| body of the holy martyr was, for this purpose, brought from Parma. | | Act. Sanctor. loc. cit. | | | | [219] Probably a corruption of Apotropæi. The expression is | | constantly met with; for example, in _Agricola_, Proverbs, No. 497. | | These are the θεοὶ ἀλεξικάκοι, the dii averrunci of the antients. | | The fourteen saints, to whose churches (between Bamberg and Coburg) | | thousands still annually make pilgrimages, are the following: | | 1. Georgius. 2. Blasius. 3. Erasmus. 4. Vitus. 5. Pantaleon. | | 6. Christophorus. 7. Dionysius. 8. Cyriacus. 9. Achatius. 10. | | Eustachius. 11. Ægidius. 12. Margaretha. 13. Catharina. 14. Barbara. | | | | [220] _J. Agricola._ Sybenhundert und fünffzig Teutscher | | Sprichwörter. No. 497. Seven hundred and fifty German Proverbs. | | Hagenau, 1537. 8vo. fol. 248. | | | | [221] _St. Augustine_ had already warned the people against | | committing excesses and singing profane songs at the festival of | | St. John: “Nec permittamus solemnitatem sanctam cantica luxuriosa | | proferendo polluere.”—_St. Augusti_ Denkwürdigkeiten aus der | | Christlichen Archäologie. Vol. III. p. 166. Leipzig. 1820. 8vo. | | Memorabilia of Christian Archæology. | | | | [222] _Wirthwein._ Series chronologic. Epistolarum S. Bonifacii ab | | ann. 716–755. LVII. Concil. Liptinens. p. 131. XV. De igne fricato | | de ligno, id est, Nodfyr. See _Joh. Reiskii_. Untersuchung des bei | | den Alten Teutschen gebräuchlichen heidnischen Nodfyrs, imgleichen | | des Oster-und Johannis-Feuers. Enquiry respecting the heathen | | Nodfyrs customary among the ancient Germans, and also the Easter | | and St. John’s fires. Frankfort, 1696. 8vo. | | | | [223] The Bishop _Theodoret_ of Cyrus in Syria, states, that at | | the festival of St. John, large fires were annually kindled in | | several towns, through which men, women and children jumped; | | and that young children were carried through by their mothers. | | He considered this custom as an ancient Asiatic ceremony of | | purification, similar to that recorded of Ahaz, in 2 Kings, xvi. | | 3. (Quæstiones in IV. Libr. Regum. Interrogat. 47, p. 352. _Beati | | Theodoreti_, Episcop. Cyri Opera omnia, Ed. _Jac. Sirmondi_, Lùt. | | Paris. 1642. fol. T. I.) _Zonaras, Balsamon and Photius_ speak of | | the St. John’s fires in Constantinople, and the first looks upon it |