Kitabı oku: «The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March», sayfa 17

March 16

SS. Hilary, B.M., Tatian, D.M., Felix, Largus and Dionysius, MM. at Aquileja, A.D. 285.

S. Julian of Anazarbus, M. in Cilicia.

S. Papas, M. in Lycaonia, circ. A.D. 300.

S. Agapitus, B. of Ravenna, circ. A.D. 340.

S. Columba, V.M. in England.

S. Aninas, H. on the banks of the Euphrates.

S. Hesychius, B. of Vienne, in France, 5th cent.

SS. Abraham, H., and Mary, P., his niece, in Syria, 6th cent.

S. Finan the Leper, Ab. of Inisfathlen, in Ireland, circ. A.D. 610.

S. Boniface Quiritine, B. of Ross, in Scotland, 7th cent.

S. Eusebia, Abss. of Hamage, circ. A.D. 680.

S. Gregory the Armenian, B.H. at Pluviers, in France, 11th cent.

S. Heribert, Archb. of Cologne, A.D. 1021.

SS. HILARY, B. M., TATIAN, D. M., AND COMPANIONS, MM

(A.D. 285.)

[Roman Martyrology and that of Usuardus. Notker mentions Hilary alone. Hilary and Tatian in that of Bede, and some copies of that of S. Jerome. Authority: – the Acts which are genuine.]

Saint Hilary, bishop of Aquileja, in Northern Italy, had a deacon named Tatian, whom he appointed to be his archdeacon. In the reign of Numerian, during which they flourished, there was at Aquileja a heathen priest, named Monofantus, who went before the governor Beronius, and obtained from him authority to hale the bishop before his tribunal. Then Monofantus went to the house of Hilary, and found him engaged in reading, together with his deacon Tatian. He said, "The Governor wants you." Hilary said, "What is that you say, friend?" "I have already said once, the governor wants you." S. Hilary answered, "We will go in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ." And when they had come to the place of judgment, and the governor saw Hilary enter with a smiling countenance, he asked, "What is thy name?" The bishop answered, "My name is Hilary, and I am bishop of the Christians here." "Well," said the governor, "the command has gone forth that all are to sacrifice to the immortal gods. Therefore be speedy, obey, and go thy way." S. Hilary replied, "From my childhood I have learnt to sacrifice to the living God, and to worship Jesus Christ with pure heart; I cannot worship demons." The governor said, "Christ, whom thou sayest that thou worshippest, was crucified by the Jews." Hilary replied, "If thou knewest the virtue of His cross, thou wouldest leave the error of idols, and adore Him who would heal the wounds of thy soul." "Come," exclaimed the governor, "do as I bid, or I will have thy tongue cut out." "Sir," answered the bishop, "do so, instead of threatening me." Then Beronius had him drawn into the temple of Hercules, and beaten with rods. And as Hilary constantly refused to adore the idols, the governor ordered his back to be burnt with red hot coals, then the raws to be rubbed with coarse hair-cloth, and vinegar and salt to be poured into the wounds. After which he was taken and cast into prison. Tatian, the deacon, was next brought up to be tried, he was sentenced to be beaten, and thrown into prison with his bishop. And during the night they prayed, and sang praises to God, the Lord of heaven and earth; and as they prayed there was an earthquake, and the temple of Hercules was shaken down.

Then, on the morrow, Hilary the bishop, and Tatian the deacon, and Felix, Largus and Dionysius, three Christians then in the prison, were slain by order of Beronius, some of them by having their heads smitten off, and some by having swords thrust through their breasts.

S. JULIAN OF ANAZARBUS, M

(DATE UNCERTAIN.)

[Roman Martyrology. Greek Menology of Basil Porphyrogenitus, same day. Authority: – A sermon by S. John Chrysostom, Hom. xlvii., and the notices in the Menologium and Menæa.]

This saint was a native of Cilicia, the same province which had the honour of producing S. Paul. In one of the persecutions of the Church he was sentenced to be tied up in a sack with vipers and scorpions, and thrown into the sea.

S. PAPAS, M

(ABOUT A.D. 300.)

[Roman Martyrology and Greek Menæa. Authority: – The hymn in the Menæa.]

S. Papas suffered in Lycaonia during the persecution of Maximian. He was first beaten, and his cheeks bruised, and then the inhuman persecutors, to make sport, nailed horse-shoes to his feet, and made him run before chariots through the streets of Laranda, the drivers, armed with whips, lashing him till he sank, bleeding and exhausted, on the pavement. A compassionate woman, like another Veronica, hastened up to wipe away the blood and sweat, and he died in her arms.

S. COLUMBA, V. M

(DATE UNKNOWN.)

[Anglican Martyrology. There are two other saints of this name, virgins and martyrs, one at Sens, the other at Cordova. The Columba of Sens is commemorated on Dec. 31st, and is very famous; she suffered under Aurelian. The Cordovan saint gained the palm in the Moorish persecution in 891, and is commemorated on Sept. 17th.]

The great glory of the virgin martyr, Columba of Sens, has eclipsed the fame of the other two saintly virgin martyrs of this name. Of the S. Columba venerated in Cornwall on this day, nothing is known, but she is believed to have formed one of the company of S. Ursula.

S. ANINAS, H

(DATE UNKNOWN.)

[Greek Menæa. This saint is commemorated by the Greeks on different days.]

This hermit, called variously Aninas and Ananias, lived in the flat deserts of the Euphrates, in a cave, with two lions, out of the foot of one of which he had drawn a thorn which hurt it. The lions followed him whenever he went to the Euphrates, distant four or five miles, to draw water. This he was obliged to do daily, and the bishop of Cæsarea, hearing of this, sent him the present of an ass to carry the water jars for him; but Aninas would not keep the ass, but gave it to some poor folk who were destitute.

Now there was a hermit who lived on a pillar in the same country, and Aninas heard that he was sore troubled in mind; then, the story goes, he wrote a letter comforting him, and sent it to him by one of his lions. Aninas died on March 16th, at the age of one hundred and ten.

SS. ABRAHAM, H., AND MARY, P

(6TH CENT.)

[Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronius, after Molanus; but the Greeks venerate these saints on October 29th. Authority: – The Life of SS. Abraham and Mary, by Ephraem, the companion of Abraham, but not, as has been commonly stated, S. Ephraem Syrus.]

Abraham was the son of very wealthy parents at Chidama, in Mesopotamia, near the city of Edessa. His father sought a young and beautiful girl in marriage for his son, and Abraham was married to her with all the pomp befitting the splendour of the rank and wealth and the family. The young man had now tasted all that the world could give, riches, honour, and love, and his heart was still void and craving for something more. Then he felt, with a conviction it was impossible to resist, that God alone could fill that void, and that satisfaction could alone be found in serving Him most perfectly. So, secretly in the night, seven days after his marriage, he escaped, and hid himself in the desert.

His parents, who had refused him nothing for which he had expressed a wish, his wife, who had given him no occasion of offence, were in amazement. They searched for him everywhere, and at the end of seventeen days discovered him in the desert, resolved to live alone. It was in vain that parents and bride urged him to return; he was inexorable, and they were obliged to leave him in his solitude. He had found a small hut, and now he walled up the door, leaving only a window, through which bread and water could be passed in to him by a friend. He had spent ten or twelve years in this retreat when his parents died, and left their immense property to him. He entrusted it to the care of his most intimate friends, to be used for relieving the necessities of the poor.

Now there was, not far off, a village of idolaters, who had stubbornly resisted every missionary effort made to convert them. The bishop of Edessa bethought him of Abraham the hermit, visited him in person, and insisted on his coming forth and preaching to these heathen. In vain did the hermit implore to be permitted to remain in his dear solitude: the bishop put the matter on his obedience, brought him forth, ordained him priest, and sent him amongst the pagans. Abraham then built a church in their midst, and finding that they were deaf to his exhortations, he spent his nights and days in tearful intercession for them, and then, armed with zeal, he rushed upon their idols and overthrew them. A mob at once assembled, and he was beaten till he could not move; and whenever he appeared in the streets, he was assailed with sticks and stones. Undeterred by this opposition, Abraham continued instant in prayer; and, after three years, saw the tide of popular opinion turn, and the villagers who had treated him so ill, now venerated him as an apostle of the truth. Abraham tarried with them another year, to confirm them in the faith, then commended them to the supervision of the bishop, and returned to his cell. Now it happened that a little girl, named Mary, the niece of Abraham, had been left an orphan, and she was brought to the hermit, as her sole relative, to educate. She was aged seven. Abraham bade a cell be built for her near his own, and there the child grew up under his supervision till she was twenty, when a young man, having conceived a violent passion for her, led her away, and then abandoning her, the unfortunate girl fell deeper into degradation, and became a common harlot in the city of Assos, in the Troad. Her the uncle had bewailed her fall with the deepest grief, and had instituted inquiries as to her whereabouts. Hearing that she was at Assos, Abraham broke down the wall which closed his door, and came forth, cast off his habit and sackcloth, and disguising himself as a soldier, went to Assos. And when he came there, he hired a lodging next door to the house of ill-fame where dwelt his niece, and he sought opportunity to meet and speak with her, but could not. Then he went to the house, and ordered supper, and bade that Mary should eat with him. So she, knowing him not, lost to shame, came, tricked out with necklaces and rings, in gaudy wanton dress. Then Abraham reddened with grief, and could ill restrain his tears. But making an effort, he controlled his emotion. So they sat down, and ate, and drank, and she laughed noisily, and talked in a light and wanton way; and as she spake the shadow on Abraham's brow deepened, the corners of his mouth quivered with pain, and a film formed on his eyes. Then the girl kissed him, and looked at him, and suddenly saw in the grave, suffering face before her, something that recalled past days, and she moaned. The man of the house hearing this, said, "Mary, what is the matter with thee? These two years that thou hast been with me thou hast been ever gay." But she looked up again, and met the tearful eyes of Abraham; then she cried out, "Oh, God! would that I had died three years ago. This man recalls to me my dear old uncle in the desert, and days of innocence and pure joy." Then Abraham put the man forth, and locked the door, and turning, threw back his hood, and caught Mary by both hands, and looked at her and said, "Mary, my child!" Then she knew him, and became cold and motionless as a stone. And he said, "My dearest child, what has befallen thee? How hast thou sunk from heaven in the abyss! O why didst thou not disclose to me thy first temptation, and I and Ephraem would have besieged heaven with tears and prayers to save thee? Why didst thou desert me like this, and bring this intolerable anguish of soul upon me?" But she, frightened and trembling, answered not a word. And he, holding her hands fast in his own, said again, "My own Mary, wilt thou not speak to me?" Then his tears burst forth, and the whole man was shaken with sobs. "Upon me be thy sin, my child," he said; "I will answer for it at the Judgment day to God. I will do penance and suffer in expiation of thy crime; only return, my child!" Then she burst forth with, "I cannot look thee in the face, uncle, and how can I call on God, whom I have so outraged?" "I will bear the burden of the sin, let it weigh on me, Mary," said the hermit vehemently; "only return to the old place, and dear Ephraem and I will pray instantly to God for thee. Come child, follow me." Then she fell down, and laid her brow on his feet, and sobbed, and held them, and kissed them, and stammered, "I will follow thee, uncle. What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits He has done unto me?" But he caught her up, and would not suffer her thus to lie. And she fell again and kissed the ground he had trodden, bringing her hopes of pardon and salvation. And he urged her to fly at once. Then she said, "Uncle, I have here some valuable trinkets, and some dresses. What shall I do with them? Shall I not pack them up and carry them with me?" But he cried out, "Leave them, leave them, they scent of evil." And he took her on his back, as a shepherd carrying his strayed sheep, and unlocked the door, and ran out. And when he came to his hut, he set Mary in the inner cell, and went into the outer room himself. And she, bitterly repenting the past, served God instantly, night and day, with tears. Abraham lived ten years longer, and rejoiced to behold the sincerity of his niece's contrition, and died at the age of seventy, in the fiftieth year of his solitary life; and Mary lived five years after her uncle's death. God wrought miracles of healing by her hands, to comfort the penitent soul, and assure her that her tears had blotted out her transgression.

S. BONIFACE QUIRITINE, B. OF ROSS

(7TH CENT.)

[Aberdeen Breviary. Authorities: – David Camerarius and Hector Boece, and the lections in the Aberdeen Breviary.]

Alban Quiritine, or Kiritine, surnamed Boniface, is fabulously said to have been of Israelite race, and a descendant of Radia, sister of the apostles Peter and Andrew. All that is known of him is that he was bishop of Ross, in Scotland, and that he laboured to suppress the Keltic ritual and to establish Roman uniformity, doing in Scotland the work accomplished by S. Wilfrid in Northumbria. He preached to and converted large numbers of Picts and Scots, during sixty years of evangelical labours. It is said that as many as thirty-six thousand received the faith through him, and that he built a hundred and fifty churches, amongst others, that of S. Peter, at Rosmarkyn, in which he was buried before the altar.

S. EUSEBIA, ABSS. OF HAMAGE

(ABOUT A.D. 680.)

[Molanus, Wyon, Menardus, Miræus in his 'Belgian Saints,' and Saussaye in his Gallican Martyrology. Authority: – A life, probably by Hucbald of Elnone (907), derived from various earlier accounts and traditions.]

S. Eusebia was the eldest daughter of S. Adalbald, of Douai (Feb. 2nd) and S. Richtrudis. Probably on the occasion of the assassination of her father, she was sent to the convent of Hamage, which was governed by her grandmother, S. Gertrude. On the death of S. Gertrude, Eusebia, at the age of twelve, was elected abbess of Hamage, according to a custom of the time, which required abbesses, if possible, to be of noble birth, so as to secure for the convent protection from powerful families in times of difficulty or war. But S. Richtrudis, who had become abbess of Marchiennes, thinking that the girl was far too young to manage the community, and that under her light hand grave disorders might prevail, peremptorily ordered Eusebia to come with all her nuns to Marchiennes. Eusebia hesitated, but when the orders were repeated, she reluctantly obeyed, and with all the community, bearing the body of S. Gertrude, she came to Marchiennes, where they were received by a procession with lights and incense. Eusebia was not happy in her new home, and sighed for Hamage. During the night, when every one slept, she was wont to steal out, barefooted, and run to the deserted convent, to watch and pray over the home of her infancy, fragrant with memories of a beloved guide and spiritual mother. Richtrudis, hearing of these nocturnal excursions, and not approving of them, ordered the child-abbess a sound flogging, and asked her brother Maurontius to administer it. Eusebia writhed and danced about under the correction, to elude the blows, and in so doing ran against the point of the sword of Maurontius, which slightly wounded her side. According to a popular legend, which the historian records merely as such, one of the twigs of the birch with which Eusebia was corrected, rooted itself on the spot where it had fallen, and grew up into a stately tree.

Richtrudis, seeing that her child continued bent on returning to Hamage, consulted the bishop, who advised her to yield. Accordingly Eusebia and her community went back to the deserted convent, and she governed it with prudence, living in piety, till the day of her death. She was buried in the church of the Apostles, at Hamage; but the body was afterwards translated to Marchiennes.

In Belgium she is called S. Isoie, or Eusoye.

S. HERIBERT, ARCHB. OF COLOGNE

(A.D. 1021.)

[German Martyrologies. At Cologne the festival of his translation is observed on August 30th. Authority: – A Life, by Lambert of Deutz, written twenty years after the death of Heribert.]

Heribert was born at Worms. His father was a gentleman of rank. His mother had been carried off into captivity by the Huns, and had been sold to an honest and good man, who restored her to her parents. She was grand-daughter of Reginbald, count of Swabia. Heribert was educated in the abbey of Gorze, in Lorraine, in the diocese of Metz. His father having recalled him to Worms, the archbishop Hildebald was so pleased with the young man, that he made him dean of his cathedral, and destined him to become his successor, but his death before Heribert had sufficiently established his reputation prevented the fulfilment of this design. Some years after, Otho III., who had not as yet received the imperial crown, having been informed of the merit of Heribert, made him his chancellor, and perceiving his great virtue, obtained his ordination. Shortly after, the archdiocese of Cologne became vacant, and this gave rise to party contests, productive of schism in that Church. The contest was brought to a conclusion by an almost unanimous election of the chancellor Heribert. He received notice of his having been chosen, with great regret, and on his induction, on Christmas-eve, walked barefoot to the cathedral. His reign was a true blessing to the diocese, through his wise regulations for the maintenance of discipline among the clergy, and for the systematic relief of the necessitious. He built and endowed the abbey of Deutz, on the opposite bank of the Rhine to Cologne; he rebuilt the church of the Apostles, at Cologne, and the chapel of S. Stephen. In a time of great drought, when the country was suffering great distress, and the cattle of the poor were perishing, he went in procession to the church of S. Severinus, and kneeling before the altar, bowed his head on his hands, and weeping for the misfortunes of his people, did not raise his head till a thunderstorm broke over the church.

March 17

S. Joseph of Arimathæa, 1st cent.

SS. Alexander, B.M., and Companions, MM. at Rome.

SS. Martyrs in the temple of Serapis at Alexandria, A.D. 390.

S. Agricola, B. at Chalons-sur-Saone, A.D. 580.

S. Patrick, B. Apostle of Ireland, A.D. 465.

S. Gertrude, V. Abss. of Nivelles, in Brabant, A.D. 664.

S. Withburga, V. at Dereham and Ely, A.D. 743.

S. Paul, M. in Cyprus, circ. A.D. 700.

S. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHÆA

(1ST CENT.)

[Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronius, because observed as a double by the Canons of the Vatican, who possess an arm of the saint. In Liege, where other relics are preserved, on Feb. 22nd; by the Greeks on July 31st.]

When Christ came into the world, one Joseph took Him into his arms and cherished Him in His infancy; another Joseph received Him when He was dead, and ministered to His inanimate body. Joseph, a native of Arimathæa, said by S. Matthew to have been rich, and called by S. Mark a counsellor, appears to have lived in Jerusalem, where he possessed a garden. According to S. John, he was a disciple in secret of the Son of God; that he was a just man, we are told by S. Luke. After the Crucifixion he cast aside the fears which had restrained him from professing openly his conviction, and going boldly to Pilate, he craved of him the body of Jesus. He then bought the winding sheet, and going to Calvary, detached from the Cross the dead body of Christ, assisted by S. John the Evangelist, S. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the wife of Cleopas. Joseph and Nicodemus anointed the body with myrrh and aloes, and laid it in the sepulchre of Joseph.

Many strange traditions have attached themselves to Joseph of Arimathæa, as that he came to Britain, and planted his staff at Glastonbury; but as these legends are wholly worthless, they must be here passed over.

His body is said to have been buried by Fortunatus, patriarch of Grado, in the abbey of Moyen-Moutier; but no relics of it now remain there, though some are shown elsewhere.

SS. MARTYRS IN THE SERAPION

(A.D. 390.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authorities: – Socrates, Hist. Eccl. lib. v. c. 16; Sozomen, lib. vii. c. 15.]

The temple of Bacchus at Alexandria having been given to the Christians to be converted into a church, the patriarch ordered its thorough purification. Whilst this was being performed, many abominations and much evidence of trickery were brought to light. This so exasperated the pagans that a sedition broke out, and rushing down from the Serapion, a magnificent temple situated on a hill and fortified, they carried off a number of Christians, and bringing them into the temple, endeavoured to force them to sacrifice to Serapis. As they refused, the pagans crucified some, broke the bones of others, and put others to death in various ways. When the emperor Theodosius heard of the tumult, he ordered those who had fallen victims to be enrolled in the number of the blessed, but forbade any reprisals upon their executioners, hoping that this exhibition of mercy would be efficacious in attracting them to the true faith. He, however, ordered the Serapion to be levelled with the dust.

S. AGRICOLA, B. OF CHALONS-SUR-SAONE

(A.D. 580.)

[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Authority: – His contemporary, Gregory of Tours.]

S. Agricola was born of a senatorial family. In stature he was diminutive, but the greatness of his soul redeemed him from that disrespect which his short stature might have brought upon him. He was eloquent, of refined manners, prudent in judgment. In his youth he formed a warm attachment for S. Venantius Fortunatus, the Christian poet, and author of the magnificent hymn, Vexilla regis, "The royal banners forward go." In 532, he was appointed bishop of Châlons-sur-Saône. He died at the age of eighty-three, in the year 580, and was buried in the Church of S. Marcellus, near Châlons, where his relics are preserved over the high altar.

S. PATRICK, AP. OF IRELAND

(ABOUT A.D. 465.)

[Roman, and almost all Western Martyrologies, Bede, Usuardus, Ado, &c. Authorities: – The most authentic are S. Patrick's Confession, and his letter against Coroticus, Fiech's hymn, or metrical sketch of the life of the saint, and the life by Probus. The hymn is attributed to Fiech, bishop of Sletty, who lived in the 5th cent. The Bollandists and other critics doubt his having been the author of it; but at any rate it is very ancient, and not later than the 7th, or perhaps the 6th cent. Probus is supposed to have been teacher of a school at Slane, who was burnt in a tower fired by the Danes, in 950. There is also a hymn attributed to Secundinus, one of S. Patrick's first companions, in which the saint is spoken of as still living. A very interesting document, of the early part of the 7th cent., is a litany in Anglo-Saxon characters, published by Mabillon, in which S. Patrick is invoked. The Antiphonarium Benchorense, apparently of the 8th cent., contains a hymn in honour of S. Patrick. There exist some notes or scholia on Fiech's metrical life, which are usually quoted under the title of Fiech's Scholiast. They were written partly in Irish, and partly in Latin. These notes are of various dates, and by different hands, and consequently of very different values. Colgan gives some lives, which he calls the second, third, and fourth, but these are full of fables, and seem to have been copied either from each other, or from some common original. Here and there they contain facts, but these are smothered in fable. Colgan is utterly wrong in assigning to them a high antiquity. The Tripartite Life, so called because it is divided into three parts, is published by Colgan, and attributed by him wrongly to S. Evin, who lived in the 6th cent. This work, though founded on older lives, was really put together in the 10th century, as certain persons are named in it who lived about that period. With the exception of certain fables it contains, it is a very useful work, and contains a much greater variety of details concerning the proceedings of S. Patrick during his mission in Ireland than any other of his lives. It is not to be confounded with a Latin work quoted by Usher under the same title, and which belongs to a later period. Of all the lives of S. Patrick this is the worst, though it has been published oftener than the others. "So wretched a composition is scarcely worth attending to," says Dr. Lanigan. Another authority is Jocelin of Furness, who flourished about 1185, and compiled S. Patrick's life at the request of Thomas, archbishop of Armagh, Malachias (another Irish prelate) and John de Courcy, the conqueror of Ulster. It is of little historical value compared with the earlier and more authentic sources of information, which it not unfrequently contradicts on the authority of some idle legend.]

The precise time at which Christianity was originally introduced into Ireland cannot be ascertained. Nor is it to be wondered at, that, while the first establishment of Christian Churches in Britain, Gaul, and Spain, is enveloped in obscurity, a similar difficulty should meet those seeking the origin of the Irish Church. Palladius, according to Prosper, was the first bishop sent from Rome to Ireland. He was a deacon of the Roman Church, who had already distinguished himself by his exertions in delivering Britain from the Pelagian heresy. From this and other circumstances, it seems probable that he was a native of that country. He was consecrated bishop and sent into Ireland, accompanied by some missionaries, four of whom, Sylvester, Solonius, Augustine, and Benedict, are mentioned by name in some of the lives of S. Patrick. It seems that his arrival was early in the year 431. The most authentic accounts of his mission agree in stating that, besides having baptized some persons, he erected three churches; and the news of his success, perhaps magnified in its transit, excited such a confident assurance in Rome of his complete conquest of the island to the Cross, that Prosper did not hesitate to say that, through the exertion of pope Celestine, Ireland was become a Christian country. This book "Against Cassian," was written not long after the mission of Palladius, and before he had heard of the reverses which that pioneer of the Gospel had met with. The success Palladius had met with alarmed the heathen, and he was denounced to the king of that part of Ireland in which he then was, as a dangerous person, and he was ordered to quit the country. He sailed from Ireland towards the latter end of the same year, 431, in which he had landed, and arriving in Britain, died, not long after, as is commonly reported, at Fordun, in the district of Mearns, in Scotland.

The great work of the general conversion of the people of Ireland was reserved for the ministry of S. Patrick, according to the Irish adage that, "Not to Palladius, but to Patrick, did God grant the conversion of Ireland."

The variety of opinions, and the many questions that have been agitated, concerning the country and time of the birth of S. Patrick, render it necessary to clear up these disputed points before proceeding with the main story of his life. It would be a waste of time to examine all the various opinions, that have been started on this subject, such as his having been born in Cornwall, in Pembrokeshire,⁵¹ or, what is strangest of all, in Ireland itself. The prevalent opinion since Usher's time has been that he was born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton. Usher was led astray by the scholiast on Fiech's hymn. Fiech says that S. Patrick was born at Nemthur (the holy tower) in Britain, and the scholiast identified this place with Alcwith, now Dumbarton. The scholiast guessed this, not knowing that the term Britain also applied to the whole of the North of Gaul, inhabited by the Armorican Gauls.⁵² Indeed Probus calls S. Patrick's country, and the town where his family lived, Arimuric, or Armorica. In the life of S. Fursey, we are told that this saint crossed the sea into the province of Britain, and proceeded through Ponthieu. Now Ponthieu is a maritime tract in Picardy, near Boulogne; and it is also to be observed that this district is said in the life of S. Fursey "to be called by the moderns Normandy." But S. Patrick in his confession says, "My father was Calpurnius, a deacon, son of Potitus, a priest, of the town of Bonavem Taberniæ. He had near the town a small villa Enon, where I became a captive." Bonavem (Ben-avon, British, the headland above the river) is the modern Boulogne-sur-mer, and the district of Taberniæ is Terouanne, in which it is situated. Boulogne was the Bonona⁵³ of the Romans, and its Gallic name Ben-avon, exactly describes its situation on the summit of a hill. On the very edge of the cliff, a little east of the port, are the remains of the tower built by Caligula (A.D. 40), when he marched to the shore of the channel with an army of 100,000 men, boasting that he intended to invade the opposite coast of Britain, but contenting himself with gathering a few shells, which he called the spoils of the ocean. The tower is supposed to have been intended for a lighthouse, and its modern name La Tour d'Orde, a corruption of Turris Ardens, points it out as having been used for this purpose. A very good case is, however, made out for a site on the Roman Wall, in which case Patrick would be the son of one of the Roman colonists or defenders of the wall, and a native of Cumberland. In his epistle against Coroticus, S. Patrick tells us he was of an honourable family according to the flesh, his father having held the office of decurion, which conferred a certain amount of nobility. Clerks were not then forbidden to hold such offices. He calls the Romans his fellow citizens, and this circumstance, coupled with the fact, that the names of S. Patrick, of his father, and of his grandfather, are purely Latin, points to the conclusion that the family was of Roman extraction; but his mother, whose name was Conchessa, was the daughter of Erkbalius, or Ocbasius, (Erkbald?) a Frank.