144 WHITSUN TIDE 



V 



MAY 23. St. Julia, virgin and martyr, a.d. 439. 



St. Desiderius, bishop of Langres, 7th cent. 



St. Desiderius, bishop of Vienne, 7th cent. 



Ohs. St. Julia was a noble virgin at Carthage, who when that 

 city vvas sacked by Genseric in 439 was sold for a slave. She per- 

 severed in her religion with the most exemplary courage, and died a 

 martyr in Corsica for refusing to join in the idolatrous sacrifice of a 

 bull ill the time of the governor Felix. In 763 Desiderius king of 

 the Lombards removed her reliques to Brescia, where her memory is 

 celebrated with great devotion. 



L\\diC Sy ring a vulgarism fullest flower. 



The Lilac of which we have already spoken is now in its fullest 

 bloom, and from this circumstance has been called the Flower of St. 

 Julia. Syringa, its Latin name, comes from Syrinx the nymph. 

 The prevailing colour of its flower gives a name to one of the most 

 pleasing shades of purple that we possess, a sort of dilated blueish 

 pink, distinguished from the reddish pink of the garden Rose. We 

 have mentioned this elegant shrub under the 16tli of the month, to- 

 gether with its companion in the shrubbery the Laburnum. 



The Lilac grows wild and revels in profusion in Persia and some 

 other eastern countries. In the Florilegium we find : — " St. Julia 

 when she became a slave was like the Lilac confined to our garden, 

 showing forthe the floure of her virtues, and shedding the odoure of 

 her sanctity around her equally in confinement as at liberty. Like 

 that plant, she had the whiteness of purity, which softened into the 

 penitential purple, and ended in the sanguine stain of martyrdom. 

 But the green leaves of her hopes shaded her flower to the last, and 

 it fell to bloom again in the spring of an everlasting summer."' — 

 Florilegium Asp. v. 23. 



When the Lilac blossom has attained its full beauty, it begins to 



fade gradually, until it becomes at last of a red colour. Thus 



Cowper : 



The Lilac, various in array, now wliite, 



Now saiiguiiu', and her beauteous head now set 



With purple spikes pyramid:il, as if 



Studious of ornament, yet unresolved 



Whiih liue^ she most approved, she chose them all. 



Thomson observes : 



'Shrubs there are 



Of bolder i^rowth, that at the call of spring 

 Burst foitli in blossom'd fragrance; Lilacs, robed 

 In snowvvhite innocence oi'purple pride. 



Thomson. 



