eyeballs in a dish: this may have been part of her torture, but it is not mentioned in the Acts of her martyrdom. Fear no more for the torturer's hand, Nor the dungeon dark that bound thee; The stripes that marked thy frame with pain Hymns from the Parisian Breviary, p. 285. DECEMBER 16. O Sapientia. THIS Holyday was so named from two words in the beginning of the first of the Greater Antiphons, as they are called, which are sung at the Magnificat at vespers, in the churches of the Roman Obedience. Their number varies from seven to twelve. The Roman breviary has seven; the modern Parisian, nine; and the old English Church, before the reign of Edward VI., had eight in her office. As the last is always sung on the 23rd December, the day on which they are begun must depend on their number. Thus the Roman practice is to sing O Sapientia on the 17th; the Parisian, on the 15th December. And the English Church still retains the name in her kalendar on the 16th December, the day when it was sung in England in ancient times. The words of this antiphon are, "O Sapientia, quæ ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque 66 ad finem fortiter, suaviterque disponens omnia veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiæ." "O Wisdom, who comest out of the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to another mightily, and sweetly ordering all things, come and teach us the way of understanding'.' It was customary in monasteries to hold an annual festival on one of those days on which the Greater Antiphons were sung, which was shortly called the "O;" antedating, as it were, the joy of Christmas. This practice may still be traced in modern English colleges. Davies of Kidwelly2 says, "Within the Common House did the master thereof (who was an official of the convent) keep his O Sapientia once in the year; viz. between Martinmas and Christmas; a solemn banquet, that the prior and convent did use at that time of the year only; consisting of figs and raisins, with ale and cakes; and thereof no superfluity or excess, but a scholastical and moderate congratulation among themselves." In the old statutes of the cathedral church of S. Paul in London, in the time of Ralph de Diceto the Dean3, there is a chapter, De faciendo “O.” “Also the new residentiary must sing his "O." against the Nativity, and after complin he shall invite the whole choir to his house *." Also, in the ancient statutes of the canons of S. 1 Ecclus. xxiv. 3. Wisd. viii. 1. Isai. xl. 14. 2 Ancient Rites and Monuments of the Abbey Church of Durham, p. 138. 3 That is, about 1181, in the end of the reign of Henry II. of England. 4 Cowel's Law Dictionary, word "0." Quentin's, in France, it is provided, " that the wine at banquets, extraordinary entertainments, charities, and on all O's before Christmas, shall be wholesome and refreshing'." Nor deem it profitless, on chosen days, The ever busy soul to discipline; Of countless hues, as in the sunbeam shine. As sunbright days transform the teeming grain, To full and golden ripeness, with the train Of Sabbath thoughts unasked, and Christ's repose. Cathedral, p. 183. DECEMBER 31. S. Sylvester, Bishop. 335. S. SYLVESTER was a native of Rome. Of his father Rufinus nothing is known; his mother Justina was a pious and virtuous Christian matron, who devoted herself to the education of her son. It is remarkable how many great saints have been thus trained in their infancy by holy mothers; and many more, whose names are hidden from the eye of men, have owed their knowledge of the faith and discipline of Christ to the gentle lessons and example of their mothers. Justina was assisted by a priest named Charitius or Carinus. In due time the young Sylvester was himself ordained priest by Marcellinus, Bishop of Rome, about the year 286, just before the Emperors Dioclesian and Maximin began their per 1 Ducange, Glossary, word “().” secution of the Church. During the years of trial which followed, the youthful saint became remarkable for his zeal and piety. He escaped the fate of his brethren in the persecution, to fulfil higher duties which awaited him in the Church. In October 312, he was a witness of the triumph of Constantine over Maxentius, in a battle fought near Rome. On the death of Melchiades Bishop of Rome in 314, Sylvester was elected to succeed him. Very soon afterwards, in the autumn of the same year, the council of Arles was assembled to decide the dispute between Cæcilian bishop of Carthage, and the Numidian bishops who followed Donatus of Casanigra. Sylvester was represented in the synod by four legates, two priests, and two deacons. The fathers in twenty-two canons confirmed the decision of the bishops, who with Melchiades had sat in judgment on the same controversy in 313. The party of Donatus, and the Quartodecimans, as they were called, were condemned. Some other important matters were also settled at the same council, regarding the discipline of the Church. Its decisions were sent to Sylvester, with a letter from the fathers full of regret that he was not able to attend in person and assist them with his advice. Among the bishops who composed this council were three from Britain-those of York, London, and Chester. Sylvester lived in eventful times. Eleven years afterwards the great council of Nicæa met to condemn the heresy of Arius. The Bishop of Rome was represented in the council by two Roman priests, Vito or Victor, and Vincentius; to whom Gelasius C Cyzicus adds, or rather prefixes, the name of Osius, bishop of Cordova in Spain. But Gelasius was a historian of no great authority, in the end of the fifth century; and none of the Catholic writers before him mention the circumstance. In all the histories of the synod, the names of these three persons come before all others, even before the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch. There is a remarkable fact in the life of S. Sylvester, mentioned in a letter which the bishops of Italy, assembled in council at Rome in 368, addressed to the Emperors Gratian and Valentinian. Fleury, who relates it', says that it is not to be found elsewhere. They were defending their chief Bishop Damasus, who then filled the see of Rome, from the suspicion of having acted irregularly, in referring an ecclesiastical cause to the judgment of the emperor; and they pleaded that he only followed the example of his predecessors, who allowed the Bishop of Rome to defend himself before the emperor if his cause is not referred to a council. "For Sylvester being accused by sacrilegious men, pleaded his cause before your father (in law) Constantine.” Sylvester filled his see for twenty-one years and eleven months, and died on the 31st of December, 335. He was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the Salarian way. A church was dedicated to God in his honour, by Symmachus Bishop of Rome about the end of the fifth century; in which S. Gregory the Great, on the festival of the saint, pronounced his ninth homily on the gospels. About the end of the seventh century, Sergius Bishop of 1 Hist. Eccl. Liv. xvii. c. 41. |