Oxelip. _Primula elatior._
Dedicated to _St. Eustasius_.
Fumitory. _Fumaria officinalis._
Dedicated to _St. Jonas_.
~March 30.~
_St. John Climacus._ _St. Zozimus_, Bishop of Syracuse, A. D. 660.
_St. Regulus_, or _Rieul_, Bishop of Senlis.
_St. John Climacus_, A. D. 605,
Was caverned as a hermit in a rock near Mount Sinai, in Syria, and
became at seventy-five, abbot and superior-general of all the monks and
hermits of the country. He admired one of the principal citizens of
Alexandria in Egypt, who, petitioning to become a monk, was ordered to
remain without the gate, and manifested his obedience by staying there
for seven years, and begging prayers for his leprous soul of every
passenger. St. John also admired a monkish cook, because he generally
cried while he cooked, and assigned as a reason, that “the fire he
always had before his eyes, reminded him of that fire which will burn
souls for all eternity.”[44] It is related that a woman who had
committed so enormous a sin that she dare not confess it, came to St.
John, who bade her write it, and seal it, and give it to him, and he
would pray for her; this she did, and shortly after St. John died. The
woman sorely afraid that her written secret would be read, wept and
prayed at St. John’s tomb, and begged he would appear and tell her what
he had done with the paper; on a sudden, St. John came forth habited
like a bishop, with a bishop on each side of him, and he said to the
woman, “Why troublest thou me so much, and these saints with me? thou
sufferest us to have no rest: look here, our clothes are all wet with
thy tears.” Then he delivered to her the paper, sealed as she had given
it to him, and said, “See here, look at the seal, open the writing, and
read it.” So she did; and she found all her sin “defaced clean out;” and
instead thereof was written, “All thy sins are forgiven, and put away by
the prayer of St. John, my servant.” Then she returned thanks, and St.
John and his two bishops returned to their sepulchres.
* * * * *