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feast. Prudentius also has preserved the history of his unexampled sufferings. He is one of the few early martyrs whose Acts are quite authentic. They may be traced to a contemporaneous age.

O painful lesson, written in Thy blood!
To follow Thee! O lesson full of pain!
And yet not painful if it is most good,
The pain shall pass away, the good remain.
Seek we soft beds to sleep on or to die?
With iron nails upon Thy torturing bed,
Thy naked limbs were viewed in agony ;
And mockery stood by Thy dying head.

Still as I gaze on Thee my tears will swell,
The things of which I glory drop away,
Nothing but of my sorrows would I tell,
So many are my sins, so short my day.
Baptistery, p. 260.

FEBRUARY.

FEBRUARY 3.

S. Blasius, Bishop and Martyr.

316.

S. BLASIUS was Bishop of Sebaste, a city of Cappadocia, in the Lesser Asia. He spent a great part of his time in retirement on a hill not far from the city, whither he withdrew, after the duties of his office were finished, to be alone with God. During the persecution of the Christians in the reign of Dioclesian, he lay concealed for some time in this retreat, but was at last taken and brought before Agricolaus, the governor of the province, and, confessing himself a Christian, was thrown into prison. After enduring many tortures he received the crown of martyrdom in the beginning of the fourth century. Some historians refer this event to the year 316, under the reign of Licinius. Seven holy women and two young children suffered at the same time. His feast is celebrated by the Greek Church on the 11th February. He is often represented as holding in his hand a comb of iron, probably an instrument of his torture.

The observance of this feast in England was marked by several curious ceremonies, whose origin is now hidden in doubt and obscurity. Not long ago it was a custom in many parts of England (and may

be so still), to light up fires on the hills on S. Blayse's night; perhaps for no better reason than the similarity of his name to the word "blaze'.' But this explanation can only be received in the absence of any more probable. The following entries in the Northumberland Household Book refer to another singular custom which was practised on the feast of this saint:

"Item. My Lordis offering accustomede yerly upon Saint Blayes Day to be sett in his Lordschipp's Candill to offer at Hye Mas, if his Lordschyp kepe Chapell iiij d.

"Item. My Laidis offeringe accustomede yerely upon Saint Blayes Day to be sett in her Candill to offer at the Hye Mas, to be paid owt of my Lordis coffures if sche be at my Lordis fyndynge and not at hir own-iiij d.

"Item. My Lord useth & accustomyth yerly upon Saynt Blays Day to cause to be delyveride for the offerynge of my Lordis Sone and Heire the Lord Percy to sett in his Candill jd. And for every of my yonge masters my Lord's yonger sonnes to sett in their candills after jd for every of them for their offerings this said day iij d2.”

It was a universal practice to offer candles on the preceding day, hence called Candlemas; but it is difficult to account for that ceremony being used on the day after, for the feast of the Purification has no octave. Hospinian, in his book on the Origin of

1 Dr. Percy's note in Antiq. Rep.
2 Antiq. Rep. vol. iv. p. 249.

the Christian Feasts, p. 36, says, 66 that on S. Blasius' day, at mass, a candle is offered in remembrance of the charity of a certain Christian widow who brought meat to the saint in prison, with a candle and a loaf of bread; and that S. Blasius requested her to offer a candle annually in church, promising that it should be well with her if she did so, and with as many as should follow her example." Honorius Augustodunensis, in his Gemma Animæ, gives the same account in these words: "The custom which prevails among the faithful, of kindling lights in their houses, and of giving alms on the feast of S. Blasius, took its rise from the martyr's own desire. For the blessed bishop, while he lay in prison enduring every kind of hardship for Christ's sake, was supplied with food and light by a certain poor woman; whom he instructed after his decease to burn a light in memory of him, and to ask alms for his sake; and promised that she should never want. And, when by his passion he had departed to Christ, she did as he had taught her, and soon began to prosper; and from her example the custom spread throughout the Churches." Butler says that S. Blasius' day is observed with great festivity by the manufacturers of wool in the city of Norwich. The origin of this custom, too, is obscure.

"The ancient Christians," says Wheatley, "used abundance of lights on the Purification, (which is another name for Candlemas,) both in their churches and processions, in remembrance of our blessed Saviour's being this day declared by old Simeon "to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles;" which portion

of Scripture is for Gospel of the day."

that reason appointed for the The use of lights in churches,

and at certain solemn offices, is very ancient, and is universally enjoined throughout Christendom.

"We carry lights in our hands," says Bishop Sparrow', quoting from S. Bernard, "first, to signify that our light should shine before men; secondly, we do this day especially in memory of the wise virgins, of whom the Blessed Virgin is the chief, that went to meet their Lord with their lamps lit and burning and from this usage, and the many lights set up in the Church this day, it is called Candlemas Day: because our works should be all done in the holy fire of charity; therefore the candles are lit with holy fire."

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Lighted candles also represent the two natures of Christ, by the union of which in one person He is the true Light of the world. And this seems to be the view which is taken of the emblem of lights in the injunctions of Edward VI., which enjoin "two lights on the high altar before the Sacrament, for the signification that Christ is the very true Light of the world." These injunctions are referred to, as of paramount authority, in the rubric at the beginning of the Book of Common Prayer.

Lights also recal to our recollection those times of persecution when the early Christians in Rome assembled in catacombs by night for the celebration of the divine mysteries, and when their altar was often the tombstone of a martyr. They may also remind us, that the brightest and most joyous of our

1 Rationale of Common Prayer Book.

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