Saint Narcissus, Bishop of Gironu in Catalonia, and apostle of Augsburg; 18th of March, about 307. It is related in the country of the Julian Alps that he destroyed a dragon, which was posted beside a spring, from which all the inhabitants fled.
Saint Amand, Bishop of Maestricht, and apostle of Flanders; 6th of February, 675. While still a child, he drove, it is said, from the island of Oye (near La Rochelle) a serpent which he met in his way. (Acta Sanctorum, Februar., t. i, p. 849.) Father Cahier says that the original is a dragon, which artists have converted into a serpent, and that it is quite likely it symbolizes the idols overthrown by the saint's apostolic labors in the country about Ghent.
Saint Modestus, Bishop of Jerusalem; 16th of December, seventh century. Putting to death a serpent which infested a fountain; much like the legend of Saint Narcissus. (Bagatta, Admiranda orbis, lib. vii. cap. i, §. 19, No. 29.)
Saint Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers; 14th of January, about 368. Old artists paint him with a staff around which is twined a serpent; or serpents fleeing from that staff. This signifies, that during his exile, he completely banished the reptiles which infested the island of Gallinaria in the Mediterranean, near Genoa (the Gallinara of the present day). According to other versions he did not exactly rid the entire island of those animals, but simply relegated them to a corner of the land, where he planted his staff as a boundary which they were nevermore to pass. (P. de Natal., libr. ii, cap. LXVIII.—AA. SS., Januar., t. i, p. 792.) Cl. Robert quotes an epitaph on the doctor of Poitiers, found, he says, in an ancient manuscript, although the style gives little indication of the Middle Ages.
"Hilarius cubat hac, pictavus episcopus, urna;
Defensor nostræ mirificus fidei.
Illius aspectum serpentes ferre nequibant,
Nescis quæ in vultu spicula sanctus habet."
Might this be, asks Father Cahier, a way of expressing the fact that the saint had banished Arianism from amongst his people?
It is elsewhere shown that the dragons of many legions may be interpreted by the overthrow and expulsion of Paganism, that is, the end of Satan's reign over hearts. The serpent seems to have had something of this symbolism in ecclesiastical monuments, except that sometimes, here or there, it probably denotes heresy instead of idolatry. (Cf. Manni, Osservazioni istoriche sopra i sigilli antichi dei secoli bassi, t. V, sigill. 15.)
Saint Pirmin, (Pirminus or Pirminius) travelling bishop in Germany (and a Benedictine, it is said); 3d November, 758. He is described as a bishop of Meaux, who left his see in order to go and preach the Gospel along the banks of the Rhine; and he is usually painted as putting a multitude of serpents to flight. (Calendar. Benedict., 3d of Nov.—Rader, Bavaria Sancta.) A sequence of Saint Gall (ap. Mone, Hymni ... media ævi, t. III., p. 482, sq.) thus describes the marvel:
"Hic Augiensem insulam
Dei nutu intraverat,
Quam multitudo pessima
Destinebat serpentium.
Intrante illo ...
Statim squammosus
Hestinanter exercitus
Aufugit, ampli lacus
Natatu tergus
Tegens per triduum."
Amongst other abbeys of his foundation, he established that of Reichenau in the island of Constance, vanishing from the island the vipers or adders which had enormously multiplied in it. The legend even goes on to say that, for three days, the surrounding water was covered with these reptiles which forsook their old abode.