St Sophia. This beautiful mosque at Constantinople, although originally a Christian cathedral, so far from having been dedicated to any St Sophia, was called Hagia Sopia, “Holy Wisdom”--i.e. the eternal wisdom of God manifested in the Second Person of the Trinity.
St Stephen’s. The House of Commons bears this name because, in the absence of a separate building, its members held their sittings in the Chapel of St Stephen’s, Westminster Abbey, until that edifice was burned down, 16th October 1834.
St Swithin’s Day. The day of the attempted reinterment (15th July) of the body of St Swithin, preceptor of King Ethelwulf and Bishop of Rochester, whose death took place 2nd July 862. Not regarding himself worthy to be “laid” within the sacred edifice, he requested that he might be buried just outside the door in the churchyard, so that the faithful would walk over his grave. Although they acceded to this last wish, the monks decided afterwards to lay him inside the church; but their design was frustrated for forty successive days by a pouring rain, until at last they desisted from the attempt. This circumstance gave rise to the saying that “If it rains on St Swithin’s day it will rain for forty days.”
St Valentine’s Day. The connection between St Valentine and the poetical epistles that were formerly interchanged between young lovers on the 14th of February is somewhat remote. On this day the good Christian Bishop was beheaded at Rome in the year 278. Long before this, however, Roman youths and maidens had followed the custom of selecting a lover for the year by shaking up the names of their favourites, written on separate tablets, in a box. This arose out of the old notion that birds begin to pair on the 14th of February. The martyrdom of Bishop Valentine on this day therefore actuated the Christians to style their selected lover their Valentine, and the presents they exchanged in modern times bore the same name.
Salic Law. The ancient Frankish law by which females were excluded from the throne. This was originally confined to what were called “Salic Lands,” either, as some say, from the salle, or hall of the owner, or, according to others, from the Salian Franks, those bordering on the Sale or Yssel River; the enactment eventually applied to the heritage of the Frankish kingdom.
Salisbury Square. This, like the street and court of the same name, marks the site of the town mansion and grounds of the bishops of Salisbury.
Salop. See “[Shropshire].”
Salt Lake City. The hot-bed of the Mormons, founded on the borders of the Great Salt Lake, so called on account of the saline character of its waters.
Salutation. An inn sign in honour of the Salutation of the Virgin.
Salviati. See “[Del Salviati].”