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8] ST. LUCIAN is commemorated (like several other Saints of the Calendar) as a member of the early French or Gallican Church, between which and the early Church of England, with which the existing Calendar originated, there was a very close spiritual bond. He was originally a Roman nobleman, but being ordained priest, he became one of a devoted band of missionaries who were sent from Rome into France with St. Denys and St. Quintin, about A.D. 245. St. Denys went to the city of Paris, St. Quintin to Amiens, and St. Lucian to Beauvais, of which cities respectively they probably became the bishops, St. Lucian having the episcopal title assigned to him in a martyrology of the ninth century. After a bold missionary career of many years, St. Lucian was added to the noble army of martyrs, A.D. 290. He is often called St. Lucian of Beauvais, to distinguish him from another Lucian who was a learned predecessor of St. Jerome in Biblical criticism.

13] ST. HILARY was another French bishop. He was born at Poictiers, of heathen parents; and was converted and baptized in mature years: after which, in A.D. 350, he became Bishop of his native city. St. Hilary entered the lists against Arianism, endeavouring to persuade the Emperor Constantius to give up his patronage of it. Several French bishops became Arians, and held a Synod at Languedoc, where Hilary withstood them, and maintained the Nicene faith. His opposition was for the time ineffectual; and he was thrust out of his see, being also banished to Phrygia by the Emperor, in A.D. 356. The great majority of the Gallican bishops remained stedfast, and it is observable that the British bishops are also commended by St. Hilary for continuing so in his History of Synods. He returned to France about A.D. 360, contending as earnestly as before for that true doctrine of our Lord's Divinity and the Holy Trinity for which he had suffered, and about which he had written a learned treatise during his exile. After a journey to Italy, St. Hilary departed to his rest on Jan. 13, a.d. 368.

This saint is usually represented in Christian art as treading on serpents, in reference to his contest with the venomous heresy of Arius; and Numbers xxi. 7, the petition of the Israelites to Moses that he would pray for the serpents to be taken from them, is annexed as a significant legend.

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Hilary term" in the law courts used to begin on this festival, Advent and Christmas-tide being observed as a vacation of peace; but it now begins on Jan. 11th, extending to Jan. 31st.

18] ST. PRISCA was a young Roman lady of the third century, who "came out of great tribulation" by the sword at a very early age. Some true tale of Christian faith, fortitude, and suffering underlies the uncertain history which tells us that St. Prisca was thrown to the lions in the amphitheatre, that they knelt at her feet refusing to harm her, that she was then beheaded, and that an eagle watched over her lifeless form until it was laid in the grave. In accordance with this legend, St. Prisca is represented with a palm branch, or a sword in her hand, a lion couching at her feet, and an eagle hovering above her head. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Ecclus. li. 9-12. St. Matt. xiii. 44-52.] 20] ST. FABIAN was one of that long series of martyred Bishops of Rome by which the church of St. Peter and St. Paul was distinguished above all others in the first three centuries. Eusebius [vi. 29] says that he was elected in consequence of a dove alighting on his head while the election was going on, and also of an irresistible unanimity pointing the thoughts of all to Fabian. This was in the year 236, when his predecessor had died a martyr after a single month's occupation of the see. A similar story to this of the dove is told respecting others; and it probably represents in a materializing allegory the idea that the promise of the presiding Comforter was fully realized in the assembly. St. Cyprian's ninth Epistle is written to the Roman Church respecting the martyrdom of St. Fabian, which occurred under the Emperor Decius, A.D. 250. It is also mentioned by St. Jerome; and the name is found in very ancient martyrologies. In the Eastern Church it is commemorated on Aug. 5th. Christian art represents him with the triple crown, holding the sword of martyrdom in his hand, and having a dove hovering above him. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Heb. xi. 33-39. St. Luke vi. 17-23.]

21] ST. AGNES left a name behind her which was very much cherished by the early Church. She was a young Roman lady of patrician birth, who was sought-not, probably, in honourable marriage-by the son of the Prefect of the city, A.D. 304. Her refusal to accede to his desires brought upon her the full force of the brutal heathenism which characterized the age of martyr. doms. Before the Prefect she made an open confession that she was a Christian, making the sign of the Cross, instead of offering incense to Vesta, as she was required to do for the renunciation of Christianity. The holy maiden was then vilely disrobed and tortured on the rack; and after vain endeavours to bring about her apostasy, was at last beheaded. The circumstances of her death made a great impression upon the Christian world, for St. Jerome says that the tongues and pens of all nations were employed in praise of her constancy; and her memory has ever since his time been greatly venerated. It was recorded that while her parents were praying at her tomb (probably in the catacombs) she appeared to them in vision, and spoke words of comfort to them respecting her rest and peace with her Saviour. St. Augustine speaks touchingly of her name: "Blessed is the holy Agnes, whose passion we this day celebrate: for the maiden was indeed what she was called; for in Latin Agnes signifies a lamb; and in Greek it means pure. She was what she was called; and she was found worthy of her crown." This shows the antiquity of the Holyday.

The symbolical form of her name is used by Christian art in representations of St. Agnes, a lamb standing by her side, while she bears a palm-branch or a sword in her hand.

Several churches are dedicated in the name of St. Agnes in England. One built over her resting-place near Rome has attained a kind of historical importance, from the Pope going there annually to bless the lambs whose fleeces are ultimately to form the palls with which he claims to invest all Archbishops. Such a pall is seen in the arms of the Archbishop of Canterbury. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Ecclus. li. 1-8. St. Matt. xiii. 44-52.]

22] ST. VINCENT was a martyr of Spain in that most terrible persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, which he commemorated by a coin with the inscription "Nomine Christianorum deleto," but which only caused the name of Christ to shine more brightly in Spain and elsewhere. St. Vincent was a deacon to Valerius, Bishop of Saragossa. Both were brought before Datian, the Prefect of Spain, and endured much suffering at his hands, being nearly starved to death, that they might afterwards be added to the number of those who "shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. . . . for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living waters." The Bishop was sent into exile, afterwards to die a martyr. Vincent was first tortured on the rack; and being still immoveable in his faith, was then laid on a bed of sharp iron bars under which a fire had been lighted. Being removed from this before death had ended his sufferings, he departed in peace, surrounded by his Christian brethren, on Jan. 22, A.D. 304.

The account of St. Vincent's martyrdom, or his "Acts," has come down to us in an authentic form and with much detail. St. Augustine and St. Leo both refer to them; and this holyday was probably established very shortly after it occurred.

St. Vincent is represented with the bed or gridiron on which he was tortured; and also with a raven hovering near him, significant of the fact that his body was cast to the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air by heathen vengeance. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Ecclus. xiv. 20, and xv. 4—6. St. John xii. 24—26.]

30] This holyday was originally established by a Royal Proclamation of Charles II. The Service for the day was, however, prepared and authorized by Convocation in the same manner as the Prayer Book itself. There were three separate editions of this Service or "Form of Prayer;" one issued in 1660, another in 1661, and a third in 1662, the latter being inserted in the Prayer Book in conformity with an order written at the end of the Sealed Books, in which it was not printed. The commemoration of King Charles the First's martyr-like death was abolished by a Royal Proclamation, dated Jan. 17, 1859, and since that date the Service has not been printed in the Prayer Book.

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THE MINOR HOLYDAYS OF FEBRUARY.

3] ST. BLASIUS was Bishop of Sebaste, now Szivas, of which city he is considered to be the tutelar Saint. He is said to have been a zealous supporter of the Christians in the Diocletian persecution, and himself to have suffered martyrdom [A.D. 316] under Licinius, by command of Agricolaus, the local governor. After having had his flesh cruelly torn by scourges and an iron woolcomb, he was beheaded. He has for ages been esteemed by the wool-combers as their patron saint, and they had guilds dedicated in his name at Norwich and in several places in Yorkshire and elsewhere. There are still some ancient traditional observances in the seats of the woollen manufacture, though the primitive occupation of hand-combing has almost died out. It is not uncommon there to see "Bishop Blaze" in full episcopal vestments as the sign of an inn. There are only three or four churches dedicated to him in England. His distinguishing emblem is an iron wool-comb; occasionally some or other of the legends connected with him are represented. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Heb. v. 1-6. St. Matt. x. 26-32.]

5] ST. AGATHA was a native of Sicily, of noble birth, and was dedicated to God from her earliest years. She received the crown of martyrdom at Catania, triumphing over the most infamous assaults upon her fortitude and chastity, made at the instigation of Quintianus the consul, who availed himself of the edict of Decius against the Christians to seize upon both her person and

her estate. As she was being brought to trial, she wept, and prayed for courage and strength on the way, saying, "O Jesu Christ, Lord of all, Thou seest my heart, Thou knowest my desire, do Thou alone possess all that I am. I am Thy sheep, make me worthy to overcome the Evil One." After long endurance of the most horrible tortures, she fell asleep in Jesus about A.D. 251, commending her soul to the Divine keeping. Only three churches are dedicated in her name in England. Her distinguishing emblem is a breast held in a pair of pincers, or transfixed by a sword, and she is also represented with a clasped book and a palm-branch. Her name is one of those inserted in the canon of the old English Liturgies, and in that of Rome. It is also in the most ancient calendars both Eastern and Western. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Ecclus. li. 1-8. St. Matt. xiii. 44—52.]

14] ST. VALENTINE was a priest who assisted the martyrs at Rome in the persecution under Claudius II. He was beaten with clubs, and beheaded after a year's imprisonment, on the 14th of February, about A.D. 270. His name occurs in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory and other ancient formularies. The custom of "choosing Valentines" seems to have had its origin in a heathen practice connected with the worship of Juno on or about this day; and the association of the popular absurdities with the day appears to be wholly accidental. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Ecclus. xxxi. 8-11. St. Matt. xvi. 24—28.]

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The Numbers here prefixed to the several Days, between the twenty-first day of March and the eighteenth day of April, both inclusive, denote the Days upon which those full Moons do fall, which happen upon or next after the twenty-first day of March, in those years of which they are respectively the Golden Numbers: And the Sunday Letter next following any such full Moon, points out Easter Day for that Year. All which holds until the Year of our Lord 1899 inclusive, after which Year the places of these Golden Numbers will be to be changed, as is hereafter expressed.

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1] ST. DAVID was the son of Xantus, prince of Ceretica, now Cardiganshire. He was religiously educated, and after his ordination to the priesthood embraced the ascetic life through the influence of Paulinus, a pupil of St. Germanus of Auxerre. After a long period of retirement in the isle of Vecta (? Wight) he set out, like St. Paul from Arabia, and preached the Gospel in Britain. He founded a monastery in the vale of Ross, which was celebrated for the austerity of its rule. In A.D. 519 he attended a synod of Welsh clergy, which met to condemn the then prevalent heresy of Pelagius. Here he so ably defended the truth that Dubritius, the aged archbishop of Caerleon, constrained him to become his successor: but he removed the see to Menevia, now called St. David's, after him. He is considered to be the patron saint of Wales, and he died about A.D. 544, in his eighty-third year. He is represented preaching on a hill, with a dove on his shoulder. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Ecclus. xliv. 17. 20, 21-23; xlv. 6, 7. 15, 16. St. Matt. xxv. 14-23.]

2] ST. CHAD, together with his three brothers, Cedd, Bishop of London, and the priests, Alin and Cymbel, was trained under St. Aidan at Lindisfarne. He also studied in Ireland, whence he came to preside over a religious house, founded by his brother Cedd, in the Yorkshire wolds. He was consecrated to the see of York A.D. 666, by two British bishops, but soon resigned it in favour of Wilfrid, the two having, in consequence of a misunderstanding, been both consecrated to the same see. In A.D. 670, he was appointed Bishop of Lichfield, where he died of a plague in 673. Lichfield Cathedral, and thirty-one churches in the Midland counties, are dedicated in his honour. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Ecclus. xlv. 1-5. St. Mark xiii. 33-37.]

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7] ST. PERPETUA, ST. FELICITAS, and their three companions, suffered in the persecution by Severus about A.D. 203, in Africa. St. Perpetua was the wife of a man of rank, and was herself of good family. At the time of her martyrdom she had an infant at the breast. The "Acts of St. Perpetua" are supposed to have been partly written by herself before her death, and afterwards completed by Tertullian. They contain a very remarkable and detailed account of her sufferings. She was first tossed by a wild which is often represented with her, and then slowly butchered by a timorous or unskilful executioner. The day occurs in a Roman calendar of the year 354, and the names are commemorated in the canon of the Roman Liturgy. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: 1 Cor. vii. 25-34. St. Matt. xxv. 1-13.] 12] ST. GREGORY, surnamed the Great, was born at Rome, of noble and wealthy parents, about A.D. 540. His education was of the highest class, and included civil and canon law. At the age of thirty-four he was made chief magistrate of Rome, and was obliged to live in great pomp and state. But all his sympathies were with the religious life, and after the death of his father he founded and endowed six monasteries in Sicily, out of the family estates in that island. He also founded a seventh, dedicated to St. Andrew, in his own house in Rome, in which he himself assumed the Benedictine habit at the age of thirty-five. Here he impaired his constitution by the rigour with which he fasted while he was studying. It is to this period of his life that the well-known story about the British slaves refers. He actually set off on a mission to England, but was recalled by Pope Benedict I., the whole city being in an uproar at his departure. Gregory was soon after this made a Cardinal-Deacon, and took a prominent part in public affairs. He was then chosen Abbot of the Monastery he had founded, and in A.D. 590 was elected Pope, and after having manifested the utmost reluctance was consecrated on the 13th of September. It was during the monastic period of his life that he wrote the celebrated "Morals on the Book of Job." In the fifth year of his Pontificate occurred the controversy regarding the title of Universal Bishop, which he regarded as Antichristian. In July, A.D. 596, he again took up his scheme for the conversion of England, and sent hither St. Augustine with forty companions, to whom, under God, we owe the revival of Christianity in the southern parts of our land. During the rest of his life St. Gregory gave himself much to study, and revised the Divine offices, paying much attention to their ancient music, which from this circumstance has acquired the

popular designation of Gregorian. He departed in peace, March 12, A.D. 604, and was buried in St. Peter's. St. Gregory is esteemed as one of the Four Doctors of the Western Church, and is represented with the triple crown as a Pope, and with a book in his hand, and a dove on his shoulder, as a Doctor aided by the Holy Spirit. His festival is kept in the Greek Church on the 11th of March, but its observance in England on the 12th was enjoined on the monasteries as early as A.D. 747, at the Synod of Cloveshooe, and on the kingdom generally at the Council of Oxford, A.D. 1222. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Ecclus. xlvii. 8—11. St. Matt. xxiv. 42-47.]

18] ST. EDWARD THE KING succeeded his father King Edgar, at the age of thirteen, in A.D. 975. He was celebrated for his piety and the amiability of his disposition, which greatly endeared him to his subjects. After a reign of three years and a half, he was treacherously stabbed, while drinking the stirrup-cup, by order of his step-mother Elfrida, her object being to obtain the crown for her own son Ethelred. He had gone out of his way from hunting to pay her a visit, and to see his brother, whom he had always treated with affectionate kindness. He was buried deep in a marsh, after which his body was twice re-interred. [See June 20.] He is usually represented as a youthful king, with a cup in one hand and a dagger or sceptre in the other, and often with a falcon, in allusion to his last hunt. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp. Ecclus. xxxi. 8-11. St. Luke xiv. 26-33.]

21] ST. BENEDICT, the founder of the great Benedictine order of Monks, was born of a good family resident at Norsia, in the Italian province of Umbria, about A.D. 480. He was educated in the great public schools at Rome, but was there so shocked at the licentiousness prevailing among the Roman youth, that he secretly quitted the city at the age of fifteen, and betook himself to a cavern at Subiaco, where he lived as a hermit for three years. He had before met with Romanus, a monk, who, during his retreat, supplied him with food. It was at this time that, when distracted by temptations, he used to roll himself in the briars, a circumstance familiar to many through its being mentioned in Bishop Taylor's "Holy Living." He gained such influence over the shepherds of the wild region round about, that some were persuaded by him to become monks. After much solicitation he consented to become Abbot of Vicobarro, near Subiaco, where he diligently endeavoured to reform the abuses that he found existing. This rendered him so unpopular with some of the inmates that they attempted to poison him; and, after praying God to forgive them, he returned to his cave. Here he had many disciples, and organized twelve religious houses, each containing a Superior and twelve monks. These were eventually united in the Monastery of St. Scholastica, the most ancient of the order, as is supposed. Having still many enemies, and being a man of peace, he again sought retirement, and repaired to Mount Cassino, where some of the ancient idolatrous rites still prevailed, and where stood an old temple of Apollo and a grove. Here he was the means of converting many to the faith of Christ. He overthrew the temple and cut down the grove, and upon the site founded two oratories. This was the origin of the celebrated Monastery of Mount Cassino, whence proceeded the "Benedictine Rule," and where the present monastic system of Western Europe was definitely organized. Towards the close of Benedict's life, his sister Scholastica came to reside near him, with a small community of religious women; where he used to visit her once a year. He died of a fever caught in visiting the poor. Feeling that his end was drawing near, he ordered his grave to be dug, and, supported by the brethren, contemplated it in silence for some time: and then being carried into the chapel, there expired on the eve of Passion Sunday, A.D. 543. He is represented in various monastic habits, according to circumstances, and often carries an open book with the first words of his Rule:-AVSCVLTA FILI VERBA MAGISTRI. Others of his distinguishing emthe thorn-bush; a wine-cup, or loaf, with a serpent crawling out of it (in allusion to attempts made to poison him); and a broken sieve. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Ecclus. xxxix. 5-9. St. Luke xi. 33-36.]

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