apostle of the Indies. St Francis was beatified by Paul V. in 1554, and canonized by Gregory XV. in 1662. By an order of John V. king of Portugal, the archbishop of Goa, attended by the viceroy the marquis of Castel-Nuovo, in 1744, performed a visitation of the relicks of St Francis Xavier: at which time the body was found without the least bad smell, and seemed environed with a kind of shining brightness: and the face, hands, breast, and feet had not suffered the least alteration, or symptom of corruption (10). In 1747, the same king obtained a brief of Benedict XIV. by which St Francis Xavier is honoured with the title of patron and protector of all the countries in the EastIndies.

Holy zeal may properly be said to have formed the character of St Francis Xavier. Consumed with an insatiable thirst of the salvation of souls, and of the dilatation of the honour and kingdom of Christ on earth, he ceased not with tears and prayers to conjure the Father of all men not to suffer those to perish whom he had created to his own divine image, made capable of knowing and loving him, and redeemed with the adorable blood of his Son; as is set forth in the excellent prayer of this saint, printed in many books of dovotion. For this end, the saint, like another St Paul, made himself all to all, and looked upon all fatigues, sufferings, and dangers, as his pleasure and gain.. In transports of zeal, he invited and pressed others to labour in the conversion of infidels and sinners. In one of his letters to Europe, he wrote as follows: (11) "I have often thoughts to run over all the Universities of Europe, and principally that of Paris, and to cry aloud to those who abound more in learning than in charity, Ab! how many souls are lost to heaven through your neglect! Many, without doubt, would be moved, would make a spiritual retreat, and give themselves the leisure for meditating on heavenly things. They would renounce their passions, and, trampling under foot all worldly vanities, would put themselves in a condition of following the

(10) Lettres Edif. et Cur. des Mission. vol. 27. Pref. p. 24. (II) S. Fr. Xav. ep. 5. from Cochin, Anno 1544. p. 67.

motions of the divine will. Then they would say, Behold me in readiness, O Lord. How much more happily would these learned men then live? With how much more assurance would they die.... Millions of idolaters might be easily converted, if there were more preachers who would sincerely mind the interests of Jesus Christ, and not their own" But the saint required missionaries that are prudent, charitable, mild, perfectly disinterested, and of so great purity of manners, that no occasions of sin weaken their constancy (12). "In vain," says he, "would you commit this important employ to any, howsoever learned and otherwise qualified, unless they are laborious, mortified and patient unless they are ready to suffer willingly, and with joy, hunger and thirst, and the severest persecutions." (13) This saint was himself a model of such preachers, formed upon the spirit of the apostles. So absolute a master he was of his passions, that he knew not what it was to have the least motion of choler and impatience, and in all events was perfectly resigned to the divine will from whence proceeded an admirable tranquillity of soul, a perpetual cheerfulness, and equality of countenance. He rejoiced in afflictions and sufferings, and said that one who had once experienced the sweetness of suffering for Christ, will ever after find it worse than death to live without a cross (14). By humility the saint was always ready to follow the advice of others, and attributed all blessings to their prayers, which he most earnestly implored. Of himself he always sincerely spoke as of the basest and most unworthy of men, with the most perfect sentiments of distrust in himself, The union of his soul with God by holy prayer, raised him above the world. Ingulphed in deep meditations, he was sometimes found suspended in the air, with beams of glory round his countenance, as many ocular witnesses deposed (15).

(12) Id. 1. 2. ep. 9. See Lett. Edif. et Curi. des. Mission. Re" cues. 1. 7. p. 70. (13) Id. 1. 4. ep. 9.` (14) S. Fr. Xav. 1. ep. 1. p. 25. (15) See his life by F. Bouhours, b. 6. p. 679.

ON THE SAME DAY.

Birinus,

St BIRINUS, first bishop of Dorchester, C. a priest of Rome, addressed himself to pope Honorius, for leave to preach the gospel to the idolaters in Britain. The pope commended his zeal, and caused him to be ordained bishop. The apostolic missionary landed in the kingdom of the West-Saxons, and with many others baptized king Cynegils, who began to reign in 611, and filled the throne thirty-one years, being the sixth from Cerdic, who founded that kingdom in 519. Birinus fixed his see at Dercis, now at Dorchester, on the Thames, in Oxfordshire, upon the edge of Berkshire (a): he built and consecrated many churches, gained many souls to God, and departing to him was buried in the same city, about the year 650 His remains were translated to Winchester by bishop Hedda, and there laid in the church of SS. Peter and Paul. Of the painted windows in Dorchester church which have escaped the fury of the plunderers, Mr Hearne, in his notes on William of Newbo rough, vol. 3. p. 773, makes this remark," I know of no truly religious person but what is affected with what now remains of the historical painting in Dorchester windows, relating to Birinus's voyage thither, and his converting the heathens." See on S. Birinus, Robert of Gloucester's chronicle, p. 247. Bede, I. 3. c. 7. and Neve's Fasti Anglicani, p 137, 283.

(a) The sees of Salisbury, Exeter, Wells, Litchfield, Worcester and Hereford, were afterward formed out of this of Dorchester, which was soon transferred to Winchester. For Agilbert, a Frenchman, who succeeded St Birinus, understood not sufficiently the English language; for which reason he returned to France in 660, Wina being appointed bishop of the West Saxons, at Winchester, Eleutherius, and after him Hedda, in 676, succeeded in that see in the same place. King Oswy appointed in 650, Dwyna, bishop of Litchfield, for the Midland English. In the same country of Mercia another bishopric was erected, in 678, when Eadhead was made bishop of Sidnacester; this see was removed to Legecester, now Leicester, in 872, and soon after to Dorchester, which continued the see of the bishops of East Mercia and Lyndsey, till in 1072 the bishop Remigius of Feschamp translated it to Lincoln. See Godwin, de Presul. Angl. ed. nov. and Le Neve, p. 138.

St SOLA, Hermit. This saint was an Englishman, who following St Boniface into Germany, became his disciple, and the faithful imitator of his virtues, and was ordained priest by him. Called by the sacred impulse of the Holy Ghost into the desert, the more securely to find the narrow way that leads to life, by the advice of his experienced master he retired into the wilderness of Solenhoven, upon the banks of the river Altmona, near Aychstat, where in a little cell, remote from man, he passed his days with God, making penance and holy prayer his only business. After the martyrdom of St Boniface, the holy brothers Willibald, the bishop, and Wunebald, the priest; were his patrons, and often visited him to kindle in their souls the flame of his heavenly desires by his spiritual conversation. King Charles bestowed on him a considerable piece of land: but the saint transferred it on the abbey of Fulde. That prince took every occasion of testifying the highest esteem for his sanctity but the man of God was dead to all human honours and applause, and shewed by his conduct that the whole world is nothing to one who seeks God alone. He departed to our Lord on the 3d of December in 790. A chapel was built where his oratory had stood, and his body was taken up and enshrined by the authority of pope Gregory IV. about the year 830. See his life written by Ermenoldus, in 840, in Canisius, Lectiones Antiqu. T. 3. and Mabill. Sæc. 3. Ben.

St LUCIUS, King, C. We are informed by Bede (1), that in the reign of Marcus Antoninus Verus and Aurelius Commodus, a British king, named Lucius, sent a letter to pope Eleutherius, intreating that by his direction he might be made a Christian. This must have happened about the year 182. Lucius must have reigned in some part of Britain which was subject to the Ro. mans, as his name indicates. Tacitus (2) mentions Prasutagus, king of the Iceni in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, who at his death made the emperor Nero his heir, hoping by that means his people would be secured from injuries; whereas the

(1) Hist. 1. 1. c. 4′′ (2) Tacit. Annal. 1. 14. c. 3t.

contrary fell out; for the country was plundered by centurions and slaves. The same historian mentions, (2) that certain cities were given to Codigunus, "according to the ancient and received custom of the Roman people, to make even kings the instruments of the slavery of nations," as he observes. That Lucius was a christian king in Britain is proved by two medals mentioned by Usher, (4) and one by Bouterue. Bede tells us, that by his embassy to Eleutherius he obtained the effect of his pious request; and that the Britons enjoy. ed the light of faith in peace till the reign of Dioclesian. Lucius therefore was the first christian king in Europe it no where appears in what part of Britain he reigned. The records of Glastenbury, abbey, quoted by Malmesbury, and others mentioned by Usher, (5) tell us, that St Eleutherius sent over to Britain SS. Fugatius and Damianus, (rather Dumianus or Duvianus,) who baptized king Lucius, and many others, and were buried at Glastenbury. In Somersetshire, in the Deanery of Dunstor, there is a parish church which bears the name of St Deruvian, as Stow testifies. This saint is called by the Welsh Duvian, or Dwywan, says Usher. The christian faith had reached Britain in the times of the apostles. St Clement I. pope, affirms, that St Paul preached to the utmost bounds of the West. Gildas says, (6) the first dawn of the evangelical light appeared in this island about the eight year of Nero. Theodoret names the Britons as a nation in which St Paul sowed the seeds of faith; and in another place says, that this apostle brought salvation to the islands that lie in the ocean. Three British bishops assisted at the council of Arles, in 314, namely, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelfius, who is styled De civitate Colonia Londinensium; which bishop Usher takes to have been Colchester; but many more probably understand by it Lincoln, anciently called Lindum Colonia. Also certain British bishops subscribed the council of Nice against

() Vit. Agricole, c. 14. Guthrie, Hist. of England, B. 1. Harpsfield, 1. 1. c. 3.. (6) Gildas, ed. Gale, p. 3•

(4) Antiq Britan. c. 3. p. 22.

(5) Usher, ib. c. 4. p. 29. 6. T. 1. Script. Hist. Brit.