information can be ascertained concerning the manner of his death; but the Greek Menæa, which are corroborated by several ancient breviaries, relate that he was crucified, and that as Judas was hanged upon a tree, so Matthias suffered upon a cross. His body is said to have been kept a long time at Jerusalem, thence thought to have been translated to Rome by S. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, where some supposed portions of it are shown with great veneration at this day; though others contend that his relics were brought to and are still preserved at Trèves. Among many apocryphal writings attributed to the Apostles, there was a Gospel published under his name, mentioned by the ancient ecclesiastical historians, and condemned with the rest by Gelasius, Bishop of Rome, as it had been rejected by others before him. [Illustration: BEHEADING OF S. MATTHIAS. From Cahier. Feb. 24.] S. Matthias is seldom represented in works of art; when his figure does occur, he generally carries an axe or halbert, sometimes a spear or lance, occasionally a book and a stone. The Greeks represent S. Matthias as an old man with a rounded beard. SS. MONTANUS, LUCIUS, JULIAN, AND COMP., MM. (A.D. 259.) [Roman and other Western Martyrologies. Authority:--The very interesting letter written by these Martyrs, when in prison, to their brethren, with the conclusion, relating their passion, by an eye-witness.] The persecution raised by Valerian had raged two years, during which, many had received the crown of martyrdom, and amongst others, S. Cyprian, in September, 258. The proconsul, Galerius Maximus, who had pronounced sentence on that saint, dying soon after, the procurator, Solon, continued the persecution, waiting for the arrival of a new proconsul from Rome. After some days, a sedition was raised in Carthage against him, in which many were killed. Solon, instead of making search after the perpetrators of the riot, vented his fury upon the Christians, knowing that this would be agreeable to the idolaters. Accordingly, he caused eight Christians, all disciples of S. Cyprian, and most of them of the clergy, to be apprehended. "As soon as we were taken," say the martyrs, "we were given in custody to the officers of the quarter. The governor's soldiers told us that we were to be condemned to the flames; then we prayed to God, with great fervour, to be delivered from that punishment, and he, in whose hands are the hearts of men, was pleased to grant our request. The governor altered his first intent, and ordered us into a very dark and incommodious prison, where we found the priest Victor, and some others; but we were not dismayed at the filth and darkness of the place, our faith and joy in the Holy Ghost reconciled us to our sufferings in that place, though they were such as it is not easy for words to describe; but the greater our trials, the greater is He who overcomes them in us. Our brother Rhenus in the meantime had a vision, in which he saw several