This feast in the Church of England commemorates the announcement of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, (Luke i. 26,) and therefore has a peculiar respect to our Lord's Incarnation, Who being the eternal Word of the Father was at this time made flesh. (Wheatley.) Emblem, an almond-tree, or lily, flourishing in a flower-pot. In representations of the Annunciation, the Virgin Mary is represented kneeling, or seated at a table reading; the lily is usually placed between her and the angel Gabriel, who holds in one hand a sceptre surmounted by a fleur-de-lis, or a lily stalk; generally a scroll is proceeding from his mouth with the words Ave Maria Gratia plena; and sometimes the Holy Spirit, represented as a Dove, is seen descending towards the Virgin. She is sometimes represented with a sword passing through her, in allusion to S. Luke ii. 35; and is then said to

be in her agony, and termed the "Mater Dolorosa;" this representation is sometimes liable to be taken for S. Agatha. The dedications in honour of S. Mary in England very far exceed those to any other saint. The reason of which is so very obvious as to call for no comment; about two thousand one hundred and twenty Churches are named in her sole honour, and one hundred and two in

connection with other saints, being rather more than one fifth of the whole of the ancient dedications in this country.

From painted glass in S. Michael's Church, Oxford.

APRIL 3. S. Richard, Bishop of Chichester,

A.D. 1253, was born at Wyche, now Droitwich, about four miles from Worcester, and studied at Oxford, Paris, and Bologna, and on his return to this country was appointed Chancellor of the first-named University. He was elected Bishop of Chichester in 1245, in opposition to the unfit nominee of King Henry III., who was so incensed at his election that he seized on all the revenues of the see. S. Richard was thus reduced to the greatest straits, and obliged to be dependant upon the benevolence of others for the necessaries of life; he however firmly, though meekly, maintained his position, and went about his diocese to town and village discharging his episcopal duties; a threat of excommunication from Pope Innocent III. obliged the king to restore his revenue after two years' deprivation. He presided over his diocese five years after this with great piety and zeal, and died at

Dover on this day in his fifty-seventh year. It is related of him that in the early part of his life the situation of his eldest brother's affairs becoming unfortunate, Richard became his servant, undertook the management of his estates, and by his industry and attention effectually retrieved them. Also that after his election to the episcopate he fell down with the chalice in his hand, but the wine was miraculously preserved from being spilled. The Church of Aberford, Yorkshire, is dedicated in his name. He is usually represented with a chalice at his feet, but in Callot's Images he is following the plough, and his day is distinguished by a ploughshare in the Clog almanacks.

APRIL 4. S. Ambrose, Bp. of Milan, A.D. 397, was the son of a Prefect of Gaul, and was born at Treves in the year 340. Pauli

nus relates that while in his cradle a swarm of bees settled on his lips, a prognostic of future eloquence, similar to that of Plato. Though he was Prefect of Piedmont, and had never been baptized, he was unanimously chosen Bishop of Milan, and compelled to accept that dignity; he was the strenuous opponent of the Arian heresy, and was the first to assert the supremacy of the ecclesiastical over the civil power. His works continue to be held in much respect, particularly the hymn of Te Deum, which he is said to have composed when he baptized S. Augustine, his celebrated convert. The

antiphonant method of chanting is named after him, as he was the first to introduce it. The Church of

From Callot's Images.

Ombersley, Worcestershire, is the only one in England dedicated in his honour. In general he is represented in full episcopal costume, with a beehive near him and a triple scourge in his hand, because he excommunicated the Emperor Theodosius for an unmerciful act of revenge. In Callot's Images he is standing with his mitre on, exhorting the Emperor Theodosius, who kneels to him crowned, a bee-hive in the back-ground.

APRIL 19. S. Alphege, Archbishop and Martyr, A.D. 1012. He was an Englishman of noble family, who led a most holy and austere life, and was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury A.D. 1006. In the year 1012