morning, hastened to the city, and found the emperor dead; and the golden cup which he had piously presented to the church of St. Laurence was found with only one handle, the other having disappeared that same night."

The old frescos give us this strange but significant story at full length. In the first compartment a hermit is looking out of a window, and there are some fragmentary portions of the devils just visible: the second represents the death-bed of the emperor, at the foot of it appear the demons: in the next, the angel and the demons are contending; the soul of the emperor clasps the knees of the angel as if for refuge in the fourth appears St. Laurence to the rescue, one of the fiends has fallen on his knees before him. The whole series in a barbarous style, and in a most ruined state.*

I met with this legend again in the famous Strozzi Chapel in the S. Maria Novella at Florence. The great frescos of the Last Judgment, so often pointed out as worthy of especial attention, generally engross the mind of the spectator to the exclusion of minor objects; few, therefore, have examined the curious and beautiful old altar-piece, also by Orcagna (A. D. 1349). It represents Christ giving the keys to St. Peter, and attended by St. John, St. Paul, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catherine, St. Michael, St. Laurence. In the predella below are scenes from the life of each of the saints represented above. For example, under the figure of St. Laurence we have the contention for the soul of the Emperor Henry. In the centre the emperor is seen expiring amid his attendants: on one side, the flight of the demons through the desert, the hermit looking out of his cave: on the other, St. Michael holds the scales; the merits of the emperor are weighed in the balance and found wanting; St. Laurence descends and places the vase in one scale; the demons are in a rage, and one of them seems to threaten St. Laurence. The whole conception very odd and grotesque, but the story

*They are engraved in a small size in D'Agincourt's "Histoire de l'Art," pl. xcix. No. 8.

told with infinitely more skill and spirit than in the rude old frescos in the church of San Lorenzo.

Doublet, in his history of the abbey of St. Denis, cites a passage in an ancient chronicle, wherein the demons lament, "that wishing to carry away the soul of Charlemagne, they did not succeed because of the opposition of Michael, the archangel, and the weight of the offerings made to the Church, which, being thrown into the scale of good works, weighed it down." Such fabrications were frequent in those days, and are very suggestive in ours.

As the story of St. Hippolytus is closely connected with that of St. Laurence, I place it here.

ST. HIPPOLYtus.

Ital. Sant' Ippolito. Fr. Saint Hippolyte. Aug. 13, A. D. 258.

HIPPOLYTUS was the name of the soldier who was stationed as guard over the illustrious martyr St. Laurence, by whose invincible courage and affectionate exhortations he was so moved that he became a Christian with all his family. After the terrible death of St. Laurence, at which he had been present, he, with some other Christians, carried away the body of the saint by night and buried it all which has been already related; and it remains only to show how Hippolytus honored the teaching of his master, and proved his faith.

Being brought before the tribunal of Decius, and accused of being a Christian, Hippolytus acknowledged himself as such, and declared that he was ready to die like St. Laurence rather than deny his Redeemer. Decius sent his lictors to the house of Hippolytus with orders to arrest all who were found there; and among others was his aged nurse, whose name was Concordia, and who, in consequence of the boldness with which she replied to the demands of the judge, was con

demned to be scourged until she died; and Hippolytus, looking on, thanked God that his nurse, from whose bosom he had fed, had died worthily for Christ's sake; and having seen nineteen of his family beheaded, and still refusing to listen to the temptations of these wicked pagans, he was tied to the tails of wild horses, and, in this cruel and terrible martyrdom, perished.

By a curious mingling of the Pagan mythology and Christian traditions, Hippolytus has partaken of the attributes of his namesake the son of Theseus, and has been chosen as the patron saint of horses. His name in Greek signifies "one who is destroyed by horses." His popularity in France is probably owing to the translation of his relics from Rome to the Abbey of St. Denis in the eighth century; but in the legends of this saint there prevails a more than usual degree of obscurity and uncertainty.

1. In the old mosaic in the church of San Lorenzo, Rome, St. Hippolytus in a warrior's dress stands behind St. Laurence.

The ancient devotional pictures of Hippolytus often represent him as the jailer of St. Laurence, with a bunch of keys hanging to his girdle.

2. In a little picture in the Academy at Florence he is thus represented, and also holds in his hand an instrument of torture something like a currycomb with iron teeth.

3. The Martyrdom of St. Hippolytus was painted by Subleyras. The picture, which is one of his most beautiful, is in the Louvre ; * Hippolytus lies on the ground, his hands bound, his feet tied to the tails of two wild horses, which, starting, rearing, and with their manes blown by the wind, are with difficulty restrained by a number of soldiers; the head of the saint is remarkably fine as he looks up to heaven with an expression of enthusiastic faith.

* École Française, 506.

4. El Mudo painted for the Escurial, which, it will be remembered, was dedicated to St. Laurence, Hippolytus and his companions burying the body of the Saint by night. It is praised for the solemn and pathetic effect of the composition, and is in truth a beautiful subject.

5. In St. Salvator, Bruges, is the Martyrdom of Hippolytus by Hans Hemling.

I have seen the story of Hippolytus frequently in the stained glass and sculpture of the old French churches. In the modern church of Notre Dame de Lorette at at Paris the story of St. Hippolytus is painted in three compartments. 1. He is baptized by St. Laurence. 2. He buries the body of the saint. 3. He is tied to a wild horse.

ST. VINCENT, DEACON AND MARTYR.

Lat. St. Vincentius Levita. Ital. San Vincenzio Diacono, San Vincenzino. Fr. Saint Vincent. Patron of Lisbon, of Valencia, of Saragossa; one of the patrons of Milan; patron saint of Chalons, and many other places in France. Jan. 22, A. D. 304.

THIS renowned saint and martyr of the early Christian Church has been most popular in Spain, the scene of his legend, and in France, where he has been an object of particular veneration from the sixth century. It is generally allowed that the main circumstances of the history of Vincent, deacon of Saragossa, of his sufferings for the cause of Christ, and his invincible courage, expressed by his name, rest on concurrent testimony of the highest antiquity, which cannot be rejected; but it has been extravagantly embroidered. I give his legend here, as accepted by the poets and artists. "He was born in Saragossa, in the kingdom of Aragon. Prudentius, in his famous hymn, congratulates this city on having produced more saints and martyrs than any other city in Spain. During the persecution under Diocletian, the cruel proconsul Dacian, infamous

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in the annals of Spanish martyrdom, caused all the Christians of Saragossa, men, women, and children, whom he collected together by a promise of immunity, to be massacred. Among these were the virgin Eugracia, and the eighteen Christian cavaliers who attended her to death. At this time lived St. Vincent: he had been early instructed in the Christian faith, and with all the ardor of youth devoted himself to the service of Christ. At the time of the persecution, being not more than twenty years of age, he was already a deacon. The dangers and the sufferings of the Christians only excited his charity and his zeal; and after having encouraged and sustained many of his brethren in the torments inflicted upon them, he was himself called to receive the crown of martyrdom. Being brought before the tribunal of Dacian, together with his bishop, Valerius, they were accused of being Christians and contemners of the gods. Valerius, who was very old, and had an impediment in his speech, answered to the accusation in a voice so low that he could scarcely be heard. On this, St. Vincent burst forth with Christian fervor, How is this, my father! canst thou not speak aloud, and defy this pagan dog? Speak, that all the world may hear; or suffer me, who am only thy servant, to speak in thy stead!' The bishop having given him leave to speak, St. Vincent stood forth, and proclaimed his faith aloud, defying the tortures with which they were threatened; so that the Christians who were present were lifted up in heart and full of gratitude to God, and the wicked proconsul was in the same degree filled with indignation. He ordered the old bishop to be banished from the city; but Vincent, who had defied him, he reserved as an example to the rest, and was resolved to bend him to submission by the most terrible and ingenious tortures that cruelty could invent. The young saint endured them unflinching. When his body was lacerated by iron forks, he only smiled on his tormentors: the pangs they inflicted were to him delights; thorns were his roses; the flames a