TWELFTH TIDE. " 



JAN. 5. St. Simeon Stylttes, hermit of the Pil- 

 lar A.D. 459. 

 St. Telesphorus, P. M. in 139. 

 St. Syncletica, V. Vigil of Epiphany . 



Ohs' Pillar Saints as they are called afford the most extraordi- 

 nary instances of voluntary suffering and mortification which the 

 history of the church exhibits to us : St. Simeon Stylites was perhaps 

 the most remarkable of these, and was indeed the prototype of all 

 the rest. He was the astonishment not only of all Rome but of all 

 the nations of the East, having dwelled above thirty years chained 

 to the top of pillars erected for that purpose. He had three of these 

 lofty and exposed abodes successively, each higher than the rest, 

 having by degrees used himself to greater and greater elevations. 

 His life is detailed by Alban Butler from authentic sources. 



St. Simeon Stylites is usually drawn chained to the top of a 

 pillar. 



Bearsfoot Helleborus foetidus flowers. 



The occasional early flowering of the plant today is not a constan 

 ing, and only happens in very mild winters. 



Flittennouse Vespertilio murina is sometimes seen. 



IS 



Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo 

 Saxaque continua vortice findit aqua. 



On the above epigram in the Anthologia Borealis et Austral 

 we find, in allusion to St. Simeon Stylites, the following aspiration ; 



As drops of water by degrees wear holes in stones; as rivers by 

 continually running make fissures in rocks, and find their way 

 through marshes into the sea ; so by continual prayer and mortifi- 

 cation ought we to let in hourlie the dewdrops of heavenlie benedic- 

 tion upon our obdurate hearts, that the river of the soul may wear 

 its way through the rocky bondage of the flesh and flow through the 

 vale of tears into the Ocean of Eternity. 



B2 



