The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March. Baring-Gould Sabine

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      The Count met the legate at S. Gilles, on the banks of the Rhone, for conference, which led to nothing. On January 15th, 1209, Peter had said Mass, and was preparing to cross the river, when two men ran up, and one of them pierced him through the sides with a lance. Peter fell down, exclaiming, "Lord, pardon him, as I forgive him!" then he said a few words to his fellows, and died, praying fervently. The Count seems to have been guiltless of ordering or approving the murder.

      S. John-Joseph of the Cross, who must not be confounded with S. John of the Cross (Nov. 16th), was born in the island of Ischia, on the Feast of the Assumption, in the year 1654, of respectable parents, Joseph Calosirto and Laura Garguito, and was baptized under the name of Charles Cajetan, The family must have been one of singular piety, for five of his brothers entered religion. The subject of our memoir, as a child, exhibited a precocious piety. He chose as his room a small chamber in the most retired portion of the house, where he erected a little altar to Our Lady, on whose great festival he had been born, and towards whom, through life, he manifested a filial devotion. From the earliest age also he manifested a great repugnance from sin. His pure childish soul shivered and shrank from the breath of evil, as a young spring flower from a frozen blast.

      The knowledge of evil without bringing guilt to the soul, unless voluntarily received and harboured with delight, leaves on it a mark, so that the soul knowing evil cannot have the freshness of a guiltless and ignorant soul. The little saintly boy, taught of God, seems unconsciously to have felt this, and he manifested none of that curiosity after evil which is one of the tokens of our fallen nature, and which leads the young mind first to the knowledge of evil, and then, it may be, to the perpetration of it.

      Feeling a great desire for the religious life, he entered the order of S. Francis, as reformed by S. Peter of Alcantara, in Naples, and assumed the habit at the age of sixteen, taking at the same time the name of John-Joseph of the Cross. This was in 1671. His noviciate lasted three years; and at the age of nineteen, his superior found him sufficiently perfect to be entrusted with the direction of the building of a convent at Piedimonte di Agila, and the organizing of discipline therein.

      On arriving at the proper age, he was ordained priest, and soon after retired into a forest, where he built himself a cell, and resided as a hermit. Soon five little hermitages clustered around his cell, and a church was built for the accommodation of the anchorites. But his superiors recalled him to the monastery to undertake the charge of the novices, and somewhat later he was appointed superior of the house at Piedimonte di Agila, which had risen under his care. He suffered about this time from extreme dryness. It was to him as though the face of God were turned away from him, and he felt agonies of fear, thinking that through want of judgment or unbecoming example, he might have retarded the advance, and perhaps lost some, of the souls of the novices who had been entrusted to his care. But one of the brethren who had lately died appeared to him in a vision, and comforted him, assuring him that his novices were all leading an edifying life.

      He was afterwards appointed Superior of the convent, an office in which he displayed great judgment, but which withdrew him too much from spiritual meditation and reading to be congenial with his tastes.

      At his request he was relieved of the office of Superior, and was again made director of the novices, and fulfilled the duties of this office for four years.

      He died on March 5th, 1734, in the convent of S. Lucia, at Naples.

      March 6

      S. Marcian, B.M. at Tortona, circ. A.D. 120.

      SS. Victor, Victorinus, Claudian and Bassa, MM. at Nicemedia and Apamea, 3rd cent.

      S. Quiriacus, P.C. at Treves, 4th cent.

      S. Evagrius, Patr. of Constantinople, end of 4th cent.

      S. Sezin, Ab. in Brittany, 6th cent.

      S. Fridolin, Ab. of Sickingen, end of 7th cent.

      SS. Kyneburga, Kyneswitha and Tibba, VV. at Peterborough, end of 7th cent.

      SS. Balther and Bilfred, HH. at Lindisfarne, circ. A.D. 756.

      S. Chrodegang, B. of Metz, A.D. 766.

      SS. Forty-two Martyrs, under the Saracens, in Syria, circ. A.D. 841

      S. Cadroe, Ab. at Metz, A.D. 988.

      B. Oldegar, B. of Barcelona, and Archb. of Tarragona, A.D. 1137.

      S. Colette, V. at Ghent, A.D. 1447.

      Of this abbot nothing certain is known. Colgan attempted to identify him with S. Isserninus, the companion of S. Patrick. According to Albert le Grand, S. Sezin was born in Ulster, in 402, studied at Rome, became a bishop in Ireland, and passed into Brittany in 477, where he died as late as 529, having lived 127 years. But the lections in the Breviary of S. Pol de Léon, from which Albert le Grand made up this history, are for the most part taken word for word from the Life of S. Kieran. We may allow that the saint was an Irishman, and that he died at Guic-Sezni, in the beginning of the 6th century, but that is all we can say of him.

      Fridolin the Traveller was a native of Ireland, what his name there was is not known, as we only hear of him by his Teutonic appellation, signifying "Gentle Peace." His birth was illustrious, and he is usually said to have been the son of a king, but Balther merely says he was a person of distinguished piety. Having embraced the ecclesiastical state, he was raised to the priesthood, and preached with great zeal for some time in various parts of Ireland. Wishing to visit foreign countries, he passed over to France, and after preaching there, became a member of S. Hilary's monastery at Poitiers, where he remained for a considerable time, and was so much esteemed by the community, and the bishop and clergy, that he was elected abbot. He then completed an object which he had greatly at heart, the rebuilding of S. Hilary's Church, in which he was assisted by king Clovis, and by the bishop and the inhabitants; and he placed in it the remains of the saint, reserving a few portions of the relics for himself. During this time he was visited СКАЧАТЬ