VALENTINE TIDE. 49 



FEB. 18, St. Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, martyr, 

 A.D. 116. 

 SS. Leo and Paregorius, martyrs, in 3d age. 



Diis Manibus. — Julian Cal. 



Ubs. St. Simeon was the son of Cleophas, brother to Joseph and 

 Mary the sister of the Blessed Virgin. He was therefore nephew 

 to Joseph and to the Blessed Virgin by a double tie, and was cousin 

 germain to Christ. He is probably the same person as is mentioned 

 as brother to St. James the Less and to St. Jude. His name is 

 sometimes written Simon, which is only an alias of Simeon. This 

 aged bishop suffered martyrdom when one hundred and twenty 

 years old, in the reign of Trajan, by crucifixion. 



The antient Romans dedicated today to the Manes of the Dead : 

 it was something like our All Souls Day, on which we commemorate 

 the faithful departed ; and, though the antient doctrine of the manes 

 was, as were all rites of pagan Kome, mixed with gross superstition, 

 yet it seems, like otiier heathen subjects of belief, to have originated 

 in some antient revelation of truth at a remote period ot time. 

 Indeed the remarkable coincidence between many pagan doctrines 

 and those of the Christian church cannot be considered in any other 

 light. They were corrupted and misunderstood doctrines deiived 

 from the antient law of the Hebrews, just as all the doctrines and good 

 maxims of the present day, scattered through all the heresies and 

 idolatrous worships of the world, are Lut scintillations of the true 

 Apostolical doctrine. Consult Butler's Lives of the Saints ; also 

 Perennial Calendar, p. 749. 



Wall Speedwell Vero7iica arvensis flowers. 



This species is found on old walls, by the side of fields, and in 

 waste places : it is a small and insignificant plant, much resem- 

 bling the Veronica agrestis. We have seen this plant in flower as 

 early as the first week of February. The beautiful Germander 

 Speedwell, which shews such a profusion of blue flowers on our 

 banks in May, is a species of this same genus, as is also the pyra- 

 midal Speedwell, which we have introduced as an ornament into 

 our gardens. They will grow in almost any soil, but chalk and 

 lime rubbish suits them best. 



