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The Lives of the Saints Volume 1 - St. Patrick's Basilica

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Abbacyrus is a Chaldaic word, signifying <strong>the</strong> Fa<strong>the</strong>r Cyr. As this<br />

saint was an Egyptian, it is probable he was originally called<br />

Pa-Cher, or Pa-Cyrus, <strong>the</strong> Egyptians having been accustomed to prefix<br />

<strong>the</strong> article Pa to <strong>the</strong> names <strong>of</strong> men, as we see in Pa-chomis,<br />

Pa-phantis, Pa-phantis, &c.<br />

It is said in <strong>the</strong> acts <strong>of</strong> our two martyrs, that <strong>the</strong>y were buried at<br />

Canopus, twelve furlongs from Alexandria, and that <strong>the</strong>ir relics were<br />

afterwards translated to Manutha, a village near Canopus, which was<br />

celebrated for a great number <strong>of</strong> miracles wrought <strong>the</strong>re. <strong>The</strong>se<br />

relies are now in a church at Rome called Sant' Apassara: this word<br />

being corrupted by <strong>the</strong> Italians from Abbacyrus. Formerly <strong>the</strong>re were<br />

many churches in that city dedicated under <strong>the</strong> invocation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se<br />

two holy martyrs. See Chatelain, notes on <strong>the</strong> Rom. Mart, p. 469, et<br />

seq.<br />

ST. MARCELLA, WIDOW.<br />

SHE IS styled by <strong>St</strong>. Jerom <strong>the</strong> glory <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Roman ladies. Having lost<br />

her husband in <strong>the</strong> seventh month <strong>of</strong> her marriage, she rejected <strong>the</strong> suit<br />

<strong>of</strong> Cerealis <strong>the</strong> consul, uncle <strong>of</strong> Gallus Cæsar, and resolved to imitate<br />

<strong>the</strong> lives <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ascetics <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> East. She abstained from wine and<br />

flesh, employed all her time in pious reading, prayer, and visiting <strong>the</strong><br />

churches <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> apostles and martyrs, and never spoke with any man<br />

alone. Her example was followed by many virgins <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first quality,<br />

who put <strong>the</strong>mselves under her direction, and Rome was in a short time<br />

filled with monasteries. We have eleven letters <strong>of</strong> <strong>St</strong>. Jerom to her in<br />

answer to her religious queries. <strong>The</strong> Goths under Alaric plundered Rome<br />

in 410. <strong>St</strong>. Marcella was scourged by <strong>the</strong>m for <strong>the</strong> treasures which she<br />

had long before distributed among <strong>the</strong> poor. All that time she trembled<br />

only for her dear spiritual pupil, Principia (not her daughter, as some<br />

have reputed her by mistake,) and falling at <strong>the</strong> feet <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> cruel<br />

soldiers, she begged, with many tears, that <strong>the</strong>y would <strong>of</strong>fer her no<br />

insult. God moved <strong>the</strong>m to compassion. <strong>The</strong>y conducted <strong>the</strong>m both to <strong>the</strong><br />

church <strong>of</strong> <strong>St</strong>. Paul, to which Alaric had granted <strong>the</strong> right <strong>of</strong> sanctuary<br />

with that <strong>of</strong> <strong>St</strong>. Peter. <strong>St</strong>. Marcella, who survived this but a short<br />

time, which she spent in tears, prayers, and thanksgiving, closed her<br />

eyes by a happy death, in <strong>the</strong> arms <strong>of</strong> <strong>St</strong>. Principia, about <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong><br />

August, in 410, but her name occurs in <strong>the</strong> Roman Martyrology on <strong>the</strong> 31st<br />

<strong>of</strong> January. See <strong>St</strong>. Jerom, Ep. 96, ol. 16, ad Principiam, t. 4, p. 778.<br />

Ed. Ben. Baronius ad ann. 410, and Bollandus, t. 2, p. 1105.<br />

ST. MAIDOC, OR MAODHOG,<br />

www.freecatholicebooks.com<br />

CALLED ALSO AIDAN AND MOGUE, BISHOP OF FERNS, IN IRELAND.

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