Saint Paul, mentioned by the early martyrologies as bishop of Narbonne, and confessor, has been conjectured to be Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, converted in the island of Cyprus by the apostle Paul, when Elymas, the sorcerer, withstood S. Paul. There is no evidence substantiating this, nor does it appear to rest on any very ancient tradition.

The most ancient martyrologies do not assert it, though some of them say that he was a convert of the Apostle of the Gentiles. The Roman Martyrology mentions the report, but does not authorise it. The Acts of his life are not deserving of credence. S. Paul certainly lived much later than he is represented to have done.

Some relics are preserved in the Church of S. Paul at Narbonne.

S. APHRODISIUS, B. OF BEZIERS.

(3RD OR 4TH CENT.)

[Roman Martyrology, the Evora Breviary, and others.]

This bishop, an Egyptian by birth, accompanied S. Paul of Narbonne, in his mission into Gaul. A foolish legend82 (fabulosa narratio it is called by Henschenius) is to the effect that he was governor of Egypt at the time when S. Joseph and the B. Virgin went down thither with the Holy Child Jesus, to escape the persecution of Herod who sought the young child's life. On the arrival of the child Jesus in Egypt all the idols fell, and Aphrodisius, recognising in Him his God, bowed before Him in adoration, and defended the Holy Family from the rage of the idolatrous priests. After the Ascension he laid down his prefectship and went to Antioch where he was baptized by S. Peter, and afterwards sent with S. Sergius Paulus into Gaul. S. Aphrodisius, however, certainly lived much later than he is represented to have done.

S. BASIL, P. M. AT ANCYRA.

(A.D. 363.)

[Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on the same day. In the Syriac Church, a S. Basil and his Companions are commemorated on March 1st, and another S. Basil and his Companions on March 8th, and S. Basil, P. M., on March 28th in the Coptic Kalendar. The Greek Acts are genuine, and were written by a contemporary. Other versions of the Acts exist, but they are corrupted by the intermixture of the Acts of another S. Basil, a frequent mistake, when there are several saints of the same name.]

S. Basil was a priest of Ancyra, very fervent in spirit, zealous in upholding the Catholic faith, and combating the Arian heresy foot to foot. An Arian synod of bishops ordered his degradation from his office, in 360, and appointed Eudoxius, a bishop, and an Arian, in his place. But Basil encouraged by the Catholic bishops refused to budge, but maintained his ground, and was indefatigable in stimulating the courage of the faithful, and encouraging the half-hearted. He was the means of restoring large numbers of those who had been taught by the Arians to disbelieve in the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father to full Catholic faith, thereby exasperating the heretics against him. He was one of those fiery enthusiasts of resistless energy, uncompromising with himself and others, a type as needful as the soft and gentle saint, winning through love. The burning faith of Basil carried him dauntless into danger, and made him regardless of opposition, and those spirits which looked to a strong nature for support found a rock in Basil.

As soon as Julian assumed the purple, paganism was revived; and if the Christians were not openly persecuted, every means which craft could devise of breaking their resolution were resorted to, and with such success that the mild measures of Julian proved more dangerous to the Church than the fiery persecution of Decius. But the patience of Julian gave way towards the end of his career, and it is certain that in some cases he encouraged, and in others connived at the resort to violence to punish the most zealous upholders of Christianity. The charges against those most obnoxious were not always their religion, but contempt of the edicts or seditious conduct. Basil worked so effectually in Ancyra to counteract the imperial policy that the pagan priests and governor were resolved to destroy him, hoping that, if the prop of the Ancyran Christians were removed, their faith would yield with a crash. Macarius, one of the priests of the idols, laid hold of Basil as he was publicly denouncing heathen worship, and drew him before the magistrate, Saturninus, on the charge of stirring up the people against the established religion. "What meanest thou," cried Macarius, "going to and fro in the city, agitating the people against the religion established by the emperor?" "God break thy jaws, thou bondslave of Satan!" answered Basil. "It is not I who ruin thy religion, but He who is in Heaven who confounds thy counsel and dissipates thy lies."

Then Macarius cried out to the proconsul, "I charge this fellow with making sedition in the city, stirring up the people to overthrow our altars and defy the emperor." "Who art thou," asked Saturninus, "who art so audacious as to do these things?" Basil replied, "I am the best of everything,—a Christian."

"Then why, if thou art a Christian, dost not thou behave as a Christian?" "I do," answered Basil; "it behoves every Christian to make bare all acts."

"Why dost thou make revolt in the city, transgressing good laws, and blaspheming the emperor?"

"I do not blaspheme the emperor or his religion. God is my emperor, and He will bring your petty established religion to naught in no time."

"So the religion of the emperor is not true!"

"How can I regard that religion as true, and that worship as true which consists in men running howling about the streets like rabid dogs with raw flesh in their mouths."83

"Hang him up and scrape him," said the proconsul. So Basil was suspended by his wrists and ankles, and his flesh was torn with rakes. And as he suffered he cried, "Lord God of ages, I thank thee that I am deemed worthy to enter into the way of life through these torments, walking through which I may behold the heirs of thy promises!" Then he was taken down and cast into prison. And after that the proconsul sent to the emperor Julian, to announce what had taken place, and to ask further orders. Then the emperor sent three renegade Christians, and advised the proconsul to endeavour by all means to persuade and flatter Basil into apostasy. But though all efforts were used to shake his resolution they failed, and Basil remained in chains till Julian himself passed through Ancyra on his way east to the Persian war. Then Basil was summoned before the emperor, and Julian endeavoured to persuade him to conform to his religion, but the holy martyr blazed forth in righteous zeal against the apostate. "Thou renegade hast abdicated the throne prepared for thee in heaven," he said; "And verily I believe that Christ whom thou hast abjured will take thee and pluck thee out of thy dwelling, that thou mayest know how great is that God whom thou hast offended. Thou hast not thought of His judgments, nor venerated His altar where thou wast given salvation; thou hast not kept His law which often thou didst declare with thy lips; wherefore the great emperor Christ will not remember thee, but will take from thee speedily thy earthly empire, and thy body shall be deprived of a sepulchre, and thou shalt breathe forth thy soul in greatest anguish."

Then Julian ordered him to be taken away, and seven thongs to be cut daily from his skin. This command was given to Frumentinus, Count of the Squires (Comes Scutariorum.) And when this had been done, the martyr gathered up one of the strips of skin cut off him, in his hand, and besought that he might be conducted before the emperor. And as Frumentinus believed that he was about to make adjuration of his religion, he brought him into the council hall before Julian. Then he cried, "Dumb and deaf and blind are thy idols, Apostate! To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. He is my helper in whom I trust, and for whom I suffer. Here is meat for thee, Julian!" and he flung the strip of skin in his face.

Then the count, alarmed at having occasioned this scene, by suffering Basil to return into the emperor's presence, hurried him out and cast him into prison. On the morrow Julian departed for Antioch, without having seen the count, who feared that he had fallen into disgrace, and therefore vented his spleen on the martyr. He had iron spikes heated red-hot, and Basil thrown upon them, so that they burnt into his bowels. But Basil prayed, "Christ is my light, and Jesus is my hope, a calm port in tempest. I give Thee thanks, Lord God of my fathers, because thou hast saved my soul from the abyss; keep Thy Name inviolate in me, and make me an heir of eternal quiet, for the promise made unto my fathers by the great High Priest, Jesus Christ, our Lord; through whom I pray Thee receive my spirit into peace, persevering in my confession; for Thou art merciful and long-suffering and full of compassion; who livest and abidest through ages of ages. Amen." And when he had ended his prayer, as one overcome with slumber, he ceased and gave up his spirit.

S. DEOGRATIAS, B. OF CARTHAGE.

(ABOUT A.D. 456.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authority:—Victor of Utica. Hist. Persec. Vandalorum, lib. i.]

Carthage was taken by Genseric king of the Vandals in October, 439, and then began that fearful Arian persecution of the Catholics which almost surpassed those of the heathen emperors in horror. Bishop Quodvultdeus had been sent adrift along with his clergy in a broken vessel, and had been carried by the wind in safety to Naples. The church of Carthage was without a chief pastor for about fourteen years, till in 454, Deogratias was created bishop.

In 455, Genseric entered Rome, which he found undefended. Pope S. Leo met him at the gates and obtained from him that the city should not be burnt, nor should the inhabitants be massacred, but that the Vandal conquerors were to content themselves with the pillage. Rome was therefore pillaged deliberately during a fortnight, and then the Vandals retired carrying with them an immense treasure, amongst other things of value, the sacred vessels which Titus had taken from the temple of Jerusalem. They returned to Africa also encumbered with crowds of captives whom they sold to the Moors and amongst themselves. Wives were separated from their husbands, and children from their parents. The holy bishop, stirred to the depths of his soul by the misery that he saw, sold all the gold and silver vessels of the churches of Carthage, and spent the proceeds in redeeming those slaves whose cases were most urgent and distressing. And, because there was not found any other place sufficiently capacious to receive the ransomed multitude, he devoted to their accommodation the church of S. Fausta, and the new church, which he filled with straw and with beds. As there were many sick amongst this crowd, some who had suffered from sea-sickness, and others from the disorders consequent on being crowded together in small vessels, the holy prelate visited them at all hours, with medicines, and proper food, and ministered to their necessities with his own hands. He did not even rest at night, but walked up and down the churches visiting the beds, and seeing that order and comfort prevailed. The emergency gave the aged and decrepid man new strength. The Arians envious of his virtue, made several attempts on his life, but they failed. The labour and exhaustion consequent on this tax on his energies overcame him, and he died peaceably after having held the see only three years. He was secretly buried, whilst the Catholics were engaged in their churches at prayer, for fear lest the people, who loved him as a father, should carry off his revered body. After his death Genseric forbade the ordination of bishops in the whole proconsular province and in Zeugitania, where there were as many as sixty-four. Thus, by deaths and imprisonment, the number of Catholic bishops in thirty years was reduced to three.

B. EELKO LIAUKAMAN, AB.

(A.D. 1332.)

[Norbertine Martyrology. Venerated anciently at Lidlom, in Holland. Authority:—Life by Sibrand Leonius, Norbertine Canon, 1580.]

The blessed Eelko Liaukaman was abbot of the wealthy Norbertine house of Lidlom, in Friesland, at a time when the wealth of the abbey had tended greatly to the relaxation of discipline. The possessions of the abbey were far apart, and the lay-brothers were sent about to the different farms and cells to attend to the secular interests of the society. The abbot soon ascertained that these men took advantage of their being away from supervision to lead disorderly lives, drinking and not unfrequently falling into worse offences. He at once undertook to correct this scandalous conduct as far as possible, and visited the farms and places whither the lay-brothers had been sent at unexpected times; the consequence of which was that he sometimes caught them tripping, and as a necessary corollary, incurred their deadly enmity. The chief malefactors determined on his destruction, and planned to murder him when he was at his castle of Ter-poort. He had retired for the night, shut his door, "put on his night-shirt, drawers, belt and cap, gone to bed, poured forth his prayers, and composed himself to sleep,"84 when the conspirators burst in through the window. Hearing the noise, the abbot rose up in his bed, and asked gently what was the matter. Then the disorderly lay-brothers began to shower abuse on him, and call him a hypocrite, a glutton, and a drunkard. "My sons, when saw ye me drunk?" "Oh, you put your tipple away up your sleeves, so as to drink on the sly," they said. "Go," said he, "shake my sleeves and see for yourselves." They did so, and a shower of red roses fell on the floor. Then rushing on him with sticks they beat his brains out, and drawing his body through the window flung it into the moat. Next morning a woman who was passing saw a portion of his white night gear above the water and gave the alarm. The body was raised from the moat. The murderers were afterwards caught and executed.

Before the so-called Reformation the B. Eelko was venerated as a saint, and represented in art shaking roses out of his habit.

B. THOMAS OF LANCASTER.

(A.D. 1321.)

[Inscribed in his additions to Usuardus by Herman Greven, in the German Martyrology of Canisius, and by Ferrarius in his General Catalogue of the Saints. Not mentioned in the Anglican or Roman Martyrologies, but it is certain that Thomas of Lancaster received veneration shortly after his execution, and that miraculous cures were attributed to his relics.]

There have been, as there probably ever will be, great differences of opinion as to the justice of beheading Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, cousin-german to king Edward II.

Edward of Carnarvon had received his father's final instructions before Edward I. died. Of these the principal were; that he should devote a certain sum to the succour of the Holy Land; that he should persist in the conquest of Scotland; and that he should not recall his favourite, Piers de Gaveston (a young Gascon, whom the king had lately banished), without the consent of parliament.

Every one of these commands were directly violated by the young king. His first act was to send for Gaveston; and to confer on him the royal earldom of Cornwall. The old ministers and judges were nearly all dismissed. Langton, bishop of Coventry, the treasurer of the late king, who had formerly reproved the extravagance of the prince and his favourite, was thrown into prison. Gaveston received the money left for the crusade, was made lord chamberlain; betrothed to Margaret de Clare, niece of the king; and presently, when Edward went to marry Isabel of France at Boulogne, left regent of England.

The jealousy of the great nobles was already excited; but when they beheld the king, on his return, rush into the arms of his favourite without regarding them; and when they saw Gaveston take precedence of them all at the coronation of Edward, their anger burst forth. Three days after the ceremony they called upon the king to dismiss his minion. Edward deferred the matter until parliament should meet, hoping by that time to soothe their resentment. All his efforts, however, was rendered nugatory by the pride and insolence of Gaveston, and the nobles insisted on his expulsion. Edward was obliged to give way, and Gaveston to swear that he would never return. The king, however, escorted him to Bristol with every mark of honour, and mortified his enemies still more by appointing the exile his lieutenant in Ireland.

From the day of Gaveston's departure the king laboured to effect his recall. He solicited the intervention of the pope; and having obtained a conditional abrogation of the oath taken by Gaveston, ordered him to return. Receiving him in person at Chester, he brought him to meet parliament. Here he induced the bishops and peers to consent that his favourite should remain in England; but they added,—as long as he conducted himself well.

In a very short time, however, the absolute ascendancy of Gaveston over the king, his ostentation and presumption, had revived the animosity of the barons. Lancaster and his friends refused to attend the next parliament. Edward, who wanted money, found it necessary to yield. He prologued the parliament to London, and leaving Gaveston in retirement, repaired to the capital. The great barons attended with such a military force, that Edward was obliged to grant all their demands. A committee of seven prelates, eight earls, and six barons, under the name of ordainers, was appointed, with full powers to redress the grievances of the nation. Gaveston was again banished and as speedily was recalled by the king in defiance of his parliament. The barons then took up arms, and captured Gaveston at Scarborough (May 19th, 1312), and executed him by order of Lancaster and the other insurgent nobles at Blacklow, near Coventry.

The news of this audacious deed affected the king with the most passionate grief, to which was quickly added a fierce desire for revenge. His anger was not diminished when the barons followed up the blow by a peremptory demand that the ordinances for the better government of England and the rectification of flagrant abuses should be carried into effect. A superficial reconciliation was however effected. The parliament assembled at Westminster hall, and Edward having taken his seat on the throne, the earl of Lancaster and his associates knelt before him, and solicited a pardon for the acts which had offended him. Taking each petitioner by the hand, the king bestowed upon him the kiss of peace, promised, and the next day published, a general amnesty.

Some time after the death of Gaveston, the ordainers had imposed upon the king, as chamberlain, a young man named Hugh le Despenser, son of one of the great barons. From an object of dislike, he soon became the favourite of Edward. With his father, he had ably supported the king in his resistance to the earl of Lancaster, and he had become especially odious to the earl's party. But, however loyal, the chamberlain was undoubtedly rapacious; and a harsh attempt to enforce the feudal law to his own advantage, excited the lords Marchers of Wales to arm against him. The earl of Lancaster soon joined them; and the united barons, marching upon London, decreed that the Despensers (who were both absent), should be banished. The bishops protested; but the king and his friends were forced to assent to this lawless proceeding. Two months after the king recalled the Despensers, and took the field against the barons. The earl assaulted the royal castle of Tichhill; but failing in his attempts, he hurried southwards to stop the advance of Edward at Burton-on-Trent. The king, however, forced the passage of the river, and the barons retreated hastily to Pontefract. There a stormy council was held. Lancaster was for making a stand at that point; but over-borne by his associate, he resumed the retreat. At Boroughbridge, however, he found the way barred by a strong force under Sir Andrew Harkeley, governor of Carlisle, and Sir Simon Ward, sheriff of Yorkshire. After a vain endeavour to gain the adhesion of Harkeley, who had formerly received knighthood at his hands, Lancaster resolved to force the passage of the bridge; but the earl of Hereford having been slain in the attempt, and an attack by a ford having been repulsed, earl Thomas took refuge in a chapel, saying, as he looked upon the crucifix; "Lord, I render myself to Thee and Thy mercy." He was, nevertheless, dragged out by the royalists, who, despoiling him of his rich surcoat, clothed him in a common livery, and conveyed him down the river to York, where he was received with every kind of insult. Thence he was taken to Pontefract Castle, which he at that time possessed in the right of his wife, the heiress of the De Lacys, and presented to the king.

The death of Gaveston was now to be avenged. The earl of Lancaster was brought a prisoner into his own hall; and there the king, with the earls of Kent, Richmond, Pembroke, the elder Spenser, and other of his party, condemned him to be drawn, hanged, and beheaded. Edward, however, remitted the more degrading parts of the sentence. The earl was at once delivered into the hands of a band of Gascons, who put an old cap on his head, set him on a lean white pony, and led him out to immediate execution. The presence of his confessor, a Dominican monk, who walked by his side, did not save the earl from the insults of the royalist rabble. They threw pellets of dirt at him, and derisively saluted him as "king Arthur." In this manner he was conducted to the summit of a hill without the town, where he was ordered to kneel, with his face to the north, and then his head was stricken off by "a villain of London."

A martyr to religion Thomas of Lancaster was not, but he was a martyr for the rights and liberties of English people.

He both furthered the cause of public liberty, and perished in its defence. Witness the part he took in framing the ordinances "for the common benefit of the kingdom, and the peace and prosperity of all the people generally." All his transactions show that the earl was a man of noble purposes, naturally averse to arbitrary power, and a lover of liberty in the true and rational sense of its value. The sentence pronounced against him was formally revoked by act of parliament; and the priory church at Pontefract, which claimed to have his body buried on the right hand of the high altar, became the scene of a series of miracles. There is a record in the Corpus Christi College at Cambridge "of the miracles God wroughte for Seint Thomas of Lancaster: wherefore the king lete close the church doors of Pountfret of the Prioree, for no man shall come therein to the body for to offeren." The veneration extended to London and became so prominent that a royal proclamation was issued denouncing and threatening the worshippers of the effigy: "Inimici et rebelli nostri fotue accedentes eam absque auctoritate EcclesiÆ RomanÆ tanquam rem sanctificatam colunt et adsunt, asserentes ibi fieri miracula, opprobrium totius EcclesiÆ, nostri et vestri dedecus, et animarum populi predicti periculum manifestum, ac pernisiosum exemplum aliorum." This reverence therefore, however produced, was of a national and unauthorized character; but within five weeks after the accession of Edward III. a special mission was sent to the pope from the king, imploring the appointment of a commission to institute the usual canonical investigation preparatory to the canonisation of a Christian hero. In June of the same year a king's-letter was given to Robert de Weryngton, authorising him and his agents to collect alms throughout the kingdom for the erection of a chapel on the hill where the earl was beheaded. Three years later (that is in 1330) the embassy was repeated, urging the attention of the court of Rome to a subject that so much interested the Church and people of England; and in the April of the following year three still more important envoys were sent with letters to the pope, to nine cardinals, to the refendary of the papal court, and to the three nephews of his holiness, intreating them not to give ear to the invectives of malignant men who had asserted that the earl of Lancaster connived at some injury offered to certain cardinals at Durham in the late king's reign. It is affirmed that, on the contrary, the earl defended those high personages at his own great peril; and the reiterated demand for his sanctification appeals to the words of Scripture, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

Of this strange story no continuation appears till fifty-nine years later, when Walshingham, the Benedictine monk of St. Alban's, chronicling the events of 1390 (the thirteenth year of Richard II.), writes, "hoc quoque anno sanctus Thomas de Lancastria canonizatus est." The same event is recorded by John Capgrave with the discrepancy of one year. Writing of 1389, he narrates: "And this same year was Thomas of Lancaster canonised, for it was seid commounly that he should nevir be canonised onto the time that all the juges that set upon him were ded, & all her issew."

Notwithstanding the distinct assertions of these two ecclesiastical historians, the festival of Thomas of Lancaster is not set down in any of the Salisbury Service books either printed or in manuscript. Nor does his feast come among those which Lyndwode speaks of as introduced in later years. Butler makes no mention of him in his Lives of the Saints, nor do the Bollandists give to him more than half-a-dozen lines, mentioning him amongst those whom they do not propose to notice.

A stone coffin found in a field not far from S. Thomas's Hill, near Pontefract, in the year 1828, which in local histories has been supposed to contain the bones of the earl, is still to be seen in the grounds of Lord Houghton, at Fryston Hall.85 The heavy lid was removed in the presence of Mr. T. Wright, Rev. C. Hartshorne, and other members of the ArchÆological Association, and the bones taken out and examined. The head was found between the leg bones. All were of unusually large proportions. They were afterwards restored, with the exception of the skull, to their ancient resting-place. The skull is preserved in Fryston Hall.

S. KATHARINE OF SWEDEN, V.

(A.D. 1381.)

[Roman Martyrology. Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Kalendar. Her office was sanctioned by Innocent VIII. Authority:—Her life by Ulph, a Brigittine friar, written thirty years after her death.]

S. Katharine of Sweden was the daughter of Ulph, prince of Nierck, in Sweden, and S. Bridget. At the age of seven she was placed in the nunnery of Risborg. Being very beautiful, her father contracted her in marriage to Egard, a young nobleman of great virtue; but she persuaded her husband to live with her a life of perpetual chastity. After the death of her father, S. Katharine out of devotion undertook a pilgrimage with her mother to various holy places, and came to Rome, where S. Bridget died in 1373. Katharine returned to Sweden and died abbess of Vatzen, in the diocese of Lincopen, on March 24th, 1381.

B. NICOLAS VON DER FLUE, H.

(A.D. 1487.)

[Venerated in Unterwalden, in Switzerland, whence his cultus has spread into France and the Netherlands. His life was written the year after his death by Heinrich von Gundelfingen, canon of Bern. See also Albrecht v. Bonstetten, Leben d. Selig. Nicolaus von der Flue, vom j. 1487 aus einer NÜrnberger Handschrift herausgegeben v. C. Morel, Einsiedeln, 1862. The following account is condensed from Catholic Legends, Burns, London.]

Nicolas von der Flue was born in Unterwalden in the year 1417, near the village of Sachseln. He was descended from a race of good and pious shepherds, in whom were transmitted from father to son the ancient virtues of the Swiss, and who enjoyed during successive centuries the esteem of their fellow-countrymen. His parents had an honest competence; and, after the example of their fathers, they adhered stedfastly to the true and ancient faith, respected the laws of their country, and brought up their children in piety and virtue. They tended their flocks with unwearied care; and, after a life of tranquility, fell asleep in God, full of confidence; for they had walked before Him, like the patriarchs, to the borders of Jordan. The young Nicolas grew up beneath their salutary tutelage, and manifested always an obedient spirit and a love of virtue; gentle and pious even from the days of his childhood. It was often remarked by those around him, that after the hard labour of a whole day in the fields, when he returned home in the evening, he would disappear by stealth to pray in some secret place. His spirit began thus early to mortify the body, in order to give itself without distraction to elevated contemplation. When some one, out of kindness, warned him not to ruin his health in his youth by such severe fasts as he was accustomed to observe, he replied, with sweetness, that such was the will of God concerning him. Notwithstanding his fervent and austere devotion, his demeanour was cheerful and affable; and he discharged with fidelity all the duties which his condition of life imposed upon him. He entered upon manhood endowed with a noble firmness of soul, a penetrating intelligence, and great purity of heart. In his twenty-third year he took arms, at the call of the magistrates, in the campaign against Zurich; and again, fourteen years later, at the time of the occupation of Thurgau, when he commanded, as captain, a company of 100 men, and manifested such bravery, that his country decreed him a gold medal as a recompense. A yet more honourable circumstance in the same expedition was the saving of the monastery of the valley of S. Katharine, near Diessenhofen, which to this day reveres him as its deliverer. It was owing to his exhortations that the Swiss relinquished their design of setting fire to the abbey, in order to expel the enemy, who abandoned it soon after of their own accord. In battle he carried his sword in one hand, his chaplet in the other: he showed himself at once a fearless soldier and a merciful Christian, protecting the widow and the orphan, and not permitting the conquerors to perpetrate acts of violence against the vanquished.

Arrived at manhood, Nicolas married a virtuous young girl, named Dorothea Wysyling. They had ten children, five sons and five daughters.

Nicolas was himself unanimously elected governor and judge of Obwalden. The high dignity of Landaman was decreed him by the general assembly several times; but he feared the great responsibility; and, without doubt, he felt also that God had reserved him for some other and greater thing.

Nicolas had thus lived fifty years for the good of his country and family, and esteemed by all, when, in the year 1467, he felt himself drawn to a closer walk with God, in a life of entire separation from the world. His eldest son, John von der Flue, thus speaks of him: "My father always retired to rest at the same time as his children and servants; but every night I saw him rise again, and heard him praying in his chamber until morning. Many times, also, he would repair in the silence of the night to the old church of S. Nicholas, or to other holy places." These hours of solitude were to him the happiest moments of his life; and the interior impulse became even more powerful to consecrate the remainder of his life to the devout contemplation of eternal truths. God also favoured him frequently with miraculous intimations of His divine will. On one occasion, when he went to visit his flock at a place called Bergmatt, according to his wont, he knelt upon the grass, and began to pray, when God vouchsafed him a consoling vision. He beheld a fragrant lily, white as snow, come out of his mouth, and rise towards heaven. Whilst he regaled himself with the perfume and beauty of the flower, his flock came gambolling towards him, and amongst them a noble horse. As he turned to look, the lily inclined itself towards the horse, which advanced and drew it from his mouth; by which Nicolas was made to understand that the treasure to which he should aspire was in heaven: and if his heart was not wholly detached from the things of earth, he would forfeit the possession of the celestial joys reserved for him.

Another time, while engaged in the ordinary business of his house, he saw three men approach him, of venerable aspect, one of whom addressed him thus:—

"Tell us, Nicolas, wilt thou put body and soul into our power?"

"I give myself to none," replied he, "but the Almighty God, whom I have long desired to serve with my soul and body."

At these words the strangers turned with a smile one towards the other, and the first answered: "Because thou hast given thyself wholly to God, and art bound to Him for ever, I promise that in the 70th year of thine age thou shalt be delivered from all the troubles of this world. Remain constant in thy resolution. Thou shalt bear in heaven a glorious banner amidst the armies of God, if thou hast borne with patience the cross that we lay upon thee."

Upon this the three men disappeared. These visions confirmed him in his resolution of separating from the world. He disclosed to his wife the desire of his soul, and entreated her, for the love of God, to give him permission to fulfil this vocation. She consented with calm resignation, and Nicolas began at once to arrange the affairs of his house, assigning to each of his children his part of the inheritance. He then assembled all his household,—his old father, 70 years of age, his wife, his children, and his friends; he appeared before them barefoot and bareheaded, clothed in the long robe of a pilgrim, with a staff and chaplet in his hand; he thanked them for all the kindness they had shown him, exhorted them for the last time to fear God before all things; then he gave them his blessing, and departed. That this separation was a trial to him, was evidenced by his frequent expressions of thankfulness to God that He had strengthened him to overcome for His service the love he bore to his wife and children.

Nicolas set out with a tranquil heart for the place which God had chosen for him. Crossing valleys and mountains, he arrived at the limits of the Confederation. When not far from Aarau, at a spot whence he could see beyond the frontiers the little town of Liechstall, he had a remarkable vision. The town, with its houses and towers, appeared to him enveloped in flames. Terrified with this spectacle, he entered into conversation with a peasant whom he found in a neighbouring farmhouse, and made known to him his purpose, begging him to point out a solitary spot where he might be able to carry it into effect. This man counselled him to remain in his own country; because, as the Confederates were not always well received in other parts, he might be unfavourably regarded, and his retreat be disturbed. Brother Nicolas thanked his host for this good counsel, and turned his face again towards home. He rested not till he reached Melchthal, his native place; where he repaired to one of his pastures called the Kluster. There he made a little hut of branches and leaves under a larch tree, in the midst of thorny bushes, and remained without discovery till the eighth day, neither eating nor drinking, but absorbed in prayer. Some hunters in pursuit of game first became aware of his retreat, and spoke of him to his brother, Peter von der Flue, who visited him, and besought him not to suffer himself to die of hunger in so wild a solitude. Brother Nicolas assured him that he need be without uneasiness on his account, as he had experienced no evil result up to that time. Nevertheless, that he might not seem to tempt God, he sent secretly for the curÉ of Kerns, named Oswald Isner, and acquainted him with the whole case. This good man gave the following testimony after the hermit's death, as may be read in the parish record of the year 1488:—

"When Bro. Nicolas had passed eleven days without food, he sent for me, and asked me whether he should take some nourishment or continue his trial, as he had always desired to be able to live without eating, in order that he might be more effectually separated from created things. When I saw that this could come only from the source of divine love, I counselled Bro. Nicolas to persevere as long as he was able; and from this time to the day of his death, a period of more than twenty years, he continued to dispense with bodily food. As the pious brother was more familiar with me than with any other person, I sought earnestly to learn from him how his strength was sustained; and one day he told me, in great secrecy, that when he assisted at Mass, and the priest communicated, he received a strength which enabled him to refrain from all other nourishment."

When the fame of this miraculous life spread abroad, people flocked from all parts to see a man whom God had so distinguished, and to convince themselves of its reality by personal observation. His quiet life was, in consequence, so much disturbed, that he determined to seek a more isolated spot. After traversing several of the wildest valleys with this intention, he beheld above a gloomy gorge, down which the Melch precipitates itself with deafening roar, a brilliant light descending from heaven. Obedient to this indication of the will of God, he built there a little hut. But the same year, his neighbours, the inhabitants of Obwalden, edified by his holy life, built him a chapel with a small cell attached, and presented it to him as a mark of their affection. Brother Nicolas entered this new dwelling, and continued there to serve God in the same supernatural life. Meanwhile, the renown of his extraordinary mode of existence extended far and wide: many were unwilling to believe that a man could thus live miraculously by the sole grace of the Almighty, whilst others glorified God on his behalf.

The magistrates of the canton, desiring to verify the fact of the monastic life of Blessed Nicolas, sent officers, who, for the space of a month, occupied day and night all the avenues of his retreat, in order that no person might bring provisions. Thomas, suffragan bishop of Constance, subjected the brother to a similar test when he consecrated the chapel; and after him bishop Otho visited the hermit. The archduke Sigismund of Austria sent, for the same purpose, his physician, the learned and skilful Binhard de Horneck, in order that he might attentively observe Nicolas during several days and nights. Frederick III., the emperor, also appointed delegates to examine him; but all these expedients served only to confirm the truth. Those who visited him were so struck with the piety and humility of the servant of God, that all their doubts vanished, and they left him penetrated with the most profound respect. When asked how he could exist without food, his simple reply was, "God knows."

It was only on Sundays and festival days that he left his cell, and assisted with the rest of his parishioners at divine service in the church of Sachseln. Once a year he repaired to Lucerne for the great procession, and to visit the celebrated places of pilgrimage. When the journey became too fatiguing on account of his advanced age, and the gifts of pious persons enabled him to procure the services of a priest, he heard Mass daily in his own chapel, and confessed and received the Holy Communion frequently. He consecrated to the service of God all the hours from midnight to midday, at which time he prayed and meditated, especially on the passion of Jesus Christ our Saviour, who, as he said, communicated to him in the exercise a miraculous strength, a supernatural food.

During the remainder of the day, from midday to the evening, he received those who visited him; or, when the weather was fine, he would traverse the mountains praying, or visit his friend, Brother Ulrich, and converse with him on divine things. Ulrich was a German gentleman, originally from Bavaria, who, after many remarkable adventures, had quitted the world to establish himself near Nicolas, in this solitude. Lodged in the hollow of a rock, he led a life similar to his, save only that he could not dispense with food, which the pious country-people provided for him. In the evening Brother Nicolas resumed his prayers; then he went to take a short repose upon his couch, which consisted only of two planks, with a piece of wood or a stone for a pillow.

At this period the cities and states of the Swiss Confederation were at the height of their prosperity; the fruit of three memorable victories over the forces of the Duke of Burgundy.

Six years had not elapsed since the first of these—that of Granson. In this famous engagement, the Confederates had humbled the haughty arrogance of Charles the Bold: his fine army, three times stronger than their own, had been cut in pieces; and this hitherto unconquered hero, the master of the richest provinces on this side the Alps—the two Burgundies, Gueldres, and almost all Belgium,—this warrior, before whom France trembled, and whom Lorraine had been unable to resist, fled from the field of battle with only six companions. Four hundred pieces of artillery, six hundred banners, his ducal hat, his sword of state, the three large diamonds, celebrated throughout Europe, which were destined at a subsequent period to adorn the crowns of mighty potentates;—in a word, a camp which was unequalled in richness and magnificence throughout Christendom, and could only be compared to the camps of the Turks, fell into the hands of poor mountaineers, who, with the help of God, had defended their liberty against the cupidity and pride of a foreign foe.

The second battle took place on the plains of Morat. Charles of Burgundy was again routed with enormous loss, and obliged to fly a second time, having with him only thirty men. The Confederates, after the battle, fell on their knees in thanksgiving for the success of their arms; the trumpets poured forth a joyous blast; messengers, decorated with green branches, ran in all haste through the towns and villages, and the bells rang out exulting peals.

The third of these great battles was fought by the Swiss near Nancy. The Burgundian, in his despair, had collected all that remained of his forces, and having on this occasion to contend with troops superior to his own, he displayed a valour worthy of his name and ancestors. But all his efforts were in vain; and Charles, the last of his house on the throne of Burgundy, was once more totally defeated.

The reputation of the Swiss became so great in consequence of these successes, that the most powerful princes of Europe sent ambassadors to their assemblies, and sought their alliance. At the negotiations held at Zurich, in 1478, for concluding peace with Burgundy, were to be seen envoys from the emperor of Germany, the king of France, the Archduke of Austria, and counts and lords from far and near. The Swiss had no longer a single enemy to fear.

The immense booty taken from the Burgundians, and the payments made on various accounts by France, had occasioned large sums of money to circulate among the people; and the Swiss had lost something of their pure and disinterested love for their country.

At the close of the year, 1481, on S. Thomas's Eve, the deputies of the Cantons met at Stanz, in Unterwalden, for deliberation on matters of the highest importance connected with the welfare of the Confederacy. The minds of the delegates had been already so warped by jealousy and selfishness, that the members of the assembly of Stanz could come to no mutual understanding, and were unceasingly embittered against each other. There were two parties in the assembly at variance with each other; that of the towns, and that of the country. The peasants of Uri, of Schwytz, and Unterwalden desired peace, and distrusted the ambition of the citizens, who would draw them needlessly into war. They sought to maintain the Swiss Confederation within its ancient limits, and were not disposed to strengthen the opposite party by the admission of new towns. On the contrary, the towns of Lucerne, of Berne, and of Zurich exerted themselves to obtain admittance into the Confederation for Soleure and Friebourg; because they themselves lay exposed to the attacks of the enemy, Switzerland not having as yet any natural frontier; and these towns had fought faithfully for Switzerland in the wars against Charles, and the Confederates in the hour of danger had promised to admit them into the league.

To this source of discord was added the envy excited by the division of the Burgundian booty. It was in vain that the cantons of Glarus and Zug sought to interpose their mediation, and that meetings were held in various places to reconcile differences. And now the Confederates were assembled for consultation for the last time at Stanz. The animosity of party, however, was so great, that after three sessions of angry debates, the members rose with agitated countenances, and separated without taking leave of one another, to meet again, perhaps, only in the conflict of civil war. That which neither the power of Austria, nor the fury of Charles of Burgundy had ever been able to accomplish, the Swiss were themselves in danger of bringing about by their own internal dissensions; and the liberty and happiness of their country stood in jeopardy.

These considerations filled all good citizens with sorrow and alarm, and, amongst others, a curÉ of Stanz, named Henry Im Grand, a man full of zeal for the good of his country. As he reflected on the danger which threatened her, his thoughts turned to Brother Nicolas. "This man," said he to himself, "is, perhaps, the only one whose voice will command attention now," and, taking his staff, he went in quest of him. Brother Nicolas replied to his entreaty to come to Stanz with his usual gravity: "Return," said he, "tell the envoys of the Confederation that Brother Klaus has something to propose to them."

The priest, full of hope, resumed his journey with all possible speed; he hastened to the inns where the deputies were preparing for departure, and conjured them to be again reconciled, and to listen for the last time to the counsels and proposition of the pious hermit. They consented; and some hours after, the brother appeared in the midst of the assembly.

Notwithstanding his great age, Nicolas had performed this long and difficult journey without resting; his fine majestic figure—which time had scarcely bent, was seen advancing across the market-place of Stanz to the town-hall. He wore, according to custom, his simple, dark-coloured dress, which descended to his feet; he carried his chaplet in one hand, and grasped his staff with the other; he was, as usual, barefoot and bareheaded; and his long hair, a little touched by the snows of age, fell upon his shoulders. When the holy man entered the hall before all the Confederates, they rose with one accord to greet him. After a few moments, silence was broken by the sonorous voice of the hermit, who addressed them with earnest words, and God gave such grace to his words that in one hour all difficulties were smoothed away, and base passions were silent through shame before the severe counsel of a man who appeared before this assembly with hands raised towards heaven, as a prophet sent from God.

The Confederates, in accordance with Nicolas's advice, received into their league the towns of Freibourg and Soleure; the ancient treaties of alliance were confirmed, and further consolidated by being established on the basis of new laws unanimously enacted. The pacification of all the Swiss cantons, the maintenance of public order, and of the authority of the magistrates against disturbers of the peace, the division of booty according to the rule given by Nicolas,—such were the points upon which the Confederates, who had so long contended with so much animosity, came this same day to an entire agreement.

The brother returned the same evening to his peaceful hermitage. At Stanz the bells were rung, and sounds of rejoicing floated across the lakes and through the valleys to all the villages and towns of Switzerland, from the snowy heights of S. Gothard to the smiling plains of Thurgau. There was as much joy and gladness everywhere as after the victories of Granson and Morat, and with as just cause; for there the Confederates had delivered their country from foreign enemies; here they saved it from their own passions. Their true deliverer, who had obtained from them this victory over themselves, was the poor Brother Nicolas, and as such he was everywhere recognised and extolled.

The towns and countries of the Confederation, and above all, Soleure and Freibourg, satisfied with the happy termination of their dissensions, testified their gratitude to the brother by sending him letters of thanks and precious gifts. He accepted the latter only when they were destined to adorn his chapel. Berne sent a courier with a letter of thanksgiving and a handsome present. The answer which the brother returned, through the medium of his son John, exists to this day in the archives of Soleure, to which city it was presented by Berne. From this time the general veneration for Brother Klaus increased continually.

Nicolas lived six years longer in his peaceful retreat, rich in benedictions. At length the time arrived when God would call His faithful servant from the miseries of the world to eternal joy.

Before his death, God sent him a sharp sickness, in which he suffered indescribable pain. In this condition of suffering he turned from side to side, writhing upon his couch like a worm trodden under foot. These frightful pains lasted eight days. He bore them with perfect resignation, and continued to exhort those who surrounded his bed of death so to conduct themselves in this life as to leave it with a peaceful conscience. "Death," said he, "is terrible; but it is still more terrible to fall into the hands of the living God." When his pains were a little relieved, and the moment of death drew near, Nicolas desired with all the ardour of devotion to receive the sacred Body of the Saviour, and to be strengthened by the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. Near the dying man stood his faithful companion, Brother Ulrich, his old friend Henry Im Grand, and the pious anchorite, Cecil, who after his death led for seventy years the same solitary life in a neighbouring cell; his faithful wife and children also gathered round him. In their presence he received the holy Sacraments with tokens of deep humility; then he thanked God anew for all the benefits He had dispensed to him, prostrated himself, and died the death of the just.

This event took place on the first day of the spring of the year 1487, the feast of S. Benedict, the same on which seventy years previous he was born.

The lily had been the favourite symbol of this pure calm soul; the lily in flower, resplendent with a divine glory, was Brother Klaus himself, the humble servant of God, whose name, it is said, even S. Charles Borromeo never pronounced but with uncovered head.

The skeleton of Brother Klaus reposes in a shrine above the high altar of the Church at Sachseln, where also are preserved the habit, staff, and rosary of the saint. A contemporary portrait exists in the town-hall of Sarnen. He is represented as deadly pale, with deep sunk eyes, which are red with constant weeping. His chapel and hermitage are still shown in Melchthal.