The Order of S. Francis, and that of S. Dominic, were created by the Church for resisting the mighty pressure. The former, in its characteristics of poverty and love, the latter, in its specialities of eloquence and learning, were designed to manifest the perfection of Christianity in a world full of the pomp of riches and the maddening influences of pantheistic mysticism. These two Orders had chairs at Naples. Probably young Aquino was struck by the devotedness and ability of the Dominican professors. The special scope of the Order, its love for learning, its active ministrations to humanity, while still retaining the self-restraint of solitaries, and the humility of monks, must have struck a new chord, or an old chord in a new fashion, in the heart of the saint. Anyhow, he soon became intimate with the Fathers of the Order, and especially with his dear friend, John à Sancto Facundo.

In the end, S. Thomas, who was then either sixteen or seventeen years old, petitioned for the habit of S. Dominic. The fathers determined to put his perseverance to the proof. They required him to make the demand in public. On the day appointed, from a very early hour, the church was flooded by a great crowd, amongst which might be observed persons of the highest distinction in the city. The religious of the house ranged themselves in the choir. Thomas advanced into the midst of these two clouds of witnesses, and received from the Superior, Fra Tomaso d'Agni di Lentino, the badges of penance and subjection. When S. Thomas entered the order, John of Germany was general (1239-1254), and a constellation of famous men shone with a steady light from the Corona Fratrum. In Germany there was Albertus Magnus. Hugh of S. Caro edified all France by his sanctity; and Peter of Verona, and John of Vicenza, were its ornaments in Italy.

It may be imagined that Theodora was not pleased when she heard of the ceremony from the lamentations of some of her vassals, who had seen the young count dressed up as a Dominican friar. She forthwith hastened to Naples with a large retinue. No sooner did the Dominicans learn that she was on her way, than they hurried the boy off, – some say at his own request – with several companions, to Rome, by a different route from that usually followed by travellers.

Theodora speedily followed him to Rome. In vain she tried to obtain a sight of him by entreaties the most imploring, and by threats the most indignant. She then bewailed her hard lot amongst the Roman nobility, and denounced to the pope the rapacity of the friars, who had robbed her of her boy.

The Dominicans, dreading her influence in the city, sent S. Thomas to Paris. Theodora, hearing of his departure, sent off a courier to his two brothers, who were ravaging Lombardy with a band of Frederick's soldiers, beseeching them to secure the fugitive. They set guards to watch the passes through which the Dominicans could escape. As the friars lay resting under a tree, near Acquapendente, they were surrounded by armed men, and Thomas found himself a prisoner in the hands of his brothers. The two young soldiers behaved with great brutality to the saint, and forcing him on horseback, they carried him to San Giovanni.

His mother made use of every argument she could invent to turn him from his purpose; she brought into play all the passions of her nature, her tears, her entreaties, her threats, her love; but without effect. Perceiving that he remained unmoveable, she threw him into prison, and set guards to watch outside. His sisters seconded their mother; they alone were allowed to wait on him, and they practised all their arts to turn him from his vocation. But in the end, his calm deportment, his resignation and tenderness, won them over. They put him in a position to communicate with the brethren. The saint procured a Bible, the Book of the "Sentences," and some of the works of Aristotle, and learned them by heart. Thus it was that he prepared himself for his mighty labours in the future.

His brothers persevered in their attempts to force him from religion. They were furious when they found that, far from being changed himself, Thomas had converted both his sisters. They forbade the girls to approach him; and bursting in upon him, insulted him with brutal jests, and ended by tearing his habit, piece by piece, from off his back. Then Brother John of S. Giuliano brought another habit for him from Naples, which he had concealed beneath his own. This made his brothers more enraged than before. They formed the infamous expedient of hiring a prostitute, and shutting her up in the cell with Thomas. While waiting the issue, a fearful shriek proceeding from the prison, summoned the two brothers; they arrived in time to see the girl rushing away in an agony of terror, and the young man chasing her with a blazing brand, which he had plucked out of the fire. Even the brutality of the young soldiers was overcome by this; and from that day forth, they ceased their persecutions.

Before his death, the saint told his familiar friend, Rainald, that no sooner had the girl been driven out, than he made a cross with the charred brand upon the wall, and casting himself upon his knees before it, made a vow of chastity for life. Whilst thus praying, he fell into a calm sleep, and was vouchsafed a vision. He saw angels descending from the clouds, who bound his loins with the girdle of continence, and armed him for life as the warrior of Heaven. This girdle is said to have been given after his death to the Dominicans of Vercelli, who refused to part with it at the command of a pope.

Still his relations kept him in confinement, some say for two years, and would have detained him longer, had it not been for the influence of the Dominicans with the pope. The holy father was roused. He not only brought the case before the emperor, but he ordered him to set the prisoner free, and threatened to visit the perpetrators of the outrage with condign punishment. Frederick, having latterly been humiliated by the Viterbesi, and having, in consequence, been abandoned by some of his supporters, was not sorry for an opportunity of gratifying the pontiff. Orders were at once sent to Landolf and Rainald to set the captive free. Still these stubborn soldiers with their haughty mother would take no active steps to give Thomas his liberty. However, his sisters informed John of S. Giuliano of the position of affairs, and he at once hurried to the castle accompanied by one or two companions. And finally, the girls let their brother down, through the window, like another S. Paul, into the hands of his delighted brethren below, who at once hurried him off to Naples.

Tocco says that John of S. Giuliano, others that Tomaso d'Agni di Lentino, was Superior of the Convent, and received our saint's profession. Theodora, repenting that she had let him escape, applied to the pope to annul his vows. The holy father sent for S. Thomas, and questioned him in the presence of the court. He, with his natural modesty, and yet with gentle firmness, told the pope how unmistakeable was the voice which had called him to religion, and implored the holy father to protect him. Innocent, and the prelates about him, could not suppress their emotion. The pope acted with great benevolence. Knowing Theodora's weakness, he proposed to make Thomas abbot of Monte Cassino, whilst still allowing him to wear the habit of S. Dominic, and to partake of the privileges of the friars. His mother and his brothers implored Thomas to accept the tempting offering. But he was inexorable. He besought the pope to leave him to abide in his vocation. Thenceforward his mother no longer worried him, and his brothers left him alone to pursue his own course.

From the first, the Dominicans seem to have had a kind of fore-knowledge of the great combat that would have to be waged in the arena of human reason. From the first, with prudence, forethought, and wise economy, they prepared a system for turning the abilities of their members to the fullest account. With them no intellect was lost. Power was recognised, trained, and put in motion. Those who were less gifted, were set to less intellectual employments: those who had great powers were fitted to become lights of the world and ornaments of the Order. With such an intellectual capital as our saint possessed, he might fairly have been set to work in the active ministrations of his Order. But, fortunately, his superiors were men who looked into the future, and knew how a present sacrifice would be repaid. Thus, instead of looking on S. Thomas's education as finished, they considered it as only just begun. Who was to be his master to ripen his active mind?

This question John of Germany, 4th General of the Dominicans, must have asked himself. At last he set out with S. Thomas on foot, from Rome to Paris, and from Paris to Cologne, where Albertus Magnus then was. It is related that as they descried the beauty of Paris in the distance, the general turned to Thomas and said, "What would you give to be king of that city?" "I would rather have S. Chrysostom's treatise on S. Matthew," replied the young man, "than be king of the whole of France."

S. Thomas met his match in Albertus Magnus. Nothing is a greater blessing for a master-mind than to come in contact with another master-mind, more highly educated, and with a more matured experience than itself. Albert was born of noble family at Lavingen, in Suabia, (1193 A.D.) Some say that, like S. Isidore, he was dull as a boy. At Padua, where he was studying medicine and mathematics, he was drawn by Brother Jordan's eloquence to join the Dominicans. He was sent to Bologna, then the second centre of the intellectual world. Next he began to teach. As a lecturer he was unrivalled: all classes thronged into the hall of this extraordinary man. The logic, ethics, and physics of Aristotle, and portions of Holy Writ, were the subject matter of his lectures. After settling at Cologne, he was summoned to Paris in 1228, to put the studies on a footing to meet the requirements of the age. Then he returned to Cologne. It was at this period that he first met S. Thomas, who became his favourite disciple, and to whom, in private, he opened the stores of his capacious mind.

The companions of S. Thomas in Albert's school, were men filled with the impression that to exert the reasoning faculties in debating scholastic questions, was one of the principal ends of all philosophy. It is not extraordinary that such men as these, when they saw young Aquino so silent, should imagine that nothing occupied his thoughts; especially when they perceived that he was equally reserved in school. They soon came to the conclusion that he was a naturally obtuse lad. What is more strange is this, – that Albert at first held him to be deficient. He was called by master and pupils, "the great dumb Sicilian ox." Once, when studying in his cell, he heard a voice crying to him, "Brother Thomas, here! quick, look at this flying ox!" When S. Thomas went to the window, he was received with shouts of derision. In explanation he said incisively: "I did not believe an ox could fly, nor did I, till now, believe that a religious could tell a lie."

A companion one day offered to assist him in his lesson. S. Thomas assented; presently his friend came to a hard passage, which was beyond his depth, the saint took the book from him, and explained the passage with great clearness. Albert had selected a difficult question from the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite; this the scholars passed to S. Thomas; he took it to his cell; and first stating all the objections that could be made against it, he then answered them. A brother picked up this paper, and carried it to Albert. His master ordered him to defend a thesis the next day before the whole school. Thomas spoke with such clearness, established his thesis with such dialectical skill, saw so far into the difficulties of the case, and handled the whole subject in so masterly a manner, that Albert exclaimed, "Thou seemest to me not to be defending the case, but to be deciding it." "Master," he replied, "I know not how to treat the question otherwise." Albert, to test him further, started objections, but Thomas solved every difficulty so successfully, that Albert cried out, "We call this youth 'Dumb Ox,' but the day will come when the whole world will resound with his bellowing."

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In the reign of Trajan, says the Life, but this is very questionable. Monastic life was not developed then to the extent shown in this story.

The wealth of some of the harlots of olden times was enormous. Phryne offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes at her own cost if allowed to inscribe on them, "What Alexander, the conqueror, pulled down, Phryne, the harlot, set up."

Many of these details of S. Chad's life are taken from Mr. Warner's excellent life of S. Chad.

The reader will here recall the account of Lancelot and the Sacring in the Tower by Joseph of Arimathæa, in the Morte d'Arthur.

Aleidis or Alice.

A pun in the Greek, impossible to translate.

The following is a specimen of the stories told by this author: Winwaloe had a sister at home, who was one day playing with the geese belonging to her father, when one of them flew at her, pecked out, and swallowed her eye. The parents were in despair. Then an angel appeared to the holy boy, Winwaloe, and told him of the trouble. Winwaloe at once hastened home, singled out the guilty goose, sliced open its belly, removed the eye of his sister from its crop, and replaced it in his sister's head, and she saw as well as before. The boy then miraculously healed the goose, and dismissed it to rejoin the flock. After this he returned to his master and studies.

He is called Guennole, or Vignevale, in French. At Montreuil-sur-Mer, of which place he is patron, he is called S. Valois. His name has also been corrupted into Valvais and Vennole.

The best account of the Manichæan tenets of the medæval heretics is in Hahn: Geschichte der Ketzer, vol. i.; the texts are given in notes, upon which he bases his opinion. See also Gieseler's Ecclesiastical Hist., 3rd division, chap. vii.; but Gieseler is less full and impartial than Hahn.

"Hæreticus ponit duo principia, diabolum dicens creatorem omnium visibilium." Pet. Vallium Sarnaii, apud Bouquet xix. p. 5. Reiner in Max. Bibl. xxv. p. 263. "Quorum finis est Manichæorum induere sectam et duos fateri Deos, quorum malignus, ut procaciter mentiuntur, creavit omnia visibilia." – Lucas Tudens. xvi., p. 240.

"Sathanam magnum Luciferum qui propter elevationem et nequitiam suam de throno bonorum cecidit angelorum, creatorem cœli et terræ, omniumque rerum visibilium et invisiblium, spirituum malorum creatorem et principem et Deum esse profitebantur ipsumque legem Moysi dedisse asseverant." – Chron. Gonfredi in Bouquet xii., p. 448.

"Erant alii hæretici qui dicebant quod unus est Creator; sed habuit filios, Christum et diabolum." Petr. Vall. Sarn. apud Bouquet xix. p. 5.

Petr. Vall. Sarn. ib., c. 2.

Ibid., p. 5.

Arch. Inquisit. Carcass. in Vaissette iii., p. 435.

"Dicebant in secreto suo, quod Christus ille qui natus est in Bethleem, terrestori et visibili, et in Hierusalem crucifixus, malus fuit; et quod Maria Magdalena fuit ejus concubina, et ipsa fuit muiler in adulterio deprehensa, de qua legitur in Evangelio. Bonus enim Christus … nunquam comedit vel bibit, nec veram carnem assumpsit, nec unquam fuit in hoc mundo nisi spiritualiter in corpore Pauli." Petr. Vall. Sarn. apud Bouquet xix. p. 5 "Quod Dei filius non assumpsit in beata et de beata Virgine carnem veram, sed fantasticam." Reg. Inquisit. Carcass. apud Vaissette ii. p. 372.

Petr. Vall. Sarn. ib. xix. p. 5; Reiner, in Mar. Bibl. xxv. p. 263; Lucas Tudens. ib. p. 241; Acta Conc. Lumbar. Bouquet xiv. p. 438.

Petr. Vall. Sarn. ib. p. 5, 6. "Dicunt quod anima hominis non est nisi purus sanguis," Reg. Inq. Carcass. Vaissette p. 327.

Lucas Tud. in Max. Bibl. xxv. De altera vita, p. 193-212.

Reiner, in Max. Bibl. xxv. p. 263. Petr. Vall. Sarn. apud Bouquet xix. p. 5, etc. "Sacrum matrimonium meretricium esse, nec aliquem in ipso salvari posse prædicabant, filios et filias generando."

"Dicunt quod simplex fornicatio non est peccatum aliquod." Reg. Inq. Carcass. Vaissette iii. p. 371.

Historia Inquisitionis, Amst. 1692, c. 8.

A large number of the sentences – all the most important – are translated and published in Maitland's Tracts and Documents, together with many of the letters, bulls, edicts, and controversial writings on the Albigenses.

Foulques was famous as a troubadour for his licentious poetry. His biography is given December 25: by an irony of fate, the commemoration of this firebrand is on Christmas Day, when "Peace on earth" was sung by angels.

See Dr. Lanigan's Irish Eccl. Hist. ii. p. 483-6.

Jacques II. of Bourbon, Count of la Marche and de Castres, married to Jeanne Q. of Naples and Sicily, was imprisoned by his wife, but escaped, and becoming a third Order brother of S. Francis, at Besancon, died there, Sept. 24, 1428.

These stocks, called Nervus, were a wooden machine with many holes, in which the prisoners' feet were fastened and stretched to great distances, as to the fourth or fifth holes, for the increase of their torments. S. Perpetua remarks, they were chained, and also set in this engine during their stay in the camp-prison, which seems to have been several days, in expectation of the day of the public shows.

It is evident from the visions S. Perpetua had of her little brother, that the Church, at that early age, believed the doctrine of Purgatory, and prayed for the faithful departed.

Pro ordine venatorum. Venatores is the name given to those that were armed to encounter the beasts, who put themselves in ranks, with whips in their hands, and each of them gave a lash to the Bestiarii, or those condemned to the beasts, whom they obliged to pass naked before them in the middle of the pit or arena.

Does not this remind the classic scholar of the description of the death of Polyxena, by Talthybius, in the Hecuba, "She even in death showed much care to fall decently."

Such is the legend, but possibly it may have been coined after the death of S. Thomas.

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