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.