102 LENT? 



APRIL 11. St. Leo the Great, pope, a.d. 461. 



St. Anlipas, martyr. 



St. Guthlake, patron of Croyland Abbey in 714, 



St. Maccai, abbot. 



St. Aid, abbot in Ireland. 



Obs, St. Leo the Great was descended of a noble Tuscan family. 

 When archdeacon, he was sent to compose a difference between 

 Actius and Albinus, two generals, who were at variance during his 

 absence. Sixtus III, died, and the Roman clergy cast their eyes 

 upon him for their pastor. St. Leo was forty days going before he 

 could arrive at Rome, where he received the episcopal consecration 

 on Sunday the twenty ninth of September, in 440. He filled the holy 

 see twenty one years, dying on the lOlh of November, 461. His 

 body was interred in the church of St. Peter, and his relicks trans- 

 lated and placed in the Vatican church, in the year 1715. 



Dandelion Leontodon Taraxacum flowers. 



This plant, otherwise named Taraxacum Dens Leonis or Lion's 

 Tooth, is now getting into plentiful flower, and already bespangles 

 the fields and the sides of roads with its golden blossoms. Its name 

 has been said, though we believe erroneously, to be taken from St. 

 Leo, celebrated today, its maximum of flowering taking place just now 

 is we believe quite an accidental coincidence with the festival of the 

 saint. Old Gerard, who was a diligent searcher of simples and 

 learned apothecary of London, describes several varieties of this 

 plant, but perhaps he included our Leontodon pnlastre dind the Apargia 

 hispida. He says the Dandelion used also to be called in the shops 

 of pharmacy Taraxacum and Caput JMonachi. 



In the gardens this plant becomes a troublesome weed from the 

 prolific nature of its seeds, which are blown by the wind to a great 

 distance. In about a month's time large crops of the seeding sralks, 

 called blowers by the village children, covering whole fields, have a 

 curious eflFect. 



The Zodiacal Lion Leo major is a constellation now conspicuous of 

 an evening, whose well known stars Deneb in the Lion's Tail, and 

 Regulus in his heart are of the first magnitude. The Lesser Lion 

 Leo minor is just above the former. The Lion is on the meridian 

 about half past nine o'clcck. And the conspicuous situation of this 

 sign at this time of year may have suggested the application of the 

 name to the plant described today. 



Peach, Nectarine, and Apricot trees are in full bloom now, and the 

 Redstart together with several other general birds of passage are 

 sometimes first seen. 



