Part 36

All Friday the parents sought their son, but found him not, and the Jews, alarmed at the proceedings of the magistrates, who had taken the matter up, and were making investigations in all quarters, consulted what had better be done. They could not carry the body away, as every gate was watched, and the perplexity was great. At length they determined to dress the body again and throw it into the stream which ran under Samuel's window, but which was there blocked by an iron cage in which the refuse was caught. Tobias was to go to the bishop and chief magistrates and tell them that there was a child's body entangled in the grate, and he hoped that by thus drawing attention to it all suspicion of having been implicated in the murder would be diverted from him and his co-religionists.

This was done, and when John de Salis, the bishop, and James de Sporo, the governor, heard the report of the Jew, they at once went, and the body was removed before their eyes, and conveyed to the cathedral, followed by a crowd. As, according to a popular mediæval superstition, blood is supposed to flow from the wound when the murderer approaches, the officers of justice examined the body as the crowds passed it; and they noticed that blood exuded as Tobias approached. On the strength of this the house of Samuel and the synagogue were examined, and blood and other traces of the butchery were found in the cellar, and in the place where the deed had been done, and the bowl of blood was discovered in a cupboard. The most eminent physicians were called to investigate the condition of the corpse, and they unanimously decided that the child could not have been drowned, as the body was not swollen, and as there were marks on the throat of strangulation. The wounds they decided were made by sharp instruments like awls and knives, and could not be attributed to the gnawing of water-rats. The popular voice now accusing the Jews, the magistrates seized on the Jews and threw them into prison, and on the accusation of a renegade Jew named John, who had been converted to Christianity seven years before, and who declared that the Jews had often sought to catch and kill a child, and had actually done this elsewhere, more than five of the Jews were sentenced to be broken on the wheel, and then burnt.

The blood found in the basin is preserved in the cathedral of Trent, and the body of the child is also enshrined there in a magnificent mausoleum.

March 25.

_The Annunciation of S. Mary_.

MEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION. THE PENITENT THIEF, A.D. 33. S. QUIRINUS, _M. at Rome_, A.D. 269. S. IRENÆUS, _B.M. at Sirmium_, A.D. 304. S. PELAGIUS, _B. of Laodicæa, end of 4th cent._ S. DULA, _V.M. at Nicomedia_. S. CAMIN, _Ab. of Iniskeltra, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 653. S. HUMBERT, _P.C. at Marolles, in Hainault, circ._ A.D. 680. SS. BARONTUS AND DESIDERIUS, _HH. at Pistoria, circ._ A.D. 725. S. HERMELAND, _Ab. of Hindre, in France, 8th cent._ S. ALFWOLF, _B. of Sherborne_, A.D. 1075. S. WILLIAM, _Child M. at Norwich_, A.D. 1144. S. RICHARD, _Child M. at Paris_, A.D. 1179. S. IDA, _Abss. of Argensolles, in the diocese of Soissons, circ._ A.D. 1250.

THE ANNUNCIATION OF S. MARY.

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, "Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women."[87]

[87] S. Luke, i. 26-28.

The angel, to manifest his reverence and love, saluted the holy virgin with an "Ave," or Hail, and he named not her proper name, Mary, but gave her the title "Full of Grace." This he did that we might understand, that as Almighty God gave to the Messiah the names of "Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,"[88] so also He gave to the Virgin a new and most glorious name, which, for excellency, is to be attributed to her in the Church; so that as we call Solomon "the Wise," and S. Paul "the Apostle of the Gentiles," so we should call the Blessed Virgin the "Full of Grace," and the "Blessed among women."

[88] Isaiah ix. 6.

The festival of the Annunciation is at least as ancient as the Council in Trullo (A.D. 680), and is supposed, on the authority of a sermon attributed to S. Cyril, to have been kept in the 5th century. It has always been very highly observed in England. The Synod of Worcester, A.D. 1240, by one of its canons, forbade all servile work upon it, and this was afterwards confirmed by various provincial and diocesan councils in all respects except agricultural labour.

The tenth council of Toledo, in 656, ordered that this festival should be solemnized on December 18th, eight days before Christmas, because of its proper day arriving in Lent, and sometimes in Holy Week. Nevertheless, it has been observed on its proper day, but is transferred in the Western Church to after Easter, whenever it occurs in Holy Week or on Easter-day.

It is said that in the church of Notre Dame du Puy en Valey has the privilege of making it over-ride Good Friday, when it occurs on that day; and that on that day there are great indulgences as a jubilee in that church. The Council of Constantinople, in "Trullo," already mentioned, ordered that the mass of the pre-sanctified should be said on all days in Lent except the Sabbath, the Lord's day, and the Feast of the Annunciation. Pope Urban II., in a council held at Clermont, in 1095, ordered that every day the church bell should be rung, morning, noon, and evening, and that each time it was rung the faithful should recite the Angelic Salutation. This is called the Angelus. The object of the Holy Father was to stir up the faithful to thank God for the benefit of the Incarnation. Popes John XXII., Calixtus III., Paul III., Alexander VII., and Clement X., have recommended this practice and attached indulgences to it. These were confirmed by Benedict XIII.

The Greeks observe the same day as the Latins. In the Menologium of the emperor Basil the younger, it is thus described: "On the 25th day of March, the Annunciation of the most holy Mother of God. Our God, most loving and merciful to human salvation, who ever careth for the sons of men, when He beheld man, the work of His hands, brought under the bondage of Satan, willed to send His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, into the world, to pluck man out of the power of the devil. But willing not that Satan, nay, nor the celestial powers should know thereof, he committed this secret to one of the archangels, Gabriel the Glorious. And having made by His providence that a Virgin pure and immaculate should be born meet for so high an honour, to her was Gabriel sent, and he came to the city called Nazareth, and said to her, 'Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee!' But she asked, 'How shall these things be?' To whom he made reply, 'The Holy Ghost shall descend on thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.' And she said, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word.' And having thus spoken, she conceived above nature a son, the Word of God; and thereafter were fulfilled all the mysteries of the Word of God incarnate pertaining to our salvation."

In the Greek Menæa also, it is said, "March 25th, the commemoration of the Annunciation of the most holy Mother of God, our Lady, when the arch-warrior, Gabriel, captain of the celestial armies, being instructed in the secret from eternity and unknown to angels, the mystery hidden of the divine incarnation of the Son of God, was sent to the most pure Mary, unstained with any spot of sin, in the city of Nazareth, that he might declare to her the will of God the Father, and the favour and efficacious help of the life-giving Spirit for the salvation of man. And he said to her, 'Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee.'"

This is the exordium of a Greek hymn on the Annunciation, by S. Joseph, the hymnographer:--"When Gabriel, the great archangel, saw thee, O pure one! the living book of Christ, sealed with the Holy Ghost, he cried to thee, 'Rejoice, oh house of joy! through whom is abolished the malediction pronounced on our first parents.'"

The ancient Arabian-Egyptian church also observed this festival. In an Arabic martyrology, the entry on March 25th is as follows, "The memorial of the Annunciation of the Mother of God, and the Incarnation of the Son of God, this day the first-fruits of our salvation and the manifestation of a mystery kept hidden from all ages. The Son of God issued forth Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel announced the favour. And now we with him exclaim, 'Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee!'" The same festival is observed by the Copts, and found in the Syriac and Chaldee, and Russian Kalendars.

In the sacramentary of S. Gregory the Great, the proper preface for this day runs thus: " ... through Christ our Lord, whom Gabriel, the archangel, announced was to be born for man's salvation, the Virgin Mary, by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost, conceived; that what angelic sublimity announced, virginal purity might believe, and ineffable Deity might perform. And thus we hope, by Thy assistance, to behold His face without confusion, in the solemnity of whose Incarnation we now rejoice."

In the Church of Milan, according to the Ambrosian rite, "throughout the whole of Lent, no festival of any saint is observed, and the office for the Annunciation of S. Mary is celebrated on the last Sunday in Advent."

MEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION.

In the Martyrology attributed to S. Jerome, in those of Ado, Notker, Rabanus Maurus, and many others, on this day is marked, "In Jerusalem, our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified," or words to this effect. This being by many supposed to be the day of the month on which Christ died. In an ancient Roman Martyrology, published by Rosweydus, on March 25th is inserted, "Annuntiatio Dominica et Crucifixio." Some ancient lines on this day, which occur in some Martyrologies, deserve quotation: "In hac die multa, mirabilia facta sunt, quæ notantur in his versibus":--

"Salve festa dies, quæ vulnera nostra coerces; Angelus est missus, est Christus in cruce passus. Est Adam factus, et eodem tempore lapsus. Ob meritum decimæ cadit Abel fratris ab ense, Offert Melchisedech, Isaac supponitur aris, Est decollatus Christi Baptista Joannes. Est Petrus ereptus, Jacobus sub Herode peremptus. Corpora Sanctorum cum Christe multa resurgunt. Latro dulce tamen per Christum sucipit. Amen."

Molanus, in his additions to Usuardus, adds to the two mysteries of the Annunciation and the Crucifixion, "On the same day the genesis of the world; also the victory of Michael, the archangel, over the dragon." This victory is commemorated on this day in many old martyrologies. An old Brussels MS. Martyrology adds, "On the same day the formation of Adam and his ejection from Paradise." Many insert the death of Abel; in that of Canisius, "Abel the just, the proto-martyr of the Old Testament, at once virgin, priest, and martyr, and the first of mankind to die." Also the sacrifice of Melchisedek, and the sacrifice of Isaac, are inserted on this day in many martyrologies. In some likewise, "On this day Israel crossed the Red Sea"; in some, "S. Veronica, who wiped the face of Christ"; in some also the decollation of S. John the Baptist, the passion of S. James, and the liberation of S. Peter.

But in the Greek Menæa, March 23rd is marked as that of the "Crucifixion and memorial of the Penitent Thief": on March 22nd is commemorated the Last Supper; on March 24th the Repose in the Tomb; and on March 25th, the Resurrection.

THE PENITENT THIEF.

[Modern Roman Martyrology.]

The modern Roman Martyrology has on this day: "In Jerusalem the commemoration of the Blessed Thief, who confessed Christ on the Cross, and merited to hear from him: This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." Baronius, in his notes to the Martyrology, adds that the thief is traditionally called Dimas, under which name chapels have been dedicated to him, but that as this name is derived from apocryphal sources, it is not sanctioned by the Roman Martyrology. Masinus asserts that the body of S. Dimas, the Penitent Thief, is preserved in the church of SS. Vitalis and Agricola at Bologna.

S. QUIRINUS, M.

(A.D. 269.)

[Roman Martyrology. Another S. Quirinus on March 30th, and another on June 4th. The Quirinus on this day, March 25th, is mentioned in the Acts of SS. Maris, Martha, Andifax, and Habakkuk (Jan. 19th), which are genuine. All other accounts of Quirinus are fabulous.]

Quirinus is said, but the statement is palpably false, to have been the son of the emperor Philip, and to have been converted by his Christian mother, Severa. Putting this idle fable aside, we know of Quirinus only that he was executed with the sword in prison in 269, and the body was thrown into the Tiber, but was recovered by a priest named Pastor, who buried it in the Pontiani cemetery, whence it was removed in the pontificate of pope S. Zacharias (March 15th), and it found a shrine and resting-place eventually in the monastery of Tengern-see, in Bavaria. A spring of naphtha rising there goes by the name of Quirinus-oil.

The S. Quirinus of Rome commemorated on March 30th, according to the Roman Martyrology, is supposed to have been a military tribune, chiefly from the fact that he has been represented in armour seated on horseback. He is the patron Saint of Cologne, Correggio, and Neuss. This S. Quirinus is often represented with a falcon, which circumstance has been said to indicate his high birth, and has also led to his being reputed to have been of the Imperial family, and so being identified with the S. Quirinus commemorated on March 25th. The real reason for the falcon's presence seems, however, to lie in the story related of his martyrdom (see page 504).

S. IRENÆUS, B. M.

(A.D. 304.)

[By the Greeks on Aug. 25th; by the Latins on this day, or March 6th or 25th. Authorities:--The authentic Acts of his martyrdom.]

S. Irenæus, bishop of Sirmich or Mitrovitz on the Save, in Pannonia, the modern Hungary, died on March 25th, in the year 304. He was arrested by order of Probus, the governor of Pannonia, and was led before his tribunal. All his family were present. His mother, wife, and children surrounded him, and some of the younger children clung to his knees and implored him not to leave them. His wife cast her arms round his neck and burst into tears on his breast, and conjured him to submit to the imperial edict so as to preserve himself for her and his innocent children. The governor joined in this attempt to shake his constancy. But S. Irenæus said, "Our Lord Jesus Christ hath declared that the man who loveth father or mother, wife or children, more than Him, is not worthy of Him, so that I forget I am a father, a husband, and a son."

Irenæus was then ordered to have his head struck off and his body cast into the river Save.

S. DULA, V. M.

(DATE UNKNOWN.)

[Roman and most ancient Western Martyrology.]

Nothing is known of this saint, except that she was a servant or slave-girl--as indeed her name implies--to a soldier at Nicomedia, and that she steadfastly resisted his importunities, till, exasperated at her opposition to his passion, he killed her, in an explosion of anger. Her real name is unknown; the name Dula is simply the Greek word for servant-maid.

S. CAMIN OF INISKELTRA, AB.

(A.D. 653.)

[Irish Martyrologies. Authority:--Scattered notices in lives of other Irish saints collected by Colgan.]

S. Camin was of the princely house of Hy-kinselogh by his father Dima, a half-brother of Guair, king of Connaught, by his mother Cumania. Little else is recorded of him, until he retired to the island of Iniskeltra, in Lough Derg, where he led a very austere and solitary life, but after some time was obliged to erect a monastery to accommodate the numbers of disciples who resorted to him. Although of a delicate constitution, he closely applied himself to ecclesiastical studies, and wrote a commentary on the Psalms, collated with the Hebrew text.

S. HUMBERT, P. C.

(ABOUT A.D. 680.)

[Belgian, French, and German Martyrologies. Authority:--A life of S. Humbert by a monk of Marolles, in the 13th cent., based apparently on older documents.]

This saint was born at Maizières, on the river Oise, in the province anciently called Upper Picardy; his parents were noble, and the virtue of his father Everard obtained for him, after his death, the title of Benedictus, or the Blessed. The child from infancy showed the utmost delight in the practice of religion, and his parents took him to a monastery in Laon, where he received the clerical tonsure. He was educated and ordained priest in the monastery, and remained in it till the death of his parents, when he was obliged to leave it that he might take possession and dispose of his inheritance, which was considerable. He left the city of Laon with the blessing of the bishop, and the sanction of his superiors, and returned to Maizières, where he lived in great retirement. After a while he received S. Amandus, who had just laid aside his bishopric of Maestricht, and was on his way to Rome with S. Nicasius, monk of Elno. He accompanied them to Italy. One night as they were camping on their journey a bear attacked their sumpter horse, and killed it. When Humbert went in quest of the horse next morning to lay on it the baggage, he found it lying dead on the grass, and the bear mangling it. Humbert at once ordered the wild beast to come to him, and when it obeyed he laid on it the pack-saddle and the baggage, and made the bear carry for them all they needed till they reached the gates of Rome, when he dismissed Bruin, who retired, looking every now and then behind him, as if expecting a recall.

He afterwards made a second pilgrimage to Rome, and on his return from it, he went to visit S. Amandus in his monastery of Elno, on the Scarpe; and after having deliberated with him on a suitable place for a retreat, he retired into the monastery of Marolles, or Maroilles, in Hainault, on the little river Hespres, which flows into the Sambre. This house had been built shortly before by count Rodobert, or Chonebert, in his territory of Famart. Humbert having resolved to spend the rest of his days there, gave to the new monastery all his lands at Maizières, in 671. It was then a poor little cell lost in a forest, but this donation made it very wealthy. A story is told of Humbert at Marolles which resembles many recorded in the lives of other saints, and which shows that the old hermits and monks were the protectors of wild animals.

One day as Humbert was busy tearing up the brambles and thistles which covered the land which he was desirous of reclaiming, and had cast off his cloak on account of the heat, the horns of the hunters proclaimed that a large party was engaged in the chase near the monastery, and shortly after he saw a frightened beast which the dogs pursued dart over the open ground and fall panting and wearied out on his cloak. The dogs surrounded the mantle, yelping, but did not venture to fall on the wild creature, and the arrows of the hunters fell short of the mark. Seeing this remarkable interposition in behalf of the poor animal, the sportsmen withdrew, highly extolling the virtue of the holy man who by his mantle could protect a beast from injury.

Humbert seldom left his monastery, except to meet S. Aldegunda, abbess of Maubeuge, with whom he had contracted an intimate union of charity and prayers. He is sometimes called abbot or superior of Marolles; at all events he had disciples, in whose arms he died, about the year 680, on March 25th.

In art he is represented with a bear by his side, and a cross marked on his shaven crown, which, according to the legend, was miraculously impressed.

S. ALFWOLD, B. OF SHERBORNE.

(A.D. 1075.)

[Mayhew in Trophæa Cong. Angl. O.S.B.; Gabriel Bucelinus in his Menologium Benedictinum. Hieron. Porter, in his Flores Vitarum Sanct. Angliæ. Authorities:--William of Malmesbury, and Henry Knyghton.]

In the reign of the Confessor, Alfwold, a monk of Winchester was raised to the bishopric of Sherborne. At that time the English people were greatly addicted to the pleasures of the table, and it was expected of the bishops to keep open house and have their tables well provided with abundant and delicate fare. But Alfwold, though ready to show all hospitality, lived plainly himself, drinking water out of a common bowl, and eating out of a wooden platter. He had S. Cuthbert's life and example ever before his eyes, and repeated to himself constantly the antiphon for his festival, "The blessed bishop Cuthbert, a man perfect in all things, in the midst of a crowd remained a monk, and to all was venerable." He visited Durham, and opening the shrine of S. Cuthbert addressed him lovingly as a friend, and deposited by his side a token of his regard.

S. WILLIAM, CHILD M.

(A.D. 1144.)

[Anglican Martyrologies. But the day of his invention, April 15th, was observed as his festival at Norwich. Authority:--An account of his martyrdom in Capgrave.]

According to the legend related by Capgrave, there lived in Norwich in the 12th century a couple named Wenstan and Elwina, of the peasant class, who became parents of a boy, named William. One day Wenstan went to a feast and took his little son with him. During the meal a beggar came in with irons on his hands, worn as an act of penance; the child put out his hands to touch the chains and manacles, and instantly they broke and fell at the feet of the mendicant. At the age of seven the boy was so filled with the ardour of self-mortification, that he fasted three days in the week, and was constantly in the church singing psalms and reciting prayers.