multitude was gathered together, he led them to the prison, and there they saw the wondrous light, and many believed, when they beheld how that Hermagoras was healed of all the wounds dealt him on the rack. And a certain man, named Gregory, brought his lunatic son to Hermagoras, and he cast the devil out of the boy, and the father believed, and he and his son were baptized. Then the governor sent an executioner by night into the prison to slay Hermagoras, and his archdeacon, Fortunatus, who was with him. And he struck off their heads. Relics of S. Hermagoras are at Aquileja, at S. Hermagor in the Gailthal, and an arm at Prague, given by Charles IV. SS. PAULINUS, B., AND COMP., MM. (IST CENT.) [Not known to the ancient Martyrologists. Indeed, nothing whatever was known of there having been such saints till the year 1261, when Jacobus, a friar of Lucca, dreamed that he would find relics in a certain place. He accordingly dug there, and discovered a marble sarcophagus, with the inscription: "Hic est corpus B. Paulini, primi Lucani episcopi et discipuli Petri Apostoli, et sanctorum Martyrum Severi presbyteri et Theobaldi militis." Henry, bishop of Luca, at once accepted this as a true invention of relics, and the bones were translated by him in the presence of the papal Legate; and by their authority the names were inscribed in the sacred diptychs, and the veneration of their relics was indulgenced. In 1631, the relics were inspected, and the congregation of Sacred Rites, with the sanction of Pope Innocent XI., appointed proper lessons for the festival of these Saints in the diocese of Lucca. Their names were also adopted into the Modern Roman Martyrology. The Acts, which form the basis of these lessons, came into existence after the invention of the relics in 1261. They are a forgery of that date. One of the martyrs is Theobald. It is needless to point out that this is a Teutonic name. The story is so full of fable, that it is amazing that it could have imposed on the congregation of Sacred Rites, and the Pope, for a moment.] IT must be clearly understood that this story is a romance of the 13th century, resting on no foundation of truth whatever, except the fact that a sarcophagus was found in 1261, at Lucca, bearing the inscription, "Here is the body of the Blessed Paulinus, first bishop of Lucca, and a disciple of S. Peter the Apostle; and also the bodies of the blessed martyrs Severus, a priest, and Theobald, a soldier." How this inscription came on the marble tomb, and how the tomb was found, must not be asked too closely. Nero the emperor ordered a temple to Diana, to be erected at Lucca, at the bridge of the river Serchio, to contain a statue of the goddess, made of pure gold and set with pearls, of gigantic size, and all the people of Lucca were summoned to fall down and worship it. Now the temple had a brazen vault, set on ninety pillars of marble, and it was pierced with holes. And Nero ordered water to be poured over the vault, and the water streamed down through the holes like rain. And he made a sun of lamps, and it was drawn through the vault, and rose and set. And he also made a moon of precious stones, to rise when the sun set. But the string that supported the moon broke, and it tumbled down and cracked. And he drove a chariot over the brazen vault, and the people heard the rumbling of the wheels, and thought it strikingly resembled thunder. But the Lord sent a wind, and it blew the chariot and horses off the roof, and tumbled them into the river. Now there was in Lucca, at the time, a certain Paulinus, a native of Antioch, who had been ordained bishop by S. Peter, and sent to Lucca. And he had with him a priest named Severus, and a deacon named Luke. Now Paulinus built in Lucca many churches, and placed over them priests. And Nero sent officers, and they took Paulinus, Severus, and Luke, and a faithful soldier named Theobald, as they were praising God in a church Paulinus had built and dedicated to "the Holy Trinity, the lifegiving Cross, the immaculate Virgin Mary, and S. Stephen the proto-martyr." They were brought before Anulinus, the governor, tortured and slain. S. VERONICA. [By the Greeks on this day. (IST CENT.) Authorities :-Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., lib. vii., c. 18. Sozomen, lib. v., c. 21. Photius, cod. 271.] THE Greeks give the name of Veronica, or Beronike, to the woman with the issue of blood, healed by our Blessed Lord. The first time this name occurs is in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, therefore in the 5th cent. This name is an alteration of the name Prounike, given to this woman by the Valentinians, one of the Gnostic sects. Origen, in his treatise against Celsus, says, "The Valentinians, in their lying doctrine, speak of a certain Prounice, to whom they give the name of Wisdom, of whom they assert the woman of the Gospel, who had an issue of blood twelve years, was a symbol. Celsus, who heard this, and confounded the ideas of the Greeks, barbarians, and heretics, changed this into the virtue of a certain virgin named Prounice." In the "Recognitions of S. Peter," an apocryphal work, attributed falsely to S. Clement, Bernice, the daughter of Justa, the Canaanite, receives into her house at Tyre, SS. Clement, Nicetas and Aquila, arrived from Cæsarea, and relates to them the marvels wrought by Simon Magus. According to Eusebius, the woman with the issue was a native of Paneas, or Cæsarea Philippi. The Chronicle 1 For further particulars see Maury:-Croyences et Legendes de l'Antiquite 1863, p. 333, et seq. attributed to Julianus Petrus, arch-priest of S. Justus in Spain, relates that Berenice was the daughter of Salome, sister of Herod, and wife of S. Amator, and confounding her with a martyr of Antioch, named Beronicus, she is made to suffer martyrdom in that city. Eusebius relates a tradition popular in his day. "They say that the woman who had an issue of blood, mentioned by the Evangelists, and who obtained deliverance from her affliction by our Saviour, was a native of Paneas, or Cæsarea Philippi, and that her house is shown in the city, and the wonderful memorials of our Saviour's benefit to her still remains. At the gates of her house, on an elevated stone, stands the brazen image of a woman on her bended knee; with her hands stretched forth like one entreating. Opposite to this is another image of a man, erect, of the same materials, decently clad in a mantle, and stretching out his hand to the woman. Before her feet, and on the same pedestal, there is a strange plant growing, which, rising as high as the hem of the brazen garment, is a kind of antidote to all kinds of diseases. This statue, they say, is a statue of Jesus Christ, and it has remained even to our days, as we ourselves saw, when tarrying in that city. Nor is it to be wondered at, that those Gentiles who were anciently benefited by the Saviour, should have done these things. For we have also seen representations of the apostles Peter and Paul, and of Christ himself, still preserved in paintings; so that it is probable that, according to a practice among the Gentiles, the ancients were accustomed to pay this sort of honour indiscriminately to those who benefited them." "Among so many remarkable events which occurred during the reign of Julian," says Sozomen, "I must not omit to mention one which affords a manifest proof of the power of Christ, and of the Divine wrath against the |