THIS holy martyr was a native of CÆsarea in Cappadocia, and in the persecution of Dioclesian she was brought before the governor Sapricius. After the usual interogatories she was stretched on the catasta, an iron bed over a slow fire. Then as laid thereon, the servant of God exclaimed, "Do thy worst, I fear not pain, if only I may see Him, for whose love I am ready to die." Sapricius said, "Who is he whom thou lovest?" Dorothy answered, "Christ, the Son of God." Sapricius asked, "And where is this Christ?" Dorothy replied, "In His omnipotence He is everywhere; in His humanity he is in Heaven, the Paradise to which He invites us: where the woods are ever adorned with fruit, and lilies ever bloom white, and roses ever flower; where the fields are green, the mountains wave with fresh grass, and the springs bubble up eternally."

Then said a lawyer present, named Theophilus, "Thou spouse of Christ, send me from Paradise some of these apples and roses." And Dorothy answered him, "I will."

Now the governor pronounced sentence against her, that she should lose her head. And as she knelt, and the executioner prepared to smite, she asked him to delay the stroke for a moment. Then she prayed, and suddenly there stood by her a beauteous youth, in dazzling raiment, who held in his hands three apples, and three red roses, the like of which earthly garden had never produced. Then Dorothy said, "I pray thee take these to Theophilus, and tell him that they are what I promised him." And at that instant the sword of the executioner fell, and she entered into the joy of her Lord.

Now Theophilus, the advocate, was at home with his companions; and to them he told with great laughter how he had asked the virgin to send him the flowers and fruit of the Paradise to which she hoped to enter. And, all at once, as he spake, the angel stood before him, with grave face, and held out to him the wondrous apples and roses, and said, "Dorothy sends these to thee, as she promised." Then Theophilus believed, and going before the governor, he confessed Christ, and was sentenced to death; and so died, receiving the baptism of blood.

Relics at Arles; where March 28th is observed as the feast of their translation; also at Cologne, in the churches of S. Gereon, S. Severinus, S. Andrew, S. Paul, SS. John and Cordula, &c.; the head at Prague.

In Art, S. Dorothea is easily recognized by the sword she holds, and the apples and roses at her side, or in her hand.

SS. MAEL, MELCHU, MUN, AND RIOCH, BISHOPS.
(END OF 5TH CENTURY.)

[Inserted in the Sarum Martyrology by Richard Wytford from the Irish Kalendar, in these words: "In Ireland the feast of S. Mel, S. Melkus, S. Munys, Bishops, and Riockus, Abbot: these four were brothers, nephews of S. Patrick, by his sister S. Darerca, all famous for their singular holiness and great miracles." They are also given by Colgan. Authorities:—Joselyn's Life of S. Patrick; The Life of S. Bridget, &c.]

These four brothers are said to have been the sons of Darerca, the saintly sister of S. Patrick, and his coadjutors in his apostolic labours in Ireland.[21] S. Mael, or Mel, who was ordained Bishop of Ardagh, in Longford, lived there in a poor cell with his mother's aged sister, Lupita. She watched and prayed till midnight, and then woke her nephew, who continued the watch and prayer till day broke, and she retired to bed. S. Mel died about the year 488, and was buried at Ardagh. S. Melchu was the companion of his brother Mael, in his missionary labours and preaching, and lived with him in the monastery founded by Mael at Ardagh, and was ordained Bishop by his uncle Patrick. S. Mun, or Munis, after having for a long time accompanied S. Patrick, was raised to the episcopate, and founded the Church of Forgney in Longford, in the year 486. S. Rioch, after many labours in the Gospel, with the leave of S. Patrick, retired to the island of Inisbofinde in Lough-ree; and thus devoted the remainder of his days to a contemplative life, in a monastery, which he founded in the island.

S. VEDAST, B. OF ARRAS.
(ABOUT A.D. 540.)

[Roman, Gallican, Belgian, and other Martyrologies. Double feast with octave at Arras. In the Salisbury Martyrology, he is inserted on this day under the name of S. Zawster. In many Kalendars, SS. Vedast and Amandus are commemorated together. Authorities:—A very ancient life, published from an imperfect copy by Bollandus. Another life revised or rewritten by Alcuin, (d.804). Another erroneously attributed to the Venerable Bede.]

Clovis, King of the Franks, began his reign in 482, on the decease of his father, Childeric. He extended his dominions in every quarter by force of arms, and in the space of thirty years conquered part of Germany, and nearly the whole of Modern France. In the early part of his career, the King of the Franks signalized himself by repelling with success the attacks of Syagius, the Roman general, who had been ordered to advance and check his progress. This impediment in the path of victory removed, the five ensuing years were actively employed by Clovis in the reduction of Soissons and of Rheims; in a successful expedition against the Thuringians and other neighbouring nations, in the course of which he extended his territories from the Seine to the Loire; and lastly in the conquest of the Alemanni, at that time the possessors of Switzerland. The Alemanni attacked the Franks with the fury of men actuated by despair, and were irrevocably defeated on the field of Tolbiac.

The great soul of Clovis had long been agitated by religious doubts—should he cling to the gods of his family, from whom he claimed to be lineally descended, or should he submit to the faith of Christ which his gentle wife, Clothildis, made so attractive to his better nature? His ancestral gods alarmed him. To their anger he attributed the death of his first-born; he hesitated to abandon them for that "new, unarmed God," said he, "who is not of the race of Thor and Odin." He dreaded also his people, of whose consent he wished to be assured. The peril of the field of Tolbiac constrained him to decide. When the scale of success seemed turned against him, he vowed, if he conquered, to adopt the faith of Christ. The victory remained in his hands, and he hastened to fulfil his vow. On his return from the subjugation of the Alemanni, he passed through Toul, and asked for some priest who might instruct him in the Christian religion. S. Vedast was presented to him for this purpose. Whilst he accompanied the king at the passage of the river Aisne, a blind man begging on the bridge besought the servant of God to restore to him his sight. The saint, divinely inspired, prayed, and made the sign of the cross on his eyes, and he immediately recovered it. The miracle confirmed the king in the faith, and moved several of his courtiers to embrace it.

But Clovis was not a man to yield at once. Nicetius of TrÈves, writing to the grand-daughter of Clovis says, "You have learnt from your grandmother of happy memory, Clothildis, how she attracted to the faith her lord and husband, and how he, who was a most shrewd man, would not yield, till he had been thoroughly convinced of the truth." Clovis was baptized at Rheims, whither in after times the kings of France went to be crowned. S. Vedast assisted S. Remigius in converting the Franks, and was consecrated by that prelate bishop of Arras, in the year 500. His diocese, together with that of Cambrai, which was also entrusted to his care, had once been the seat of a flourishing Christian community, but the ravages of the Vandals and Alani had eradicated every trace of Christianity, save that here and there was to be seen a ruined church, overgrown with briars, and nettles waving where the altar had stood. Vedast wept over these sad relics, and made earnest supplication to God to enable him faithfully to accomplish his mission, and once more to plant the seed of life in this devastated field.

His own Cathedral Church of Arras he found had become the den of a huge bear, which came shambling towards him, as he knelt weeping over the broken altar stair. The saint started up and drove the wild beast forth, and bade it never again enter to pollute by its presence that holy ground; a type, surely, of that brutality which had invaded and desolated the Church of God in that land, which he had come to exorcise.

He ruled the diocese for forty years, and died on Feb.6th, in, or near, the year 540. All Martyrologists are agreed as to the day of his death, but historians differ as to the year.

The name of S. Vedast has gone through strange transformation. He is called Vaast, Vaat, WÂst, WÂt; and in French, Gaston; in English, Foster, a corruption marked by Foster Lane, (properly S. Vedast's Lane) in the City of London.

Relics at Arras, of which he is patron, and at S. Waast. In Art he appears with a child at his feet, or with a wolf, from whose mouth he saves a goose, a popular tradition being to the effect that he saved the goose belonging to some poor people from the wolf that was running away with it; or, with a bear.

S. AMANDUS, B. OF MAESTRICHT.
(ABOUT A.D. 684.)

[Roman Martyrology, also an ancient addition to the so-called Martyrology of S. Jerome, which addition is earlier than 741. Bede (so-called), Notker, Rabanus, German and Belgian Martyrologies, &c. In the Church of Maestricht, the 6th Feb. is celebrated as the Feast of S. Amandus and the other Bishops of Maestricht, with a double. His ordination and translation are celebrated variously on 26th October, or on 20th, 25th, 27th, and even on the 19th Sept. Various other days commemorate translations of his relics. Authorities:—An ancient anonymous life. Another by Bandemand, monk of Elno, about 680; another by Milo, monk of Elno, d. 871; another by Philip Harveng, d. after 1180; another by Justus, the Archpriest, about 1128.]

This great apostle of Flanders was a native of Herbauges, near Nantes. His father, Serenus and his mother, Amantia, were of noble family, and were wealthy. But Amandus, renouncing all these advantages, left his paternal house, in his youth, and retired into the isle of Oye, near La Rochelle, where he embraced the religious life in a monastery which was there. His father, who looked to his worldly advantage, followed him, and threatened to disinherit him, if he did not quit the habit he had assumed. He replied, "My father, I care not for thy property; all I ask of thee is to suffer me to follow Jesus Christ, who is my true heritage."

This reply did not satisfy his father, and Amandus, to escape his solicitations, fled the island, and visited the tomb of S. Martin at Tours. Kneeling by this shrine, with many tears, he besought God to grant that he might never more return to his native place. Shortly after he received the clerical tonsure. He soon distinguished himself among the clergy of Tours; but the fame of S. Austragisle drew him to Bourges, when this holy bishop, together with S. Sulpicius, then his archdeacon, and afterwards his successor, received him with great joy. They built him a little cell, near the cathedral, in which he lived as a recluse, to die and be buried to the world. There, lying on ashes, clothed in sack-cloth, and eating only barley-bread, and drinking water alone, he spent fifteen years. It was the preparation for his future apostleship.

At the end of these years, Amandus felt an inspiration to visit Rome. It was at the tomb of the great Apostles, that he was to receive his call and mission. One night, as he prayed with fervour before the door of the basilica of S. Peter, because it was locked for the night, the prince of the apostles appeared to him, and ordered him to return instantly to Gaul, and to preach the glad tidings of salvation to the heathen there. Amandus obeyed promptly, and on his return, he preached with such success, that King Clothaire II. ordered him to be consecrated bishop, that he might preach with more authority, but without any particular see, over which he was to exercise jurisdiction.

The new apostle maintained his dignity by his virtues. He knew how to make the poor love him, and the rich respect him. He found means of ransoming young slaves, whom he baptized, instructed in letters, and ordained; sending them through the country to minister the Word of God. S. Amandus chose for his mission Belgic Gaul, especially the territory of Ghent, where idolatry still held its sway. The people there had rejected former missionaries; their savage manners, and inflexible obstinacy seemed insurmountable barriers to the stream of Grace. Amandus visited S. Acharius, bishop of Noyon and Tournai in whose diocese Ghent then was; and besought him to obtained for him letters from King Dagobert, to oblige his idolatrous subjects to listen to Christian instruction. The zeal of the prince seconded that of the missionary, who, in spite of this powerful support, had much to endure; but his patience and sweetness triumphed over every obstacle, and his virtues were more efficacious in persuading the people, than all the orders of the king.

Whilst S. Amandus was at Tournai, he learnt that a Frankish Count, named Dotto, had condemned a robber to death. He hastened to implore pardon for the unhappy man, but was unsuccessful, and the robber was executed. But Amandus ran to the gallows and cut down the man, and bore the body home, laid it on his bed, and passed the night in prayer. Next morning, he summoned his clerks, and bade them bring him water. They supposed this was for the purpose of washing the corpse, before burying it; but, what was their surprise on entering the chamber, to find the man, who had been hung, alive and conversing with their bishop. He still bore the marks of the rope, but they disappeared when Amandus had washed them. Bandemand, who relates this incident, says that he heard it from the mouth of an eye-witness. The fame of this miracle spread through the country, and many of the heathen were so convinced thereby, that they cast away their idols, and submitted their necks to the yoke of Christ's commandments.

After having reaped an abundant harvest in Flanders, Amandus resolved to preach the faith to the heathen races in Germany; and he made a second journey to Rome, to obtain approval of his design. Accordingly, armed with the blessing of the successor of S. Peter, he went to the Sclavonic races, hoping to convert them to the Gospel, or to receive the palm of martyrdom. But finding that the people were neither sufficiently docile to receive the Word, nor ferocious to shed the blood of him who declared it, he quitted these ungrateful people, and returned to Gaul, where he found the opportunity of suffering for the truths he announced, which had been denied him among the barbarians. Dagobert, the king, was guilty of gross licentiousness; he had, at once, three wives, not to mention Gomatrudis whom he had repudiated at Reuilli, nor Ragntrudis, the mother of Sigebert III.; and beside these wives he had numerous concubines. S. Amandus boldly rebuked him for the scandal he caused, and for his audacity in so doing was ordered into exile. He retired to the territory of Charibert, who reigned on the further side of the Loire; but was soon recalled. A son was born to Dagobert, in 630, and the king desired to have the child baptized by some holy bishop, who might draw down on it the benediction of heaven. He remembered the fearless Amandus, who alone had had the courage to reprimand him for his iniquities; showing, thereby, that if princes do not always love those who tell them disagreeable truths, they can sometimes respect them. Amandus obeyed, and came to salute the king at Clichy, near Paris. As soon as Dagobert saw him, he cast himself at his feet, to ask him pardon for what was passed. After which he said: "The Lord has given me a son, though I merited it not. I pray thee, baptize him, and regard him as thy spiritual child." Amandus, at first, refused the honour, but at the entreaty of Ouen and Eligius, two pious laymen of his court, he yielded and baptized the child at Orleans, in the year 630; Charibert, his protector in exile, standing as sponsor at the font. The child was called Sigebert, and is reckoned among the Saints.[22]

In the year 647, Sigebert, who loved him as a father, and was now king of Austrasia, obliged him to accept the bishopric of Maestricht, and thenceforth he exchanged his missionary work over scattered districts for the supervision of a single diocese. But he soon found that this was not his vocation, and that it was easier for him to convert the heathen than to discipline the clergy. He therefore visited Rome, after holding his diocese three years, and obtained the sanction of the Pope to his resignation of it into the hands of S. Remacle, then abbot of Stavelot. Amandus, relieved of the burden of his diocese, visited Gascony, to preach to the Basques who were still heathen, but met with little or no success. He therefore returned to Flanders, where he supervised the many monasteries he had founded. The date of his death is very uncertain; some place it in 661, others in 676, and others in 684.

S. INA, K. C.
(ABOUT A.D. 728.)

[Anglican Martyrology of Wyon, Ferrarius, Menardus, &c. Authorities: Malmsbury and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.]

Ina, king of Wessex, which consisted of Wiltshire, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Dorsetshire, and Oxfordshire, was the son of Cerdic, and his wife was Ethelburga. He reigned as much as thirty-eight years; from 688 to 726. He put together the laws of the West Saxons, so as to form a code, and this is the oldest code of West Saxon laws that we have, though there are Kentish laws which are older still. He also divided the kingdom into two bishoprics. Hitherto all Wessex had been under the bishops of Winchester; but now that the kingdom was so much larger, Ina founded another bishopric at Sherborne in Dorsetshire. He also in 704, founded S. Andrew's Church in Wells, which is now a Cathedral. And at Glastonbury Ina did great things. He built the monastery and richly adorned it, he also translated to it the bodies of SS. Indract and his companions.

Ina fought with the Welsh under their King Gerent, and also with the other English kings. He fought against the men of Kent, and made them pay him much gold for his kinsman Mul, whom they had slain. He had also wars in Sussex and East Anglia, and in 714 he fought a great battle with Ceolred, king of the Mercians, in which neither gained the victory, at Wanborough in Wiltshire. Towards the end of his reign, Ina seems to have been troubled by some rebellions among his own people, and also to have been less successful than before in his wars with the Welsh. In 726 he gave up his kingdom and went to Rome and died there. William of Malmesbury relates a curious story about the occasion of this which is deserving of record.[23]

Ina once made a feast to his lords and great men in one of his royal houses; the house was hung with goodly curtains, and the table was spread with vessels of gold and silver, and Ina and his lords ate and drank and were merry. Now on the next day, Ina set forth from that house to go to another that he had, and Ethelburga, his queen, went with him. So men took down the curtains and carried off the goodly vessels and left the house bare and empty. Moreover, Ethelburga, the queen spake to the steward who had care of that house, saying "When the king is gone, fill the house with rubbish, and with the dung of cattle, and lay in the bed where the king slept a sow with her litter of pigs." So the steward did as the queen commanded. And when Ina and the queen had gone forth, about a mile from the house, the queen said to Ina, "Turn back, my lord, to the house whence we have come, for it will be greatly for thy good so to do." So Ina hearkened to the voice of his wife, and turned back to the house. There he found all the curtains and the goodly vessels gone, and the house full of rubbish and defiled with the dung of cattle, and a sow and her pigs lying in the bed where Ina and Ethelburga his queen had slept. So Ethelburga spake to her husband, saying, "Seest thou, O king, how the pomp of this world passeth away? Where are all thy goodly things? How foul is now the house which but yesterday was thy royal abode! Are not all the things of this life as a breath, yea as smoke, and as a wind that passeth away?"

Then the old king entered into himself, and he resolved to lay aside his dignity and rule, and to devote the rest of his days to the custody of his soul. So he and his wife went to Rome to pray at the tomb of the Apostles, and Pope Gregory II. received them gladly; and he died there.