6l0 CORNISH DEDICATIONS. 



maidens, and everything that became the court of a sumptuous 

 king. When Collen entered, he found the king sitting in a 

 chair of gold. Collen was welcomed by him, and asked to seat 

 himself at the table to eat, the king added that beside what Collen 

 saw thereon, he should have the rarest of dainties, and plenty of 

 every kind of drink. Collen said, "I will not eat the tree- 

 leaves." "Hast thou ever," asked the king, "seen men better 

 dressed than these in red and blue?^' Collen said, "Their 

 dress is good enough, for such kind as it is." "What kind is 

 that?" asked the king. Collen said that the red on the one 

 side meant burning, and the blue on the other, cold. Then he 

 sprinkled holy water over them, and they all vanished, leaving 

 behind them nothing but green tumps. 



Collen certainly passed into Brittany, as the church of Lan- 

 golen, near Quimper, in ancient Cornouaille, venerates him as 

 founder. 



In some old Welsh kalendars his festival day is given as 

 March 21st. Colan feast is on the Sunday after the first 

 Thursday in May. 



St. Colitmba, Virgin Martyr. 



This Virgin Martyr is a very puzzling person. She was not 

 only given two churches in Cornwall, and one of these by far 

 the wealthiest in the peninsula, but also a Holy Well. 



There was a Columba, Virgin Martyr, at Sens, and a famous 

 abbey bore her name. In the diocese of Eennes was a parish 

 dedicated to her. According to a relation of S. Ouen, there 

 was a chapel dedicated to her at the time of S. Eligius (d. 658). 

 But, in fact, in France there are more than thirty parishes that 

 bear her name. According to the Homan Martyrology, she was 

 slain with the sword, in the reign of the Emperor Aurelian, about 

 273, after having triumphed over the power of fire. The Acts 

 which are, however, fabulous, make Aurelian, in person, try 

 Columba at Sens, but Aurelian never was in Q-aul, at all events 

 when emperor, and it has been suggested that for Aurelian we 

 should read Marcus Aurelius, who was there perhaps to quell 

 some of the risings which took place in his reign (161 — 180). 



