The Lives of the Saints, Volume 02 (of 16): February

As S. Bridget was obliged to go long journeys, the bishop ordained her coachman priest, and the story is told that one day as she and a favourite nun sat in the chariot, the coa...

Throughout his life, Penda, the fierce heathen king of Mercia, or the midland counties of England, waged war with the kingdom of Northumbria, which included Yorkshire, Durham, a...

And when three days were accomplished, Paphnutius led her to the abbot and said, "Come, my father, that thy handmaiden may salute thee, and pray for her, for we are going home t...

This saint was born at Thourout, in Flanders, where was a monastic cell, that had been given by King Louis the Pious to S. Anskar. As Anskar was at Thourout one day, he noticed...

Ina once made a feast to his lords and great men in one of his royal houses; the house was hung with goodly curtains, and the table was spread with vessels of gold and silver, a...

In the persecution of Decius, S. Pionius, a priest of Smyrna, was apprehended; together with Sabina, Macedonia, Asclepiades, and Linus a priest, whilst they were celebrating the...

Porphyrius, a native of Thessalonica, in Macedonia, was of a noble and wealthy family. The desire of renouncing the world made him leave his friends and country at twenty-five y...

Verdiana was the child of poor, though well-born parents; and her knowledge of the sufferings of the poor from her own experience in early years made her ever full of pity for t...

The most ignominious death which a criminal can die in that country is by impalement; and the idolaters determined to stamp Christianity in India with infamy by subjecting its m...

The history of this noble Confessor is a sad one, for it opens up to us a picture of the dissensions which tore the Church in the 4th century. It will be remembered that the Chu...

[Of local veneration only, at Nivelles; mentioned in some of the later Martyrologies, and called, sometimes Saint, sometimes the Blessed. Authorities:--A Life contained in the A...

Ermenilda was the daughter of the saintly queen of Kent, Sexburga, who after the death of her husband, and regency till her son was of age, retired to Ely, where she became abbe...

[Roman Martyrology. Not mentioned in any Martyrologies earlier than that of Usuardus. Among these martyrs are some commemorated separately on other days. Sylvanus, by the Greeks...

Anskar now returned to Hamburg, and devoted himself to the administration of his diocese. One of the latest acts of his life was a noble effort to check the infamous practice of...

The first mission in Denmark was organized in the year A.D. 826, when Harold, king of Jutland, his queen, and a large retinue of Danes, were baptized with great pomp in the vast...

To prevent any further addition from without to the number of the missionaries already in the kingdom, all the ports of Japan were irrevocably closed against the vessels of Euro...

After suffering extreme hunger and thirst, with other hardships, during an imprisonment of many months, the confessors were brought before the president, and made a glorious con...

The Giffiaques were the next who felt the tyrant's rage. The governor himself urged on their punishment, for the loss of his friends had made him furious; and, attributing it en...

The historian of the life of S. Adeloga, concludes with the following prayer. "We pray thee, most holy and gentle mother, that, as thou hast encouraged us in this life with thy...

After the death of Charles VIII., on April 7th, 1498, the Duke of Orleans ascended the throne, as Louis XII. He at once obtained a divorce from Pope Alexander VI., by taking an...

S. Aventine was much beloved and respected for his singular virtues by S. Camelian, Bishop of Troyes, who made him steward of the possessions of the church. He afterwards became...

The child who made this exclamation was but five years old; yet without shedding a tear, he afterwards endured a similarly protracted amputation, and then silently and unresisti...

S. Proclus of Constantinople died on October 24th, 447, and Flavian, the treasurer of the church, was elected to succeed him. He immediately became obnoxious to the eunuch Chrys...

On the day he said his first mass, by a special inspiration from God, he resolved to devote himself to the ransoming of Christian slaves from captivity. But before he entered up...

S. Severus was priest to a church in the district of Valeria, which is that part between the Tiber and the Velino, occupied by the cities Riete, Terni, and Narni. S. Gregory rel...

In the year 1153, there appeared in Tuscany a man, who sought to hide himself from the eyes of his fellow-men. The islet of Lupocavio, in the district of Pisa, seemed to him to...

After this, the martyr Apollinaris appeared to Romuald in a vision, and commanded him to return to Classis, and assume the government of the monastery there. He at once removed...

Peter, surnamed of Damian, was born about the year 988, in Ravenna, of a good family, the Onesti, that was considerably reduced in circumstances. He was the youngest of many chi...

The honour of being the birth-place of S. Agatha is claimed by Catania and Palermo, in Sicily. The probabilities in favour of either are nearly equally divided, though there see...

A curious, late, and utterly worthless story, save as an example of the manner in which the popular tongue forges marvels, is related of his relics. At his death, three priests...

In subsequent sessions the acts of the Iconoclastic Council at Jerusalem were examined and refuted in order, and the council closed with the usual acclamations and prayers for t...

But the governor's suspicions were roused, and he determined to convince himself whether this gardener were a Christian or not. He, therefore, said, "What is your religion?" Ser...

"Immediately after Seleucus, (see p. 316) came the aged Theodulus, a grave and pious man," says Eusebius, "who was of the governor's family, and who, on account of his age, had...

S. Cæsarius was given by his parents an excellent education, and, being a man of great natural parts, he soon distinguished himself for his accomplishments in all the known scie...

A PAGE S. Abraham 298 " Adalbald 41 " Adelheid 140 " Adeloga 42 " Æmilian 212 " Agatha 136 " Aldetrudis 413 " Alexander 433 " Alnoth 448 " Amandus 182 SS. Ananias and comp. 412...

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 almsgi...