Baring-Gould Sabine
The Lives of the Saints, Volume II (of 16): February
That year happened to be one of great drought, and this the pagans ascribed to the coming of the new Christian bishop, saying that their god Marnas had foretold that Porphyrius would bring public calamities on their city. In Gaza stood a famous temple of that idol, which the emperor Theodosius the Elder had commanded to be shut up, but not demolished, on account of its beautiful structure. The governor afterwards had permitted the heathens to open it again. As no rain fell the two first months after the arrival of S. Porphyrius, the idolaters, in great affliction, assembled in this temple to offer sacrifices, and make supplications to their god Marnas, whom they called the Lord of rains. These they repeated for seven days, going also to a place of prayer outside the town. But, finding all their endeavours ineffectual, they lost all hopes of a supply. A dearth ensuing, the Christians, to the number of two hundred and eighty, women and children included, after a day's fast and a night's vigil, by the order of their bishop, went in procession to S. Timothy's church, in which lay the relics of the holy martyr, S. Meuris, and of the confessor, S. Theis, singing hymns. But, on their return to the city, they found the gates shut against them, and the heathens obstinately determined not to open them. In this situation, the Christians addressed Almighty God with redoubled fervour, imploring Him to send them the blessing so much wanted. Presently the clouds gathered, and there fell such a quantity of rain, that the heathens opened their gates, and, joining them, cried out, "Christ alone is God: He alone has overcome." They accompanied the Christians to the church, to thank God for the benefit received; and this miracle resulted in the conversion of one hundred and seventy-six persons, whom the saint instructed, baptized, and confirmed, as he did also one hundred and five more before the end of that year. The miraculous preservation of the life of a pagan woman in labour, who had been despaired of, occasioned the conversion of that family and others, to the number of sixty-four.
The heathens, perceiving their number decrease, grew very troublesome to the Christians, whom they excluded from commerce, and all public offices, and annoyed in various ways. S. Porphyrius, to screen himself and his flock from their outrages, had recourse to the Emperor's protection. On this errand he sent Mark, his disciple, to Constantinople, and went thither, afterward, himself, in company with John, his metropolitan, archbishop of Cæsarea. At Constantinople they applied to S. John Chrysostom, who joyfully received them, and recommended them to the eunuch Amantius, who had great credit with the Empress, and was a zealous servant of God. Amantius, having introduced them to the Empress, she received them with great distinction, assured them of her protection, and begged their prayers for her safe delivery, a favour she received a few days after. She desired them, in another visit, to sign her and her new-born son, Theodosius the Younger, with the cross, which they did. The young prince was baptized with great solemnity, and on that occasion the Empress obtained from the Emperor all that the bishops had requested, and in particular that the temple of Gaza should be demolished. An imperial edict was drawn up for this purpose, and delivered to Cynegius, a patrician full of zeal, who was charged to see it executed. They stayed at Constantinople during the feast of Easter, and, at their departure, the Emperor and Empress bestowed on them great presents. When they landed in Palestine, near Gaza, the Christians came out to meet them, with a cross carried before them, singing hymns. In the place called Tetramphodos, or Four-ways-end, stood a marble statue of Venus, on a marble altar, which was in great reputation for giving oracles to young women about the choice of husbands. As the two bishops, with the procession of the Christians, and the cross borne before them, passed through that square, this idol fell down of itself, and was broken to pieces; whereupon thirty-two men and seven women were converted.
Ten days after, arrived Cynegius, having with him a duke, or general, with a strong guard of soldiers, and the civil magistrates of the country. He assembled the citizens, and read to them the emperor's edict, commanding their idols and temples to be destroyed. This was accordingly done, and no less than eight public temples in the city were burnt; viz., those of the Sun, Venus, Apollo, Proserpine, Hecate, the Hierion, the temple of fortune, and that of Marnas. The Marnion, in which men had been often sacrificed, burned for many days. After this, the private houses and courts were all searched; the idols were every where burned or thrown into the common sewers, and all books of magic and superstition were cast into the flames. Many idolators desired baptism; but the saint gave them a long probation, and prepared them for that sacrament by daily instructions. On the spot where the temple of Marnas had stood, was built the church of Eudoxia, in the figure of a cross. The empress sent for this purpose, precious pillars and rich marble from Constantinople. Of the marble taken out of the Marnion, S. Porphyrius made steps and a road to the church, that it might be trampled upon. Before he would suffer the church to be begun, he proclaimed a fast, and the next morning, attended by his clergy and all the Christians in the city, they went in a body to the place, from the church Irene, singing the Venite exultemus Domino, and other psalms, and answering to every verse, Allelulia; the procession being led by a cross. They all set to work, carrying stones and other materials, and digging the foundations, according to the plan marked out and directed by Rufinus, a celebrated architect, singing psalms and saying prayers during their work. The church was begun in 403, when thirty high pillars arrived from Constantinople, two of which, called Carostiæ, shone like emeralds, when placed in the church. It took five years to build, and, when finished in 408, the bishop performed the consecration of it on Easter-day, with the greatest pomp and solemnity. His alms to the poor on that occasion seemed boundless. The good bishop spent the remainder of his life in zealously instructing his flock in the doctrine of God, and in all virtuous living.
The heathen, on one occasion, rose in sedition, attacked the house of the bishop, and set it on fire, so that he and his deacons were obliged to escape over the roof, and take refuge in the room of a maiden of fourteen, an orphan, named Salaphtha, and a heathen. The girl showed them every kindness, keeping their place of retreat secret, and supplying them with bread and cheese and vegetables. The bishop took the opportunity of infusing into the young mind of the girl the first principles of Christianity, and when the tumult was abated, and he with his companions were able to go forth in safety, he left her earnestly desiring baptism. The maiden afterwards became a zealous Christian, and was consecrated to a life of virginity by the old bishop, whom she had saved from the rage of his enemies.
February 27
SS. Julian, Chronion, and Besas, MM. at Alexandria, a. d. 250.
S. Gelasius, M. at Heliopolis, in Phœnicia, a. d. 297.
S. Honorina, V. M. at Conflans, in France.
S. Thalelæus, H. in Syria, circ. a. d. 460.
S. Comgan, Ab. in Ireland, before a. d. 569.
S. Leander, B. of Hispala or Seville, a. d. 596.
S. Baldomer, Subd. at Lyons, circ. a. d. 660.
S. Alnoth, H. M. in England, circ. a. d. 727.
B. John, Ab. of Gorze, near Metz, a. d. 1162.
SS. JULIAN, CHRONION, AND BESAS, MM
(A.D. 250.)
[Roman Martyrology; but some on Feb. 19th; by the Greeks on Oct. 30th. Authority: – The contemporary letters by Dionysius, B. of Alexandria, to Germanus, quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. vi., c. 41.]
SAINT DIONYSIUS, bishop of Alexandria, in a letter describing the sufferings of his church during the persecutions of Decius, after having lamented the apostacy of some, adds: "But others remained firm and blessed pillars of the Lord, confirmed by the Lord himself, and receiving of Him strength suited to their measure of faith, proved admirable witnesses of His kingdom. The first of these was Julian, a man afflicted with the gout, neither able to walk nor to stand, who, with two others that carried him, was arraigned. Of these, the one immediately denied his faith, but the other, named Chronion, surnamed Eunus, and the aged Julian himself, having confessed the Lord, were carried on camels through the whole city, a very large one, as you know, and were scourged, and finally consumed in an immense fire, in the midst of a crowd of spectators. But a soldier, named Besas, standing near, having opposed the insolence of the multitude whilst these martyrs were on the way to execution, was assailed by them with loud shouts, and this brave soldier of God, after he had excelled in the great conflict of piety, was beheaded."
Relics at Autun.
S. GELASIUS, M
(A.D. 297.)
[Greek Menæa. Authority: – The Chronicon Alexandrinum, or Chron. Paschale, under date 269 from the Ascension, which is equivalent to 297 of the vulgar era. In this Chronicle he is called Gelasinus. Theodoret may, perhaps, allude to him, when he says that some have passed from the stage of the theatre to the ranks of the martyrs. Du curand Græc. Affect., Serm. 8. Much the same circumstances are related of S. Genesius (Aug. 25th), who suffered about 286, unless both are the same; Gelasius in the West becoming Genesius by a slight change of liquids.]
Gelasius was a comic actor, the second clown of the theatre at Heliopolis, in Phœnicia. One day, on the stage was performed a parody of Christian rites for the amusement of the heathen spectators. A large bathing tub was introduced on the stage, filled with warm water, and the clown, Gelasius, was dipped in it, the other clown pronouncing over him the sacramental words. When he rose from the bath, and was vested in white, it was observed that a change had come over him; the jesting air and laugh were gone, and a solemn expression had overspread his countenance. "I am a Christian," said he; "in the font I saw a dazzling light. Therefore, I will die as a Christian." As soon as the audience became aware that he spoke in sober earnest, the theatre became a scene of wild tumult, the people deserted their seats, and rushed on the stage, and dragged the poor actor forth, clothed in his white robe, and stoned him to death outside the theatre. His body was transported to the village of Mariamnia, near Heliopolis, of which he was a native, and an oratory was erected by the Christians over his tomb.
S. HONORINA, V. M
(DATE UNKNOWN.)
[Some Gallican Martyrologies.]
Nothing whatever is known of this saint. The author of the history of the translation of her relics to Conflans, near Pontoise, a short distance from Paris, says that her virtues, her merits, and her mode of passion, are utterly unknown. So also is the date of her death. The relics were translated about the year a. d. 912. As an instance of the manner in which confusion has arisen in the lives and acts of martyrs of an early date, it is deserving of mention that in the church of Quimper, the Matin lections for the feast of S. Honorina are portions of the Acts of S. Dorothea, transferred to Feb. 27th, to do duty for the unrecorded S. Honorina.
S. THALELÆUS, H
(ABOUT A.D. 460.)
[Greek Menæa. No commemoration in Western Church. Authority: – Theodoret, Philothaeus, c. xxviii.]
"Not only have I heard of this man from others," says Theodoret, "but I saw him myself." Thalelæus erected for his habitation a small hut against an idol shrine, near Gabala, to which many people resorted, and where they offered sacrifice to devils. The evil spirits, enraged at his thus assaulting them in their sanctuary, endeavoured by hideous clamours and frightful apparitions, to scare the Christian hermit away; but every effort of demons and idolaters to drive him from this shrine proved ineffectual. Thalelæus succeeded in converting many who came as votaries to the temple, and persuaded them to bend their necks to the sweet yoke of Christ's law. With many of these converts Theodoret conversed. After that Thalelæus had lived thus a while, he devised for himself a strange and horrible penance. He made two wheels, and then joined them by pieces of wood into a species of barrel, but open between the bars. He enclosed himself within this case, which was so low that his chin rested on his knees, and remained therein for many years. He had been ten years in it when Theodoret saw him. This frightful self-immolation is by no means to be regarded as deserving of imitation. But it was called forth by peculiar circumstances, and for a special purpose. The rude people of Syria could be impressed no other way. To win these souls from heathenism this phase of the ascetic life was evoked, it served its purpose, and passed away.
S. LEANDER, B. OF HISPALA
(ABOUT A.D. 596.)
[Roman Martyrology, and those of Usuardus, Notker, Ado, and Bede; but by the Spanish Church and Mozarabic Kalendar, followed by the Bollandists, on March 13th. Authorities: – His own writings, the letters of S. Gregory the Great, and early Spanish histories.]
This illustrious friend of the great S. Gregory, this apostle of the Visigoths, was of illustrious birth. His father, Severian duke of Carthagena, and mother, Turtura, of royal Ostrogoth blood, had three sons and two daughters. The sons were, S. Leander, S. Fulgentius, B. of Ecija, and S. Isidore, who succeeded Leander as archbishop of Seville. The daughters were S. Florentina, abbess of fifty convents, and the princess Theodosia, married to king Leovigild, who became the mother of the illustrious martyr, S. Hermenigild.
From his boyhood, Leander was regarded as endowed with singular eloquence and power of fascinating others. He retired, when young, from the world, and took the religious habit in a monastery of Seville, where he gained so great a reputation that, on the archiepiscopal see becoming vacant, he was elected to it by the unanimous voice of clergy and people.
Leovigild, his brother-in-law, then reigned over the Visigoth kingdom, in Spain, and openly professed Arianism. This caused great embarrassment to Leander, who used every effort to confirm the Catholics in their faith, and to oppose the heretics at every point. He was sent on an embassy from the Catholics to the emperor Tiberius, at Constantinople, where he made the acquaintance of S. Gregory the Great, then cardinal-deacon of Pope Pelagius II., who had sent him at this time on the affairs of the church, to the imperial court. The warmest attachment sprang up between these two great men, and it was at the instance of S. Leander, that S. Gregory wrote his famous "Morals of the Book of Job." When their business was concluded, both saints returned to their country, S. Gregory to Italy, and S. Leander to Spain, where he succeeded in converting prince Hermenigild, his nephew, the eldest son of king Leovigild. This placed the Catholics in great danger. The king, in an explosion of rage, executed his son on Easter-day, 586, and began a furious persecution of the Church. S. Leander and his brother, S. Fulgentius, together with several other bishops, were exiled, and the king seized on the property and revenues of the Church, and, adding cruelty to robbery, put several nobles to death, and confiscated their lands.
S. Leander, though exiled, warred with his pen against the Arian heresy, and wrote two works confuting the errors of Arianism, and a third book answering objections which had been raised against his arguments.
The persecution did not last long, for in the following year, 587, Leovigild, finding himself about to die, recalled the Catholic bishops, and commended his son, Recared, to the care of S. Leander. Thus, to use the words of S. Gregory, Recared, following not the perfidy of his father, an Arian, but the faith of his martyred brother, was brought himself, and the whole nation of the Visigoths, to the true faith.
In the third council of Toledo, 589, the archbishop of Seville presiding, a solemn declaration of the consubstantiality of the Divine Persons was drawn up, and signed by the king, Recared, and his queen, Badda, daughter of king Arthur, of Britain. Next year another synod was held at Seville, in which he presided, to establish the complete conversion of the nation from Arianism to the true faith.
S. Leander died in 596, on March 13th, and his body was laid in the church of SS. Justus and Rufina. His relics are now preserved in a chapel of the Cathedral church.
In art, S. Leander appears with (1) a flaming heart in his hand, to represent his zeal for the conversion of the Visigoths, but this is a symbol used for a multitude of other saints; or with (2) a pen; or (3) with Recared or Hermenigild as a boy at his side.
S. BALDOMER, SUBD., C
(ABOUT A.D. 660.)
[Roman Martyrology, and those of Bede, Usuardus, Ado, Notker, &c. Authority: – An ancient epitome of his life, pub. by the Bollandists. In French he is called S. Garmier or S. Germier.]
Baldomer was a blacksmith of Lyons, living a simple, pious life, "in chastity clean, in friendship firm, in charity benign, in reading intent, in watchings solicitous, in almsgiving prompt," says his biographer. S. Viventius, abbot of S. Just, going into a church one day, noticed the blacksmith at his devotions, and afterwards entering into conversation with him, was so struck with his holiness and knowledge of the Scriptures, that he gave him a cell in his abbey, where he edified all the brethren by his modesty and diligence. His gentleness was so great, that at meal times he crumbled bread in his hand, and, holding it out of the window, the wild birds came, full of trust, and perched on his fingers. Then he would say, "Eat, little birds, eat, and praise the Lord." He was ordained subdeacon much against his will, by Caudrick, bishop of Lyons, and died about the year 660.
S. ALNOTH, H. M
(ABOUT A.D. 727.)
[Anglican Martyrology of John Wilson, in the first edition; but in the second edition on Nov. 25th. Ferrarius and Bollandus on Feb. 27th. Authority: – Mention in the life of S. Wereburga, attributed to Joscelyn, c. 3.]
S. Alnoth was a hermit, who had been a cowherd of S Wereburga, but embracing the eremitical life, settled in a wood at Stowe, near Bugbrook, in Northamptonshire, but was murdered by robbers. His body was buried at Stowe.
February 28
SS. Nymphas and Eubulus, 1st cent.
SS. Alexandrine, Martyrs in the plague, a. d. 261.
SS. Symphorian, Macarius, and Others, MM. at Rome.
S. Proterius, M. Patr. of Alexandria, a. d. 457.
S. Romanus, Ab. of Condate; circ. a. d. 460.
SS. NYMPHAS AND EUBULUS
(1ST CENT.)
ON the last day of February are commemorated two friends of S. Paul, Nymphas, of whom he speaks in his Epistle to the Colossians, and Eubulus, whom he mentions in his Second Epistle to S. Timothy, as being with him at Rome. Nymphas was at Laodicea. Nothing further is known of these two.
SS. MARTYRS IN THE PLAGUE AT ALEXANDRIA
(A.D. 261-3.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority: – A paschal letter by Dionysius, patriarch of Alexandria, quoted by Eusebius. lib. viii. c. 21, 22.]
These brave victims of the plague in Alexandria, who died through ministering to pest-stricken heathens and Christians alike, are commemorated by the Church as examples to all whose office or charity calls them to attend to the sick. Dionysius, the patriarch, writes of the pestilence which succeeded war and famine in Alexandria, in one of his Easter letters, "To other men the present is a fit season for a festival, but now to us all things are filled with tears; all are mourning, and by reason of the multitudes, already dead and dying, the whole city resounds with groans. As when the first-born of Egypt were slain, so is it now; there is a great lamentation, for there is not a house in which is not one dead. I wish this were all, but we have undergone other calamities before this plague. First, we were driven into exile, and persecuted, and put to death; then came war and the famine, which, indeed, we and the heathen endured alike; and now we are assailed by this pestilence, a calamity to the heathen more dreadful than anything else, but not so to us, but rather a school to try us. Most of our brethren, by their exceeding great love and brotherly affection, not sparing themselves, were constant in their attendance on the sick, ministering to their wants without fear and without cessation, and they have departed most sweetly with those to whom they ministered. Many also, who had healed others, fell victims themselves. The best of our brethren have departed this life in this way, some were priests, others deacons, and some laity of great commendation. This death, with the piety and ardent faith which attended it, appears to be but little inferior to martyrdom itself. Our people took up the bodies of these saints with their open hands and on their bosoms, cleansed their eyes and closed their mouths, carried them on their shoulders, and composed their limbs, and decently washed and clothed them for burial, and those who did this themselves shared in receiving the same offices. Those that survived always followed those going before them. But it was different with the heathen. They repelled those who began to sicken, and avoided their dearest friends. They would cast them out into the roads half-dead, or throw them out when dead without burial, shunning all communication with the sick and infected."
SS. SYMPHORIAN AND OTHERS, MM
(UNKNOWN DATE.)
The bodies of fourteen martyrs, by name, Symphorian, Macarius, Victorinus, Maurice, Anicetus, Modestus, Cyriacus, Faustus, Placidus, Rocchus, Alexander, Genesius, Eulalia, and Irene, extracted from the catacombs of S. Callixtus and S. Lucina, are preserved at Antwerp, in the Church of the Jesuits, to which they were translated on Feb. 27th, 1650. Nothing is known of the acts and martyrdom of these saints.
S. PROTERIUS, M. PATR. OF ALEXANDRIA
(A.D. 457.)
[Greek Menæa on this day. Baronius and others have expressed surprise that the name of S. Proterius is inserted in no Western Martyrologies. Authority: – Evagrius, lib. iii. 13; Theophanes, the letters of Anatolius, Patr. of Constantinople, &c.]
S. Proterius was the head of the orthodox party at Alexandria, when the patriarch Dioscorus adopted Eutychian views. That unprincipled and haughty prelate, knowing the esteem in which Proterius was held, made him arch-priest of his diocese; but as his heretical opinions became more evident, Proterius took decided steps to oppose him, and on the condemnation and deposition of Dioscorus by the Council of Chalcedon, in 452, he was ordained in his room. This led to a schism in the Church of Alexandria, the Catholics acknowledging Proterius, and the Eutychians holding with Dioscorus. The Eutychians were headed by two ecclesiastics, Timothy Ailurus, and Mongus, who had been excommunicated for heresy. In a tumult that broke out, Ailurus, having obtained consecration from two bishops of their faction, mounted the episcopal throne, and proclaimed himself sole patriarch of Alexandria. Proterius fled for safety to the baptistery of the Church of S. Quirinus, but the heretics broke in and stabbed him to death; then dragged his body through the streets, hacked it to pieces, and burnt it.
S. ROMANUS, AB. OF CONDATE
(A.D. 460.)
[Roman, Benedictine, and most Latin Martyrologies. Authorities: – A life by a contemporary monk of Condate, also a life by S. Gregory of Tours.]
Romanus, trained in the monastery of Ainay, near Lyons, left his father's house at the age of thirty-five, and carrying with him "Lives of the Fathers of the Desert," and some tools and vegetable seeds, made his way into the high mountains and inhabited forests of the Jura, found a site enclosed between three steep heights, at the confluence of two streams, and there founded, under the name of Condate, a monastery destined to become one of the most celebrated in the West. The soil was well adapted for cultivation, but in consequence of the difficulty of access to the place, it became the property of the first occupant. He found shelter at first under an enormous fir tree, the thick branches of which represented to him the palm which served Paul, the first hermit, in the desert of Egypt, for a tent; then he began to read, to pray, and to plant his herbs, with a certainty of being protected against the curious and importunate, by the extreme roughness of the paths which crossed those precipices, and also by the masses of fallen and interlaced trees, which are often met with in fir woods not yet subjected to regular care and tendance.
His solitude was disturbed only by the wild animals, and now and then by some bold huntsman. However, he was joined there by his brother Lupicinus and others, in so great a number, that they were soon obliged to spread themselves, and form new establishments in the environs. The two brothers governed these monasteries together, and maintained order and discipline, not without difficulty, among the increasing multitude of novices, against which an old monk protested, complaining that they did not even leave him room in which to lie down. Women followed; and upon a neighbouring rock, suspended like a nest at the edge of a precipice, the sister of our two abbots ruled five hundred virgins, so severely cloistered, that having once entered the convent, they were seen no more, except during the transit of their bodies from the death bed to the grave.
As for the monks, each had a separate cell; they had only the church and the refectory in common. In summer they took their siesta under the great firs, which in winter protected their dwelling against the snow and the north wind. They sought to imitate the anchorites of the East, whose various rules they studied daily, tempering them by certain alleviations, which were necessitated by the climate; their daily labour, and even by the constitution of the Gaulish race. They wore sabots, and tunics of skins tacked together, which protected them from the rain, but not from the rigorous cold of these bleak heights, where people are, says their biographer, in winter sometimes crushed beneath the snow, and in summer stifled by the heat produced by the reflection of the sun upon the perpendicular walls of rock. Lupicinus surpassed them all in austerity; he slept in the trunk of an old tree, and lived only upon pottage made of barley-meal, ground with the bran, without salt, without oil, and without even milk; and one day, disgusted at the delicacy of his brethren, he threw indiscriminately into the same pot, the fish, the herbs, and the roots, which the monks had prepared apart, and with some care. The community was greatly irritated, and twelve monks, whose patience was exhausted, went away. Upon this, an altercation arose between the two brothers. "It would have been better," said Romanus to Lupicinus, "not to have come hither, than to be a cause of dispersion to our monks." "Never mind," answered Lupicinus, "it is the straw separating from the corn; those twelve are proud, mounted on stilts, and God is not with them." However, the more gentle and forbearing Romanus succeeded in bringing back the fugitives, who all, in their turn, became superiors of communities.
S. Romanus made a pilgrimage to Agaunum (S. Maurice in the Valais), to visit the scene of the martyrdom of the Theban Legion. On his way, he cured two lepers by a kiss, and the fame of this miracle coming to the ears of the Genevese, the bishop and clergy, and the whole town, turned out to meet and receive him with honour.
When he felt that he must die, he called to him his sister from the convent on the rock, and his brother Lupicinus, to whom he commended the care of his monks, and then fell asleep in Christ.71
Relics in the Church of S. Romain-de-Roche in the Jura.
