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

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ST. PAUL, BISHOP OF NARBONNE, C.<br />

ST. GREGORY <strong>of</strong> Tours informs us,[1] that he was sent with o<strong>the</strong>r<br />

preachers from Rome to plant <strong>the</strong> faith in Gaul. <strong>St</strong>. Saturninus <strong>of</strong><br />

Thoulouse, and <strong>St</strong>. Dionysius <strong>of</strong> Paris, were crowned with martyrdom:<br />

but <strong>St</strong>. Paul <strong>of</strong> Narbonne, <strong>St</strong>. Trophimus <strong>of</strong> Arles, <strong>St</strong>. Martial <strong>of</strong><br />

Limoges, and <strong>St</strong>. Gatian <strong>of</strong> Tours, after having founded those churches,<br />

amidst many dangers, departed in peace. Prudentius says,[2] that <strong>the</strong><br />

name <strong>of</strong> Paul had rendered <strong>the</strong> city <strong>of</strong> Narbonne illustrious.<br />

Footnotes:<br />

1. Hist. Franc. l. 1, c. 30.<br />

2. Hymn. 4.<br />

ST. LEA. WIDOW.<br />

www.freecatholicebooks.com<br />

SHE was a rich Roman lady; after <strong>the</strong> death <strong>of</strong> her husband she mortified<br />

her flesh by wearing rough sackcloth, passed whole nights in prayer, and<br />

by humility seemed every one's menial servant. She died in 384, and is<br />

honored on this day in <strong>the</strong> Roman Martyrology. <strong>St</strong>. Jerom makes an elegant<br />

comparison between her death and that <strong>of</strong> Prætextatus, a hea<strong>the</strong>n, who was<br />

that year appointed consul, but snatched away by death at <strong>the</strong> same time.<br />

See <strong>St</strong>. Jerom, Ep. 20, (olim 24,) to Marcella, t. 4, p. 51, Ed. Ben.<br />

ST. DEOGRATIAS, BISHOP OF CARTHAGE, C.<br />

GENSERIC, <strong>the</strong> Arian king <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Vandals, took Carthage in 439, filled<br />

<strong>the</strong> city with cruelties, and caused Quodvultdeus, <strong>the</strong> bishop, and many<br />

o<strong>the</strong>rs, to be put on board an old leaky vessel, who, notwithstanding,<br />

arrived safe at Naples. After a vacancy <strong>of</strong> fourteen years, in 454, <strong>St</strong>.<br />

Deogratias was consecrated archbishop. Two years after, Genseric<br />

plundered Rome, and brought innumerable captives from Italy, Sicily,<br />

Sardinia, and Corsica, into Africa, whom <strong>the</strong> Moors and Vandals shared<br />

among <strong>the</strong>m on <strong>the</strong> shore, separating without any regard or compassion<br />

weeping wives from <strong>the</strong>ir husbands, and children from <strong>the</strong>ir parents.<br />

Deogratias sold every thing, even <strong>the</strong> gold and silver vessels <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

church, to redeem as many as possible; he provided <strong>the</strong>m with lodgings<br />

and beds, and furnished <strong>the</strong>m with all succors, and though in a decrepit<br />

old age, visited those that were sick every day, and <strong>of</strong>ten in <strong>the</strong> night.<br />

Worn out by <strong>the</strong>se fatigues, he died in 457, to <strong>the</strong> inexpressible grief<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> prisoners, and <strong>of</strong> his own flock. <strong>The</strong> ancient calendar <strong>of</strong><br />

Carthage, written in <strong>the</strong> fifth age, commemorates him on <strong>the</strong> 5th <strong>of</strong><br />

January; but <strong>the</strong> Roman on <strong>the</strong> 22d <strong>of</strong> March. See <strong>St</strong>. Victor Vitensis, l.

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