The Lives of the Saints, Volume 03 (of 16): MarchBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
The Lives of the Saints, Volume 03 (of 16): March
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Christian saints
Saint Paul, mentioned by the early martyrologies as bishop of
Narbonne, and confessor, has been conjectured to be Sergius Paulus,
the proconsul, converted in the island of Cyprus by the apostle Paul,
when Elymas, the sorcerer, withstood S. Paul. There is no evidence
substantiating this, nor does it appear to rest on any very ancient
tradition.
The most ancient martyrologies do not assert it, though some of them
say that he was a convert of the Apostle of the Gentiles. The Roman
Martyrology mentions the report, but does not authorise it. The Acts of
his life are not deserving of credence. S. Paul certainly lived much
later than he is represented to have done.
Some relics are preserved in the Church of S. Paul at Narbonne.
S. APHRODISIUS, B. OF BEZIERS.
(3RD OR 4TH CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology, the Evora Breviary, and others.]
This bishop, an Egyptian by birth, accompanied S. Paul of Narbonne, in
his mission into Gaul. A foolish legend[82] (_fabulosa narratio_ it is
called by Henschenius) is to the effect that he was governor of Egypt
at the time when S. Joseph and the B. Virgin went down thither with the
Holy Child Jesus, to escape the persecution of Herod who sought the
young child's life. On the arrival of the child Jesus in Egypt all the
idols fell, and Aphrodisius, recognising in Him his God, bowed before
Him in adoration, and defended the Holy Family from the rage of the
idolatrous priests. After the Ascension he laid down his prefectship
and went to Antioch where he was baptized by S. Peter, and afterwards
sent with S. Sergius Paulus into Gaul. S. Aphrodisius, however,
certainly lived much later than he is represented to have done.
[82] Related by Peter de Natalibus, lib. iii. c. 218.
S. BASIL, P. M. AT ANCYRA.
(A.D. 363.)
[Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on the same day. In the Syriac
Church, a S. Basil and his Companions are commemorated on March 1st,
and another S. Basil and his Companions on March 8th, and S. Basil, P.
M., on March 28th in the Coptic Kalendar. The Greek Acts are genuine,
and were written by a contemporary. Other versions of the Acts exist,
but they are corrupted by the intermixture of the Acts of another S.
Basil, a frequent mistake, when there are several saints of the same
name.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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