_MARTYRS, HERMITS, ANCHORITES, AND RELICS._
THE VIRGIN MARTYR VALERIA (A.D. 50).
St. Martial, the apostle of the Gauls, when a lad of fifteen, was taken by
his father to see Christ, and became thenceforth a constant follower, and
at a later date was a companion of St. Peter. In his career as first
bishop of Limoges, he was hospitably entertained by a noble widow named
Susanna. Her daughter Valeria devoted her virginity to the Lord, and
having taken a vow of chastity she rejected the marriage which had been
arranged for her with Duke Stephen. He was so enraged at her indifference
to his offers that he ordered her to be beheaded. When she reached the
place of execution, she spread out her hands in prayer and commended
herself to the Lord, during which voices from heaven were heard
encouraging her. She voluntarily offered to her executioner her head,
which was cut off with a blow. Before her death she had predicted the
death of the tyrant Stephen; and when this was afterwards reported to him
by a squire, the latter was seized with fear and trembling, and fell dead.
The duke was then greatly alarmed, and besought Martial to come to him and
restore his squire to life. Martial came and prayed with a loud voice, and
in presence of the people restored the dead squire, whereupon the duke
knelt before the holy bishop and implored forgiveness for his sins. The
bishop enjoined penance for putting to death the virgin martyr, and
baptised the duke and his officers, and they gave large sums of gold to
build churches and endow a hospital to the memory of Valeria, and also
erected a church over her tomb. The duke after these events lived an
exemplary life; and while he was a wise father of the Christians, he was a
fierce persecutor of the Pagans.
ST. THECLA CONVERTED BY ST. PAUL.
St. Thecla was a native of Lycaonia, of great beauty, and was early
engaged to be married to a rich noble named Thamyris, but she was
converted by St. Paul, and she then and there vowed that she would
renounce the world and devote herself to virginity. She broke her plighted
troth. The friends of the youth pressed her to keep her promise; but she
forsook father and mother and riches and plenty, and would not listen to
any of them. So the youth in revenge obtained a decree that she should be
torn by wild beasts. She remained undaunted, and was exposed naked in the
amphitheatre; and tigers, lions, and pards, starved and raging with fury,
were let loose upon her. But the lions, instead of attacking, crouched at
her feet and meekly kissed them; and though excited by the keepers again
and again, they shrank like lambs. This startling picture of innocence
saved from harm was a standing text with the Fathers, who glowed with
enthusiastic eloquence while dilating on the story. At another time the
virgin martyr was exposed to fire, and was in like manner untouched. It
was said she was first converted by listening to St. Paul, whom she
attended in several of his apostolic journeys. At last she died in peace
in a retirement in Isauria, aged ninety, and was buried at Silencia, being
treated as the first female martyr. A sumptuous church bearing her name
was erected over the body, and crowds of pilgrims have always visited the
spot. The great cathedral at Milan is dedicated to God in her honour, and
part of her relics are deposited there. It is said that St. John deposed a
priest for forging some scandalous tales about St. Paul and St. Thecla,
and such tales were repeated in later ages also.
MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP (A.D. 168).
When Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, was burnt as a martyr about 168, a
contemporary account by the leaders of the Church contained in Eusebius
says this: "As soon as the martyr uttered 'Amen' after his prayer the fire
was lighted, and a great flame burst out in the form of an arch, as the
sail of a vessel filled with wind, surrounding as with a wall the body,
which was in the midst, not as burning flesh, but as gold and silver
refining in the furnace. We received in our nostrils such a fragrance as
proceeds from frankincense or some other precious perfume. At length the
wicked people, observing that the body could not be consumed with the
fire, ordered the executioner to approach and to plunge his sword into his
body. Upon this such a quantity of blood gushed out that the fire was
extinguished, and all the multitude were astonished to see such a
difference providentially made between the unbelievers and the elect.
Afterwards the body was burned, and we gathered up the bones, more
precious than gold and jewels, and deposited them in a proper place,
where, if possible, we shall meet, and the Lord will grant us in gladness
and joy to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom, both in commemoration
of those who have wrestled before us, and for the instruction and
confirmation of those who come after." Polycarp was burned at the age of
eighty-six, and had been a pupil of St. John the Evangelist.
ST. FELICITAS AND HER SEVEN SONS (A.D. 173).
A rich widow named Felicitas lived at Rome about 173, and had seven sons,
whom she brought up as Christians. She was cited before the tribunals for
not sacrificing to the false gods. But she refused; and being told she
should comply out of regard to her sons, she replied that her sons would
know how to choose between everlasting death and everlasting life. They
also were cited; but the mother encouraged them to defy the tyranny and
refuse to obey. Then they were ordered to be tortured most cruelly, each
in different form and before the mother's eyes; but she heroically stood
by and encouraged them to be firm. Instead of flinching, she gloried that
she had seven sons worthy to be saints in Paradise, and she herself was
subjected to a barbarous and lingering death, and at length beheaded or
plunged into boiling oil.
THE MARTYRS OF LYONS, BLANDINA AND ATTALUS (A.D. 199).
Eusebius, referring to the end of the second century, says that one day,
in place of the gladiatorial combats at Lyons, Blandina and Attalus were
thrown to the wild beasts. Blandina was bound to a stake; and as her body
appeared to hang in the form of the cross, this greatly encouraged her
fellow-martyr. As none of the beasts touched her, she was remanded to
prison to be kept for another day. Attalus was then demanded by the mob.
He bore a label: "This is Attalus the Christian." He was placed on the
iron chair and his body roasted; but he maintained his courage to the
last. Blandina was again brought forward, along with a youth of fifteen,
named Ponticus. Refusing to swear as they were ordered, they were led the
whole round, and subjected to horrible brutalities. When Ponticus drew his
last breath, Blandina stood exulting, as if she were invited to a marriage
feast rather than thrown to the wild beasts. After scourging and exposure
to the beasts, and after being roasted, she was finally wrapped in a net
and tossed in the air before a bull; and when she had been tossed by that
beast, and had now no longer any sense of what was done to her by reason
of her hope, confidence, and faith in Christ, she too was despatched. The
Gentiles confessed that no woman among them had ever endured sufferings as
many and great as these; yet they insisted on watching the dead bodies,
and what remained after the mangling of beasts, day and night, lest the
Christians should attempt to bury them. They finally burnt the remains to
ashes, and cast them into the Rhone, that there might not be a vestige of
them left on dry land. Some of the ashes, however, were preserved in the
church at Lyons.
ST. CECILIA THE MARTYR AND HER SINGING (A.D. 200).
Peter de Natalibus says: Cecilia, virgin and martyr, born of a noble house
among the Romans about 180, was brought up in the faith of Christ, and
always carried the Gospel hid in her bosom, and never ceased from Divine
colloquy and prayer. She composed hymns to the glory of God, which she
sang so sweetly that the angels came down from heaven to hear them and
sing along with her. Being espoused to a youth named Valerian, who heard
her often speaking of an angel whom he desired to see, she told him where
to go; he was directed to the Catacombs, where the angel appeared to him
in white raiment, holding a book, on which was written, "One Lord, one
faith, one baptism." Valerian thereupon received baptism from Pope Urban.
Valerian earnestly desired that his brother Tiburtius should be brought to
the knowledge of the truth. So when on the morrow Tiburtius came to salute
his sister-in-law Cecilia, he perceived an excellent odour of lilies and
roses, and asked her wondering whence she had roses at that untimely
season. He was told that God had sent them crowns of roses and lilies, but
that he could not see them till his eyes were opened and his body
purified, and yet that he also might see them if he would believe in
Christ and renounce idols. And Tiburtius also believed and was baptised.
The two brothers were afterwards seized and put to death. Cecilia also was
ordered by the prefect Almachius to be burned; but though put in the fire
a day and night, it had no effect on her. Nor could the executioner,
though striking thrice at her neck, kill her. On the third day of her
sufferings she distributed her goods and departed this life.
THE MARTYR PERPETUA (A.D. 202).
In the early persecution of 202 under the Emperor Severus, a touching
scene occurred between a young wife, aged twenty-two, named Perpetua, and
her father. She was arrested, and implored by her father, who threw
himself in tears at her feet, beseeching her to renounce her creed, and
not bring ruin on her brothers and parents and relatives. But she gloried
in being called and in calling herself a Christian. The father brought her
child in his arms, and called on her in vain to spare his grey hairs and
to pity the child, and join in the Pagan sacrifice to the Emperor. The
guards at last ordered him to be removed after his last appeal to her
pity; and after tearing the hair of his beard in his anguish, she only
exclaimed, "I am pained at the sight of my father as if I had been struck
with a blow. His grief is enough to move any creature." But no other
faltering word escaped her. She and some young companions were thrown to
the wild beasts to gratify the brutal tastes of the multitude when
celebrating a prince's birthday. The cruel spectacle made such an
impression on one of the jailers, named Pudens, that he felt an
irresistible impulse to acknowledge that there must be something divine in
such a triumph over human weakness. He could not choose but indulge the
friends of the wretched prisoners by giving them access to cheer the
latter in their desolate state.
ST. URSULA AND THE ELEVEN THOUSAND VIRGIN MARTYRS (A.D. 237).
Ursula and eleven thousand British virgins were said to have suffered
martyrdom at Cologne in 237. The story is somewhat vague, and some even
suggest that, another virgin being named _Undecimilla_, some play on that
word gave rise to the extraordinary number mentioned. The writers of the
tenth century began to tell the story that Ursula was the daughter of a
British prince, and had taken a vow of celibacy, but her father had wished
her to marry the son of some ferocious tyrant. To get quit of the
proposal, she said she would agree if her father and the king should
choose each ten virgins of her own age and beauty, and that each of those
ten should have a thousand damsels under them, and that they should all be
allowed to cruise about as unsullied virgins for three years in eleven
triremes. The tyrant succeeded in collecting the virgins and in providing
gaily equipped galleys, and they put to sea and were driven by stress of
weather up the Rhine to Cologne. From that place they went to visit the
Apostles' tombs at Rome, and on their return the barbarous Huns murdered
them all at Cologne. The church of St. Ursula at Cologne is still visited
by pilgrims who invoke the saint.
ST. BARBARA AND THE PRISON TOWER (A.D. 250).
St. Barbara was the daughter of a rich noble in Heliopolis, and, being of
singular beauty, her father destined her for some great alliance. But she
heard of Origen and visited him, and took his instruction and was
converted to the Christian religion. Her father being a rabid Pagan, built
a high tower in which to imprison her; and one day, on visiting it, and
seeing only two windows in the plan, she ordered the workmen to add a
third. Her father on hearing of this became enraged, dragged her by her
hair to a dungeon, and procured a decree that she should be scourged and
tortured; and as she still refused to acknowledge his gods he cut off her
head. But thunder and lightning at once descended and consumed him. She
became the patron saint to protect from lightning and gunpowder.
THE MARTYR POTAMIANA CONVERTS A SOLDIER (A.D. 299).
Eusebius says that at the end of the third century a soldier named
Basilides was ordered to lead the celebrated Potamiana to execution, who
had resisted many attacks on her purity. She was in the bloom of beauty,
and was known far and wide for her virtues. She was, after horrible
tortures, the mere relation of which made one shudder, ordered by a brutal
judge for execution. The soldier who had charge of her showed much
compassion and kindness in warding off the insolent mob. Perceiving this,
she exhorted the soldier to be of good cheer, for that after she was gone
she would intercede with her Lord for him. Boiling pitch was then poured
over different parts of her body, gradually by little and little, from her
feet up to the crown of her head. Not long afterwards it was observed by
his comrades that Basilides himself refused to swear and take the oaths,
and for this offence he was committed to prison. When some of the
Christian brethren visited him to ascertain the cause of this unexpected
conduct, he declared to them that for three days after the martyrdom of
Potamiana she stood before him at night, placed a crown upon his head, and
said that she had entreated the Lord on his account, that she had obtained
her prayer, and that ere long she would take him with her. Thereupon the
brethren baptised him, and he, bearing his testimony to the Lord, was
beheaded.
ST. GENES THE ACTOR BECOMING A SAINT AND MARTYR (A.D. 303).
St. Genes was an actor performing before the Emperor Diocletian in 303,
and, being a clever mimic, played the character of a sick man, troubled in
mind about the false gods and the future, before him. He professed to lie
on his deathbed groaning over his sins, which he said were heavy and
burdensome, and he wished to be lightened of them. The other actors then
approached him; and one of them, being the clown, exclaimed to the rest,
"Oh, if the poor fellow feels overweighted, we can only do one thing with
him--take him to the carpenter's and get him planed, and so lighten him."
At this sally there was a great roar of laughter. The sick man still
groaned and sighed, and said he desired to be a Christian, and wished them
to call in a priest and an exorcist. Thereupon two actors came in dressed
to represent these two characters, and they suggested baptism, whereon a
great vat of water was brought on the stage, and the sick man dragged out
of his bed and plunged in, clothed in white. At this last sally there was
another roar of laughter. At the next moment some actors dressed as Roman
soldiers rushed on the stage, and arrested the new convert and had him
tried and sentenced. This was part of the jest. But Genes sprang to his
feet, threw off the guards, and knocking down a statue of Venus, addressed
the Emperor, saying that though he had amused them with mimicking the
Christians, yet after all he was himself one in his heart, and having in
sickness felt the comfort, he now confessed Christ to be very God, and in
Him alone he would trust. The mimic was so earnest and serious in this
address that the whole assembly were petrified. The Emperor called the
actor before him, and told him not to carry the joke too far. But the
actor persisted, said he was in earnest, and defied all the threats of
power. He was first tortured and then beheaded. The artists often
represent this saint with a clown's cap and bells.
GENESIUS BAPTISED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD (A.D. 303).
Genesius was a notary at Arles in 303. He had originally been a soldier,
and then he became registrar of a local court. In this capacity he was
called on to read an edict of persecution issued by Diocletian, and rather
than read it he resigned his office and fled. He ardently longed to be
baptised, and requested the Bishop of Arles to grant him this favour. The
bishop, for some reason not known, deferred it, but assured Genesius that,
if called upon to die for Christ, he should in thus shedding his blood
receive the perfection of the grace of baptism. Genesius was soon
afterwards arrested, whereupon it is related that by the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost he flung himself into the Rhone, wherein he received
baptism, the river having become for him a second Jordan. The officers
followed him to the other bank, and there beheaded him without any formal
trial. Ado, speaking of this death of Genesius, says that "he received the
crown of martyrdom, being baptised with his own blood."
ST. ALBAN, THE FIRST BRITISH MARTYR (A.D. 303).
The first of the British martyrs was St. Alban, a wealthy native of
Verulam and citizen of Rome, who in 303 entertained one Amphibalus, a
Christian preacher from Caerleon in South Wales, then a Roman settlement.
It was said that Alban exchanged clothes with his guest, and thus effected
his escape. For this act of friendship Alban was beheaded in presence of a
great concourse of people. And many other martyrdoms followed. About the
same time Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, who had been
chosen emperor of the western provinces of France, Spain, and Britain,
died at York, at which last city Constantine was born, who was the first
Christian Emperor. Some, however, alleged that Constantine was born at
London, and some at Colchester. Ten years after Alban's death a stately
church was erected and dedicated to his memory; and in 1880 a new and
separate bishopric of St. Albans was created.
DIDYMUS AND THEODORA (A.D. 304).
The virgin Theodora, about 304, was a great beauty, and was condemned to
hateful punishment for not sacrificing to the gods, and was kept in prison
awaiting her terrible doom. Didymus was a young man moved to pity, and
resolved to rescue the virgin of Christ out of her danger. He dressed
himself as a soldier, and went into her room and told her to change
clothes, and he would remain in her stead. She consented, and being
instructed not to betray herself by any unusual walk or conduct, she
escaped. When the truth was discovered, Didymus said he was inspired by
God to rescue Theodora, and he was ready to undergo any tortures to which
he might be exposed, for he would never consent to sacrifice to devils. He
was ordered to be burnt. Then Theodora, hearing of this, ran to the spot,
and wished to die in his place, and she was beheaded soon after his death.
St. Ambrose dwells with rapture on the glorious contention between those
two for the crown of martyrdom.
ST. CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA (A.D. 304).
St. Cyprian, surnamed the Magician, who died in 304, was a native of
Antioch, and had travelled in all the countries where magic was
cultivated, in order to acquire that diabolic art. In Antioch lived a
young heathen virgin, named Justina, with whom a pagan noble, named
Agladius, was deeply in love. And as she would not listen to him,
Cyprian's magical powers were invoked in order to overcome her resolution.
She made the sign of the cross and warded off all their evil arts. Cyprian
himself was equally enamoured, and, enraged at being baffled, resolved to
give up the diabolic art. He consulted a priest, named Eusebius, who took
him to an assembly of Christians, when he was struck with the new signs of
devotion. He became a convert, and burned his books of magic, gave all his
goods to the poor, and enrolled himself as a catechumen. Agladius was also
about the same time converted. Justina was delighted to see this change,
cut off her hair, gave away her jewels, and dedicated herself to a holy
life. The persecution of Diocletian breaking out, they were all scourged,
and torn with hooks, kept in chains, and finally beheaded. Their relics
were carried to Rome by Christians, and a pious lady, named Rufina, built
a church to their memory, near the square which bears the name of
Claudius. The relics were afterwards removed to the Lateran basilica.
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM AS HERMIT (A.D. 400).
St. John Chrysostom, who died about 407, passed many years among the
anchorites who lived on the mountains near Antioch. When he was ordained
deacon, he became a powerful and fervid preacher. Once, on a seditious
resistance made by the people to a new tax levied by Theodosius I., he
assisted the bishop in obtaining a pardon for the ringleaders. When he
became himself bishop, he preached with great force against the indelicacy
of the female dress, and against gaming, theatres, and swearing. The other
bishops conspired against him, and obtained his banishment for alleged
seditious acts, but he was soon recalled at the instance of the people. He
was again banished to a bleak desert, and died after being a bishop about
ten years. His body was carried to Constantinople, and was laid in the
Church of the Apostles. He was said to be the most eloquent and fervid of
the Fathers. Thomas Aquinas said he would rather be author of his homilies
on St. Matthew than own the whole city of Paris.
ST. JAMES, INTERCISUS (A.D. 421).
St. James was a Persian noble. The king declared war against the
Christians, and the noble had not firmness to refuse. His wife and mother,
however, being Christians, and shocked to see this, upbraided him, and
wrote a letter that they renounced him for ever. This sank into his soul,
and he withdrew from the Court, bewailing the crime he had committed; and
the king, hearing of his change of views, was enraged, and, after calling
the Council of Ministers, they all agreed that James should be hung on the
rack, and his limbs cut off, joint after joint. The executioners, after
entreating him in vain to recant, with their scimitars cut off his right
thumb. The judge and bystanders, in tears, called out to him that it was
enough, and he ought to surrender. But he exulted, and finger after finger
was cut off; then the little toe of the left foot, and all the other toes.
After fingers and toes and arms and feet left him only a trunk weltering
in his blood, he continued to pray and speak cheerfully, till at last a
guard severed the head from the body. This happened in 421. The Christians
offered a large sum to obtain the relics, but were refused. They, however,
watched an opportunity, and collected them by stealth, finding the limbs
in twenty-eight different places. They were all buried in an urn, and in a
place concealed from the heathen. The glory of this martyr was renowned in
all the Persian, Syrian, Greek, and Latin Churches.
STEPHEN A MARTYR FOR IMAGE WORSHIP (A.D. 720).
During the controversy raised by the iconoclasts, when all the monks
resisted the decrees against image worship, one monk, Stephen, a hermit
who had lived thirty years in a cave at Sinope, greatly distinguished
himself. The monks had flocked to the desert to watch in security over
their tutelary images, and the most devout of the laity crowded round the
cell of Stephen, who furiously denounced the iconoclasts. So many pilgrims
resorted to him as their champion that the Emperor ordered him to be
carried away from his cell, and shut up in a cloister at Chrysopolis. This
act drove the other monks to frenzy. One named Andrew hastened from his
dwelling in the desert and boldly confronted the Emperor in the church of
St. Mammas, and sternly addressed him thus: "If thou art a Christian, why
do you treat Christians with such indignity?" The Emperor commanded his
temper, but after again ordering this monk into his presence, the latter
was so violent and scornful that the Emperor ordered him to be scourged.
Stephen, however, continued to thunder from his cell against the
iconoclasts, and mounted a pillar to be better heard; and other monks
flocked and built their cells round this pillar. But this did not satisfy
Stephen, who returned to the city and openly denounced and defied the
Emperor, and collected a large following. The Emperor ordered him to
prison. His followers on hearing of his majesty's annoyance at last rushed
to the prison, dragged the old man into the streets and murdered him, and
threw his body into the malefactors' grave (as is elsewhere mentioned,
_ante_, p. 134).
HUSS THE BOHEMIAN BURNT FOR HERESY IN 1415.
John Huss, who was a Luther a century too soon, was born in 1369, became a
preacher, and soon began to see the impostures connected with relic
worshipping and indulgences, and became known as a great admirer of
Wicliff's writings. He was soon marked out as a heretic, and worried with
citations and excommunicated. When three young artisans publicly exclaimed
against the sale of indulgences and were seized and condemned and
executed, great excitement arose. Some friends dipped their handkerchiefs
in the blood of the victims, a woman in the crowd offered white linen to
enshroud them; the dead bodies were carried as saints with chanted hymns
and anthems, and buried with great solemnity under the direction of Huss.
Huss was summoned to answer for his many heresies, and he offered to
defend himself before the Council of Constance, on condition of the
Emperor securing him a safe conduct. The assurance was given, the Emperor
Sigismund being at first thought favourable to the views of Huss. But the
bishops craftily, on pretence of his attempt at escape, seized and
imprisoned him. The Emperor acted weakly and with too much deference to
the cardinals, who professed to give Huss a hearing, but took care that it
should be only before themselves. His friends had early presentiment that
Huss would be done to death by hook or crook. His faithful friend the
Knight of Chlum stood always by his side, and protested vigorously against
the breach of faith, in all the crafty steps taken, and by the
imprisonments imposed before the hearing of the case. At one prison on the
Rhine Huss was nearly killed by the noisome effluvia. He was next removed
and imprisoned in a tower, and chained day and night. The usual result
followed after a few hearings before the council, where he had no
opportunity of meeting most of the charges, and where he was mocked and
offered a period to recant, and then sentenced to be burnt as an
incorrigible heretic. Seven bishops were appointed to see him clothed in
priestly vestments, then stripped and degraded. A cap painted with devils
was placed on his head and inscribed with the word "Arch-heretic." He was
placed on a pile of fagots, and chained to it by the neck. He sang hymns
till the smoke and flames stopped him. When his body was burned the ashes
were cast into the Rhine, so that nothing of him might be left to pollute
the earth, as his murderers vainly imagined.
JOAN OF ARC, A MODERN PATRIOTIC MARTYR (A.D. 1430).
One consequence of William the Conqueror's success was the long and bloody
wars which lasted for three centuries. It was a misfortune that William
Duke of Normandy, one of the great French vassals, should become King of
England. From the eleventh to the fourteenth century--from Philip I. to
Philip de Valois--this position gave rise between the two crowns and the
two states to questions, to quarrels, to political struggles, and to wars
which were a frequent source of trouble to France. The evil and the peril
became far greater still when in the fourteenth century there arose
between France and England--between Philip de Valois and Edward III.--a
question touching the succession to the throne of France, and the
application of exemption from the Salic law. Then there commenced between
the two crowns and the two peoples that war which was to last more than a
hundred years, was to bring upon France the saddest days of her history,
and was to be ended only by the inspired heroism of a young girl, who
alone in the name of her God and His saints restored confidence and
victory to her king and country. Joan of Arc at the cost of her life
brought to the most glorious conclusion the longest and bloodiest struggle
that had devastated France and sometimes compromised its glory.
JOAN OF ARC BELIEVES SHE HAS A MISSION.
In 1412 this little girl was born at Domremy, and soon learnt to sew and
spin and to tend her parents' cattle and sheep. She did not take to
dancing, like other girls, though willing to sing and eat cakes under the
fairy beech tree of her village. At the age of nine she was noted for her
constant attendance at church; the sound of bells enchanted her, and she
went often to confession and communion, and was even then taxed with being
too religious. France was then torn with civil strife; and the sight of
lads of the village sent home torn and bleeding from the wars, and the
stories of her poor neighbours whose houses were fired and homesteads
devastated by troopers, and the domineering and brutal English, then
masters of France, whom she always called "Goddams," stirred her blood and
made her wonder that the God in heaven could allow such mad work to go on.
When she was thirteen, she declared then, and ever after, that, as she was
sitting in her father's garden, she heard a voice from heaven calling her,
and a great brightness all round the church; and listening with awe, she
heard the voice of angels which urged her to go to France and deliver the
kingdom. She became then rapt in thought, and often the voices came to her
again and again, urging her on. She at last broke the secret to her
father; but he, being only a stupid peasant, chided her for her nonsense,
and even threatened to drown her if she repeated it. She soon found home
uncomfortable, and went and nursed her aunt, and also opened her heart to
her uncle, begging him to take her to see the captain of the bailiwick,
for she was sure he would help her to go to the Dauphin and assist to
recover France for the French. She did get an audience, and told the
captain she came from the Lord, who would be sure to help the Dauphin. On
asking her who was her Lord, she said He was the King of Heaven, at which
the captain set her down at once for a little madcap who should be sent
home and well whipped. But the little persistent cow-girl, still further
excited by news of the wars, told the captain that she was determined to
go and raise the siege of Orleans, and that if she had a hundred fathers
and mothers, and if she were the King's daughter, she must and would go in
spite of them all. At last the captain, puzzled and at his wits' end,
wrote about the little crazy girl and her visions to the Duke of Lorraine,
who was so impressed that he sent for her, and then everybody began to
talk of her wild schemes and enterprise as the wonder of the times.
JOAN OF ARC GOES TO INTERVIEW THE KING.
When Joan of Arc, aged nineteen, got the length of being sent for by the
Duke of Lorraine, John of Metz, the knight, was assigned to escort her,
and he asked if she meant to go in her little red petticoat. "No," said
she, "I should like to be in man's clothes." When this was known, the
people round about subscribed to get her a military costume, and she was
supplied with a horse, a coat of mail, a lance, a sword, a messenger, and
a train; and she took farewell of her rustic friends and got their
blessing. In the journey of eleven days her spirit never flagged, and she
only wished she could hear Mass daily which she contrived once or twice
to do. Everybody treated with respect the inspired cow-girl, and her
constant appeals to Heaven and to the commission which she said she bore
direct from the God of Battles. She was rather tall, well shaped, dark,
with a look of composed assurance which staggered even the old veterans of
the war. Once on her journey a band of roughs had prepared to waylay and
rob her; but on a sight of her they were struck motionless and quailed.
When she arrived near to headquarters, the King's council debated whether
the King ought to receive her; and as he was then at his wits' end, and
had spent all the money in the treasury, it was decided that he might. The
high steward conducted her forward; it was candlelight: warriors and
knights, richly dressed, stood in rows looking on; and yet it was noticed
that she by instinct fixed on the King among the crowd of grandees, and
the young shepherdess at once made her bends and courtesies, as if she had
been bred in courts. She at once took high ground, and said, "Good
Dauphin, my name is Joan, the maid. The King of Heaven sends me to assure
you that you shall be anointed and crowned in the city of Rheims, and
shall be lieutenant of the King of Heaven, who is King of France. It is
God's will that these English foes shall be driven out of our country."
The King was astounded, and the chroniclers say he received her message
with radiant face as a message from Heaven. Many interviews followed, and
as he listened he began to believe in Heaven, and even in himself as
destined to recover his kingdom as the true heir of France.
JOAN OF ARC PUT AT THE HEAD OF AN ARMY.
After Joan of Arc had had an interview with the King and assured him that
God was on her side, the King took the advice kindly, but his stiff-necked
courtiers shook their heads at the shepherdess and her schemes. At last a
large committee of bishops, kings, councillors, and learned doctors
resolved to go and question this presumptuous young person. One doctor
tried to puzzle her by asking why she wanted men-at-arms to go and rout
out the English, when, if it were God's will, no men would be needed. She
answered that warriors would fight, and God would give them the victory.
Another pundit asked her in what language the voices spoke to her, and she
retorted, "A better dialect than yours." A third pundit thought he would
stop her by asking if she believed in God, to which she replied, "More
than you do." Next the wiseacres told her they must have a sign before
they could trust her with an army. She answered, "In the name of God, I
am not come to Poitiers to show signs; take me to Orleans and I will give
you signs of what I am sent for. I come on behalf of the King of Heaven to
cause the siege of Orleans to be raised, and to take the King to Rheims
that he may be crowned and anointed there." The doctors and councillors
kept up their siege of questions at this obscure shepherdess for a
fortnight, and her good temper and unflagging faith in her mission broke
down their unbelief, so that they all decided that she must surely be
inspired. Next a deputation of princesses and court ladies visited and
questioned her, and they also were all so struck with the modesty,
sweetness, and grace of her demeanour and speech that they were subdued to
tears. The King no longer hesitated. Joan was accepted as a heaven-born
marshal, and there was assigned to her a squire, a page, two heralds, a
chaplain, many serving-men, and a complete suit of armour. She asked that
her sword should be marked with five crosses; her banner was white and
studded with lilies, and there were the words "Jesu Maria," with angels
adoring, and a picture of God in the clouds holding in His hand the globe
and its destinies. These accoutrements being provided, she was urgent for
the immediate departure of the expedition, as she said Orleans was crying
aloud for succour. It took five weeks to get together an army of twelve
thousand men; but at last off they went, Joan's chaplain and some priests
chanting sacred hymns, much to the amazement of the swearing troopers, who
had never seen the like before.
JOAN OF ARC RAISES THE SIEGE OF ORLEANS.
When the army marched with Joan to succour Orleans, the generals suggested
that the best plan would be for her to go into the city with a convoy of
provisions, and she at once acted on the advice; and with her banner and
priests and two hundred men-at-arms she entered the city at night; and on
sight of her the besieged inhabitants rose in a mass, and with torches and
shouts of joy hailed her as a goddess sent to deliver them. She said her
first duty was to enter the church and give thanks to God, and then she
would go to the governor's house. A splendid supper was prepared for her,
but she would only dip some slices of bread in wine and water. Her modesty
and simplicity charmed all the company, and she had quarters in the
governor's house, and slept with one of his daughters. The besiegers heard
of Joan and the frenzy she had excited, and they cursed her as a little
sorceress. But her own soldiers were keen to go out at once and storm the
bastiles of the English. She thought it fair to give the enemy warning,
and mounted one of the bastions and shouted to the English to stop and be
gone; but the English general only jeered at her; and told her to go home
and mind her cows. The battle went on a few days, and Joan, having called
for her horse and armour, eagerly joined and encouraged the garrison. At
one stage of the attack she took a scaling-ladder, set it against the
rampart, and was the first to mount. But an arrow struck her between the
neck and shoulder, and she fell. Yet, after retiring to have her wound
dressed, she remounted her horse and shook her banner in the air; her men
rallied, and with one great rush carried the bastile and routed the
English. The bells rang out all night at this victory, and the _Te Deum_
was chanted. The English were soon seen to be in retreat, leaving much
victual and ammunition behind, and many sick and prisoners. The siege of
Orleans was raised. A few days later Joan was anxious to visit the King;
and when they met, he took off his cap and held out his hand, and the
chroniclers say he would fain have kissed her for the joy that he felt.
She on her side thought of nothing but to urge him to march at once while
the enemy was flying, and get himself crowned at Rheims. The pious maid
again reminded him that the voices were urging her and would not let her
rest.
JOAN GETS THE KING CROWNED AT RHEIMS.
After the siege of Orleans was raised, and Joan of Arc was urging the next
part of the programme, to have the King crowned at Rheims, she took part
in sieges and assaults, and was gravely consulted by the generals.
Difficulties were started about going at once to Rheims, and sometimes she
issued military orders herself which embarrassed the plans; but she had
great influence with the army and the people and those who flocked to join
the standard attracted by her fame. She urged an instant assault on
Troyes, and got a grumbling assent of the chiefs; and when mounting the
earthwork and shouting out "Assault," it so happened that Troyes
capitulated to the King on terms. The royal forces then entered in
triumph, with the maid at the King's side carrying her banner. At that
stage some of her old village friends came to see her in her great
position, and she received and welcomed them like a born princess, so that
they were charmed. The King in a day or two thereafter entered Rheims, and
at the coronation Joan rode in state between a general, an archbishop, and
the Chancellor of France. When this great ceremony was over, Joan said she
had completed the charge given her by the Lord, and now if it pleased Him
she would gladly go back to her father and mother and tend the cattle as
before. On hearing this the great councillors more and more believed that
Joan had been sent as a messenger from Heaven. But difficulties still
surrounded the army, and Joan seemed bent on driving out the English. Yet
people noticed that Joan's power somehow drooped after the King was
crowned. She kept with the King and busied herself with affairs. Talbot,
the English general, insulted her by sending flags painted with a sign of
the distaff and the words, "Now, fair one, come on!" The King moved on to
Paris, and she took part in an unsuccessful assault there and elsewhere.
When she was fighting at Compiégne, and the enemy being determined to
capture the little warrior in her red sash and rich surcoat, she was at
last overmastered, and was taken prisoner. She had for some time before
surmised that she would be betrayed, and that her career was near its
close.
A YOUNG PRINCE'S FIRST SIGHT OF JOAN.
When Joan had raised the siege of Orleans and was urging the King to go to
Rheims to be crowned, and he was distracted by the diversity of his
councillors, a young prince, Guy de Laval, wrote on June 8th, 1429, to his
mother about Joan as follows: "The King had sent for Joan to come and meet
him at Selles-en-Berry. Some say that it was for my sake, in order that I
might see her. She gave right good welcome to my brother and myself, and
after we had dismounted at Selles I went to see her in her quarters. She
ordered wine, and told me that she should soon have me drinking some at
Paris. It seems a thing divine to look on her and listen to her. I saw her
mount on horseback, clad all in white armour save her head, and with a
little axe in her hand, on a great black charger, which at the door of her
quarters was very restive and would not let her mount. Then said she,
'Lead him to the cross,' which was in front of the neighbouring church on
the road. There she mounted him without his moving, and as if he were tied
up; and turning towards the door of the church, which was very nigh at
hand, she said in a soft womanly voice, 'You priests and churchmen, make
procession and prayer to God.' Then she resumed her road, saying, 'Push
forward! push forward!' She told me that three days before my arrival she
had sent my dear grandmother a little golden ring, but that it was a very
small matter, and she would have liked to send you something better,
having regard to your dignity."
JOAN TAKEN CAPTIVE AND BURNT AS A HERETIC (1431).
When Joan was taken prisoner at the siege of Compiégne, she was kept six
months in various castles by John of Luxemburg; but her youth, virtue, and
courage made friends of her gaolers. The governor, however, was a sordid
creature, and sold her to her enemies for English gold. Then another
brutal creature called a bishop of Beauvais, also an inquisitor, rose up
and insisted on his right to judge her, as she was captured within his
diocese. She was taken to Rouen to be tried as a rebel heretic. Joan had a
presentiment of her fate, and said, "I know well that these English will
put me to death; but were they a hundred thousand more Goddams than have
already been in France, they shall never have the kingdom." On hearing
this, the English Earl of Stafford half drew his dagger to strike her, but
was held back. As she was led to Rouen, great crowds came to see her;
ladies of distinction went five leagues to speak comfort to her and
encourage her, and wept on parting. The brutal bishop, like a vulture of
the desert, seized on her as his prey; and though some lookers-on cried
shame, and protested that the trial was illegal, this demon inquisitor had
her locked in an iron cage, with irons on her feet, and kept in a dark
room, guarded night and day in a castle tower, while a sham trial was kept
up for forty days, and idle questions cast at her. The demon judge, after
trying in vain to shake her fortitude, at last had her brought into the
torture chamber. But Joan told him, "If you tear me limb from limb, you
shall get nothing more from me; nay, if I were at the stake and saw the
torch lighting the fagots, I shall say naught else." Joan was declared a
heretic and a rebel; she was harassed to sign an abjuration, and a mock
signature being forced from her, she was at first condemned to perpetual
imprisonment. Part of her alleged crime was the wearing of man's clothes,
and after a struggle she refused to give this up. She was tried and
retried, and at last forty judges agreed that she must be burned at the
stake. A woman's dress was put on her, and she was dragged to the place of
execution. Her last wish was to have the cross, whereon God hung, kept
continually in her sight as long as she lived. She was then done to death,
and even the demon bishop was said for once to drop a tear as the inspired
maid was in her last agony.
OUTBREAK OF THE HERMIT ZEAL (A.D. 340).
Egypt afforded the first example of the monastic life; and at the head of
the new zealots for macerating the body in order to perfect the soul was
Antony, an illiterate youth, born in 305. After rehearsing the solitary
life in Thebais and searching for a suitable site in the desert, he
settled on Mount Colzim, near the Red Sea. He was a friend of Athanasius,
the champion of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. Others followed his
example, and the region of the Nile soon swarmed with disciples. It was
said that five thousand anchorites peopled the Desert of Nitria, south of
Alexandria. Some thought that half of the population had taken to this
sequestered mode of life, so that the old saying was repeated that in
Egypt it was less difficult to find a god than a man. Athanasius
introduced the knowledge and admiration of the monastic life to the Roman
senators who began to take an interest in this new philosophy. A Syrian
youth, named Hilarion, was incited by his enthusiasm to follow Antony's
example, and fix his cell on a sandy beach seven miles from Gaza, where he
lived forty-eight years. Even Basil once spent some time in a savage
solitude in Pontus. And Martin of Tours, who was soldier, hermit, bishop,
and saint, established the monasteries of Gaul. The fame of these hermits
filled the whole earth wherever a knowledge of Christianity had spread.
This pilgrim, visiting Jerusalem, carried there the habits of the new
models of Christian life, and members of wealthy families yielded to the
fashion of piety. Jerome himself persuaded Paula and her daughter
Eustochium to retire to Bethlehem and found monasteries, and pursue a
system of rigid self-mortification.
FIRST BEGINNINGS OF MONASTIC LIFE (A.D. 340).
The monastic life, as a system, was not much known till the end of the
fourth century. It has been conjectured that the circumstances of the
Decian persecution, about the middle of the third century, caused many
persons in Egypt to retreat for safety to the desert, and then, finding
complete security, this became a second nature, the climate being mild and
cells and cottages being easily constructed. There were at first only
individuals here and there, and no regular society till the peaceable
reign of Constantine, when Pachomius is said to have founded some
monasteries in Thebais. Antony, the first hermit of note, gave a
contemporary of Pachomius this account: "When I first became a monk, there
was as yet no monastery in any part of the world where one man was
obliged to take care of another, but every one of the ancient monks, when
the persecution was ended, exercised the monastic life by himself in
private. Afterwards Father Pachomius, by the help of God, brought the
monks to live in communities." Before 250 those who lived a lonely life
were called ascetics. Hilarion, who was scholar to Antony, was the first
monk who ever lived in Palestine or Syria. Not long after this new mode of
life spread to Armenia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus; then it reached Thrace
and parts of Europe. It was not till Athanasius came to Italy and Rome in
340 that he introduced this mode of society. Marcella was the first noble
woman who took to this life at Rome, being instructed by Athanasius during
the Arian persecution. Pelagius, about 400, introduced monastic life into
Britain. Monks at first were laymen and not clergy, their office being not
to teach but to mourn. It was not till after 1311 that Pope Clement
obliged all monks to take holy orders, so that they might say private Mass
for the honour of God.
THE TEMPTATIONS OF ST. ANTONY (A.D. 340).
St. Antony, the founder of the monastic life in Egypt, who died in 356, at
the age of one hundred and four, soon after he began to live in the tombs
as a hermit was found in a trance, and carried to a church as one dead. He
afterwards related that in the night the devil had sent his legions to
terrify him. They upraised so great a clamour that the whole place seemed
to quake, and, as if bursting through the four walls of the cell, devils
rushed in upon him from all sides, transformed in the guise of wild beasts
and creeping things, and the place was straightway filled with spectres of
lions, bears, leopards, bulls, serpents, asps, scorpions, and wolves, all
of them in motion after their proper fashion,--the lion roaring as about
to spring on him, the bull threatening to gore him, the serpent hissing,
the wolf in the act of flying at him, but all in seeming only as under
restraint, though dire were the noises and fierce the menaces of those
phantoms crowding around him. And Antony mocked them and said, "Ye seek to
terrify me with numbers, but this aping of wild beasts only proves your
weakness. If you have any power, delay not, but come on; for faith in the
Lord is my seal and my wall of salvation." And they all gnashed their
teeth at him, looking as if preparing to assail him. But the Lord
meanwhile did not forget Antony, and came to his assistance. The saint,
looking up, saw as it were the roof opened and a ray of light descending
upon him. And the devils on a sudden disappeared; and the pain of his body
was straightway assuaged, and the cell was clear as before. And Antony
rose up and prayed, and received more strength than he ever had before.
ONE HERMIT VISITING ANOTHER (A.D. 340).
Ruffinus says that Macarius once went to visit Antony in the mountain,
and, knocking at the door, Antony opened to him and asked, "Who art thou?"
He answered, "I am Macarius." And Antony, to prove him, shut the door and
left him without, as if holding him in contempt, till, considering his
patience, he opened and admitted him joyfully, saying, "Long have I heard
of thy fame and desired to see thee." And then he made ready, and they ate
together in charity. And in the evening Antony wetted certain palm leaves
to weave baskets with, and Macarius asked for some likewise to work along
with him; and thus sitting and discoursing of things useful to the soul
they made a mat of those leaves; and Antony, seeing that what Macarius had
woven was well done, kissed his hands, and said, "Much virtue issues forth
of these hands, my brother."
A STARVED HERMIT AND THE BUNCH OF GRAPES.
Macarius the hermit, in order to subdue the rebellious flesh, remained six
months in a marsh, and exposed his naked body to the attacks of African
gnats. Once he was presented by a traveller with a bunch of grapes, at
which he looked longingly; but on reflection he thought another brother
was more worthy, to whom he gave them. That brother again remembered
another still more worthy, and passed them on. The tempting cluster passed
from hand to hand, from worthy to more worthy, until it came back once
more to the hands of Macarius, who, not to be tempted overmuch by the
devil, flung the morsel far out of his reach.
TWO HERMITS EXCHANGING COURTESIES OVER A LOAF (A.D. 340).
St. Jerome, in his Life of Paul, the first hermit, who for fifteen years
never slept except standing against a wall, relates that Antony, hearing
that there was a better hermit than himself, went across the desert to
find him, and after many dangers at last saw a wolf enter a cave, and
divined that this must be the cell of Paul. So he went in, and at the
noise Paul shut his door; but Antony fell on his knees and prayed, and
then besought admittance, which was granted. Paul then said, "Behold him
whom thou hast sought with such labour, with limbs decayed by age, and
covered with unkempt white hair. Behold, thou seest but a mortal soon to
become dust. But because charity bears all things, tell me, I pray thee,
how fares the human race--whether new houses are rising in the ancient
cities, by what emperor is the world governed--whether there are any left
who are led captive by the deceits of the devil." As they spoke thus, they
saw a raven settle on a bough, which, flying gently down, deposited, to
their wonder, a whole loaf for their use. When he was gone, "Ah!" said
Paul, "the Lord, truly loving, truly merciful, has sent us a meal. For
sixty years past I have received daily half a loaf, but at thy coming
Christ has doubled his soldier's allowance." Then having thanked God, they
sat down on the bank of a glassy spring. But here a contention arising as
to which of them should break the loaf, occupied the day till well-nigh
evening. Paul insisted as the host; Antony declined as the younger man. At
last it was agreed that they should take hold of the loaf at opposite
ends, and each pull towards himself, and keep what was left in his hand.
Next they stooped down and drank a little water from the spring; then
raising to God the sacrifice of praise, they passed the night watching.
TWO HERMITS TRYING TO QUARREL (A.D. 350).
Ruffinus, in his Lives of the Fathers, relates that there were two ancient
hermits who dwelt together and never quarrelled. At last one said to the
other, with much simplicity, "Let us have a quarrel, as other men have."
And the other answering that he did not know how to quarrel, the first
replied, "Look here, I will place this stone in the middle between you and
me. I will say it is mine, and do you say that it is not true, for that it
is yours; in this manner we will make a quarrel." And placing the stone in
the midst, he said, "This stone is mine." And the other said, "No, it is
mine." And the first said, "If it be yours, then take it." Not being able
either to stamp and swear and blaspheme and slang and defame each other's
parents, and shake their fists or strike a blow at a venture at each
other, they could not carry the conversation further, and the whole
quarrel collapsed.
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF HERMITS.
St. Jerome and others relate that a certain anchorite in Nitria having
left one hundred crowns at his death, which he had acquired by weaving
cloth, the monks of that desert met to deliberate what should be done with
all that money. Some were for giving it to the poor, others to the
Church; but Macarius, Pambo, Isidore, and others, who were called the
Fathers, ordered that the one hundred crowns should be thrown into the
grave and buried with the corpse of the deceased, and that, at the same
time, the following words should be pronounced: "May thy money go with
thee to perdition!" This example struck such a terror into all the monks
that no one dared lay up any money.
THE WISE SAYINGS OF ST. PAMBO THE HERMIT (A.D. 350).
In the fourth century lived St. Pambo, who became a famous hermit, and
practised rush-weaving. One day the blessed Melania took a fine present to
him of a silver vessel, which he did not raise his head from his work even
to acknowledge, and which caused her to ask if he knew its value. He
replied, "He to whom it was offered need not that you should tell him."
Two Spanish brothers spent their fortune, one by building hospitals, and
the other by giving it away and becoming an anchorite, and Pambo was asked
which was the more perfect. His reply was, "Both are perfect before God:
there are many roads to perfection, besides that which leads through the
desert cell." Some one gave Pambo gold to distribute in alms, and told him
to count it. He answered, "God does not ask _how much_, but _how_!" He was
on a visit at Alexandria, and there saw an actress perform. Pambo looked
sad and observed, "Alas! how much less do I labour to please God than does
this poor girl to delight the eyes of men!" He used to say that "a monk
should only wear such a dress as no one would pick up, if thrown away."
When Pambo was on his deathbed, he said, "I thank God that not a day of my
life has been spent in idleness; never have I eaten bread that I have not
earned with the sweat of my brow. I thank God that I do not recall any
bitter speech I have made, for which I ought to repent now." It is said
that Pambo, on beginning his own career, consulted Antony how to act, and
the latter gave this advice: "Never trust in your own merits; never
trouble yourself about transitory affairs; keep a check on your stomach,
and learn to hold your tongue." And Pambo acted strictly on these lines.
A HERMIT CULTIVATING AN OLIVE TREE (A.D. 350).
Mr. Baring-Gould says that Meffreth, a German priest of Meissen, in 1443,
told, in one of his sermons, this story of a hermit: There was once an
aged hermit in the Egyptian Desert, who thought it would be well with him
if he had an olive tree near his cave. So he planted a little tree; and
thinking it might want water, he prayed to God for rain; and so rain came
and watered his olive. Then he thought that some warm sunshine would do
good and swell its buds; so he prayed, and the sun shone out. Now the
nursling looked feeble, and the old man deemed it would do good if some
frost would come and harden it. He prayed for frost, and hoarfrost settled
that night on its branches. Next he thought a hot southerly wind would
benefit his tree, and, after praying, the south wind blew upon the olive
tree. And then it died. Some little while after, the hermit visited a
brother hermit, and lo! by his cell door there grew a flourishing olive
tree. "How came that goodly plant here, brother?" asked the unsuccessful
hermit. "I planted it, and God blessed it as it grew." "Ah! brother, I,
too, planted an olive, and when I thought it wanted water I asked God to
give it rain, and the rain came; and when I thought it needed sun, I
asked, and the sun shone; and when I thought it needed strengthening, I
prayed, and the frost came. God gave me all I demanded for my tree, as I
saw fit, and yet it is dead." "And I, brother," replied the other hermit,
"left my tree in God's hands, for He knew what it wanted better than I."
MACARIUS STUNG BY A GNAT (A.D. 380).
Ruffinus, in his Life of the hermit Macarius, says that that holy man,
sitting one day in his cell and feeling himself bitten in the foot by a
gnat, put his hand to the place, and, finding the gnat, killed it. On
seeing the blood he blamed himself, as it seemed to him he had revenged
himself for the injury received. For this thing and in order to learn
meekness he went into the utmost solitude of the wilderness called Scilis,
where those gnats are largest and most venomous. He lived there for six
months naked, that he might be stung by them; and at the end of that time
he returned so disfigured and wounded that he was unrecognisable save by
his voice, being covered all over with boils and blisters, so that he lost
all shape and appeared leprous.
ST. MARTIN, BISHOP OF TOURS, HERMIT MONK (A.D. 380).
St. Martin of Tours, who died 397, was from infancy devout, but was
obliged to enter the army, owing to a decree of the Emperor. While in the
army, one very cold and frosty day a poor naked and shivering beggar stood
near the gate of Amiens; and as none relieved him, St. Martin, having
already given away all he had, took off his own cloak, and with his sword
cut it in two, giving one half to the beggar and keeping the other. The
bystanders laughed at the figure of the saint; but the following night in
his sleep he was astonished to see Jesus Christ appear to him dressed in
the beggar's half of the cloak, and asked if he knew it. Jesus then said
to a troop of angels attending him, "Martin, yet a catechumen, has clothed
Me with this garment." This vision encouraged the saint to persevere in
his course. He soon left the army, went into a monastery, and afterwards
became a bishop. He had many visions and had great insight into impostors.
One day when he was praying in his cell, the devil came to him environed
with light and clothed in royal robes, with a crown of gold and precious
stones upon his head, and with a gracious and pleasant countenance told
Martin how that he was Christ. Martin looked hard at him and said, "The
Lord Jesus said not that He was to come clothed with purple and crowned
and adorned with a diadem. Nor will I ever believe Him to be Christ who
shall not come in the habit and figure in which Christ suffered, and who
shall not bear the marks of the cross in his body." At these words the
fiend vanished and left in his cell an intolerable stench. The bishop died
of a fever at the age of eighty, and insisted in his last days on lying
among ashes and in a hair shirt, refusing any comforts; for he said, "It
becomes not a Christian to die otherwise than on ashes." Thousands of
monks and virgins and the whole population, with hymns, carried his body
to its resting-place.
DOROTHEUS, THE HERMITS' ARCHITECT (A.D. 440).
Sozomen, who wrote his history about 440, says that about two thousand
monks dwelt near Alexandria in a district called the Hermitage. Dorotheus,
a native of Thebes, was among the most celebrated of these. He spent the
day in collecting stones upon the seashore, which he used in erecting
cells for those who were unable to build them. During the night he
employed himself in weaving baskets of palm leaves, and these he sold to
obtain the means of subsistence. He ate six ounces of bread with a few
vegetables daily, and drank nothing but water. Having accustomed himself
to this extreme abstinence from his youth, he continued to observe it in
old age. He was never seen to recline on a mat or a bed, nor even to place
his limbs in an easy attitude for sleep. Sometimes from natural lassitude
his eyes would involuntarily close when he was at his daily labour or his
meals, and the food would drop on the way to his mouth. One day Piammon, a
presbyter, was conducting the service, and said that he noticed an angel
standing near the altar, and writing down the names of the monks who were
present and erasing the names of those who were absent.
ST. POEMEN, THE PRINCE OF HERMITS (A.D. 450).
The prince of the desert, the chief of the solitaries and the
fellow-citizen of angels, as he was long called, was St. Poemen, an
Egyptian who flourished in 450. He had six brothers, and they all had a
turn for fasting and self-mortifications, and retired to the desert and
lived there, scorning the indulgences of ordinary life. All the people
round soon confessed that Poemen was the greatest hermit of his time, and
his sayings were quoted over all Christendom. A monk who suffered from
violent temptations consulted Poemen how to overcome his evil temper, and
was told to retire into the desert and wrestle there with his temper and
conquer it. The monk said, "But, father, how if I were to die without
Sacraments in the wild waste?" To this Poemen answered, "Do you think God
would not receive you, coming from the battle-field?" Another monk,
perplexed where to live and how to act, asked Poemen whether he should
live in community or in solitude. Poemen replied, "Wherever you find
yourself humble-minded, there you may settle down and dwell with
security." Another monk went a long journey to see and consult Poemen, and
began to talk about subtle theological niceties. Poemen looked grave and
silent, till the visitor departed, expressing his disgust at coming so far
for nothing. Poemen observed on this afterwards, "This anchorite flies far
above my reach. He sails up to heaven, while I creep along the earth. If
he would talk about our passions and infirmities and how to overcome them,
then we should have some subject in common to talk about." Another time
Poemen, asked by a troublesome monk to tell him what was a living faith,
replied, "A living faith consists in thinking little of oneself and
showing tenderness to others." He also once said, "A warm heart, boiling
with charity, is not troubled with temptations, any more than with the
flies hovering round it. When the caldron cools, then the flies collect
and swarm round it." Poemen lived to one hundred and ten, and had no equal
in his time.
ST. MOYSES, WATER-CARRIER TO THE SICK HERMITS (A.D. 470).