The sun enters Aquarius on this day, though he does not enter it in the
visible zodiac until the 18th of February.
Ganymede, who succeeded Hebe as cup-bearer to Jove, is fabled to have
been changed into Aquarius. Canobus of the Egyptian zodiac, who was the
Neptune of the Egyptians, with a water-vase and measure, evidently
prefigured this constellation. They worshipped him as the God of many
breasts, from whence he replenished the Nile with fertilizing streams.
Aquarius contains one hundred and eight stars, the two chief of which
are about fifteen degrees in height:
His head, his shoulders, and his lucid breast,
Glisten with stars; and when his urn inclines,
Rivers of light brighten the watery track.
_Eudosia._
~January 21.~
_St. Agnes._ _St Fructuosus, &c._ _St. Vimin, or Vivian._ _St.
Publius._ _St. Epiphanius._
_St. Agnes._
“She has always been looked upon,” says Butler, “as a special patroness
of purity, with the immaculate mother of God.” According to him, she
suffered martyrdom, about 304, and performed wonderful miracles before
her death, which was by beheading, when she was thirteen years old;
whereupon he enjoins females to a single life, as better than a married
one, and says, that her anniversary “was formerly a holiday for the
women in England.” Ribadeneira relates, that she was to have been
burned, and was put into the fire for that purpose, but the flames,
refusing to touch her, divided on each side, burnt some of the
bystanders, and then quenched, as if there had been none made: a
compassionate quality in fire, of which iron was not sensible, for her
head was cut off at a single blow. Her legend further relates, that
eight days after her death she came to her parents arrayed in white,
attended by virgins with garlands of pearls, and a lamb whiter than
snow; she is therefore usually represented by artists with a lamb by her
side; though not, as Mr. Brand incautiously says, “in _every_ graphic
representation.” It is further related, that a priest who officiated in
a church dedicated to St. Agnes, was very desirous of being married. He
prayed the pope’s license, who gave it him, together with an emerald
ring, and commanded him to pay his addresses to the image of St. Agnes
in his own church. Then the priest did so, and the image put forth her
finger, and he put the ring thereon; whereupon the image drew her finger
again, and kept the ring fast, and the priest was contented to remain a
bachelor; “and yet, as it is sayd, the rynge is on the fynger of the
ymage.”
* * * * *
In a Romish Missal printed at Paris, in 1520, there is a prayer to St.
Agnes, remarkably presumptive of her powers; it is thus englished by Bp.
Patrick:
Agnes, who art the Lamb’s chaste spouse,
Enlighten thou our minds within;
Not only lop the spreading boughs.
But root out of us every sin.
O, Lady, singularly great,
After this state, with grief opprest
Translate us to that quiet seat
Above, to triumph with the blest.
* * * * *
From Naogeorgus, we gather that in St. Agnes’ church at Rome, it was
customary on St. Agnes’ Day to bring two snow-white lambs to the altar,
upon which they were laid while the Agnus was singing by way of
offering. These consecrated animals were afterwards shorn, and palls
made from their fleeces; for each of which, it is said, the pope exacted
of the bishops from eight to ten, or thirty thousand crowns, and that
the custom originated with Limes, who succeeded the apostle Peter:
whereupon Naogeorgus inquires,
But where was _Agnes_ at that time? who offred up, and how,
The two white lambes? where then was Masse, as it is used now?
Yea, where was then the Popish state, and dreadfull monarchee?
Sure in Saint Austen’s time, there were no palles at Rome to see,
&c.
In Jephson’s “Manners, &c. of France and Italy,” there is one dated from
Rome, February, 14, 1793. That this ceremony was then in use, is evident
from the following lines:--
_St. Agnes’ Shrine._
Where each pretty _Ba_-lamb most gaily appears,
With ribands stuck round on its tail and its ears;
On gold fringed cushions they’re stretch’d out to eat,
And piously _ba_, and to church-musick bleat;
Yet to me they seem’d crying, alack, and alas!
What’s all this white damask to daisies and grass?
Then they’re brought to the Pope, and with transport they’re kiss’d,
And receive consecration from Sanctity’s fist.
_Blessing of Sheep._
Stopford, in “Pagano-Papismus,” recites this ceremony of the Romish
church. The sheep were brought into the church, and the priest, having
blessed some salt and water, read in one corner this gospel, “To us a
child is born,” &c. with the whole office, a farthing being laid upon
the book, and taken up again; in the second corner he read this gospel,
“Ye men of Galilee,” &c. with the whole office, a farthing being laid
upon the book, and taken up again; in the third corner he read this
gospel, “I am the good shepherd,” &c. with the whole office, a farthing
being laid upon the book, and taken up again; and in the fourth corner
he read this gospel, “In these days,” &c. with the whole office, a
farthing being laid upon the book, and taken up again. After that, he
sprinkled all the sheep with holy water, saying, “Let the blessing of
God, the Father Almighty, descend and remain upon you; in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” Then he signed
all the sheep with the sign of the cross, repeated thrice some Latin
verses, with the Paternoster and Ave-Marias, sung the mass of the Holy
Ghost, and at the conclusion, an offering of fourpence was for himself,
and another of threepence was for the poor. This ceremony was adopted by
the Romish church from certain customs of the ancient Romans, in their
worship of Pales, the goddess of sheepfolds and pastures. They prayed
her to bless the sheep, and sprinkled them with water. The chief
difference between the forms seems to have consisted in this, that the
ancient Romans let the sheep remain in their folds, while the moderns
drove them into the church.
* * * * *