Peace being restored to the Church," writes Eusebius, "Marinus of CÆsarea, in Palestine, who was one of the army, distinguished for his military honours, and illustrious for his family and wealth, was beheaded for his confession of Christ, on the following occasion. There is a certain honour among the Romans, called the vine, which they who obtain are said to be centurions. A place becoming vacant, Marinus, by order of succession, was called to be promoted, but another, advancing to the tribunal, objected, saying that he was a Christian, and refused to sacrifice to the emperor, and therefore legally could not share in Roman honours; but that the office devolved on himself, the objector, who was second on the list. The judge, whose name was AchÆus, roused at this, began first to question Marinus on his opinions; and when he saw that he was constant in affirming that he was a Christian, granted him three hours for reflection. But as soon as he came out of the judgment hall, Theotecnus, bishop of that place, coming to him, took him by the hand, and drawing him to the Church, placed him before the altar, raised his cloak a little, and pointing to the sword at his side, at the same time that he presented before him the book of the Holy Gospels, told him to choose which of the two he would retain. Without hesitation, Marinus extended his hand and took the book. 'Hold fast, then, hold fast to God,' said Theotecnus, 'and strengthened by him, mayest thou obtain what thou choosest. Go in peace.' Immediately on his return thence, a crier proclaimed before the prÆtorium that the appointed time had elapsed. Marinus then was arraigned, and after exhibiting a still greater fervour for the faith, was led away and made perfect by martyrdom."

"Mention is also made of the confidence of Asterius, a man of senatorial rank, in great favour with the emperors, and well known for his nobility and wealth. As he was present at the death of the above-mentioned martyr, taking up the corpse, he bore it on his shoulder in a splendid and costly dress, and covering it in a magnificent manner, gave it a decent burial."

Asterius is venerated by the Greeks on August 7th as a martyr, who suffered decollation, and Marinus is not mentioned by them. Eusebius says nothing of the martyrdom of Asterius, as he certainly would have done, had he died for Christ, for he says, "Many other facts are stated of this man by his friends, who are alive at present," and then he relates his counteracting by his prayers the drowning of a victim annually offered to the river Jordan. The Roman Martyrology, however, accepts the Greek tradition. "Asterius received the honour he rendered to the martyr, becoming himself a martyr;" but perhaps the word martyr is here to be taken in the sense frequently given to it anciently, of a confessor, or witness to Christ, not necessarily by losing his life for his testimony, but only by imperilling it.

SS. EMETHERIUS AND CHELIDONIUS, MM.

(UNCERTAIN DATE.)

[Commemorated in the Mozarabic Missal and Breviary; the Evora and Toledo Breviaries, and as a double at Burgos and Leon; Martyrology of S. Jerome, those of Usuardus, Ado, Notker, and the Roman Martyrology. Authority:—A hymn of Prudentius, and Acts of no great antiquity, printed by Tamayus Salazar, and an Elogium by Gregory of Tours.]

These martyrs were put to death with the sword at Calahorra, in Navarre, on the Ebro. According to the hymn of Prudentius, and the story of Gregory of Tours, on their execution, the ring of one martyr, and the stole (orarium) of the other, were caught up in a cloud, and ascended into Heaven. Probably this legend contains a reminiscence of an incident such as the wind wafting away some of the martyrs' garments during the execution.

Relics at Calahorra.

SS. BASILISCUS, EUTROPIUS, AND CLEONICUS, MM.

(ABOUT A.D. 308.)

[By the Greeks on this day, but S. Basiliscus alone on May 22nd. Menologium of the Emperor Basil, Modern Roman Martyrology. Tamayus Salazar, trusting to the forged Flavius Dexter, claims them to be Spanish martyrs. This is a common trick of some Spanish hagiologists, who have appropriated all martyrs that are not, in Martyrologies, given a place of martyrdom, and the pseudo-Dexter simply mentioned these saints without saying that they were of Amasea and Comana; therefore Salazar audaciously says, "In Caspetana (Sierra di Guadalupe) in Spain, SS. Felix, Luciolus, ... Cleontius, Eutropius, Basiliscus, who, in the persecution of Maximian, under Asclepiades, the Governor, endured torments, and the cross itself, and as martyrs ascended to Heaven." The forger of Flavius Dexter took the names from the modern Roman Martyrology, where the name of the place of martyrdom is not mentioned, and set them down as martyrs in some unknown city of Spain; Salazar improved on the Pseudo-Dexter by planting them in the Sierra di Guadalupe. The life of S. Basiliscus, if genuine, is by Eusignius, who knew the martyr, and was himself, probably, a martyr in the persecution afterwards, and is commemorated on August 5th. In the life are many passages which show that Eusignius was well acquainted with the facts he describes, such as "Christ accompanied His martyr, as Basiliscus afterwards told me, Eusignius." He was eye-witness of the events; he says, "As we approached the city, we heard, &c., ... we tasted ... and when we went in, we heard, ... we, to whom it was granted to see this terrible mystery ... we asked the speculator, and gave him thirty gold pieces, and he gave us the body, and we buried it, and we sowed vegetables ... and we went to rest." The Acts, if they are genuine, and not an impudent forgery, have undergone much interpolation. Some of these additions are apparent from a change of the "we" to "they" in the account of the journey to Comana.]

In the reign of Maximian and Maximin, Agrippa was sent into Pontus, to be governor in the room of Asclepiades, with orders to constrain all Christians to sacrifice. Basiliscus, Eutropius, and Cleonicus, three Christians of Amasea, were seized and thrown into prison. And when Eutropius and Cleonicus had suffered, the blessed Basiliscus with many tears prayed, saying, "O Lord Jesus Christ, remember me, even unto the end, and make my calling manifest unto all, that I may not be separated from these holy men who have been taken with me, and who have suffered before me, and are crowned!" Then the Lord appeared to him and said, "I will not forget thee. Thy name is written with those who have been with thee. But be not downcast because thou art last; for thou shalt precede many. But go, bid farewell to thy mother and thy brethren, and when thou returnest, thou shalt receive thy crown. Fear not the torments prepared for thee, for I shall be at thy side."

Then Basiliscus asked, and prevailed on, the jailor to let him go to the village of Cumiala, near Amasea, where his mother lived, that he might say farewell to her. Now it fell out that early in the morning Agrippa unexpectedly sent for Basiliscus, and when he heard of the indulgence that had been granted him—though soldiers had been sent as guards with the prisoner—he was filled with rage, and threatened the jailor with capital punishment. Then he called to him a city officer named Magistrianus, a brutal fellow, implacable in his detestation of Christianity, and commissioned him to take a band of soldiers and convey Basiliscus to Comana, whither he himself was starting. Magistrianus mounted his ass, and ambled to Cumiala, and surrounded the doors of the house, as Basiliscus was parting with his mother and three brothers, before returning. Magistrianus ordered a pair of boots to be put on Basiliscus, with the nails in them protruding, and then bade him limp along among the guards back to Amasea. The nails made his feet bleed, and as he walked through the street of Amasea a crowd gathered, murmuring against the tyranny of the governor and his satellites. Magistrianus, in a rage, leaped off his ass, and cudgelled the mob with the stick he had used to make the ass go, and the soldiers assisted him to disperse the crowd. Basiliscus was then led along the road to Comana, singing, "Though an host of men be set against me, yet shall not my heart be afraid; for thou, O Christ, art with me!"

At mid-day the party, which consisted of fifteen, came to a little village, and a lady's villa. The lady very courteously invited the officer and his men into the house to refresh themselves, and they tied Basiliscus with his hands behind his back to a plane tree in the court yard. A number of the villagers came up to stare at the martyr, who stood under the dry tree, suffering intensely from the heat, and with blood dribbling from his wounded feet, "whilst Magistrianus and his folk were feasting in Trojana's house, on all kinds of delicacies, meats, and costly wines, served up in the cool summer dining hall," says Eusignius, bitterly.

But God did not forget the poor martyr under the blazing mid-day sun, for the plane tree put forth leaves, and overshadowed him, and a fountain bubbled at his feet, and cooled and laved his festering wounds.

On the party reaching Comana, Magistrianus led Basiliscus direct to the temple of Apollo, where was the governor at the moment.

The governor at once ordered him to be brought in. Basiliscus smilingly entered. "Why wilt thou not sacrifice, fellow?" asked the governor. "Who told thee that I will not sacrifice?" answered Basiliscus. "Ah! the gods be praised! thou wilt sacrifice then."

"I will offer to God the sacrifice of praise." "Offer to whom you please," said the governor, sharply, "only sacrifice and have done with this folly."

"Who is that?" asked Basiliscus, pointing to the image of Apollo. "That is the god Apollo," answered Agrippa. "The name is appropriate enough," said Basiliscus, "for he brings to destruction all who trust in him."6 Then he cried aloud to all in the temple, "Hearken, all men, to my prayer, to the Lord of Heaven and earth." And he prayed, "God, who art alone and true, with thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit; who art invisible, incomprehensible, whom none can describe and include, who art good and merciful, and acceptest not the person of man, who createst the things that are out of that which is not, and enlightenest us who sat in darkness, and gavest us the bright knowledge of Thy deity: Thou art the helper of all them that trust in Thee. God, who art alone holy, and dwellest in Thy saints, in me, thy humble servant, exhibit Thy mercy, and confirm my prayer, for I pray to Thee of Thy great goodness, Thou who spreadest out the heavens as a curtain, and by Thy command makest them fast, and adornest them with the bright shining stars, and with the glory of the sun, and the moon walking in brightness, and givest us the hours of day; Thou didst make Thy sun a chamber, and gavest him everlasting limits, and didst set the moon to rule the course of time, and didst divide the hours and days and months; Thou didst found the earth by Thy command, that it should be an habitation for man, and didst give to it an everlasting bound, and didst clothe it with trees and flowers; Thou didst lay the sea and bound it by Thy precept, and madest a way over it; and didst fashion man with Thine own holy hands after Thine image, and didst give him wisdom and reason, and didst breathe into his face the breath of life. Lord, who didst create the whole world, who from Adam till this present, and hereafter till endless ages, keepest those that love Thee, and glorifiest those that fear Thee! Lord Jesus Christ! hear the prayer of Thy servant, and be present with me at this hour, and destroy this deaf, and dumb, and blind, and senseless idol; break and dissolve this god made with hands, and shew to these heathen the madness of their worship, and Whom we worship and adore as God. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing against Thy saints? Look, O Lord, and keep not still silence, for thus behoves all honour and glory and magnificence to Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, through ages of ages. Amen."

And when he had said Amen, there was an earthquake, and a thunder underground, and the temple shook to its foundations, and the image of Apollo fell and was broken. Then all who were in the temple fled, leaving Basiliscus alone with the broken idol at his feet. And when the earthquake was past, the governor sent, and brought Basiliscus forth, and his head was struck off with the sword. The governor ordered the body to be thrown into the river, but Eusignius bribed the soldier who was carrying it away to let him have it, and he buried it in a field, and sowed herbs over it. S. Basiliscus died on July 21st. He appeared in vision to S. Chrysostom the night before that aged saint died; (see Jan 27th, p. 412.)

S. WINWALOE, AB.

(6TH CENT.)

[Anglican Martyrologies; Saussaye, in his Gallican Martyrology, the Belgian Martyrologies. His translation from the old wooden church at Landevenec, to a stone one, is commemorated on April 28th, and to Montreuil-sur-Mer, on August 1st. Authorities:—Three Lives; the first by an anonymous writer, given by the Bollandists, is full of fable, and by no means early. The second is still less trustworthy, and is given by Surius. The third is by Gurdestin, Monk of Landevenec. The life by Albert le Grand is deserving of notice, but the historical particulars are not accurate. There is great difficulty about this saint. It is probable that there were two of his name, and only by this means can the very different accounts of his life be reconciled. One Winwaloe is a native of Brittany, and a disciple of S. Corentine, and was translated to Montreuil. Another Winwaloe is a native of Britain, a disciple of S. Sampson, of Dol, and afterwards of S. Similian, abbot of Tauriac; and his body lies at Ghent. M. Ch. Barthelemy, in his "Annales Hagiologiques de la France," 5th cent., claims for the first anonymous life to have been written by a disciple of Winwaloe. But this is more than improbable. It has none of the elements of a contemporary account. The writer says that the name of the mother of the saint was not known; and he does not name his master in the religious life, S. Corentine or S. Budock, but calls him "a holy man," or "that man of God"; and the life, like all late compilations, gives scanty details of persons and places, but abounds in fables.7]

Winwaloe was born about the year 455; his father was Fragan, related to Conan Meriadec. Fragan was governor of LÉon (Lyoness) and Cornonaille, under King Grallo, or Gradillon. Fragan married a noble and wealthy lady named Gwen, of the Three Breasts, and resided with her at Lesgwen, in the parish of Plonkin. By her he had a son, whom he called Gwenaloe,8 or "He that is white," on account of his beauty. When Winwaloe was about fifteen years old he was given to a holy man, S. Corentine, or S. Budock, it is uncertain which, together with his brothers, Gwethenoc and Jacut, and they lived together, serving God in the islet of Isle-vert.

One day that Winwaloe was with his father, a fleet of pirates appeared off the coast, and hovered about the harbour of Guic Sezne, near Lauvengat. S. Winwaloe is said in the popular tradition to have exclaimed on the occasion, Me a vel mil Guern, "I see a thousand sails;" and a cross which commemorates the spot is called therefrom to this day, Croas al mil Guern, "the cross of the thousand sails." The pirates landed, but Fragan, having gathered his retainers, fell upon them and utterly defeated them. Many were cut to pieces, and a few escaped in their vessels. During the combat, Winwaloe, like a second Moses, prayed with fervour; and after the victory he exhorted his father to employ the spoil they had taken in building a monastery on the spot where the battle took place, in Isel-Vez, in the parish of Plou-Nevez. He did so, and the monastery was called Loc-Christ.

After some years, Winwaloe left his master, and settled in the island of Sein, off the Point du Raz; but, finding it exposed to the full swell of the Atlantic, and to every gale, he was obliged to desert it, and found a more suitable place of settlement at Llandevenec, on the opposite side of the harbour of Brest, where he established a monastery, into which he gathered many disciples, and there, after many years, he died, standing at the altar, after having bestowed the kiss of peace on the brethren, on Saturday, the 3rd of March, in the first week in Lent; a date which may be either 507, 518, or 529.

Another version of the history of S. Winwaloe makes him to have been born in Wales, and to have had S. Budock for his preceptor.

The body of S. Winwaloe is preserved at Montreuil-sur-Mer, whither it was translated through fear of the invasion of the Normans, after having first just found shelter at Ghent. The chasuble, alb and bell of S. Winwaloe, are preserved in the Jesuit Church of S. Charles, at Antwerp.

At the same time, the body of a S. Winwaloe is also at Blandinberg, near Ghent; and the story told of this saint is in many particulars like that of the S. Winwaloe at Montreuil, but it differs in others.

S. Winwaloe is represented in art vested as an abbot, with staff in one hand and bell in the other, standing by the sea, with the fish rising out of the water as if obeying the summons of his bell.

S. KUNEGUND, EMPSS.

(ABOUT A.D. 1040.)

[German, Cologne, Basle, and Roman Martyrologies; also in the Benedictine Martyrology of Wyon. Proper offices in the Brussels, Passau Ratisbon, Salzburg, Frisingen, Bamberg, Eichstadt, Vienna, and other Breviaries. Her translation is celebrated on September 9th; and her canonization on March 29th. At Bamberg she is again commemorated on August 1st. Her life was written after 1190. This life forms the Breviary lessons at Bamberg on March 3rd and August 1st. Other authorities are the historians of the time.]

S. Kunegund, or Cunegundes, was the daughter of Sigfried, count of Luxemburg, and Hedewig, his pious wife. She was married to S. Henry, duke of Bavaria. Her sister was married to Gerard, Count of Alsace. Her brothers were Henry, created, in 103, duke of Bavaria, when S. Henry was emperor; Frederick, count of Luxemburg on the death of his father; Dietrich, bishop of Metz; and others.

On the death of the emperor Otho III., S. Henry was elected king of the Romans, and was crowned at Mentz on June 6th, 1002. Kunegund was crowned empress at Paderborn, on August 10th, in the same year. Immediately on his coronation his cousin, the Margrave, Henry of Schwein-furt, demanded the dukedom of Bavaria, and his own brother, Bruno, made a similar claim. But the emperor refused to give it to either, and bestowed it on Henry, Count of Luxemburg, his wife's brother. The two disappointed competitors then conspired against him with Boleslas II., of Bohemia, but they were defeated by the emperor near Creusen, in 1003, and were pardoned. Adalbert, another brother of Kunegund, then expelled Megingod, archbishop of Treves, and seized on the diocese for himself, but the emperor deposed him, and restored the rightful archbishop.

In 1013, Henry and Kunegund received the imperial crown at Rome, from the pope. It was on this occasion that the pope bestowed on the emperor the golden ball, the emblem of the globe over which he was destined to rule. The imperial pair, it is said, had taken the vow of chastity, but of this there is no evidence. Kunegund's virtue, however, did not escape slander, and she voluntarily underwent the ordeal by fire, and walked unharmed over glowing ploughshares to testify her innocence.

S. Henry founded the bishopric of Bamberg, partly at the instigation of S. Kunegund, who obtained for the city such privileges, that it became a popular saying there, that Kunegund's silk threads defended Bamberg better than walls and towers. Pope Benedict VIII. visited Bamberg in 1020, for the purpose of consecrating the new establishment. Kunegund also built and endowed a Benedictine abbey for nuns, at Kaufungen, near Cassel. Before it was finished, in 1024, S. Henry died. On the anniversary of his death, in 1025, she assembled a great number of prelates to the dedication of her church at Kaufungen; and after the singing of the gospel, she offered on the altar a piece of the true cross, and then put off her imperial robes, and clothed herself with a poor habit; her hair was cut off, and the bishop put on her a veil, and a ring as a pledge of her fidelity to her heavenly Spouse. After she was consecrated to God in religion, she seemed entirely to forget that she had been empress, and behaved as the last in the house, being persuaded that she was so before God. She feared nothing more than whatever could bring to her mind the remembrance of her former dignity. She prayed and read much, worked with her hands, and took a singular pleasure in visiting and comforting the sick. Thus she passed the fifteen last years of her life, never suffering the least preference to be given her above any one in the community. Her mortifications at length reduced her to a very weak[Pg 53]
[Pg 54] condition, and brought on her last sickness. Her monastery and the whole city of Cassel were grievously afflicted at the thought of their approaching loss; she alone appeared without concern, lying on a coarse hair-cloth, ready to give up the ghost, whilst the prayers of the dying were read by her side. Perceiving they were preparing a cloth fringed with gold to cover her corpse after her death, she ordered it to be taken away; nor could she be at rest till it was promised that she should be buried as a religious in her habit. She died on the 3rd of March, 1040. Her body was carried to Bamberg, and buried near that of her husband. The greatest part of her relics still remains in the same church. She was solemnly canonized by Innocent III. in 1200.

She is represented in art with the ploughshares at her feet