The Lives of the Saints, Volume 02 (of 16): FebruaryBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
The Lives of the Saints, Volume 02 (of 16): February
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Christian saints
After his consecration, Severus lived with her as with a sister, till
she died, and was followed shortly after by her daughter, Innocentia.
Then he laid them both in a tomb, in the church, which had been
prepared for himself. And after many years he knew that he was to die.
So he sang High Mass before all the people, and when the service was
over, he bade all the congregation depart, save only one server. And
when they were gone, he bade the boy close the doors of the cathedral.
Then the bishop went, vested in his pontifical robes, to the sepulchre
of his wife and daughter, and he and the boy raised the stone, and
Severus stood, and looking towards the bodies of his wife and
daughter, he said, "My dear ones, with whom I lived in love so long,
make room for me, for this is my grave, and in death we shall not be
divided." Having said this, he descended into the grave, and laid
himself down between his wife and daughter, and crossed his hands on
his breast, and looked up to heaven and prayed, and then closing his
eyes, gave one sigh, and fell asleep. The relics were translated to
Mayence, in 836, and Oct. 22nd is observed as the feast of this
translation. In art, Severus is represented as a bishop with a shuttle
at his side.
S. BRIDGET, V. ABSS.
(A.D. 525.)
[S. Bridget, or Bride as she is called in England, is the Patroness
of Ireland, and was famous throughout northern Europe. Leslie says,
"She is held in so great honour by Picts, Britons, Angles, and
Irish, that more churches are dedicated to God in her memory, than
to any other of the saints;" and Hector Boece says, that she was
regarded by Scots, Picts, and Irish as only second to the B. Virgin
Mary. Unfortunately, little authentic is known of her. The lives
extant are for the most part of late composition, and are collected
from oral traditions of various value. One life is attributed,
however, to Bishop Ultan Mac Concubar, d. circ. 662; another, a
metrical one, is by the monk Chilian, circ. 740; another by one
Cogitosus, is of uncertain date; another is by Laurence, prior of
Durham, d. 1154; and there is another, considered ancient, by an
anonymous author.]
Ireland was, of old, called the Isle of Saints, because of the great
number of holy ones of both sexes who flourished there in former ages;
or, who, coming thence, propagated the faith amongst other nations. Of
this great number of saints the three most eminent, and who have
therefore been honoured as the special patrons of the island, were S.
Patrick their apostle, S. Columba, who converted the Picts, and S.
Bridget, the virgin of Kildare, whose festival is marked in all the
Martyrologies on the 1st day of February.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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