340 ADVENT. 



DEC. 5. St. Sabas, abbot, a.d. 532. 

 St. Crispina, martyr, 304. 

 St. Nicetius, bishop of Triers, 166. 



Obs. St. Sabas retired when quite young to a monaster}' called 

 Flavinia ; in vain his friends employed every means to induce him 

 to return into the world, he had tasted the bitterness of it and the 

 sweetness of the yoke of Christ, and nothing could draw him from 

 his good purpose. He was particularly humble, mortified, and fer- 

 vent: one day, whilst at work in the garden, he gathered a beautiful 

 Apple with an intention to eat it ; but, reflecting that this was a 

 temptation of the devil, he threw the Apple on the ground, and trod 

 upon it : he made a vow from that time never to eat any Apples a& 

 long as he lived. After a life spent in great sanctity and labours, 

 he departed to our Lord on the 5th of December, in 532, being 

 ninety four years old. 



Longstalked Hibiscus Hibiscus pedunculatus still fl. 



In reverting to journals, we find many plants still remaining in 

 imperfect flower, though after this time we believe none come into 

 flower except exotics of the greenhouse and hothouse, of which 

 there are but few. 



As many of our readers, who may not be Catholics, but who occa- 

 sionally go into Catholic chapels, may be curious to know the rules 

 obsen'ed in the choice of colours for the priests' dresses, we subjoin 

 the following account of them, in the absence of any particular no- 

 tice today. 



The colours used in priestly ornaments in the church service are 

 as follows : — The White is used on the Feasts of our I>ord, of the 

 Blessed Virgin, and of all the saints who are not martyrs. The Red 

 is used at Whitsuntide, on the Invention and Exaltation of the Cross, 

 and on the Feasts of the Apostles and Martyrs. The Purple or 

 Violet, which is the penitential colour, is used on all the Sundays 

 and Ferias of Advent, and of the penitential time from Septuagesima 

 till Easter ; as also on A'igils, Ember Days, and Rogation Days, 

 when the Office is of them. Green is used on all Sundays and 

 Ferias from Trinity Sunday to Advent exclusively, and from the 

 Octave of the Epiphany to Septuagesima exclusively, whenever the 

 0£Bce is of the Sunday ; but in the Paschal time the lehite is used. 

 The Black is used on Holy Friday, and in masses of Requiem fflr 

 the dead, which may be said on any day, that is not a Sunday or a 

 double, except the days from Palm Sunday to Low Sunday ; and 

 during the Octaves of the Epiphany, of Pentecost, and of Corpus 

 Christi. — Paschal time begins on Holy Saturday, and continues to 

 the first Vespers on the eve of Trinity Sunday. 



