2] PURIFICATION OF MARY THE BLESSED VIRGIN.-[See notes on Gosp. Ep. and Coll.] Represented At her purification, with a pair of turtle-doves. See March 25th. 3] BLASIUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR.-St. Blaise was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, and suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Licinius [A.D. 316], but we know scarcely anything about his life or death, his "Acts" being of late date and small authority. Some say he suffered in the Diocletian persecution. The Roman Martyrology states that he was scourged, hanged on a post or tree, and torn with iron combs, then cast into a most foul prison, then into a lake, and finally beheaded in company with two boys and seven women. of the alleged instruments of his martyrdom has led to his being esteemed as the patron of wool-combers, and as such he is still remembered at Norwich, at Bradford in Yorkshire, and other places where hand-combing is or has been practised. The Council of Oxford [A.D. 1222] prohibited servile work on this day. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Heb. v. 1-6. St. Matt. x. 26-32.] Calendars-All. Dedications of Churches-Three, and one with St. Mary. One Represented-As a Bishop, with crosier and book, with wool-comb, or torch or taper; a pig's head near him, alluding to a legend of his restoring a dead pig; birds bringing him food. 5] AGATHA, SICILIAN VIRGIN AND MARTYR.-The story of St. Agatha or Agace is very like that of St. Agnes [January 21st]. She was a native of either Palermo or Catania, of a noble family, and consecrated to God from her earliest years. In the Decian persecution [A. D. 251], Quintianus the consul availed himself of the imperial edict to seize both her person and her estate. Being in the hands of her persecutors, she prayed, saying, "O Jesu Christ, Lord of all, Thou seest my heart, Thou knowest all my desire, do Thou alone possess all that I am. I am Thy sheep, make me worthy to overcome the Evil One." After the most infamous assaults on her chastity, and the usual horrible tortures, she sweetly slept in Dedications of Churches-Three. Represented-Holding a breast cut off, in pincers; a knife at her breast; breasts in a dish, or on a book; an eye in pincers; a knife, or pincers, or hook in her hand; on a funeral pile, or with a chafing-dish of burning coals near her. 14] ST. VALENTINE, BISHOP AND MARTYR.-We find a St. Valentine on this day in the Sarum, and hence in the Aberdeen and Reformed English Calendars, styled bishop and martyr; in those of York, Hereford, and the Austin Canons, martyr only; in the Roman and Monastic, presbyter and martyr. The Roman Martyrology mentions two Valentines on February 14th-a presbyter of Rome and a bishop of Teramo, both martyrs. The former assisted other martyrs, and was condemned by Claudius II. to be beaten with clubs and beheaded about A.D. 270. His name is celebrated in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, and he is doubtless the person meant in all the calendars, "Bishop" in Sarum, etc., being a clerical error. The name was so common in the later days of the empire that there were at least eight martyrs of the same name, as well as three found in the Catacombs with the palm branch and bottle of blood. The sending of "Valentines is supposed to be a survival of a heathen custom observed on or about this day. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp.: Ecclus. xxxi. 8-11. St. Matt. xvi. 24-28.] Calendars-All. Dedications of Churches-None. Represented-As a priest with a sword. 24] ST. MATTHIAS, APOSTLE AND MARTYR.-[See notes on Gosp. Ep. and Coll.] Dedications of Churches-One only until modern times, Thorpe by Hadiscoe, Norfolk.. Represented-With halbert, sword, or axe; with a stone iu his hand. xxvi. to v. 21. Numbers vi. xxvi. v. 21. Num. ix. v. 15 to [x. v. 11. Lev. xxv. to v. 18. Mark iv. v. 35 to v. Levit. xxv. v. 18 Romans xi. to v. 25. Deut. xv. Luke xii. Deut. [v. 21. v. v. 21. vi. to v. 14. [xvi. XVIll. Ephes. [to v. 44. [vi. xi. v. 25. X11. xvii. xiii. Phil. i. xix. xiv. XX. ii. xi. to v. 24. xii. xiii. xxi. XV. xxii. iii. Pr. Non. Nonæ. xiv. and xv. tov.8. xxiv. xv. v. 8. xvi. xxvi. xvii. xxvii. Col. i. xxviii. [10. d 8. Id. xvi. v. 23. viii. v. 10 to ix. XX. v. 14. v. 26 and ii. f 6. Id. xxi. to v. 10. ix. v. 30. xxi. v. 10 to v. 32. iii. 11 5. Id. xxxiv. xxi. Josh. i. 1 Thes. i. xxii. to v. 22. x. to v. 32. xxii. v. 22. iv. to v. 18. 12 A 4. Id. Gregory, Magnus, B. of Rome and Josh. ii. xxii. iii. 11. 13 b 3. Id. [Conf. xxiii. XXV. XXIV. 14 с Pr. Id. Deut. i. to v. 19. x. v. 32. xi. to v. 27. xi. v. 27 to xii. v. xii. v. 13 to v. 35. xiii. v. 14. xiv. to v. 27. xxvii. v. 12. vi. vi. xxiv. vii. iv. vii. to v. 25. vill. xxiv. xxiii. 2 Thes. i. 14. Cal. 13. Cal. The Numbers here prefixed to the several Days between the twenty-first day of March and the eighteenth day of April, both inclusive, denote the Days upon which those full Moons do fall which happen upon or next after the twenty-first day of March, in those years of which they are respectively the Golden Numbers: And the Sunday Letter next following any such full Moon points out Easter Day for that year. All which holds until the Year of our Lord 1899 inclusive, after which Year the places of these Golden Numbers will be to be changed, as is hereafter expressed. xiv. v. 27 to v. 53. vii. v. 12. x. v. 8. xi. v. 2 to v. 17. iv. xi. v. 18. ii. to v. 21. ii. v. 21. iii. to v. 23. iv. to v. 16. iv. v. 16. v. to v. 17. 2 Cor. i. to v. 23. i. v. 23 to ii. v. 14. ii. v. 14 and iii. iv. Titus i. ii. iii. Philem. |