The Lives of the Saints, Volume 1 (of 16)

53

S. Jerome, Prœf. in Reg. S. Pachomii, § 6.

54

Pallad. Hist. Lausiaca, c. 7.

55

S. John Chrysostom, in Matt., hom. VIII. The above account of the life of the monks in Egypt is by the eloquent pen of the Count de Montalembert.

56

Rabbulus was afterwards consecrated Bishop of Edessa.

57

Bollandus gives two lives; one is authentic, the other is not. The first states that he lived at Constantinople, from which he escaped to Gomon, threescore furlongs from the city, by water. The second, mistaking new Rome for old Rome, makes him voyage from Italy to Bithynia.

58

S. Eucher, De laude Eremi, p. 342.

59

So far Montalembert's Monks of the West, Vol. I., Book III.

60

There is not space to give an account of S. Fursey's vision, which seems to have been the original of Dante's Divina Commedia.

61

Vita, ex duobus veteribus MSS., Bolland. II. p. 83

62

He is said to have been born at Coma, near Heracleia, in Middle Egypt, A. D. 251.

63

Seemingly the Greek language and literature.

64

a. d. 301. Galerius Valerius Maximinus (his real name was Daza) had been a shepherd-lad in Illyria, like his uncle Galerius Valerius Maximianus; and rose, like him, through the various grades of the army to be co-Emperor of Rome, over Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor; a furious persecutor of the Christians, and a brutal and profligate tyrant. Such were the "kings of the world" from whom those old monks fled.

65

The lonely alluvial flats at the mouths of the Nile. "Below the cliffs, beside the sea," as one describes them.

66

Now the monastery of Deir Antonios, over the Wady el Arabah, between the Nile and the Red Sea, where Antony's monks endure to this day.

67

Meletius, Bishop of Lycopolis, was the author of an obscure schism calling itself the "Church of the Martyrs," which refused to communicate with the rest of the Eastern Church.

68

Arius (whose most famous and successful opponent was Athanasius, the writer of this biography) maintained that the Son of God was not co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, but created by Him out of nothing, and before the world. His opinions were condemned in the famous Council of Nicæa, a. d. 325.

69

I.e. those were still heathens.

70

Probably that of a. d. 341, when Gregory of Cappadocia, nominated by the Arian Bishops, who had assembled at the Council of Antioch, expelled Athanasius from the see of Alexandria, and great violence was committed by his followers and by Philagrius the Prefect. Athanasius meanwhile fled to Rome.

71

I.e. celebrated there their own Communion.

72

Evidently the primæval custom of embalming the dead, and keeping mummies in the house, still lingered among the Egyptians.

73

Euseb. Hist. Eccl., lib. II. c. 25.

74

Euseb. lib. II. c. 25.

75

Lib. III. c. 3.

76

Euseb. lib. II. c. 14.

77

Ibid. c. 15.

78

That Claudius I. did persecute the Church appears from Acts xviii. 2. Why Alban Butler should give S. Prisca the date 275, after the death of the second Claudius, when all notices of her are unanimous in saying she suffered under Claudius I., I am at a loss to conjecture.

79

Lure is in the diocese of Besançon, among the Vosges mountains, between Vesoul and Belfort.

80

A similar story is told of S. Goar (July 6th), S. Florence (Nov. 7th), S. Amabilis (Oct. 19th), S. Cuthman (Feb. 8th), S. David, abbot in Sweden (July 15th), S. Hildevert, B. of Meaux (May 27th), S. Robert of Chaise-Dieu, S. Cunegunda, S. Odo of Urgel, S. Leonore, S. Lucarus of Brixen, S. Bridget, B. Utho of Metten, and the Blessed Alruna of Altaich. I give it for what it is worth. The story is traditional, not having been consigned to writing for a hundred years after the death of S. Deicolus.

81

At Santa Ninfa, about thirteen miles from Rome.

82

Florence knew S. Wulstan personally, as appears from his account of his vigils. He says, "He sometimes went four days and nights without sleep, – a thing we could hardly have believed, if we had not heard it from his own mouth."

83

S. Wulstan sometimes joked; but the specimen recorded by Malmesbury is not striking for wit, nor for its reverence, wherefore I give it in Latin. Being asked why he wore lamb's wool garments in winter, instead of cat's skin like the other clergy he answered, "Nunquam audivi cantari Cattus Dei, sed Agnus Dei; ideo non catto, sed agno volo calefieri."

84

So far William of Malmesbury, who abruptly closes, saying that he will no longer torture the patience of his readers. What follows is from Roger of Wendover.

85

Dr. Rock: Church of our Fathers, II. p. 99, plate.

86

Roger of Wendover, and Capgrave.

87

This most striking incident is not mentioned by Florence of Worcester, or William of Malmesbury, but occurs in Roger of Wendover and Matthew of Westminster.

88

Chronicle, lib. III.

89

Florence of Worcester.

90

Florence of Worcester.

91

This was the common acclamation at the election of bishops, of which we have many examples in Philostorgius, lib. ix. c. 10. And in the relation of things done at the election of Eradins (recorded in S. Augustine's Epistles), we read that they cried out twenty times, "He is worthy and just!" and five times, "He is deserving, he is worthy!"

92

Eusebius. lib. vi. c. 29.

93

Ibid. c. 39.

94

This name presents a difficulty, as it does not appear in the lists of the prefects of the city. Bollandus suggests, not very plausibly, that on account of his secession from the state religion, his name was expunged.

95

This is H. E. Cardinal Wiseman's elegant description of the scene, which accords exactly with the Acts. This incident is not due to his imagination, but occurs in the Acts in these words: – "Igitur, cum hæc Beatissimus Sebastianus, indutus chlamyde, succinctus baltheo, ex suo ore proferret, subito per unam fere horam splendore nimio de cœlo veniente illuminatus est."

96

In the version of the Acts by S. Ambrose, the whole lengthy exhortation is given. This can hardly, however, be original, but is the composition of the author who passes for S. Ambrose.

97

A Laura was a colony of eremites dwelling in separate hovels or caves, and differed in this particular from a monastery, where all dwelt under one roof.

98

Topography of Ireland, c. 52.

99

Here occurs a very favourite incident in the lives of these Irish saints; it shall be given in Latin. The same is told of S. Mochua and others. "Leprosus ad Reginam dixit: Nares meas in ore tuo suge, et phlegma inde extrahe. At illa viriliter agens, sicut imperavit fecit, et phlegma in linteum posuit; iterum quoque ei mandavit, ut similiter faceret, et id quod extraheret, S. Fechino reservaret." When the Queen looked into the handkerchief, she found two clots of solid gold, one of which she retained, the other she gave to S. Fechin. The incident I give as characteristic, rather than edifying.

100

This account is a translation of the Acts; it is a very fair specimen of the original documents as written by the Church notaries at the time. The style being too simple to please the taste of later ages, too many of them were re-written in florid diction, and long speeches were put in the martyrs' mouths.

101

One reading is insolutus, another in soleis.

102

That is, to intercede for him when he, the martyr, stood in the presence of Christ in Paradise.

103

That is, extending their arms, so that they formed the symbol of the Cross.

104

Slightly abbreviated from the Acts.

105

Aurelian was a special votary of the sun.

106

There is some blunder here.

107

S. Hieron, Ep. 6.

108

S. August. Serm. 274.

109

Here a difficulty occurs. There is no such name in the lists of the prefects of the city. According to this account, he transferred to the deputy, Aspasius, the duty of sentencing her. In some accounts he is called Aspasius Paternus. A Paternus was prefect of the city in 264 and 265; an Ovinius Paternus in 281. Aspasius Paternus, pro-consul of Africa, in or about 260, is mentioned by S. Cyprian. It is probable that Symphronius was not prefect of the city, but a powerful senator, and that Aspasius is the same as Ovinius Paternus. Transcribers made havoc of the names in the Acts.

110

Antiphon to Ps. cix. Dixit Dominus, for S. Agnes' Day, and Greek Menæa.

111

This is appointed as the antiphon to the Magnificat for S. Agnes' Day.

112

Prudentius.

113

Ibid.

114

S. Ambrose lib. I. De Virgin. c. 2.

115

From the mines in the Cassiterides, Devon and Cornwall.

116

We see here an instance of the manner in which some stories of miracles were formed. Leontius, who heard the story from the clergy acquainted with all the circumstances, says that the bearer of the pots told the Patriarch that they contained money; but that, for greater security, they were labelled honey. But Metaphrastes, in telling the story, says that, miraculously, the honey was converted into gold.

117

2 Tim. iii. 14.

118

1 Thess. iii. 2; 1 Cor. iv. 17.

119

Acts xviii.

120

Rev. ii. 1, 7.

121

Hist. Eccl. v. c. 19: also Socrates, Eccl. Hist. iii. 19.

122

The Gododdin, a poem descriptive of the massacre of the British chiefs at Stonehenge by Hengest, was composed by Aneurin whilst in prison.

123

The ancient name of Weedon having been Benavenna, this has helped to cause the confusion which arose between S. Cadoc and S. Sophias of Benevento in Italy.

124

Rev. ii. 9.

125

Bath-hildr in Norse, meaning the maiden (hildr) of the Bath-stofa, the female apartment in a Norse, Saxon or Frankish house. She is sometimes called Bathildes, sometimes Baltidis.

126

See concerning the fire and subsequent persecution in the account of SS. Eutropius and Tygris, Jan. 12th;

127

This life is, for the most part, taken from the Rev. Canon Bright's "Hist. of the Church from a. d. 313 to a. d. 451." London, 1863.

128

"That Cyril had any share in this atrocity," says Canon Robertson, i. 401, "appears to be an unsupported calumny."

129

Decline and Fall, Ed. Bohn, i. p. 348.

130

See p. 406.

131

Chiefly from Bright's Church History.

132

He is said to have glazed the east window of his oratory with a pane of an hitherto unheard of size.

133

The following life is epitomized from Mr. Ormsby's "Life of S. Francis of Sales," and "The Mission of S. Francis of Sales in the Chablais" by Lady Herbert. See also Addenda at end of this volume.