SAINT DIONYSIUS, bishop of Alexandria, in a letter describing the sufferings of his church during the persecutions of Decius, after having lamented the apostacy of some, adds: "But others remained firm and blessed pillars of the Lord, confirmed by the Lord himself, and receiving of Him strength suited to their measure of faith, proved admirable witnesses of His kingdom. The first of these was Julian, a man afflicted with the gout, neither able to walk nor to stand, who, with two others that carried him, was arraigned. Of these, the one immediately denied his faith, but the other, named Chronion, surnamed Eunus, and the aged Julian himself, having confessed the Lord, were carried on camels through the whole city, a very large one, as you know, and were scourged, and finally consumed in an immense fire, in the midst of a crowd of spectators. But a soldier, named Besas, standing near, having opposed the insolence of the multitude whilst these martyrs were on the way to execution, was assailed by them with loud shouts, and this brave soldier of God, after he had excelled in the great conflict of piety, was beheaded."

Relics at Autun.

S. GELASIUS, M.
(A.D. 297.)

[Greek MenÆa. Authority:—The Chronicon Alexandrinum, or Chron. Paschale, under date 269 from the Ascension, which is equivalent to 297 of the vulgar era. In this Chronicle he is called Gelasinus. Theodoret may, perhaps, allude to him, when he says that some have passed from the stage of the theatre to the ranks of the martyrs. Du curand GrÆc. Affect., Serm.8. Much the same circumstances are related of S. Genesius (Aug. 25th), who suffered about 286, unless both are the same; Gelasius in the West becoming Genesius by a slight change of liquids.]

Gelasius was a comic actor, the second clown of the theatre at Heliopolis, in Phoenicia. One day, on the stage was performed a parody of Christian rites for the amusement of the heathen spectators. A large bathing tub was introduced on the stage, filled with warm water, and the clown, Gelasius, was dipped in it, the other clown pronouncing over him the sacramental words. When he rose from the bath, and was vested in white, it was observed that a change had come over him; the jesting air and laugh were gone, and a solemn expression had overspread his countenance. "I am a Christian," said he; "in the font I saw a dazzling light. Therefore, I will die as a Christian." As soon as the audience became aware that he spoke in sober earnest, the theatre became a scene of wild tumult, the people deserted their seats, and rushed on the stage, and dragged the poor actor forth, clothed in his white robe, and stoned him to death outside the theatre. His body was transported to the village of Mariamnia, near Heliopolis, of which he was a native, and an oratory was erected by the Christians over his tomb.

S. HONORINA, V. M.
(DATE UNKNOWN.)

[Some Gallican Martyrologies.]

Nothing whatever is known of this saint. The author of the history of the translation of her relics to Conflans, near Pontoise, a short distance from Paris, says that her virtues, her merits, and her mode of passion, are utterly unknown. So also is the date of her death. The relics were translated about the year a.d. 912. As an instance of the manner in which confusion has arisen in the lives and acts of martyrs of an early date, it is deserving of mention that in the church of Quimper, the Matin lections for the feast of S. Honorina are portions of the Acts of S. Dorothea, transferred to Feb.27th, to do duty for the unrecorded S. Honorina.

S. THALELÆUS, H.
(ABOUT A.D. 460.)

[Greek MenÆa. No commemoration in Western Church. Authority:—Theodoret, Philothaeus, c. xxviii.]

"Not only have I heard of this man from others," says Theodoret, "but I saw him myself." ThalelÆus erected for his habitation a small hut against an idol shrine, near Gabala, to which many people resorted, and where they offered sacrifice to devils. The evil spirits, enraged at his thus assaulting them in their sanctuary, endeavoured by hideous clamours and frightful apparitions, to scare the Christian hermit away; but every effort of demons and idolaters to drive him from this shrine proved ineffectual. ThalelÆus succeeded in converting many who came as votaries to the temple, and persuaded them to bend their necks to the sweet yoke of Christ's law. With many of these converts Theodoret conversed. After that ThalelÆus had lived thus a while, he devised for himself a strange and horrible penance. He made two wheels, and then joined them by pieces of wood into a species of barrel, but open between the bars. He enclosed himself within this case, which was so low that his chin rested on his knees, and remained therein for many years. He had been ten years in it when Theodoret saw him. This frightful self-immolation is by no means to be regarded as deserving of imitation. But it was called forth by peculiar circumstances, and for a special purpose. The rude people of Syria could be impressed no other way. To win these souls from heathenism this phase of the ascetic life was evoked, it served its purpose, and passed away.

S. LEANDER, B. OF HISPALA.
(ABOUT A.D. 596.)

[Roman Martyrology, and those of Usuardus, Notker, Ado, and Bede; but by the Spanish Church and Mozarabic Kalendar, followed by the Bollandists, on March 13th. Authorities:—His own writings, the letters of S. Gregory the Great, and early Spanish histories.]

This illustrious friend of the great S. Gregory, this apostle of the Visigoths, was of illustrious birth. His father, Severian duke of Carthagena, and mother, Turtura, of royal Ostrogoth blood, had three sons and two daughters. The sons were, S. Leander, S. Fulgentius, B. of Ecija, and S. Isidore, who succeeded Leander as archbishop of Seville. The daughters were S. Florentina, abbess of fifty convents, and the princess Theodosia, married to king Leovigild, who became the mother of the illustrious martyr, S. Hermenigild.

From his boyhood, Leander was regarded as endowed with singular eloquence and power of fascinating others. He retired, when young, from the world, and took the religious habit in a monastery of Seville, where he gained so great a reputation that, on the archiepiscopal see becoming vacant, he was elected to it by the unanimous voice of clergy and people.

Leovigild, his brother-in-law, then reigned over the Visigoth kingdom, in Spain, and openly professed Arianism. This caused great embarrassment to Leander, who used every effort to confirm the Catholics in their faith, and to oppose the heretics at every point. He was sent on an embassy from the Catholics to the emperor Tiberius, at Constantinople, where he made the acquaintance of S. Gregory the Great, then cardinal-deacon of Pope Pelagius II., who had sent him at this time on the affairs of the church, to the imperial court. The warmest attachment sprang up between these two great men, and it was at the instance of S. Leander, that S. Gregory wrote his famous "Morals of the Book of Job." When their business was concluded, both saints returned to their country, S. Gregory to Italy, and S. Leander to Spain, where he succeeded in converting prince Hermenigild, his nephew, the eldest son of king Leovigild. This placed the Catholics in great danger. The king, in an explosion of rage, executed his son on Easter-day, 586, and began a furious persecution of the Church. S. Leander and his brother, S. Fulgentius, together with several other bishops, were exiled, and the king seized on the property and revenues of the Church, and, adding cruelty to robbery, put several nobles to death, and confiscated their lands.

S. Leander, though exiled, warred with his pen against the Arian heresy, and wrote two works confuting the errors of Arianism, and a third book answering objections which had been raised against his arguments. The persecution did not last long, for in the following year, 587, Leovigild, finding himself about to die, recalled the Catholic bishops, and commended his son, Recared, to the care of S. Leander. Thus, to use the words of S. Gregory, Recared, following not the perfidy of his father, an Arian, but the faith of his martyred brother, was brought himself, and the whole nation of the Visigoths, to the true faith.

In the third council of Toledo, 589, the archbishop of Seville presiding, a solemn declaration of the consubstantiality of the Divine Persons was drawn up, and signed by the king, Recared, and his queen, Badda, daughter of king Arthur, of Britain. Next year another synod was held at Seville, in which he presided, to establish the complete conversion of the nation from Arianism to the true faith.

S. Leander died in 596, on March 13th, and his body was laid in the church of SS. Justus and Rufina. His relics are now preserved in a chapel of the Cathedral church.

In art, S. Leander appears with (1) a flaming heart in his hand, to represent his zeal for the conversion of the Visigoths, but this is a symbol used for a multitude of other saints; or with (2) a pen; or (3) with Recared or Hermenigild as a boy at his side.

S. BALDOMER, SUBD., C.
(ABOUT A.D. 660.)

[Roman Martyrology, and those of Bede, Usuardus, Ado, Notker, &c. Authority:—An ancient epitome of his life, pub. by the Bollandists. In French he is called S. Garmier or S. Germier.]

Baldomer was a blacksmith of Lyons, living a simple, pious life, "in chastity clean, in friendship firm, in charity benign, in reading intent, in watchings solicitous, in almsgiving prompt," says his biographer. S. Viventius, abbot of S. Just, going into a church one day, noticed the blacksmith at his devotions, and afterwards entering into conversation with him, was so struck with his holiness and knowledge of the Scriptures, that he gave him a cell in his abbey, where he edified all the brethren by his modesty and diligence. His gentleness was so great, that at meal times he crumbled bread in his hand, and, holding it out of the window, the wild birds came, full of trust, and perched on his fingers. Then he would say, "Eat, little birds, eat, and praise the Lord." He was ordained subdeacon much against his will, by Caudrick, bishop of Lyons, and died about the year 660.

S. ALNOTH, H. M.
(ABOUT A.D. 727.)

[Anglican Martyrology of John Wilson, in the first edition; but in the second edition on Nov.25th. Ferrarius and Bollandus on Feb.27th. Authority:—Mention in the life of S. Wereburga, attributed to Joscelyn, c.3.]

S. Alnoth was a hermit, who had been a cowherd of S Wereburga, but embracing the eremitical life, settled in a wood at Stowe, near Bugbrook, in Northamptonshire, but was murdered by robbers. His body was buried at Stowe.