If the visitor at the present day to Nimes will look about him, he willfind two churches, both recently rebuilt, in place of, and on the site of,very ancient places of worship, and the one bears the name of St.Baudille. If he inquire of the sacristan, "Mais qui, donc, etait-il, cesaint?" then the answer given him will be: "Baudillas was a native ofNimes, a deacon, and a martyr."
If he ask further, "But when?" Then the sacristan will probably reply witha shrug: "Mais, monsieur; qui sait?"
In another part of the town is a second church, glowing internally withcolor from its richly painted windows, and this bears the name of Ste.Perpetue.
Does the visitor desire to be told whether it has been erected in honorand in commemoration of the celebrated African martyrs Felicitas andPerpetua, or of some local virgin saint who shed her blood for Christ,then let him again inquire of the sacristan.
What his answer will be I cannot say.
The Bishop Castor remained much in his house. He grieved that he had notbeen called to witness to the faith that was in him. But he was a humbleman, and he said to himself: "Such was the will of God, and that sufficethme."
One evening he was informed that a man, who would not give his name,desired to speak with him.
He ordered that he should be introduced.
When the visitor entered, Castor recognized AEmilius, but the man waschanged. Lines of thought and of sorrow marked his face, that bore otherimpress as well of the travail of his soul within him. He seemed older,his face more refined than before, there was less of carnal beauty, andsomething spiritual that shone out of his eyes.
The bishop warmly welcomed him.
Then said AEmilius in a low tone, "I am come to thee for instruction. Iknow but little, yet what I know of Christ I believe. He is not dead, Heliveth; He is a power; mighty is faith, and mighty is the love that Heinspires. _Credo._"
FOOTNOTES
1 So represented in paintings in the Catacombs. There were two distinct types: the table in the Church and the tomb at the Sepulcher of the Martyr.
2 St. Clement of Alexandria complained of the dainties provided for the Agape: "The sauces, cakes, sugar-plums, the drink, the delicacies, the games, the sweetmeats, the honey." The hour of supper with the Romans was about 2 P.M.; that, therefore, was the time for the love-feast to begin.
3 In the recently-exhumed house of Saints John and Paul, in the Coelian Hill at Rome, such bottles were discovered in the cellar.
4 Now Ambroix.
5 Certain Christians bought substitutes to sacrifice in their room and receive a ticket (_libellus_) certifying that they had sacrificed. The Church was a little perplexed how to deal with these timorous members, who were termed _libellatics_.
6 I employ the term Duumvir for convenience. As already stated, there were four chief magistrates, but two only had criminal jurisdiction.
7 "Erat et robur, locus in carcere, quo praecipitabatur maleficorum genus, quod ante arcis robustis includebatur."--LIV. 38, 39.
8 The prayer is given in the "Apostolic Constitutions," viii. 37.
9 The casting into the lowest pit of the _robur_--sometimes termed the _barathrum_--was not a rare act of barbarity. Jugurtha perished in that of the Tullianum in Rome. "By Hercules!" said he as he was being lowered into it, "your bath is cold!" S. Ferreolus, of Vienne, was plunged into this horrible place in A.D. 304. He was young, and by diving or by working at the grating he managed to escape much in the manner described above. Thus through the sewer he reached the Rhone, and swam across it. He was, however, recaptured and taken back to Vienne, where he was decapitated. He is commemorated in the diocese of Vienne on September 18th, and is mentioned by Sidonius Apollinaris in the fifth century, and by Venantius Fortunatus in the sixth. S. Gregory, the illuminator, was cast into the _barathrum_ by Tiridates. Theodoret describes martyrs devoured by rats and mice in Persia ("Hist. Eccl.," v. 39).
10 This sign is now in the museum.
11 Fairies, adored at Nemausus.
12 The incident of the fall of snow occurring at the martyrdom of a virgin saint is no picture of the author's imagination. It occurred at the passion of S. Eulalia of Merida, in A.D. 303, and is commemorated in the hymn on her by Prudentius.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Variations in hyphenation or spelling have not been changed.
Changes, which have been made to the text:
page 55, "Nemauscan" changed to "Nemausean" page 117, "alloted" changed to "allotted" page 119, "exisiting" changed to "existing" page 125, comma removed after "Baudillas" page 278, "adsence" changed to "absence" page 280, quote mark added before "Executioners"
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