Chapter XI…

Chapter XI

SOME BISHOPS, KINGS, POPES, AND INQUISITORS.

THEORY OF THE UNITY OF THE CLERGY.

The clergy, including the monks and friars, were one throughout Latin Christendom. Whatever antagonism, feud, hatred, and estrangement might rise between rival prelates, rival priests, rival orders, whatever irreconcilable jealousy there might be between the seculars and regulars, yet the caste seldom betrayed the interest of the caste. The clergy in general were first the subjects of the Pope, then the subjects of their temporal sovereign. The Pope came to be acknowledged over the whole of Christendom as the guardian, and in some respects the suzerain, of Church property all over the world. He was at least a more impartial judge than their rival or antagonist--the civil ruler. The universal fraternity of the monastic orders and of the friars was even more intimate than the bond between the clergy. The wandering friars found everywhere a home. Their all-comprehending fraternisation had the power and some of the mystery, without the suspicion and hatred, which attaches to secret societies. It was a perpetual campaign, set in motion and still moving on with simultaneous impulse from one or from several centres, but with a single aim and object--the aggrandisement of the society, with all the results for evil or for good.

THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

Milman says: "The essential inherent supremacy of the spiritual over the temporal power was in the time of Innocent III. (1198-1216) an integral part of Christianity. Splendid indeed it was, as harmonising with man's natural sentiment of order. The unity of the vast Christian republic was an imposing conception, which, even now that history has shown its hopeless impossibility, still infatuates lofty minds: its impossibility, since it demands for its head not merely that infallibility in doctrine so boldly claimed in later times, but absolute impeccability in every one of its possessors; more than impeccability--an all-commanding, indefeasible, unquestionable majesty of virtue, holiness, and wisdom. Without this it is a baseless tyranny, a senseless usurpation. In those days it struck in with the whole feudal system, which was of strict gradation and subordination; to the hierarchy of Church and State was equally wanting the crown, the sovereign Liege Lord. The Crusades had made the Pope not merely the spiritual but in some sort the military suzerain of Europe. He had the power of summoning all Christendom to his banner; the raising of the cross, the standard of the Pope, was throughout Europe a general and compulsory levy. The vast subventions raised for the Holy Land were to a certain extent at the disposal of the Pope. An immense financial system grew up. Papal collectors were in every land; Papal bankers in every capital to transmit these subsidies. He claimed to be supreme judge of all the ecclesiastical courts in every country, and to approve and degrade bishops, to grant dispensations, and to found new orders and direct canonisations. This claim of supremacy made lawless kings tremble, and in this way did some good. Nothing could be more sublime than the notion of a great supreme religious power, the representative of God's eternal and immutable justice upon earth, absolutely above all passion or interest, interposing with the commanding voice of authority in the quarrels of kings and nations, persuading peace by the unimpeachable impartiality of its judgments, and even invested with power to enforce its unerring decrees. But the sublimity of the notion depends on the arbiter's absolute exemption from the unextinguishable weaknesses of human nature. If the tribunal commands not unquestioning respect, if there be the slightest just suspicion of partiality, if it goes beyond its lawful province, if it has no power of compelling obedience, it adds but another element to the general confusion; it is a partisan enlisted on one side or the other, not a mediator conciliating conflicting interests or overawing the collision of factions. Yet such was the Papal power in these times: often, no doubt, on the side of justice and humanity--too often on the other; looking to the interests of the Church alone, assumed, but assumed without ground, to be the same as those of Christendom and mankind, the representative of fallible man rather than of the infallible God. Ten years of strife and civil war in Germany were traced, if not to the direct instigation, to the inflexible obstinacy of Pope Innocent III."

THE ELECTION OF POPES.

Under the first Christian princes the chair of St. Peter, like the throne of other bishops, was submitted to a popular election, and constant tumults attended these, owing to the vague and unsettled views of the voters. The voters were the clergy, the nobility, the heads of monasteries, and the common people, who all voted indiscriminately by the show of hands or counting of heads. In 1179 Pope Alexander III. abolished the popular mode of election, and assigned the sole right of election to the College of Cardinals, or two-thirds of their number. The number of cardinals seldom exceeded twenty-five, till the reign of Leo X. (1513). By this mode of election a double choice had only occurred once in six hundred years after Alexander III. In 1274 Gregory X., by his bull, fixed a short interval for filling up the vacancy. Nine days were allowed for the obsequies of the deceased Pope and the arrival of the absent cardinals. On the tenth day these are each sequestered with one domestic in a common apartment, or conclave, without any separation of walls or curtains. A small window is reserved for the introduction of necessaries; but the door is locked on both sides and guarded by the magistrates of the city, so as to exclude all correspondence with the world. If the election is not accomplished in three days, the tables are restricted to a single dish at dinner and supper. After the eighth day the food is reduced to a scanty allowance of bread, water, and wine. During the vacancy the cardinals are prohibited from touching the revenues or government of the Church, and all agreements between the electors are null and void. It is said that the cardinals have three modes of election: (1) by scrutiny; (2) by compromise; (3) by inspiration. By the first mode three of a committee take the vote of each elector in secret, and two-thirds carry the election. By the second mode each on oath pledges himself to agree to whatever candidate three others selected from the whole may select. By the third method, when all agree without a dissentient on one name, this is deemed to be by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Or if two-thirds unanimously salute one candidate as Pope, this is called an election by adoration.

ORIGIN AND DRESS OF CARDINALS.

The name of cardinal was merely a synonym for presbyter and deacon, and came to be given specially to those rectors or presbyters whom the Pope made use of in the government of the Churches in Rome. Till the end of the tenth century these cardinals were of lower rank than the bishops who met in Church councils. The rectors of the seven Churches which were situated nearest to Rome and helped the Pope in celebrations of the liturgy began at first to be called Roman bishops, and in the eleventh century cardinal bishops of the Lateran Church, as being assistants in Divine service in the Lateran Church. By degrees these began to obtain precedence over other bishops. In 1059 they were allowed to have the chief voice in electing the Pope, and their authority was continually increasing, and in the twelfth century the election of a Pope was taken away from the people and clergy of Rome and vested in the cardinals exclusively. After that the cardinals used to be called the "Pope's holy senate," "princes of the world," and "judges of the earth," taking precedence of all other bishops. In the fourteenth century the number of cardinals was fixed by Urban VI. and directed not to exceed twenty; in another century they became twenty-four; in 1514 they reached thirty-nine, and in 1535 reached to forty, and then to seventy. They began in the thirteenth century to wear a purple dress and a red hat, which in shape was like a very small cap, with scarcely any brim. A silk mitre of damascene work and a red hood followed.

PAUL OF SAMOSATA, THE DEGRADED BISHOP (A.D. 260).

When the severity of persecution relaxed in the first three centuries, the effect was seen in the growing vice of unprincipled persons assuming the Christian religion and using it as a cloak for licentiousness. One Paul of Samosata was made Bishop of Antioch in 260, and contrived to make the service of the Church a lucrative profession. He extorted frequent contributions from the faithful, and appropriated to his own use much of the public revenue. His pride and luxury soon made him odious. Crowds of suppliants and petitioners frequented his house for evil ends. When he harangued his people from the pulpit, he affected the figurative style and theatrical gestures of an Asiatic sophist, whilst the cathedral resounded with the loudest and most extravagant acclamations in the praise of his Divine eloquence. He was arrogant, rigid, and inexorable to his enemies; but he relaxed the discipline and lavished the treasure of the Church on his dependent clergy, who were, like himself, given up to dissipation. Some errors of his as to the Trinity excited the indignation of the other bishops. They often met and obtained promises and treaties; but eighty of them of their own authority took on themselves at last to excommunicate him; and as they did so somewhat irregularly, it took four years to turn him out of possession. The Emperor Aurelian was appealed to; and after hearing both sides, he resolved to execute the sentence of the other bishops, and to expel Paul from the possession of his see.

THE DIGNITY OF EMPEROR AND THE FIRST ABDICATION (A.D. 305).

The Emperor Diocletian, who joined in 303 in a persecution of the Christians, and who died in 313, was the first who made the throne of dazzling splendour in the eyes of the people. Up to his time the emperors assumed no airs and talked familiarly to the citizens. But Diocletian introduced the Persian habits, which approached adoration towards the king. Not content with the robe of purple, like his predecessors, he assumed the diadem, a broad white fillet set with pearls. His robes were silk and gold, his shoes studded with the most precious gems. The avenues of the palace were guarded by schools of officials and the interior apartments by eunuchs. When an audience was allowed, the subject was obliged to fall prostrate on the ground, as if adoring the great lord and master. The whole ceremony resembled a theatrical performance. All this naturally led to a great increase of taxation. After enjoying supreme power twenty-one years, this emperor had the glory of giving to the world the first example of a voluntary resignation, though he did not, like his successor Charles V., enter a monastery and live like a monk. When Diocletian abdicated, he was of the age of fifty-five, and Charles was fifty-nine. Diocletian had, soon after the ceremony of his triumph, caught a chill during the cold and rainy winter of 304, which brought his body down to a state of emaciation and caused him to seek repose, and it was said that he was averse to enforce his edict against the Christians. The ceremony of his abdication was performed in a spacious plain, three miles from Nicomedia. He ascended a lofty throne, and in a speech full of reason and dignity declared his intention. As soon as he divested himself of the purple, he withdrew from the public gaze and in a covered chariot to his favourite retirement of Salona, in Dalmatia, his native country. He spent his leisure hours in building, planting, and gardening. He prided himself on his cabbages; but he covered ten acres of ground with his new palace, and it was said that the stately rooms had neither windows nor chimneys, but were heated with pipes. It was said to be doubtful how he died in 313, some surmising that it was by suicide.

AN EARLY BISHOP BUILDING A WORKHOUSE (A.D. 373).

Though the care of the poor was long viewed as properly falling under the province of the Church, and after the time of Elizabeth it was transferred by English law to the occupiers of lands in each parish, a great outcry was made against St. Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea, about 373, for establishing a large workhouse or hospital. The Phocotropheion, or hospital, for the reception and relief of the poor, was erected by Basil in the suburbs of Cæsarea. His enemies denounced this project to the governor of the province as a dangerous innovation. It was called sometimes "the new town," and at a later date the Basilead, after its founder. It was a gigantic structure, and included a church, a palace for the bishop, residences for the clergy; hospices for the poor, sick, and wayfarers; workshops for the artisans and labourers connected with the building, and their apprentices. There was also a special department for lepers, with arrangements for their proper medical treatment, and great care was taken of these loathsome patients. By this enormous establishment Basil's enemies said he was aiming at an invasion of the civil power. But he adroitly parried the accusation by pointing out that there were also apartments in his establishment provided for the governor of the province, and that, after all, the chief glory of the structure would redound to the latter. This view pacified the angry critics.

TWO BISHOPS STRIVING FOR A CHURCH SITE (A.D. 420).

About 420 two bishops in Libya had set their hearts on securing, as a site for a new church, a place which had been formerly kept as a strong refuge, well fortified against the incursions of the barbarians. Each intended to convert it into a magnificent temple according to a plan of his own. In order to secure the spot one of them resorted to the following stratagem: He pressed his way in by force, caused an altar to be instantly set up, and then and there consecrated upon it the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. According to the superstition or settled faith of the time, this was deemed equivalent to consecration, after which the place could not be used for any secular purpose of social life. When this incident was reported by Bishop Synesius to Theophilus, Patriarch of Constantinople, he condemned it as sharp practice and a debasing of holy things to unworthy purposes, most unbecoming to any genuine Christian.

HOW BISHOPS WERE MADE IN THE FIFTH CENTURY (A.D. 448).

Germanus of Auxerre was born in 380, of high family and rich. He was educated as a lawyer, soon became an advocate, next married a wealthy lady, and was appointed to a high office as Governor-General. His great delight was then in hunting, and he used to hang up all the heads of the beasts he killed on a pear tree. The bishop, St. Amator, used to reprove him for this weakness; and one day, in the absence of Germanus, the bishop cut down the pear tree as a remnant of superstition. Germanus, on his return, was furious with rage, and threatened the bishop with death. But the bishop knew by revelation that his own end was near, and that Germanus was destined to be his successor. St. Amator went away to the Prefect, and asked leave to perform the tonsure on Germanus. Leave being given, St. Amator assembled his people, told them of his end, and bade them choose a successor and repair to the church. When they were there, he ordered the doors to be locked; and collecting a crowd of clergy and nobles, they seized Germanus by force, cut off his hair, and stripped him of his secular garments, clothed him as a deacon, and told him he was to be next bishop after St. Amator. St. Amator died a few days afterwards, and the clergy and people elected Germanus, and he was obliged to act, though very reluctant. When elected, however, he became another man. He embraced a life of poverty; sold off all his goods; gave up wine, oil, vinegar, salt, and even wheaten bread, living entirely on barley meal, which he made by his own labour. He ate his frugal meal only once a day, and sometimes only once a week. He lay on a box bed filled with ashes with his clothes on and in his hair shirt. He carried always a little box suspended on his breast, having in it relics of saints. He distributed all his property among the poor, founded several monasteries, discovered the sepulchres of several martyrs, and worked many miracles. He died in 448.

A FIFTH-CENTURY BISHOP VISITING HIS FRIENDS (A.D. 471).

Sidonius Apollinaris, elected bishop of Auvergne in 471, and the son-in-law of the Emperor Avitus, thus wrote to Donidius: "In visiting this delightful country I have passed a time of the greatest enjoyment with my kind and polite friends Ferreolus and Apollinaris, who are near neighbours. On the morning of each day there was an agreeable contention between our hosts whose kitchen should first begin to smoke with the good things to be prepared for us. Thus we hurried from one entertainment to another. Hardly had we passed the threshold when, behold, regular matches of tennis-players within the circular enclosures, and the frequent noise and rattling of dice, with the clamours of the players. In another part were placed such an abundance of books ready for use, that you might suppose yourself in the libraries of the grammarians, or among the benches of the Roman Athenæum. After these studies a messenger from the chief cook reminded us punctually at the third hour that dinner was on the table. This copious repast was served up in few dishes, although there were both roast and boiled. Little stories were told while we were taking our wine, which conveyed delight and instruction as they happened to be dictated by experience or gaiety. We were decorously, eloquently, and abundantly entertained. Having shaken off our after-dinner nap, we amused ourselves with a short ride to get an appetite for our supper. We then repaired to the hot baths, and passed an hour or two in the midst of much wit and merriment, during which we were all thrown into a most salubrious perspiration, being enveloped in the steam as it came hissing from the water. When we had been suffused with this long enough, we were plunged into the hot water; and being well cleansed and refreshed, we were afterwards braced by an abundance of cold water from the river Viardus, a transparent and gentle stream abounding in delicate fish. I might go on and give you a description of our sumptuous suppers did not my paper put a stop to my loquacity."

A BISHOP PUTTING DOWN SOOTHSAYERS (A.D. 500).

Cæsarius, Bishop of Arles, was born in 470, and in course of his career sought to suppress the then growing superstition of seeking for oracles in passages of Scripture. The first trace of the abuse was found by St. Augustine, who said: "Although it is to be wished that those who seek their fortunes out of the Gospels would rather do this than run to ask their idols, yet this custom displeases me--the wishing to use the Word of God, which speaks in reference to another life, for worldly concerns and the vain objects of the present life." The clergy joined in this idle superstition. In doubtful earthly concerns persons would lay down a Bible in a church upon the altar, or especially upon the grave of a saint, would fast and pray, and invoke the saint that he would indicate the future by a passage of Scripture, and sought for the answer in the first passage which met the eye on opening the Bible. Cæsarius promoted a decree against this practice at the Council of Agde in 508, which excluded from Church communion all persons, both of the clergy and laity, who practised divination under the semblance of religion, or promised a disclosure of the future by looking into the Scriptures.

A BISHOP ZEALOUS IN RELEASING PRISONERS (A.D. 500).

In the turbulent age when Bishop Cæsarius lived, about A.D. 500, a great number of prisoners were brought into the city of Arles, and the bishop used all his power in providing clothing, food, and money to purchase their freedom. It is related that, after exhausting the church chest and selling the gold and silver vessels, he stripped the walls and pillars of the church in order to raise money. One day the steward suggested that all the funds were gone, and nothing was left except to send out the prisoners into the streets to beg. Before taking this extreme step the bishop went into his cell, and prayed that the Lord would grant supplies for the poor. He then returned with a cheerful face, and reproved the steward for his want of faith, telling him to bake the last grain of corn into bread, that they might all have one meal together, so that they might be able to fast the following day. This was done, and the next day was looked forward to by all with great anxiety; but in the early morning three vessels hove in sight, laden with corn, which the Burgundian kings Gundobad and Sigismund had sent to Cæsarius in aid of his good work, and so all were relieved from a critical situation. Another time a poor man asked the bishop for money to ransom a captive, and the bishop went to fetch his sacerdotal dress, and gave it to be sold for a price to set the captive free.

THE KING OF THE GAULS PERSUADED TO BE CHRISTIAN (A.D. 500).

Clovis I., King of the Gauls, who died in 511, and who by successful battles made a kingdom for himself, had been brought up a Pagan till his thirteenth year. He married Clotilda, niece of the Arian King of Burgundy, and she felt bound to convert her husband. Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, was induced to explain the advantages of the Christian faith, whereupon Clovis and three thousand of his subjects were at once baptised with great solemnity. When he was told of the sufferings and death of Christ, he broke out into a passion, and exclaimed, "Had I been present at the head of my valiant Franks, I would have revenged His injuries." The King, however, had many battles still to fight, and lived a turbulent life, but was disposed to confide in future in the protection of the Lord of Hosts. The sepulchre of St. Martin of Tours was then the centre of pious interest from the multitude of miracles, and the King made rich offerings to the saint, whom he sometimes described as a rather expensive friend. For he had made a present of his war-horse after a great victory, and on wishing to redeem it by the gift of a hundred pieces of gold, the enchanted horse refused to leave its stable till he had doubled the sum offered. In his pursuit of the expedition against the Goths, and during his march from Paris through Tours, he directed his messengers to remark the words of the psalm which should happen to be chanted at the precise moment when they entered the church. It happened that the words were about Joshua who went forth to battle against the enemies of the Lord. This greatly encouraged the army. A white hart of great size and beauty was also noticed to guide the troops in the right direction, and a flaming meteor appeared in the air above the cathedral of Poitiers. With these good omens Clovis went on conquering till he established on a sure foundation the kingdom of France. A diadem was placed on his head, and he was invested in the church of St. Martin of Tours with a purple tunic and mantle.

HOW THE POPE GOT RID OF A PESTILENCE (A.D. 590).

St. Michael being the archangel, captain of the heavenly host who chained the revolted angels, and the patron saint of the Church militant, had a church dedicated to him in Rome before 500. It is also related that when Rome was depopulated by a pestilence in the sixth century, St. Gregory, afterwards Pope, advised that a procession should be made through the streets of the city, singing the service since called the Great Litanies. He placed himself at the head of the faithful, and during three days they perambulated the city; and on the third day, when they had arrived opposite to the mole of Hadrian, Gregory beheld the Archangel Michael alight on the summit of that monument, and sheathe his sword bedropped with blood. Then Gregory knew that the plague was stayed, and a church was dedicated to the honour of the archangel; and the tomb of Hadrian has since been called the Castle of St. Angelo to this day.

CHOOSING A SIXTH-CENTURY ARCHBISHOP.

The See of Constantinople once became vacant in the sixth century; and to prevent troubles and secure a perfect appointment, the Emperor caused a blank paper, sealed with his own seal, to be laid on the altar of one of the churches, accompanied by a written instrument, by which he and the clergy of Constantinople bound themselves to choose the person whose name should be found written on the blank paper under the seal. The access to these papers was guarded night and day by soldiers under the command of the great chamberlain. A fast was enjoined for forty days, during which time prayers were unceasingly offered up for the choice to be divinely directed. At the end of the forty days, the paper was opened in the presence of the Emperor and the whole body of the clergy, and Fravitas being found to be the name written on the blank paper, he was forthwith proclaimed Archbishop of Constantinople amidst loud acclamations. It so happened that Fravitas died within a year after his ordination, leaving debts due from his estate for large sums borrowed at exorbitant interest from money-lenders. An inquiry into these unlooked-for circumstances being set on foot, it transpired that the money had been borrowed by Fravitas to bribe the great chamberlain, who was thereby induced to open the paper, and having written upon it the name of Fravitas, to reseal it with the imperial seal, of which he was the official keeper. On the discovery of the cheat, the great chamberlain was put to death and his estate confiscated. The exposure was probably of some use in guarding even in those days against the easy access of pious imposture, and reflects light on many supposed miracles then so frequently occurring.

POPE GREGORY THE GREAT POINTS OUT A HARD CASE TO THE EMPEROR (A.D. 590).

Gregory the Great, before being elected Pope in 590, had been on a mission to Constantinople, and then gained great favour at Court. He afterwards thus wrote to the Empress Constantina: "Having heard that there are many Gentiles in the island of Sardinia, and that according to their depraved custom they still sacrifice to idols, and that the priests of the island have become lax in preaching our Redeemer, I sent one of the Italian bishops there, who with the help of God converted many of these Gentiles to the faith. But he has informed me of a sacrilegious custom--namely, that those who sacrifice to idols pay a tax to the judge for a licence to do so, of whom some now, being baptised, have given up sacrificing to idols; yet still this tax for the licence is exacted from them by the same judge even after baptism. And when he was found fault with by the bishop for this, he answered that he had bought his office and could not afford to keep it up unless the tax were paid. And the island of Corsica is oppressed by the tax-gatherers to such an extent that the inhabitants can hardly satisfy these demands even by selling their own children. All which things I am quite sure have never reached your pious ears; for if they had, they would not have lasted till now. Make them known on fitting occasions to your devout lord, that he may remove such a heavy load of sin from his own soul, from the Empire, and from his children. Whoever have children of their own should know well how to feel for the children of others. Let it therefore be enough for me to have suggested these things, in order that your piety may not lie ignorant of what is happening in those parts, and I might not be arraigned by the severe Judge for my silence."

JOHN THE ALMSGIVER (A.D. 613).

Matthew of Westminster says that there flourished in 613 John, Archbishop of Alexandria, who, on account of his eminent liberality to the poor of Christ, deserved to obtain the surname of the Almsgiver. And it happened that a certain foreigner, beholding his excessive compassion for the poor, wishing to tempt him, came to him whilst he was visiting the sick according to his custom, and said to him, "Pity me, because I am poor and a prisoner." And the patriarch said to his steward, "Give him six pieces of gold." And when the beggar had received them, he changed his dress, and coming again from another quarter he fell at his feet, saying, "Have mercy upon me, because I am tormented with hunger." Again the patriarch said to his steward, "Give him six pieces of gold." And when he had done so, his steward whispered in the ear of the patriarch, "Master, he has now received twice to-day." He came again a third time and asked alms; and the servant told his master that it was the same man. And that merciful bishop said, "Give him twelve pieces of gold, lest perchance he be Christ Himself, who is come to tempt me."

ST. JOHN THE ALMONER'S SENTIMENTS (A.D. 609).

This John the Almoner became the last Patriarch of Alexandria, his reputation for piety prevailing with the Emperor as well as the people who joined in the appointment. His zeal in redeeming captives, establishing hospitals, and rebuilding churches was soon displayed. He would not allow applicants for charity to be denied because they wore golden ornaments, saying that the riches of God were infinite. During a famine a rich man offered to supply a vast store of grain for public use provided he was made a deacon. John spurned the offer, saying, "God, who supported the poor before either of us was born, can find the means of supporting them now. He who blessed the five loaves and multiplied them can bless and multiply the two measures of corn which remain in my granary." Scarcely had the tempting bait been refused, when tidings came that two large cargoes of grain had arrived in the ships belonging to the Church. Though John had vast stores intrusted to him for dispensing to the public, his own fare was poor and simple, and the couch on which he slept was no better than an artisan's. One day a rich friend purchased and presented to him a magnificent bed; and John, being unwilling to hurt the donor's feelings, accepted it; but after using it one night he said it hindered his sleep by reminding him of his slothfulness and luxury, while so many poor were lying in cold and misery. He therefore sold the bed and gave away the proceeds in charity. The original donor, however, repurchased it, and presented it again, with the same result; and this took place a third time. When he saw that the Persians were advancing and that Alexandria must fall into their hands he retired to Cyprus, but on his way was strongly urged to pay a visit to the Emperor Heraclius at Constantinople. He was about to comply, but was forewarned in a dream that his own end was approaching, whereupon he said to the royal messenger, "You invite me to the Emperor of the earth, but the King of kings summons me elsewhere." He died at his native place at Amathus, in Cyprus, aged sixty-four, in 620, and his tomb was long visited by pilgrims.

A KING GIVING THE BISHOP A HORSE (A.D. 650).

King Oswin of Northumbria, says Bede, was comely to behold, tall in stature, and courteous and bountiful to all. One day he gave an excellent horse to Bishop Aidan, so that the latter might cross rivers and perform journeys in his diocese. Soon after, a poor man meeting the bishop and asking alms, the bishop dismounted and gave the horse, richly caparisoned, to the beggar. The King heard of this, and next day at dinner said, "How was it, lord bishop, that you gave away that fine horse to a beggar man? Have we not many horses less valuable that would have suited the man just as well?" The bishop's answer was, "Surely, King, the foal of a mare cannot be dearer to you than that son of God?" This sunk into the heart of the King, who, reflecting upon it, ungirded his sword, and threw himself at the bishop's feet, desiring that the bishop would forgive his hasty remark, for he would never again attempt to judge what or how much he might give to the sons of God. The bishop in turn begged the King to rise and be cheerful, but it was noticed that the bishop was in tears, as he knew that the King would not live long, for the nation was not worthy to have such a ruler. Not long after the King was killed, as the bishop foresaw, and the bishop himself lived only twelve days afterwards.

A KING IMPRESSED BY A CHRISTIAN'S SCRUPLES (A.D. 640).

Bishop Eligius of Noyon, who was born in 588, was anxious to found a monastery, and requested the French King to grant him a piece of land as a site. The King consented, but Eligius afterwards discovered that he had misrepresented the extent of the ground to be a foot less than it actually measured. This vexed the bishop exceedingly, and he could not rest till he had gone to the King to inform him of the mistake. The King said to the bystanders, "See, what a noble thing is Christian integrity! My nobles and treasurers amass great wealth for themselves, and this servant of Christ, on account of his fidelity to his Lord, could not be easy till he had accounted for this extra handful of earth." On another occasion the King had required Eligius to take an oath in reference to some matter of business; and according to the custom of the times, this required to be done by laying the witness's hand on certain relics. The bishop's conscience was troubled at this requirement, which was contrary to his settled convictions. At last the King was touched with this mark of tender religious feeling, and graciously expressed his consent to waive the formality, and declared that he would be quite content to believe his word in preference to any number of oaths.

A MODEL CHURCHMAN OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY (A.D. 740).

The Venerable Bede in his history thus describes St. Acca, Bishop of Hexham, who lived about 740: "He was a most active man, and great in the sight of God and man; he much adorned and added to the structure of his church dedicated to St. Andrew. For he made it his business, and does so still, to procure relics of the blessed Apostles and martyrs of Christ from all parts to place them on altars, dividing the same by arches in the walls of the church. Besides which he diligently gathered the histories of their sufferings, together with other ecclesiastical writings, and created there a very large and noble library. He likewise provided industriously the holy vessels, lights, and such things as pertain to the adornment of the house of God. He also invited to come to him a famous singer named Maban, who had been taught to sing by the successors of the disciples of the blessed Gregory in Kent, so that the clergy should be well instructed in music, and kept him twelve years, to teach such sacred songs as were not known and to restore those which had been corrupted or too long neglected. Bishop Acca was a most accomplished singer himself, and most learned in the Holy Scriptures, most pure in the confession of the Catholic faith, and most observant of the laws of the Church; nor did he ever cease to be so till he received the reward of his pious devotion." It is related of Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne about 710, that he could find no better mode of commanding the attention of his townsmen than by standing on a bridge and singing a ballad which he had composed.

WHY THE POPE'S FOOT IS KISSED (A.D. 795).

Matthew of Westminster relates that Pope Leo III., when a young man, was doing penance for some misconduct before the altar of the Virgin, that he suddenly became changed into another man, and afterwards came to be Pope. When he was celebrating Mass for the first time, about 795, offerings of great value were made to him. And among those who brought offerings, a woman whom he had known in early days pressed his hand so warmly that she made him almost forget his sacred duties. He felt so ashamed that he cut off this hand, and afterwards the Blessed Virgin restored a new hand to the arm. He showed long afterwards the old hand, which still remained undecayed, to his brethren, and narrated to them all that had happened in respect to it. From that time a rule was made, that henceforth those who brought offerings should not kiss the hand of the Pope, but his foot. In memory of this miracle the hand which was cut off was still preserved (till 1300, the date of Matthew's history) in the Lateran treasury, and it was kept free from decay by the Lord in honour of His mother.

AGOBARD OF LYONS CENSURES THE CLERGY (A.D. 850).

Though previously some attempts had been made to check simony, and check the evils of the vagrant friars, these abuses reached a high pitch in the ninth century, as Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons, attested. He was zealous for the dignity of the spiritual order and calling, but lamented over its degradation. He said that many of the nobles procured the most unsuitable men, sometimes their own slaves, to be ordained as priests, and employed these mechanically to perform the rites of worship in the chapels of their castles, and at the same time to do menial offices, such as waiting at table and feeding the hounds. The bishops assembled at Pavia in 853 to deliberate, and complained that the multiplication of chapels in castles contributed greatly to the decline of parochial worship, and to the neglect of preaching, the nobles being satisfied with the mechanical performance of Mass by their priests, and taking no further concern in the public worship; whence it happened that the parish churches were frequented only by the poor, while the rich and noble had no opportunity of hearing sermons which might recall their thoughts from their debasing worldly pursuits. The council of Pavia again in 850 made a canon disapproving of the laity having the Mass celebrated continually in their houses, and encouraging those ecclesiastics and monks who roved from one district to another, disseminating their own crude errors without let or hindrance.

BISHOP ST. SWITHIN (A.D. 867).

Matthew of Westminster says that St. Swithin, Bishop of Winchester, died in 867, a pattern of clemency and humility. Once he was sitting on Winchester bridge encouraging his workmen, when a woman came along bringing her eggs to market and the men most wantonly sprang at her and broke her eggs. At this the woman's lamentations were so piercing that, on learning of the loss, the good bishop, moved with pity, made the sign of the cross, and repaired the fractures. The great humility of the bishop was shown in his conduct when consecrating a new church. However great the distance, he would walk all the way on foot, refusing the use of horse or carriage; and lest this singularity should excite ridicule, he took care to travel by night. When he was near his end, he enjoined his domestics to bury his corpse outside his church, where it might be exposed to the feet of the passers-by and to the raindrops that fell from the roof.

KING ALFRED ENTERTAINING JOHN SCOTUS (A.D. 884).

Simeon of Durham says that, in 884, when Alfred was king, there came to England John Scotus, a Scot by birth, a man of clear intellect and much eloquence, who, leaving his country some time before, had gone over to France to Charles the Bald. Alfred received him with great respect, and John soon became an inseparable companion, both at table and in the King's retirement, owing to his ready wit and pleasantry. One day at dinner John was sitting at table opposite King Charles, who, while the cups were going round, with a gay face had chid John for some want of politeness, and ended by asking what difference there was between a Scot and a sot. John at once cleverly replied, "Only this table." On another occasion, when a servant had handed to the King at table a dish which contained two very large fishes and one very small, the King gave it to John to divide with two clerics seated beside him. The clerics were both of gigantic stature, while John was very little. John very gravely kept the two large fishes to himself, and gave the little fish to the two giants. The King at once challenged this as a most unfair division; but John had this ready excuse: "Nay, I have done well and fairly. Here is one small one," pointing to himself, "and there are two large ones," pointing to the fishes. And then looking at the two clerics, "There also are two large ones, and," pointing to the fish, "there is a little one." John had translated some Greek authors at the request of King Charles, and therein made observations concerning the ranks or orders of celestial beings which the Pope urged on Charles as flat heresy, whereon John grew disgusted with France, and went to England, allured by the munificence of King Alfred, and settled at Malmesbury; but his pupils there greatly worried him and made his life a burden. He was highly esteemed, however, after his death.

KING ALFRED INVENTS A LANTERN FOR PIOUS USES (A.D. 890).

Asser, the biographer, after stating that King Alfred was anxious to give up to God the half of his service, bodily and mental, by night and by day, and was at a loss how to count the hours, continues thus: "After long reflection on these things, Alfred at length, by a useful and shrewd invention, commanded his chaplains to provide wax in a sufficient quantity, and he caused it to be weighed in such a manner that, when there was so much of it in the scale as would equal the weight of seventy-two pence, he caused his chaplains to make six candles out of it of equal length, so that each candle might have twelve divisions marked longitudinally upon it. By this plan, therefore, those six candles burned for twenty-four hours, a night and a day exactly, before the sacred relics of God's elect, which always accompanied the King wherever he went. But sometimes when they would not continue burning a whole day and night till the same hour that they were lighted the preceding evening, owing to the violence of the wind which blew day and night without intermission through the doors and windows of the churches, the fissures of the partitions, the plankings of the wall, and the thin canvas of the tents, they then unavoidably burnt out, and finished their course before the appointed time. The King therefore considered by what means he could shut out the wind, and so by a useful and cunning invention he ordered a lantern to be beautifully constructed of wood and white ox-horn, which, when skilfully planed till it is thin, is no less transparent than a vessel of glass. This lantern, therefore, was wonderfully made of wood and horn, as we before said, and by night a candle was put into it, which shone as brightly without as within, and was not extinguished by the wind. By this contrivance six candles lighted in succession lasted twenty-four hours, neither more nor less; and the King gave up to God the half of his daily service as he had vowed."

KING ALFRED'S LOVE OF READING (A.D. 890).

Asser, the monk, biographer, and friend of King Alfred, was born in Wales, and says: "The King had sent for me to visit and take up my residence with him. I was honourably received by him, and remained that time at court eight months, during which I read to him whatever books he liked and such as he had at hand, for this was his most usual custom night and day in the midst of his many other occupations of mind and body, either himself to read books or to listen whilst others read them. And when I frequently asked his leave to depart, and could in no way obtain it, at length, when I had made up my mind by all means to demand it, he called me to him at twilight on Christmas Eve, and gave me two letters, in which was a long list of all the things which were in two monasteries, called in the Saxon tongue Ambresbury and Banwell, and on that same day he delivered to me those two monasteries, with all the things that were in them, and a silken pall of great value, and a load for a strong man of incense, adding these words: that he did not give me these trifling presents because he was unwilling hereafter to give me greater; for in the course of time he unexpectedly gave me Exeter, with all the diocese that belonged to him in Saxony and in Cornwall, besides gifts every day without number in every kind of worldly wealth, which it would be too long to enumerate here, lest they should make my reader tired. But let no one suppose that I have mentioned these presents in this place for the sake of glory or flattery, or that I may obtain greater honour. I merely certify to those who are ignorant of it how liberal the King was in giving."

BISHOPS AT THE HEAD OF TROOPS (A.D. 955).

Bishops in the ninth century occupied so influential a position that they were expected to take the field, as Bishop Fulbert took the command of the besieged troops when the Hungarians attacked the city of Cambray. In 955, when the Hungarians threatened the fortified town of Augsburg, the bishop mounted on horseback in his priestly robes, without shield or buckler, sat unmoved amid flights of javelins and stones, and directed the mode of defence and the erection of fortifications until nightfall, after which he spent the night mostly in prayer. After matins he distributed the Holy Supper to the combatants before they returned to continue the fight, and exhorted them to put their trust in the Lord, who would be with them, so that they had nothing to fear even in the shadow of death. So, in 1200, Bernard, Bishop of Hildesheim, led the defence of his people against the incursions of the Normans. It is true that Damiani protested against this double function, saying, "With what face can the priest, as his duty requires, undertake to reconcile contending parties with each other, when he himself strives to return evil for evil? Our Saviour taught people only to excel in love and patience: why should priests grasp the sword for the temporal and perishable things of earth?" A band of unarmed monks dressed in monkish habits had once struck knights and their followers with such awe, that they dismounted and fled panic-stricken.

TWO SCAPEGRACE POPES (A.D. 956).

In 956 Pope John XII. was elected at the age of eighteen, and was a monster of iniquity. He was accused and convicted in a council of simony, perjury, fornication, adultery, sacrilege, murder, incest, blasphemy, atheism, and was deposed for these exploits. But he recovered his see and deposed the Pope who had been appointed in his room. His real name was Octavianus, but he took that of John XII., and was the first Pope who introduced the custom of assuming a new name. His end was suitable to his behaviour; for being one night caught in a scandalous act, he received a blow on the head from an unknown hand which killed him. About the same time Theophilus had, at the age of sixteen, been made Patriarch of Constantinople, and was such another as John XII. He openly sold bishoprics and all ecclesiastical offices. He loved hunting and horses even to madness. He kept two thousand, and fed them with all sorts of dainties. On a Holy Thursday as he was at Mass word was brought to him in church that his favourite mare had foaled. He instantly left in the middle of the church service to pay her a visit, and then came back to make an end of the service. He introduced the custom of dancing in the church on holy days, with indecent gestures and accompanied with comic ballads.

THE UGLIEST OF MEN MADE AN ARCHBISHOP (A.D. 1012).

It is reported by Matthew of Westminster that, in 1012, the Emperor Henry II. went out one Sunday to hunt, and his companions being all dispersed, he lost himself near the edge of a wood where there was a church, into which he went, and stating falsely that he was a soldier, asked the priest in a simple manner to give him the Mass. The priest, named Hubert, was a man eminent for his piety, but so ugly in his person that he seemed rather a monster than a man. And when the Emperor had carefully looked at him, he began greatly to marvel why God, from whom all beautiful things proceed, allowed so unsightly a man to celebrate His Sacraments. But presently the Mass was commenced, and they came to that part of the service in which a boy chanted, "Be ye sure that the Lord He is God." And the priest, reproving the boy for his negligence in singing, said with a loud voice, "It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves," at which words the Emperor was much struck, and thinking the priest a prophet, raised him, in spite of great opposition, to the Archbishopric of Cologne. And when he had received the archbishopric, he adorned that see by his religion and worthy course of life. It happened that out of a monastery of nuns in that city a beautiful damsel was captured by a wealthy young noble and made his wife. The archbishop reclaimed her; but a second time she was carried off, and he excommunicated both. When the archbishop was on his deathbed, the young man sent a messenger to ask absolution, which the archbishop refused, unless the young man agreed to leave the woman. This being refused, the archbishop foretold his own death, and also that the young man would be called to his account on the same day and hour in the following year. And, strange to say, both of them were struck with lightning and died at that very time.

A BISHOP'S AND EMPEROR'S JOKES (A.D. 1020).

Meinwerc, appointed Bishop of Paderborn in 1009, had occasionally his joke with the Emperor Henry II. On one occasion Henry sent the bishop after vespers his own golden cup of exquisite workmanship full of good liquor, charging the messenger not to come away without the cup. The bishop received the present with many thanks, and after a long chat the messenger left the cup behind him. The bishop, noticing the cup, immediately sent for his goldsmiths, and had the cup converted into a chalice, and used it next day, which was Christmas. One of the Emperor's chaplains, who officiated at Mass that day, recognised the cup and took it to the Emperor, who charged the bishop with theft, telling him that God abhorred robbery for burnt offering. The bishop replied that all he had done was only to rob the vanity and avarice of Henry by consecrating the cup to the service of God, and dared Henry to take it away. "I will not," said the Emperor, "take away that which has been devoted to the service of God, but I will myself humbly offer to Him that which is my own property; and do you honour the Lord, who vouchsafed us on this night to be born for the salvation of all men, by the performance of your own duties."

KING CANUTE REBUKING THE SEA (A.D. 1030).

According to Matthew of Westminster, as King Canute, who died in 1035, was flourishing and magnificent in the kingdom of England which he had acquired by his bravery, he one day ordered his royal chair to be placed on the seashore, and then mounting, he sat down in it, and said in a threatening voice, "You are under my dominion, O sea, and the land on which I sit is mine, nor is there any one in it who can dare with impunity to resist my authority. I now command you not to come upon my land, nor to presume to wet my royal vestments." But as wave after wave rose up and disregarded his injunctions, and without any respect wetted the feet and legs of the King, he waited till it was almost too late to leap from his chair, and said, "Let all the inhabitants of the world know that the power of kings is vain and frivolous, and that no one is worthy of the name of king except Him in obedience to whose nod the heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them are subject to eternal laws." And from that time forth the King never wore his crown, but he always placed it on the head of the image of his crucified Master, and so gave a great example of humility to all future kings. He was buried at Winchester in the old monastery with all royal honour. Other historians relate that Canute sat on the shore of the river Thames at Westminster on the occasion referred to.

A KING DESCRIBING HIS VISIT TO THE POPE (A.D. 1031).

Canute, King of England and Denmark, in 1031 paid a visit to Rome, and wrote a long letter to the English archbishop and bishops, describing the honours paid to him. He said: "I have lately been to Rome to pray for the redemption of my sins and the salvation of my people. I had long since made a vow to do this. At Easter a great assembly of princes was present with Pope John and the Emperor Conrad, and all received me with honour and presented me with magnificent gifts. But more especially was I honoured by the Emperor with various gifts and offerings in gold and silver vessels, with palls and exceedingly costly garments. I spoke with the Emperor himself, and with our lord the Pope, and with the princes who were there, respecting the necessities of my people and their better security on their journeys to Rome, and their claim to freedom from harassing barriers and exactions. All the princes declared and assured me this should be attended to. I also complained to our lord the Pope that my archbishops were oppressed by the immense sums demanded from them on receiving the pall, and it was decreed that this should never again occur. All the princes willingly granted and confirmed their concessions by oaths, and with the attestation of four archbishops and twenty bishops and a numberless crowd of dukes and noblemen who were then present. I have humbly vowed to the Almighty God to reform my life in all things, justly and piously to govern my kingdom and the people who are subject to me. I call to witness and command my councillors to allow no injustice to be practised in any portion of my kingdom."

A PEASANT REBUKING A POMPOUS BISHOP (A.D. 1035).

Fulgosius gives a story how a peasant in the electorate of Cologne puzzled his bishop. The peasant was at work in his field, when he saw his bishop pass by, attended by a train more becoming a prince than a successor of the Apostles. He could not forbear laughing loud and long, which caused the bishop to ask the reason. The peasant answered, "I laugh when I think of St. Peter and St. Paul, and see you in your equipage. Sure, they were ill advised to trudge on foot when they were heads of the Christian Church, the lieutenants of Jesus Christ, the King of kings; and here is yourself, only a bishop, yet so well mounted and with such warlike attendance that thou resemblest a prince rather than a pastor of the Church." To this his reverence replied, "Nay, my friend, thou dost not consider that I am both a count and a baron as well as your bishop." The rustic laughed still louder at this, and added, "Yea, but when the count and the baron, which you say you are, shall be in hell, where will the bishop be?" This rather confounded the bishop, who rode off without answering a word.

ST. MARGARET OF SCOTLAND LEARNED IN THE SCRIPTURES (A.D. 1080).

St. Margaret, a great-niece of Edward the Confessor and granddaughter of Edmund Ironsides, married Malcolm, King of Scotland, in 1069. She was of a saintly mind, and showed a genius for self-mortification and fasting, and also for charity to the poor. The King was accustomed to offer coins of gold in the church at High Mass, but the Queen devoutly pillaged them and bestowed them on the beggars who besought her help. The Queen and the ladies of her Court were constantly employed in making vestments and other ornaments for Divine service, and her attendants were taught frequently to exercise themselves in works of piety and charity. She was not only a model mother of a family, but she had a wonderful gift of eloquence, and could teach the most learned doctors of her time out of the Holy Scriptures things that they never knew or had forgotten. Her views about the right way of observing the forty days' fast of Lent carried conviction to all the wise men, for before her time fewer Sundays used to be computed in the forty days, so that she added four days, and thereby made the Scotch conform to the rest of the world. She also taught her subjects to be more sound and rigid in observing Sunday, so that no one should on that day carry any burdens himself or compel others to do so. She was a great friend of the monasteries, and also of the hermits who lived in cells, and whom she often visited and begged to remember her in their prayers. As they would not on principle accept any gift from her, she begged them to bid her perform some alms deed or work of mercy, and she would do it forthwith. She erected some convenient dwellings to entertain the many pilgrims who visited the church of St. Andrews, and even chartered ships to bring the pilgrims from afar. She also rebuilt the monastery at Iona. She died in 1093, aged forty-seven, and in 1250 she was declared a saint and her body placed in a silver shrine in the abbey of Dunfermline.

ALAS FOR THE VANITY OF GREAT CONQUERORS! (A.D. 1087).

When William the Conqueror had reigned seventeen years, his Queen, Matilda, died in 1083, after a long sickness. She was buried in her own church at Caen, where her eldest daughter was already a professed nun, and William erected a tomb over her resting-place, rich with gold and gems. After this blow he never recovered his spirits. In 1087 he was resting at Rouen, under medical treatment for his corpulency, and King Philip made a jest of it by saying that William was only lying in! William, stung by this levity, swore that he would rise up again and have his revenge. He did rise, and set about harrying and devastating the vineyards and harvests of France, gladdening his sight with burning and demolishing castles, churches, and monasteries in his enemy's country. But one day his horse stumbled, and his heavy body fell among some burning cinders. He was carried a dying man to Rouen, and for quietness was tended for some weeks in the priory of St. Gervase. His physician gave him up. He made his will and spoke his last wishes, and many a crime of his earlier days rose up against him. One morning he heard a great minster bell sounding for prime; and after inquiring what it was, he commended his soul to the Holy Mother of God and passed away, aged sixty-three. No sooner was the breath out of his body than his trusty chiefs took to their horses and scampered home, foreseeing that anarchy was at hand and self-preservation their first duty. The weeping attendants took care to pillage the weapons, clothes, and furniture in his room, leaving his body to lie a day on the bare floor. An archbishop at last took on him to order the body to be borne to Caen, but all the household had vanished, each carrying off as much booty as he could stow away, and not a vassal was to be found ready to help. A strange Norman knight, moved by natural piety, at last volunteered to wash, anoint, and embalm the royal corpse, and to find a carriage to convey it. But as the bier approached the abbey of St. Stephen, where monks and clergy stood ready to receive it, and were singing the office of the dead, a fire broke out near hand, and the members of the procession had to leave and assist in that emergency. At last the Mass of the dead was sung, and a bishop mounted the pulpit to harangue the audience on the mighty deeds of the great King. No sooner had this concluded when a knight stood forth and claimed the ground in which the King's body was about to be laid, saying it was his property, of which he had been robbed by the King, and he challenged all and sundry to interfere with it, and swore that no robber's body should ever be covered with his mould. The company were staggered, and yet feared it was too true, so that the bishops and nobles deemed it prudent to make a bargain on the spot and to pay a suitable purchase money. But this was not all. Some unskilful workmen had made the coffin too small to hold the great mass of flesh which William left behind. The body burst in the process of handling, and a fearful stench filled the church. The rest of the holy office was therefore hurried over, and this was the end of all. It was afterwards left to William Rufus to erect a fitting monument and shrine to the mighty dead, with some verses from the archbishop, reciting how small a house was now enough for the great King William. The monk Orderic, a contemporary, thus moralises on this career: "O secular pomp, how despicable art thou, because how vain and transient! Thou art justly compared to the bubbles made by rain; for like them thou swellest for a moment to vanish into nothing. Survey this most potent hero, whom lately a hundred thousand knights were eager to serve, and whom many nations dreaded, now lying for hours on the naked ground, spoiled and abandoned by every one! The citizens of Rouen were in consternation at the tidings. Every one fled from his home and hid his property or tried to turn it into money, that it might not be identified."

AN ENGLISH KING MARRYING A NUN (A.D. 1100).

When Henry I. of England at the age of thirty-one suddenly succeeded to the crown on the death of William Rufus, he demanded in marriage Matilda of Scotland, daughter of King Malcolm and of his saintly Queen Margaret. It was rumoured that she was a nun, and Henry persuaded Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, to question her, and see if this scandal could be avoided. On inquiry she explained that the rumour had no foundation, and all that happened was that, when she was a girl of eight, her aunt one day put a piece of black cloth over her head, and she sometimes kept it on as an excuse for unsuitable marriages, and as a protection against the rudeness of the Norman nobles. This being deemed a satisfactory explanation, the chronicler William of Malmesbury thus described the wedding that took place in 1100 as follows: "At the wedding of Matilda and Henry I. there was a most prodigious concourse of nobility and people assembled in and about the church at Westminster, when, to prevent all calumny and ill report that the King was about to marry a nun, the Archbishop Anselm mounted into a pulpit and gave the multitude a history of the events proved before the synod and its judgment, that the Lady Matilda of Scotland was free from any religious vow, and might dispose of herself in marriage as she thought fit. The archbishop finished by asking the people in a loud voice whether any one there objected to this decision, upon which they answered unanimously with a loud shout that the matter was rightly settled. Accordingly the lady was immediately married to the King and crowned before that vast assembly." It was said that this virtuous Queen took a leading part in persuading Henry to grant Magna Charta. She died in 1118, aged forty-one.

AWAKING A BISHOP FOR EARLY MASS (A.D. 1100).

An old chronicler, Helmandus of Froidmont, about 1100, relates that "Philip, Bishop of Beauvais, once tarried with us--not, we suppose, for enjoying our hospitality, but for devotion. 'Now,' said the bishop, 'call me to hear early Mass.' On going to him on the morrow when primes had begun, I found him still sleeping, and none of his household dared to disturb him. But I drew near him, saying in joke, 'The sparrows have long risen to praise the Lord, and our bishops still snore in bed; listen, father, to the Psalmist: "Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I meditate on Thy word." Upon that the gloss of Ambrose says, "It is indecent for a Christian to be found by the sun's rays lying slothful in bed."' The bishop, waking up, was confused and wroth for my reproving him so freely, and said angrily, 'Be off, you wretch, and kill your lice.' But I turned his anger into a joke, and forthwith rejoined, 'Beware, father, lest your worms kill you. It is the worms of the rich that kill the rich, but the poor kill theirs. Read the history of the Maccabees and Josephus, and the Acts of the Apostles, and you will find that the most powerful kings Antiochus and Herod Agrippa were eaten by worms.' Crushed by this reason and the authorities, the bishop straightway held his peace."

ANSELM, THE MONK ARCHBISHOP (A.D. 1093).

In the twelfth century the greatest theologian was said to be Anselm, bred a monk in the monastery of Bec, in Normandy. He soon became prior and afterwards abbot, and was the life and soul of all the best monkish work. He objected to the rigorous discipline to which monks were subjected. He also had an insight into the mode of educating children by kindly methods instead of brutalising them by tyrannical punishments. To show his mastery of this new method, he reclaimed one of the most stubborn and intractable boys, so that this youth, named Osbern, became greatly attached to his master, who in turn, when the youth contracted a fatal disease, nursed him night and day. In 1093 he was made Archbishop of Canterbury, but he became entangled in the contests of the time, as he thought the Church should be independent of kings; and incurring too much risk, he took refuge with the Pope, and travelled about France and Italy, always distinguishing himself by works of piety till he died in 1109. He retained through life his austere and self-mortifying habits as to food, so that Queen Matilda wrote to him a letter strongly pressing upon him the necessity of avoiding excessive abstinence as destructive to his powers of doing good. He was noted for his placidity of mind, and his constant attempts to meditate on the deeper problems of the Christian life. It is said that, on meditating about the gift of prophecy when he was prior of Bec, he awoke early, and he became so absorbed in this mystery that he at last himself actually saw through the wall all the preparations going on for Mass in the next building, and hence he said it was easy for God to reveal the future in the same way to chosen servants. On another occasion he fell into a trance, and during the celebration of vigils solved to his own satisfaction some mysteries that had long baffled his researches, he being for a time in a grand ecstasy of supernatural intuition. He also distinguished himself in his controversies with the schoolmen as the most expert and orthodox theologian of his age.

DEATHBED OF ARCHBISHOP ANSELM (A.D. 1109).

Before Archbishop Anselm died in 1109, at the age of seventy-six, he lay down in his last illness, and one of the priests who stood around his bed said to him, it being then Palm Sunday, "Lord father, it appears to us that, leaving this world, you are about to keep the passover in the palace of your Lord." The ambitious theologian replied, "If indeed this be His will, I gainsay it not. But if He should choose that I should yet remain among you at least long enough to settle the question which I am revolving in my mind concerning the origin of the soul, I should take it gratefully, because I do not know whether any one will be able to determine it after I am dead. If I could but eat I might hope to recover, for I feel no pain in any part, except that, as my stomach sinks for lack of food which it is unable to take, I am failing all over."

A SARACEN KING BY DIVINE RIGHT (A.D. 1130).

When El Mehedi, one of the Arab kings in Spain, died in 1130, his vizier, Abdelmumen Aben Ali, contrived to be named his successor, and vindicated his Divine right by the following artifice. The premier kept the King's death concealed for three years, and meanwhile taught a parrot to utter various little speeches. He also brought up a young lion to fawn upon him and caress him. He prepared a proper cage for the bird, and a proper hiding-place for the lion in a large hall, when he invited the chief nobles to meet and consult about the royal demise. He announced the death of the King, which gave rise to great lamentations, and then harangued them with great propriety and due acknowledgments of the Divine mercy in teaching the value of harmony and union against their enemies. He then remained silent, and the nobles being greatly perplexed and undecided, suddenly, as if by some Divine intuition, the bird spoke these words: "Honour, victory, and power to our lord the Caliph Abdelmumen, Prince of the Faithful; he is the defence and support of the Empire." At the same moment a fierce lion bounded out of a hole into the middle of the hall, lashing its tail and glaring at the company, to the terror of all, when the vizier, calmly advancing, faced the monster, which at once succumbed, and caressed him and licked his hands. The nobles were at once confounded; and treating these demonstrations as the voice of the Divine will, took the oath of allegiance. This king became one of the most illustrious in Spain, who brought nearly the whole country under his rule, as well as the dependencies in Africa, and he carried on the Holy War against the Infidels, as the Christian rebel princes were then called. He reigned thirty-three years, and died in 1164.

DEATHBED OF ARCHBISHOP TURSTIN (A.D. 1140).

Archbishop Turstin of York, in 1138, though so old and feeble that he had to be carried in a litter, had energy enough to rouse and summon the nobles of Yorkshire to resist an irruption of Scots under King David. After a fast of three days they all swore a solemn oath to fight, and they easily defeated the Scots. John of Hexham says that the archbishop adhered to monastic usages; he was frequent in prayers, and had from God the grace of tears in the celebration of Masses. He wore a shirt of haircloth, and amid frequent confessions did not spare himself from corporal castigation. He was the founder of the monastery of Fountains, and watched over the monks, and was bountiful in offerings to the church of York. Feeling at last in 1140 that the vigour of life was growing weak in him, he wisely set his house in order, paying his servants' wages, restoring what had been taken away, and taking thought about each separate matter. Having assembled in his chapel the priests of the church of York, and solemnly made confession before them, he stretched himself naked on the ground before the altar of St. Andrew, and received from them the discipline of corporal chastisement with tears flowing from a contrite heart; and mindful of the vow which as a young man he had made at Clugny, he went to the monks of the Clugniac order at Pontefract, the elders of the church of York and many of the laity accompanying him; and there he solemnly received the habit and benediction of a monk, and during the remaining days of his life he was intent on the salvation of his soul. At last, surrounded by religious men, as the hour of his summons drew near he himself celebrated nine vigils for the departed, and himself read the lesson, gave the verse of the response, Dies illa, dies iræ, laying a mournful and significant emphasis on each word; and at the end of lauds, the monks being all assembled, he yielded up his spirit. He was buried with becoming honour before the high altar. Many years after, the monks in carrying out repairs required to remove the stone over his tomb, and neither his corpse nor his vestments showed any appearance of corruption.

KING JOHN SHOCKING THE BISHOP IN CHURCH (A.D. 1199).

When King John succeeded to the English crown in 1199, he at once sent for Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, and made much of him, promising to be guided by his directions. For two or three days John's conduct in public was very decorous; but the biographer of Hugh relates that the very next (Easter) Sunday John attended church, when the chamberlain, according to custom, put twelve pieces of gold in John's hand to be presented to the bishop. John, instead of giving it, held the coins in his hand, rattling them about, to the astonishment of the attendant nobles. Hugh indignantly asked why this noise was made, when John replied, "In truth, I am looking at these pieces of gold, and thinking that if I had got them a few days since, I should not have given them to you at all, but put them in my own purse." Hugh drew back, refusing to touch the gold, nor suffering his hand to be kissed by John, bidding him put the money in the offertory dish, and withdrew. After this, Hugh preached a long sermon containing much specially intended for John's benefit about good and bad princes. While all others acclaimed, John was exceedingly wearied. Three times he sent messages to Hugh, insisting on his coming to an end and allowing him to get away and break his long fast. He at last hurried away without partaking of the Sacrament, and it was said he had not received it since he had attained the years of discretion. John did the same thing at his coronation on Ascension Day.

MURDER OF ST. THOMAS À BECKET (A.D. 1170).

Fitzstephen, the secretary of Thomas à Becket, says that Thomas's countenance was mild and beautiful; he was tall of stature, had a prominent nose, slightly aquiline. He generally amused himself, not incessantly, but occasionally, with hawks, falcons, hunting dogs, or chess. His house and table were open to every rank. He never dined without the society of earls and barons whom he had invited. He ordered the hall to be strewn every day with fresh straw and hay in winter, and with green leaves in summer, that the numerous knights, for whom the benches were insufficient, might find the floor clean and neat for them to sit down on, and that their rich clothes and beautiful tunics might not be soiled and injured. His board shone with vessels of gold and silver, and abounded with costly dishes and precious beverages, so that whatever objects of food and drink were recommended by their rarity were purchased by his officers at exorbitant prices. But amid all this he was himself singularly frugal. When the King and he one day met a beggar, the King proposed to take Thomas's warm cloak and give to the poor man, while Thomas objected, and suggested the King should give something of his own, and they had a sharp struggle for the cloak, each holding and pulling it till a button gave way and remained in the King's hands. The King gave the button to the beggar, then told the story to his attendants, who burst into loud laughter, to the annoyance of the grave Thomas. When Thomas's dead body after the murder was stripped by the monks, they were not a little curious to discover whether he was really a monk. They found under his outer garments a hair shirt, and then they were half convinced he must have been a godly man. But when they found also hair drawers, and examined these garments, and saw their dirty state, surpassing belief, they were in raptures, and were then wholly convinced that Thomas was a true saint and worthy of unbounded veneration in all ages.

A KING'S PENANCE AT ST. THOMAS'S TOMB (A.D. 1174).

In 1174, when Henry II. crossed from France to visit the tomb of St. Thomas à Becket, he reached Southampton after a rough passage. Roger of Wendover says that the King then fasted on bread and water, and would not enter any city until he had fulfilled the vow which he had made to pray at the tomb of St. Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury and glorious martyr. When he came near Canterbury he dismounted from his horse, and laying aside all emblems of royalty, with naked feet, and in the form of a penitent and supplicating pilgrim, arrived at the cathedral, and, like Hezekiah, with tears and sighs sought the tomb of the glorious martyr, where, prostrate on the floor and with his hands stretched to heaven, he continued long in prayer. Meanwhile, the Bishop of London was commanded by the King to declare in his sermon that he neither commanded, nor wished, nor by any device contrived the death of the martyr, which had been perpetrated in consequence of his murderers having misinterpreted the words which the King had hastily pronounced; wherefore he requested absolution from the bishops present, and, baring his back, received from three to five lashes from every one of the numerous body of ecclesiastics there assembled. The King then made costly offerings to the martyr, spent the remainder of the day in grief and bitterness of mind, for three days took no sustenance, giving himself up to prayer, vigils, and fasting--by which means the favour of the blessed martyr was secured, and God delivered into his hands William, King of Scots, who was forthwith confined in Richmond Castle.

A MONK DESCRIBES A PAPAL INTERDICT (A.D. 1137).

About 1137 Orderic says that "in the diocese of Séez, in Normandy, a Papal interdict was put in force over all the territories of William Zalvas. The sweet chants of Divine worship, sounds which calm and gladden the hearts of the faithful, suddenly ceased; the laity were prohibited from entering the churches for the service of God, and the doors were kept locked; the bells were no longer rung; the bodies of the dead lay in corruption without burial, striking the beholders with fear and horror; the pleasures of marriage were forbidden to those who sought them; and the solemn joys of the ecclesiastical ceremonies vanished in the general humiliation. The same rigorous discipline was extended to the diocese of Evreux, and enforced through all the lands of Roger de Toeni, in order to terrify and restrain the perverse and disorderly inhabitants. Meanwhile Roger himself lies fettered in close confinement, weeping and groaning for the loss of his liberty of action, and cursed by the Church for the use he insolently made of that liberty, when he had it, in the profanation of sacred things; and all his lands lie under a terrible interdict. Thus proud and desperate rebels are doubly crushed; but the hard hearts of those who witness such spectacles, alas! are not changed nor converted to amendment of their perverse designs."

THE POPE'S MODE OF PUNISHING KINGS AND KINGDOMS (A.D. 1199).

Pope Innocent III. in 1199 ordered Philip Augustus, King of France, to take back a discarded wife, which the King would not do. An interdict was then pronounced against France. At midnight, each priest holding a torch, the clergy of France chanted the Miserere and the prayers for the dead, the last prayers which were to be uttered by them during the interdict. The cross on which the Saviour hung was veiled with black crape; the relics replaced within the tombs; the Host was consumed. The cardinal in his mourning stole of violet pronounced the territories of the King of France under the ban. All religious offices from that time ceased; there was no access to heaven by prayer or offering. The sobs of the aged, of the women and children, alone broke the silence. So, for the injustice of the King towards his Queen, the whole kingdom of France, thousands of immortal souls, were cut off from those means of grace which, if not absolutely necessary (the scanty mercy of the Church allowed the baptism of infants and the extreme unction to the dying), were so powerfully conducive to eternal salvation. For the King's personal sin a whole nation at least thought itself in danger of eternal damnation. The doors of the churches were watched, and the Christians driven away from them like dogs; all Divine offices ceased; the Sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord was not offered; no gathering together of the people at the festivals of saints; the bodies of the dead not admitted to Christian burial, but their stench infecting the air. There was a deep sadness over the whole realm, while the organs and the voices of those who chanted God's praises were everywhere mute. The King had to yield, or at least pretend to yield, within the space of a year. In like manner Pope Innocent III. ordered King John of England to accept Stephen Langton as archbishop, and for his refusal an interdict was levelled at England. From Berwick to the British Channel, from the Land's End to Dover, the churches were closed, the bells silent, the dead were buried like dogs in ditches or dung-heaps without prayer, without a tolling bell; yet King John, weak, tyrannical, and contemptible as he was, held out for four years. Had he been a popular king the barons and people would have stood by him. One consequence of the interdict and excommunication was, that his kingdom was declared to be forfeited, and any one might seize it, and Philip Augustus of France thought of attempting it. But before any regular encounter John made peace with the Pope, and received Stephen Langton as archbishop. And Stephen afterwards became a leader of the barons, and on June 15th, 1215, extorted Magna Charta at Runnymede, which became the great title deed of the British Constitution for all time thereafter. John complained to the Pope that the charter had been forced from him unreasonably, and the Pope professed to agree, and even ordered the rebellious barons to be excommunicated. While John was in despair and defending himself against the expected invasion of Philip, King of France, whose design was favoured by the barons, he was marching northward, and his carriages were cast away in crossing the river Ouse. This misfortune happened through the ignorance of the guides and the tide coming too fast upon them. And thus the regalia, the King's plate, and all his treasure were lost. This loss weighed heavily upon the King's spirits, and threw him into a fever, of which he died at Newark Castle a few days after. Some little time before he expired, forty of the barons sent him assurances of their submission, but he was in no condition to receive that satisfaction. The young King Henry III., aged ten, was crowned on October 28th, 1216.

A CANDID FRIEND TO THE POPE (A.D. 1200).

When John of Salisbury, the friend of Thomas à Becket, was sent by Henry II. to Pope Adrian in 1200, they had a confidential conversation, and the Pope said he wished he had never left the obscure retreat of the cloister for the Papal chair, as it was beset with thorns, and he asked John what people were saying of him and the Church of Rome. John says he answered thus: "What I have heard in many countries I will freely tell you. They say the Church of Rome shows herself not so much the mother of other Churches as their stepmother. Scribes and Pharisees have their seats in her, who lay grievous burdens on the shoulders of men, which themselves will not touch with one of their fingers. They domineer over the clergy without being an example to the flock; they heap together rich furniture and load their tables with gold and silver, whilst their hands are kept shut by avarice. The poor rarely find access to them unless when vanity may introduce them. They raise contributions on the Churches, and excite litigations, promote disputes between pastor and people, deeming it the best religion to procure wealth. With them everything is venal, and they may be said to imitate the devils, who, where they cease to do mischief, glory in their beneficence. From this charge a small number of exceptions may exist. The Pope himself is a burden to Christendom which is scarcely to be borne. The complaint is, that while the churches which the piety of our fathers erected are in ruins, and their altars neglected, he builds palaces and exhibits his person clothed not only in purple, but resplendent with gold. These things and more than these the people are heard to utter." The Pope listened patiently. "And what is your own opinion?" asked Adrian. "Your question distresses me," said John; "I wish neither to be a flatterer nor to give offence. I cannot presume to contradict a cardinal of your Church who says that the real source of all the evils is the fund of duplicity and avarice of its officers, and yet I know many living examples to the contrary. I will only say that your precept is better than your practice." Adrian smiled, and observed that it was like the old apologue of the stomach and the limbs.

HOW A MONK PUBLISHED THE EXCOMMUNICATION OF AN EMPEROR (A.D. 1238).

When the Emperor Frederick II., in his quarrels with the Pope, was excommunicated in 1238, and sentence was ordered to be published in all Christian countries, such was the impression of the power of the Emperor that no priest in Germany had the courage to declare it. At last a Jacobite Friar was discovered who ventured to make it known in the disguise of the following fable. "Sire," said the friar, "there was once a lion so fierce and strong that no beast durst attack him; but one hot summer day a fly placed itself between his two eyes and bit him severely. 'Who art thou,' said the lion, 'who darest to bite me?' 'I am a fly,' said the other. 'A fly,' said the lion, 'the most insignificant of beasts! bite on. If thou wert not so insignificant a beast, those shoulders would answer for it, but I disdain to revenge myself on thee.' And, sire," added the friar, "I compare your Majesty to the lion, and myself in my little condition to the fly, who pronounces upon you from our Holy Father the Apostle the sentence which you have incurred by your rebellion against the Holy Church." "Well," said the Emperor, "'tis true if it were not for your poor station you should certainly be made to repent this." It was also noticed that when, in the following year, 1239, the Emperor went to Padua, he was handsomely entertained for several months by the abbot of the monastery of St. Justina; and in spite of the thunders of the Vatican hurled at the Emperor, the latter was treated with becoming courtesy, was provided with a throne and a footstool, and all the necessary appurtenances of the most exalted rank.

THE EMPEROR RETALIATING ON THE POPE (A.D. 1239).

When Pope Gregory IX. in 1239 excommunicated the Emperor, the latter sent a circular letter to the King of England and his brother, beginning with the words, "Attend, ye sons of men; understand, ye nations;" and it contained these scornful sentences: "Moreover, we think him (the Pope) unworthy to be considered a vicar of Christ, a successor of Peter and regulator of the souls of Christians. We grieve at his sin and prevarication in the fact that, not content with spending money in order to gain over the nobles and chiefs of Romania to become his followers and adherents, he wasted the possessions of the Roman Church. Condole therefore, my good friend, with us as well as those dear to thee, and not only with us, but the Church which is the congregation of all faithful Christians; for its head is sick, its prince is in the midst like a roaring lion, its prophet mad and faithless, its priest polluting its sanctuary and unjustly acting against the law. We earnestly beg of you to consider the contumely heaped on us as your own injury, and to hasten to your own house with water when the fire is raging in the neighbouring houses. Without waiting for our decision or for our taking counsel of our advisers, he vomited forth against us the poison he had conceived. We for our own sake adjure you and ask your aid, and that of all of you, the magnates and princes of the whole world, not because our own strength is not sufficient to avert such injuries from ourselves, but that the whole world may know that the honour of all secular princes is touched when the person of one is offended." The Pope replied thus: "There has risen from the sea a beast full of words of blasphemy which, formed with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a raging lion, opens its mouth in blasphemies against God's name, and continually attacks His tabernacle and the saints who dwell in heaven," etc., etc.

HOW THE POPE'S CLERKS EXTORTED MONEY (A.D. 1241).

During 1241 Matthew Paris says the avarice of the Romans still continued unsatiated; for after the legate's departure two of the Pope's clerks remained in England, as if to fulfil the duty of the legate. These two were Peter, surnamed Le Rouge, and Peter de Supino--two indefatigable extortioners, who held a Papal warrant for exacting procurations, imposing interdicts, excommunicating, and extorting money by divers methods from the wretched English Church, as they stated, that the Roman Church, which was injured in manifold ways, might again breathe freely. The aforesaid Peter Le Rouge, who placed himself above the other one, conducted himself after the manner of the legate, wrote his letters to this and that abbot and prior, and the letter always ran thus: "Master Peter Le Rouge, familiar and relative of his Holiness the Pope, greeting," etc. On such authority he continued to exact and extort procurations and various other collections. His colleague, Peter de Supino, by permission of the King, went to Ireland on the part of the Pope, and bearing a warrant from him whereby he was assisted by secular power, he with great tyranny extorted money from all the prelates of that island. This Peter in the ensuing autumn took his way to Rome, carrying with him 1,500 marks (£1,000), and having his saddle-bags well filled.

HOW THE POPE'S EXTORTIONERS WERE PURSUED (A.D. 1241).

Matthew Paris says that these two clerks, Peter de Supino and Peter Le Rouge, with their saddle-bags thus well filled, proceeded under the escort of the monks of Canterbury to Dover, and suddenly and secretly set sail, for they had heard that the Pope was not expected to live. They therefore suddenly and clandestinely took flight with their booty, lest the King should hear of the Pope's death and confiscate it. Scarcely had they entered France, when lo! Master Walter de Oera, a messenger of the Emperor, arrived in all haste, with letters of credence from the Emperor and a message from the King to detain the booty as well as the robbers if to be found in England. The messenger was indignant at not having caught them, but followed their steps, carefully watching the meanderings of the foxes, in order to report the result to the Emperor. Meanwhile the Pope's agents, hearing that they were watched, spared not their horses, and secretly stowed away their money with relatives in secret places. The Emperor, however, ordered them and the relatives to be arrested and imprisoned, and to render a strict account of the money collected, which was committed to writing and circulated among the merchants of the chief cities and ultimately distributed. Thus these wretched ecclesiastics, who ought to have been protected under the wings of the Pope, were utterly despoiled, and the enemies of the Church more daringly oppressed them.

AERIAL MUSIC AT A BISHOP'S DEATH (A.D. 1253).

Matthew Paris says that Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, died in 1253 at Buckdon, in the night of St. Denis's day. During his life he had openly rebuked the Pope and the King; had corrected the prelates and reformed the monks; in him the priests lost a director, clerks an instructor, scholars a supporter. He had shown himself a persecutor of the incontinent, a careful examiner of the Scriptures, a despiser of the Romans. In the discharge of his Pontifical duties he was attentive, indefatigable, and worthy of veneration. That same night Faulkes, Bishop of London, then staying not far off, heard in the air above a wonderful and most agreeable kind of sound, the melody of which refreshed his ears and his heart and fixed his attention. It was a supernatural sound, like that of a great convent bell ringing a delightful tune in the air above. It at once struck the listener that his beloved and venerable brother of Lincoln was passing from this world to take his place in the kingdom of heaven, and this noise was a warning, for there was no convent near in which there was a bell of that sort and so loud. The Bishop of London inquired, and found out that at that very time the Bishop of Lincoln had departed from this world. This wonderful circumstance was told as a fact to Matthew Paris by Master John Cratchale, a confidential clerk to the bishop. On the same night also some brethren of the order of Minorites, in passing through the forest of Vauberge, having lost their way and wandering about, heard in the air sounds as of the ringing of bells, amongst which they clearly distinguished one bell of a most sweet tune, unlike anything they had ever heard before. This circumstance greatly excited their wonder, for they knew that there was no church of note near. Next morning at dawn, being directed by the foresters to the right road to Buckdon, and inquiring as they went about the reason of the solemn ringing of bells that had filled the air the night before, they were informed that at that very hour the Bishop of Lincoln had breathed forth his happy spirit.

A FOOL POSING THE THEOLOGIANS (A.D. 1284).

John of Peckham, about 1284, says that a fool was once in company with some theologians at Paris, and he asked them which was better--to do what a man knows, or to learn what he does not know. Thereupon the doctors argued together for and against, and the fool, listening to their altercations, looked on, waiting for their conclusion. At last their deliverance was, that it was better to do what a man already knows than to learn what he does not know, because, as says the apostle to the Romans, "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." And Isidorus in De Summo Bono says, "A zealous student will be more prompt to perform what he reads than to know, for it is a less sin not to know what you desire to know than not to perform what you do know." Then said the fool, "You are all mad, for you are working day and night only to learn what you do not know, and you do not care to act up to anything you do know."

A HERMIT FOR A POPE (A.D. 1294).

In 1294, after the cardinals had tried in vain for a year and a half to agree upon a Pope, and no one would give way to another, a sudden solution was found by their choosing a solitary monk named Peter of Morone, in the Neapolitan territory, then distinguished in the wilderness for his austerities. He seemed to outdo the famous anchorites of old. He wore haircloth with an iron cuirass, lived on bread and water and herbs. At the age of twenty, when he became an earnest monk, one day the Virgin and St. John both stood before him and chanted portions of the Psalter, and every night a celestial bell with sweetest tones aroused him to prayer. Angels often visited him, and showered roses on his head. God pointed out a great stone, under which he dug a hole in which he could neither stand nor stretch, but only crouch behind a grating, and the place abounded with lizards, serpents, and toads. Yet crowds came to see him, and hailed him as a kind of leader of a new brotherhood. Somehow a voice from heaven pointed out to the perplexed cardinals that here was a Pope ready to their hands, and he was fixed upon unanimously. A deputation went to his cell. They found he was an old man, with a long shaggy beard, sunken eyes, heavy brow, pale cheeks, and meagre limbs. But they fell on their knees before him. He thought it must be a dream. He protested he was unworthy and unfit. But the news spread, and the crowd increased and urged him on, and he could not but accept. He at first refused to put on the gorgeous Pontifical robes, but had to consent. He then went with them, riding on an ass, with a king on each side holding the bridle. Never was an election more popular, and he took the title of Celestine V. Two hundred thousand people crowded the streets as he approached, and he had to show himself now and then on a balcony and give his benediction. After a few months the cardinals, kings, and nobles began to think that this Pope was not to be a success. He was incapable of business. He lavished his dignities and offices, and was easily duped. He became weary of his burden. He contrived to make a cell in the palace, which shut out the sky. But this was not enough. He wanted to abdicate. This at first was thought impossible and illegal. But he did abdicate, and at once went off to his old hermitage. It was the first instance of an abdication, and all agreed that nothing became him so well as the leaving of the high office a few months after having entered upon it. All the other hermits praised this last act as one of transcendent humility enhancing his glory.

PHILIP THE FAIR RETALIATING ON THE POPE (A.D. 1303).

When Philip IV. of France offended the Pope, the latter harangued his council and boasted that, as his predecessors had already deposed three kings of France, he would depose Philip like a groom. The act was done in 1303. Two supporters of the King, William of Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna, with three hundred horsemen and infantry, made their way to Anagni, where Pope Boniface VIII. then was, and beset his palace, and after a short truce set fire to the doors of the church adjacent and made their way through the flames; and the crash so alarmed the Pope that he felt his hour was come, and resolved that he would die with dignity. He put on the Papal mantle and the imperial crown of Constantine, and sat on the throne with the pastoral cross in one hand and with the keys of St. Peter in the other. The assailants, though at first awed at this sight, dragged him from the throne, struck him on the face, and forced him to parade through the town on a vicious horse, with his face to the tail. A rescue party, however, surprised the guard, and carried the Pope to the market-place, where, famishing with hunger, his wants were supplied by willing hands, and he was sufficiently restored to pronounce absolution on all but the plunderers of the church. He was then conveyed by his friends to Rome, where a frenzy fever overcame him, and he was put under restraint, dying very soon at the age of eighty-two. Some say he was poisoned; others that he refused food, and like a mad dog bit his own flesh; others that he was found with the bedclothes stuffed in his throat, and his staff lying as if it had been gnawed by him in his rage. The saying was that "he entered like a fox, reigned like a lion, and died like a dog."

A POPE OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY (A.D. 1300).

Boniface VIII., at the beginning of the fourteenth century, carried Papal absolution and worldliness to its highest point. After procuring his predecessor Celestine V. to abdicate and be imprisoned and then taken off by poison, he saw a great advantage in the ushering in of 1300 as a means of satisfying his cupidity. He circulated an address that all persons visiting St. Peter's on January 1st, 1300, would obtain an extraordinary indulgence. Crowds flocked and left their offerings. Then he issued a bull offering the fullest indulgence to all who visited the cathedral at Easter, on the condition that they truly repented and confessed their sins. Attracted by his bull, multitudes repented and were allowed to see the handkerchief of St. Veronica, as many as two hundred thousand a day. The gain to the Church was vast. This Pope persecuted his enemies with uncommon zeal. He managed to ruin the powerful family of Colonna, which had opposed his election, demolishing their castles and confiscating their estates. Philip the Fair, King of France, his equal in avarice and ambition, had taxed the clergy, and a bull was issued excommunicating all princes and nobles who dared to demand tribute from the clergy, to which Philip replied with defiance, and sent a troop to arrest the Pope, which was done, as already narrated. The mob, after a few days, at last pitied his Holiness, and turned against the French, who retired. The excitement, however, threw him into a fever, and then into insanity, in which state he died. The Florentine historian recognised the judgments of God in thus punishing a Pope who was so worldly, and further in punishing such a king as was the instrument in the hands of Providence. King Philip made a tool of his own the next Pope, and kept him in France, and in 1309 began the seventy years' residence of the Popes in Avignon, while they lived in a state of servility to France.

WICLIFF THE REFORMER (A.D. 1324-1384).

Wicliff having been early disgusted at the worthless creatures who filled all the high offices of the Church, and joined some friends in trying to restore the simplicity and self-denying zeal of Apostolic times, was soon marked out as a heretic to be watched. Pope Gregory XI., in 1377, was advised to condemn Wicliff's doctrines, and directed that he should be imprisoned; but John of Gaunt and other powerful friends were resolved that at least a semblance of a hearing should be given to him first; and he managed without recanting anything to say nothing which his enemies could lay hold of. He published in 1380 his translation of the Scriptures into English. Wicliff was a determined enemy of the Mendicant Friars, as disturbing the parish priests in their more useful labours. Wicliff was cited by the Archbishop of Canterbury before a council, but an earthquake occurred at the time to interrupt this inquisition. He used to look on this earthquake council, as he called it, as a judgment of God in his favour.

THE TWO JOHN WICLIFFS (A.D. 1324-1384).

It has been recently discovered, as is said by Mr. Hill in his "English Monasticism," that there were two John Wicliffs contemporaneous and both members of Oxford University, and that the biographers of the important John Wicliff have confounded these two and their performances. The Reformer was master of Balliol College in 1361, and the other John Wicliff was a fellow of Merton in 1356 and warden of Canterbury Hall. The Reformer was born at Hipswell, one mile from Richmond in Yorkshire. In 1361 he was appointed to the rectory of Fylingham, and in 1375 to that of Lutterworth, and resigned the mastership of Balliol. His first public appearance was his reading lectures at Oxford, in which he castigated the corruptions of the Friars Mendicants of his day. He was cited before the judges for heresy, one of the judges being William of Wykeham; and John of Gaunt attended with Wicliff and somewhat resented the want of fair play towards his friend; but the proceedings were not carried out, owing to the interference of the Princess of Wales. The great work of Wicliff's life was the first translation of the Scriptures into English. This work he lived to finish, though in all probability he was assisted in it by others. In 1384, during the celebration of Mass in his parish church at Lutterworth, Wicliff was seized with paralysis, and died on December 31st. The adherents of his opinions were known as the Lollards. In 1401 the Franciscans attacked his Bible, and persecution was carried out against the Lollards. In 1428 Wicliff's bones, or supposed bones, were dug up and cast into the river Severn, under the vain delusion that he and his doings would never more be heard of.

THE SEVENTY YEARS' RESIDENCE OF POPES AT AVIGNON (A.D. 1309-1379).

After the death of the ambitious Pope Boniface VIII., whose contests with Philip the Fair of France killed him in 1303, and after the death of the next Pope in eight months, the election of the next Pope again was so skilfully brought about by the leader of the French party, Cardinal Du Prat, that one was chosen who made a bargain with the French King to meet his views if elected. He was elected, and took the name of Clement V. He disappointed his Italian supporters by refusing to leave France, and in 1309 he settled at Avignon, where the Popes remained for seventy years. During all that period the Popes were noted for their servility to the French kings. Corruption grew more and more to be a second nature in all the branches of Papal government. The most worthless creatures purchased their way to the highest spiritual dignities. Extortion in collecting money, extravagant expenditure when it was collected, simony, nepotism, and debauchery ran through all the ramifications of clerical life. The disgrace reflected by this scandal made laymen and learned men question the foundations of the Popish system of government. A general murmur arose from the universities as to the degraded position in which the Popes must ever remain unless and until they should bring back the seat of government to Rome. Petrarch, then employed on Papal embassies, strongly urged this view. The leading men advocated the calling of a general council to overrule the Pope and compel him to act for the sole good of the Church. A schism then prevailed, which led to two sets of Popes being elected, who continued for forty years to keep up their intestine conflicts.

THE RIVAL POPES (A.D. 1378).

The line of Popes, as already stated, continued unbroken till 1305, when, owing to their constant interference in the politics of Europe, Clement V. submitted to the King of France, and fixed his chair within the jurisdiction of a Papal vassal, Robert of Anjou, at Avignon. For seventy years this captivity lasted, and the effect was to weaken greatly the power and influence of the Church. In 1376 Catherine of Siena, then an influential saint, advised Pope Gregory XI. to return to Rome, his old metropolis. Soon a fresh difficulty arose at his death in 1378, owing to a feud between the cardinals. The majority of them being at that time French, the Roman mob burst into the palace and demanded that the new Pope should be an Italian. The cardinals yielded and elected Urban VI.; but six months later they repented and wished to substitute a Frenchman, and crowned Clement VII. There being thus two Popes in the field, the chief kingdoms were almost equally divided as to recognising the one or the other as the real Pope. The quarrel lasted forty years, the two lines being continued for that period. At last a general council, that of Pisa in 1409, met and summoned both Popes before it, and dismissed both for contumacy. The cardinals then elected Alexander V. And there were then three Popes, each claiming exclusive authority. A second council met at Constance in 1414, and claimed to be superior to the Pope. Another election took place, and Martin V. was elected in 1417; and the line of Popes was resumed as before, but a continual pressure from without weakened the authority of the successors. The council of Basle in 1431 showed an antipapal spirit, and set up a higher power in synods and councils, thereby lowering the other power in proportion.

THE THREE POPES AT ONE TIME (A.D. 1394).

When Clement VII. was told that the leading men and the University of Paris had resolved that both Popes should abdicate in order to put an end to the absurdity of the dual election, he was thrown into a fever of agitation, and died in 1394. Each cardinal then took an oath that if elected he would resign if necessary, to put an end to the schism. Benedict XIII. was elected; but no sooner was this appointment made than he gave evasive answers to all who reminded him of this condition. Another assembly of bishops by a majority of four to one resolved that both Popes should resign. But Benedict conscientiously opposed their view, and said he would rather be flayed alive than resign. In 1402 Benedict sent a mission to his rival Boniface IX., asking for a conference. But Boniface treated him as an antipope, and himself as the only Pope. Boniface, however, was so frightened at the aspect of affairs, that he contracted an illness and died in 1404. The cardinals were then implored not to proceed to another election, but they treated this advice as a jest, and elected Innocent VII. Innocent, though an old man, and though he had bound himself if elected to resign if necessary, yielded to the greed and scheming of his relatives, and put off the evil day; but he died in 1406. The cardinals were again urged not to appoint another Pope, but they said they would choose one who would resign if his rivals would resign, and they chose Gregory XII. Though Gregory was the most active in getting all the cardinals to pledge themselves to resign if chosen, he soon showed himself a mere dissembler; for though he professed to be willing to resign, his relatives, who saw the loss of many good appointments, compelled him to keep possession. These two Popes, Benedict and Gregory, kept up appearances of meeting in conference and settling a plan of mutual and simultaneous resignations, but they both showed extraordinary ingenuity in discovering perpetual obstacles to this desired consummation, and for blaming each other for every delay. At last the Council of Pisa deposed both Popes, and the cardinals then elected Alexander V. in 1409. Both the deposed Popes claimed to be still Popes. And Alexander V., instead of carrying out the reforms that were expected, made lavish appointments to vacant offices, saying to all who complained that he was rich as a bishop, poor as a cardinal, but a beggar as Pope. He was carried off by poison in 1410.

FURTHER ACCOUNTS OF THE THREE POPES AT ONE TIME (A.D. 1406-1417).

The continuance of two rival Popes in 1406 was felt to be so great a scandal that the rival sets of cardinals were bent on finding a way of reuniting the Papacy in one person. They chose Gregory XII., then eighty years of age, as a likely person to facilitate this object with the other Pope, Boniface; for they thought a person on the verge of the grave might be relied upon to consider the peace and unity of the Church his sole object. He professed well at first, and his supporters brought him to the point of trying to arrange some common plan of action, by which the rival Popes might mutually surrender in favour of a third person who should supersede both. The two rival Popes, however, were evidently averse to strip themselves of power. They played against each a series of perpetual evasions, postponements, and cross-purposes. Their progress to a common ground where they might meet and settle their affairs was a mere game of subterfuges, both the actors being over seventy years of age, and yet exhausting every artifice to ward off the final surrender, each blaming the other and both acting as consummate hypocrites. Their friends called for a general council to meet at Pisa and solve the problem. At this council a leading cardinal (afterwards himself a Pope) thus described the position of the two Popes: "You know how these two wretched men calumniate one another and disgrace themselves by invectives full of rant and fury. Each calls the other antipope, obstructionist, antichrist." The council at last deposed both, and declared the Papal chair vacant. The cardinals bound themselves so that whichever of them should be elected Pope should keep the council open till all schism was healed. They elected Alexander V., but he proved useless, and dying in 1410, a most dissolute monster of depravity, John XXIII. succeeded, who turned into ridicule and defeated all the schemes of reform then put forward by the best men of the time. The leaders of reform were disgusted, and desired that all the three Popes should resign, and an upright man be chosen in their place. At last the council deposed John also in 1415, and in 1417 Martin V. was elected.

THE DEPOSED POPE, JOHN XXIII. (A.D. 1410).

Pope John XXIII., whose name was Cossa, was all his life a scandalous character, and more fit to be a roystering and swearing trooper than a priest. It was said that he in early life entered the service as a pirate, when Naples and Hungary were at war, and he then contracted the habit of sleeping by day and doing his work by night. He was daring and ingenious in every kind of corruption, buying and selling clerical offices, vending indulgences, imposing hateful taxes, and brutal and licentious in gratifying his lusts. His conduct was deemed so disgraceful that a general demand arose for the Council of Constance to settle the question whether a Pope or a general council be the highest authority in the Church. A meeting of eighteen thousand ecclesiastics met, and charges against John were formulated, and at last this crafty Pope agreed to the proposal that he would resign, if the other two rival Popes would resign. This resolution caused general satisfaction, though at first he refused to act on it. It was at this council that Huss was brought to his mock trial. John was charged with seventy-two offences, including nearly all the vices. He was styled a poisoner, a murderer; he had intended to sell the head of John the Baptist from the church of St. Sylvester to some Florentines for 50,000 ducats. John was at length deposed. He was stripped of the insignia of his office on May 31st, 1415, and at the same time confessed that he had never passed a day in comfort since he had put them on. He was kept in prison at Heidelberg till he made submission to a new Pope, who, out of pity, gave him the dignity of a cardinal bishop, but he died at Florence before he took possession of his see.

AN OWL ATTENDING A CHURCH COUNCIL (A.D. 1412).

After John XXIII. in 1410 mounted the Papal throne through all the grades of bribery and corruption, he convoked in 1412 what he was pleased to call a reformatory council at Rome; but only a few Italian prelates attended and disposed of some trifling matters, besides a condemnation of Wicliff's writings. What was chiefly remarkable was the advent of a congenial visitor. At the celebration of the Missa Spiritus Sancti, previous to the opening of the council, when the Veni Creator Spiritus was sung according to custom, an owl flew up suddenly, screaming with a startling hoot, into the middle of the church, and perching itself upon a beam opposite to the Pope, whence it stared him sedately in the face. The cardinals ironically whispered to each other, "Only look; can that be the Holy Ghost in the shape of an owl?" His Holiness was greatly annoyed, and turned pale, then red, and in an awkward and abrupt fashion dissolved the meeting. All who were present were, however, singularly impressed, and never forgot what was viewed by each as an evil omen. But at the next session, says Fleury, the owl took up his position again, fixing his eyes on John, who was more dismayed than before, and ordered them to drive away the bird. A singular scene then ensued, the prelates hunting the bird, which insisted on remaining, and flinging their canes at it. At last they succeeded in killing the owl as an incorrigible heretic.

THE SALE OF INDULGENCES (A.D. 1411).

About 1411, after John Huss had published his disputation on indulgences, some priests were engaged in selling these to the highest bidders, when three young men of the artisan class came up and called out to the priest, "Thou liest! Master Huss has taught us better than that. We know that it is all false." This impious taunt was at once followed up with imprisonment and a summary sentence of death. Huss, on hearing of the matter, used great exertions to save the men, and two thousand students attended him to hear him address the council in mitigation of the sentence. He took on himself the blame, if any there was. He obtained a promise that no blood should be shed, but a few hours later much of the excitement of the mob was over, and the sentence was executed. This created a still greater excitement, and as the men were viewed as martyrs, handkerchiefs were dipped in their blood and cherished as precious relics. A woman present offered white linen as a shroud for the dead bodies; and these were carried to Huss's chapel, as those of saints, with chanted hymns through the streets, and great solemnities. The chapel was thereafter named the chapel of the Three Saints. The part taken on this popular demonstration was afterwards used as a handle by Huss's enemies before the council at Constance, which condemned him to be burned alive, after which his ashes were cast into the Rhine, so that nothing might remain of him to pollute the earth.

A BISHOP INVITING HIS OLD MASTER (A.D. 1420).

Master Alan, the celebrated doctor, but still poor, was invited to dinner by a former disciple already a bishop, who, seeing his poverty, said, "Master, I marvel not a little that your scholars are already become great men: one is an abbot, another is a bishop, another an archbishop, and you are left in ridiculous poverty." Alan, indeed, thinking otherwise--for he had a true and right judgment as to the gradations of merit--is said to have answered thus: "You do not know," quoth he, "what is the height of the most perfect dignity, and the true greatness of man? It is not to be a great bishop, but a good clerk. Everybody knows that by the voice of three rascally canons, to whom is given the power of election, a bishop is made; but if all the saints in Paradise and all the sensible men in the world said together in one voice before God, 'Martin is a good clergyman,' Martin would not on that account be a good clergyman if he remained an ignoramus."

A SULTAN WHO ABDICATED TWICE (A.D. 1451).

Sultan Amurath II., who died in 1451, was the only sultan who has twice abdicated, being a great warrior as well as learned, merciful, religious, charitable, and a patron of merit. He was a zealous Mussulman; and though the scimitar was their usual instrument of converting unbelievers, his moderation was attested by the Christians. His most striking characteristic was that, in the plenitude of his power at the age of forty, he discerned the vanity of human greatness, resigned the crown, and retired to join a society of saints and hermits in Magnesia. He there submitted to fast and pray and rotate with the dervishes. In two years, owing to a sudden invasion of Hungarians, his son and successor, as well as his former subjects, implored him to return and take command of his janizaries; and, after fighting and conquering, he a second time resigned the crown and resumed his monkish life. A second time he was recalled by another danger of the State, and again resumed the crown. He had not another opportunity of becoming a dancing dervish, as he died as Sultan at the age of forty-nine.

POPE NICHOLAS V. A GREAT COLLECTOR OF MANUSCRIPTS (A.D. 1447).

When Pope Nicholas V. was elected in 1447, he had had a reputation for universal knowledge, and within the short period of eighteen months became bishop, cardinal, and Pope. A little spare man, with a keen eye and overweening self-confidence, he soon made up his mind to proclaim a crusade against the antipope, and authorised the French King to seize his territories, though this became unnecessary, owing to the antipope's resignation. This Pope lived in an age of great intellectual progress, and he took pleasure in inviting men of letters and scholars. He soon gratified a long-standing desire to collect manuscripts, and caused many monastic libraries to be ransacked for treasures. He added in eight years five thousand manuscripts to the Vatican library, and kept a staff of copyists and translators, and even carried out in part a new translation of the Bible. It was under his patronage that Laurence Valla, the eminent scholar, produced a treatise on the donation of Constantine, exposing the impudent forgery which had so long been palmed off by preceding Popes for the foundation of their jurisdiction over the world in general. The author, however, was astute enough to withdraw from Rome before the effect of his researches became known, for he was soon arrested by the Inquisition, and would have been burned but for the intercession of King Alfonso. The literary men whom Nicholas encouraged were given to quarrels and jealousies, and even tended towards too great an admiration of Paganism. Nicholas was also bent on rebuilding the Vatican quarter of Rome, and proceeded to act on a design of a new structure in the form of a Greek cross with a cupola; but the execution of the work had only risen a few feet above ground when the Pope died, and a yet more magnificent structure was carried out in the following century. Though these great palatial schemes were not executed, he gave his contemporaries a taste for magnificence of every kind in the services of the Church, and for mitres, vestments, altar-coverings, and gold inwoven curtains. He patronised the saintly painter Angelico, and sculptors and architects. He also had a most successful jubilee in 1450, which recouped his great expenditure, though the occurrence of a plague acted adversely. It happened that Constantinople fell a prey in Nicholas's time to the Mohammedans, who despoiled and profaned the churches and dispersed the treasures of Greek literature. This disaster, which happened in 1453, caused much sympathy; for the Emperor Frederick was said to weep at the news and express a vague wish for a crusade, though he took no active step. At a great festival at Lille, a lady representing the Church appeared before the Duke of Burgundy seated on an elephant led by a giant, and in a versified speech invoked assistance, which led the Duke to register a vow to succour the Church; but the enthusiasm soon died away. The Pope, however, consoled the chiefs of Christendom by issuing a bull, in which he declared the founder of Islam to be the great red dragon of the Apocalypse, and invited the princes to buy indulgences in order to raise a fund to exterminate the infidels. It was maliciously insinuated, however, that the money thus raised only went to pay for needless fortifications at Rome, and nowise to influence affairs in the East. The Pope died in 1455 before any of these great enterprises were begun. It was said that Pope Nicholas's example stirred up the Florentine merchant Cosmo de Medicis to carry on similar researches for old manuscripts, and his grandson Lorenzo de Medicis procured from the East a further treasure of two hundred writings. The Greek language came to be publicly taught in the University of Oxford towards the end of the fifteenth century.

A FOP ELECTED POPE PAUL II. (A.D. 1464).

In 1464 the choice of the cardinals for a new Pope fell on Peter Barbo, a Venetian of high descent. He had been made a cardinal at twenty-two by his uncle, and had always been noted for his elegant and foppish manners. The previous Pope, Pius II., used to call him Maria pientissima, on account of his soft and affected manner, coupled with a faculty of shedding tears at will when urging any request. He was so vain of his handsome appearance that he proposed to assume the name of Formosus, till some cardinals laughed him out of it. His love of display and theatrical show led him to spend large sums on jewels, precious stones, and millinery; and to provide means for this great end of his being, he took care to keep in his hands the income of vacant offices, and postpone the appointments. He not only clothed himself in gorgeous attire, but to heighten the dramatic effect he painted his face. One peculiarity of his was to transact all his business by night, probably owing to the artificial manner in which he presented himself, and to prevent cracks in his enamel being detected. He is said to have given an impulse to the festivities of the Roman carnival, and used to watch with congenial interest and enthusiasm the frolics of old and young during the races on the Corso, where Jews, horses, asses, and buffaloes were the performers. The cardinals, on appointing this Pope, bound him over to many urgent duties and stipulations, but he threw off these incumbrances as he would put off his cloak. He spent most of his energies in seeking and buying alliances in Germany and in selling offices. He also entertained the Emperor on a visit of seventeen days, and showed him all the jewels. One day Paul II. was found dead in his bed in 1471, the popular belief being that he had been killed by a devil, which he was said to carry locked up in a signet ring; and this solution was entirely satisfactory.

HOW POPE LEO X. WAS ELECTED (A.D. 1513).

John de Medicis was elected Pope in 1513, and took the title of Leo X. He had been made cardinal at fourteen. He had been dissipated in his youth, and had undergone a serious surgical operation at the time of his predecessor's death, and was carried in a horse litter to join the conclave of cardinals who were busy in measures for the election. The Cardinal de Medicis made himself so busy in canvassing that his ulcer broke, causing a noisome smell in all the cells he visited. While the cardinals obstinately supported the opposing candidates, and there appeared no hope of agreement, they were yet all satisfied that poor de Medicis had not a month to live. So it occurred to several of them that it would be as well to select him for the present, so as to stave off the discords raging, and give them a few weeks longer to complete their own arrangements and arrive at unanimity. This view led to John de Medicis being at once elected Pope, though only thirty-six years old. He soon recovered his health, and lived eight years longer, so that the old cardinals had occasion to repent of their credulity. The young Pope celebrated his coronation by lavish expenses. He insisted on being crowned on the same day that he lost the battle of Ravenna and was taken prisoner, and rode the same Turkish horse that bore him on that day. This horse was greatly valued, and carefully kept and pampered to an extreme old age. Leo X.'s head was full of the magnificence of ancient Rome, which he sought to perpetuate. His life was voluptuous; he gloried in the pleasures of the chase. He protected men of wit and learning, and kept a poet laureate to make verses and act as buffoon at the revels constantly going on. While he thundered anathemas against Luther, he did not cease in private to ridicule the whole Christian doctrine as a mere fable. It is said he died in a fit of extravagant merrymaking when he heard the news that the Emperor had defeated the French at Milan. Leo X. kept a table of extraordinary luxury. He tried experiments on the cookery of monkeys and crows and peacock sausages. He kept poets and comedians to enliven the diversions. Card-playing for heavy stakes followed the banquet. He used to scatter gold among the spectators of a game.

THE POPE TURNING PAGAN INTO CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS (A.D. 1585).

Pope Sixtus V., elected in 1585, had a genius for architectural projects, and seemed anxious to make the Rome of his time rival the ancient city. He had a rage for destroying as well as for rebuilding. He was bent on turning Pagan into Christian monuments. He allowed a statue of Minerva to stand, but took away the spear of the goddess, and put a huge cross in her hand. He dedicated the column of Trajan to St. Peter, and the column of Antoninus to St. Paul. He set his heart also on erecting the obelisk before St. Peter's, the more because he wished to see the monuments of infidelity subjected to the cross on the very spot where the Christians once suffered crucifixion. The architect, Fontana, thought it impossible; but the Pope would not listen to objections. It was an extremely difficult task to upheave the obelisk from its basis by the sacristy of the old church of St. Peter, to let it down again, transport it to another site, and there finally set it up again. It was an attempt to earn renown throughout all ages. The workmen, nine hundred in number, began by hearing Mass, confessing, and receiving the Communion. The obelisk was sheathed in straw mats and planks riveted with iron rings. There were thirty-five windlasses, each worked by two horses and ten men. The signal was given by sound of trumpet. The obelisk was raised from the site on which it had stood fifteen hundred years. A salvo was fired from the castle of St. Angelo; all the bells of the city pealed; and the workmen carried their architect in triumph round the barrier with never-ending hurrahs. Seven days afterwards the obelisk was let down with no less dexterity, and then it was conveyed on rollers to its new site, and some months elapsed before its re-erection. A force of one hundred and forty horses was used to elevate it. At three great efforts the obelisk was moved, and it sank on the backs of the four bronze lions that served to support it. The people exulted. The Pope was immensely satisfied, and set it down in his diary that he had achieved the most difficult work which the human mind could conceive. He erected a cross upon the obelisk, in which was enclosed a piece of the supposed real cross. Sixtus V. also wanted to complete the cupola of St. Peter's, which, it was estimated, would take ten years to do; and his eyes were never wearied in watching its progress. He set six hundred men to work at once night and day, and in twenty-two months the cupola was completed. He did not, it was true, live to see the leaden casing placed on the roof. This Pope kept a memorandum book in which every detail of his daily life was recorded; and on succeeding to the Papal throne it was noticed that his skill in finance was displayed in a profusion of complexities. He amassed great sums, and also spent great sums. One of the great sources of his profit was the sale of offices. He created offices, and then sold the nominations at a great price. He also imposed new taxes on the most laborious callings, such as those on the men who towed vessels on the river; and he taxed heavily the necessaries of life, such as wine and firewood.

THE INQUISITION AS AN INSTITUTION (A.D. 1232).

Pope Gregory IX., on the plea that the bishops were overtasked, transferred in 1232 the duty of inquiring into heretics to officers specially appointed by himself. In the rules by which these inquisitors should be guided every principle of natural equity was outraged. The accused were not to be confronted with the accusers--were not even to know their names. Persons of infamous character might be received as witnesses against them. Elaborate schemes for the treacherous entrapping of victims were part of the instructions with which an inquisitor was furnished. A large share of the goods of the condemned went to the judges who condemned them; the remainder, if sometimes to the Papal Exchequer, very often went to the temporal princes who should carry out the Church's sentence, whose cupidity it was thus sought to stimulate, and whose co-operation was thus rewarded. The guiltless children of the condemned were beggared. They could hold no office; the brand of lifelong dishonour clung to them. Even the very bones of the dead were burnt to dust and dispersed to the winds or the waves. In the latter half of the fifteenth century the Inquisition found its main occupation in the burning of Jews. Torquemada, in Spain, alone sent to the stake some eight or nine thousand.

SENTENCE OF EXECUTION BY THE INQUISITION.

Owing to the mode of execution under a sentence of the Inquisition, the populace were gratified with a view of the last agonies of the martyrs for heresy. The culprit was not, as in the later Spanish Inquisition, strangled before the lighting of the fagots, nor had the invention of gunpowder suggested the expedient of hanging a bag of that explosive around his neck to shorten his torture. An eyewitness thus describes the execution of John Huss at Constance in 1415: "He was made to stand upon a couple of fagots, and tightly bound to a thick post with ropes around the ankles, below the knee, above the knee, at the groin, the waist, and under the arms. A chain was also secured around the neck. Then it was observed that he faced the east, which was not fitting for a heretic, and he was shifted to the west. Fagots mixed with straw were piled around him to the chin. Then the Count Palatine Louis, who superintended the execution, approached with the Marshal of Constance, and asked him for the last time to recant. On his refusal they withdrew and clapped their hands, which was the signal for the executioners to light the pile. After it had burned away there followed the revolting process of utterly destroying the half-burned body, separating it in pieces, breaking up the bones, and throwing the fragments and the viscera on a fresh fire of logs." When, as in the case of Arnold of Brescia, some of the spiritual Franciscans, Huss, Savonarola, and others, it was feared that relics of the martyr would be preserved, especial care was taken after the fire to gather the ashes and cast them into a running stream.

THE PLEASURE OF BURNING HERETICS (A.D. 1239).

When the Inquisition was becoming popular, it was commonly taught that compassion for the sufferings of a heretic was not only a weakness but a sin. As well might one sympathise with Satan and his demons writhing in the endless torment of hell. The stern moralists of the age held it to be a Christian duty to find pleasure in contemplating the anguish of the sinner. Gregory the Great, five centuries before, had argued that the bliss of the elect in heaven would not be perfect unless they were able to look across the abyss and enjoy the agonies of their brethren in eternal fire. Peter Lombard, the Master of Sentences, quotes St. Gregory with approbation, and enlarges upon the satisfaction which the just will feel in the ineffable misery of the damned. Even the mystic tenderness of Bonaventura does not prevent him from echoing the same terrible exultation. The schoolmen easily proved to their own satisfaction that persecution was a work of charity for the benefit of the persecuted. By a series of edicts from 1220 to 1239 a complete code of persecution was enacted. Heretics and favourers of heretics were outlawed; their property was confiscated, their heirs disinherited. Their houses were to be destroyed, never to be rebuilt. All rulers and magistrates were required to swear that they would exterminate all whom the Church might designate as heretics, under pain of forfeiture of office. All this fiendish legislation was hailed by the Church with acclamation. The Inquisition has sometimes been said to have been founded in 1233.

THE SPANISH INQUISITION AT WORK (A.D. 1481).

In 1481 two Dominican monks were appointed to proceed to Seville and carry on the work of the Inquisition, and the Jews were hunted up with vigour and burnt in the autos-da-fé of that city. In 1483 the brutal Inquisitor-General Thomas de Torquemada added further horrors. The details of these brutalities are now of no interest; but Prescott, the historian, thus sums up the situation. The proceedings of the tribunal were plainly characterised throughout by the most flagrant injustice and inhumanity to the accused. Instead of presuming his innocence until his guilt had been established, it acted on exactly the opposite principle. Instead of affording him the protection accorded by every other judicature, and especially demanded in his forlorn situation, it used the most insidious arts to circumvent and crush him. He had no remedy against malice or misapprehension on the part of his accusers or the witnesses against him, who might be his bitterest enemies, since they were never revealed to nor confronted with the prisoner, nor subjected to a cross-examination which can best expose error or wilful collusion in the evidence. Even the poor forms of justice recognised in this court might be readily dispensed with, as its proceedings were impenetrably shrouded from the public eye by the appalling oath of secrecy imposed on all, whether functionaries, witnesses, or prisoners, who entered within its precincts. The last and not the least odious feature of the whole was the connection established between the condemnation of the accused and the interests of his judges, since the confiscations which were the uniform penalties of heresy were not permitted to flow into the royal exchequer until they had first discharged the expenses, whether in the shape of salaries or otherwise, incident to the Holy Office.

TORQUEMADA'S WORK AS INQUISITOR (A.D. 1483).

Torquemada, while at the head of the Inquisition in Spain, is said to have convicted about six thousand persons annually. The Roman See during his ministration made a painful traffic by the sale of dispensations, which those rich enough were willing to obtain. This monster, the author of incalculable miseries, was permitted to reach a very old age and to die quietly in his bed. Yet he lived in such constant apprehension of assassination that he is said to have kept a reputed unicorn's horn always on his table, which was imagined to have the power of detecting and neutralising poisons, while for the more complete protection of his person he was allowed an escort of fifty horse and two hundred foot in his progresses through the kingdom. Prescott says that this man's zeal was of such an extravagant character that it may almost shelter itself under the name of insanity. He waged war on freedom of thought in every form. In 1490 he caused several Hebrew Bibles to be publicly burnt, and some time after more than six thousand volumes of Oriental learning, on the imputation of Judaism, sorcery, or heresy, at the autos-da-fé of Salamanca, the very nursery of science.

AN "AUTO-DA-FÉ" IN SPAIN (A.D. 1483).

The last scene in the dismal tragedy of a so-called trial before the Inquisition, says Prescott, was the Act of Faith (auto-da-fé)--the most imposing spectacle, probably, which has been witnessed since the ancient Roman triumph, and which was intended, somewhat profanely, to represent the terrors of the Day of Judgment. The proudest grandees of the land, on this occasion, putting on the sable livery of familiars of the Holy Office and bearing aloft its banners, condescended to act as the escort of the ministers, while the ceremony was not unfrequently countenanced by the royal presence. It should be stated, however, that neither of these acts of condescension, or more properly humiliation, was witnessed until a period posterior to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. The effect was further heightened by the concourse of ecclesiastics in their sacerdotal robes, and the pompous ceremonial which the Church of Rome knows so well how to display on fitting occasions, and which was intended to consecrate, as it were, this bloody sacrifice. The most important actors in the scene were the unfortunate convicts, disgorged for the first time from the dungeons of the tribunal.

ASSASSINATION OF A SPANISH INQUISITOR (A.D. 1486).

When Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1486, introduced the Inquisition into Arragon, the higher orders and the Cortes were greatly opposed to it, and sent a deputation to the Court of Rome and to Ferdinand to suspend an institution so hateful and oppressive. Both Pope and King paid no regard to the remonstrance. The Arragonese thereupon, in self-defence, formed a conspiracy for the assassination of Arbues, and subscribed a large sum to defray the expenses. Arbues, being conscious of his unpopularity, wore under his monastic robes a suit of mail and a helmet under his hood, and his sleeping apartment was well guarded. But the conspirators managed to surprise him while at his devotions. Near midnight Arbues was on his knees before the great altar of the cathedral at Saragossa. They suddenly surrounded him; one of them wounded him in the arm with a dagger, while another dealt a fatal blow in the back of his neck. The priests, who were preparing to celebrate matins in the choir, hastened to the spot, but too late. They carried the bleeding body of the inquisitor to his apartment, but he survived only two days, and it is said he blessed the Lord that he had been permitted to seal so good a cause with his blood. This murder was soon avenged, and the bloodhounds of the tribunal tracked the murderers, after hundreds of victims were sacrificed, cut off their right hands, and hanged them; and Arbues was even honoured as a martyr, and after two centuries was, in 1664, canonised as a saint.

CARDINAL XIMENES AND QUEEN ISABELLA (A.D. 1495).

Cardinal Ximenes, who had acquired great reputation for the austere life he had led, was appointed confessor to Queen Isabella in 1492, and in 1495 was appointed by her Archbishop of Toledo. He maintained all his austerities in the new situation. Under his robes of silk or fur he wore the coarse frock of St. Francis, which he used to mend with his own hands. He used no linen about his person or his bed, and slept on a miserable pallet, which was concealed under a luxurious couch. He was a rigorous reformer of the monkish fraternities, and this excited violent complaints. The general of the Franciscans, full of rage, demanded an audience of the Queen; and when challenged by her for his rudeness and for forgetting to whom he was speaking, he petulantly replied, "Yes; I know well whom I am speaking to--the Queen of Castile, a mere handful of dust, like myself!" The Queen was not moved by this insolence, but supported Ximenes in his trenchant reforms. Ximenes vehemently urged the King and Queen in 1499 to extirpate the Mohammedan religion, and he did not scruple to bribe the Moors to accept baptism, and it was said he baptised three thousand in one day. In 1502 he procured a decree enforcing baptism or exile on all Moors above fourteen. Ximenes founded the University of Alcala, which was opened in 1508. He also carried out a scheme for publishing a Bible, being the first successful attempt at a polyglot version of the Scriptures. This took fifteen years to prepare, and it was completed in 1517. Charles V. wrote a cold-blooded letter, dispensing with Ximenes's services, and it so excited the cardinal that he was seized with fever and died at the age of eighty-one.

SOME SO-CALLED IRREPRESSIBLE HERETICS (A.D. 1080).

Among all the sects of the Middle Ages, by far the most important in numbers and radical antagonism to the Church were the Cathari or the Pure, as with characteristic sectarian satisfaction they styled themselves. Albigenses they were called in Languedoc, Patarenes in North Italy, Good Men by themselves. Stretching through Central Europe to Thrace and Bulgaria, they joined hands with the Paulicians of the East, and shared in their views, which have been variously represented, and were somewhat mystical. It is difficult to understand the mighty attraction which these doctrines--partly Gnostic, partly Manichean--exercised for so long a time on the minds and hearts of many. Baxter's estimate of the Albigenses was--Manichees with some better persons mixed. First attracting notice in the latter half of the eleventh century, the Cathari multiplied with extraordinary rapidity, so that in many districts they were during the next century more numerous than the Catholics. St. Bernard, who undertook a mission among them in 1147, describes the churches of the Catholics as without people, and the people without priests. The Cathari disappeared at the close of the thirteenth century, and then the Beghards and Beguins become prominent, who were pietists associated for works of Christian beneficence. Then some extreme Franciscans were mixed up with them, and called themselves Zealots, or Little Brethren, or Spirituals. These remonstrants drifted by degrees into open antagonists of the Church, and talked of the Pope as the mystical antichrist. Other less commendable mediæval sects were the Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit. About this time all countries were hotbeds of various sects. Pope Innocent III. tried to let loose a crusading army, under Simon de Montfort, against the Cathari, and great brutalities were perpetrated, and at length the still more brutal Inquisition carried on the purposeless warfare.

WALDENSES SEEKING THE SCRIPTURES (A.D. 1179).

The Waldenses may be described as representing the general craving of the better class of Christians of their time for a fuller acquaintance with the Scriptures. Peter Waldo, a rich citizen of Lyons, obtained from two friends in the priesthood a copy of the Gospels and a collection of the sayings of the Fathers. He sold all his goods and associated himself with others in search of a higher standard of living than was then met with. They were called the Poor Men of Lyons on one side of the Alps, the Poor Men of Lombardy on the other side. They began on the stock of their acquired knowledge of the Scriptures to preach in the streets, thus diffusing this precious knowledge. They had no intention of opposing the Church; but the bishops of the day foresaw that dangerous knowledge was likely to spread and cause trouble. In 1178 the Archbishop of Lyons forbade their preaching. They tried to get the Pope's sanction to circulate a translation of the Scriptures. The Pope, after due inquiry, dismissed the deputation and condemned them to absolute silence. This sentence did not convince. There were German and Swiss reformers then rising up, seeking similar ends. The authorities, however, rather hunted them, sometimes as wild beasts, and always subjected them to persecution and outrage, both in France and Savoy. They retired into mountain fastnesses from their persecutors. Milton's sonnet well immortalises and avenges "these slaughtered saints, whose bones lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold."

A LAWYER FOR A POPE (A.D. 1605).

Pope Paul V. was elected in 1605. He had been a lawyer, and excelled in that profession, and then rose successively through all the grades of ecclesiastical dignity. It was noticed how skilfully he avoided making enemies, and this characteristic marked him out for the supreme dignity. He was chosen Pope unexpectedly, but this only caused him to attribute his good fortune to a direct interposition of the Holy Ghost. He became at once exalted in his own estimation above himself and all his contemporaries as a heaven-born Vicar of Christ. He soon resolved to introduce into ecclesiastical polity the rigour, exactitude, and severity of the civil code. Other Popes signalised their elevation by some act of clemency or grace. He began by striking terror into the bystanders by a severe sentence. A poor author had written a Life of a prior Pope, and compared him to the Emperor Tiberius; but the work was unpublished, and lay only as a manuscript in the author's desk. The matter came to the ears of this Pope, who, notwithstanding the intercession of ambassadors and princes, ordered the writer to be beheaded one morning on the bridge of St. Angelo, the crime being treated as treason. The same Pope treated as a mortal sin the practice of non-residence in a bishop. He treated decretals as laws of God, and all who disobeyed them as blasphemers. Excommunication was freely launched against petty misdemeanants. He claimed rights of sovereignty over Venice, which for centuries had been in abeyance. He asserted indeed a universal sovereignty, and treated all mankind as sheep who had no business to criticise or question their shepherd. It has been said his overweening arrogance only made the Protestant reaction, then beginning, more prompt and decisive.

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Chapter XII

SACRED LEGENDS.

LIVES AND LEGENDS OF SAINTS AND MARTYRS.

In the ninth century the monks busied themselves with collecting, compiling, and reviving biographies and histories of saints and martyrs. Many of the records of monasteries had been pillaged and destroyed by the ravages of the Northmen, and it was necessary and expedient to keep alive the memories of notable saints. Some prominent monks of St. Germains, of Paris, of Notker and St. Gall, devoted themselves to this task, and many narratives, genealogies, and legends were rewritten, embellished, and invented, so as to add to the glory of the Church. In the following century, at a Roman Council in 993, much discussion arose as to the holiness of Ulric, who had died twenty years previously, and of whom many miracles were related, and it was agreed that such as he deserved the veneration of the world, and were true mediators between Christ and mankind. This was said to be the first instance of canonisation, a mode of certifying that a saint was to be held in reverence throughout all Christendom. This mode of canonising was at first used by metropolitans, but in 1153 Pope Alexander III. declared that henceforth the Pope alone was to exercise this imperial power.

THE CHRISTIAN LEGENDS.

Milman says: "That some of the Christian legends were deliberate forgeries can scarcely be questioned. The principle of pious fraud appeared to justify this mode of working on the popular mind; it was admitted and avowed. To deceive into Christianity was so valuable a service as to hallow deceit itself. But the largest portion was probably the natural birth of that imaginative excitement, which quickens its day-dreams and nightly visions into reality. The Christian lived in a supernatural world: the notion of the Divine power, the perpetual interference of the deity, the agency of the countless invisible beings which hovered over mankind was so strongly impressed upon the belief, that every extraordinary and almost every ordinary incident became a miracle, every inward emotion a suggestion either of a good or an evil spirit. A mythic period was thus gradually formed, in which reality melted into fable and invention unconsciously trespassed on the province of history. This invention had very early let itself loose in the spurious gospels or accounts of the lives of the Saviour and His Apostles, which were chiefly composed among or rather against the sects which were less scrupulous in their veneration for the sacred books. The lives of St. Antony by Athanasius, and of Hilarion by Jerome, are the prototypes of the countless biographies of saints, and with a strong outline of truth became impersonations of the feeling, the opinions, the belief of the time."

HOW LEGENDS AND MIRACLES GROW.

Torquemada relates that a certain woman being desirous of rising a few hours before dawn, and not finding any fire under the ashes, sent her servant out with a candle to get a light. The servant going from house to house, nowhere found any fire. At length she perceived a lamp burning in a church. She called to the sacristan who was sleeping within, and he awoke and lighted her candle. Meanwhile the mistress, tired of waiting, had taken another candle, and had found a fire in a neighbour's house, and came out with her light just as the servant was returning with another, and both were in white. At that moment a neighbour, while rising and looking out half asleep, seeing the two figures, thought they were phantoms. And next there went a rumour that there had been a procession of spirits that night round the church. On another occasion a solemn burial of a noble knight in a certain monastery in Spain was appointed to take place next day. A poor female idiot had strayed into the church, and remaining after the doors were closed, took shelter from the cold under the great velvet pall which covered the coffin. The monks coming into the choir to sing matins, the idiot awoke and made a noise which startled the religious men, who, however, continued to sing their matins, and then retired. The rumour soon ran of what had been heard and seen, each relater adding something, till at length the poor idiot grew into a supernatural being sent from the skies to add honour to the noble warrior.

THE THUNDERING LEGION.

When the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who died 180, warred against the Vandals, Salmatians, and Germans, his army was shut up in hot and dry places, where they had been without water for five days, and were much discouraged. The Emperor in a letter which he wrote said he had 975,000 men leagued against him, and he prayed to his national deities, but got no assistance. He had, however, some Christians in his army, who fell on their faces and prayed to a God unknown to him, when suddenly there descended from the sky on him and his troops a most cool and refreshing rain, but on the enemy hail mixed with lightning, insomuch that he at once perceived that a most potent God had interposed irresistibly in his favour. The enemy were put to flight. Wherefore he granted full toleration to these people called Christians, lest peradventure by their prayers they should procure some like interposition against him. And it was ordered that in future it should not be deemed a crime to be a Christian.

ST. MAURICE AND THE THEBAN LEGION.

In the time of Diocletian, who died 313, part of the Roman army consisted of a Theban legion, which was six thousand six hundred and sixty-six men strong, all Christians, and noted for discipline and piety. After marching towards Gaul on service against the Christians, they encamped on the Lake of Geneva; and when ordered to join in the sacrifices to the gods, the whole legion, with their commander Maurice, refused to obey or to fight against their fellow-Christians. The Emperor, being enraged, ordered them to be decimated, and they thought this the highest honour, and vied with each other in being selected as the first victims. Still refusing, they were ordered a second time to be decimated, and then a third time, with like results. Maurice at the third decimation spoke thus: "Noble Cæsar, we are thy soldiers, but we are also the soldiers of Jesus Christ. From thee we receive our pay; from Him we receive eternal life. To thee we owe service, to Him obedience. We are ready to follow thee against the barbarians, but we are also ready to suffer death rather than renounce our faith or fight against our brethren."

THE DIVINING-ROD.

There was long current a tradition that as Moses and Aaron had a rod, so there still existed persons who could divine the inscrutable by means of a rod of a particular tree and shape, some said the hazel. It was efficacious to discover hidden treasures, veins of precious metal, springs of water, thefts, and murders. In the fifteenth century, Basil Valentine, a monk, described the general use of the divining-rod. In 1659 a Jesuit writer said that this rod was used in every town of Germany to discover mines and springs. In 1692 one Jacques Aylmar astonished Europe by his marvellous discoveries in tracking thieves and murderers, and his services were sought by corporations and high officers of state. The circumstances were related by three eye-witnesses who vouched for the truth. At last a plot was laid for Aylmar, and it was believed he was proved to be an impostor. Some individuals have professed to use like powers, and have made singular discoveries, particularly one Parangue at Marseilles in 1760, and one Jenny Leslie, a Scotch girl, about the same date.

ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON.

Saint George of Cappadocia was an early Christian of high position. In the reign of Diocletian, when the edict of that Emperor against the Christians was published, stimulated by a Divine zeal he tore the paper to pieces, treating it as infamous. For this act he was put to a death of horrible torture on April 23rd, 303. There is much mystery about the identity and the mode of death of the saint. The account in later ages which was given was, that he was first thrust with spears, but that they snapped like straw when they touched him. He was next bound to a wheel set with knives and swords, but an angel kept him harmless. He was then buried in a pit of quicklime, but that could not kill him. And his limbs were next broken, he was made to run in red-hot iron shoes, then scourged and made to drink poison--all of which cruelties were harmless; and at the end of seven days he restored an ox to life in testimony of his miraculous help. But he was at last murdered. His story was made into a legend, in which he was represented as slaying a dragon which infested a lake and had devoured sheep and alarmed the natives, who were told that unless the king's daughter was thrown to the beast it could not be got rid of. This step was about to be taken by the despairing king, when George, passing that way, heard of the difficulty and offered at once to save the young princess and kill the monster, which he did by making the sign of the cross and dexterously using his lance. Temples and churches and monasteries were dedicated to the victorious knight in many countries. The Crusaders, including our Richard I., all invoked his protection. In 1348 Edward III. founded St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and used the saint's name when besieging Calais and routing the French. The effect of St. George's name was so marked that he was adopted as the patron saint of England in lieu of Edward the Confessor. In 1349 the Order of St. George was instituted. In 1545 the saint's day was made a red-letter day, with a proper collect, epistle, and gospel, in the services of the Church. Many of the great painters have shown their skill in representing the legend.

ST. CHRISTINA AND THE MILLSTONE.

St. Christina, who died 295, was the daughter of a noble who lived near Lake Bolseno, and was early a convert to the Christian faith. One day, looking on a crowd of poor people whose wants she could not supply, she broke her father's silver and gold idols and divided them among the beggars. He was enraged and beat her and threw her into a dungeon, but angels came and healed her wounds. He next was determined to drown her, and fastened her to a millstone and threw both into the lake; but angels held up the stone and clothed her with white garments and led her safely to land. He then thought there must be witchcraft, and threw her into a fiery furnace; but she remained there five days unharmed, singing praises to God. Her head was then shaved, and she was dragged to do obeisance at the temple of Apollo; but she had no sooner looked at the idol than it fell down before her. At seeing these things her father became so terrified that he died. Next the governor ordered her tongue to be cut out, but she only sang more loudly and sweetly. Serpents and reptiles became harmless as doves before her; but at last she was shot dead with arrows, and angels waited and carried her pure spirit to heaven. This saint with the millstone is often painted to decorate the churches in Italy.

ST. CHRISTOPHER THE MARTYR SEEKING A KING OF KINGS.

Christopher the martyr was a gigantic negro, who in early life had a fancy that he would never be happy till he took service under the most powerful prince in the whole world. He took means first to seek out King Maximus, who, on seeing the stature and strength of his petitioner, at once employed him. One day the King's minstrel recited a lay in which the devil was often mentioned, and each time the King, who was a Christian, made the sign of the cross on his forehead. This astonished Christopher, who after many questions elicited the reason, which was this--that it was done for fear of the devil. Christopher from this at once concluded that there must be a still more powerful prince than Maximus, and he could not rest till he sought out that prince, the devil. He passed through deserts in search; and one day seeing a great crowd of warriors, with one terribly fierce at their head, he made bold to say, when questioned where he was going, that he was seeking the devil. The warrior told him that the devil was before him; so Christopher at once was engaged to serve him. One day as they were journeying they came to a cross at the wayside, and the devil made a circuit so as not to pass the spot, and afterwards rejoined his troop farther on. This made Christopher ask the reason, and it was told him that there had been a man named Christ hung upon that cross whom the devil feared greatly. Christopher again came to the conclusion that Christ must after all be the greatest prince, and he set off to seek for Christ. He met a hermit, who told him to fast and pray; but Christopher said that these things did not suit him, and he wanted some easier service. So the hermit told him that as he was tall and strong he should dwell near a great river not far off and carry over the passengers. He did so; and one night a little boy called on him for help, and Christopher took him on his shoulders, when the river was in flood, but the child proved heavy as lead, and on reaching the shore Christopher said he felt as if the whole world had been on his back--it was a wonder he had got over safe. The boy answered that Christopher had no cause to marvel, for he had just been carrying, not the world, but Him who created the world, for that He was Christ the Lord. In token of this Christ told Christopher to plant his staff in the earth, and it would immediately bud and bear fruit; and then Christ vanished. The staff was planted, and in the morning it bore dates like a palm tree; and thus Christopher knew it was Christ whom he had carried. After these things Christopher went to the city of Ammon, where he saw Christians tortured, and he sought to comfort them, saying he would avenge their injury were he not a Christian. His habit of praying was reported, and he was taken before King Dagnus, who on seeing such a giant as Christopher fell to the ground for fear. But steps were taken to throw Christopher into prison, and the officers beat and scourged him, put him on a bed of red-hot iron, burnt pitch under him, and at last with three hundred archers shot him to death. All this time Christopher prayed, and a light shone from his countenance, and his relics began to work miracles.

THE HALLELUJAH VICTORY IN WALES.

In 430 St. German and Lupus were in Britain preaching to the Britons, and the Saxons joined the Picts in attacking the former in Flintshire near Mold. A deputation went from the Britons to German and Lupus, then preaching, to ask them for help. The saints complied, and were made generals of the British forces. Every day they preached to the soldiers, and on Easter-day many were in course of being baptised, when the approach of the enemy was announced. German saw that the enemy would come through a valley surrounded with high hills. He posted his army on these hills. As soon as the enemy entered the valley, a loud shout of Hallelujah resounded in the mountains, and passed from hill to hill, gathering sound as it re-echoed. Consternation filled the enemy; and as if the rocks were ready to fall and crush them, seized with a general panic, they took to flight, leaving their arms, baggage, and even clothes behind them. A large number perished in the river Alen. The Britons, who had remained motionless, now came forth to collect the spoils of a victory which all acknowledged to be the gift of Heaven. Thus did Faith obtain a triumph without slaughter with two bishops as leaders. The place of this battle is known to this day as the Field of German, and is about a mile from Mold. Gregory the Great, three hundred years later, referred to it as a wonderful example of the lust of war being tamed by the simple word of God's priests.

THE PROPHECIES OF MERLIN.

Merlin lived about 447, a contemporary of St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre. He crossed over to England twice, and fought against the Anglo-Saxons, then Pagans, and defeated them in the Hallelujah victory. Merlin showed Vortigern, King of Britain, in mystic language the future history of his country, describing events as arising out of a contest between red worms and white worms, lions and dragons fighting against each other, and other allegories no longer worth repeating. But Orderic, who lived six hundred years later, narrates that Merlin's prophecies had come true. Indeed, all the intervening generations for some reason or other devoutly believed that Merlin was inspired, and commentaries were written expressly to demonstrate the truth revealed by that prophet.

THE DEVIL SHOWING ST. AUGUSTINE A BOOK.

In a painting at the back of the stalls of Carlisle Cathedral, which was the only cathedral in England, the episcopal chapel of which belonged to Augustinians, there is a representation of scenes from the life of St. Augustine of Canterbury, and one of the devil with a book. The legend is, that the devil one day appeared to St. Augustine carrying a book. The saint asked what the book contained, and was answered, "The sins of men." He then adjured the devil to show him any passage in which his own sins were recorded, and found that the only entry against him was, that on one occasion he had neglected to repeat the office of complin. Thereupon, commanding the devil to await his return, Augustine entered a neighbouring church and repeated that office. The entry in the book at once disappeared, and the devil greeted St. Augustine as he came out of the church thus: "You have shamefully deceived me. I regret I ever showed you my book, for with your prayers you have wiped out that sin of yours." And so the devil disappeared in high dudgeon.

THE WANDERING JEW.

The legend of the Wandering Jew is said to be based on Matt. xvi. 28 and Mark ix. 1. The earliest account seems not older than Matthew Paris, in 1228, who says it was related to the monks at St. Albans by a visitor. It was this: that when Jesus was dragged to the Crucifixion and reached the door of Cartaphilus, a porter in Pilate's service, he impiously struck Jesus, telling Him in mockery to go quicker, whereon Jesus gravely replied, "I am going, and you will wait till I return." This meant that the man would not die till the Second Coming. He was afterwards baptised and called Joseph. He is a grave and circumspect and taciturn man, who, when asked, but not unless asked, will give details as to the Crucifixion not found in the Scriptures. He never smiles. He says he sinned through ignorance. He once assisted a weaver in Bohemia to find some hidden treasure. He has been met with in all countries. He eats and drinks little. When offered money, he only accepts a small sum of fourpence. He once appeared at Stamford in 1658; his coat was purple, and buttoned down to the waist. About 1700 an impostor attracted attention in England as being the Wandering Jew. Other impostors appeared in England in 1818, 1824, and 1830. Some say the Wild Huntsman of the Harz Mountains is the same person, and cursed with perpetual life and with the desire to hunt the red-deer for evermore.

ST. SABAS AND THE LION.

St. Sabas, a renowned patriarch of the monks of Palestine, who died 532, when a child went into a monastery and showed a genius for his work. One day, while at work in the garden, he saw a tree loaded with fair and beautiful apples, and gathered one with an intention to eat it. But reflecting that this was a temptation of the devil, he threw the apple on the ground and trod upon it. Moreover, to punish himself more perfectly, he made a vow never to eat any apples as long as he lived. At eighteen he went to visit the holy places at Jerusalem, and became member of a monastery about twelve miles from Jerusalem, and as a luxury often asked leave to go and remain in a cave, where he prayed and lived by basket-making. In one of these caves he met a holy hermit, who had lived thirty-eight years without seeing any one, feeding on wild herbs. Once Sabas went into a great cave to pray, and a huge lion happened to make it his den. At midnight the beast came in, and, finding the guest, dared not to touch him, but gently plucked his garments, as if to draw him out. The saint was not terrified, but leisurely went on to read aloud the midnight psalms. The lion went out; and when the holy man had finished matins, came in again and pulled his clothes gently as before. The saint spoke to the beast and said the place was big enough to hold them both. The lion at those words departed and returned thither no more. Certain thieves found Sabas in this cave, but he converted them to a penitential life. Others joined him and turned it into a monastery; but he preferred to retire elsewhere and enjoy the sweetness of perfect solitude. He was afterwards sent to Constantinople to help with his advice in restoring peace to the Church. He died at ninety-one, an example of admirable sanctity.

THEOPHILUS AND HIS COMPACT WITH THE DEVIL.

About 538 a priest named Theophilus lived in Cilicia, and on the decease of the bishop he was chosen by acclamation to fill the vacancy. But his deep humility urged him to refuse the office. Slanders circulated against him, and the bishop investigated them, found him guilty, and deprived him. Being unable to clear his reputation, he consulted a necromancer, who took him at midnight to a place where four cross-roads met, and conjured up Satan, who promised to reinstate Theophilus and clear his character. But it was first necessary that Theophilus should sign away his soul with a pen dipped in his own blood, and to abjure Christ and the Holy Mother. Next day the bishop sent for Theophilus and admitted the sentence was wrong, and asked pardon for being so misled, and restored Theophilus. The populace also welcomed his return. But Theophilus found no rest for his conscience. He prayed long and often without a ray of comfort. At last he fasted forty days. The Virgin at the end of that time appeared and assured him of forgiveness; and one morning, on awaking, he found the accursed deed which sold his soul lying on his breast. He rose and went to church full of joy and exultation, made a public confession, and showed to the people the compact signed with blood. He craved absolution from the bishop and had the deed burned. He then took the Sacrament, and soon after died of a fever. He has ever since been treated as a saint.

THE HOLY GRAIL.

The story of the Sangreal was one of the traditions of King Arthur's knights. When Christ was transfixed with the spear and the blood flowed out, Joseph of Arimathæa collected it in the vessel from which the Saviour had eaten the Last Supper. Joseph was thrown into prison and left to die of hunger, but he lived forty years, being nourished and invigorated by the sacred vessel. Titus released Joseph, who started with the vessel for Britain, and before his death he confided it to a nephew. Others say the Grail was preserved in heaven till a race of heroes grew up fit to protect it. A temple was founded by some king to hold the Grail, the model being the Temple at Jerusalem; and the vessel gave oracles, and the sight of it inspired perpetual youth and made its guardians incapable of wounds or hurt. The knights who watched the Grail were pure, and whenever a bell was rung one was bound to go forth and fight for the right. Endless variations of the legend appear in different countries.

THE SEVEN SLEEPERS OF EPHESUS.

The legend of the seven sleepers was told in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Emperor Decius, having gone to Ephesus, commanded all the Christians to worship idols or die. Seven young men refused, and being accused and reprieved, they sold all their goods and determined to conceal themselves in a cave, and fell asleep. Lest they should be hiding in the cave, the mouth of it was blocked up with stones. After the lapse of three hundred and fifty years, these stones being removed for a new building, the sleepers awoke; but on returning to Ephesus and searching for their parents, and finding no trace of them, and yet seeing crosses erected everywhere, they were confounded. One of them having offered a coin for bread, was taken up as a sorcerer who had discovered hidden treasure and concealed it. But when the governor and the bishop examined into the story, the bishop turned to the governor and said, "The hand of God is here." They visited the cave, and saw the other six sleepers, all fresh and radiant. They said they were kept alive to prove the truth of the Resurrection, and then died. William of Malmesbury says these sleepers had lain all the time on their right side.

LITTLE BLIND HERVE, THE CHILD MINSTREL.

When the British emigrants in the sixth century went to convert the inhabitants of Armorica, in Brittany, they took also a bard named Hyvernion, who married a female bard; and these two had a little blind child named Herve, who, when an orphan at the age of seven, went about the country singing hymns with the voice of an angel. He became a universal favourite, and people wished him to be made a priest. But he would not leave a little monastery of his own which he had founded in a forest, and where he had a school and a church and taught children's songs. This church was managed by a child cousin of his own, a little girl named Christina, who used to be compared to a little white dove among the crows. Three days before his death Herve fell into a trance, in which he saw visions of choirs of angels, and of his father and mother among the saints of heaven. The third day of his illness he told Christina to make his bed with a stone for a pillow and ashes for a couch, as he was anxious that the black angel should find him in that state. The little girl, on comprehending that his end was near, begged him to ask God to let her accompany him, and the prayer was granted, for when he died she threw herself at his feet and died too immediately. Ever since then the little blind monk is often heard singing his little hymns, and he is the patron of all the mendicant singers of Brittany. The same legend says that his mother used to be so proud of her minstrel boy as to think that, if there were a thousand singing together, she could still distinguish little Herve's voice among them.

THE SUPPER OF ST. GREGORY.

St. Gregory was in his early days a monk in St. Andrew's at Rome, though afterwards he became Pope and sent St. Augustine to preach to the Saxons at Canterbury. When at St. Andrew's a beggar once came to the gate and was relieved, and he came again and again till all the monk's means were exhausted. At last Gregory ordered the silver porringer which his mother Sylvia had given to him to be handed to the mendicant. When Gregory became Pope, he used to entertain every evening to supper twelve poor men, and one night he was surprised to notice that there were thirteen seated at the table. He called to the steward and said he had given orders that there should be twelve only. The steward looked and counted them over and said, "Holy father, there are surely twelve only!" Gregory said nothing more, but at the end of the meal he called to the thirteenth and unbidden guest, "Who art thou?" The answer was, "I am the poor man whom thou didst formerly relieve, and my name is the Wonderful, and through me thou shalt obtain whatever thou shalt ask of God." Then Gregory knew that he had entertained an angel, or, as some say, our Lord Himself. This legend is often represented in pictures, Christ sitting as a pilgrim with the other guests. Another legend represents St. Gregory officiating at the Mass where some one was near who doubted the real presence; and the Saviour in person descended upon the altar surrounded by the instruments of His passion in answer to a prayer addressed by the saint.

ST. GREGORY RELEASING THE SOUL OF TRAJAN.

The doctrine of purgatory was said to arise from the feelings expressed by St. Gregory at the following incident in the life of Trajan. That Emperor was once hastening at the head of his legions, when a poor widow flung herself in his way, crying aloud for justice and vengeance over the innocent blood of her son, killed by the son of the Emperor. Trajan promised to do her justice when he returned from his expedition. The widow then exclaimed, "But, sire, if you are killed in battle, who then is to do me justice?" Trajan answered, "My successor." She then retorted, "But what will it signify to you, Emperor, if it is left to some other person to do me justice? Is it not better that you should do this honourable action and receive the reward yourself?" Trajan, moved by her piety and her reasoning, then alighted, and having examined into the matter, he gave up to her his own son in place of her son, and also bestowed on her likewise a liberal pension. Now it came to pass that one day, as Gregory was meditating in his daily walk, this action of the Emperor Trajan came into his recollection, and he wept bitterly to think that a man so just should be condemned as a heathen to eternal punishment. And entering a church, he prayed most fervently that the soul of the good Emperor might be released from torment. And a voice said to him: "I have granted thy prayer, and I have spared the soul of Trajan for thy sake; but because thou hast supplicated for one whom the justice of God had already condemned thou shalt choose one of two things: either thou shalt endure for two days the fires of purgatory, or thou shalt be sick and infirm for the remainder of thy life." Gregory chose the latter, and this accounted for the many bodily infirmities of the saint during the rest of his life.

LEGEND OF ST. BEGA.

In Cumberland, on a promontory of the Irish Sea, stood the monastery of St. Bees, named after St. Bega, who was one of the nuns under the great abbess St. Hilda of Whitby. St. Bega was the daughter of an Irish king, the most beautiful woman of her time, and was sought in marriage by a prince of Norway. But she had vowed to live a nun, and had received from an angel a bracelet marked with the sign of the cross, as the seal of her high calling. On the night before her wedding day, while her father's retainers were carousing, she escaped alone with nothing but the bracelet, and in a skiff landed on the western shore of Northumbria, and took refuge in a cell in a wood, and then joined St. Hilda till she could build a monastery of her own. During the building she prepared with her own hands the food of the masons and waited on them. Her bracelet was long preserved as a relic. She was celebrated for her austerity, her fervour, and her kindness to the poor, and remained the patron saint for six hundred years after her death of the north-west coast of England.

ST. FRUCTUOSUS AND THE DOE.

Fructuosus, who died about 665, displayed when a mere child a genius for monkery. When a boy he had already fixed on a site for a monastery; and when he had carried out his enterprise and gathered a large body of followers, and was praying in a secluded spot in a forest, a labourer took him for a fugitive slave, and put a rope round his neck and brought him to a place where he was recognised. Another time he was wandering covered with a goat skin, and a huntsman thinking him a wild beast shot an arrow at him, and only then discovered that it was a man perched on the top of a rock with his hands extended in prayer. On another day a hind pursued by the hunters threw itself into the folds of the monk's tunic, and he was so pleased at this mark of confidence that he took the wild creature home and treated it kindly. They soon became mutually attached. The simple doe followed him everywhere, slept at the foot of his bed and bleated incessantly if he was out of her sight. He tried to send her back to the woods, but she soon returned to his cell and haunted it as before. At last a brutal fellow, who was supposed to have no goodwill to the monks, one day killed her while Fructuosus was on a journey. On his return his eyes searched in vain for a welcome from his faithful friend, and when informed of her death he fell prostrate on the floor of the church, quivering with agony. The bystanders thought he was asking of God some punishment for this brutality. Soon after the murderer fell sick, and begged urgently this monk to go to his aid. The monk avenged himself nobly; he went and healed his greatest enemy, and at the same time made him repent of his sins.

POPE JOAN (A.D. 854).

The story that there was once a female Pope, who succeeded Leo in 854, and reigned two years and five months, was first told three hundred years later by a chronicler named Stephen, a French Dominican, who died in 1261. She concealed her sex, but on her way to the Lateran she was delivered of a child in the street, and died shortly afterwards. Others say the child was born as she was celebrating High Mass. The story was embellished as time advanced. But it has been in modern times treated as a fable devised and kept up by the Protestant reformers in order to discredit the Papacy. Some added that Joan was the daughter of an English missionary, and fell in love with a monk; that she dressed herself in male attire in order to pursue her studies, became celebrated for her learning, and at last arrived at the high dignity of Pope. Others say she was an Athenian woman celebrated for her learning, who had come to Rome as an adventuress. Others say she was a native of Mayence, who fell in love and went in man's attire to Rome, and after many adventures succeeded to the highest dignity.

BISHOP HATTO DEVOURED BY RATS.

Bishop Hatto had a castle on a little rock in the Rhine. In 970 a famine existed in Germany, and the famishing people asked the bishop for help, and he invited them to go into a large barn. He set fire to the barn, and they were all consumed. Soon afterwards an army of rats collected and moved towards the palace, and on seeing them the bishop fled to his tower in the Rhine, thinking they could not follow him. But they swarmed through the river and climbed up into the holes and windows and ate up the bishop. This story was told for the first time at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and a similar legend is found in the records of Poland and Bavaria.

ST. CONRAD SWALLOWING A SPIDER.

It is related of St. Conrad, a devout bishop who died in 976, that he was celebrating the Mass on Easter Day, when a great spider dropped into the chalice. The insect might have been taken out and then decently burnt, but out of devotion and respect for the holy mysteries the bishop swallowed the spider, which he vomited up some hours after without receiving any harm.

THE PIPER OF HAMELN AND THE RATS.

The town of Hameln was infested with rats, which swarmed everywhere and drove the people mad. One day a stranger came saying he was a ratcatcher, and offered to rid the place of the vermin for a sum of money. This was agreed to, and the piper began to pipe, and the rats with a mighty rumbling noise came out of their holes and followed him. The townspeople, on seeing the rats leaving them, repented of the bargain, and refused to pay the money, on the ground of the piper being a sorcerer. The piper then waxed wroth and threatened revenge, and soon after he came again into the town and blew his pipe, whereon all the children rushed out and followed him towards a side of the mountain, when they all vanished through an opening, and none of them were ever seen again. There were one hundred and thirty children. The street through which the poor children were decoyed is called the Bungen Strasse, and to this day no music is ever tolerated in it.

LADY GODIVA RELIEVING COVENTRY.

It is related by Matthew of Westminster that Count Leofric, who died in 1057, and his noble and pious wife Godiva, had founded a monastery in Coventry, had established monks in it, and endowed it so abundantly with estates and treasures of various kinds that there was not found such a quantity of gold, silver, and precious stones in any monastery in all England as there was at that time in that monastery. The countess had on an occasion wished in a most pious spirit to deliver the city of Coventry from a burdensome and shameful slavery, and often entreated the count her husband with earnest prayers to deliver the town from that slavery. And when the count reproached her for persevering in asking to no purpose for a thing which he disliked, he at last charged her never for the future to mention this subject to him. She, however, prompted by female persistence, continued her entreaties, till her husband was provoked, and then taunted her thus: "Mount then your horse naked and ride through the market of the town from end to end, and when you return you shall succeed in your request." The countess replied, "I am willing even to do that if you will give me your permission." And he gave it. Then the countess, beloved of God, on a set day mounted her horse naked, letting her tresses of hair fall, which covered her whole body except her beautiful legs; and when she had finished her journey without being seen by any one, she returned to her husband with joy. He looked on this as a miracle, released the city from slavery, and confirmed the charter with his own seal.

THE SACRED FIRE IN THE GREEK CHURCH.

A ceremony was long prevalent among the Greek Christians at Jerusalem which resembled the carnival in Rome. On Easter Eve it was pretended that fire descended from heaven into the sacred sepulchre. In order to keep up this illusion, all the lamps were extinguished. The crowd then collected round the sepulchre, some crying "Eleison" and jumping on each other's backs, and throwing dirt about like people at a fair. Some held up their wax tapers, as if imploring the Almighty to send the fire. Then people marched round the sepulchre, some personating the archbishops and bishops. At last one entered the sepulchre and pretended his taper had caught fire. The crowd then pressed round to light their tapers at that which first took fire. Great rioting and tomfoolery then succeeded. Some ascribe the origin of this superstition to a real miracle of the same kind which once happened, and it is added that God Almighty being provoked at the irregularities of the Christian Crusaders refused to work the miracle, but at last vouchsafed to do so after fervent supplications. It was said the fire had never descended since the beginning of the twelfth century. Part of the above ceremony consisted in the crowd bringing pieces of linen cloth, said to be marked with a cross by the tapers kindled at the sacred fire; and these cloths were preserved as winding-sheets and sacred relics.

SOME SUPERSTITIONS OF THE GREEK CHURCH.

The Greeks of the Holy Land all believed as an unquestionable fact that the birds which fly about Jerusalem never sing during Passion Week, but stand motionless and confounded, as if in sorrow. Pilgrims to Jerusalem got certain marks imprinted on their arms with indelible characters, and which they afterwards produced as certificates of their pilgrimage. The Grecian populace ascribed to the waters of the Jordan the supernatural virtue of healing several distempers. The plant known as the rose of Jericho was in their opinion a sure defence against thunder and lightning. They also believed that on Easter Day the lands all round Cairo and the Nile throw up their dead and continue to do so till Ascension Day.

PRESTER JOHN.

The belief that a great Christian Emperor reigned in Asia arose in the twelfth century. He was called Presbyter Johannes, and had defeated the Mussulmans and was ready to assist the Crusaders. Pope Alexander III. once sent a physician with a letter to this Emperor, but the messenger was never again heard of. The first chronicler who mentioned the existence of this doubtful sovereign was Otto, who wrote at the date 1156, and stated that the Priest John's kingdom was on the farther side of Persia and Armenia, and that he had routed the Persians after a bloody battle. He was supposed to belong to the family of the Magi who visited Christ in His cradle. He wrote a letter in 1165 to various Christian princes, giving details of the splendour of his country and his possessions. He said seventy-two kings paid him tribute, and the body of the holy Apostle Thomas was buried in his country beyond India. His country was the home of the elephant, the griffin, the centaur, the phoenix, giants, pigmies, and nearly all living animals.

LORETTO AND THE HOLY COTTAGE OF THE MADONNA.

The small city of Loretto, about twenty miles from Ancona, has been for five centuries a popular place of pilgrimage, so called from a grove of laurels in which the Santa Casa is said to have rested. This is the holy cottage which, according to the tradition, was the birthplace of the Virgin, as well as the dwelling of the Holy Family after the flight out of Egypt. The house was held in extraordinary veneration throughout Palestine after the Empress Helena discovered the true cross, and it was conveyed by angels from Nazareth in 1291 to the coast of Dalmatia, and in 1294 it was suddenly again transported to a grove near Loretto, and the Virgin appeared in a vision to St. Nicholas of Tolentino to announce its arrival to the faithful. It three times changed its position before settling down, and pilgrims soon flocked to visit it. The city is very small, and stands on a hill three miles from the sea, and it consists chiefly of shops which carry on a great trade in crowns, medals, and pictures of the Madonna di Loretto. The place now swarms with beggars who appeal for charity, while the shrine glistens with gold and diamonds. The church contains the Santa Casa, which is a small brick house twenty-nine feet long, thirteen feet high, and twelve feet broad, and a humble dwelling of rude workmanship is enclosed in a marble casing adorned with beautiful sculptures. In a niche above the fireplace is the celebrated statue of the Virgin said to have been sculptured by St. Luke. The height of this statue is thirty-three inches, and the child fourteen inches. The figures are rude, but are hung with glistening jewels; and silver lamps are constantly burning before the shrine. There are also three earthen pots here which are said to have belonged to the Holy Family.

KING RICHARD I.'s STORY OF AN INGRATE.

About 1196 Matthew Paris says that Vitalis, a Venetian noble, who was rich and miserly, went into a forest to hunt for venison for his daughter's marriage feast, and fell into a large pit cunningly set for lions, bears, and wolves, out of which escape was impossible. Here he found a lion and serpent; but as he signed with the cross, neither animal, though fierce and hungry, ventured to attack him. All night he called aloud with lamentations for help, and a poor woodcutter being attracted, went to the pit's mouth and heard the story. Vitalis offered him half of all his property--namely, five hundred talents--if he would rescue him; and the woodcutter said he would do so if Vitalis would be as good as his word. A ladder and ropes were brought and let down by the poor peasant, but the lion and serpent eagerly strove to be the first to rush out, and then came Vitalis, who was conducted to a place of safety, and being asked where and when the promise would be discharged, told his deliverer to call in four days at his palace in Venice for the money. The peasant went home to dinner, and while sitting at table was surprised to see the lion enter and lay down a dead goat, and then lick his feet. Then came the serpent, and brought a jewel as a present. When the peasant went to claim his money, Vitalis pretended he had never seen or heard of the poor man, and ordered the latter to be put out by his servants and cast into prison. But by a sudden spring the peasant managed to escape, and then applied to the judges of the city. The judges at first hesitated; but when the peasant took witnesses, and visited the lion and serpent, both of which fawned on him, the justices were satisfied, and compelled Vitalis to fulfil his promise and pay compensation. This story used to be told by King Richard I. to expose the conduct of ungrateful men.

ST. FRANCIS AND HIS LOVE OF BIRDS.

One day St. Francis met in his road a young man on his way to Siena to sell some doves which he had caught in a snare. And Francis said to him, "My good young man! these are the birds to whom the Scripture compares those who are pure and faithful before God; do not kill them, I beseech thee, but give them rather to me." And when they were given to him, he put them in his bosom and carried them to his convent at Ravacciano, where he made for them nests, and fed them every day, until they became so tame as to eat from his hand. And the young man had also his recompense, for he became a friar and lived a holy life from that day forth. St. Francis also loved the larks, and pointed them out to his disciples as always singing praises to the Creator. A lark once brought her brood of nestlings to his cell to be fed from his hand. He saw that the strongest of these nestlings tyrannised over the others, pecking at them, and taking more than his due share of the food. Whereupon the good saint rebuked the creature, saying, "Thou unjust and insatiable! thou shalt die miserably, and the greediest animals shall refuse to eat thy flesh." And so it happened, for the creature drowned itself through its impetuosity in drinking; and when it was thrown to the cats they would not touch it. On St. Francis returning from Syria, in passing through the Venetian Lagune, vast numbers of birds were singing, and he said to his companion, "Our sisters the birds are praising their Creator; let us sing with them." And he began the sacred service. But the warbling of the birds interrupted them; therefore St. Francis said to them, "Be silent until we have also praised God," and they ceased their song and did not resume it till he had given them permission. On another occasion, preaching at Alviano, St. Francis could not make himself heard for the chirping of the swallows, which were at that time building their nests. Pausing, therefore, in his sermon, he said, "My sisters, you have talked enough; it is time that I should have my turn. Be silent and listen to the Word of God." And they were silent immediately. On another occasion, as St. Francis was sitting with his disciple Leo, he felt himself penetrated with joy and consolation by the song of the nightingale, and he desired his friend Leo to raise his voice and sing the praises of God in company with the bird. But Leo excused himself by reason of his bad voice; upon which Francis himself began to sing, and when he stopped the nightingale took up the strain; and thus they sang alternately until the night was far advanced and Francis was obliged to stop, for his voice failed. Then he confessed that the little bird had vanquished him; he called it to him, thanked it for its song, and gave it the remainder of his bread; and having bestowed his blessing upon it, the creature flew away. A grasshopper was wont to sit and sing on a fig tree near the cell of the man of God, and oftentimes by her singing she excited him also to sing the praises of the Creator. And one day he called her to him, and she flew upon his hand; and Francis said to her, "Sing, my sister, and praise the Lord thy Creator." So she began her song immediately, nor ceased till at her father's command she flew back to her own place; and she remained eight days there, coming and singing at his behest. At length the man of God said to his disciples, "Let us dismiss our sister; enough that she has cheered us with her song and excited us to the praise of God these eight days." So being permitted, she immediately flew away, and was seen no more. When Francis found worms or insects in his road, he was careful not to tread on them. He would even remove them from the path, lest they should be crushed by others. One day, in passing through a meadow, he perceived a little lamb feeding all alone in the midst of a flock of goats. He was moved with pity, and said, "Thus did our mild Saviour stand alone in the midst of the Jews and the Pharisees." He would have bought the lamb, but had nothing in the world but his tunic. A charitable man, however, passing by and seeing his grief, bought the lamb and gave it to him. When he was at Rome in 1222, he had with him a pet lamb which accompanied him everywhere; and in pictures of St. Francis a lamb is frequently introduced.

ST. FRANCIS AND THE WOLF.

Another story of St. Francis is, that finding the neighbourhood of Gubbio was held in terror by the ravages of a wolf, he went out fearlessly to meet the beast, and when found he addressed the latter as "Brother Wolf," and brought him to a sense of his wickedness in slaying not only brute animals but human creatures. And Francis promised that if his friend Wolf would desist from such practices the citizens of Gubbio would maintain him. Brother Wolf, as a token of this sensible overture, put his paw into the saint's right hand and accompanied him to the town, where the people gladly ratified the preliminaries of the treaty. The wolf spent the rest of his days in innocence and competence, and when he died in his old age he was lamented by all Gubbio.

"ST. FRANCIS AND THE BIRDS," BY A CONTEMPORARY.

Roger of Wendover, a contemporary of St. Francis, in noticing his death in 1227, thus describes him: "This servant of God, Francis, built an oratory in Rome, and, like a noble warrior, engaged in battle against evil spirits and carnal vices. When the Roman people despised him, he said, 'I have preached the Gospel of the Redeemer to you. I therefore call on Him to bear witness to your desolation, and go forth to preach the Gospel of Christ to the brute beasts, and to the birds of the air, that they may hear the life-giving words of God and be obedient to them.' He then went out of the city, and in the suburbs found crows sitting among the dead bodies, kites, magpies, and other birds flying about in the air, and said to them, 'I command you in the name of Jesus Christ, whom the Jews crucified, and whose preaching the wretched Romans have despised, to come to me and hear the Word of God in the name of Him who created you and preserved Noah in the ark from the waters of the deluge.' All that flock of birds then drew near and surrounded him; and having ordered silence, all kinds of chirping were hushed, and those birds listened to the words of the man of God for the space of half a day without moving from the spot, and the whole time looked in the face of the preacher. This wonderful circumstance was discovered by the Romans passing and repassing to and from the city; and when the same had been repeated by the man of God to the assembled birds, the clergy and crowds of people went out and brought back the man of God with great reverence. And he then softened their obdurate hearts. His fame spread abroad, and many of noble birth, following his example, left the world and its vices. The order of the brethren soon increased and scattered the seed of the Word of God and the dew of the heavenly doctrine."

BONAVENTURA ON "ST. FRANCIS AND THE BIRDS."

Bonaventura, in his Life of St. Francis, thus explains the circumstance which Giotto the painter made the basis of his painting: "Drawing nigh to Bevagno, Francis came to a certain place where a vast multitude of birds of different kinds were gathered together, whom seeing, the man of God ran hastily to the spot, and saluting them, as if they had been his fellows in reason (while they all turned round and bent their heads in attentive expectation), he admonished them, saying, 'Brother birds, greatly are ye bound to praise your Creator who clotheth you with feathers, and giveth you wings to fly with and a pure air to breathe in, and who careth for you who have so little care for yourselves.' While he thus spake the little birds, marvellously commoved, began to spread their wings, stretch forth their necks, and open their beaks, attentively gazing upon him. And he, glowing in the spirit, passed through the midst of them, and even touched them with his robe, yet not one stirred from his place until the man of God gave them leave, when with his blessing and at the sign of the cross they all flew away. These things saw his companions who waited for him on the road; to whom returning, the simple and pure-minded man began greatly to blame himself for having never hitherto preached to the birds." One of the pictures by Giotto in the church of Assisium represents this legend, also a small picture in the Louvre at Paris.

ST. ANTONY PREACHING TO THE FISHES (A.D. 1231).

St. Antony of Padua being come to the city of Rimini, where were many heretics and unbelievers, he was heard to say, that he might as well preach to the fishes, for they would more readily listen to him. The heretics stopped their ears and refused to listen to him; whereupon he repaired to the seashore, and stretching forth his hand, he said, "Hear me, ye fishes, for these unbelievers refuse to listen." And truly it was a marvellous thing to see how an infinite number of fishes, great and little, lifted their heads above water and listened attentively to the sermon of the saint. The saint addressed them, and part of his sermon was as follows: "It is God that has furnished for you the world of waters with lodgings, chambers, caverns, grottoes, and such magnificent retirements as are not to be met with in the seats of kings or in the palaces of princes. You have the water for your dwelling, a clear, transparent element, brighter than crystal. You can see from its deepest bottom everything that passes on its surface. You have the eyes of a lynx or of an argus. The colds of winter and the heats of summer are equally incapable of molesting you. A serene or a clouded sky is indifferent to you. Let the earth abound in fruits, or be cursed with scarcity, it has no influence on your welfare. You live secure in rains and thunders, lightnings and earthquakes. You have no concern in the blossoms of spring or in the glowings of summer, in the fruits of autumn or in the frosts of winter. You are not solicitous about hours or days or months or years, the variableness of the weather or the change of seasons. You alone were preserved among all the species of creatures that perished in the universal deluge. For these things you ought to be grateful; and since you cannot employ your tongues in the praises of your Benefactor, make at least some reverence--bow yourselves at His name." He had no sooner done speaking than the fish bowed their heads and moved their bodies, as if approving what had been spoken by St. Antony. Heretics who had listened were converted, and the saint gave his benediction to the fishes and dismissed them.

ST. ROCH AND THE SUFFERERS FROM PLAGUE.

St. Roch was born of noble and wealthy parents at Montpellier in 1280. He was seized early with a consuming passion to render help to the sick and the poor, and abandoned all his wealth to become a pilgrim. He was eager to minister to the most helpless and to the plague-stricken. He was attacked during this mission with fever and ulcers, and crawled into the street; but being driven away for fear of contagion, he retired to the woods to die. There help came to him. He had a faithful little dog, and it went every day to the city and brought back to him a loaf of bread. An angel also came and dressed his wounds. He gloried in his sufferings; and at last, haggard and wasted, he returned to his own country and estate; but his relatives did not know him, and he was cast into prison and died. A bright supernatural light glowed around his dead body, and then it was discovered who he was. He died aged thirty-three. A hundred years later his great deeds were remembered, and his effigy was used to save Constance from the plague. The Venetians, when plague-stricken in 1485, also coveted his relics, and a plot to steal them was contrived. One night a conspirator carried off the saint's body from Montpellier; and the doge, senate, and clergy of Venice, with inexpressible joy, went forth to meet the pious thief, and they built a magnificent church of St. Roch to contain the priceless relics. He and his dog were often painted by the great painters, and Rubens got a large sum for one of his great pictures on that subject for the confraternity of St. Roch at Venice. He is the patron saint of hospitals.

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