November XIII

St. Homobonus, Merchant, C.

From his life in Surius, and the bull of his canonization.

a. d. 1197.

All lawful secular professions have furnished heaven with saints, that the slothful in all states may be without excuse. In the infancy of the world men were chiefly shepherds and graziers, and before the improvement of agriculture were obliged to live in moveable tents, and as soon as the produce of the earth was consumed in one place, they removed to another. The useful arts were at first few and very imperfect: clothing was simple and mean, and houses, so necessary a shelter to men, were at fire, even in the coldest climates, raised of mud, or made with boughs: trunks felled, and unhewn, set upright for walls, were once looked upon as a great improvement in building.¹ Industry, convenience, and luxury have discovered and perfected arts in the world, which their progress shows against modern deists not to exceed the age which the sacred history of Moses assigns it. Commerce originally consisted in bartering goods of one kind for those of another; but since the invention of money as one common or general kind of goods, trade has become as important in the republic of mankind as agriculture itself, and is as great a source of wealth, and the strength, support, and ornament of a nation; though the tillage of the earth, which raises a mine from the ground without giving any thing in exchange, and by which all mankind subsists, always deserves the first consideration in the eye of the public, and the chief encouragement from its hands, far from being suffered to sink into contempt, or give up its hands too frequently to the pursuit of refined, or useless, or even pernicious professions. Trade is often looked upon as an occasion of too great attachment to the things of this world, and of too eager a desire of gain; also of lying frauds and injustice. That these are the vices of men, not the faults of the profession, is clear from the example of this and many other saints.

Homobonus was son to a merchant of Cremona, in Lombardy, who gave him this name (which signifies Good Man) at his baptism: the name of his family was Tucinge. While he trained him up to his own mercantile business in shop-keeping, without any school education, he inspired in him, both by his example and instructions, the most perfect sentiments of probity, integrity, religion, and virtue. The saint from his infancy abhorred the very shadow of the least untruth or injustice, and having always the fear of God before his eyes, would have chosen with joy rather to forego the greatest advantages, and to suffer the loss of his whole fortune, than to stain his soul with the least sin. This rule is the more necessary to persons engaged in trade, as they are more easily betrayed unawares into occasions of such sins, and are more apt to palliate, or extenuate them to themselves, unless a steady resolution put them infinitely upon their guard. A man who is content, and ready to meet cheerfully the most grievous disappointments, and even the ruin of his temporal affairs rather than to tell the least lie, or any other way wilfully offend God, makes to him a constant sacrifice of obedience by this disposition of his soul, and secures to himself a lasting peace; for a mind which finds its comfort and joy in the divine grace and love, and in the goods of eternity, is out of the reach of anxiety and troubles on account of the uncertain and perishable goods of this life, especially when they were sacrificed to religion. But probity is usually attended also with temporal success; for though a person may be a gainer by injustice in some particular occasions, it is an undeniable maxim, that honesty is the best policy, and that a man thrives in business by nothing so much as by unshaken integrity and veracity, which cannot fail to draw down the divine blessing, and gain a man the highest credit and reputation in all his dealings, which is his stock and his best fortune. This St. Homobonus experienced by his unexpected success in his business, which under the divine blessing, was also owing to his economy, care, and industry. His business he looked upon as an employment given him by God, and he pursued it with diligence upon the motives of obedience to the divine law, and of justice to himself, his family, and the commonwealth of which he thus approved himself a useful member. If a tradesman’s books are not well kept, if there is not order and regularity in the whole conduct of his business, if he does not give his mind seriously to it, with assiduous attendance, he neglects an essential duty, and is unworthy to bear the name of a Christian. Homobonus is a saint by acquitting himself diligently, upon perfect motives of virtue and religion, of all the obligations of his profession.

By the advice of his parents, he took to wife a virtuous virgin, who was a prudent and faithful assistant in the government of his household, which, by the piety and regularity of all those who composed it, bespoke the sanctity and attention of the master. Men’s passions, which they neglect to subdue, as in every state of life, so particularly in this, are their greatest slavery and the cause of their miseries and troubles. Instead of rejoicing how many repine at the prosperity of other traders, and expose their faults with a rancor which all who hear them ascribe only to their envy, jealousy, and want of charity! how many seek to raise a family by meanness and sordidness! how many fall into an inordinate passion for riches! For though wealth may be a blessing of God, if neither coveted nor abused, yet immoderately to thirst after it, is always a grievous and most fatal vice. This one thing is the philosophy of the trader, a point of the utmost importance of a trading life, that a man curb the lust of riches, regulate his desires of them, and be in all events calmly and sweetly resigned to the will of God, who knows what is best for us. As to the pretence of a provision for children, a prudent care for them is a point of justice; but, under all disappointments, we know that the blessing of God and his grace is the best inheritance, and that that provision for them is often the wisest which lays a sufficient foundation for their industry to build on, and leaves them under an obligation to business and employment. Ambition, vanity, and pride are often no less preposterous than destructive vices in this class of life, which is best set off by modesty, moderation, and simplicity. Whatever exceeds this in dress, housekeeping, or other expenses, is unnatural and affected; consequently ungrateful and offensive to others, and uneasy and painful to the persons themselves. A man of low stature only becomes frightful by strutting upon stilts. Nothing unnatural or distorted can ever be becoming. The merchant is the honor and support of society; but an ostentatious parade is what least of all suits his character or concurs to the happiness of his state. This vanity shows itself either in extravagant expenses, in the neglect or affected contempt of business, or in engaging a man in bold and hazardous projects, which proves often in the end a most grievous robbery, injustice, and cheat committed upon widows and orphans, the dearest friends and nearest relations. Sloth, or love of diversions and pleasure are in men of business, crimes of the same tendency and enormity. The Christian moderation and government of the passions is the fence of the soul against these dangers, and the most consummate prudence. By this St. Homobonus avoided the common rocks on which so many traders dash. He, moreover, by his profession, attained the great end which every Christian is bound to propose to himself, the sanctification of his soul; for which he found in this state opportunities of exercising all virtues in a heroic degree. The capriciousness, unreasonableness, injustice, and peevishness of many with whom he interfered in his dealings, he bore with admirable meekness and humility; and by patient silence, or soft answers, or by a return of gentleness and obsequiousness, he overcame perverseness and malice, and remained always master of his own soul. This appeared so admirable that it was commonly said of him at Cremona that he was born without passions.

Charity to the poor is a distinguishing part of the character of every disciple of Christ, and, provided that justice takes place, a tribute which the merchant owes to God out of his gains; and this was the favorite virtue of Homobonus. Not content with giving his tenths to the distressed members of Christ, after the death of his father (of whom he inherited a considerable stock in trade, besides a house in the town, and a small villa in the country) he seemed to set no bounds to his alms: he sought out the poor in their cottages, and while he cheerfully relieved their corporal necessities, he tenderly exhorted them to repentance and holy life. His wife sometimes complained that by his excessive alms he would soon reduce his family to beggary; but he mildly answered her, that giving to the poor is putting out money to the best interest, for a hundred fold, for payment whereof Christ himself has given us his bond. The author of his life assures us, that God often recompensed his charities by miracles in favor of those whom he relieved, and by multiplying his stores. His abstinence and temperance were not less remarkable than his almsdeeds. His assiduity in prayer condemns the false maxim which some make a pretence for their sloth, that business and a life of prayer are incompatible. The saint spent a considerable part of his time in this holy exercise, and joined prayer with his business by the frequent aspirations by which he often raised his mind to God in sentiments of compunction and the divine praise and love amidst the greatest hurry, so that his shop, his chamber, the street, and every place was to him a place of prayer. It was his custom every night to go to the church of St. Giles, a little before midnight, and to assist at matins, which it was then usual for many of the laity to do; and he left not the church till after high mass the next morning. At mass the example of his fervor and recollection was such, as to inspire all who saw him with devotion. He waited some time prostrate on the pavement, before a crucifix in the church, till the priest began mass. The slothful were quickened to virtue, and many sinners converted from vice by the example of his life, and the unction of his discourses. Sundays and holidays he always consecrated entire to his devotions: prayer accompanied all his actions, and it was in the heavenly exercise of prayer that he gave up his soul to God. For, on the 13th of November in 1197, he was present at matins, according to his custom, and remained kneeling before the crucifix till mass began. At the Gloria in excelsis he stretched out his arms in the figure of a cross: and soon after fell on his face to the ground; which those who saw him thought he had done out of devotion. When he did not stand up at the gospel they took more notice of him, and some persons coming to him perceived that he had calmly expired. Sicard, bishop of Cremona, after a rigorous examination of his virtues and miracles, went himself to Rome with many other venerable persons, to solicit his canonization; which pope Innocent III. performed after the necessary scrutinies, the bull of which he published in 1198. The saint’s body was taken up in 1356, and translated to the cathedral; but his head remains at the church of St. Giles. Vida, the Christian Virgil, has honored the memory of St. Homobonus, the patron of his native city, with a hymn.*

Both religion and the law of nature dictate that no man is to be idle of useless in the republic of the world. Man is born to labor and industry Our capacities on one side, and, on the other, our necessities and wants, urge us to it: and this we owe to human society. For it is not just that he who contributes nothing to its support, should, like a drone, be feasted and maintained by the labor of others. A circle of amusements and pleasures cannot be the life of a rational being, much less of a Christian. A gentleman who applies not himself with earnestness to some serious employment, finds his very life a burden, and is a stranger to the obligations of his state, and to all true enjoyment. A man is never more happy than when he is most eagerly and commendably employed; the activity of his soul is a fire which must be exercised. Hence business is necessary for man’s temporal happiness; and the situation of the working and trading part of mankind is more happy than most are sensible of. It is still more necessary to a moral or Christian life. Trades which minister to sin are always unlawful: others are honorable and commendable in proportion as they contribute to the comfort and welfare of mankind, and as they concur to supply the wants and necessities of our species, or to promote virtue. Religion teaches men to sanctify them by motives of piety, and to refer them to God, and the great ends for which only we are created. Every one’s secular calling indeed is a part of religion, if thus directed by its influence: and no spiritual duties can ever excuse a neglect of it. Arts and trades, which immediately minister to corporal necessities, have not indeed in themselves any direct tendency to the improvement of reason, or production of virtue; though, if they are consecrated by principles of religion, become acceptable sacrifices to God. For this they must be accompanied with the exercise of all virtues, especially humility, meekness, patience, charity, confidence in God, and self-resignation, which prevents anxiety, and those fears to which the uncertainty of human things expose men. Without self-consideration, prayer, and pious reading or meditation, it is impossible that a man should be really possessed of these virtues, how finely soever he may talk of them by way of notion or speculation. It is also by prayer and holy meditation that he pays to God the homage of praise and compunction, and improves himself as a rational or spiritual being, and as a Christian. Every one, therefore, must, in the first place, reserve time for these employments, even preferably to all others, if any should seem incompatible. But who cannot find time for pleasures and conversation? Sure then he may for prayer. By this even a man’s secular life and employs will become spiritual and holy.

St. Didacus, C.

Didacus or Diego (that is, in Spanish, James) was a native of the little town of St. Nicholas, in the diocese of Seville, in Andalusia, of mean condition, but from his childhood fervent in the love of God, and the practice of all virtues. Near that town a holy priest led an eremitical life, and Didacus in his youth obtained his consent to live with him. Though very young he imitated the austerities and devotions of his master, and they cultivated together a little garden; and also employed themselves in making wooden spoons, trenchers, and such like mean utensils. After having lived thus a recluse for some years, he was obliged to return to his parents: but desiring most ardently to walk in the footsteps of his divine Redeemer, he soon after betook himself to a convent of the Observantin Friar Minors, called St. Francis’s of Arrizafa, and there took the habit among the lay-brothers who belong not to the choir, but serve the convent in humble offices, and are much employed in manual labor. After this profession he was sent with a priest of his order into the Canary islands, where he did wonders in instructing and converting many idolaters, and though only a lay-brother, was appointed by his superiors the first guardian or warden of a convent which was erected in one of those islands called Forteventura. By the mortification of his flesh, and of his own will, and assiduous prayer, he offered himself a continual sacrifice to our Lord, and by this long martyrdom prepared himself to shed his blood for the faith among the barbarians, if such had been the will of God. After some time he was recalled into Spain, and lived in divers convents about Seville with great fervor, simplicity, austerity, and recollection: he seemed so much absorbed in God as scarce to be able to speak but to him, or of him; and the humility, ardor, and lively sentiments with which he always discoursed of heavenly things, discovered how much he was dead to himself, and replenished with the divine Spirit.

In the year 1450, a great jubilee was celebrated at Rome; and St. Bernardin of Sienna being canonized at the same time, three thousand eight hundred religious persons of the order of St. Francis were assembled there, in their great convent, called Aracli. Didacus went thither with F. Alfonsus de Castro. In this journey our saint attended his companion during a dangerous illness with such fervor of spirit, and such an ardent charity, that it was easy to see how much God aided and favored him, and how wonderfully he was animated with his spirit in all the pains he took night and day for his love. This appeared still more in the charity and devotion with which he waited on many others of his order that were sick at Rome, during thirteen weeks that he stayed there. From Rome the servant of God returned back to Seville, and lived thirteen years longer in the convent, first of Saussaye and chiefly of Alcala of Henares, in Castile, shining in all kinds of virtue, going forward every day in perfection, and moving wonderfully all who conversed with him to aspire to the same. Not content punctually to keep the rule of his holy father St. Francis, he endeavored with all his strength to draw in himself the most perfect portraiture of his heavenly life. His admirable humility, by which he put himself under the feet of every one, was a great source of the constant peace of mind which he enjoyed; for, so perfect was the mastery which he had gained over his passions, and his soul was so much raised above all earthly things, that nobody ever saw him troubled, heard from his mouth an angry or unbeseeming word, or discerned any thing in his conduct which did not seem to breathe an air of perfect virtue. Having no other will but that of our Lord, in whose cross he gloried, he accepted every thing with equal cheerfulness from his hand, and equally praised him in adversity and prosperity. He treated his body very rigorously: his habit was always mean, and his attire and whole exterior deportment was an image of the interior mortification of his soul. With the perfect spirit and practice of penance he joined her good sister, continual prayer, and the elevation of his soul to God. In contemplation his body was sometimes seen raised from the ground, while his soul was ravished and absorbed in God. The passion of our divine Redeemer was the ordinary object on which his thoughts and affections were employed; he often meditated upon it with a crucifix in his hand, and with frequent raptures. When he passed from the contemplation of the bloody sacrifice of the Son of God to the unbloody sacrifice in which the same sacred victim continues daily to be offered on our altars, his love and fervor were redoubled. A God in the holy eucharist made the spiritual food of our souls was the object of his admiration, and the nourishment of his love; and the oftener he received this God of love in his breast, the more were the flames of his love increased. His tender devotion to the Son extended to the mother, whom he honored as his advocate.

In 1463, he was taken ill at Alcala, where he had spent the last years of his life. His distemper began by an imposthume in his arm. During this illness his preparation for his last hour was most fervent and edifying. In his agony he called for a cord (such as the friars wear) and put it about his neck, and holding a cross of wood in his hands, with tears in his eyes he begged pardon of all his religious brethren that were assembled about his bed in prayer. Then fixing his eyes on the crucifix he repeated with great tenderness the words of the hymn on the cross: Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, &c., and calmly expired on the 12th of November, in 1463. Several miracles were performed by him in his lifetime; and many more through his intercession after his death. Don Carlos, son of king Philip II, having by a fall at the palace of Alcala, hurt his head so grievously that the wound was judged mortal by the surgeons; and miracles being then frequently wrought at the tomb of St. Didacus, the king caused his shrine to be brought into the chamber of the dying prince, which was done with great devotion and holy pomp: and thereupon the prince’s wound was immediately healed. Philip II, out of gratitude, solicited the saint’s canonization, which was performed by Sixtus V. in 1588. Innocent XI. appointed his office in the Roman Breviary, and ordered his feast to be transferred to the 13th of November, though in his order it continues to be observed on the 12th. See on this saint, Mark of Lisbon in the chronicle of his order; and the history of his life, miracles, and canonization, compiled by Peter Gelasinius, apostolic prothonotary, and Francis Pegna, the celebrated auditor of the Rota, by order of his holiness. See also Sedulius’s Historia Seraphica.

St. Stanislas Kostka, C.

Youth is the amiable bloom of age in which sanctity has particular advantages and charms; a circumstance which recommends to our admiration this saint, who in his tender years surpassed the most advanced in the gifts of grace and virtue. Stanislas was the youngest son of John Kostka, senator of Poland, and of Margaret Kriska, sister to the palatine of Masovia, and was born in the castle of Rostkou, on the 28th of October, in 1550. His mother engraved in his tender heart early and deep impressions of piety; and the first use the saint made of his reason was to consecrate himself to God with a fervor beyond his age. The first elements of letters he learned at home under a private tutor named John Bilinski, who attended him and his elder brother, Paul, to the numerous college of the Jesuits at Vienna, when the saint was fourteen years old. From the first dawn of reason he showed no inclination to any thing but to piety; and, as soon as he was capable, he gave as much of his time as possible to prayer and study. His nicety in the point of purity, and his dread of detraction, and all dangers of sin, made him infinitely cautious in the choice of his company. When he arrived at Vienna, and was lodged among the pensioners of the Jesuits, every one was struck with admiration to see the profound recollection and devotion with which he poured forth his soul before God in prayer: the modesty and glowing fervor which appeared in his countenance at those times, raised in all who beheld him a veneration for his person. He sometimes fell into raptures, and often even at public prayer torrents of sweet tears gushed from his eyes with such impetuosity that he was not able to contain them. He always came from his devotions so full of the spirit of God, that he communicated the same to those who conversed with him. The fire of divine love which burned in his breast, he kindled in the hearts several devout companions, with whom it was his delight to discourse God and heavenly things: on which subjects he spoke with such energy, imparted to others some sparks of that joy with which his heart and words overflowed.

His innocence and virtue stood yet in need of being perfected by trials. Upon the death of the emperor Ferdinand, in 1564, his successor Maximilian II., who had not the same zeal for religion, took from the Jesuits the house which Ferdinand had lent them for the lodging of their pensioners. Paul Kostka, who was two years older than the saint, and who had their tutor Bilinski always in his interest, was fond of liberty and diversions; and to indulge this inclination prevailed with Bilinski to take lodgings in a Lutheran’s house; and looking upon his brother’s conduct as a censure of his own, treated him continually with injuries, and often struck and beat him. Bilinski was still a more dangerous tempter and persecutor, not only by declaring always for the elder brother against him, but also by endeavoring to persuade him, by flattering insinuations and severe rebukes, that he ought to allow more to the world, and that so much was not necessary for a person in his station to save his soul. Stanislas, far from being overcome, stood the more firmly upon his guard, and opposed these assaults by redoubling his fervor. He communicated every Sunday and great holiday and always fasted the day before his communion: never went to school morning or afternoon, without first going to church to salute the blessed sacrament; heard every day two masses, and made his meditation, slept little, and always rose at midnight to pray; he often wore a hair shirt, frequently took the discipline, never made his appearance in company only at table, and instantly rose up and left it, if any unbecoming word was let fall by any one in his presence. When he was not at church or college, he was always to be found at his devotions, or studies in his closet, except for a short time after meals. By this conduct he deserved to be interiorly enlightened and strengthened by the Holy Ghost, who, by his inspirations, showed him how opposite the false maxims of worldly prudence are to those of the gospel; that it is an error to pretend to salvation by following them, and that what is usually called learning the world, is properly learning its spirit and maxims, which is to forget those of Jesus Christ.

The saint suffered these dangerous solicitations and persecutions for two years, and then fell very ill. Finding his distemper dangerous, he desired to receive the viaticum; but his Lutheran landlord would not suffer it to be brought publicly to his house, and the tutor and brother would have it deferred. The pious youth, in extreme affliction, recommended himself to the intercession of St. Barbara, who is particularly invoked in the northern kingdoms, for the grace of a happy death and the benefit of receiving the, last sacraments. His prayer was heard; and he seemed in a vision to be communicated by two angels. The Blessed Virgin, in another vision, told him, that the hour of his death was not yet come, and bade him devote himself to God in the Society of Jesus. He had then for about a year entertained thoughts of embracing that state; and after his recovery petitioned the superiors to be admitted. F. Magius, provincial of that part of Germany, who happened then to be at Vienna, durst not receive him, for fear of incurring the indignation of his father, who warmly declared he never would consent that his son should become a religious man. Cardinal Commendon, legate of Pope Pius V. at Vienna, whom the saint desired to recommend him to the provincial, durst not undertake to do it. Stanislas, therefore, having discovered his resolution to his confessor, and by a tender and edifying letter laid in his room, left notice of his design to his tutor and brother, stole away privately to Ausburg, and thence went to Dilingen, to make the same request to the pious F. Canisius, provincial of Upper Germany. F. Canisius, to try his vocation, ordered him to wait on the pensioners of the college at table, and cleanse out their rooms; which the sain did with such extraordinary affection and humility, that the students were exceedingly astonished at his meekness, charity, devotion, and spirit of mortification, though he was utterly unknown to them. F. Canisius, after having kept him three weeks, sent him to Rome, where the saint threw himself at the feet of St. Francis Borgia, then general of the society, and earnestly renewed his petition. St. Francis received him with great joy. Stanislas had no desire to see the curiosities of Rome, but without further delay entered upon a retreat under the master of novices, during the whole course of which he was favored with the sweetest consolations of the Holy Ghost, and extraordinary heavenly communications. He took the habit on SS. Simon and Jude’s day, in 1567; and a few days after received from his father a most passionate letter, with threats that he would procure the banishment of the Jesuits out of Poland, and would make them feel the weight of his indignation for having concurred to such a dishonor of his family. Stanislas answered it in the most modest and dutiful manner, but expressed a firm purpose of serving God according to his vocation. And, without the least disturbance or trouble of mind, applied himself to his religious duties, calmly recommending all things to God.

It was the saint’s utmost study and endeavor to regulate and sanctify, in the most perfect manner, all his ordinary actions in every circumstance, particularly by the most pure and fervent intention of fulfilling the will of God, and by the greatest exactitude in every point of duty. Christianity teaches us that we are not to listen to the prudence of the flesh, which is death to the soul. Stanislas, therefore, set no bounds to his mortifications but what obedience to his director prescribed him. In the practice of obedience to his superiors such was his exactitude, that, as he was one day carrying wood with a fellow-novice, he would not help the other in taking up a load upon his shoulders, till he had made it less, because it was larger than the brother who superintended the work had directed, though the other had taken no notice of such an order. His own faults he always exaggerated with unfeigned simplicity, so as to set them in a light in which only humility, which makes a person most severe in condemning himself, could have represented them. Whence others said of him, that he was his own grievous calumniator. As pride feels a pleasure in public actions, so his greatest delight was secrecy, or some humbling circumstance whenever he made his appearance in public; as, a more than ordinary threadbare habit by which he might seem to strangers to be a person of no consideration in the house, as he looked upon himself, and desired to be regarded by others. Nothing gave him so much confusion and displeasure as to hear himself commended; and he was ingenious in preventing all occasions of it, and in shunning every thing by which he might appear to others humble. The whole life of this fervent novice seemed almost a continual prayer; nor was his prayer almost any other than an uninterrupted exercise of the most tender love of God, which often vented itself in torrents of sweet tears, or in holy transports or raptures. By the habitual union of his heart with God, he seemed, in the opinion of his directors, never to be molested with distractions at his prayers. Several, by having recommended themselves with confidence to his good thoughts, have suddenly found themselves comforted, and freed from bitter anguish of soul, and interior trouble of mind. The ardent love which the saint had for Jesus Christ in the holy sacrament was so sensible, that his face appeared all on fire as soon as he entered the church. He was often seen in a kind of ecstasy at mass, and always after receiving the holy communion. The whole day on which he communicated, he could not, without great difficulty and reluctance, speak of any thing but the excess of the love which Jesus Christ has expressed for us in that adorable sacrament; and of this he discoursed with such interior feeling and joy, and in so pathetic a manner, that the most experienced and spiritual fathers took great delight in conversing with him.

This holy seraph, glowing with divine love, was inflamed with an uncommon ardor to be speedily united to the object of his love a considerable time before his happy death, which he distinctly foretold to several. In the beginning of August he said to several together, that all men are bound to watch, because they may die any day; but that this lesson particularly regarded him, because he should certainly die before the end of that month Four days after, discoursing with F. Emmanuel Sa, concerning the feast of the Assumption of our Lady, he said, in a kind of transport of devotion “O father, how happy a day to all the saints, was that on which the Blessed Virgin was received into heaven! I doubt not but they all celebrate the anniversary of it with extraordinary joy, as we do on earth. I hope myself to see the next feast they will keep of it.” His youth, and the perfect health which he then enjoyed, made others give no credit to this prediction. Yet they perceived that he made all immediate preparations for the great journey of eternity. On St. Laurence’s day, in the evening, he found himself indisposed; upon which he could not contain his joy that the end of his mortal pilgrimage drew near. Being carried to the infirmary, he made the sign of the cross upon his bed, saying, he should never more rise out of it. His fever proved at first only intermitting; yet he repeated the same assurances. On the 14th day of the month he said, in the morning, that he should die the night following; a little after mid-day he fell into a swoon, which was followed with a cold sweat, and he demanded and received the viaticum and extreme unction with the most tender devotion; during which, according to his desire, he was laid upon a blanket on the floor. He begged pardon of all his brethren for whatever offences he had committed against any one, and continued repeating frequent aspirations of compunction and divine love. Some time after, he said that he saw the Blessed Virgin accompanied with many angels, and happily expired a little after three o’clock in the morning of the 15th of August, in 1568, having completed only nine months and eighteen days of his novitiate, and of his age, seventeen years, nine months, and eighteen days. The sanctity of his life, and several manifest miracles, engaged Clement VIII. to beatify him, that is, declare him happy, in 1604. Paul V. allowed an office to be said in his honor, in all the churches of Poland: Clement X. granted that privilege to the Society, and settled his feast on the 13th of November, on which his body, which was found sound, and without the least signs of decay or corruption, was translated from the old chapel and laid in the new church of the Novitiate at Rome, founded by prince Pamphili. The saint was canonized by Benedict XIII. in 1727. The Poles have chosen him, jointly with St. Casimir chief patron of their kingdom; and he is particular patron of the cities of Warsaw, Posna, Lublin, and Leopold. The Poles ascribe to his intercession the deliverance of their country from a pestilence, and several victories of king Ladislas over the Turks, and others of his brother and successor, Casimir, over the Tartars and Cosaques, in 1651. Many miraculous cures have been wrought through his intervention. A relation of this that follows, with the attestations of five eminent physicians and a surgeon, and of all the Jesuits then living at Lima, and witnesses to the fact, approved by the vicariat, (the archbishopric being then vacant,) was printed at Madrid, in 1674. A novice in the convent of the Jesuits at Lima, after a malignant fever, in the month of October, was deprived by a palsy of all motion on the whole right side of his body, so that he was not able to stir in the least that hand or foot. A loathing of all food, with a fever and other bad symptoms, attended the disorder, which the physicians judged incurable. On the feast of St. Stanislas, the 13th of November, by applying a picture of the saint to that side, he found the motion and feeling in those parts instantly restored, and himself in perfect health. Certain companions who were present called the rector, and the whole house followed him. The novice who was recovered, arose and dressed himself, and walked to the church as well as if he had never been sick. The whole community accompanied him, and sung a solemn Te Deum. See the new edition of this saint’s life, compiled by F. Orleans, published since his canonization.

St. Mitrius, M.

This ancient martyr suffered under Dioclesian, at Aix in Provence, and is honored as principal patron of that city. St. Gregory of Tours¹ makes honorable mention of him. His torments were various and dreadful, but a miraculous constancy enabled him to bear them with joy. No authentic acts of his triumph have reached our times.

St. Brice, B. C.

He was a native of Tours, and a monk under St. Martin, whose patience he exercised by his sloth and pride. That saint foretold his remarkable conversion, and that he should be his successor in the see of Tours, which accordingly happened in 339. Upon slanders spread to his disadvantage he was expelled the city by the people, and lived many years an exile at Rome. By holy patience he triumphed over malice; and being restored to his see, governed it with great sanctity to his happy death, in 444. His name was held in particular veneration in France and England, and maintains its place in the calendar of the English Protestants. See St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. l. 10, c. 31; Fortunatus, Bede, Ado, and Usuard, on the 13th of November.

St. Constant

A holy Irish priest and anchoret, in Logherne, famous for his sanctity and miracles. He died in 777. See Colgan, Act. SS. p. 222, and MSS.

St. Chillen, Or Killian, Priest

He was a native of Ireland, and a near kinsman of St. Fiaker; and on his return from Rome, where he had been on a pilgrimage, visited that saint in his solitude of Brie, where he spent some time with him in divine meditation and heavenly conversation. He was afterwards sent by St. Faro bishop of Meaux, to preach the gospel in Artois; which commission he executed with admirable sanctity and fruit, bringing many souls to the knowledge of Christ, and happily ended his days in the seventh century. His body is kept at Aubigny, near Arras, in a priory of canon-regulars which bears his name. He is styled a bishop in Colgan’s MSS. See Le Cointe Annal., t. 3, p. 625; Mabillon, Act. SS. Ben., t. 2, p. 619.

¹ See Goguet, De L’Origine des Loix, des Arts, et des Sciences et de leur progres.

* Beate Pauperum, Pater, &c

To mente cœlum cogitans

Deum gerebas pectore,

Quem deperibas unicè,

Rerun, tuarum nil memor

To argus Indigentibus

Eras, profundeas omnibus,

Parvum too quod prædium

Vix suppetebat victui

Ascriptus inde cœlitum

Choris beatis. Indicas

Apud Deum qua policas

Rerum satorem grantiâ.

Funus venitur ad tuum.

Cœcl vident, claudi meant;

Mati loquuntur; audiunt

Scrdi; levantur languidi. &c

Vids, hymn 28, t. 2. p. 157

¹ L. de Glor. Mart. 6. 71

 Butler, A., The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints (New York 1903) IV, 452-463.