received the last sacraments from a priest of Castigline, who had been warned of the illness of the hermit. Raynald and Albert buried S. William in his little garden. After his death they preserved the spirit of penitence and mortification with which he had inspired them during his life, and they endeavoured to follow his maxims as their rule of life; and thus originated the Order of the Guillemites, which rapidly spread from Italy, through France, the Low Countries, and Germany. At first they followed the institutes of S. William only, and fasted almost perpetually, and walked barefoot. But Pope Gregory IX. moderated their great austerities, allowed them to be shod, and required them to follow the rule of S. Benedict. S. JOHN-WILLIAM, H. (A.D. 1241.) [Day unfixed for his commemoration, but locally, he is commemorated on the same day as his namesake. He is called Saint in Belgium, but is of local canonization only. Authorities:--Life by an anonymous Cistercian monk, of undecided date, published by Bollandus, and another life in the annals of Jacobus Guisius.] This venerable hermit of Brabant was the founder of the ancient abbey "of the Olive," whose ruins may still be seen at some little distance from the ancient castle of Mariemont, near Binche in Hainault. Having lived a life of great irregularity during his youth, John-William retired, in a moment of remorse, to the abbey of Chérailles, near Vervins; but he shortly afterwards quitted it, being drawn into the world again by his passions. But God, says the legend, gave him a warning which brought him once more to his senses, and he retired to a lonely place near Morlanwelz, where he built a little hermitage of branches, and lived for some time, unknown, exercising himself in prayer and vigil, and living on roots and wild fruit. If we may believe a popular legend, to punish himself for having yielded to his animal passions so long, he would not stand upright, but walked about like a beast, on all fours. Later on, Dame Bertha, the widow of Eustace de Ræulz, having heard of his piety, offered him the choice of any spot on her lands, where he might cultivate the soil to supply his necessities. He accepted her offer, and began diligently to till the ground. John of Béthune, Bishop of Cambrai, informed of the perfection of the hermit, conferred upon him priest's orders; after which, John-William undertook the construction of a stone church on the ground given him by the lady Bertha. When this was complete, the hermit asked the abbess of Fontenelle to send some of her nuns to establish themselves there. She complied with his request, but the place not suiting them, they returned to their convent. At his request, seven nuns from Monstres-sur-Sambre were then sent to him, and they placed themselves under his direction; the institution was incorporated in the order of Citeaux, an abbess was elected, and the place which had formerly borne the designation of "The Hermitage," was