The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints. January, February, March

by Alban Butler

FEBRUARY XXIX.

ST. OSWALD,

BISHOP OF WORCESTER AND ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.

From his life written by Eadmer; also from Florence of Worcester, William of Malmesbury, and, above all, the elegant and accurate author of the history of Ramsey, published by the learned Mr. Gale, p. 385. The life of this saint, written by Fulcard, abbot of Thorney, in 1068, Wharton thinks not extant. Mabillon doubts whether it is not that which we have in Capgrave and Surius. See also Portiforium 8. Oswaldi Archiep. Eborac. Codex MS. crassus in 8vo. exarates circa annum 1064, in Bennet College, Cambridge, mentioned by Waneley, Catal. p. 110.

A.D. 992.

ST. OSWALD was nephew to St. Odo, archbishop of Canterbury, and to Oskitell, bishop first of Dorcester, afterwards of York. He was educated by St. Odo, and made dean of Winchester; but passing into France, took the monastic habit at Fleury. Being recalled to serve the church, he succeeded St. Dunstan in the see of Worcester about the year 959. He shone as a bright star in this dignity, and established a monastery of monks at Westberry, a village in his diocese. He was employed by duke Aylwin in superintending his foundation of the great monastery of Ramsey, in an island formed by marshes and the river Ouse in Huntingdonshire, in 972. St. Oswald was made archbishop of York in 974, and he dedicated the church of Ramsey under the names of the Blessed Virgin, St. Benedict, and all holy virgins. Nothing of this rich mitred abbey remains standing except an old gate-house, and a neglected statue of the founder, Aylwin, with keys and a ragged staff in his hand to denote his office; for he was cousin to the glorious king Edgar, the valiant general of his armies, and the chief judge and magistrate of the kingdom, with the title of alderman of England, and half king, as the historian of Ramsey usually styles him.[1] {486} St. Oswald was almost always occupied in visiting his diocese, preaching without intermission and reforming abuses. He was a great encourager of learning and learned men. St. Dunstan obliged him to retain the see of Worcester with that of York. Whatever intermission his function allowed him he spent it at St. Mary's, a church and monastery of Benedictins, which he had built at Worcester, where he joined with the monks in their monastic exercises. This church from that time became the cathedral. The saint, to nourish in his heart the sentiments of humility and charity, had everywhere twelve poor persons at his table, whom he served, and also washed and kissed their feet. After having sat thirty-three years he fell sick at St. Mary's in Worcester, and having received the extreme unction and viaticum, continued in prayer, repeating often, "Glory be to the Father," &c., with which words he expired amidst his monks, on the 29th of February, 992. His body was taken up ten years after and enshrined, by Adulph his successor, and was illustrated by miracles. It was afterwards translated to York, on the 15th of October, which day was appointed his principal festival.

* * * * *

St. Oswald made quick progress in the path of perfect virtue, because he studied with the utmost earnestness to deny himself and his own will, listening attentively to that fundamental maxim of the Eternal Truth, which St. Bennet, of whose holy order he became a bright light, repeats with great energy. This holy founder declares in the close of his rule, that, He who desires to give himself up to God, must trample all earthly things under his feet, renounce every thing that is not God, and die to all earthly affections, so as to attain to a perfect disengagement and nakedness of heart, that God may fill and entirely possess it, in order to establish therein the kingdom of his grace and pure love forever. And in his prologue he cries out aloud, that he addresses himself only to him who is firmly resolved in all things to deny his own will, and to hasten with all diligence to arrive at his heavenly kingdom.

Footnotes:
1. The titles of honor among our Saxon ancestors were, Etheling, prince
of the blond: chancellor, assistant to the king in giving judgments:
alderman, or ealderman, (not earldonnan, as Rapin Thoyras writes
this word in his first edition,) governor or viceroy. It is derived
from the word ald or old, like senator in Latin. Provinces, cities,
and sometimes wapentakes, had their alderman to govern them,
determine lawsuits, judge criminals, &c. That office gave place to
the title of earl, which was merely Danish, and introduced by
Canute. Sheriffe or she-reeve, was the deputy of the alderman,
chosen by him, sat judge in some courts, and saw sentence executed;
hence he was called vicecomes. Heartoghan signified, among our Saxon
ancestors, generals of armies, or dukes. Hengist, in the Saxon
chronicle, is heartogh; such were the dukes appointed by Constantine
the Great, to command the forces in the different provinces of the
Roman empire. These titles began to become hereditary with the
offices or command annexed under Pepin and Charlemagne, and grew
more frequent by the successors of these princes granting many
hereditary fiefs to noblemen, to which they annexed titular
dignities. Fiefs were an establishment of the Lombards, from whom
the emperors of Germany, and the kings of France, borrowed this
custom, and with it the feodal laws, of which no mention is made in
the Routun code. Titles began frequently to become merely honorary
about the time of Otho I. in Germany.

Reeve among the English Saxons was a steward. The bishop's reeve was a bishop's steward for secular affairs, attending in his court. Thanes, i.e., servants, were officers of the crown whom the king recompensed with lands, sometimes to descend to their posterity, but always to be held of him with some obligation of service, homage, or acknowledgment. There were other lords of lands and vassals, who enjoyed the title of thanes, and were distinguished from the king's thanes. The ealdermen and dukes were all king's thanes, and all others who held lands of the king by knight's service in chief, and were immediately great tenants of the king's estates. These were the greater thanes, and were succeeded by the barons, which title was brought in by the Normans, and is rarely found before the Conqueror. Mass thanes were those who held lands in fee of the church. Middle thanes were such as held very small estates of the king, or parcels of lands of the king's greater thanes. They were called by the Normans vavassors, and their lands vavassories. They who held lands of these, were thanes of the lowest class, and did not rank as gentlemen. All thanes disposed of the lands which they held (and which were called Blockland) to their heirs, but with the obligations due to those of whom they were held. Ceorle (whence our word churl) was a countryman or artisan who was a freeman. Those ceorles who held lands in leases were called sockmen, and their land sockland, of which they could not dispose, being barely tenants. Those ceorles who acquired possession of five hides of land with a large house, court, and bell to call together their servants, were raised to the rank of thanes of the lowest class. A hide of land was as much as one plough could till. The villains or slaves in the country were laborers, bound to the service of particular persons; were all capable of possessing money in property, consequently were not strictly slaves in the sense of the Roman law.

Witan or Wites, (i. e. wisemen,) were the magistrates and lawyers. Burghwitten signified the magistrates of cities. Some shires (or counties) are mentioned before king Alfred; and Asserius speaks of earls (or counts) of Somerset, and Devonshire, in the reign of Ethelwolph. But Alfred first divided the whole kingdom into shires, the shires into tithings, lathes, or wapentacks, the tithings into hundreds, and the hundreds into tenths. Each division had a court subordinate to those that were superior, the highest in each shire being the shire-gemot, or folck-mote, which was held twice a year, and in which the bishop or his deputy, and the ealderman, or his viceregent, the sheriff, presided. See Seldon on the Titles of Honor; Speman's Glossary, ad. noviss. Squires on the Government of the English Saxons. Dr. William Howel, in his learned General History, t. 5, p. 273, &c. N.B. The titles of earls and hersen were first given by Ifwar Widfame, king of Sweden, to two ministers of state in 824; on which see many remarks of Olof Delin, in his excellent new history of Sweden, c. 5, t. {}, p. {}34.

{487}

Only Complete and Unabridged Edition with nearly 100 pages of Chronological and General Index, Alphabetical and Centenary Table, etc.

THE
LIVES
THE FATHERS, MARTYRS,
AND OTHER
PRINCIPAL SAINTS;
COMPILED FROM
ORIGINAL MONUMENTS, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC RECORDS;
ILLUSTRATED WITH THE
REMARKS OF JUDICIOUS MODERN CRITICS AND HISTORIANS
BY THE REV. ALBAN BUTLER
With the approbation of
MOST REV. M.A. CORRIGAN, D.D.,
Archbishop of New York.

VOL. III.

NEW YORK: P.J. KENEDY, PUBLISHER TO THE HOLY SEE, EXCELSIOR CATHOLIC PUBLISHING HOUSE, 5 BARCLAY STREET. 1903

{488 blank page} {489} CONTENTS

MARCH. 1. PAGE ST. DAVID, Archbishop, Patron of Wales………. 491 St. Swidbert, or Swibert, the ancient, Bishop and Confessor…………………………… 493 St. Albinus, Bishop of Angers, Confessor…….. 494 St. Monan, Martyr…………………………. 495

2.
Martyrs under the Lombards…………………. 496
St. Ceada, or Chad, Bishop and Confessor…….. 497
St. Simplicius, Pope and Confessor………….. 498
St. Marnan, Bishop and Confessor……………. 499
St. Charles the Good, Earl of Flanders, Martyr.. 500
St. Joavan, or Joevin, Bishop and Confessor….. 501

3.
St. Cunegundes, Empress……………………. 501
SS. Marinus and Asterius, or Astyrius, Martyrs.. 503
SS. Emeterius and Chelidonius, Martyrs………. 503
St. Winwaloe, or Winwaloc, Abbot……………. 504
St. Lamalisse, Confessor…………………… 506

4.
St. Casimir, Prince of Poland………………. 506
St. Lucius, Pope and Martyr………………… 508
St. Adrian, Bishop of St. Andrew's, Martyr…… 509

5.
SS. Adrian and Eubulus, Martyrs…………….. 510
St. Kiaran, or Kenerin, Bishop and Confessor…. 511
St. Roger, Confessor………………………. 512
St. John Joseph of the Cross……………….. 512

6.
St. Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, Confessor……. 519
B. Coleus, Virgin and Abbess……………….. 520
St. Fridolin, Abbot……………………….. 522
St. Baldrede, Bishop of Glasgow, Confessor…… 522
SS. Kyneburge, Kyneswide, and Tibba…………. 522
St. Cadroe. Confessor……………………… 523

7.
St Thomas of Aquino, Doctor of the Church
and Confessor…………………………… 523
SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, &c., Martyrs…….. 533
St. Paul, Anchoret………………………… 540

8.
St. John of God, Confessor…………………. 541
Venerable John of Avila, Apostle of Andalusia… 542
St. Felix, Bishop and Confessor…………….. 547
SS. Apollonius, Philemon, &c., Martyrs………. 548
St. Julian, Archbishop of Toledo, Confessor….. 548
St. Duthak, Bishop of Ross, in Scotland,
Confessor………………………………. 549
St. Rosa, of Viterbo, Virgin……………….. 549
St. Senan, Bishop and Confessor.. ………….. 549
St. Psalmod, or Saumay, Anchoret……………. 550

9.
St. Frances, Widow ……………………….. 550
Gregory of Nyasa, Bishop and Confessor………. 552
On the Writings of St. Gregory……………… 553
St. Pacian, Bishop of Barcelona, Confessor…… 557
On the Writings of St. Pacian………………. 557
St. Catherine of Bologna, Virgin and Abbess….. 559

10.
SS. The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste……………. 560
St. Droctovæus, Abbot……………………… 563
St. Mackessoge, or Kessoge, Confessor……….. 564

11.
St. Eulogius of Cordova, Priest and Martyr…… 564
St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem,
Confessor………………………………. 566
St. Ængus, Bishop and Confessor…………….. 567
St. Constantine, Martyr……………………. 568

12.
St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Confessor……. 568
On the Life of St. Gregory…………………. 580
St. Maximilian, Martyr…………………….. 581
St. Paul, Bishop of Leon, Confessor…………. 581

13.
St. Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople,
Confessor………………………………. 582
St. Euphrasia, Virgin……………………… 585
St. Theophanes, Abbot and Confessor…………. 587
St. Kennocha, Virgin in Scotland……………. 588
St. Gerald, Bishop………………………… 588
St. Mochoemoc, in Latin Pulcherius, Abbot……. 588

14.
St. Maud, or Mathildis, Queen of Germany…….. 589
SS. Acepsimas, Bishop, Joseph, Priest, and
Aithilahas, Deacon, Martyrs………………. 591
St. Boniface, Bishop of Ross, Confessor……… 594

15.
St. Abraham, Hermit……………………….. 594
St. Zachary, Pope and Confessor…………….. 596

16.
St. Julian, of Cilicia, Martyr……………… 597
St. Finian, surnamed Lobhar, or the Leper……. 598

17.
St. Patrick, Bishop and Confessor, Apostle of
Ireland………………………………… 599
SS. Martyrs of Alexandria………………….. 604
St. Joseph of Arimathea……………………. 605
St. Gertrude, Virgin and Abbess of Nivelle ….. 605

18
St. Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, Martyr…… 606
St. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, Confessor… 607

{490}

On the Writings of St. Cyril……………….. 614
St. Edward, Ring and Martyr………………… 617
St. Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, Confessor………. 618
St. Fridian, Bishop of Lucca, Confessor……… 619

19.
St Joseph………………………………… 620
St. Alcmund, Martyr……………………….. 624

20.
St. Cuthbert, Bishop and Confessor………….. 625
St. Wulfran, Archbishop of Seas…………….. 629

21.
St. Benedict, Abbot……………………….. 639
St. Serapion, the Sindonite………………… 638
St. Serapion, Abbot of Arsinoe……………… 639
St. Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis in Egypt……… 640
St. Enna, or Endeus, Abbot…………………. 641

22.
St. Basil of Ancyra, Priest and Martyr………. 641
St. Paul, Bishop of Narbonne, Confessor……… 644
St. Lea, Widow……………………………. 644
St. Deogratias, Bishop of Carthage, Confessor… 644
St. Catherine of Sweden, Virgin…………….. 644

23.
St. Alphonsus Turibius, Bishop and Confessor…. 645
SS. Victorian, Proconsul of Carthage. &c.,
Martyrs………………………………… 649
St. Edelwald, Priest and Confessor………….. 650

24.
St. Irenæus, Bishop of Sirmium, Martyr………. 651
St. Simon, an Infant, Martyr……………….. 653
St. William of Norwich, Martyr……………… 653

25.
The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary….. 661
St. Cammin, Abbot…………………………. 666

26.
St. Ludger, Bishop of Munster, Apostle of
Saxony…………………………………. 661
St. Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa, Confessor….. 663

27.
St. John of Egypt, Hermit………………….. 664
St. Rupert, or Robert, Bishop and Confessor….. 688

28.
SS. Priscus, Malchus, and Alexander, Martyrs…. 669
St. Sixtus III., Pope……………………… 670
St. Gontran, King and Confessor…………….. 671

29.
SS. Jonas, Barachisius, &c., Martyrs………… 672
SS. Armogastes, Archinimus, and Saturns,
Martyrs………………………………… 674
St. Eustasius, or Eustachius, Abbot…………. 675
St. Gundleus, Confessor……………………. 673
St. Mark, Bishop and Confessor……………… 675

30.
St. John Climacus, Abbot…………………… 677
St. Zozimus, Bishop of Syracuse…………….. 681
St. Regulus, or Rieul……………………… 681

31.
St. Benjamin, Deacon, Martyr……………….. 691
St. Acacias, or Achates, Bishop of Antioch in
Asia Minor, Confessor……………………. 683
St. Guy, Confessor………………………… 685

{491}

MARCH I.

SAINT DAVID, ARCHBISHOP,

PATRON OF WALES.

See his life by Giralduc Cambrensis, in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, t. 2; also Doctor Brown Willis, and Wilkins, Conc. Britain. & Hibern. t. 1.

About the year 544.

ST. DAVID, in Welsh Dewid, was son of Xantus, prince of Ceretice, now Cardiganshire. He was brought up in the service of God, and, being ordained priest, retired into the Isle of Wight, and embraced an ascetic life, under the direction of Paulinus, a learned and holy man, who had been a disciple of St. Germanus of Auxerre. He is said by the sign of the cross to have restored sight to his master, which he had lost by old age, and excessive weeping in prayer. He studied a long time to prepare himself for the functions of the holy ministry. At length, coming out of his solitude, like the Baptist out of the desert, he preached the word of eternal life to the Britons. He built a chapel at Glastenbury, a place which had been consecrated to the divine worship by the first apostles of this island. He founded twelve monasteries, the principal of which was in the vale of Ross,[1] near Menevia, where he formed many great pastors and eminent servants of God. By his rule he obliged all his monks to assiduous manual labor in the spirit of penance: he allowed them the use of no cattle to ease them at their work in tilling the ground. They were never suffered to speak but on occasions of absolute necessity, and they never ceased to pray, at least mentally, during their labor. They returned late in the day to the monastery, to read, write, and pray. Their food was only bread and vegetables, with a little salt, and they never drank any thing better than a little milk mingled with water. After their repast they spent three hours in prayer and adoration; then took a little rest, rose at cock-crowing, and continued in prayer till they went out to work. Their habit was of the skins of beasts. When any one petitioned to be admitted, he waited ten days at the door, during which time he was tried by harsh words, repeated refusals, and painful labors, that he might learn to die to himself. When he was admitted, he left all his worldly substance behind him, for the monastery never received any thing on the score of admission. All the monks discovered their most secret thoughts and temptations to their abbot.

The Pelagian heresy springing forth a second time in Britain, the bishops, in order to suppress it, held a synod at Brevy, in Cardiganshire, in 512, or rather in 519.[2] St. David, being invited to it, went thither, and in that venerable assembly confuted and silenced the infernal monster by his eloquence,{492} learning, and miracles. On the spot where this council was held, a church was afterwards built called Llan-Devi Brevi, or the church of St. David near the river Brevi. At the close of the synod, St. Dubritius, the archbishop of Caerleon, resigned his see to St. David, whose tears and opposition were only to be overcome by the absolute command of the synod, which however allowed him, at his request, the liberty to transfer his see from Caerleon, then a populous city, to Menevia, now called St. David's, a retired place, formed by nature for solitude, being, as it were, almost cut off from the rest of the island, though now an intercourse is opened to it from Milford-Haven. Soon after the former synod, another was assembled by St. David at a place called Victoria, in which the acts of the first were confirmed, and several canons added relating to discipline which were afterwards confirmed by the authority of the Roman church; and these two synods were, as it were, the rule and standard of the British churches. As for St. David, Giraldus adds, that he was the great ornament and pattern of his age. He spoke with great force and energy, but his example was more powerful than his eloquence; and he has in all succeeding ages been the glory of the British church. He continued in his last see many years; and having founded several monasteries, and been the spiritual father of many saints, both British and Irish, died about the year 544, in a very advanced age. St. Kentigtern saw his soul borne up by angels into heaven. He was buried in his church of St. Andrew, which hath since taken his name, with the town and the whole diocese. Near the church stand several chapels, formerly resorted to with great devotion: the principal is that of St. Nun, mother of St. David, near which is a beautiful well still frequented by pilgrims. Another chapel is sacred to St. Lily, surnamed Gwas-Dewy, that is, St. David's man; for he was his beloved disciple and companion in his retirement. He is honored there on the 3d, and St. Nun, who lived and died the spiritual mother of many religious women, on the 2d of March. The three first days of March were formerly holidays in South Wales in honor of these three saints; at present only the first is kept a festival throughout all Wales. John of Glastenbury[3] informs us, that in the reign of king Edgar, in the year of Christ 962, the relics of St. David were translated with great solemnity from the vale of Ross to Glastenbury, together with a portion of the relics of St. Stephen the Protomartyr.

* * * * *

By singing assiduously the divine praises with pure and holy hearts, dead to the world and all inordinate passions, monks are styled angels of the earth. The divine praise is the primary act of the love of God; for a soul enamored of his adorable goodness and perfections, summons up all her powers to express the complacency she takes in his infinite greatness and bliss, and sounds forth his praises with all her strength. In this entertainment she feels an insatiable delight and sweetness, and with longing desires aspires after that bliss in which she will love and praise without intermission or impediment. By each act of divine praise, the fervor of charity and its habit, and with it every spiritual good and every rich treasure, is increased in her: moreover, God in return heaps upon her the choicest blessings of his grace. Therefore, though the acts of divine praise seem directly to be no more than a tribute or homage of our affections, which we tender to God, the highest advantages accrue from these exercises to our souls. St. Stephen of Grandmont was once asked by a disciple, why we are so frequently exhorted in the scriptures to bless and praise God, who, being infinite, can receive no increase from our homages. {493} To which the saint replied: "A man who blesses and praises God receives from thence the highest advantage imaginable; for God, in return, bestows on him all his blessings, and for every word that he repeats in these acts, says: 'For the praises and blessings which you offer me, I bestow my blessings on you; what you present to me returns to yourself with an increase which becomes my liberality and greatness.' It is the divine grace," goes on this holy doctor, "which first excites a man to praise God, and he only returns to God his own gift: yet by his continually blessing God, the Lord pours forth his divine blessings upon him, which are so many new increases of charity in his soul."

Footnotes:
1. This denomination was given to the valley from the territory where
it was situated, which was called Ross. Frequent mention is made of
this monastery in the acts of several Irish saints, under the name
of Rosnat or Rosnant.
2. See Wilkins, Conc. t. 1.
3. Maximes de S. Etienne de Grandmort, ch. 105, p. 228. Item {}
Sententuarum S. Stephani Grand. c. {}05, p. 103.

ST. SWIDBERT, OR SWIBERT, THE ANCIENT, B.C.

He was an English monk, educated near the borders of Scotland, and lived some time under the direction of the holy priest and monk, St. Egbert, whom he accompanied into Ireland. St. Egbert was hindered himself from passing into Lower Germany, according to his zealous desire, to preach the gospel to the infidels: and Wigbert, who first went into Friesland upon that errand, was thwarted in all his undertakings by Radbod, prince of that country, and returned home without success. St. Egbert, burning with an insatiable zeal for the conversion of those souls, which he ceased not with many tears to commend to God, stirred up others to undertake that mission. St. Swidbert was one of the twelve missionaries, who, having St. Willibrord at their head, sailed into Friesland, in 690, according to the direction of St. Egbert. They landed at the mouth of the Rhine, as Alcuin assures us, and travelled as high as Utrecht, where they began to announce to the people the great truths of eternal life. Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the French palace, had conquered part of Friesland, eighteen months before, and compelled Radbod, who remained sovereign in the northern part, to pay an annual tribute. The former was a great protector and benefactor to these missionaries, nor did the latter oppose their preaching. St. Swidbert labored chiefly in Hither Friesland, which comprised the southern part of Holland, the northern part of Brabant, and the countries of Gueldres and Cleves: for in the middle age, Friesland was extended from the mouths of the Meuse and the Rhine, as far as Denmark and ancient Saxony. An incredible number of souls was drawn out of the sink of idolatry, and the most shameful vices, by the zeal of St. Swidbert. St. Willibrord was ordained archbishop of Utrecht by pope Sergius I., at Rome, in 696. St. Swidbert was pressed by his numerous flock of converts, and by his fellow-laborers, to receive the episcopal consecration: for this purpose he returned to England soon after the year 697, where he was consecrated regionary bishop to preach the gospel to infidels, without being attached to any see, by Wilfrid, bishop of York, who happened to be then banished from his own see, and employed in preaching the faith in Mercia. Either the see of Canterbury was still vacant after the death of St. Theodorus, or Brithwald, his successor, was otherwise hindered from performing that ceremony, and St. Swidbert had probably been formerly known personally to St. Wilfrid, being both from the same kingdom of Northumberland. Our saint invested with that sacred character, returned to his flock, and settled the churches which he had founded in good order: then leaving them to the care of St. Willibrord and his ten companions, he penetrated further into {494} the country, and converted to the faith a considerable part of the Boructuarians, who inhabited the countries now called the duchy of Berg, and the county of La Marck. His apostolic labors were obstructed by an invasion of the Saxons, who, after horrible devastations, made themselves masters of the whole country of the Boructuarians. St. Swidbert, being at length desirous to prepare himself for his last hour, in retirement, by fervent works of penance, received of Pepin of Herstal the gift of a small island, formed by different channels of the Rhine, and another river, called Keiserswerdt, that is, island of the emperor; werdt, in the language of that country, signifying an island. Here the saint built a great monastery, which flourished for many ages, till it was converted into a collegiate church of secular canons. A town, which was formed round this monastery, bore long the name of St. Swidbert's Isle, but is now called by the old name, Keiserswerdt, and is fortified: it is situated on the Rhine, six miles below Dusseldorp: a channel of the Rhine having changed its course, the place is no longer an island. St. Swidbert here died in peace, on the 1st of March, in 713. His feast was kept with great solemnity in Holland and other parts where he had preached. Henschenius has given us a panegyric on him, preached on this day by Radbod, bishop of Utrecht, who died in 917. His relics were found in 1626 at Keiserswerdt, in a silver shrine, together with those of St. Willeic, likewise an Englishman, his successor in the government of this abbey; and are still venerated in the same place, except some small portions given to other churches by the archbishop of Cologne.[1] See Bede, Hist. l. 5, c. 10, 12, and the historical collection of Henschenius, l. Mart. p. 84; Fleury, l. 40; Batavia Sacra; and the Roman Martyrology, in which his name occurs on this day. His successor, St. Willeic, is commemorated on the 2d of March, by Wilson, in his English Martyrology, in the first edition, an. 1608, (though omitted in the second edition, an. 1628,) and is mentioned among the English saints, by F. Edward Maihew, Trop{}ea Congregationis Anglicanæ Bened. Rhemis, 1625; and F. Jerom Porter, in his Flores Sanctorum Angliæ, Scotiæ, et Hiberniæ. Duaci, 1632.

Footnotes:
1. The acts of St. Swidbert, under the name of Marcellinus, pretended
to be St. Marchelm, a disciple or colleague of the saint, extant in
Surius, are a notorious piece of forgery of the fifteenth century.
We must not, with these false acts and many others, confound St.
Swidbert of Keiserswerdt with a younger saint of the same name, also
an Englishman, first bishop of Verden or Ferden, in Westphaly, in
807, in the reign of Charlemagne; whose body was taken up at Verden,
together with those of seven bishops his successors, in 1630. St.
Swidbert the younger is mentioned in some Martyrologies on the 30th
of April, though many moderns have confounded him with our saint.
Another holy man, called Swidbert, forty years younger than our
saint, whom some have also mistaken for the same with him, is
mentioned by Bede, (l. 4, c. 32) and was abbot of a monastery in
Cumberland, upon the river Decors, which does not appear to hive
been standing since the Conquest. See Leland, Collect. t. 2, p. 152,
and Camden's Britannia; by Gibson, col. 831. Tanner's Notitia Mon.
p. 73.

ST. ALBINUS, BISHOP OF ANGERS, C.

HE was of an ancient and noble family in Brittany,[1] and from his childhood was fervent in every exercise of piety. He ardently sighed after the happiness which a devout soul finds in being perfectly disengaged from all earthly things. Having embraced the monastic state at Cincillac, called afterwards Tintillant, a place somewhere near Angers, he shone a perfect model of virtue, especially of prayer, watching, universal mortification of the senses, and obedience, living as if in all things he had been without any will of his own, and his soul seemed so perfectly governed by the Spirit of Christ as to live only for him. At the age of thirty-five years, he was chosen {495} abbot, in 504, and twenty-five years afterwards, bishop of Angers. He everywhere restored discipline, being inflamed with a holy zeal for the honor of God. His dignity seemed to make no alteration either in his mortifications, or in the constant recollection of his soul. Honored by all the world, even by kings, he was never affected with vanity. Powerful in works and miracles, he looked upon himself as the most unworthy and most unprofitable among the servants of God, and had no other ambition than to appear such in the eyes of others, as he was in those of his own humility. By his courage in maintaining the law of God and the canons of the church, he showed that true greatness of soul is founded in the most sincere humility. In the third council of Orleans, in 538, he procured the thirtieth canon of the council of Epaoue to be revived, by which those are declared excommunicated who presume to contract incestuous marriages in the first or second degree of consanguinity or affinity. He died on the 1st of March, in 549. His relics were taken up and enshrined by St. Germanus of Paris, and a council of bishops, with Eutropius, the saint's successor, at Angers, in 556; and the most considerable part still remains in the church of the famous abbey of St. Albinus at Angers, built upon the spot where he was buried, by king Childebert, a little before his relics were enshrined. Many churches in France, and several monasteries and villages, bear his name. He was honored by many miracles, both in his life-time and after his death. Several are related in his life written by Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers, who came to Angers to celebrate his festival seven years after his decease; also by St. Gregory of Tours, (l. de Glor. Confess. c. 96.) See the Notes of Henschenius on his life.

Footnotes:
1. It is proved by Leland in his Itinerary, published by Hearne, (t. 3,
p. 4,) that the ancestors of St. Albinus of Angers came from Great
Britain, and that two branches of his family flourished long after,
one in Cornwall, the other in Somersetshire.

ST. MONAN, IN SCOTLAND, M.

ST. ADRIAN, bishop of St. Andrews, trained up this holy man from his childhood, and when he had ordained him priest, and long employed him in the service of his own church, sent him to preach the gospel in the isle of May, lying to the bay of Forth. The saint exterminated superstition and many other crimes and abuses, and having settled the churches of that island in good order, passed into the county of Fife, and was there martyred; being slain with above 6000 other Christians, by an army of infidels who ravaged that country in 874. His relics were held in great veneration at Innerny, in Fifeshire, the place of his martyrdom, and were famous for miracles. King David II. having himself experienced the effect of his powerful intercession with God, rebuilt his church at Innerny of stone, to a stately manner, and founded a college of canons to serve it. See King's calendar, and the manuscript life of this martyr in the Scottish college at Paris and the Breviary of Aberdeen.

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