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

S. FRIDOLIN, AB. OF SICKINGEN.

(END OF 7TH CENT.)

[Molanus and Greven in their additions to Usuardus. Canisius in his German Martyrology. Anglican and later Irish and Scottish Martyrologies. The Acts of Fridolin were preserved in a monastery on the Moselle, where they were found, and recast in a more ornate style, by a monk, Balther, in the beginning of the 12th cent. The story of this is rather curious. In the monastery of Sickingen there was no copy of the life of S. Fridolin, on account of the monastery having been destroyed by the Huns about 938. But Balther, a monk of Sickingen, happening to visit a monastery on the Moselle, which had been founded by S. Fridolin, found the life there. He asked for it, but the prior refused to give it him, so he learned it by heart, as well as he could, "partly carrying it away word for word, and partly gathering the subject-matter," after which he set to work and re-wrote it, incorporating the portions he knew by heart with that portion which he wrote in his own words. He says that he was puzzled to find that in the MS. the saint was called Fridhold, whereas at Sickingen they were wont to call him Fridolin. Fridhold was undoubtedly the ancient and most correct form of the name, and Fridolin is a diminutive.]

Fridolin the Traveller was a native of Ireland, what his name there was is not known, as we only hear of him by his Teutonic appellation, signifying "Gentle Peace." His birth was illustrious, and he is usually said to have been the son of a king, but Balther merely says he was a person of distinguished piety. Having embraced the ecclesiastical state, he was raised to the priesthood, and preached with great zeal for some time in various parts of Ireland. Wishing to visit foreign countries, he passed over to France, and after preaching there, became a member of S. Hilary's monastery at Poitiers, where he remained for a considerable time, and was so much esteemed by the community, and the bishop and clergy, that he was elected abbot. He then completed an object which he had greatly at heart, the rebuilding of S. Hilary's Church, in which he was assisted by king Clovis, and by the bishop and the inhabitants; and he placed in it the remains of the saint, reserving a few portions of the relics for himself. During this time he was visited by two priests, relatives of his, who had been labouring as missionaries in Northumberland. Leaving them at Poitiers, and taking with him some of the relics of S. Hilary, Fridolin went to the east of France, and erected a monastery on the banks of the Moselle, which he dedicated to S. Hilary, and which was called Helera. Having remained there only as long as was necessary to complete that foundation, he built a church amidst the Vosges, likewise in honour of S. Hilary, perhaps that which was named Hilariacum, the modern S. Avold, in the Department of Moselle. Thence he proceeded to Strassburg, where also he erected a church under the same invocation. Next we find him at Coire, in the Grisons, and there likewise founding a Church of S. Hilary. While there, he inquired of the inhabitants if there were any island in the Rhine as yet uninhabited, and was informed there was one, of which, however, they could not give him a precise account. He went in search of it, and at length found the island of Sickingen, a few miles above Basle. When examining it for the purpose of discovering whether it were fit for the erection of a church, he was beaten and ill-treated by the inhabitants of the neighbouring district. But having obtained a grant of the island from the king, he founded a church, and a religious house for women, towards the endowment of which he got some lands from Urso, a nobleman of Glarus. Thenceforth he spent the remainder of his life at Sickingen, together with some disciples of his, of whom he formed a community, prior, it is said, to his having established the nunnery. He died there on the 6th of March, but in what year is not known. There are great doubts even as to the century in which he flourished; but it is most probable that he belonged to the latter part of the 7th century. Some writings have been attributed to the saint, but upon no sufficient authority. Many writers suppose that he arrived in France in the reign of Clovis I., but it is more probable that it was in the reign of Clovis III. According to Balther, Christianity seems to have been completely established in Ireland at the time of Fridolin's departure for France, and this representation does not suit the religious state of Ireland at the period when Clovis I. reigned. The holy expeditions of missionaries from Ireland to the continent, had not begun as early as the 6th century. Next comes the very remarkable circumstance of the priests, the nephews of Fridolin, coming from Northumberland. There were no Irish priests in Northumberland until the year 635.25

S. Fridolin is regarded as the tutelar patron of the Canton of Glarus, which bears on its coat of arms a figure of the saint.

SS. KYNEBURGA, ABSS., KYNESWITHA AND TIBBA, VV.

(END OF 7TH CENT.)

[Anglican Martyrologies. Authorities:—Bede, lib. iii. c. 21, Ingulf, and William of Malmesbury.]

An obstinate tradition found in the ancient English Chronicles asserts that two daughters of the savage old heathen Penda, king of Mercia, Kyneburga and Kyneswitha, both gave up the thought of marriage to consecrate themselves to God. The eldest, who was married to Alcfrid, the eldest son of king Oswy of Northumbria, is said to have left him with his consent, after having lived with him some years in virginal continence, to end her life in the cloister. The youngest, sought in marriage by Offa, king of the East Saxons, used her connection with him only to persuade the young prince to embrace the monastic life as she herself desired to do. But it has been proved that the two daughters of the bloody Penda contributed with their brothers to the establishment of the great abbey of Medehampstede, or Peterborough, that their names appear in the list of the national assembly which sanctioned this foundation, and that it was not till after, that they retired to lead a religious life at Dermundcaster, now Caister, near Peterborough, on the confines of Huntingdon and Northampton. There Kyneburga became the abbess of a community of nuns, when she was shortly joined by her sister Kyneswitha, and a kinswoman Tibba.

After their death, they were buried at Peterborough. When the Danes wasted England, their bodies were carried to Thorney, but were brought back again in the days of king Henry I.

Camden, in his account of Rutland, informs us that S. Tibba was held in particular veneration at Ryall on the Wash.

SS. BALTHER AND BILFRED, H. H.

(ABOUT A.D. 756.)

[Anglican and Scottish Martyrologies. Authorities:—Aberdeen Breviary, Hector Boece, Hist. Scot. lib. ix. Matthew of Westminster under date 941; Turgot of Durham, &c.]

S. Balther is supposed to be identical with S. Baldred, commemorated the same day in the Scottish Martyrologies.

S. Baldred is said to have lived a solitary life on the Bass-rock. At the entrance of the Firth of Forth was a dangerous rock just above the level of low tide which proved a cause of continual shipwreck. Baldred, says the lection in the Aberdeen Breviary, compassionating the sailors, went to the rock, and standing on it, it swam away under him "like a boat," and he conducted it to a place where it could do no mischief, and there he rooted it again.

He died at Aldham (Alderstone), and his body was claimed by the neighbouring parishes of Tyningham and Preston. A contest arose between the three parishes, and the story is told, which occurs also in that of S. Tyllo, that in the morning there were three precisely similar bodies, so that each parish was able to possess S. Baldred.

In 951, Anlaf the Dane burnt the church and monastery of Tyningham, and immediately after was struck with sudden sickness, and died. The body of S. Balther was rediscovered by revelation, by a priest, Elfrid, two centuries later, whose mission seems to have been the recovery of lost relics, for he found also those of SS. Bilfred, Acca, Alkmund the bishop, king Oswin, and the abbesses Ebba and Ethelgitha, being directed to them all by visions. The bones of S. Balther and S. Bilfred were put together with the body of S. Cuthbert in his shrine at Durham. But they were removed from the shrine again in 1104, the head of S. Oswald being alone left with S. Cuthbert, and were put in the shrine of the Venerable Bede.

S. Bilfred was a goldsmith, who is said to have chased a book of the Gospels with gems in gold, which was long preserved at Durham, and is now in the Cottonian library in the British Museum. On the cover is "? Eadfrid, Oetilwald, Billfrith, Aldred hoc Evangelium Deo et Cuthberto uonstruxerunt et ornaverunt;" above this in Saxon characters, and in a Northumbrian dialect, "And Billfrith, the anchorite, he fabricated the curious works that are on the outside, and it adorned with gold and with gems, also with silver overgilded, a priceless treasure." Billfrith is supposed to be a local form of Bilfred.

S. CHRODEGANG, B. OF METZ.

(A.D. 766.)

[Metz Martyrology, Molanus and Herimann Greven in their additions to Usuardus. Belgian Martyrologies, and Saussaye in his Gallia Christiana. Authority:—His life by Paulus Diaconus ([fl]. 790), and a larger one by John, abbot of Gorze, (d. 793), published in Pertz, Mon. Sacr. T. x. p. 552-572.]

This saint was a native of Hasbain, that portion of Brabant which surrounds Louvain, and was educated in the abbey of S. Tron. On account of his learning and general talents he was made chancellor of France by Charles Martel, mayor of the palace, in 737. Soon after the death of Charles, he was elected bishop of Metz, in 742. In 754 he was sent on an embassy by king Pepin to Astulph, king of the Lombards, who had overrun the North of Italy, praying him not to commit degradations in Rome, nor to force the Romans to desert their faith. But the embassy proved fruitless. In 755 the saint organised a regular community to serve as chapter to his cathedral, requiring them to live together in one house, and observe certain rules, which he drew up in thirty-four articles. Amongst other rules, he required his canons to confess at least twice in the year to the bishop, before the beginning of Advent and Lent. He built and endowed the monasteries of S. Peter, of Gorze, and of Lorsch; and died on March 6th, 766. He was buried at Gorze. His relics disappeared at the Revolution.

S. COLETTE, V.

(A.D. 1447.)

[Roman Martyrology. Her festival was celebrated with proper office at her convent in Ghent, by permission of Clement VIII.; and Paul V. extended this privilege to all other convents of her order. She was canonized by Pius VII., in 1807. Her life was written by Peter À Vallisus, [or] de Rheims, for many years her confessor, in French, and it was translated by Etienne Julliac, a contemporary, into Latin; and an epitome of her life was written by Jodocus Clichthrove.]

Colette Boillet, a carpenter's daughter, was born at Corbie, in Picardy, on Jan. 13th, 1380. Her parents gave her at the font the name of Nicoletta, and this has been contracted into Colette, the name by which she is now usually known. From her earliest infancy she seems to have been singled out for a special work, and her young soul, from the first, opened to divine grace, as a spring flower to the sun. At the age of seven, she yearned for a retired life, and she fashioned for herself a little oratory in the back premises of the carpenter's wood-yard, into which she retreated for prayer, and there spent many hours in communion with God. When her childish companions sought her that they might draw her into their sports and pastimes, she hid under her bed; but when anything was really wanted of her, or any of her companions were in trouble, she was at once at hand to assist and console. If a poor person came to the door whilst the family was at meals, she would rise and give him her share.

In 1402, at the age of twenty-two, Colette bade farewell to nature, to her friends, to all of life that was most lovely, and enclosed herself in an anchorite's cell, built against the walls of the church of Corbie. These voluntary recluses were common in the Middle Ages. Those who desired to live this life of seclusion, entered living into these tombs, which were built up, leaving only a window open, through which they were fed and communicated. Throughout all Picardy the fame of the austerities of Colette spread, and many sought her counsel and prayers. Fearing that her humility would suffer, for three years she maintained a complete silence, only opening her window to receive the Holy Sacrament. At length the call came, which it was impossible for her to resist. Henry de la Balm, her confessor, saw in a dream a vine full of leaves, but fruitless; then came Colette and pruned the vine, and it began to yield abundantly. Shortly after this Colette saw, in vision, a great tree growing in her cell, laden with golden fruit, and numerous saplings springing up about its roots. Fearing a deception of Satan, she tore up the young plants, but there appeared more in their place. Then she thought God summoned her to reform the Order of the Poor Clares. But she still hesitated; whereupon she was struck blind for three days, and after that for three days dumb. She hesitated no longer, but came forth ready, in God's name, to undertake her mission. She left her cell with regret; turning at the door, and kissing the threshold, she sobbed forth, "Oh, dear little home, farewell! farewell my joy and repose! Oh, if men knew how much happiness I have enjoyed in thee, they would desert palaces to inhabit thy narrow walls."

It was the close of autumn in 1406. The vines were heavy with grapes, the trees had put on their many-coloured autumnal tints, and the last shocks of yellow harvest were being gathered in. For four years, in her seclusion, she had seen nothing of all this, only the golden light playing on the wall of her chamber, sometimes pale, and sometimes burning as flame, and the blue sky and the drifting clouds, now dark grey with winter rains, and then white and fleecy in summer light.

Colette had written all that she had deemed expedient for the reformation of the Franciscan Order; she placed her writings in a pouch attached to her girdle, and on foot she started for Nice, where Benedict XIII. resided, on account of the schism. The pope received Colette with honour; she made profession of the rule of S. Clare at his feet, and he appointed her superior-general of the whole order; naming Henry de la Balm, her confessor, as assistant for the reformation of the Friars of S. Francis.

This young and feeble woman now set her hand with incredible energy to the accomplishment of her task. She traversed France, Savoy, Germany, and Flanders, meeting in some places with violent opposition as a crazy fanatic, but in other succeeding in establishing a reform. The provinces of France were ravaged by war, and all the evil passions of wicked men were let loose; but Colette walked through all dangers, relying on Divine protection, and never relying in vain. She was accused of heresy, and even of unchastity, but she was not crushed by slander, despising reproach as she had defied danger.

In 1410, she founded a convent at BesanÇon; in 1415, she introduced a reform into the convent of the Cordeliers, at Dole, and in succession into nearly all the convents in Lorraine, Champagne, and Picardy. In 1416, she founded a house of her order at Poligny, at the foot of the Jura, and another at Auxonne. "I am dying of curiosity to see this wonderful Colette, who resuscitates the dead," wrote the Duchess of Bourbon, about this time. For the fame of the miracles and labours of the carpenter's daughter was in every mouth.

In 1422, Colette started for Moulins to meet the duchess, and to found there a religious house. The Duchess of Nevers summoned her into her duchy, and she obeyed the summons. It was on her way to Moulins that she met another maiden, also acting under a special call, though one of a very different nature. One maiden was called to wear cord and veil, the other to gird the sword and wear the casque. It was Joan of Arc, then on her way with Dunois at the head of an army to besiege CharitÉ-sur-Loire. In Auvergne, Colette converted Isabeau de Bourbon, and at the age of nineteen the young princess exchanged her diamonds for the knotted cord of S. Clare.

After having founded the convent of Le Puy, at the request of Amadeus VII., Colette carried her reformation into Savoy. On the north shore of the Lake of Geneva, she found a still sweet spot, itself silent and secluded as a monastery, its white walls reflected in the deep blue of the lake, and looking out on a range of snowy mountains. At Vevey she rested to look around her, relax her weary soul, and breathe in the soft air, sweet from the fields of narcissus. But God had not yet called her to rest. From all sides devotees came to her,—the Duchess of Valentinois, the unfortunate Jacques de Bourbon, in turn jailor and prisoner of his wife, Jeanne of Sicily, with his children, who, having tasted the life of the cloister, found it was so sweet, that they abandoned for it the pleasures and ambitions of the world.26

After having spent two years at Vevey, Colette went to Nozeroy, to the princess of Orange, and remained with her till 1430. Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, recalled Colette to Flanders, where she founded several houses, and glorified God by many miracles. In the memoirs of Oliver de la Marche, a Burgundian gentleman of this time, occurs the following notice of S. Colette; "En celui temps, rÉgnoit une moult sainte et dÉvote femme, religieuse de Sainte-Claire, au pays de Bourgoigne, nommÉe soeur Colette. Cette femme allait par toute la chrÉtientÉ, menant moult sainte vie, et Édifiant maisons et Églises de la religion de Saint FranÇois et de Sainte Claire. Et ai ÉtÉ acertenÉ, que, par son pourchas et par sa peine, elle avait ÉdifiÉ de son temps trois cent quatre-vingts Églises."

It would seem almost as if Colette had a natural love for mountains, so generally do we find her returning to them, and laying at their feet the foundations of her dearest homes. Perhaps the mystery of their blue-veined valleys, and the wondrous changes wrought by the sun and clouds on their sides, filled her with a sense of love and awe. But it was not from among the mountains that she was summoned away. The call to the everlasting hills came to her on the flats of Flanders, in the city of Ghent. There she died on March 6th, 1447, laying herself down to repose as gladly as the weary labourer in harvest time, who returns to his home and to sleep after a day of incessant toil.

When the Emperor Joseph II. suppressed many religious houses in his dominions, in 1785, the Poor Clares of Ghent took up the body of S. Colette, and traversing France, laid it beneath the mountain shadows at Poligny. The holy relics were secreted at the time of the French Revolution, and on the return of tranquillity, they were placed in the parish church; but the Poor Clares having re-established themselves at Poligny, the bones of the saint have been restored to them.

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