106 PASQUE ? 



APRIL 15. St. Peter Gonzales, conf. a.d. 1246. 

 SS. Basilissa and Anastasia, mm. in 1st ag-e. 

 St, Peternus, bishop of Avranches, in 6t\\ age. 

 St. Miindi, abbot, in 962. 

 St. Ruadhan, abbot in Ireland, 584. 



Fordicidia. — Julian Cal. 



Obs. The best historians place the birth of St. Peter Gonzales, 

 in Latin Gonzalves, in the year 1190, at Astorga in Spain. He 

 foretold his death on Palm Sunday, and expired in the arms of the 

 famous Bishop of Tuy, his great admirer and friend, on the 14th of 

 April, in 1246. From Gonzales comes the corrupted word St. Elm, 

 by which this saint is commonly known ; and those electrical phe- 

 nomena called Fires of St. Elm derive from him their name. He is 

 styled the Patron of Mariners. 



Great Stitchwort Stellaria holostea flowers. 

 The white starlike flowers of this plant begin now to be seen under 

 the hedges, and on the green banks by the roadsides. 



Swallow Hirundo rusiica arrives. 



About this day Swallows arrive, and first appear as stragglers 

 only, or in very small numbers. Some poet says of this season and 

 its phenomena : 



The Swallow, for a moment seen, 

 Skim'd this morn the village green ; 

 Again at eve, when Thrushes sincr 

 I saw her glide on rapid wing 

 O'er yonder pond's smooth surface, when 

 I welcom'd her come back again. 

 Aratus describes the skimming of Swallows over the water as a 

 sign of rain, and Virgil and most of the Latin poets have imitated 

 him : "H Xi'juvriv TTEpi Jtifla p^iXiJoiSf aiViroy/ai 



Aral. Dios. 210. 

 Aut arguta lacus circumuolitauit hirundo, 

 Et veterem in limo ranae cecinere querelam. 



Virg. Gear. lib. i. 377. 

 In the Rustic Calendar this day is called Swallow Day, and in 

 the Ephemeris of Nature j^eXjJovotfopia. IMost poets and natu- 

 ralists have hailed the Swallows as harbingers of spring, and the 

 west wind is called Chelidonius from blowing about t!ie time of this 

 bird's early arrival in Italy. \Vith us Swallows often make their 

 first appearance during cold east winds and almost cloudless skies. 

 Though we have exceptions to this rule, when refreshing electric 

 showers fall at this time, reminding us of the proverb, 

 April's showers bring forth May's flowers. 



