SAINTS SAINT AUGUSTINE. 



73 



distinctly in his DC Mortalitate. The anniversa- 

 ries of the death of friends were celebrated by par- 

 taking of the Lord's supper, and by a gift laid on 

 the altar, in return for which the prayer for the soul 

 of the deceased was introduced into the prayers 

 which preceded the communion. If this was the 

 case with all, it was naturally still more so with the 

 martyrs whose death was their glory. Hence the 

 anniversaries of their suffering were called the dies 

 natales, natalitia marti/nim, -yinfXia *ea* fta^rv^at. 

 We find in Eusebius (lib. iv. 15) the report of the 

 martyrdom of bishop Polycarp, by the community 

 of Smyrna. They say there, in answer to the re- 

 proaches of the heathens, " They (the heathen) do 

 not know that we can never forsake that Christ, 

 who has suffered for all the saved, nor can worship 

 any one besides. Him we worship, as the Son of 

 God; but the martyrs we love, as they deserve, on 

 account of their unparalleled love of their King and 

 Lord," &c. They continue: "We took up his 

 bones, which are more precious than gold and 

 jewels, and laid them down in the proper place ; 

 and God will grant, that we may assemble there in 

 joy and gladness, and celebrate the festival of his 

 martyrdom, in memory of the departed champions, 

 and to exercise and prepare those who are still 

 awaiting the struggle." In this passage we see, 

 already, the beginning of the veneration of relics. 

 By degrees, the veneration of martyrs and the esti- 

 mation of their relics increased ; and, according to 

 the unanimous testimony of the most distinguished 

 fathers of the church of the fourth and fifth cen- 

 turies, they were even then invoked as intercessors 

 at the throne of God. In ages when information is 

 transmitted chiefly by tradition, facts easily become 

 exaggerated, without intentional violation of the 

 truth ; and soon many miracles were reported to 

 have been wrought by their relics or intercession. 

 At the same time, it is undeniable, that, with the 

 diffusion of Christianity, when danger was no longer 

 connected witli its profession, and many persons 

 came over to this religion who had but an imperfect 

 knowledge of it, and had not abandoned entirely 

 their former superstitions, pagan notions often be- 

 came blended with the new religion; and, as many 

 statues of pagan deities were changed into those of 

 martyrs and other persons distinguished for piety, 

 so some hymns, originally addressed to these deities, 

 were now sometimes addressed to departed Chris- 

 tians, who had been eminent for piety; and the 

 special protection of certain persons or things, as 

 ships, churches, &c., was attributed to them as in- 

 tercessors with God. When monarchs became 

 Christians, and the persecution of believers ceased, 

 so that instances of martyrdom were no longer 

 found, the retiring from the world to the seclusion 

 of a convent, or other great sacrifices made from 

 religious motives, often led to investing the deceased 

 with the character of intercessors with God. A 

 pious bishop, who had devoted his whole life to the 

 welfare of his flock, was looked upon as retaining 

 his care for it in the regions of eternal bliss ; so 

 that, by degrees, many saints arose ; and it naturally 

 happened that this honour was sometimes paid to 

 unworthy persons, and sometimes actual fraud was 

 committed to obtain it. It was not uncommon for 

 a person to be long considered and invoked as a 

 saint, when it remained doubtful whether he was 

 so regarded by the church. Hence we find that 

 the council at Frankfort on the Maine, 794, pro- 

 hibited the invocation of new saints; and Charle- 

 magne again, in 805, revived the decree. Th pope 



at last, took the matter into his own hands. Pope 

 John XV., in 993, gave the first example of a 

 canonization by the Roman see; and Alexander III. 

 declared, in 1 170, that canonization was an exclu- 

 sive right of the pope, with whom it has since re- 

 mained.* See Canonization, and Beatification. 



Few popes have become saints. Pius V., in 

 1712, was the first for almost a thousand years, 

 and, so far, has been the last. France, Naples and 

 the German empire, would not acknowledge tlie 

 canonization of Gregory VII., by Benedict XIII., 

 in 1728. One of the last, if not the very last 

 canonization, is that of cardinal J. M. Tomasi in 

 1807. 



Countries, cities, arts, trades, orders, things, &c., 

 have their patron saints; but the church, it seems, 

 determines nothing in relation to them. St Denis 

 is the patron of France ; St George, of England 

 and Russia; St Andrew, of Scotland; St Patrick, 

 of Ireland ; Olaff, of Norway ; Cnut or Canute, of 

 Denmark; Nepomuc, of Bohemia; Cecilia, of music; 

 Hubert, of hunting ; Crispin, of shoemakers, &c. 

 The Greek church does not acknowledge the saints 

 canonized after its separation from the Western 

 Church. See Acta Sanctorum. 



SAINT-FOIN (hedysarum onolrychis) ; a plant, 

 somewhat resembling the pea, which grows wild in 

 the countries about the Mediterranean, and is often 

 cultivated elsewhere for fodder. The stem is about 

 a foot and a half or two feet high ; the leaves are 

 pinnate, composed of small leaflets : the flowers are 

 pretty large and showy, of a fine pink colour, and 

 are disposed in a short spike, upon a long axillary 

 peduncle. Cattle are extremely fond of it. In its 

 wild state, it is only found on dry, warm, chalky 

 soils, where it is of great duration ; and it is chiefly 

 in such districts that it is cultivated to advantage. 

 Its peculiar value is, that it may be grown on soils 

 unfit for being constantly under tillage, and which 

 would yield little undergrass. The deeper the soil 

 is stirred previously to sowing, the better. The 

 seed is generally put in broadcast, at the rate of 

 three or four bushels to an acre ; and sometimes a 

 little red clover is sown afterwards, to produce a 

 crop the second season, when the saint-foin plants 

 are but small. Saint-foin is highly nutritive, either 

 cut green, or made into hay. The produce, on a 

 medium of soils and cultivation, may probably be 

 estimated at from one and a half to two tons the 

 acre. The usual duration of this plant in a profit- 

 able state is from eight to ten years. It ordinarily 

 attains its perfect growth in about three years. The 

 proportion of nutritive matter in saint-foin is esti- 

 mated equal to that afforded by white and red clover. 



SAINT ALBANS (anciently Verulam) ; a town 

 in Hertfordshire, England, twenty miles north-west 

 of London. St Albans owes its name to Alban 

 (q. v.), the first martyr in Great Britain, who was 

 buried on a hill near the town, where a monastery 

 was dedicated to his memory. In 1455, a battle 

 was fought here between the Yorkists and the Lan- 

 casterians; and, in 1461, another battle was fought 

 between the same parties. Pop. in 1841, 6497. 



SAINT ANDREWS. See Andrews, St. 



SAINT ANTHONY'S FIRE. See Erysipelas. 



SAINT AUGUSTINE; a city and seaport of 

 East Florida, on a bay of the Atlantic, two miles 

 within the bar; about thirty miles south of the 

 mouth of St John's river, eighty south of St Mary's, 



* The ahovp-nH-ntionpd decree of the council of Trent also 

 cruiirds itsiiinst tin 1 introduction of new miracles, new relic* 

 Sec., if not approved of by the bishop of the diocese. 



