Madroño, often misspelled madrone, is the name given by the Spaniards to a very beautiful tree indigenous to California, which is thus described by Fremont in his Memoirs: “Another remarkable tree of these woods is called in the language of the country Madroña. It is a beautiful evergreen, with large, thick and glossy digitated leaves; the trunk and branches reddish-colored, and having a smooth and singularly naked appearance, as if the bark had been stripped off. In its green state the wood is brittle, very heavy, hard and close-grained; it is said to assume a red color when dry, sometimes variegated, and susceptible of a high polish. Some measured nearly four feet in diameter, and were about sixty feet high.”
Milpitas, see page [232].
San Felipe (St. Philip), is the name of a village in Santa Clara County. There were four saints of this name, perhaps the most distinguished being St. Philip Neri, a Florentine, born in 1515. He was the intimate friend of St. Charles Borroméo, patron of the mission at Monterey, and was the founder of the order of the Oratorians, “who were bound by no vows, and were not secluded from the world, but went about reading and praying with the sick and needy, founding and visiting hospitals and doing various charities.” Then there was St. Philip of Bethsaida, who, going to Hieropolis, “found the people worshipping a huge serpent, or dragon, which they thought to be a personification of Mars. Then Philip took pity on their ignorance. He held up the cross and commanded the serpent to disappear. Immediately it glided from beneath the altar, and as it moved it sent forth so dreadful an odor that many died, and among them the son of the King; but Philip restored him to life. Then the priests of the serpent were so wroth with the apostle that they crucified him, and when he was fastened to the cross they stoned him.”—(Stories of the Saints.)
San Martín (St. Martin), is a town in Santa Clara County, six miles north of Gilroy. St. Martin has many legends connected with his history. Before he became a Christian, he was a soldier and was noted for his kindness and charity to his comrades. “The winter of 332 was so severely cold that large numbers perished in the streets of Amiens, where the regiment of St. Martin was quartered. One day he met at the gate a naked man, and taking pity on him, he divided his cloak, for it was all he had, and gave half to the beggar. That night in a dream Jesus stood before him, and on his shoulders he wore the half of the cloak that Martin had given the beggar. And he said to the angels who attended him, ‘Know ye who hath thus arrayed me? My servant Martin, though yet unbaptized, hath done this.’ Then Martin was immediately baptized.” Again it is told of him that being invited to sup with the emperor, “the cup was passed to Martin, before his Majesty drank, with the expectation that he would touch it to his lips, as was the custom. But a poor priest stood behind Martin, and to the surprise and admiration of all, the saint presented the full goblet to him, thus signifying that a servant of God deserved more honor, however humble his station, than any merely earthly potentate; from this legend he has been chosen the patron of all innocent conviviality.”—(Stories of the Saints.)
