Saints

SAINT BONIFACE

Saint Boniface was born into a Christian family of noble rank about the year 680. Winfrid, his baptized name, was a very small boy when he found himself listening to the conversation of some monks who were visiting his home and he resolved to enter the Church. Winfrid went to the abbey of Bursling in the diocese of Winchester. At the age of thirty he was ordained priest, and now added preaching to teaching and administrative work.

In 718, with commendatory letters from the bishop of Winchester, he presented himself in Rome before Gregory II. The Pope welcomed him warmly, kept him in Rome until spring of the following year, when traveling conditions were favorable, and then sent him forth with a general
commission to preach the word of God to the heathen. At this time Winfrid’s name was changed to Boniface.

In Rome on Saint Andrew’s Day, November 30, 722, Pope Gregory II consecrated him as regionary bishop with a general jurisdiction over “the races in the parts of Germany and east of the Rhine who live in error, in the shadow of death.” The Pope also gave him a letter to the powerful Charles Martel, “The Hammer.” When Boniface delivered it to the Frankish duke on his way back to Germany, he received the valuable gift of a sealed pledge of Frankish protection. Armed with authority from both the Church and the civil power the prestige of Boniface was vastly enhanced. On his return to Hesse he decided to try to root out the pagan superstitions which seriously affected the stability of his converts. Boniface and one or two of his followers attacked with axes Thor’s sacred oak. These German tribes, along with many other primitive peoples, were tree worshipers. Thor, god of thunder, was one of the principal Teutonic deities, and this ancient oak were sacred. The huge tree crashed to earth and split into four parts. The tribesmen expected a
punishment to fall instantly on the perpetrators for such an act. They now saw that their god was powerless to protect even his own sanctuary. To signalize the victory, Boniface built a chapel on the spot.

Pope Gregory III sent Boniface the pallium in 731, appointing him archbishop and metropolitan of all Germany beyond the Rhine, with authority to found new bishoprics. In 741 the great Benedictine abbey at Fulda was founded in Prussia to serve as the fountainhead of German monastic culture. Its first abbot was Boniface’s young Bavarian disciple, Sturm or Sturmio. In the early Middle Ages Fulda produced a host of scholars and teachers, and became known as the Monte Cassino of Germany.

Boniface desired that Britain too should share in this reform movement. At his request and that of Pope Zacharias, the archbishop of Canterbury held a council at Clovesho, in 747, which adopted many of the resolutions passed in Gaul. This was also the year when Boniface was given a metropolitan see. Cologne was at first proposed as his cathedral city, but Mainz was finally chosen. Even when Cologne and other cities became archiepiscopal sees, Mainz retained the primacy. The Pope also made Boniface primate of Germany as well as apostolic legate for both Germany and Gaul.

While awaiting the arrival of the converts, Boniface was quietly reading in his tent. Suddenly a band of armed pagans appeared in the center of the encampment. His companions would have tried to defend their leader, but Boniface would not allow them to do so. Even as he was telling them to trust in God and welcome the prospect of dying for Him, the Germans attacked. Boniface was one of the first to fall; his companions shared his fate. The pagans, expecting to carry away
rich booty, were disgusted when they found, besides provisions, only a box of holy relics and a few books. They did not bother to carry away these objects, which were later collected by the Christians who came to avenge the martyrs and rescue their remains. The body of Boniface was carried to Fulda for burial, and there it still rests. The book the bishop was reading and which he is said to have lifted above his head to save it when the blow fell is also one of Fulda’s treasures.

Boniface has been called the pro-consul of the papacy. His administrative and organizing genius left its mark on the German Church throughout the Middle Ages. Among the emblems of Boniface are an oak, an axe, a sword, a book.

Saint Boniface, Martyr, Apostle of Germany. Feast Day is June 5.

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SAINT CECILIA

Virgin and martyr, patroness of church music, died at Rome. This saint, so often glorified in the fine arts and in poetry, is one of the most venerated martyrs of Christian antiquity. The oldest historical account of St. Cecilia is found in the “Martyrologium Hieronymianum”; from this it is evident that her feast was celebrated in the Roman Church in the fourth century. Her name occurs under different dates in the above-mentioned martyrology; its mention under 11
August, the feast of the martyr Tiburtius, is evidently a later and erroneous addition, due to the fact that this Tiburtius, who was buried on the Via Labicana, was wrongly identified with Tiburtius, the brother-in-law of St. Cecilia, mentioned in the Acts of her martyrdom. Perhaps also there was another Roman martyr of the name of Cecilia buried on the Via Labicana. Under the date of 16 September Cecilia is mentioned alone, with the topographical note: “Appiâ viâ in eâdem urbe Româ natale et passio sanctæ Ceciliæ virginis (the text is to be thus corrected). This is evidently the day of the burial of the holy martyr in the Catacomb of Callistus. The feast of the saint mentioned under 22 November, on which day it is still celebrated, was kept in the church in the Trastevere quarter at Rome, dedicated to her. Its origin, therefore, is to be traced most probably to this church. The early medieval guides (Itineraria) to the burial-places of Roman martyrs point out her grave on the Via Appia, next to the crypt of the Roman bishops of the third century (De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, I, 180-181). De Rossi located the burial-place of
Cecilia in the Catacomb of Callistus in a crypt immediately adjoining the crypt or chapel of the popes; an empty niche in one of the walls contained, probably, at one time the sarcophagus with the bones of the saint. Among the frescoes of a later time with which the wall of the sepulchre are adorned, the figure of a richly dressed woman appears twice and Pope Urban, who was brought personal into close relation with the saint by the Acts of her martyrdom, is depicted
once. The ancient titular church of Rome, mentioned above was built as early as the fourth century and is still preserved in the Trastevere. This church was certainly dedicated in the fifth century to the saint buried on the Via Appia; it is mentioned in the signatures of the Roman Council of 499 as “titulus sanctae Caeciliae”. Like some other ancient Christian churches of Rome, which are the gifts of the saints whose names they bear, it may be inferred that the Roman Church owes this temple to the generosity of the holy martyr herself; in support of this view it is to be noted that the property, under which the oldest part of the true Catacomb of Callistus is constructed, belonged most likely, according to De Rossi’s researches, to the
family of St. Cecilia, and by donation passed into the possession of the Roman Church. Although her name is not mentioned in the earliest (fourth century) list of feasts (Depositio martyrum), the fact that in the “Sacramentarium Leoniam”, a collection of masses completed about the end of
the fifth century, are found no less than five different masses in honour of St. Cecilia testifies to the great veneration in which the saint was at that time held in the Roman Church.
About the middle of the fifth century originated Acts of the martyrdom of St. Cecilia which have been transmitted in numerous manuscripts; these acts were also translated into Greek. They were utilized in the prefaces of the above mentioned masses of the “Sacramentarium Leonianum”. They inform us, that Cecilia, a virgin of a senatorial family and a Christian from her infancy, was given in marriage by her parents to a noble pagan youth Valerianus. When, after
the celebration of the marriage, the couple had retired to the wedding-chamber, Cecilia told Valerianus that she was betrothed to an angel who jealously guarded her body; therefore Valerianus must take care not to violate her virginity. Valerianus wished to see the angel, whereupon Cecilia sent him to the third milestone on the Via Appia where he should meet Bishop (Pope) Urbanus. Valerianus obeyed, was baptized by the pope, and returned a Christian to
Cecilia. An angel then appeared to the two and crowned them with roses and lilies. When Tiburtius, the brother of Valerianus, came to them, he too was won over to Christianity. As zealous children of the Faith both brothers distributed rich alms and buried the bodies of the confessors who had died for Christ. The prefect, Turcius Almachius, condemned them to death; an officer of the prefect, Maximus, appointed to execute this sentence, was himself converted and suffered martyrdom with the two brothers. Their remains were buried in one tomb by
Cecilia. And now Cecilia herself was sought by the officers of the prefect. Before she was taken prisoner, she arranged that her house should be preserved as a place of worship for the Roman Church. After a glorious profession of faith, she was condemned to be suffocated in the bath of her own house. But as she remained unhurt in the overheated room, the prefect had her decapitated in that place. The executioner let his sword fall three times without separating
the head from the trunk, and fled, leaving the virgin bathed in her own blood. She lived three days, made dispositions in favour of the poor, and provided that after her death her house should be dedicated as a church. Urbanus buried her among the bishops and the confessors, i.e. in the Catacomb of Callistus.
In this shape the whole story has no historical value; it is a pious romance, like so many others compiled in the fifth and sixth century. The existence of the aforesaid martyrs, however, is a historical fact. The relation between St. Cecilia and Valerianus, Tiburtius, and Maximus, mentioned in the Acts, has perhaps some historical foundation. These three saints were buried in the Catacomb of Praetextatus on the Via Appia, where their tombs are mentioned in the ancient pilgrim Itineraria. In the “Martyrologium Hieronymianum” their feast is set down under 14 April with the note: “Romae via Appia in cimiterio Prætextati”; and the octave under 21 April, with the comment: “Rome in cimiterio Calesti via Appia”. In the opinion of Duchesne the octave was
celebrated in the Catacomb of Callistus, because St. Cecilia was buried there. If, therefore, this second notice in the martyrology is older than the aforesaid Acts, and the latter did not give rise to this second feast, it follows that before the Acts were written this group of saints in Rome was brought into relation with St. Cecilia. The time when Cecilia suffered martyrdom is not known. From the mention of Urbanus nothing can be concluded as to the time of composition of the Acts; the author without any authority, simply introduced the confessor of this name (buried in the Catacomb of Praetextatus) on account of the nearness of his tomb to those of the other martyrs and identified him with the pope of the same name. The author of the “Liber Pontificalis” used the Acts for his notice of Urbanus. The Acts offer no other indication of the time of the martyrdom. Venantius Fortunatus (Miscellanea, 1, 20; 8,6) and Ado (Martyrology, 22 November) place the death of the saint in the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus (about 177), and De Rossi tried to prove this view as historically the surest one. In other Western sources of the early Middle Ages and in the Greek “Synaxaria” this martyrdom is placed in the persecution of Diocletian. P.A.
Kirsch tried to locate it in the time of Alexander Severus; Aubé, in the persecution of Decius; Kellner, in that of Julian the Apostate. None of these opinion is sufficiently established, as neither the Acts nor the other sources offer the requisite chronological evidence. The only sure time-indication is the position of the tomb in the Catacomb of Callistus, in the immediate proximity of the very ancient crypt of the popes, in which Urbanus probably, and surely Pontianus and Anterus were buried. The earliest part of this catacomb dates at all events from the end of the second century; from that time, therefore, to the middle of the third century is the period left open for the martyrdom of St. Cecilia.
Her church in the Trastevere quarter of Rome was rebuilt by Paschal I, on which occasion the pope wished to transfer thither her relics; at first, however, he could not find them and believed that they had been stolen by the Lombards. In a vision he saw St. Cecilia, who exhorted him to continue his search, as he had already been very near to her, i.e. near her grave. He therefore renewed his quest; and soon the body of the martyr, draped in costly stuffs of gold brocade and with the cloths soaked in her blood at her feet, was actually found in the Catacomb of Prætextatus. They may have been transported thither from the Catacomb of Callistus to save them from earlier depredations of the Lombards in the vicinity of Rome. The relics of St. Cecilia with those of Valerianus, Tiburtius, and Maximus, also those of Popes Urbanus and Lucius, were
taken up by Pope Paschal, and reburied under the high altar of St Cecilia in Trastevere. The monks of a convent founded in the neighbourhood by the same pope were charged with the duty of singing the daily Office in this basilica. From this time the veneration of the holy martyr continued to spread, and numerous churches were dedicated to her. During the restoration of the church in the year 1599 Cardinal Sfondrato had the high altar examined and found under it the sarcophagi, with the relics of the saints, that Pope Paschal had transported thither. Recent excavations beneath the church, executed at the instigation and expense of Cardinal Rampolla, disclosed remains of Roman buildings, which have remained accessible. A richly adorned underground chapel was built beneath the middle aisle, and in it a latticed window, opening over the altar, allows a view of the receptacles in which the bones of the saints repose. In a side chapel of the church there have long been shown the remains of the bath in which, according to the Acts, Cecilia was put to death.
The oldest representations of St. Cecilia show her in the attitude usual for martyrs in the Christian art of the earlier centuries, either with the crown of martyrdom in her hand (e.g. at S. Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, in a sixth-century mosaic) or in the attitude of prayer, as an Orans (e.g. the two sixth and seventh-century pictures in her crypt). In the apse of her church in Trastevere is still preserved the mosaic made under Pope Paschal, wherein she
is represented in rich garments as patroness of the pope. Medieval pictures of the saint are very frequent; since the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries she is given the organ as an attribute, or is represented as playing on the organ, evidently to express what was often attributed to her in panegyrics and poems based on the Acts, viz., that while the musicians played at her nuptials she
sang in her heart to God only (“cantantibus organis illa in corde suo soi domino decantabat”); possibly the cantantibus organis was erroneously interpreted of Cecilia herself as the organist. In this way the saint was brought into closer relation with music. When the Academy of Music was founded at Rome (1584) she was made patroness of the institute, whereupon her veneration as patroness of church music in general became still more universal; today
Cecilian societies (musical associations) exist everywhere. The organ is now her ordinary attribute; with it Cecilia was represented by Raphael in a famous picture preserved at Bologna. In another magnificent masterpiece, the marble statute beneath the high altar of the above-mentioned church of St. Cecilia at Rome, Carlo Maderna represented her lying prostrate, just as she had received the death-blow from the executioner’s hand. Her feast is celebrated in the Latin
and the Greek Church on 22 November. In the “Martyrologium Hieronymainum” are commemorated other martyrs of this name, but of none of them is there any exact
historical information. One suffered martyrdom in Carthage with Dativus in 304.

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BI. AGNELLO of PISA

The founder of the English Franciscan province, Blessed Agnello, was admitted into the Order by St. Francis himself on the occasion of his sojourn in Pisa. He was sent to the Friary in Paris, of which he became the guardian, and in 1224, St. Francis appointed him to found an English province; at the time he was only a deacon. Eight others were selected to accompany him. True to the precepts of St. Francis, they had no money, and the monks of Fecamp paid their passage over to Dover. They made Canterbury their first stopping place, while Richard of Ingworth, Richard of Devon and two of the Italians went on to London to see where they could settle. It was the winter of 1224, and they must have suffered great discomfort, especially as their ordinary fare was bread and a little beer, which was so thick that it had to be diluted before they could swallow it. Nothing, however, dampened their spirits, and their simple piety, cheerfulness and enthusiasm soon won them many friends. They were able to produce a commendatory letter from Pope Honorius III, so that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Steven Langton, in announcing their arrival, said, “Some religious have come to me calling themselves penitents of the Order of Assisi, but I called them of the Order of the Apostles.” In the meantime, Richard of Ingworth and his party had been well received in London and hired a dwelling on Cornhill. They were now ready to push on to Oxford, and Agnello came from Canterbury to take charge of the London settlement. Everywhere the Friars were received with enthusiasm, and Matthew Paris himself attests that Blessed Agnello was on familiar terms with King Henry III. Agnello is thought to have died at the age of forty-one, only eleven years after he landed at Dover, but his reputation for sanctity and prudence stood high amongst his fellows. It is stated that his zeal for poverty was so great that “he would never permit any ground to be enlarged or any house to be built except as inevitable necessity required.” He was stern in resisting relaxations in the Rule, but his gentleness and tact led him to be chosen in 1233 to negotiate with the rebellious Earl Marshal. His health is said to have been undermined by his efforts in this cause and by a last painful journey to Italy. Upon his return he was seized with dysentery at Oxford and died there, after crying out for three days, “Come, Sweetest Jesus.” The cult of Blessed Agnello was confirmed in 1892; his feast is observed in the Archdiocese of Birmingham today and by the Friars Minor on the eleventh. Feastday: march 13.

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SAINT ABRAHAM THE POOR

A holy hermit, listed in some records as “the Poor” of “the Child,” allusions to his purity of heart and to the simplicity of his lifestyle. He was born in Menuf or Minuf, Egypt, a site northwest of Cairo in the Delta region of the Nile, and became a disciple of St. Pachomius, the founder of cenobitic monasticism. Abraham spent almost two decades in a cave near Pachomius’ foundations in the Delta. Died: 367 Feastday: October 27.

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SAINT ADAUCUS

Saint Adaucus was a nobleman of Italian birth. Emperor Diocletian commanded that Adaucus’ town (Astandro, Phrygia) be burned to the ground by Roman soldiers. All the Christians including Adaucus perished and were martyred. Died: 304, Feastday: February 7.

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SAINT HENRY

Saint Henry, son of Henry, Duke of Bavaria, and of Gisella, daughter of Conrad, King of Burgundy, was born in 972. Saint Henry succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria. In 1002 upon the death of
his cousin, Otho III, he was elected emperor.

Saint Henry was most watchful over the welfare of the Church and exerted his zeal for the
maintenance of ecclesiastical discipline through the instrumentality of the Bishops. He gained several victories over his enemies and he used these with great moderation and clemency. In
1014 he went to Rome and received the imperial crown at the hands of Pope Benedict VIII.

He led an army to the south of Italy against the Saracens and their allies, the Greeks, and drove them from the country. The humility and spirit of justice of the Saint were equal to his zeal for religion. He cast himself at the feet of Herebert, Bishop of Cologne, and begged his pardon for having treated him with coldness on account of a misunderstanding. He wished to abdicate and retire into a monastery but yielded to the advice of the Abbot of Verdun, and retained his dignity.

Both he and his wife, Saint Cunegundes, lived in perpetual chastity. His holy death occurred at the castle of Grone in 1024.

His feast day is July 13th. He is the patron saint of the childless, Dukes, handicapped and those rejected by Religious Order.

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SAINT EPHREM

The primary vocation of St. Ephrem was to be a teacher. Immediately after his conversion to Christianity at the age of 18 he placed himself under the tutelage of the local bishop, St. James of Nisibis, a city in Upper Mesopotamia. St. James accepted Ephrem as a pupil into his household and gave him an excellent education in Biblical studies.
The last, and most fruitful, decade of Ephrem’s life was passed in Edessa, the modern
Urfa, a city which not only enjoyed great material prosperity thanks to its thriving
armament industry, but one which was also a vital center of Christian asceticism. Ephrem,
upon his arrival here as a poor and unknown exile, resolved to follow the example of the
apostles by living from the work of his hands. He therefore became an employee at the
public baths, and during his free time engaged in public disputes with the infidels, to
whom he preached the glories of the Christian faith. One day, not long after his arrival
at Edessa, a hermit from the neighboring countryside chanced to overhear one of Ephrem’s
discourses, and, deeply impressed by his learning and his piety, besought Ephrem to follow
him into the desert. Ephrem accordingly established himself in a cave in the hills above
the city, where he proceeded to write a series of commentaries on the books of the Old
Testament. These he intended to publish anonymously upon their completion, but his
manuscript was stolen from him and circulated about the city. Before long, great crowds of
admirers began to come out in search of Ephrem. His first impulse was to flee, but as he
prepared to depart, an angel admonished him not to hide his light under a bushel. Ephrem,
therefore, consented to return to the city, and quickly became head of the Schola
Persarum, an episcopal school for Chistian refugees similar to that which he had conducted
at Nisibis.
During the last year of his life, St. Ephrem labored in the city of Edessa to alleviate
the effects of a severe famine. He was charged with the distribution of alms to the poor
and with the organization of medical and other assistance to those in need. After the
spring harvests had been gathered in, St. Ephrem considered his mission accomplished and
retired for the last time to his cave outside the city. There he died, aged about 70, in
June 373, the same year that winessed the passing of St. Athanasius.
St. Ephrem’s esteem for simple, childlike faith is nowhere better illustrated than in
his sequence of seven hymns on the Pearl. The Syrian term for “word” being the
same as that which means “pearl,” these poems celebrate Christ, the Eternal Word
of God, as well as the virtue of faith, the “pearl of great price.” In its
silent discourse, the Pearl instructs St. Ephrem on the limitations of the human
intellect. “I am the daughter of the immense sea,” it declares; “I bear,
enclosed in my bosom, a treasure, – the treasure of the secrets of the Ocean which
engendered me. As for you, abide in the waters which it was given you to abide in; respect
your Lord; do not try to sound the Ocean of the Godhead.” The Pearl, in its
mysterious and immaculate origin, represents the double generation of Christ in the bosom
of the Father and in the womb of the Virgin Mary. In contemplating the Pearl, the poet is
enlightened concerning numerous other mysteries of faith; “The brilliance of the
Pearl and its unequalled splendor represented for me the superior nature (of the Son of
God), whose brightness is not veiled by any shadow, and whose peace is troubled by no war.
Its marvelous whiteness was also for me a symbol of the most pure body of the Lord; its
nature, one and indivisible, testified that truth, likewise, is one. Yes, I beheld in it
the image of the Church…”
St.Ephrem, deeply appreciative of the honor conferred upon human flesh by the
Incarnation, makes no secret of his impatience with those who seek to undermine the
doctrine of the hypostatic union. In language similar to that which St. Cyril of
Alexandria was to use against the Nestorians in the following century, he insists on the
intimate marriage of the human and divine natures in the Person of Jesus.
“Praiseworthy and wise is He Who united and mixed the divinity and the humanity. The
two natures, one from on high and the other from below, he mixed as do pharmacists, and
became the God-man.” “He was one in divinity and humanity without distinction.
Believe that our humanity was spiritual in Him Who clothed Himself with a body, and that
He is not two but one, from the Father and from Mary. He who divides Him in two will not
enjoy Eden with Him.” St. Ephrem’s choice of words, however, was such as would give
comfort to the Monophysites, who in a later generation attempted to deny the distinctness
of the human and divine natures in Christ. “That one,” writes St. Ephrem,
“who was present in these circumstances was not one but rather two. There was not
present only the humble nature, nor only the sublime, but two were the natures, of which
one was mixed with the other, the sublime with the inferior. Therefore these two natures
expressed their own thoughts, so that by the thoughts of two, men might perceive that they
were two.”
Because of his loving comprehension of the mystery of the Incarnation, St. Ephrem was
prompt in recognizing the unique honor which pertains to Mary as the Mother of God. With
great tenderness and delicacy he dramatized, in dialogues which foreshadow the mystery
plays of the middle ages, the beautiful role played by Our Lady in the joyous events at
Bethlehem and later at the foot of the Cross on Calvary. Observe with what gracious
humility, in one of these dramas, Mary addresses the Magi who have come from the East to
adore the Son of God: “My son has no armies,” she says, “not legions, nor
cohorts. He lies there in his mother’s poverty, and you call him King!” To which the
Magi reply, with a magnificent profession of faith, “The armies of your son are on
high. His knights move about the heavens as stars of fire.”

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SAINT CHRISTOPHER

Saint Christopher a martyr, probably of the third century. Although Saint Christopher is one of the most popular saints in the East and in the West, almost nothing certain is known about his
life or death. The legend says: A heathen king (in Canaan or Arabia), through the prayers of his wife to the Blessed Virgin, had a son, whom he called Offerus (Offro, Adokimus, or Reprebus) and dedicated to the gods Machmet and Apollo.

Acquiring in time extraordinary size and strength, Offerus resolved to serve only the strongest
and the bravest. He bound himself successively to a mighty king and to Satan, but he found both lacking in courage, the former dreading even the name of the devil, and the latter frightened by the sight of a cross at the roadside. For a time his search for a new master was in vain, but at last he found a hermit (Babylas?) who told him to offer his allegiance to Christ, instructed him in the Faith, and baptized him.

Christopher, as he was now called, would not promise to do any fasting or praying, but willingly
accepted the task of carrying people, for God’s sake, across a raging stream. One day he was carrying a child who continually grew heavier, so that it seemed to him as if he had the whole world on his shoulders. The child, on inquiry, made himself known as the Creator and Redeemer of the world. To prove his statement the child ordered Christopher to fix his staff in the ground. The next morning it had grown into a palm-tree bearing fruit. The miracle converted many. This excited the rage of the king (prefect) of that region (Dagnus of Samos in Lycia?). Christopher was put into prison and, after many cruel torments, beheaded.

The existence of a martyr Saint Christopher cannot be denied, as was sufficiently shown by the Jesuit Nicholas Serarius, in his treatise on litanies, “Litaneutici” (Cologne, 1609), and by Molanus in his history of sacred pictures, “De picturis et imaginibus sacris” (Louvain, 1570). In a small church dedicated to the martyr Saint Christopher, the body of Saint Remigius of Reims was buried, 532 (Acta SS., 1 Oct., 161). Saint Gregory the Great (d. 604) speaks of a monastery of Saint Christopher (Epp., x., 33). The Mozarabic Breviary and Missal, ascribed to Saint Isidore of Seville (d. 636), contains a special office in his honour. In 1386 a brotherhood was founded under the patronage of Saint Christopher in Tyrol and Vorarlberg, to guide travellers over the Arlberg. In 1517, a Saint Christopher temperance society existed in Carinthia, Styria, in Saxony, and at Munich. Great veneration was shown to the saint in Venice, along the shores of the Danube, the
Rhine, and other rivers where floods or ice-jams caused frequent damage. The oldest
picture of the saint, in the monastery on the Mount Sinai dates from the time of Justinian (527-65). Coins with his image were cast at Wurzburg, in Wurtermberg, and in Bohemia. His statues were placed at the entrances of churches and dwellings, and frequently at bridges; these statues and his pictures often bore the inscription: “Whoever shall behold the image of Saint Christopher shall not faint or fall on that day.” The saint, who is one of the fourteen holy helpers, has been chosen as patron by Baden, by Brunswick, and by Mecklenburg, and several other cities, as well as by bookbinders, gardeners, mariners, etc. He is invoked against lightning, storms, epilepsy, pestilence, etc.

His feast is kept on 25 July; among the Greeks, on 9 March; and his emblems are the tree, the Christ Child, and a staff. St. Christopher’s Island (commonly called Saint Kitts), lies 46 miles west of Antigua in the Lesser Antilles.

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SAINT ADOLPHUS LUDIGO-MLASA

Martyr of Uganda.

Died: 1885, Feastday: June 3.

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SAINT ADELA

Saint Adela, the youngest daughter of William the Conqueror. She endowed churches and monastic institutions. Died:1137, Feastday: February 24.

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