is said that wonderful sights were seen round his tomb, and that many miracles were performed there. "There lights were shone from above; there the lame walked; there the dumb resumed his faculty of speech; there every malady gave way to health"." His favour to the monks caused his barbarous murder to be esteemed a martyrdom, and his remains were shortly afterwards translated with great pomp to Shaftesbury. (See June 20.) In Callot's Images he is represented on horseback, with the grace-cup in his hand, in the act of being stabbed; but he is usually drawn with a youthful countenance, having the insignia of royalty, with a cup in one hand and a dagger in the other. Sometimes he has a sceptre instead of the cup, and at other times a falcon, in allusion to his last hunt. There are twenty-one Churches in England dedicated in the name of S. Edward; the only one we can positively assign to this saint, is Corfe Castle in Dorsetshire, the scene of his murder. The rest may relate to either of the S. Edwards, with the exception of a Church at Cambridge, dedicated in honour of S. Edward the Confessor.

MARCH 21. S. Benedict, Abbot, A. D. 543, patron of monks, and the founder of the Benedictine order, was born at Norcia, in Umbria, A.D. 480. He began his studies at Rome, but being disgusted with the world, resolved to leave it, and went into solitude

g Will. of Malmesbury, b. ii. c. 9.

in the mountains of Subiaco when scarcely fourteen years old, where meeting with a monk of some neighbouring community, he received from him the religious habit, and became a man of notorious austerity and piety. It was on mount Casino that he founded the first monastery, and obliged the monks to those rules which have since become so popular. It is related that he would often roll himself in a heap of briars as a means of self-mortification, and S. Gregory tells us that the Goths set fire to his cell, which burnt around him without doing the least hurt to him. They then threw him into a hot oven, closely stopping it up, and coming the next day they found him safe, neither his flesh scorched, nor his clothes singed. Sixteen Churches are dedicated in this name in England, but some of these may be in honour of S. Benedict, or Bennet, of Wearmouth, which may also account for the universal abbreviation of this name to Ben'eth.

In Callot's Images he is kneeling before a crucifix, his crozier and a mitre beside him, and in the back-ground a raven near him with a loaf in its mouth. This alludes to the legend, that a priest named Florentius, actuated by jealousy, sent him a poisoned loaf, but the saint being aware of it commanded a tame raven to fly away with it beyond the reach of any one; sometimes the loaf is seen on the ground

h See S. Bennet Biscop, in part 2.

broken and a snake crawling out of it. In Le Clerc he is represented rolling in the midst of briars; generally he is drawn as an abbot or monk, with a crozier, and a cup in his hand containing a snake, emblematic of poison; sometimes the cup is broken to pieces, sometimes standing whole upon a book;

this is derived from the legend, that a monk brought poison to him, and as he in the act of blessing made the sign of the cross upon it, the cup containing it burst into pieces; he generally carries an asperge, or holy water sprinkler, in his hand. In the early representation taken from S. Ethelwold's Benediction

8. Benedict, from the MS. Benedictional of 8. Ethelwold, c. A.D. 980.

al, he is in the dress of his order, and holds a crown in his left hand, and a book in his right. The tonsure is very plainly represented.

MARCH 25. Annunciation of the Virgin Mary.

It is in reference to the Blessed Virgin that the lily is so often beautifully introduced into architectural decorations. The upper part of the ambry from Foulis represents the Annunciation, beneath which is the Saviour with the cruciform nimbus and orb; on His right hand is S. Helen with a cross, on His left S. Cecilia with a musical instrument. This group forms a good example of the manner in which such subjects were often introduced into medieval decorations.