menstruas de Deo fides decernimus, decretis poenitimusm poenitentes defendimus, defensos anathematizamus. ib. p. 1228. 23. Cointe Annal. Fr. ad ann. 538, n. 41, 42, 43. 24. L. de Gl. Conf. c. 2. 25. Alcuin, Hom. de S. Willibrodo. 26. Baillet, Vie de S. Hilaire. 27. Ap. Mab. anal. t. 4, p. 644. 28. Aimion. l. 4, c. 17 & 33. Coutant, Vit. S. Hilar. p. cxxiv, cxxv, cxxix. 29. S. Hilar. in Matt. c. 18, v. i. p. 698. 30. 1 Cor. i. 17, & iii. 18. S. Hilar. l. 3, de Trin. n. 24, 25, pp. 822, 823. 31. 1 Par. xxix. 17. 32. Prov. iii. 32. 33. Prov. xi. 20. 34. 2 Cor. i. 12. 35. Eccles. i. 39. 36. Rom. viii. 7. ST. FELIX OF NOLA, P. AND C. IT is observed by the judicious Tillemont, with regard to the life of this saint, that we might doubt of its wonderful circumstances, were they not supported by the authority of a Paulinus; but that great miracles ought to be received with the greater veneration, when authorized by incontestable vouchers. St. Felix was a native of Nola, a Roman colony in Campania, fourteen miles from Naples, where his father Hermias, who was by birth a Syrian, and had served in the army, had purchased an estate and settled himself. He had two sons, Felix and Hermias, to whom at his death he left his patrimony. The younger sought preferment in the world among the lovers of vanity, by following the profession of arms, which at that time was the surest road to riches and honors. Felix, to become in effect what his name in Latin imported, that is, _happy_, resolved to follow no other standard than that of the king of kings, Jesus Christ. For this purpose, despising all earthly things, lest the love of them might entangle his soul, he distributed the better part of his substance among the poor, and was ordained Reader, Exorcist, and, lastly, Priest, by Maximus, the holy bishop of Nola; who, charmed with his sanctity and prudence, made him his principal support in these times of trouble, and designed him for his successor.[1]