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martyrology says, that the Church of God honours his glorious martyrdom amongst those of other martyrs. He was chosen in a special manner the chief patron of our English nation, at the instance of the glorious Prince Henry V. before he undertook his expedition for recovering France; when it was ordained by a provincial constitution that his feast should be kept holy, and observed with a double office and Octave throughout the whole nation.

25 April. St. Mark, Evangelist, the disciple and interpreter of St. Peter, wrote his gospel at the request of the Christians at Rome. On this day the long litanies are said or sung, to obtain the blessing of God on the fruits of the earth.

1. May. SS. Philip and James, apostles. After the first had converted almost all Scythia to the faith of Christ, being fastened to a cross, he was stoned to death.

3 May. Finding the Holy Cross, otherwise called Holy-rood day; a feast in memory of the miraculous discovery of the holy cross whereon our Saviour suffered, by St. Helen.

Rogation-week, the next but one before Whit-Sunday, is so called from rogo, to ask or pray; because on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the Litanies are sung.

Whit-Sunday, or Pentecost; a solemn feast in memory and honour of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire. Acts ii. 3.

Trinity-Sunday, the Octave of Whit-Sunday, is dedicated to the honour of the Blessed Trinity; to signify that the works of our redemption and sanctification, then completed, are common to the three Divine Persons.

Corpus Christi, the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, is a feast instituted by the Church in honour of the blessed sacrament of the altar: it receives its denomination from the body of Christ substantially present therein.

6 May. St. John at the Latin Gate, a solemnity instituted by the Church, to commemorate

St. John the Evangelist's being, by the command of Domitian, brought prisoner from Ephesus to Rome, and there, by sentence of the senate, cast into a vessel of boiling oil.

26 May. St. Augustine, first archbishop of Canterbury, and monk of the order of St. Benedict, sent by St. Gregory the Great to preach the Christian faith to our nation. Having first converted Ethelbert, King of Kent, and afterwards, with others, sent as coadjutors to him, reconciled the whole nation to the faith and law of Christ, he became our apostle. He died in the odour of sanctity, anno 608, and was buried in his own cathedral at Canterbury. His feast was formerly observed with the utmost solemnity throughout the diocese.

27 May. St. Bede, commonly called Venerable, for having illustrated the Church of God by his learning and piety, was sent to the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul, at Were, near Durham, at the age of seven years, and educated in sound literature, as well as monastic discipline, under the pious care of St. Bennet Biscop. At 30 he was ordained priest by John, the ordinary of that diocese, at the appointment of Acco, Archbishop of York. He died anno 754, on the day of our Lord's ascension, and was buried in his own monastery, but afterwards translated to Were, near Durham. His feast is now kept with a double office on the 29th of October.

11 June. St. Barnabas, born at Cyprus, and ordained apostle of the Gentiles by St. Paul.

22 June. St. Alban, first martyr of our nation in the time of Dioclesian. He suffered martyrdom for entertaining a priest at Verulam, from him called St. Alban's, under Asclepiodatus, president of Brittany, anno 303.

24 June. Nativity of St. John Baptist, our Lord's precursor, the son of Zachary and Elizabeth.

29 June. SS. Peter and Paul are joined in one solemnity, because they were the principal co-operators, under Christ, in the conversion of the world. They were both martyred at Rome on the same day.

2 July. Visitation of our B. Lady; a feast instituted to commemorate the visit she paid her cousin St. Elizabeth immediately after she had received the angel's message of the incarnation of the Son of God. This feast was instituted by Pope Urban VI., anno 1385.

7 July. Translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury, a feast ordained by a provincial constitution in the time of Simon Islip, archbishop of Canterbury, to be solemnly observed and kept holy throughout the nation in memory of his sacred relics being taken up and reposed in a most costly shrine, and placed in a more eminent part of his own cathedral, where they were had in great veneration, till the days of King Henry VIII. 1539.

25 July. St. James, called the Great, brother to St. John the Evangelist, was, about the feast of Easter, beheaded at Jerusalem by Herod Agrippa, anno 42.

26 July. St. Ann, Mother of the blessed Virgin Mary.

27 July. St. Joseph of Arimathea, a noble senator, who having buried Christ, came out of Jewry into Brittany with Joseph his son, and divers others, and obtained of King Arviragus, a little isle in Somersetshire, now called Glastonbury, where building an oratory for himself and companions, and leading a solitary life, replenished with merits and old age, he reposed in our Lord, anno 82.

6 Aug. Our Lord's Transfiguration, when he appeared in glory on mount Thabor, between Moses and Elias, in presence of his three apostles, Peter, James, and John. Matt. xvii.

10 Aug. St. Laurence, deacon to Pope Xystus II., was broiled on a gridiron for the faith of Christ, anno 253.

36.

15 Aug. Assumption of the B. V. Mary, anno

24 Aug. St. Bartholomew, the Apostle preached the gospel in India, and was beheaded

anno 44.

28 Aug. St. Helen, by birth an English woman, was mother to Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, who first gave the example to other princes to maintain and extend the Church of God. She was daughter to Prince Coel, of Brittany; and on account of her zeal for Christianity, became both worthy of an earthly and heavenly crown. Her sacred relics were translated from Rome to Rheims, in France, where they were kept with due veneration. She died anno 366.

29. Aug. The Beheading of St. John the Baptist by Herod Antipas, happened about the feast of Easter, though his memory be kept on this day. 8 Sept. The Nativity of the B. V. Mary.

14 Sept. The Exaltation of the Holy Cross ; when Heraclitus the Emperor having overcome Cosroe, King of Persia, brought it back in triumph to Jerusalem, anno 628.

22 Sept. St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, after preaching the gospel in Ethiopia, was slain at the altar as he celebrated the divine mysteries, anno 44.

29 Sept. Michaelmas, a festival instituted in honour of St. Michael the archangel, and of the nine orders of holy angels, to commend the whole Church of God to their patronage.

2 Oct. St. Placid, disciple of St. Benedict, and his brothers Eutychius and Victorin, and their virgin sister Flavia; also Donatus and Firmatus, deacons; Faustus and thirty others, all monks and martyrs at Messina, in Sicily, who were murdered for the faith of Christ by Manachas the pirate, anno 541.

18 Oct. St. Luke, Evangelist, who, filled with the Holy Ghost, after he had endured many afflictions for the name of Christ, died in Bythynia, anno 74.

28 Oct. SS. Simon the Canaanite, and Jude, otherwise called Thaddeus. The first preached the gospel in Egypt, the latter in Mesopotamia, and afterwards going together into Persia, after having converted an infinite number of that

nation to the faith, they accomplished their martyrdom anno 68.

1 Nov. All Saints; a solemnity in memory of all the Saints; since the whole year is too short to afford a separate feast for each of them.

2 Nov. All Souls; a day appointed by the Church for the living to offer up their prayers and suffrages for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed.

21 Nov. The Presentation of our B. Lady in the temple of Jerusalem at three years of age; a feast commanded to be observed by Pope Paul II. anno 1464.

30 Nov. St. Andrew, apostle, after having preached the gospel in Thrace and Scythia, being apprehended by Egeas the proconsul, was first imprisoned, then most cruelly beaten, and lastly fastened to a cross, whereon he lived two days preaching to the people. Having besought our Lord not to permit him to be taken down, encompassed with great light from heaven hé gave up his blessed soul at Patras, in Achaia, anno 69.

The four Sundays in Advent, preceding Christmas, were instituted by the Church with particular offices, commemorative of the benefits of our Saviour's coming to redeem the world by his happy birth.

8 Dec. Conception of the glorious and ever B. V. Mary, Mother of God.

21 Dec. St. Thomas, apostle, having preached the gospel to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, and Hyrcans, went into India, where he instructed the people in the Christain faith, for which, by the king's command, he was pierced through the body with lances.

25 Dec. Christ's Nativity, a solemn festival, celebrated annually by the Catholic Church from the time of the apostles, in commemoration of our Saviour's birth at Bethlehem, called Christmas, from the Mass then celebrated in honour of his holy birth.

26 Dec. St. Stephen, the first martyr after

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