general," and returns her thanks to God for them all. Next to S. Mary the Virgin this is the most frequent dedication of our Churches, every county in England having several, except Cornwall, where it does not occur at all. There are eleven hundred and forty-eight Churches named in honour of All Saints, twenty-four in honour of S. Mary and All Saints, and eleven to various special saints in conjunction with All Saints.

F

NOVEMBER 6. S. Leonard, Confessor, A.D. 559. Was a nobleman of high rank in the court of Clovis I. the first christian king of France. He was converted and then instructed in divinity by Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, and died about 559, after having for some time

led the life of a hermit in the forest four leagues from Limoges, where he founded a religious community over which he presided. He was particularly distinguished by his fervour and zeal in favour of prisoners and captives, and by his influence with King Clovis he procured the liberty of a great many. He constantly visited them in prison and made their reformation and amendment and

Scleonord

8 LEONARD.

from stained glass. Sandringham Church, Norfolk.

the alleviation of their sufferings the great object of his life. He is represented in the dress of a deacon, as he would not receive any higher dignity, and generally has chains or fetters in his hands; sometimes a prisoner is chained near him, and occasionally he has a crosier in his hand in reference to the house of religious which he founded. In Le Clerc he is seen entering a prisoner's cell, and in Callot's Images he is reading in a forest. In England he was regarded with much honour, about a hundred and fifty Churches still retain their dedications in his name, one to SS. Leonard and John, and one to SS. Mary and Leonard.

NOVEMBER 11. S. Martin, Bishop, A.D. 397. Was born in Hungary in 316, and was

remarkable from

his infancy for great meekness.

His youth was spent in the army, and while stationed at Amiens in 332, it is recorded of him that he met just outside the gate

of the city in mid

winter a poor man

S MARTIN,

from painted glass, Christ Church Cathedral,

Oxford

without clothes; he immediately

took his sword and dividing his military cloak into

At night

halves gave one half to the poor man. Christ appeared to him in a dream wrapped in the half mantle which he had given to the beggar, and said to his attendant angels, "My servant Martin, though unbaptized, hath given me this." Directly after this vision S. Martin was baptized, and shortly afterwards quitted the military service, and led for many years a solitary life, until the fame of his miracles caused him to be elected fourth Bishop of Tours about 371, in which office he displayed the most exemplary zeal and activity. He died, beloved and esteemed, at the age of 84, more renowned for miracles than any saints after the apostolic age. S. Martin has always been extensively honoured throughout Christendom, in France and England especially. Here we have the large number of a hundred and sixty Churches named after him alone, one in the joint names of SS. Martin and John, and two each in the names of SS. Martin and Gregory, and SS. Martin and Giles. He is represented as a Roman soldier on horseback dividing his cloak with his sword for a half naked beggar who stands near him, and sometimes as a priest or bishop with a naked beggar at his feet. (Vide July 4.)

NOVEMBER 13. S. Britius, or S. Brice, Bishop, was successor to S. Martin, in the bishopric of Tours, and died A.D. 444. The only Church named after him in England is Brize-Norton in Oxfordshire, where he is termed S. Brize, evidently a corruption.

He is represented as a Bishop with a child in his arms, also with burning coals in his hands, which he carried unhurt to prove his innocence, (as in Le Cierc's almanack,) in allusion to his legend, for which see Wheatly.

NOVEMBER 15. S. Machutus, or Malo, Bishop, A.D. 564, otherwise called Maclovius, was born of noble British parents, and educated in the Christian Faith, giving early proof of his piety. Some troubles in his native country forced him to fly into France, where he preached the Gospel in Bretagne, and was elected Bishop of the city now called after him S. Malo; persecutions again forced him from his flock, but before his death he was recalled. He died on his way to Saintes to visit S. Leontius.

NOVEMBER 17. S. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, and rebuilder of that Cathedral, A.D. 1200. He was born in Burgundy, and spent his youth in the desert of Chartreuse, and earned such reputation for sanctity that he was summoned to England in 1181, to take charge of the first Carthusian house at Witham in Somerset, founded by Henry II., who afterwards made him Bishop of Lincoln, in 1186. He is related to have actually carried many of the stones and mortar to his workmen while building his Cathedral, in which he was afterwards buried, his body being carried to the Cathedral by two kings, John of England and William of Scotland, assisted by some of their nobles, three archbishops, fourteen bishops, and

more than one hundred abbots, and buried in a silver shrine.

Quethiock, in Cornwall, is the only Church dedicated in the name of S. Hugh, and that may be named in honour of some local saint, and not to S. Hugh of Lincoln.

NOVEMBER 20. S. Edmund, King and Martyr, A.D. 870. S. Edmund, King of the East Angles, having been attack

ed by the Danes
and unable to resist

them, heroically offered to surrender himself a prisoner, provided they would spare his subjects. The Danes, however, having seized him, used their utmost endeavours to induce Edmund to renounce his religion; but he refusing to comply, they first beat him with clubs, then scourged him with

S EDMUND,

whips, afterwards bound him to from a painting on a rood

a tree, and shot at him till he

screen in Norfolk.

was completely covered with their arrows; and,

y Whereof a poet of latter time thus versifieth :

"Tho' now no place was left for wounds,

Yet arrows did not fail;

These furious wretches still let fly,

Thicker than winter's hail."-LELAND.