, and her prudent application that peace should be observed, the fear of God and all virtues well entertained, and all brawling, tale-bearing, and other plagues of families banished. She loved her servants as her children, and she was honored by them as a mother and as a saint. In this example it appeared how truly it is said, that good and virtuous masters make good servants, and that the families of saints are God’s families. Alasia, sister to Delphina, lived with her, and was her faithful companion in all her pious exercises. It seemed that all that came under the roof of Elzear contracted a spirit of sincere piety; so great is the influence of good examples set by masters and mistresses.

The gate through which the rich must enter heaven is mercy and charity to the poor. St. Elzear often visited the hospitals, especially those of lepers, whose loathsome sores he frequently kissed, cleansed, and dressed with his own hands. He every day washed the feet of twelve poor men, and often served them himself, performing the office of a carver and cup-bearer. He was the common father of all that were in distress, and provided large granaries of corn and storehouses of all other provisions for their relief. Being one day asked, why he so tenderly loved beggars, he answered with great feeling: “Because the bosom of the poor is the treasury of Jesus Christ.” He used to say: “How can we ask God to bestow on us his kingdom, if we deny him a cup of water; how can we pray for his grace if we deny him what is his own? Does not he too much honor us in vouchsafing to accept anything from us?” In a time of scarcity, in 1310, his alms seemed to surpass all bounds. After his father’s death he was obliged to go into the kingdom of Naples, to take possession of the county of Arian. But the people being inclined to favor the house of Arragon against the French, and despising the meekness of the young prince, revolted, and refused to acknowledge him. Elzear opposed to their rebellion for three years no other arms than those of meekness and patience; which his friends reproachfully called indolence and cowardice. His cousin, the prince of Tarento, one day told him that his conduct hurt the common cause of his country, and said: “Allow me to take these rebels to task for you. I will hang up half a thousand, and make the rest as pliant as a glove. It is fit among the good to be a lamb, but with the wicked to play the lion. Such insolence must be curbed. Take your ease; say your prayers for me, and I will give so many blows for you, that this rabble shall give you no more trouble.” Elzear, smiling, replied; “What! would you have me begin my government with massacres and blood? I will overcome these men by good offices. It is no great matter for a lion to tear lambs; but for a lamb to pull a lion in pieces is admirable. Now, by God’s assistance, you will shortly see this miracle.” The prince could not relish such language; but the effect verified the prediction. For the citizens of Arian of their own accord became ashamed of their rebellion, and, with the greatest submission and respect, invited the saint to take possession of his territory, and ever after loved and honored him as their father. Elzear discovered the true motive why he bore so patiently these insults, and injuries, saying: “If I receive any affront, or feel any movement of impatience begin to arise in my breast, I turn all my thoughts towards Jesus Christ crucified, and say to myself: Can what I suffer bear any comparison with what Jesus Christ was pleased to undergo for me?” Thus to triumph over injuries was not want of courage, but the most heroic greatness of soul, and true Christian generosity. This was the constant conduct of our saint.

To mention one other instance: among the papers which his father left, the good count found the letters of a certain officer under his command, filled with outrageous calumnies against him, and persuading his father to disinherit him, as one fitter to be a monk than to bear arms. Delphina was moved to indignation upon reading such impudent invectives, and said she hoped he would crush, and never foster in his breast such a scorpion, who, whilst he looked and spoke fair, could bear such deadly poison in his tail. St. Elzear told her, that Christ commands us not to revenge, but to forgive injuries, and to overcome the venom of hatred by charity: that therefore he would destroy, and never make mention of those letters. He did so, and when this officer came to his chamber to wait upon him, he affectionately embraced him, made him a rich present, and so entirely gained his affection, that the captain offered himself afterward to be cut in a hundred pieces for his service. In like manner, on other occasions, he burnt or suppressed informations that were given of injuries which others had done him, that he might spare the parties the confusion of knowing that he had received intelligence of them. In his county of Arian he settled a rigorous administration of justice, and punished without mercy the least oppression in any of his officers. He visited malefactors that were condemned to die, and many who had persisted deaf to priests, were moved by his tender exhortations to sincere compunction, and to accept their punishment in a spirit of penance. When their goods were confiscated to him, he secretly restored them to their wives and children. Writing out of Italy to St. Delphina, he said: “You desire to hear often of me. Go often to visit our amiable Lord Jesus Christ in the holy sacrament. Enter in spirit his sacred heart. You know that to be my constant dwelling. You will always find me there.”

Elzear having settled his affairs in Italy, obtained leave of king Robert, the son and successor of Charles II. and brother of St. Louis, bishop of Toulouse, to return into Provence for two years. He was received at Ansoia with incredible joy. Not long after, Elzear being in the twenty-fifth year of his age, and Delphina, after receiving the communion, pronounced publicly, at the foot of the altar, in the chapel of the castle, mutual vows of perpetual chastity, which Elzear had till then kept unviolated without a vow though Delphina had before made a secret vow. In the lives of this holy couple, the world saw pious retirement in the midst of worldly pomp, silent contemplation amidst the noise of public scenes, and in conjugal friendship a holy emulation to outvie one another in piety, goodness, and charity. Such happy strifes are carried on with sweet tranquillity and peace, and are crowned with never-fading comfort and joy. The count had remained two years in Provence when king Robert recalled him into Italy, and conferred on him the honor of knighthood, of which he had approved himself worthy by many actions of uncommon valor and address, and notable feats of arms. The saint had, according to custom, spent the night before the ceremony in the church watching in prayer; he went to confession and communicated in the morning.* The king on this occasion shed tears of joy at the sight of his extraordinary devotion and piety; and the whole court admired a prince who was at once a great soldier, a courtier, a married man, a virgin, and a saint.

King Robert chose him among all the lords of his dominions to be governor to his son Charles, duke of Calabria. The young prince was sprightly, but understood too well his high extraction, was untractable, and had contracted the contagious air of the court. The count took notice of his pupil’s dangerous inclinations, but dissembled this for some time till he had won his affections, and gained sufficient credit with him. When he saw it a fit time, he made him tender remonstrances on his defects, on the necessity of a sublime virtue to support the dignity of his high rank, and on the life to come. The young prince was so penetrated with his discourses, that, leaping about his neck, he said: “It is not yet too late to begin: what then must I do?” Elzear explained to him the virtues of piety, magnanimity, justice, and clemency, showing that a prince who fears God, has always a sure comfort and protection in heaven, though earth should fail him, and that he who undertakes any business without first consulting God, deserves always to be unhappy and ruined; and is always impious. “Only assiduous devotion,” said he, “can be the safeguard against the dangers of vanity, flatterers, and the strong incentives of the passions. Go to confession and communion every great festival. Love the poor, and God will multiply his favors upon your house. When you are angry, speak not a word; otherwise you undo yourself. More princes are ruined by their tongues and anger, than by the edge of the sword. You must hate flatterers as a plague; if you do not banish them, they will ruin you. Honor good men, and the prelates of the Church; this will be your principal greatness, &c. Elzear by his diligence and instructions corrected the vices of his pupil, who became a grave and virtuous prince. King Robert, going into Provence, left his son regent of Naples under the tuition of Elzear, who was chief of the council, and despatched almost all the affairs of state. Elzear entreated the duke to declare him advocate for the poor, and their agent in court. The duke heartily laughing, said: “What kind of office do you beg? You will have no competitors in this ambition. I admit your request, and recommend to you all the poor of this kingdom.” Elzear made a low reverence, and thanked him heartily. For the discharge of this troublesome office he caused a great bag of purple velvet to be made, and with this passed through the streets, receiving in it all the requests and suits of the poor, with a cheerful countenance, full of commiseration, hearing grievances, dealing about alms, comforting all the world, so that he seemed another Joseph in Egypt. He pleaded the causes of widows and orphans with wonderful eloquence, and procured them justice and charitable relief. Whilst the chief authority of the state was lodged in his hands, many offered him rich presents, which he refused, saying to those that called him on that account churlish: “It is more safe and easy to refuse all presents than to discern which might be received without danger. Neither is it easy for one who begins to take any, afterward to know where to stop, for these things are apt to create an appetite.” The law of nature itself condemns as bribes all presents received by judges; they giving insensibly a bias and inclination to favor the party, as is evident by general experience. St. Elzear was so sincere a lover of truth that he was ready to die for it in the smallest points.

The emperor Henry VII. invaded Naples with a great army, nor was pope Clement V. able to divert him from his expedition. King Robert sent against him his brother John, and count Elzear with as great an army as he was able to raise. Two pitched battles were fought, in both which Henry was defeated, chiefly by the valor and conduct of Elzear, so that the emperor desired a peace, which was readily concluded. King Robert gave Elzear many great presents, which he accepted with one hand not to disoblige the king, but with the other distributed them all among the poor. This king sent Elzear ambassador to Paris, attended with the flower of the nobility of Naples, to demand of Charles IV. Mary, the daughter of the count of Valois, in marriage for the duke of Calabria. The negotiation was carried on with great success and the marriage concluded, and the good count was received at court not only with the greatest honor, but also with veneration, and as a living saint. In the meantime, the holy ambassador fell sick at Paris. He had made his will in 1317, at Toulon, by which he left his moveable goods to his wife Delphina, his real estates to his brother William of Sabran, and legacies to his relations and servants, and especially to many convents and hospitals. When the saint, three years before, made his public vow of chastity, he on the same day enrolled himself in the third Order of St. Francis, into which seculars or laymen are admitted, upon condition of their wearing a part of the Franciscan habit under their clothes, and saying certain prayers every day: but these conditions are not binding under sin. St. Elzear in his sickness made a general confession, with great compunction and many tears, to the provincial of the Franciscans, and he continued to confess almost every day of his illness, though he is said never to have offended God by any mortal sin. The history of Christ’s passion, which mystery had always been the favorite object of his devotion, was every day read to him, and in it he found exceeding great comfort amidst his pains. Receiving the holy viaticum he said with great joy, “This is my hope; in this I desire to die.” After extreme unction, and a painful agony, he happily expired on the 27th of September, in the year 1323, the twenty-eighth of his age. His death was exceedingly lamented by the kings of France and Naples, and by their whole courts. His body, according to his orders, was carried to Apt, and there interred in the church of the Franciscan Friars in that town, where it is still kept. Juridical informations were taken of his miracles by order of pope Clement VI. Urban V. signed the decree of his canonization, but it was only published by Gregory XI. in 1369, forty-six years after the saint’s death, Delphina being still living. The king and queen of Naples would by no means suffer her to leave their court, to which she was a perfect model of piety. King Robert dying in 1343, the queen whose name was Sancia, and who was daughter to the king of Majorca, wearied with the empty greatness of the world, and loathing its vanity, put on the habit of a poor Clare in a nunnery which she had founded a Naples. In this state she lived ten years with great fervor, and would still have her dear Delphina near her, learning from her all the exercises of a spiritual life. After her death, Delphina returned into Provence, and led the life of a recluse in the castle of Ansois, in the heroic practice of penance, charity, assiduous prayer, and all other virtues. She died at Apt, near that castle, in the year 1369, the seventy-sixth of her age, on the 26th of September; on which she is named in the Martyrology of the Franciscan Order. Her mortal remains were deposited in the same tomb with those of St. Elzear. See the life of St. Elzear published by Surius: also Fite delli Santi del Terz. Ordine di S. Francesco, c. 14, 15, 16. p. 30. Suysken, t. 7, Sept. p. 528.

SEPTEMBER 28 — ST. WENCESLAS, DUKE OF BOHEMIA, MARTYR

From his life, written by John Dubraw, bishop of Olmutz, in Moravia, in the reign of Charles V. See also Æreas Sylvius, Hist. Bohem.1. 2, c. 14, 15, and other historians of that country: with the remakes of Suysken, t. 7, Sept p. 770; Balbinius, in misceil. Bohem. &c.

A. D. 938.

ST. WENCESLAS was son of Uratislas, duke of Bohemia, and of Drahomira, of Lucsko, and grandson of Borivor, the first Christian duke, and the Blessed Ludmilla. His father was a valiant and good prince; but his mother was a pagan, and her heart was not less depraved, as to sentiments of morality, than as to those of religion. This princess was not less cruel than haughty, nor less perfidious than impious. She had two sons, Wenceslas, and Boleslas. Ludmilla, who lived at Prague ever since the death of her husband, obtained, as the greatest of favors, that the education of the elder might be entrusted to her, and she undertook, with the utmost care and application, to form his heart to devotion and the love of God. In this task she was assisted by Paul, her chaplain, a man of great sanctity and prudence, who likewise cultivated the young prince’s mind with the first rudiments of learning. The pious pupil perfectly corresponded with their endeavors, and with the divine grace which rendered him a saint from the cradle. At a convenient age he was sent to a college at Budweis, above sixty miles from Prague, where, under the direction of an excellent master, he made great progress in the sciences, and other exercises suitable to his rank, and much more in all the virtues which compose the character of a Christian and a saint. He was extremely devout, mortified, meek, modest, a great lover of purity, and scrupulously careful in avoiding all occasions in which that virtue could be exposed to the least danger.

He was yet young, when his father dying, his mother Drahomira assumed the title of regent, and seized on the government. Being no longer held in by any restraint, she gave a free loose to her rage against the Christians (which she had concealed whilst her husband lived), and published a severe order for shutting up all the churches, prohibiting the exercise of our holy religion, and forbidding priests and all others who professed it, to teach or instruct children. She repealed all the laws and regulations which Borivor and Uladislas had made in favor of the Christians, removed the Christian magistrates in all the towns in Bohemia, put heathens in their places, and employed only such officers as were blindly devoted to follow the dictates of her passions and tyranny; and these she incited everywhere to oppress the Christians, of whom great numbers were massacred. Ludmilla, sensibly afflicted at these public disorders, and full of concern for the interest of religion, which she and her consort had established with so much difficulty, by strong remonstrances showed Wenceslas the necessity of his taking the reins of the government into his own hands, promising to assist him with her directions and best advice. The young duke obeyed, and the Bohemians testified their approbation of his conduct: but, to prevent all disputes between him and his younger brother, they divided the country between them, assigning to the latter a considerable territory, which retains from him the name of Boleslavia, and is one of the chief circles of Bohemia.

Drahomira, enraged at these steps, secured herself an interest in Boleslas, her younger son, whose heart she had so far perverted, as to taint him with the most execrable idolatry, hatred of the Christian religion, boundless ambition, and implacable cruelty. Wenceslas, on the other hand, pursuant to the impressions of virtue which he had received in his education, was more careful than ever to preserve the innocence of his morals, and acquire every day some new degree of Christian perfection. He directed all his views to the establishment of peace, justice, and religion in his dominions, and, by the advice of Ludmilla, chose able and zealous Christian ministers. After spending the whole day in acts of piety and application to the affairs of state, and of his court, he employed a great part of the night in prayer. Such was his devout veneration for the holy sacrament of the altar, that he thought it a great happiness to sow the corn, gather the grapes, and make the wine with his own hands which were to be made use of at mass. Not content to pray often in the day with singular joy and fervor before the holy sacrament in the church, he usually rose at midnight, and went to pray in the churches, or even in the porches; nor did he fail in this practice in the deepest snows. His austerities in a court seemed to equal those of anchorets in the deserts, and he applied himself with great diligence to all manner of charitable offices, in relieving orphans and widows, helping the poor, accompanying their bodies to the grave, visiting prisons, and redeeming captives. It was his desire to shut himself up in a monastery, had not the necessities of his country and religion fixed him in a public station: however, amidst the distractions of government, he found rest for his soul in God, its centre. The good prince stood in need of this comfort and support amidst the storms with which he was assailed. Drahomira never ceased to conjure up all the furies of hell against him. Looking upon Ludmilla as the first mover of all counsels in favor of the Christian religion, she laid a plot to take away her life. Ludmilla was informed of it, and, without being disturbed, prepared herself for death. With this view she distributed her goods and money among her servants and the poor, confirmed the duke in his good resolutions for maintaining religion, made her confession to her chaplain Paul, and received the holy viaticum. The assassins found her prostrate in prayer before the altar in her domestic chapel, and, seizing on her, strangled her with her own veil. She is honored in Bohemia as a martyr on the 16th of September.

This complicated crime was very sensible to St. Wenceslas; a circumstance which exceedingly aggravated his grief was, that so execrable an action should have been perpetrated by the direction of his mother. But he poured out his complaints to God alone, humbly adoring his judgments and holy providence, and interceding for the conversion of his unnatural mother. She was seconded in her malicious intrigues by a powerful faction. Radislas, prince of Gurima, a neighboring country, despising the saint’s piety, invaded his dominions with a formidable army. Wenceslas, willing to maintain peace, sent him a message, desiring to know what provocation he had given him and declaring that he was ready to accept any terms for an accommodation that were consistent with what he owed to God and his people. Radislas treated this embassy as an effect of cowardice, and insolently answered, that the surrendry of Bohemia was the only condition on which he would hear of peace. Wenceslas, finding himself obliged to appear in arms, marched against the invader. When the two armies were near one another, our saint desired a conference with Radislas, and pressed, that, to spare the blood of so many innocent persons, it was a just expedient to leave the issue of the affair to a single combat between them. Radislas accepted the proposal, imagining himself secure of the victory. The two princes accordingly met at the head of both armies, in order to put an end to the war by this duel. Wenceslas was but slightly armed with a short sword and a target; yet, making the sign of the cross, marched boldly toward his antagonist, like a second David against Goliah. Radislas attempted to throw a javelin at him, but, as the Bohemian historians assure us, saw two angels protecting the saint. Whereupon he threw down his arms, and falling on his knees, begged his pardon, and declared himself at his disposal.

The emperor Otho I. having assembled a general diet at Worms, St. Wenceslas arrived at it late in the day, having been stopped by hearing a high mass on the road. Some of the princes took offence hereat; but the emperor, who had the highest opinion of his sanctity, received him with great honor, would have him sit next his person, and bade him ask whatever he pleased, and it should be granted him. The saint asked an arm of the body of St. Vitus, and a part of the relics of St. Sigismund, king of Burgundy. The emperor readily granted his request; adding, that he conferred on him the regal dignity and title, and granted him the privilege of bearing the imperial eagle on his standard, with an exemption from paying any imperial taxes throughout all his dominions. The good duke thanked his majesty, but excused himself from taking the title of king: which, however, the emperor and princes of the empire from that time always gave him in letters, and on all other occasions. When he had received the above-mentioned relics, he built a church in Prague, in which he deposited them; and caused the body of St. Ludmilla, three years after her death, to be translated into the church of St. George, which had been built by his father in that city. The severity with which the saint checked oppressions, and certain other disorders in the nobility, made some throw themselves into the faction of his unnatural mother, who concerted measures with her other son, Boleslas, to take him off at any rate. St. Wenceslas had made a vow of virginity; but restless ambition is impatient of delays. A son being born to Boleslas, that prince and his mother invited the good duke to favor them with his company at the rejoicings on that occasion. St. Wenceslas went without the least suspicion of treachery, and was received with all imaginable marks of kindness and civility. This they did the better to cover their hellish design. The entertainment was splendid: but nothing could make the saint neglect his usual devotions. At midnight he went to offer his customary prayers in the church. Boleslas, at the instigation of Drahomira, followed him thither, and, when his attendants had wounded him, he despatched him with his own hand, running him through the body with a lance. The martyrdom of the holy duke happened on the 28th of September, in 938.* The emperor Otho marched with an army into Bohemia, to revenge his death: the war continued several years; and, when he had vanquished the Bohemians, he contented himself with the submission of Boleslas. who engaged to recall the banished priests, to restore the Christian religion, and to pay him an annual tribute. Drahomira perished miserably soon after the perpetration of her horrible crime. Boleslas, terrified at the reputation of many miracles wrought at the martyr’s tomb, caused his body to be translated to the church of St. Vitus, at Prague, three years after his death. His son and successor, Boleslas II., surnamed the Pious, was a faithful imitator of his uncle St. Wenceslas, and became one of the greatest princes of his time. A church was erected in honor of St. Wenceslas, in Denmark, in 951, and his name was in great veneration over all the North.

The safety and happiness of government, and of all society among men, is founded upon religion. Without it princes usually become tyrants, and people lawless. He who, with Hobbes, so far degrades human reason as to deny any other difference between virtue and vice, than in the apprehension of men; or who, with the author of the Characteristics, reduces virtue to an ideal beauty and an empty name, is, of all others, the most dangerous enemy to mankind, capable of every mischief: his heart being open to treachery and every crime. The general laws of nations and those of particular states are too weak restraints upon those who, in spite of nature itself, laugh the law of God out of doors. Unless religion bind a man in his conscience, he will be come so far the slave of his passions, as to be ready, with this unnatural mother and brother, to commit every advantageous villany to which he is prompted, whenever he can do it with secresy or impunity. It is safer to live among lions and tigers than among such men. It is not consistent with the goodness and justice of God to have created men without an interior law, and a law enforced by the strongest motives and the highest authority. Nor can his goodness and justice suffer obedience to his law to go unrewarded, or disobedience and contempt to remain unpunished. This consideration alone leads us to the confession of that just providence which reserves in the life to come the recompense of virtue, and chastisement of vice, which faith reveals to us; this is the sacred band of justice and civil society in the present life. Jeroboam, Numa, Mahomet, and Machiavel himself, thought a persuasion of a false religion necessary for government, where they despaired of accommodating a true one to their wicked purposes, being sensible, that without strong inward ties, proclamations will be hung upon walls and posts only to be despised, and the most sacred laws lose their force. A false religion is not only a grievous crime, but also too feeble a tie for men; it is exposed to uncertainties, suspicion, and the detection of its imposture, and is in itself always infinitely defective and pernicious. True religion insures to him who sincerely professes it, comfort, support, and patience, amidst the sharpest trials, security in death itself, and the most happy and glorious issue, when God shall manifest himself the protector and rewarder of his servants. Virtue, here persecuted and oppressed, will shine forth with the brighter lustre at the last day, as the sun breaking out from under a cloud displays its beam with greater brightness.

SEPTEMBER 28 — ST. LIOBA, ABBESS

This saint was a great model of Christian perfection to the Church, both of England, her native country, and of Germany. She was descended of an illustrious English-Saxon family, and born among the West-Saxons at Winburn, which name signifies fountain of wine. Ebba, her pious mother, was nearly related to St. Boniface of Mentz, and though she had been long barren and had no prospect of other issue, when Lioba was born, she offered her to God from her birth, and trained her up in a contempt of the world. By her direction our saint was placed young in the great monastery of Winburn, in Dorsetshire, under the care of the holy abbess Tetta, a person still more eminent for her extraordinary prudence and sanctity, than for being sister to a king.* Lioba made great progress in virtue, and took the religious veil. She understood Latin, and made some verses in that language, as appears from her letters to St. Boniface: but she read no books but such as were proper to nourish piety and devotion in her soul. St. Boniface, who had kept up an epistolary correspondence with her, and was perfectly acquainted with her distinguished virtue and abilities, became an earnest suitor to her abbess and bishop, that she might be sent to him, with certain pious companions, in order to settle some sanctuaries and nurseries of religion for persons of their sex in the infant church of Germany. Tetta regretted the loss of so great a treasure, but could not oppose so urgent a demand.

Lioba arriving in Germany, was settled by St. Boniface, with her little colony, in a monastery which he gave her, and which was called Bischofsheim; that is, Bishop’s House. By the prudence and zeal of our saint, this nunnery became in a short time very numerous, and out of it she peopled many other houses which she founded in Germany. She never commanded others anything which she had not first practised herself. Her countenance appeared always angelically cheerful and modest, breathing a heavenly devotion and love. Her time was spent in prayer, and in holy reading and meditation. She knew by heart the divine precepts of the Old and New Testaments, the principal canons of the Church, the holy maxims of the Fathers, and the rules of the monastic life and perfection. By humility, she placed herself beneath all others, and esteemed herself as the last of her community, and washed often the feet of the sisters. The exercise of hospitality and charity to the poor was her delight. Kings and princes respected and honored her, especially Pepin, king of the Franks, and his two sons, Charles or Charlemagne and Carloman. Charlemagne, who reigned alone after the death of his brother, often sent for her to his court at Aix-la-Chapelle, and treated her with the highest veneration. His queen Hildegardis loved her as her own soul, and took her advice in her most weighty concerns. She was very desirous to have her always with her, had it been possible, that she might always enjoy the edification and comfort of her example and instructions. But the holy abbess made all possible haste back to her monastery. Bishops often had conferences with her, and listened to her counsels. St. Boniface, a little before his mission into Friesland and his martyrdom, recommended her in the most earnest manner to St. Lullus, and to his monks at Fulda, entreating them to have care of her with respect and honor, and declaring it his desire, as by his last will, that after her death she should be buried by his bones that both their bodies might wait the resurrection, and be raised together in glory to meet the Lord, and be for ever united in the kingdom of his love. After St. Boniface’s martyrdom, she made frequent visits to the abbey of Fulda, and leaving her four or five sister-companions in a neighboring cell, she was allowed, by a singular privilege, to enter the abbey with two elder sisters, and assist at the divine service and conferences: after which she returned to her companions in the cell; which, when she had continued for a few days, she went back to her own nunnery. When she was grown very old, by the advice of St. Lullus, she settled all the nunneries under her care, and resigning the government, came to reside in a new nunnery at Scornesheim, four miles from Mentz to the south, where she redoubled her fervor in the exercises of holy prayer and penance. Queen Hilde, gardis invited her so earnestly to the court at Aix-la-Chapelle, that she could not refuse to comply: but, after some days, would absolutely return to her solitude. Taking leave of the queen, embracing her more affectionately than usual, and kissing her garment, her forehead, and mouth, she said: “Fare, well, precious part of my soul; may Christ our Creator and Redeemer grant that we may see each other without confusion in the day of judgment.” She died about the year 779, and was interred at Fulda, on the north side of the high altar. Her tomb was honored with miracles; her historian assures us he was himself an eye-witness of several. See her life, carefully written soon after her death, by Ralph of Fulda, in Mabillon, Acta Bened, and1. 1, Rerum Mogunt. See also Bulteau, Hist. Mon. l’Occid t. 4. Perier, t. 7, Sept. p. 748.

SEPTEMBER 28 — ST. EUSTOCHIUM, V

This holy virgin, whose memory is rendered illustrious by the pen of St. Jerom, was daughter of St. Paula, whose admirable life, after her entire conversion to God, this saint faithfully copied. St. Paula, upon the death of her husband Toxotius, retrenched all splendor and magnificence in her household, and devoted herself wholly to God in a life of simplicity, poverty, mortification, and assiduous prayer. Eustochium entered into all the pious views of her mother, and rejoiced to consecrate all the hours which so many misspend in vain amusements, to the exercises of charity and religion; and to see the poor relieved with what other ladies throw away to maintain their idleness, luxury, and pride, converting the blessings of God into their most grievous misfortunes, and the means of salvation and virtue into their most heavy condemnation. Eustochium often visited, and received instructions from St. Marcella, the first of her sex in Rome who embraced an ascetic or retired austere life, for the more perfect exercise of virtue.

Knowing the infinite importance of a good guide in a spiritual life, our devout virgin, about the year 382, put herself under the direction of St. Jerom, and made a solemn vow of virginity. To commend her resolution, and to instruct her in the obligations of that state, he composed his treatise, On Virginity, otherwise called his letter to Eustochium on that subject, toward the latter end of the pontificate of Damasus, about the year 383. In this treatise: having spoken of the excellency of the state of virginity, and of the difficulty of preserving, and the danger of losing the great treasure of purity, he lays down precepts which a virgin is to observe in order to keep herself pure. The first thing he prescribes is sincere humility, and a great fear of losing this virtue. The second is constant watchfulness over the heart and senses against all dangers, rejecting the very first suggestions of evil thoughts, killing the enemy before he gains strength, and crushing the least seeds of temptation. The third is extraordinary temperance in eating and drinking. He forbids her dainty fare, effeminacy, pleasures, and superfluous ornaments. He enjoins her to forbear ever drinking any pure wine which he calls a poison in youth, and throwing oil upon a flame. He would not have fasts carried to excess, and rather commends such as are moderate, but constant; and he enjoins that a person always rise from his meals with an appetite. He recommends solitude, and all Christian virtues, and gives a charge to the virgin, that she never visit those ladies whose dress and discourse have any tincture of the spirit of the world; and adds: “Go very seldom abroad, not even to honor the martyrs: honor them in your chamber.” St. Jerom gives Eustochium useful documents concerning the exercise of assiduous prayer and puts her in mind (besides the hours of Morning, Evening, Tierce, Sext and None, which all know to be consecrated to public prayer) that she ought to rise twice or thrice in the night to pray, and never to omit this duty before and after meals, before going abroad, and after coming in, and on all occasions; and that at every action she ought to make the sign of the cross. This venerable author relates, that when Eustochium was a child, her mother accustomed her to wear only plain ordinary clothes: but that one day her aunt Prætextata put on her rich apparel, and had her hair gracefully curled, according to the custom of young ladies of her quality; that in the night following, Prætextata seemed to see in her sleep a terrible angel, who, with a threatening voice, reproached her for attempting to lay sacrilegious hands on a virgin consecrated to Christ, and to instil vanity into one who was consecrated his spouse.

St. Jerom left Rome in 385, and Eustochium bore her mother company in all her journeys through Syria, Egypt, and Palestine, and settled with her in her monastery at Bethlehem. After the death of St. Paula in 404, Eustochium was chosen abbess in her room. Having St. Jerom for her master, she was learned above her sex, and was well skilled in the Hebrew language. St. Jerom dedicated to her his Comments on Ezechiel and Isaias, and translated the rule of St. Pachomius into Latin, for the use of her nuns. A troop of Pelagian heretics burnt down her monastery in 416, and committed many outrages: of which, St. Eustochium, and her niece, the younger Paula, informed by letter pope Innocent I. who wrote in strong terms to John, bishop of Jerusalem, charging him to put a stop to such violences, adding that otherwise he should be obliged to have recourse to other means to see justice done to those that were injured. St. Eustochium was called to receive the reward which God bestows on the wise virgins about the year 419. Her body was interred near that of her mother St. Paula. See St. Jerom1. de Virgin, et ep. 22, 26, 27.

SEPTEMBER 28 — SAINT EXUPERIUS, BISHOP OF TOULOUSE

He was born according to the most received opinion, in Aquitain, and raised to the see of Toulouse after the death of St. Sylvius. St. Jerom, who corresponded with him, bestows the highest commendations on him in many places of his work. Above all, he praises his charity for the poor. “To relieve their hunger,” says he, “he suffers it himself, and condemns himself to the severest self-denial, that he may be enabled to administer to their wants. The paleness of his face declares the rigor of his fasts. But his poverty makes him truly rich; so poor is he, as to be forced to carry the body of the Lord in an osier basket, and his blood in a glass vessel. His charity knew no bounds. It sought for objects in the most distant parts, and the solitaries of Egypt felt its beneficial effects.” It was in his time that the Vandals, the Sueves, and Alans spread horrible ravages through Gaul. The tender affection wherewith he flew to the relief of the unhappy sufferers, drew tears of joy from St. Jerom’s eyes. This father dedicated to him his Commentaries on the Prophet Zachary. St. Exuperius was not witness of the taking of Toulouse by the barbarians, God having spared him so poignant an affliction. He was still alive in 409, since St. Paulinus of Nola, who wrote in this year, reckons him among the illustrious bishops who then adorned the Gallican church. Neither the place nor year of his death are known. Pope Innocent addressed to him the decretal so famous in Church history. It is divided into a number of articles relating to Church discipline. St. Exuperius is honored at Toulouse on this day, and the feast of his translation celebrated on the 14th of June. See St. Jerom, Ep. 4, 10, 11, et Præf. in lib. 1, et 2, Comm. in Zach. Catel, Hist. de Languedoc,1. 5, &c.

SEPTEMBER 29 — THE DEDICATION OF SAINT MICHAEL’S CHURCH OR, THE FESTIVAL OF ST. MICHAEL AND ALL THE HOLY ANGELS

This festival has been kept with great solemnity on the 29th of September ever since the fifth age, and was certainly celebrated in Apulia in 493. The dedication of the famous church of St. Michael on Mount Gargano in Italy1 gave occasion to the institution of this feast in the West, which is hence called in the Martyrologies of St. Jerom, Bede, and others, The dedication of St. Michael. The dedication of St. Michael’s church in Rome, upon Adrian’s Mole, which was performed by pope Boniface IV. in 610, and that of several other churches in the West, in honor of this archangel, were performed on this same day.* Churches were likewise erected in the East, in honor of St. Michael and other holy angels, from the time when the Christian worship was publicly established by the conversion of Constantine, doubtless upon the model of little oratories and churches, which had been formerly raised in the intervals of the general persecutions, in which storms they were again thrown down. Sozomen informs us, that Constantine the Great built a famous church in honor of this glorious archangel, called Michaelion, and that in it the sick were often cured, and other wonders wrought through the intercession of St. Michael. This historian assures us, that he had often experienced such relief here himself; and he mentions the miraculous cures of Aquilin, an eminent lawyer, and of Probian, a celebrated physician, wrought in the same place. This church stood about four miles from Constantinople; a monastery was afterward built contiguous to it. Four churches in honor of St. Michael stood in the city of Constantinople itself: their number was afterward increased to fifteen, which were built by several emperors.2

Though only St. Michael be mentioned in the title of this festival, it appears from the prayers of the Church that all the good angels are its object, together with this glorious prince and tutelar angel of the Church. On it we are called upon, in a particular manner, to give thanks to God for the glory which the angels enjoy, and to rejoice in their happiness. Secondly, to thank him for his mercy to us in constituting such glorious beings to minister to our salvation, by aiding and assisting us. Thirdly, to join them in adoring and praising God with all possible ardor, desiring and praying that we may do his will on earth with the utmost fidelity, fervor, and purity of affection, as it is done by these blessed spirits in heaven; and that we may study to sanctify our souls in imitation of the spotless angels to whom we are associated. Lastly we are invited to honor, and implore the intercession and succor of the holy angels.

Supreme honor called Latria is essentially reserved to God alone; nor can it ever be given to any creature without incurring the most heinous guilt of idolatry, and high treason against the majesty of God. This honor is paid by the offering of sacrifice, or by any direct or indirect acknowledgment of the divinity or any divine attribute residing in another. But there is an inferior or subaltern honor which is due to superior excellency in creatures. Such is that civil honor which the law of God expressly commands us to pay to parents, princes, magistrates, and all superiors: also some degree of a religious honor which the scriptures and law of nature teach us to be due to priests or the ministers of God, and which even the most wicked of kings often paid to prophets, who, as to the world, were mean and obscure persons. This inferior honor differs from divine or supreme honor as much as infinity in the object does from what is finite: nor can it be any way derogatory from that which is due to God, whom it honors in his creatures, whose perfections it acknowledges merely to be its gifts. The respect which is shown to a governor or an ambassador is not injurious, but is highly agreeable and honorable to his master, on whose account it is paid, and whose dignity and authority are considered in those whom he has made in any part the depositaries of it. This duty, which the law of nature dictates, is inculcated by those words of the apostle; Render to all men their due.—Honor to whom honor.3 Hence St. Bernard expresses no more than what all men must necessarily approve, when he says: “Give to every one honor according to his dignity.”4 Honor being no more than a testimony which we bear to another’s excellency, who can deny this to be due to the most sublime, most perfect, most holy, and most glorious heavenly spirits? Abraham prostrated himself before the angels whom he received in his tent.5 Daniel did the same before one whom he saw upon the Tigris.6 God commanded the Israelites to fear and respect the angel whom he sent to be their conductor into the promised land.7 The first consideration for which the holy angels claim our respect, is that of the excellency of their nature, in which they are essentially of an order superior to men, being pure spirits, exempt from the weaknesses of our frail earthly frame, and endued with more noble faculties and qualities, suited to the perfection and simplicity of their unbodied and uncompounded being. Secondly, the gifts of grace and glory are proportioned in them to the superiority of their nature; and the scriptures speak of angels as absolutely above men, though some particular saints may, for aught we know, enjoy a greater felicity than many angels; and the Blessed Virgin is exalted in glory above all the heavenly spirits. Nor can any order of the highest spirits boast of an honor or dignity equal to that which is conferred on mankind by the mystery of the incarnation, in which the Son of God, who took not the nature of angels, assumed that of men,8 and as man is constituted by his Father lord of all creatures. Had the blessed angels no other title to command our veneration, this alone suffices, that they enjoy a state of bliss and glory, are the high courtiers of heaven, who stand always in the presence of God, are his officers who surround his throne, and his faithful ministers in executing in all things his holy will.

A circumstance in the blessed angels which above all others is most amiable and pleasing to devout souls, and must particularly excite their praise and reverence, is the constant and perfect fidelity of these holy spirits to God. Their innocence and sanctity were never tarnished with the least spot or stain, the purity of their affections was never debased by the least mixture of anything inordinate, and the ardor with which they love God, and exert all their powers to serve him, and do his holy will, never admits the least abatement. If we love God, and rejoice when he is served and praised; if we grieve to see him forgotten and offended by men on earth; if we have the least spark of zeal for his glory, nothing will give us greater joy than to consider with what perfect fidelity he is served, and with what ardor and purity of affection he is loved and praised in heaven. Even those who serve him best on earth, acquit themselves of these duties very imperfectly amidst the snares and distraction? of this life. But the blessed angels are creatures perfectly holy, who, without either division or abatement in their affections, or interruption in their happy employment, obey, love, and glorify God with all their powers. Always employed in the delightful contemplation of his infinite goodness and other amiable perfections, swallowed up in the ocean of his love, they never cease crying out with all their might: Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord God of Hosts: all the earth is full of his glory, which shineth forth in all his works.9 They cease not day or night saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.10 In the most profound annihilation of themselves they give all honor and glory to him alone, and professing their crowns to be entirely his gifts, they cast them at his feet, and sing; Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power, &c.11 Burning with the most ardent love, and the most eager desire to praise more and more perfectly his infinite goodness and greatness, they continually repeat their hymns with new jubilation and an earnestness to outdo themselves, as they are every moment inebriated with fresh overflowing joy, and pierced more deeply with the darts of his sweet love. The psalmist, who felt in some degree the impetuosity of this impulse in his own breast, knew no stronger motive to invite them to love and praise God with all their powers, than their own insatiable and boundless ardor for this holy duty and employment. He therefore cries out to them: Bless the Lord, all you his angels; you that are mighty in strength, and execute his word, hearken to the voice of his orders. Bless the Lord, all you his hosts; you his ministers who do his wi11.12 Can we call to mind those holy and glorious spirits without being penetrated with love and veneration? O truly happy creatures! we also desire to love and praise God; and we condemn the faintness of our desires. We rejoice in your ardor, and by it we pray you incessantly to praise God both for yourselves and us, pouring forth all your affections, and enlarging and exerting all your powers, with the utmost effort of your strength; because he is infinitely above the love and praise of all creatures: he infinitely transcends all things out of himself, nor can the most perfect homages of all created beings ever be commensurate to his greatness, goodness, mercy, and boundless majesty. Whilst we invite you to his praise, with what regret, alas! do we reflect that we have often sinned, and daily continue to heap offences against him! Oh! may we cease to sin: may your flames, holy angels, kindle a fire of the like holy love in our souls. In our devotions we will unit our praises with those which you incessantly pour forth in your heavenly choirs, and animate ourselves to fervor by your example in this great employment.

Another motive why we ought to love and honor the holy angels is our relation and close affinity with them. Our souls are spiritual and immortal like them: and by sanctifying grace are their co-heiresses and fellow-members. They are glorious citizens of heaven, and we are called to be one day their companions. They will receive an additional accidental glory from our company, who are to repair their losses, and fill the seats forfeited by their apostate fellows. We are to be eternally united with them in bliss and love, and are already united by grace, and the communion of saints. They are called the sons of God,13 so are we. And in the communion of saints, which we profess in our creed, the good angels are comprised; for we enjoy with them a holy partnership founded on many titles, and we are linked with them by many sacred bands and alliances. By virtue of this communion we owe them love and veneration, and receive from them many benefits and succors, especially by their patronage and intercession.

God is pleased frequently to employ the ministry of his angels in affording us many helps, and in the government of this lower world. He can do all things by the simple act of his own will, and stands not in need of ministers to execute his decrees, as earthly kings do. It is not from any want of power, but merely from his infinite goodness and wisdom that he employs superior spirits in various dispensations of his providence concerning men. Zeal for the divine honor, fidelity in executing his will, and affection and charity for us, make these holy spirits most diligent in their commission. Upon how many occasions were Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and other patriarchs and prophets favored with apparitions and visions of these holy spirits! How many mysteries did they reveal! How many blessings did they bring from God, sometimes to the Church in general, sometimes to his faithful servants in particular! How many evils, both public and private, do they often avert! An angel sent by God relieved and comforted Agar in her despair.14 Other angels delivered Lot from the burning of Sodom,15 the three children from the flames,16 Daniel from the lion,17 St. Peter from his chains,18 and the apostles out of their dungeon.19 God gave his law to the Jews by an angel who was his ambassador.20 By angels he showed to St. John the future state of his Church,21 and many wonderful visions to Danie122 and other prophets. They were his messengers in the execution of the principal mysteries relating to the incarnation, birth, flight, temptation, and agony of Christ. An angel conducted the Israelites into the land of promise.23 The apostle St. Jude mentions a contest which St. Michael had with the devil about the burial of the body of Moses, and recommends humility, piety, and modesty in behavior by the example of this archangel, who on that occasion used no curse, no harsh or reproachful word, but to repress the malicious fiend only said: The Lord command thee.24 St. John describes a great battle of St. Michael and the good angels with the devil and his angels,25 which seems by the context not to belong properly to the expulsion of these latter out of heaven when they sinned, but to some efforts of the evil spirits, when they were vanquished by Christ in the mystery of our redemption. By this victory of St. Michael we see the concern of the good angels for the salvation of man, and the activity and success with which they exert themselves in his behalf. Angels carried the soul of Lazarus into the place of rest.26 Their host will descend with Christ at the last day, and will assemble men before his tribuna1.27 The holy scriptures assure us, that the angels are the ministers of God appointed to execute his orders, and to do his will in our favor.28 God promises their ministry and succor to all that serve him.29 Who is not astonished at the condescension with which the archangel Raphael accompanied the young Toby, and rescued him from all dangers? An angel wrestled all night with Jacob: another carried Habacuc by the hair to Babylon, to feed Daniel in the lion’s den.

That the good angels often intercede with God for us, and that their patronage is piously invoked, is an article of the Catholic faith Jacob entreated with earnestness the angel with whom he had wrestled, that he would give him his blessing:30 and on his death-bed he prayed the angel who had conducted and protected him, to bless his grandchildren Ephraim and Manasses.31 If the angels give us their blessing, and do us greater offices, can we imagine that they do not pray to God for us? If Jacob prayed to his angel, this was certainly consonant to true religion and the practice of pious persons. The devils entreat God for permission to use their natural craft and strength to assail men with extraordinary temptations, as they did with regard to Job32 and the apostles.33 Christ prayed for St. Peter, that his faith should not fail under the assaults of Satan. The angels who are solicitous for us oppose these efforts of Satan against us, by praying for us, and otherwise. The prophet Daniel was informed in his visions now vigorously the guardian angel of Persia interposed in favor of that country, and much more what good offices Michael and other angels did for the Jews, in removing obstacles which retarded their return from the captivity. The angel Gabriel told Daniel that he had exerted his efforts for this purpose in Persia one-and-twenty days, and that Michael, the prince or guardian angel of the Jews, came to his help,34 so that they conquered the impediments. Gabriel added:35 From the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up that he might be strengthened and confirmed; viz. to promote the deliverance of God’s people. The same prophet, speaking of the cruel persecution of Antiochus, says:36 At that time Michael shall rise up, the great prince that standeth for the children of thy people. This implies that Michael would support the Machabees, and other defenders of God’s people, whose protector this archangel was. Standing up for them must mean principally by praying for them, as it is said of the priests and Levites.37 More ancient books of the holy scripture mention visible succors of holy angels, which the Jews, in their deliverance from the slavery of Egypt, and passage to Canaan, experienced; also many among the patriarchs, several among the judges of the Jewish nation, and others. From the traditionary notion of such interpositions of good spirits in favor of men, the Gentiles derived one part of their monstrous idolatry, into which they fell by a blind abuse of the most sacred truths; of which Dr. Lucas, an eminent Protestant divine, writes as follows:38 “When I read that angels are the ministering spirits of God; when I read in Daniel of the princes of Græcia and Persia, and find that provinces were committed to angels as the viceroys and lieutenants of God, I cannot think that those devout and charitable spirits did with less zeal in their provinces labor to promote the honor of God and the good of man, than evil spirits did the dishonor of the one and the ruin of the other. And unless the frequent appearance of angels in the beginning had possessed men’s minds with a firm persuasion that there was a constant commerce maintained between heaven and earth; and that spirits very frequently did visibly engage themselves in the protection and assistance of men; I cannot as much as imagine what foundation there could be for the numerous impostures of oracles, or upon what ground the custom of putting themselves under the patronage of some tutelar spirit, could so generally have prevailed in the pagan world. I do not therefore doubt but that the Gentile world received very many good offices and advantages from good angels, as well as suffered many mischiefs from evil ones,” &c.

It is clear from several of the above-mentioned examples, and many other passages of the holy scriptures, that the good angels pray for us. The prophet Zacharias was favored with a vision of angels in the seventieth year of the desolation of Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, dated from the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of Sedecias; which seventieth year was the second of Darius Hystaspis, and the eighteenth from the beginning of the reign of Cyrus in Babylon, and the end of the captivity. The prophet saw an angel in the shape of a man (probably Michael, the protector of the Jews) standing in a grove of myrtle trees, and several angels, the guardians of other provinces, came to him and said: We have walked through the earth, and behold, all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest. Then the angel made this prayer: O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Juda, with which thou hast been angry? This is now the seventieth year.39 The Lord answered his prayer, that he would return to Jerusalem in mercies, and that his house should be built in it. In the book of Job, Elihu says:40 If there shall be an angel speaking for him among thousands; that is, if an angel chosen out of a thousand to be the guardian of a sinner, shall pray to God for him, and bring him to repentance, the sick sinner shall recover his health. The angel Raphael told Toby: When thou didst pray with tears, I offered thy prayers to the Lord,41 doubtless to recommend them to God by his own intercession. St. John saw an angel offering to God the prayers of all the saints.42 If the good angels pray for us, and often present our supplications to God, in order to strengthen them by their own prayers, they certainly know and hear our petitions. Jacob could not pray to the angel that he would bless his two boys,43 if the angel could not hear him. Isaias had no sooner complained that his lips were defiled, but a seraph purified them with a burning coal from the altar.44 How can the angels be offended at scandals given to the little ones, that are committed by God to their charge,45 if they do not know them? How could they otherwise represent to God the afflictions of his people, as the prophets so often mention? In the first chapter of Zacharias, the good angels (and the devil in the first and second chapters of Job) are said to walk over the earth, and to lay before God both the prayers and good works, and the neglects and sins of men; not as if He by His own all-piercing eye did not see them, but as witnesses of their actions, the ministers of divine providence in its dispensations towards them, and the patrons and defenders, or the accusers of our souls.

The Church has always invoked, and paid a religious honor to the holy angels.* Origen teaches, that they assist us in our devotions, and join their supplications to ours. “The angel of the Christian,” says he, “offers his prayers to God through the only high priest; himself also praying for him who is committed to his charge.”46 He tells us, that the angels carry up our prayers to God, and bring back his blessings and gifts to us; but that Christians do not invoke or adore them as they do God.47 He addresses a prayer to the angel of a person who is going to be baptized, that he would instruct him.48 The martyr Nemesian and his companions, writing to St. Cyprian, say: “Let us assist one another by our prayers, and beg that we may have God and our Christ and the angels favor us in all our actions.”49 St. Gregory Nazianzen writes: “The angelical powers are a succor to us in all good.”50 He prays the good angels to receive his soul at the hour of death; and threatens the devil with the sign of the cross, if he should approach him.51 St. Ephrem says of heaven: “Where all the angels and saints of God reign, praying the Lord for us.”52 He repeats, that the angels with joy offer our prayers to God.53 The English Protestants have retained in their book of Common Prayer the collect of this day, in which we desire Almighty God “to grant that, as His holy angels always do Him service in heaven, so, by His appointment, they may defend and succor us upon earth.”

If we desire to live for ever in the company of the holy angels, we must lead on earth the life of angels. We must learn here to converse with God by assiduous prayer and holy contemplation, and to walk in his presence by frequent aspirations, withdrawing our minds, as much as we can, from a vain, distracting world; adoring and loving God, rejoicing in him, bending our wills cheerfully under all his appointments, and studying with our whole strength to obey his law, and fulfil his holy will in all things. We must also work our minds into the holy temper and dispositions of the blessed angels, putting on the same perfect humility, the same uninterrupted tranquillity, constancy, meekness, patience, pure and vehement love of God, and zeal for his glory, with all other virtues. Neither do certain transient acts suffice to denominate a person meek, humble, or virtuous: these dispositions must be wrought into his very frame, and be the firm, habitual, permanent, reigning affections of his soul. They must, as far as our state will allow, be pure without alloy, or mixture of anything inordinate or irregular. No one can be admitted into the society of the spotless angels, or stand in the presence of a God of infinite purity and sanctity; no one can find a place in the region of the blessed, who is not perfectly without spot or blemish: There shall not enter into it anything defiled.54 All infection of inordinate passions or vicious self-love, must be purged away. How great a task we have upon our hands! but how noble and happy is the pursuit! Perfectly to subdue all our passions, to counteract and reform all our vicious inclinations, and to acquire, cherish, and constantly improve all virtues. This is not done by broken and interrupted essays and attempts, but by a vigorous and constant application of the means, and repeated fervent acts of all virtues.

SEPTEMBER 29 — ST. THEODOTA, M

Towards the end of the reign of Licinius, on a Friday, in September, in the year 642 from the death of Alexander the Great, that is, of Christ 318, a persecution was raised at Philippi, not the city so called in Macedon, which was at that time comprised in the empire of Constantine, but that called Philippopolis, anciently Eumolpias, in Thrace.* Agrippa the prefect, on a certain festival of Apollo, had commanded that the whole city should offer a great sacrifice with him. Theodota, who had been formerly a harlot, was accused of refusing to conform, and being called upon by the president, answered him, that she had indeed been a grievous sinner, but could not add sin to sin, nor defile herself with a sacrilegious sacrifice. Her constancy encouraged seven hundred and fifty men (who were, perhaps, some troop of soldiers) to step forth, and, professing themselves Christians, to refuse to join in the sacrifice. Theodota was cast into prison, where she lay twenty days; all which time she employed in continual prayer. Being brought to the bar, as she entered the court she burst into tears, and prayed aloud that Christ would pardon the crimes of her past life, and arm her with strength, that she might be enabled to bear with constancy and patience the cruel torments she was going to suffer. In her answers to the judge she confessed that she had been a harlot, but declared that she was become a Christian, though unworthy to bear that sacred name. Agrippa commanded her to be cruelly scourged. The pagans that stood near her, ceased not to exhort her to free herself from torments by obeying the president but for one moment. But Theodota remained constant, and under the lashes cried out: “I never will abandon the true God, nor sacrifice to lifeless statues.” The president ordered her to be hoisted upon the rack, and her body to be torn with an iron comb. Under these torments she earnestly prayed to Christ, and said: “I adore you, O Christ, and thank you, because you have made me worthy to suffer this for your name.” The judge, enraged at her resolution and patience, said to the executioner: “Tear her flesh again with the iron comb; then pour vinegar and salt into her wounds.” She said: “So little do I fear your torments, that I entreat you to increase them to the utmost, that I may find mercy and attain to the greater crown.” Agrippa next commanded the executioners to pluck out her teeth, which they violently pulled out one by one with pincers. The judge at length condemned her to be stoned. She was led out of the city, and, during her martyrdom, prayed thus: “O Christ, as you showed favor to Rahab the harlot, and received the good thief, so turn not your mercy from me.” In this manner she died, and her soul ascended triumphant to heaven in the year of the Greeks 642. See her authentic Chaldaic Acts, published by Stephen Assemani, Acta Martyr. Occid. t. 2, p. 221.

SEPTEMBER 30 — ST. JEROM, PRIEST DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

From his epistles and other works, and from other fathers and ancient historians. See Tillemont, t.12, Ceillier, t. 10, and his life compiled in French by Dom. Martianay. In 4to. in 1706, dedicated to the abbess of Lauzun; and that in Latin by Villarsi, in the Verona edition of his works. Consult also Orsi,1. 18. n. 51, t. 8, p. 113,1. 20, n. 31, t. 9, p. 77. Dolci de rebus gestis S. Hieronymi, 4to. Anconæ, 1750. Stilting, t. 8, Sept. p. 418. 699.

A. D. 420.

ST. JEROM, who is allowed to have been, in many respects, the most learned of all the Latin fathers, was born, not at Strigonium, now called Gran, situated upon the Danube in Lower Hungary, but at Stridonium, now Sdrigni, a small town upon the confines of Pannonia, Dalmatia, and Italy, near Aquileia.* He had a brother much younger than himself, whose name was Paulinian. His father, called Eusebius, was descended from a good family, and had a competent estate; but, being persuaded that a good education is the most precious inheritance that a parent can leave to his children, took great care to have his son instructed in piety, and in the first principles of literature at home,† and afterward sent him to Rome. St. Jerom had there, for tutor, the famous pagan grammarian Donatus (well known for his commentaries on Virgil and Terence), also Victorinus the rhetorician, who by a decree of the senate was honored with a statue in Trajan’s square.‡ In this city he became master of the Latin and Greek tongues, read the best writers in both languages with great application, and made such progress in oratory, that he for some time pleaded at the bar: but being left without a guide, under the discipline of a heathen master, in a school where an exterior regard to decency in morals was all that was aimed at, he forgot the sentiments of true piety, which had been instilled into him in his infancy, neglected sufficiently to restrain his passions, and was full only of worldly views. His misfortune confirms the truth of that important maxim, that though the advantages of emulation and mutual communication in studies be exceeding great with regard to learning, these are never to be purchased with danger to virtue; nor is a youth to be trusted in public schools without the utmost precaution: both that he be under the watchful eye and prudent direction of a person who is sincerely pious and experienced; and that he be linked in society with virtuous companions, whose gravity, inclinations, discourse, and whole deportment and spirit, may be to him a constant spur to all virtue and a support and fence against the torrent of the world, or of the dangerous example of others. Jerom went out of this school free indeed from gross vices, but unhappily a stranger to a Christian spirit, and enslaved to vanity and the more refined passions, as he afterward confessed and bitterly lamented.

Being arrived at man’s estate, and very desirous of improving his studies, he resolved upon travelling, in order to further this design. Few means contribute more to give a knowledge of men and the world, and to enlarge a person’s insight in all arts and sciences, and in every branch of useful knowledge, than travelling in polite and learned countries. But for this a maturity of age and judgment is requisite: a foundation must have been first laid of a competent stock of knowledge, at least of the principles of all the arts in which a person seeks to improve himself; otherwise things will present to him only their surfaces or shells, he will see and hear without understanding, and his travels will at least be no more than an idle gratification of vain curiosity. The conversation of the wisest and best persons in every place is to be cultivated; the snares of the world, and all bad company must be watchfully guarded against; and whatever can be any improvement in valuable knowledge must be diligently treasured up; in which even those that are best qualified for making proper observations, will still find much pleasure and great advantage by a guide who is ready and able to point out whatever deserves notice, and to improve, and be himself improved by mutual observations. Virtue being the greatest and most noble of all improvements of the human mind, challenges the first attention of the traveller, who will be able everywhere to meet with lessons of it in the example, maxims, and instructions of the good, and to learn wariness even from the snares of vice. Heroic practices and sentiments of piety, how much soever they are concealed, may be learned almost everywhere, if conversation with the most experienced persons in virtue be sought, and the spirit of God inspire an earnest desire of making such discoveries and improvements. Above all things, in travelling, great fervor and assiduity in all religious exercises is necessary, and frequent meditation must cherish and maintain pious sentiments, and serious reflection digest all the improvements of the mind. Personal duties and circumstances allow few the opportunity of travelling: and either by too much time, a wrong season of life, of a neglect of the necessary rules and conditions, it generally becomes a vicious rambling, and a school of sloth, trifling, and often of all the passions. Most travel so as to unhinge the whole frame of their minds, by living in constant dissipation, so as to verify the motto, that few become by it more holy. As for modish modern travellers, whose chief study is the gratification of their passions, they import home little else but the slanders and impiety of foreign cities, and the vices of the most abandoned rakes, into whose company they most easily fall, in the countries through which they passed. Many ancient philosophers travelled for the sake of acquiring useful science: fervent, servants of God have sometimes left their cells (though redoubling their ardor in the practice of penance and recollection) to visit holy men for their own edification and instruction.

St. Jerom in his first journeys was conducted by the divine mercy into the paths of virtue and salvation. A vehement thirst after learning put him upon making a tour through Gaul, where the Romans had erected several famous schools, especially at Marseilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Autun, Lyons, and Triers. This latter was esteemed an imperial city, being in that age frequently honored with the presence of the emperors, when Rome, by the attachment of many powerful senators to idolatry, and their regret for the loss of their ancient liberty and privileges, was not so agreeable a residence to its princes. The emperor Gratian, and a learned man, and a great lover of learning, who appointed, out of his own revenue, fixed salaries for the public masters of rhetoric, and of the Greek and Latin languages in all great cities,1 distinguished the schools of Gaul with special favors, and above the rest, those of Triers, to whose professors he granted greater salaries than to those of other cities, and whither he drew Ausonius from Bordeaux. By prudent regulations he forbade the students of this city to frequent public diversions, or shows in the theatre, or to assist at great banquets or entertainments, and gave other strict orders for the regulation of their manners. Ausonius extols the eloquence and learning of the illustrious Harmonius and Ursulus, professors of eloquence at Triers.2 It had been St. Jerom’s greatest pleasure at Rome to collect a good library, and to read all the best authors: in this, such was his passion, that it made him sometimes forget to eat or drink. Cicero and Plautus were his chief delight. He purchased a great many books, copied several, and procured many to be transcribed by his friends.3

He arrived at Triers with his friend Bonosus not long before the year 370, and it was in this city that the sentiments of piety which he imbibed in his infancy, were awaked, and his heart was entirely converted to God; so that renouncing the vanity of his former pursuits, and the irregularities of his life, he took a resolution to devote himself wholly to the divine service, in a state of perpetual continence.4 From this time his ardor for virtue far surpassed that with which he had before applied himself to profane sciences, and he converted the course of his studies into a new channel. Being still intent on enriching his library, he copied at Triers, St. Hilary’s book On Synods, and his Commentaries on the Psalms.5 Having collected whatever he could meet with in Gaul to augment his literary treasure, he repaired to Aquileia, where at that time flourished many eminent and learned men. St. Valerian, the bishop, had entirely cleared that Church of Arianism, with which it had been infected under his predecessor, and had drawn thither so many virtuous and learned men, that the clergy of Aquileia were famous over all the western Church. With many of these St. Jerom contracted so great an intimacy, that their names appear often in his writings. Among these, St. Chromatius, who was then priest, succeeded St. Valerian in the episcopal dignity, whose death happened in 237, on the 26th of November, as Fontanini demonstrates.6 To St. Chromatius St. Jerom afterward dedicated several of his works. This great bishop died on the 2d of December, about the year 406.* Among the other eminent clergymen of Aquileia at that time are reckoned St. Chromatius’s two brothers, Jovinus, the archdeacon, and Eusebius, deacon: Heliodorus (who was ordained bishop of Antino before the death of St. Valerian) and his nephew Nepotian; Nicetas, sub deacon, and Chrysogonus, a monk. It appears from the Chronicle and Letters of St. Jerom, that Heliodorus, Nepotian, Nicetus, and Florentius were also monks. The monastic state had been introduced in Italy by St. Athanasius, during his exile there, as St. Jerom testifies.7 Cardinal Noris observes, that he made a long stay at Aquileia.8 By that great saint’s account of the lives of St. Antony, and other monks in Egypt, many were excited to imitate them, and a great monastery was founded at Aquileia, which the learned Fontanini calls the first in Italy, though others think St. Eusebius of Vercelli, upon his return from the East, had built one in his own city before this. Others were soon after erected at Rome, Milan, and in other places. When St. Athanasius committed to writing the life of St. Antony, he mentions, that there were then several monasteries in Italy.

Tyranius Rufinus, famous first for his friendship, and afterward for his controversies with St. Jerom, entered himself a monk at Aquileia, in 370, as is clear both from his own and St. Jerom’s works.9 He was a native of Concordia, not the city of that name near Mirandola, but a small town in the territory of Aquileia, where, during the residence of St. Jerom in that city, he was baptized in the great church by St. Valerian, St. Chromatius, Jovinus, and Eusebius assisting, whom, on this account, Rufinus afterward calls his three fathers or sponsors;10 one being sponsor at catechism, another at baptism, and a third at confirmation. This testimony confutes the mistake of Dom. Martenne11 and Gerard Maestricht, who imagine that anciently no more than one sponsor was ever admitted for the same person.* St. Jerom shut himself up in this monastery at Aquileia for some time, that he might with greater leisure and freedom pursue his studies, in the course of which he was closely linked in friendship with Rufinus, and with great grief saw himself, by some unknown accident, torn from his company.12 From what quarter this storm arose is uncertain; though it seems to have come from his own family. For he mentions, that paying his friends a visit, he found his sister had been drawn aside from the path of virtue. He brought her to a deep sense of her duty, and engaged her to make a vow of perpetual continency; in which affair he probably met with those difficulties which obliged him, for the sake of his own peace, to leave that country; his aunt Castorina, about the same time, vowed her continency to God.

St. Jerom returned to Rome, resolving to betake himself wholly to his studies and retirement. In his letters to pope Damasus he testifies that he received at Rome the sacrament of regeneration: Tillemont thinks this happened after his return from Aquileia, because the saint tells us that his merciful conversion to God happened when he resided near the Rhine.13 But Martianay and Fontanini more probably maintain that he was baptized before he left Rome to go into Gaul, though it was only at Triers that he engaged himself by vow to serve God in a state of perpetual continency. Experience soon convinced him that neither his own country nor Rome were fit places for a life of perfect solitude, at which he aimed, wherefore he resolved to withdraw into some distant country. Bonosus, his countryman and relation, who had been the companion of all his studies and travels from his infancy, did not enter into his views on this occasion, but retired into a desert island on the coast of Dalmatia, and there led a monastic life. Evagrius, the celebrated priest of Antioch, who was come into the West upon the affairs of that Church, offered himself to our saint to be his guide into the East; and Innocent, Heliodorus, and Hylas (who had been a servant of Melania), would needs bear him company. They crossed Thrace, Pontus, Bithynia, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Cilicia. Wherever he came he visited the anchorets and other persons of eminent sanctity whoso conversation might afford him in struction and edification. At that time many such flourished in the East, especially in the deserts of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. Rufinus names among those whose blessing he received in Egypt the two Macariuses, Isidore in Sceté, Pambo in the Cells, Pæmen and Joseph in Pisphir, or the Mountain of Antony. St. Jerom reckons among them Amos, Maearius the disciple of Antony, &c. Amongst other holy rules which they observed, he takes notice in his letter to Rusticus that the monasteries of Egypt were wont to admit none who did not follow some manual labor, not so much for the necessity of their subsistence as for the sanctification of their souls.

Being arrived at Antioch, St. Jerom made some stay in that city to attend the lectures of Apollinaris, who had not yet openly broached his heresy, and then read comments upon the scriptures with great reputation. St. Jerom had carried nothing with him but his library, and a sum of money to bear the charges of his journey. But Evagrius, who was rich, supplied him with all necessaries, and maintained several amanuenses to write for him and assist him in his studies. The saint having spent some time at Antioch, went into a hideous desert, lying between Syria and Arabia, in the country of the Saracens, where the holy abbot Theodosius received him with great joy. This wilderness took its name from Chalcis, a town in Syria, and was situated in the diocess of Antioch. Innocent and Hylas soon died in this desert, and Heliodorus left it to return into the West; but Jerom spent there four years in studies, and the fervent exercises of piety. In this lonely habitation he had many fits of sickness, but suffered a much more severe affliction from violent temptations of impurity, which he describes as follows:14 “In the re motest part of a wild and sharp desert, which, being burnt up with the heats of the scorching sun, strikes with horror and terror even the monks that inhabit it, I seemed to myself to he in the midst of the delights and assemblies of Rome. I loved solitude, that in the bitterness of my soul I might more freely bewail my miseries, and call upon my Saviour. My hideous emaciated limbs were covered with sackcloth; my skin was parched try and black, and my flesh was almost wasted away. The days I passed in tears and groans, and when sleep overpowered me against my will, I cast my wearied bones, which hardly hung together, upon the bare ground, not so properly to give them rest as to torture myself. I say nothing of my eating and drinking: for the monks in that desert, when they are sick, know no other drink but cold water, and look upon it as sensuality ever to eat anything dressed by fire. In this exile and prison, to which, for the fear of hell, I had voluntarily condemned myself, having no other company but scorpions and wild beasts, I many times found my imagination filled with lively representations of dances in the company of Roman ladies, as if I had been in the midst of them. My face was pale with fasting; yet my will felt violent assaults of irregular desires. In my cold body and in my parched-up flesh, which seemed dead before its death, concupiscence was able to live; and though I vigorously repressed all its sallies, it strove always to rise again, and to cast forth more violent and dangerous flames. Finding myself abandoned, as it were, to the power of this enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet of Jesus, watering them with my tears, and I tamed my flesh by fasting whole weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, but I grieve that I am not now what I then was. I often joined whole nights to the days, crying, sighing, and beating my breast till the desired calm returned. I feared the very cell in which I lived, because it was witness to the foul suggestions of my enemy: and being angry and armed with severity against myself, I went alone into the most secret parts of the wilderness, and if I discovered anywhere a deep valley or a craggy rock, that was the place of my prayer, there I threw this miserable sack of my body. The same Lord is my witness, that after so many sobs and tears, after having in much sorrow looked long up to heaven, I felt most delightful comforts and interior sweetness; and these so great, that, transported and absorbed, I seemed to myself to be amidst the choirs of angels; and glad and joyful I sung to God: After thee, O Lord, we will run in the fragrancy of thy celestial ointments.”*

In this manner does God, who often suffers the fidelity of his servants to be severely tried, strengthen them by his triumphant grace, and abundantly recompense their constancy. St. Jerom, among the arms with which he fortified himself against this dangerous enemy, added to his corporal austerities a new study, which he hoped would fix his rambling imagination, and, by curbing his will, give him the victory over himself. This was, after having dealt only in polite and agreeable studies, to learn of a converted Jew the Hebrew alphabet, and form his mouth to the uncouth aspirations and difficult pronunciation of that language. “When my soul was on fire with bad thoughts,” says he,15 writing to the monk Rusticus in 411, “that I might subdue my flesh, I became a scholar to a monk who had been a Jew, to learn of him the Hebrew alphabet; and after I had most diligently studied the judicious rules of Quintilian, the copious flowing eloquence of Cicero, the grave style of Fronto, and the smoothness of Pliny, I inured myself to hissing and broken-winded words. What labor it cost me, what difficulties I went through, how often I despaired and left off, and how I began again to learn, both I myself who felt the burden, can witness, and they also who lived with me. And I thank our Lord, that I now gather sweet fruit from the bitter seed of those studies.” However, he still continued to read the classics with an eagerness and pleasure which degenerated into a passion, and gave him just remorse, it being an impediment to the perfect disengagement of his affections, and the entire reign of God in his heart. Of this disorder he was cured by the merciful hand of God. The saint, in his long epistle to Eustochium, exhorting that virgin, who had embraced a religious state, to read only the holy scriptures and other books of piety and devotion, relates, that being seized with a grievous sickness in the desert, in the heat of a burning fever, he fell into a trance or dream, in which he seemed to himself arraigned before the dreadful tribunal of Christ. Being asked his profession, he answered that he was a Christian. “Thou liest,” said the judge, “thou art a Ciceronian: for the works of that author possess thy heart.”16 The judge thereupon condemned him to be severely scourged by angels; the remembrance of which chastisement left a strong impression upon his imagination after his recovery, and gave him a deep sense of his fault. He promised the judge never more to read those profane authors. “And from that time,” says he, “I gave myself to the reading of divine things with greater diligence and attention than I had ever read other authors.” He indeed declares this to have been a dream:17 nevertheless he looked upon it as a divine admonition, by which he was put in mind of a fault incompatible with the perfection to which every Christian, especially a monk, ought to aspire. From that time he corrected this immoderate passion for reading the classics.† Besides interior trials and temptations, St. Jerom met with many persecutions from the world, of which he writes as follows; “Would to God that all the infidels would rise up together against me, for having defended the glory and the name of the Lord! I wish that the whole world would conspire in blaming my conduct, that I may, by this means, obtain the approbation of Jesus Christ. You are deceived if you think that a Christian can live without persecution. He suffers the greatest who lives under none. Nothing is more to be feared than too long a peace. A storm puts a man upon his guard, and obliges him to exert his utmost efforts to escape shipwreck.”

A great schism at that time divided the church of Antioch, some acknowledging Meletius, and others Paulinus, patriarch. The breach was considerably widened when the Apollinarist heretics chose Vitalis, a man of their sect, bishop of that great city. The monks in the desert of Chalcis warmly took part in this unhappy division, and were for compelling St. Jerom to declare to which of these candidates he adhered. Another controversy among them was, whether one or three hypostases were to be acknowledged in Christ. The Greek word hypostasis was then ambiguous, being by some used for nature, by others for person or subsistence; though it is now taken only for the latter. The Arians on one side, and the Sabellians on the other, sought to ensnare the faithful under the ambiguity of this word. Our saint therefore stood upon his guard against their captious artifices, and answered with caution that if Nature was understood by this word, there was but one in God; but if Person, that there were three. Teased, however, by these importunities, and afflicted with a bad state of health, he left his wilderness, after having passed in it four years, and went to Antioch to his friend Evagrius. A little before he left his desert, he wrote two letters to consult St. Damasus, who had been raised to the papal throne at Rome in 366, what course he ought to steer. In the first he says:18 “I am joined in communion with your holiness, that is, with the chair of Peter; upon that rock I know the Church is built. Whoever eats the lamb out of that house is a profane person. Whoever is not in the ark shall perish in the flood. I do not know Vitalis; I do not communicate with Meletius; Paulinus is a stranger to me Whoever gathers not with you, scatters; that is, he who is not Christ’s, belongs to Antichrist. We ask what this word hypostasis signifies? They say, A subsisting person. We answer, that if that be the meaning of the word, we agree to it. Order me, if you please, what I should do.” This letter was written toward the end of the year 376, or in the beginning of 377. The saint, not receiving a speedy answer, sent soon after another letter to Damasus on the same subject, in which he conjures his holiness to answer his difficulties, and not despise a soul for which Jesus Christ died. “On one side,” said he, “the Arian fury rages, supported by the secular power: on the other side, the Church (at Antioch) being divided into three parts, each would needs draw me to itself. All the time I cease not to cry out: ‘Whoever is united to the chair of Peter he is mine.’ ”19 The answer of Damasus is not extant: but it is certain that he and all the West acknowledged Paulinus patriarch of Antioch, and St. Jerom received from his hands at Antioch the holy order of priesthood before the end of the year 377; to which promotion he only consented on this condition, that he should not be obliged to serve that or any other Church in the functions of his ministry. Soon after his ordination he went into Palestine, and visited the principal holy places situated in different parts of that country, but made Bethlehem his most usual residence. He had recourse to the ablest Jewish doctors to inform himself of all particulars relating to all the remarkable places mentioned in the sacred history,20 and he neglected no means to perfect himself in the knowledge of the Hebrew tongue. For this he addressed himself to the most skilful among the Jews: one of his masters, by whose instructions he exceedingly improved himself, spoke Hebrew with such gracefulness, true accent, and propriety of expression, that he passed among the Jewish doctors for a true Chaldean.21

About the year 380, our saint went to Constantinople, there to study the holy scriptures under St. Gregory Nazianzen, who was then bishop of that city. In several parts of his works he mentions this with singular satisfaction, and gratitude for the honor and happiness of having had so great a master in expounding the divine oracles, as that most eloquent and learned doctor. Upon St. Gregory’s leaving Constantinople, in 381, he returned into Palestine. Not long after, he was called to Rome, as he testifies.22 He went thither in the same year, 381, with St. Paulinus of Antioch and St. Epiphanius, who undertook that journey to attend a council which Damasus held about the schism of Antioch. The two bishops stayed the winter in Rome, and then returned into the East; but pope Damasus detained St. Jerom with him, and employed him as his secretary in writing his letters, in answering the consultations of bishops, and in other important affairs of the Church.23

Our holy doctor soon gained at Rome a universal love and esteem, on account of his religious life, his humility, eloquence, and learning. Many among the chief nobility, clergy, and monks, sought to be instructed by him in the holy scriptures, and in the rules of Christian perfection. He was charged likewise with the conduct of many devout ladies, as St. Marcella, her sister Asella, and their mother Albina; Melania the elder (who is not less famous by the praises of St. Jerom24 than by those of Rufinus), Marcellina, Felicitas, Lea, Fabiola, Læta, Paula, and her daughters, with many others. The holy widow, St. Marcella, having lost her husband in the seventh month after her marriage, refused to marry Cerealis, who had been consul, retired to a country-house near Rome, and made choice of a monastic life forty years before this, in 341, under pope Julius I. when St. Athanasius came to Rome, from whom she received an account of the life of St. Antony, who was then living. She was instructed by St. Jerom in the critical learning of the holy scripture, in which she made great progress, and learned in a short time many things which had cost him abundance of labor. St. Jerom, in one letter, explains to her the ten Hebrew names of God, and the Hebrew words which are adopted in the Church office.25 In another he explains the Ephod and Teraphim,26 and so in others. St. Marcella died in 412, and St. Jerom wrote her funeral elegy to her spiritual daughter Principia.27 Lea was at the head of a monastery of virgins, whom she instructed more by example than by words. She used to spend whole nights in prayer; her clothes and food were very mean, but free from all affectation or ostentation. She was so humble that she appeared to be the servant of all her sisters, though she had formerly been mistress of a great number of slaves. The Church honors her memory on the 22d of March St. Jerom wrote her funeral elegy after her death, in 384.28

Asella was consecrated to God at the age of ten years, and at twelve retired into a cell, where she lay on the ground, and lived upon bread and water, fasting all the year, and being often two or three days without eating, especially in Lent; yet her austerities did not impair her health. She used to work with he hands, and never went abroad, unless it was to visit the churches of the martyrs, and that she did without being seen. Nothing was more cheerful and pleasing than her severity, not more grave than her sweetness. Her very speech proclaimed her love of recollection and silence, and her silence spake aloud to the heart. She never spoke to any man unless upon her spiritual necessities; even her sister Marcella could hardly ever see her. Her conduct was simple and regular, and in the midst of Rome she led a life of solitude. She was fifty years old in 384.29 Fabiola was of the illustrious Fabian family, and, being obliged to be separated from her husband on account of his disorderly conduct, made use of the liberty allowed her by the civil laws, and took a second husband. After his death, finding this had been against the laws of the gospel, she did public penance in the most austere and exemplary manner. After this she sold all her estate, and erected an hospital for the sick in Rome, where she served them with her own hands. She gave immense alms to several monasteries, which were built upon the coasts of Tuscany, and to the poor in Italy and Palestine.30 She died at Rome about the year 400.* The most illustrious of the Roman ladies whom St. Jerom instructed, was St. Paula,31 who engaged him to accept a lodging in her house during his abode in Rome, that she and her family might more easily have recourse to him for their spiritual direction. He tells us that Marcella, Paula, Blesilla, and Eustochium spoke, wrote, and recited the Psalter in Hebrew as perfectly as in the Greek and Latin tongues. The instruction of these and many other devout persons did not so engross our saint’s time and attention, but he was always ready to acquit himself of all that pope Damasus recommended to his care, and, by other labors, to render important services to the Catholic Church. Pope Damasus died in December, 384, and was succeeded by Siricius. The freedom which St. Jerom took in reproving the reigning vices of avarice, vanity, and effeminacy (which invectives several among the clergy took to themselves), raised him many powerful enemies. The authority of pope Damasus kept them in awe so long as he lived; but after his death, envy and calumny were let loose upon our saint. His reputation was attacked in the most outrageous manner; even his simplicity, his manner of walking, his smiling, and the air of his countenance were found fault with. Neither did the severe and eminent virtue of the ladies that were under his direction, nor the reservedness of his own behavior, screen him from censures.32 St. Jerom, partly to yield to this persecution of envy, and partly to follow his own strong inclination to solitude, after having stayed about three years at Rome, resolved to return into the East, there to seek a quiet retreat. He embarked at Porto in the month of August, 385, with his young brother Paulinian, a priest called Vincent, and some others, having been attended from Rome to the ship by many pious persons of distinction. Landing at Cyprus, he was received with great joy by St. Epiphanius. At Antioch he visited the bishop Paulinus, who, when he departed, attended him a considerable part of the way to Palestine. He arrived at Jerusalem in the middle of winter, near the close of the year 385, and in the following spring went into Egypt, to improve himself in sacred learning, and in the most perfect practices of the monastic institute. At Alexandria, he, for a month, received the lessons of the famous Didymus, and profited very much by his conversation in 386.* He visited the chief monasteries of Egypt; after which he returned into Palestine, and retired to Bethlehem. St. Paula, who had followed him thither, built for him a monastery, and put under his direction also the monastery of nuns, which she founded and governed. St. Jerom was soon obliged to enlarge his own monastery, and for that purpose sent his brother Paulinian into Dalmatia, to sell an estate which he still had there. For, as Sanchez and Suarez remark from this example, anciently private religious men could retain the dominion, or a property in estates, though by their vows they renounced the administration, unless they exercised it by the commission of the abbot. St. Jerom also erected a hospital, in which he entertained pilgrims. It was thought that he could not be further instructed in the knowledge of the Hebrew language; but this was not his own judgment of the matter; and he applied again to a famous Jewish master, called Bar-Ananias, who, for a sum of money, came to teach him in the night-time, lest the Jews should know it.33 Church history, which is called one of the eyes of theology, became a favorite study of our holy doctor.* All the heresies which were broached in the Church in his time, found him a warm and indefatigable adversary.

Whilst he was an inhabitant of the desert of Chalcis, he drew his pen against the Luciferian schismatics. After the unhappy council of Rimini, in which many orthodox bishops had been betrayed, contrary to their meaning, into a subscription favorable to the Arians, St. Athanasius, in his council at Alexandria, in 362, and other Catholic prelates, came to a resolution to admit those prelates to communion, upon their repentance. This indulgence displeased Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, a person famous for his zeal and writings against the Arians, in the reign of Constantius. He likewise took offence at the Oriental Catholic bishops refusing to hold communion with Paulinus, whom with his own hands he had consecrated bishop of Antioch, in the place of St. Eustathius. He carried matters so for as to separate himself from the communion of all those who admitted the bishops who had subscribed to the council of Rimini, even after they had made a reasonable satisfaction. This gave rise to his schism, in which he had some few followers at Antioch, in Sardinia, and in Spain. He is not accused of any error in faith. Leaving Antioch, where he had sown the first seeds of his schism, he returned into Sardinia, and died at Cagliari, nine years after, in 371.* St. Jerom composed a Dialogue against the Luciferians, in which he plainly demonstrates, by the acts of the council of Rimini, that in it the bishops were imposed upon. In the same work he confutes the private heresy of Hilary, a Luciferian deacon at Rome, that the Arians, and all other heretics and schismatics, were to be rebaptized; on which account St. Jerom calls him the Deucalion of the world.34

Our holy doctor, whilst he resided at Rome, in the time of pope Damasus, in 384, composed his book against Helvidius, On the Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.35 That heretic was an Arian priest, a disciple of the impious Auxentius of Milan, and had written a book, in which he broached this error, that Mary did not remain always a virgin, but had other children by St. Joseph, after the birth of Christ. This heresy was also adopted by Jovinian, who having spent his youth at Milan in fasting, manual labor, and other austerities of a monastic state, left his monastery, went to Rome, and there began to spread his errors, which may be chiefly reduced to these four: That they who have been regenerated by baptism with perfect faith, cannot be again vanquished by the devil: That all who shall have preserved the grace of baptism, will have an equal reward in heaven: That virgins have no greater merit before God than married women, if they are equal in other virtues; and, that the Mother of God was not always a virgin: lastly, That abstinence from certain meats is unprofitable.36 Jovinian lived at Rome in a manner suitable to his sensual principles. Though he still called himself a monk, and observed celibacy, he threw off his black habit, wore fine white stuffs, linen, and silks, curled his hair, frequented the baths and houses of entertainment, and was fond of sumptuous feasts and delicate wines. St. Pammachius and certain other noble laymen, were scandalized at his new doctrine, and having met with a writing of Jovinian, in which these errors were contained, carried it to pope Siricius, who, assembling his clergy in 390, condemned the same, and cut off Jovinian, and eight others (who are named together as authors of this new heresy), from the communion of the Church. Upon this, Jovinian, and the rest that were condemned, withdrew to Milan, and Siricius sent thither the sentence of condemnation he had published against them, with a brief confutation of their errors, so that they were rejected there by everybody with horror, and driven out of the city. St. Ambrose also held a council of seven bishops who happened then to be at Milan, in which these errors were again condemned.37 Two years after this, St. Jerom wrote two books Against Jovinian.38 In the first, he shows the merit and excellency of holy virginity embraced for the sake of virtue; which he demonstrates from St. Paul, and other parts of the New Testament, from the tradition and sense of the Church, from the celibacy of its ministers, and from the advantages of this state for piety, especially for the exercises of prayer, though he grants marriage to be holy in the general state of the world. Jovinian himself confessed the obligation of bishops to live continent, and that a violation of a vow of virginity is a spiritual incest.39 Our saint, in his second book, confutes the other errors of that heresiarch. Certain expressions in this work seemed to some persons in Rome, harsh, and derogatory from the honor due to matrimony: and St. Pammachius informed St. Jerom of the offence which some took at them. The holy doctor wrote his Apology to Pammachius, sometimes called his third book against Jovinian,40 in which he shows, from his own book, which had raised this clamor, that he commended marriage as honorable and holy, and protests that he condemns not even second or third marriages. He repeated the same thing in a letter which he wrote to Domnio, about the same time, and upon the same subject.41

In the year 404, Riparius, a priest in Spain, wrote to St. Jerom to acquaint him that Vigilantius, a native of Convenæ, now called Comminges, in Gaul, but a priest of Barcelona, depreciated the merit of holy virginity, and condemned the veneration of relics, calling those who paid it idolators and Cinerarians, or worshippers of ashes. St. Jerom, in his answer, exclaimed loudly against those novelties, and said: “We do not adore the relics of the martyrs; but we honor them that we may adore him whose martyrs they are. We honor the servants, that the respect which is paid to them may be reflected back on the Lord.” He prayed Riparius to send him Vigilantius’s book, which he no sooner received, than he set himself to confute it in a very sharp style.42 He shows, first, the excellency of virginity, and the celibacy of the clergy, from the discipline observed in the their patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. He vindicates the honor paid to martyrs from idolatry, because no Christian ever adored them as gods. Vigilantius complained, that their relics were covered with precious silks. St. Jerom asked him, if Constantius was guilty of sacrilege, when he translated to Constantinople, in rich shrines, the relics of SS. Andrew, Luke, and Timothy, in the presence of which the evil spirits roar? or Arcadius, when he caused the bones of Samuel to be carried out of Palestine to Thrace, where they were deposited with the greatest honor and solemnity, in a church built in honor of that prophet near the Hebdomon? In order to show that the saints pray for us, St. Jerom saith, “If the apostles and martyrs, being still living upon earth, can pray for other men, how much more may they do it after their victories? Have they less power now they are with Jesus Christ?” He insists much on the miracles wrought at their tombs. Vigilantius said they were for the sake of the infidels. The holy doctor answers, they would still be no less a proof of the power of the martyrs, and, testifying his respect for these relics and holy places, he says of himself: “When I have been molested with anger, evil thoughts, or nocturnal illusions, I have not dared to enter the churches of his martyrs.” He mentions, that the bishops of Rome offered up sacrifices to God over the venerable bones of the apostles Peter and Paul, and made altars of their tombs. He accuseth Eunomius of being the author of this heresy, and says, that if his new doctrine were true, all the bishops in the world would be in an error. He defends the institution of vigils and the monastic state; and says, that a monk seeks his own security by flying occasions and dangers, because he mistrusteth his own weakness, and is sensible that there is no safety if a man sleeps near a serpent. St. Jerom often speaks of the saints in heaven praying for us. Thus he entreated Heliodorus to pray for him when he should be in glory,43 and told St. Paula, upon the death of her daughter Blesilla:44 “She now prayeth the Lord for you, and obtaineth for me the pardon of my sins.”

Our saint was also engaged in a long war against Origenism. Few ever made more use of Origen’s works, and no one seemed a greater admirer of his erudition than St. Jerom declared himself for a considerable time.45 but finding in the East that several monks and others had been seduced into grievous errors by the authority of his name, and some of his writings, our saint joined St. Epiphanius in warmly opposing the spreading evil. This produced a violent quarrel between him and his old friend Rufinus, after an intimacy of twenty-five years;* the latter everywhere extolling the authority of Origen, and having translated into Latin the most erroneous of all his works, though it afterward appeared by his conduct that he had no design to favor the pestilential heresies of the Origenists, who denied the eternity of the torments of hell, held the pre-existence of souls, the plurality of worlds succeeding one another to eternity, and other errors. St. Jerom could suffer no heresy to pass without his censure. Being informed by one Ctesiphon, that the errors of Pelagius made great progress in the East, and that many were seduced by them, he wrote him a short confutation thereof in 414. He again handled the same questions in his Dialogue against the Pelagians, which he published in 416. In these dialogues he writes: “I will answer them that I never spared heretics, and have done my utmost endeavors that the enemies of the Church should be also my enemies.”* He was deeply concerned to hear of the plundering of Rome by Alaric in 410, and of the cruel famine which succeeded that calamity. Many Romans fled as far as Bethlehem, and it was the charitable employment of our saint to entertain them, and give them all possible succor and comfort. He was shocked at the sight of such a number of noble fugitives of both sexes, reduced at once to beggary; after possessing immense riches, now seeking food and shelter, naked, wounded; and still, as they wandered about, exposed to the insults of barbarians, who thought them loaded with gold: all these miseries forced tears from the saint’s eyes, whilst he was endeavoring to find means to assist them. When Demetrias, daughter of the consul Olibrius, took the religious veil at Carthage, her mother Juliana, and her grandmother Proba, wrote to St. Jerom, praying him to give her some instructions for her conduct. In order to comply with their request, he wrote her a long letter, in which he directed her how she was to serve God, recommending to her pious reading the exercise of penance, constant but moderate fasting, obedience, humility, modesty, almsdeeds, prayers at all hours of the day, and working daily with her hands. He would have her rather choose to dwell in a nunnery with other virgins, than to live alone, as at that time some did.

Nothing has rendered the name of St. Jerom so famous as his critical labors on the holy scriptures. For this the Church acknowledges him to have been raised by God through a special providence, and particularly assisted from above, and she styles him the greatest of all her doctors in expounding the divine oracles. Pope Clement VIII. scruples not to call him a man, in translating the holy scriptures, divinely assisted and inspired. He was furnished with the greatest helps for such an undertaking, living many years upon the spot, whilst the remains of ancient places, names, customs, which were still recent, and other circumstances, set before his eyes a clearer representation of many things recorded in holy writ than it is possible to have at a great distance of place and time: as the multitude of lizards, and many other circumstances, which still occur in the country where Virgil wrote his Bucolics, paint a lively image of his beautiful similes and allusions, so that the eye seems almost to behold the objects and the other senses are in like manner struck with them, almost as if they were present. The Greek and Chaldaic were then living languages, and the Hebrew, though it had ceased to be such from the time of the captivity, was not less perfectly understood and spoken among the doctors of the law in its ful extent, and with the true pronunciation. It was carefully cultivated in the Jewish academy, or great school of Tiberias, out of which St. Jerom had a master. It is long since become very imperfect, reduced to a small number of radical words, and only to be learned from the Hebrew Bible, the only ancient book in the world extant in that language. Most of the Rabbinical writers are more likely to mislead us in the study of the Hebrew sacred text, than to direct us in it; so that we have now no means to come at many succors which St. Jerom had for this task.* Among others, the Hexapla of Origen, which he possessed pure and entire, were not the least: and, by comparing his version with the present remains of those of Aquila, Theodotio, and Symmachus. we find he had often recourse to them, especially to that of Symmachus.46 Above other conditions, it is necessary that an interpreter of the holy scriptures be a man of prayer and sincere piety. This alone can obtain light and succor from heaven, give to the mind a turn and temper which are necessary for being admitted into the sanctuary of the divine oracles, and present the key. Our holy doctor was prepared by a great purity of heart, and a life spent in penance and holy contemplation, before he was called by God to this important undertaking.

A Latin translation of the Bible was made from the Greek in the time of the apostles, and probably approved or recommended by some of them, especially, according to Rufinus,47 by St. Peter, who, as he says, sat twenty-five years at Rome. That it was the work of several hands is proved by Mr. Milles, who, during the space of thirty years, examined all the editions and versions of the sacred text with indefatigable application,48 by Calmet,49 and Blanchini.50 In the fourth century great variations had crept into the copies, as St. Jerom mentions, so that almost every one differed.51 For many that understood Greek, undertook to translate anew some part, or to make some alterations from the origina1.52 However, as Blanchini observes, these alterations seem to have been all grafted upon, or inserted in the first translation: for they seem all to have gone under the name of the Latin Vulgate, or common translation. Amongst them one obtained the name of the Italic, perhaps because it was chiefly used in Italy and Rome; and this was far preferable to all the other Latin editions, as St. Austin testifies. To remedy the inconvenience of this variety of editions, and to correct the faults of bold or careless copiers, pope Damasus commissioned St. Jerom to revise and correct the Latin version of the gospels by the original Greek: which this holy doctor executed to the great satisfaction of the whole church.53 He afterward did the same with the rest of the New Testament.54 This work of St. Jerom’s differs very much in the words from the ancient Italic. It insensibly took place in all the Western Churches, and is the Latin Vulgate of the New Testament, which is now everywhere in use.* The edition of the Greek Septuagint which was inserted in Origen’s Hexapla, being the most exact extant, St. Jerom corrected by it the ancient Italic of many books of the Old Testament, and twice the Psalter: first, by order of pope Damasus at Rome, about the year 382; and a second time, at Bethlehem about the year 389.

His new translation of the books of the Old Testament, written in Hebrew, made from that original text, was a more noble and a more difficult under taking.* Many motives concurred to engage him in this work; as the earnest entreaties of many devout and illustrious friends, the preference of the original to any version how venerable soever, and the necessity of an swering the Jews, who in all disputations would allow no other. He did not translate the books in order, but began by the books of Kings, and took the rest in hand at different times. This translation of St. Jerom’s was received in many Churches in the time of St. Gregory the Great, who gave it the preference.55 And in a short time after, St. Isidore of Seville wrote that all Churches made use of it.56 They retained the ancient Italic version of the psalter, which they were accustomed to sing in the divine office; but admitted by degrees, in some places the first, in others the second correction of St. Jerom upon the Seventy; and this is printed in the Vulgate Bible, not his translation. The old Italic without his correction is still sung in the church of the Vatican, and in St. Mark’s at Venice. The books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, the two books of the Machabees; the prophecy of Baruch, the epistle of Jeremy, the additions at the end of Esther, and, the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Daniel, and the Canticle of the Three Children, are in the ancient Vulgate, because they were not translated by St. Jerom, not being extant in Hebrew or Chaldaic. The rest of the Old Testament in the present Vulgate is taken from the translation of St. Jerom, except certain passages retained from the old Vulgate or Italic.*

St. Jerom’s translation of the Bible was correctly published by Dom. Martianay, under the title of his Sacred Library: this composes the first volume of his works in the Benedictin edition. This saint ascertained the geographical description of ancient Palestine, by translating, correcting, and enlarging Eusebius’s book, On the Holy Places, and by his letters to Dardanus and Fabiola. In several little treatises and epistles he has cleared a great number of critical difficulties relating to the Hebrew text of the Holy Bible. In his commentaries On the Prophets, he inquires after the sense of the Hebrew text or Truth, as he calls it, to which he scrupulously adheres, though he compares it with all the ancient Greek translations. He adds short allegorical explications, and professes that he sometimes inserts certain opinions and interpretations of Origen and others, without adopting or approving them. His Commentary on St. Matthew he calls only an essay which he wrote in the compass of a few days, to satisfy the importunity of a friend, with an intention to enlarge and improve it when he should have leisure for such an undertaking, which he never found.†

St. Jerom. toward the end of his life, was obliged to interrupt his studies by an incursion of barbarians, who penetrated through Egypt into Palestine,57 and, some time after, by the violences and persecutions of the Pelagians, who, after the council of Diospolis, in 416, relying on the protection of John of Jerusalem, sent the year following a troop of seditious banditti to Bethlehem, to assault the holy monks and nuns who lived there under the direction of St. Jerom.58 Some were beaten, and a deacon was killed by them. The heretic, set fire to all the monasteries, and reduced them to ashes. St. Jerom with great difficulty escaped their fury by a timely flight, retiring to a strong castle. The two virgins, St. Eustochium and her niece, the younger Paula, were exposed to still greater dangers, and saw their habitation consumed with fire, and those that belonged to them most barbarously beaten before their faces. After this storm St. Jerom continued his exercises and labors, hated by all enemies of the Church, but beloved and reverenced by all good men, as St. Sulpicius Severus and St. Austin59 testify. Having triumphed over all vices, subdued the infernal monsters of heresies, and made his life a martyrdom of penance and labors, at length by a fever, in a good old age, he was released from the prison of his body, in the year 420, on the 30th of September. His festival is mentioned in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, and in the Martyrologies of Bede, Usuard, &c. He was buried in a vault at the ruins of his monastery at Bethlehem; but his remains lie at present in the church of St. Mary Major at Rome. St. Jerom made the meditation on death and divine judgments the great employment of his solitude. The following saying is by some ascribed to him: “Whether I eat or drink, or whatever else I do, the dreadful trumpet of the last day seems always sounding in my ears! Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment!”

It was equally in a spirit of penance, and of zeal to advance the divine honor, that this holy doctor applied himself with such unwearied diligence to those sacred studies, by which he rendered most eminent services to the Church. The commentaries of the ancient fathers on the divine oracles are not all equally useful. Allegorical interpretations, unless pointed out by some inspired writer, serve chiefly to convey that moral instruction which they contain, and to introduce which they have been sometimes employed by great men in familiar discourses to the people. Of all commentaries those are most useful which expound the mysteries of faith, or dwell on and enforce Christian virtues by motives, founded in the literal genuine sense of the sacred writings, in which inspired words the perfect spirit, and, as it were, the marrow of all virtues is contained. It is only by assiduous humble meditation on the sacred text that its inexhausted riches in this respect, concealed in every tittle, can be understood. The admirable comments of St. Chrysostom will be an excellent guide and key; by making some parts of them familiar to us, we shall inure ourselves to this method in our application to these sacred studies. We must bring with us that spirit of prayer, and that humble docility by which so many holy doctors have been rendered faithful interpreters of the word of God. The tradition of the Church must be our direction. Without an humble submission to this light we are sure to be led astray, and the most learned men who do not stick close to this rule (as experience and the most sacred authority conspire to teach us) tread in the steps of all those whose study of the scriptures has hurt the Church instead of serving her, as Dr. Hare, the learned bishop of Chichester, observes.60 For, says he, “The orthodox faith does not depend upon the scriptures considered in themselves, but as explained by catholic tradition.” As the solid interpretation of the sacred books is founded in the genuine and literal sense, to give this its fullest extent and force in every particle, the aid of sober criticism is to be called in; in which, among the Latin fathers, no one equals St. Jerom. But then his moderation must be imitated. What can be more absurd than that, in explaining the oracles of God, their end should he forgotten and kept out of sight; that interpreters should stop at the shell, and spend all their time in grammatical and critical niceties, and make the divine truth an object of idle amusement and curiosity, or a gratification of foolish, sinful vanity in displaying an empty show of philosophical learning, and insignificant criticism. This is the case of many huge volumes of modern commentators, in which Christ and virtue are scarce named in the pretended expositions of those divine oracles which point out nothing but them. This made Mr. Reeves, an ingenious Protestant divine, say, The example of St. Jerom shows that criticism was not neglected by the fathers in interpreting and vindicating the holy scriptures; but they were chiefly solicitous in beautifully applying the types, figures, and prophecies, in setting forth Christ, and in bringing men to him. Whereas the learned Grotius and many other moderns are so jejune and empty, and so strangely sparing upon our Lord’s divinity, &c. that, upon comparison, there seems to me, says this author, as much difference between the ancients and some moderns, as between a man himself and his clothes stuffed with straw.

SEPTEMBER 30 — ST. GREGORY, B. SURNAMED THE APOSTLE OF ARMENIA,* AND THE ILLUMINATOR

This apostolic man was a native of Greater Armenia, and by receiving his education at Cæsarea in Cappadocia, was there instructed in the Christian faith and baptized. He opened his heart to the lessons of eternal life with so great ardor as entirely to banish the love of the world and the concupiscence of the flesh. Having spent some years in the study of the science of salvation, and in the heroic exercise of all virtues, he was touched with a vehement desire of procuring the salvation of his countrymen. This important affair he long recommended to God by his most fervent prayers, and at length returned to Armenia, and there preached the faith of our crucified Redeemer. The zeal and heavenly spirit with which he was animated, and with which he proclaimed the great truths of eternal life, gave, an irresistible force to his words; nor were miracles wanting to confirm the holy doctrine which he announced. The people flocked to him in great multitudes to receive the holy sacrament of regeneration, and to be directed in the paths of salvation. The anonymous life of our saint in Surius says, that he suffered much in this arduous employment; but that after some time Tiridates, the king of that country, embraced the faith. We are informed by Eusebius,1 that Maximin Daia, at that time Cæsar in the East, and a violent persecutor of the Church, provoked at the wonderful progress which the faith made in Armenia, invaded that country; but was repulsed with confusion. This was the first war on account of religion mentioned in history.

St. Gregory was consecrated bishop by St. Leontius, bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, and continued his labors in propagating the faith over all Armenia, and among many very barbarous nations near the Caspian sea, as far as Mount Caucasus. He was called to bliss before Constantine the Great became master of the East, the Greek menologies say by martyrdom. An anonymous panegyric of this saint, published among the works of St. Chrysostom,2 mentions several discourses full of heavenly wisdom to have been written by him; also an exposition of faith, which he gave to the Armenians. The Abbé de Villefroi informs us that this exposition of faith and twenty-three homilies of this glorious saint are preserved in an Armenian MS. kept in the king’s library at Paris. See this saint’s life in Surius; the above mentioned panegyrics; Le Brun sur les Liturgies, t. 3 et 4; Lequien Oriens Christian. t. 1 et 3; Galanus, Hist. Armen. Narrat. de rebus Armen. by Combefis; and Moses Chorenensis, in his history of Armenia,1. 2. c. 88 p. 224. This history was published at London in 4to. in 1736, by William and by George Whiston, who maintain that the author lived in the fifth age, but they are certainly mistaken, for the work must be more modern. As to the life of St. Gregory the Illuminator, attributed by some to St. Chrysostom, it is apocryphal. See Stilting in vita S. Chrysost. t. 4. Sept. § 83, p. 663.

SEPTEMBER 30 — ST. HONORIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, C

This apostolic man was a Roman by birth, and a monk by profession. St. Gregory the Great, from the experience which he had of his great virtue, and skill in sacred literature, made choice of him for one of the holy missionaries which he sent to convert the English nation to the faith. Upon the death of St. Justus about the year 630, St. Honorius was chosen archbishop of Canterbury. He was consecrated at Lincoln by St. Paulinus, archbishop of York, and received the pall sent from Rome by pope Honorius I., together with a letter, in which his holiness ordained, that whenever either the see of Canterbury or York should become vacant, the other archbishop should ordain the person that should be duly elected.* Our holy archbishop saw with joy the faith of Christ extended daily in many different parts of this island, and the spirit of the gospel to take deep root in the hearts of many chosen servants of God. His care in filling all places with pastors truly dead to the world and all worldly interests or views, and his own zealous labors and shining example contributed exceedingly, with the divine blessing, to so wonderful an increase. He died on the 30th of September, in 653, and was succeeded by Deusdedit. His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology. See Bede, Hist.1. 2, c. 18, 20;1. 3, c. 20. Wharton, Anglia Sacra, t. 1, and the life of this saint by Goscelin abridged in Capgrave, and entire in a fair old MS. in the Cotton library.