concluded in 598, he wrote a letter to their Queen Theodolinda, enclosing a reliquary in which was a portion of the Holy Cross for her little son. And when the Empress Constantia Augusta wrote to him entreating him to send her a relic of S.S. Peter and Paul, he declared that he dared not approach their august remains for so sacrilegious a purpose.

In 601 a Council was held in Rome in which the privileges of the monastic orders were settled. Many rules were made for the government of religious houses, not only at that time, but frequently during the pontificate of S. Gregory, who devoted much care to the perfection of the monastic life. The love which he had been taught in his youth for the rule of S. Benedict he never ceased to cherish.

In 602 the Emperor Mauritius was put to 'death with his whole family by Phocas a usurper. For the sake of the Church, Gregory secured the goodwill of the new emperor. In the following year the war between the Lombards and the empire was renewed.

On the 12th March 604, after a life of unwearied activity in the service of his heavenly Master, S. Gregory slept in the Lord, Till the last his chief care was for the Church, and particularly for his English mission. S. Hildefonsus archbishop of Toledo in the 7th century writes thus of him; "He surpassed Antony in holiness, Cyprian in eloquence, and Augustin in wisdom." Yet so great was his humility that he subscribed himself "Servant of the servants of God," a style which his successors in the chair of S. Peter have retained till this day.

He was buried in the basilica of S. Peter. His

pallium, reliquary, and girdle were preserved as precious memorials. John the Deacon minutely describes a portrait of him which with those of his father and mother was kept, when he wrote, in the monastery of S. Andrew. It represents S. Gregory as of tall and dignified aspect, with a sweet and noble physiognomy, a beard not very long, and hair curled and nearly black, and wearing the clerical tonsure. In his left hand he held the book of the Gospels, and with his right he gave the blessing.

Of all the eminent persons who before or since his time have filled the chair of S. Peter, S. Gregory has left the most voluminous writings. The principal of these are his Morals or commentaries on the book of Job, written during his embassy to Constantinople; the Pastoral Care, a treatise on the duties of a Christian bishop; the Dialogues, a history of the life and blessed departure of many holy persons; twenty-two homilies on the Prophet Ezekiel; forty homilies on the Holy Gospels; and about eight hundred and forty Epistles.

His festival is kept throughout Christendom; by the Greeks on the 11th March, and on the following day by the Western Church. In the synod of Clif or Cloveshove in 747 it was enjoined "that the natal day of the blessed Pope Gregory, and the day of the Deposition of S. Augustin archbishop and confessor, who was sent by our father Gregory and first brought the knowledge of the Faith, the sacrament of Baptism, and tidings of the heavenly country, should be venerated by all with becoming honour." This was confirmed by the council of Oxford in 1222 1.

1 Wilkins' Concilia Mag. Brit.

His Champion true, to wage His heavenly war,
The Spirit hath anointed all within,

From His full horn of blessings; and from far
Hath sent His flock to feed, and souls to win.
Shepherd and Father, and example fair,

His all he spends for them-himself is spent ;
Servant of servants, weighed by others' care,
And all things made to all men,—wholly bent
Lost souls to save, he for the guilty prays,

Comforts the comfortless, instructs the blind;
Walks amid loftier thoughts than human ways,
With heaven-wrought chains the evil foe to bind.
Grant, Lord! his prayers may not be all in vain,—
That we a royal priesthood may be won ;
And with an ever-freshly flowing strain,
May sing the Father, Spirit, and the Son!

Hymns from the Parisian Breviary, p. 292.

MARCH 18.

S. Edward, King and Martyr.

978.

S. EDWARD the Martyr was the son of Edgar King of England and his queen Ethelfleda surnamed the Fair. His mother was married in 961 and died in the following year soon after giving birth to her son. In 975 Edward succeeded his father in the throne of England, not of the West Saxons only, as he is described in the kalendar. He owed his crown to the influence of S. Dunstan, and S. Oswald archbishop of York, which prevailed over the opposition of his step-mother Elfrida, and some of the nobility.

This unprincipled woman was bent upon raising her own son Ethelred, then a child of seven years of age, to the throne. During the short reign of Edward, the kingdom was much disturbed by civil discord; comets and other portentous signs appeared in the sky, and a great scarcity of corn, followed by famine and a murrain among the cattle, afflicted the nation.

It was at this time also that the memorable council was held at Calne, to decide the controversy between the monks and secular canons. As the members sat in an upper chamber, the floor gave way, except that part where the chair of S. Dunstan was. This accident decided the claims of the monks, of whom Dunstan was the great patron.

S. Edward showed the greatest affection towards his step-mother and her son; and even resigned to them all the outward pomp of royalty but the name, devoting himself chiefly to the same life of holy retirement which in his later years his father had followed. But the ambition of Elfrida could not rest till she had accomplished his death. Its tragical circumstances were foreseen a short time before, by S. Editha a holy religious, daughter of K. Edgar, who presided over the monastery at Wilton.

In 978, as Edward was returning home from hunting, he dismissed his followers, and went a little out the way to pay a visit to his stepmother at Corfe Castle, in the Isle of Purbeck. She welcomed him with feigned courtesy, and while he was drinking a cup of wine as he sat on horseback ready to depart, one of her retainers stabbed him from behind with a dagger. Though dreadfully wounded he galloped off to overtake his attendants; but falling from the

saddle, and one foot remaining in the stirrup, he was dragged for a long way through the forest, and was at last discovered by the track of blood. By the orders of the queen he was privately buried without honour at Werham, in unhallowed ground. His enemies made a public show of joy; as if, says the historian, they had buried his memory with his body.

But in a little time his dishonoured grave began to be famous for frequent miracles. A heavenly light was seen to rest upon it; the lame walked, the deaf recovered their hearing, and the sick were healed by the power of God thus bearing testimony to the sanctity of His servant. Hence he is called a martyr; for he died innocently, and was afterwards honoured by miracles. When Elfrida heard tidings of these wonders, she resolved to visit the spot and witness them herself; but her horse refused to move. Every effort to subdue his obstinacy was made in vain, and the guilty queen stood rebuked by this marked sign of the divine justice. Within three years after the murder, the body of S. Edward was translated to the monastery of Shaftesbury, as shall be more carefully related on the 20th of June, when that event is commemorated in the Kalendar.

Elfrida became afterwards truly penitent, and resigning her royal state, she founded the convent of Benedictine nuns at Wherwell in Hampshire in 986, which she dedicated in honour of the Holy Cross and S. Peter, and whither she retired from the world to bewail her sins. During the remainder of her life she afflicted her body with many austerities, constantly wearing a garment of haircloth, and sleeping on the