(A.D. 867.)
[Commemorated by the Greeks; not regarded as a Saint by the Western
Church.]
Theodora, wife of Theophilus, the Byzantine Emperor, has the glory of
having brought to an end the triumph of the Iconoclasts in the East.
After the death of her savage husband she ruled during the minority of
her son, Michael III. Her claim to sanctity is certainly very
questionable.
[32] The term used throughout in the Acts is "the Collect."
[33] These were, by laying her head on the altar to offer it to God,
and all her life after wearing her hair long, as did the ancient
Nazarenes: Act. p. 417. S. Optatus, c. 6. S. Ambr. and Virg. c. 8. But
in Egypt and Syria the ceremony of this consecration consisted in the
virgin cutting off her hair in the presence of a priest.
[34] An instance of a child being, in the fourth century, allowed to
assist at Mass.
[35] _Lebito_, or _Levitonarium_, described thus in the life of S.
Pachomius, c. 14. Levitonarium est colobium lineum sine manticis,
quali Monachi Ægyptii utuntur.
February 12.
S. EULALIA, _V. M. at Barcelona_, A.D. 303.
S. MELETIUS THE GREAT, _Patr. of Antioch_, A.D. 381.
S. RIOCH, _Monk in Brittany_, 5th cent.
S. ETHELWOLD, _B. of Lindisfarne_, A.D. 740.
S. BENEDICT OF ANIANE, _Ab._, A.D. 821.
S. ANTONY CAULEAS, _Patr. of Constantinople_, A.D. 896.
S. BENEDICT, _B. of Albenga, in N. Italy_, A.D. 900.
S. GOSLIN, _Ab. of Turin_, A.D. 1061.
S. LUDAN, _C. near Strasbourg_, A.D. 1202.