Capuchin friars, two Norbertines, one Dominican, an Augustinian canon, and four secular priests. The names of the martyrs were Nicolas Pic, Guardian of the Capuchins. Godfrey Duneus, secular priest. Cornelis van Vic, a Capuchin friar of great simplicity. Jerome van Werden, vice-guardian of the Capuchins. Theodore Emden, chaplain of the convent of S. Agnes at Gorkum, an old man, a Capuchin. Nicasius John Hezius, a Capuchin, an eloquent preacher, who knew the whole of the New Testament by heart. Wilehad the Dane, aged ninety, a tall thin man, a Capuchin. Anthony van Hornaas, a Capuchin. Francis Rod of Brussels, a young Capuchin priest. Peter van Ask, a Capuchin lay-brother. Leonard Vecchel, parish priest of Gorkum. Nicolas Poppel, priest of Gorkum. John van Oostervic in Brabant, canon-regular of S. Augustine, a very old man. John, priest of Hornaar, a Dominican from Cologne. Andreas Wallas, priest of Heinoort. Jacques Lacop, a Norbertine, curate of Munster, hung not from the beam, but from the topmost rung of the ladder. The execution was done so carelessly that they were long in expiring. The cord supported one only by the chin, another had it in his mouth, and bit it like a bridle. Nicasius did not die till after the sun had risen. Before they were cold, the soldiers hacked the bodies and mutilated them in the most horrible manner. They fixed their noses, ears, and hands on their casques, or hung them over their pikes, and threw the bleeding mor sels in the faces of the people who came to see the sight. The soldiers made the curious pay to enter the grange and feast their eyes on the horrible objects within. As the fat of those who have been hung was superstitiously believed to be useful in various diseases, the butchers cut up Jerome, who was fat, and extracted all the lard they could from his body, and sold it to quacks for the fabrication of unguents. On the 10th, two ditches were dug, the bodies cast into them. There they remained till 1615, when they were exhumed and translated to Brussels. Portions of the relics have been given to many churches in Belgium. July 10. SS. FELICITAS and her SeveN SONS, MM. at Rome, and cent. S. ETTO, B.C. at Lesse, in Belgium, circ. A.D. 660. S. AMALBERGA, W. at Maubeuge, in Belgium, 7th cent. S. PASCHARIUS, B.C. at Nantes, circ. 7th cent. S. AMALBERGA, V. at Temsche, near Ghent, A.D. 772. S. CANUTE, K.M. at Fyen, in Denmark, A.D. 1086. S. ULRIC, C. at S. Ulric, near Freiburg, in Bresgau, circ. A.D. 1093. SS. FELICITAS AND HER SONS, MM. (2ND CENT.) [Roman, and almost all Latin Martyrologies. S. Properly only the Seven Sons on this day, and S. Felicitas alone on November 23rd; but for convenience we give the Mother with her Sons to-day. S. Gregory the Great has left a sermon on S. Felicitas, and has celebrated her memory in his Sacramentary, Peter Chrysologus (d. 450) has also left a sermon on these Saints. There are two versions of the Acts. One, which the Bollandists and others are pleased to call the Acta sincera, and the other, which they denounce as spurious. But there is also another mother with her seven sons, martyrs, only the name of the mother is Symphorosa, commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on July 18th. Symphorosa has been supposed to be the same as Felicitas. The Greek word sumphora means a chance, often a mishap; sometimes, however, it is used in a fortunate sense, as good luck, a happy issue; and Felicitas has been supposed to be a Latin rendering of the name. This is possible. But possibly both are derived from the same source, the Mother and her Seven Sons, Martyrs, in 2 Maccabees, c. vii., Antiochus being changed into Antoninus, and his governor, Philip, into Publius. The spurious Acts are an amplification of the earlier ones. Neither, however, deserve much confidence.] AINT FELICITAS, according to the Acts, was a Roman lady who, being left a widow, served God instantly night and day, with prayers and good deeds. She had seven sons, |