ON S. SYRA OR SYRIA, IN THE TERRITORY OF TROYES IN GAUL.
CENT. IV, OR V.
The cult is established, the age inquired; the inspection of Relics is declared.
Syra or Syria, in the territory of Troyes in Gaul (S.)
BY G. H.
[1] The sacred memory of S. Syra or Syria commonly Sainte Syre, is inscribed on this 8th of June in the MSS. of Troyes and of the Carmelites of Cologne preserved with these words: In the Tricassinensian territory of B. Syria the matron. In the MS. Florarium, and the Martyrology of Cologne and Lübeck printed around the year 1490, she is called of the best Matron. Followed by Greven and Molanus in their Additions to Usuard, Maurolycus, Felicius, Canisius, Ferrari, Cult of the Saint, by all of whom she is addressed as Matron: But woman in the Acts of S. Sabinian, who suffered martyrdom at Troyes under the Emperor Aurelian, which on January 29 we published in double form: the earlier and more ancient from the MSS. codices of Rouen and Trier of S. Maximinus. In which when it was related, how among other miracles by his blood was restored
[3] Hearing these things a certain woman, by the name of Syria, who had sat blind from her eyes for forty years, said to her parents: Lead me to the lovely joy, where the most holy Sabinian sought heavenly glory. Her parents however abandoned her, and would not go with her. to the tomb of S. Sabinian the Martyr. A little one went forth from their offspring, and entered to her: and seizing her by the hands, in his ways they walked, and they did not know where they should seek the holy passion. Coming however, where S. Sabinian rested, their feet were fixed, and they could no longer continue the journey, because they had come to the holy place. She with humble heart began to bend her knees to the ground, and to pray confidently, saying: God of the Christians, and S. Sabinian, who obtained for yourself a precious crown, adorned with precious stones, show your power in me. When she had so prayed, in that hour her eyes were opened, and she saw the light of day, and the tomb of S. Sabinian. Much people however hastened to see the power of God. where her blindness had been cured: Then Syria spoke to them: Let us love the burial-place, and make a great cell, where S. Sabinian did not lay down life, but changed it. These things in the earlier Acts of S. Sabinian: which in the later Acts, from the Promptuary of Antiquities of the Tricassinensian diocese by Nicolas Camuzat published and by us, edited, with more circumstances about the life of Syria, are described, and therefore also seem to be added here, as follows:
[3] For many years however the body of the blessed Martyr lay hidden, because of the excessive persecution of the Christians: and the place of his burial was known to God alone. Therefore that field becomes flowering with miracles, and fragrant with virtues: because of which the distant are roused by the fragrance, the neighboring are drawn by the sweetness: the sick gather, exulting in health received. The fame therefore flying, a certain woman, by the name of Syria, having eyes deprived of light, with her whole heart seeking the hidden treasure of the blessed Martyr, came, and begged him that she might recover her sight. Seeking therefore him whom she desired with her heart, she invokes Christ with cries, wherefore over her a church built, and entreats the holy Martyr with prayers. She comes to the place, and the prayer was not yet completed, and behold the woman is now heard: for her eyes are repaired to use, and the darkness driven away, are restored to sight. O what praises and acts of thanksgiving she renders to God and the blessed Martyr! Therefore the miracle being divulged, the citizens run together, all hasten: all rejoice in common, and to God resound praises with their voices: because he by so noble a miracle deigned to reveal his Martyr to his people. there she lived the rest of her life. Therefore by common opinion, B. Syria much exhorting, a holy church is fittingly constructed. Which being diligently built, not unmindful of the benefit received B. Syria, vowed herself to serve God and the blessed Martyr: there afflicting herself with many fasts, devoting herself to prayers and vigils, she offered herself a living victim to the Lord. And thus living justly and holily, through the immense martyrdom of life, and through the service of great devotion, she deserved to obtain the fellowship of the holy Martyr in heaven, by the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and Holy Spirit lives and reigns God, through all ages of ages. Amen.
[4] Thus far testimonies about S. Syria, taken from the ancient Acts of S. Sabinian: from which we gather, that she lived, when already the Christian religion was in its vigor, and the churches of Christians were securely erected. But to what century, the fourth perhaps or fifth, she ought to be referred, we cannot define. We do not however judge that she is to be ascribed to the Benedictine Order, Different from this is S. Syra sister of S. Fiacrius. as Menardus and Bucelinus have done. or to be referred to the year 640, as Nicolas des Guerrois did in treating of the Saints of Troyes. Their assertion rests on this, that they believe she was sister of S. Fiacrius, a Scot or Irishman. Of him indeed the sister is called Syra: but she led a monastic life in the Brige monastery of the Meaux diocese, and afterwards built and governed a monastery for girls near Châlons, but has her natal day on October 23. The holy Syria however, of whom is now the discourse, seems to have been born at Rilly or certainly not far from this place, where S. Sabinian was deposited, and offspring
and educated. For when her parents would not go with her; a little one led her, taken by the hand. Rilliacum was however a village about five leagues below the city of Troyes, on the same river Seine as it, asserts Camuzat; and afterwards from the holy Martyr was called Sabinianum, but now is called by the name of S. Syria. Menardus from the Lessons of the Office of S. Syria, found in an old fragment, adduces the following, also related by Camuzat, and to be referred here.
[5] After from the obscure custody, into which he had been thrust down, S. Sabinian by admirable power escaped; at once at the said Rilliacum he was beheaded, and there his body was committed to the earth. Chapel and casket of his Relics Which when it had long been hidden, at length to a Virgin, whose name was Syria, by divine revelation it was made manifest. Who when she had passed there much time of life chastely and piously; following the most sacred Relics of the Martyr with religious honor, to the monument of this same holy Martyr she built a little house or chapel. In which also after death she was placed in a hollow stone, which today is seen in the same chapel, sacred to the name of this Virgin: in which indeed the body of the same Virgin, enclosed in a bronze chest skillfully made, rests. The chapel itself however, with a great concourse of pilgrims flowing together from everywhere, especially of those who labor with the stone, is celebrated: in healing whom divinely outstanding miracles daily come forth. Her feast day in the Tricassinensian diocese on the Eighth of June is venerated with solemn celebration: and as early as the year 1300 Henry de Noa, Dean of the Church of Troyes, in the same conferred several annual revenues for this, that with novena Lessons her feast might be held. Thus there: of which the last confirming Nicolas Des Guerrois, in his history of Troyes, brings forth the Epitaph of this same Henry for the year 1300: but he admonishes that it is to be corrected, and orders the year of death to be written 1327; as if he said, that the testament of one founding such things was made by the said secular, and thence the occasion taken by grateful posterity, of signing the death of this founder by that year. The other words of Menardus Saussay related for a great part in his Gallican Martyrology: and again in the Supplement on July 7, At Troyes, he says, on the same day the memory of S. Syra the Virgin; and in the Topographic Index shows, that it is to be taken of the same S. Syria.
[6] Menardus adds, that Lord Guillotius, parish priest of S. Aventinus of Troyes, wrote to a certain person; as patroness of those laboring with hernia and the stone, that in an old MS. these verses about S. Syria were found:
Royal Syria has been celebrated in the Champagne lands, Whose pious help every sick man receives. By you the heavy hernia leaves the sandy kidneys, Every fracture is healed by your merits. With such tortures I pray you preserve my belly: We believe you are the true cure of so great an evil. Pray for us to the highest King, pious Syria, That he may heal our inner parts of the heavy stone.
Menardus, on account of the first word of these verses Regia, judges, that she was of royal lineage, and accordingly not to be distinguished from that Syra, who was sister of S. Fiacrius, and daughter of the King of the Scots. But a weak argument: for not to say, what could be said, that Regia Syria, because inscribed among the heavenly Queens; why could not this title be verified literally, by conjecturing that she was daughter of S. Colloquillus the King, with
TESTIMONY
Of the Casket of Relics opened.
From the Tricassinensian Promptuary of Camuzat.
Syra or Syria, in the territory of Troyes in Gaul (S.)
BHL Number: 7972
[7] In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, of the Father and the Son, By the order of the Vicars of Troyes and the Holy Spirit, Amen. To all who shall inspect the present letters or the present public instrument, Odard Hennequin, Major in both laws, and Peter Fiene, Licentiate in Canon Law, Officials of Troyes, and Archdeacons of S. Margaret in the church of Troyes and prebendary Canons Presbyters, Vicars general in spirituals of the Reverend Father in Christ, Lord D. Louis by the grace of God Bishop of Troyes, notoriously absent from his city and diocese of Troyes, eternal salvation in the Lord. Since from the memory of the human mind that which has been done quickly slips, unless it be confirmed by writing, therefore by the series of presents we make known, that we by the authority of the said R. Father, to the praise, glory and honor of God our Savior Jesus Christ, and of his most glorious and undefiled Mother the most pious Virgin Mary and of the whole heavenly Court, and for the veneration and adornment of S. Syria the Virgin, in the presence of many witnesses, and of the whole Christian people firmer and indubitable faith, and of the said S. Syria's merits and miracles, which daily happen and through the universe are renewed, exaltation; in the village of S. Syria and the chapel of the same Saint, in which from antiquity is the casket, within which is laid up and rests the sacred and glorious body of the said S. Syria, on the day given of the presents, in the presence of public Notaries, and of the venerable Religious and discrete men, Master Nicolas Coiffard Licentiate in both Laws and James Rocignot, Canons of the said Church of Troyes, on the part of the venerable Chapter of the Church of Troyes commissioned and deputed for this, Nicolas Mergey Matricularian Presbyter in the said church, Brother Christopher of Crusi Provost and professed Religious of the monastery of Cella near Troyes of the Order of S. Benedict, and many others being with us, we personally came in the morning, and we being there in the said chapel, reverently and honorably vested and clothed in Sacerdotal ornaments and garments, a very great and copious multitude of the people of the said place of S. Syria and from elsewhere being gathered there, with the will and express consent of the venerable and discrete man Master William Acutus Presbyter, Licentiate in Canon Law Canon and Archdeacon of Brenne in the said Church of Troyes, and Curate of the parochial church of S. Sabinianus of the said S. Syria; John Quatreux and Gillet Symon alias le Febure, Matricularians and Provisors of the fabric of the said parochial church of S. Sabinianus of the said S. Syria and of many parishioners and inhabitants of the said village of S. Syria and others present there, the casket is placed upon the altar: with certain and fitting Antiphons sung, with following Versicles and Prayers, the said casket, being behind the altar of the choir of the said chapel, we caused to be brought down and placed upon the said altar.
[8] Which so placed and diligently inspected, the fastening of this casket having been seen and visited, which we found well locked and fastened, without any opening or fracture being made in any part of it; we caused the same to be opened by honest men, Peter Chevry and John Chevry goldsmiths, dwelling at Troyes, with their hammers and iron instruments. Which being opened by chanting praises to God, we diligently and reverently visited what was within this casket; and with great devotion of heart and shedding of tears we inspected, and within this same casket a certain small chest or casket, reverently and honorably surrounded with a certain old pall cloth, gilded green and dark blue, doubled, ornate and decorated. And in the presence of all the premised and many others flowing thither and gathered there, was found the sacred body, in which are found the head and bones of S. Syria; namely the head and other sacred bones of the said S. Syria the Virgin, with several other glorious and sacred bones, reverentially and magnificently laid up, hidden in a certain small and honest chest existing within the said casket, hidden in a cloth of figured silk, and (as before mentioned) wrapped around; And to the Clergy and people standing there in the greater part shown by us. Which body indeed of the said S. Syria the Virgin, with the head and other bones and sacred relics, as they had been found in the same casket, by us the Vicars aforesaid, in a certain linen sack sewn above, covered with a certain honest red silken sandal, with such reverence as was fitting in the aforementioned chest, just as previously (as before mentioned) they had been placed and enclosed within the said casket, Te Deum laudamus, the same after the singing of the Te Deum and Mass: with fitting Antiphons Versicles and following Prayers, and Mass of the said S. Syria sung solemnly in high voice in her honor, rendering praises most devoutly to God and to the said S. Syria, we laid back in entirety, just as this Body and Relics are now laid up, enclosed, and dismissed in the said casket. Which thus laid up, enclosed, and dismissed, the same casket in the presence of our Notaries and aforesaid Witnesses we caused to be closed by the said goldsmiths, are again locked up and then with iron keys well and securely locked and fastened. Which so fastened, the said goldsmiths, the images and other jewels and ornaments of the same casket, recently repaired by them, promised to be placed on and over the said casket, and began to place them.
[9] In faith and testimony of all and each of the aforesaid premises, the present letters or present public instrument, by the undersigned public Notaries, who with us and the witnesses below were present at the premises, we have caused to be made; and with the seal of the Court of Troyes, which we use in this part, together with our seals and public signs and subscriptions of the said public Notaries undersigned, 1461, 13 August. we have made and ordered to be fortified by appending. These things were done in the said Chapel of S. Syria, in the year of the Lord 1461, on the 13th day of the month of August, ninth Indiction, of the Pontificate of the Most Holy in Christ Father and our Lord, Lord Pius by divine providence Pope II, year III; of the reign of the Most Illustrious and Most Christian Prince and our Lord, Lord Louis by the grace of God King of the Franks, in the first year. Being present there as discrete and honest men Lords Aegidius Colerne, prebendary Canon of the collegiate Church of S. Stephen of Troyes; Peter of Jugny, Curate of the parochial church of Dropt S. Bazoli; Laurence Jacquet, Chaplain Rector of the said parochial church of the said S. Syria; James of Burgundy, John Brouart, Symon Coleson, Perrinus Vilat, Leonardus Prestat, and Nicolaus la Plattote, matricularians of the said Chapel or administrators of the lights of the same Chapel, parishioners and inhabitants of the said S. Syria, with many other witnesses of both sexes specially called and asked to the premises.
Signed Henricus Doreti, and Johannes Guerry.
Annotation* MS. S. Max. Seventy
CRITICAL APPENDIX,
On distinguishing the Saint of Meaux and the one of Troyes of this name, and on her patronage against the stone.
Syra or Syria, in the territory of Troyes in Gaul (S.)
BY D. P.
[10] Chifflet's little work on this argument, This Commentariolum on Syra Henschen had long before prepared for the press, before Peter Francis Chifflet had undertaken to elaborate his own Opusculum on a single S. Syra or Syria the Virgin: certainly much earlier than he himself published it, as the second among Four similar Opuscula, in the year 1679; nor do I know whether our Master ever saw it, since then for the first time brought
to Antwerp, when paralysis seized the most diligent man, Henschen did not see: and transferred him from his Museum to the infirmary. The third volume of Charles le Cointe's Annales he could have seen on the aforementioned controversy, and Arthur of the Monastery's Sacred Gynaeceum, where arguments are sought, to firm the distinction of S. Syra of Rilly, from the disciple of S. Burgundofora, in the Brige monastery near Meaux, also called sister of S. Fiacrius, for whom the people of Meaux hold sacred not this 8th of June, like those of Troyes; but the 22nd of October, witness Mabillon, where he treats of S. Fiacrius.
[11] but neither did he inspect Cointe, against whom that was written: But it appears, that Henschen did not consider it worth the trouble, to publicize the contrary opinion to many; when in the very ancient Acts of S. Sabinian, so clearly and distinctly is described a woman, blind for 40 years, remaining among her parents, that is consanguineous; whom when she in vain asked, that they should lead her, divinely admonished, to the place, in which the Holy Martyr had died; there went out a little one from their offspring, and seizing her by the hands, led her where she wished. I do not see, how these things can be adapted to a Virgin, born in Scotland, and therefore having her parents there; nor in a family of mixed sex and age; such as the aforesaid words indicate, introducing a little one from the same offspring; but in a monastery, living under an Abbess: nor can an Abbess be thought to have been blind for so many years, or if she had been before and indeed founder of the Catalaunensian monastery, it is not credible that she lacked even one servant, deputed to her service. Furthermore those ancient Acts, whence we know the Rilliacian Syra, are such, that they may seem to have been written down earlier than S. Burgundofora and S. Fiacrius were born. what was evident to him from the Acts of S. Sabinian: Long-lived, especially Virgins consecrated to God, I admit can be called by the names of Woman and Matron; nor, to prove this, is it necessary to recur to the title of Lady, by which everywhere in Gaul Nuns are addressed. The aforesaid words suffice, lest anyone think a virgin however, a Nun; unless one wishes to say, that the Acts of S. Sabinian were written down quite late, when it was unknown of what condition was the woman, who first gave occasion to exhuming the body; but this even the antiquity itself of the codices can refute.
[12] and just as the other's Life, so also the Relics can be said to have perished: Chifflet nevertheless rises up against Cointe, from whom he took occasion of writing the Opusculum; because he makes the same Syria Brigensian and Catalaunensian, and distinguishes her from the Rilliacian: and, Let him bring forth, he says, even one certainly affirmed testimony, that does not pertain to Syra of Rilly. But what need is there of this? when of the Rilliacian we have such, that it cannot be believed to pertain to the Brigensian and Catalaunensian. He continues nevertheless, and, Let him teach us, he says, where among the Brigensians or the Catalaunensians the relics of S. Syra exist, outside her Rilliacian reliquary, known to all. I reply, that they could long ago have perished, as perished the Life which he confesses none is had: for so he speaks, and confusion, frequent in higher age, Scarcely is it permitted to anyone to doubt, that the deeds of S. Syria … long ago written down, were in the hands of our ancestors: but as the barbarous incursions of Saracens, Normans, and Hungarians, brought devastation to most of the churches of Gaul and to their sacred monuments; by the same it is fair to estimate that the Life of S. Syria written down has perished. But is it even necessary to believe, that in such, if any existed, Life, it was asserted, that at Châlons she endured blindness for 40 years, from which freed at Rilly, she persuaded a church to be built there, in whose ministry she might pass the rest of her life, where she first received a stone tomb, then also a mausoleum? These things as they are gratuitously presumed, so by right and reason can be denied, until they are positively proved; nor are they proved from the familiar vice of higher centuries, accustomed to confuse synonymous Saints.
[13] He continues nevertheless and Chifflet presses Cointe, that he say, why after all memory, equally by the Rilliacians or Trecensians and by the Catalaunensians Syra or Syria is venerated on the eighth day of June; made at Troyes and Châlons; if she is not the same Patroness of both. I shall reply for Cointe, that at Meaux, where she died alone, distinct days remained: that confusion was made at Troyes, and received at Châlons I shall prove, from Chifflet himself, who on page 77 confesses, that With miracles increasing at Rilly, study also sprang up again to know the lineage, and the noble deeds of their Patroness. Then indeed, he says, emerged the fable of her parent David King of the Scots, where the Legend was fabricated, fabulous, as Chifflet confesses: to whom Margaret the spouse, when she had borne Syria and Fiacrius, Edmund afterwards joined to herself in second marriage, received from him five other children, Levicus, Florentius, Furseus, Mansuetus, and Triduana. These things in rhythmic little verses, composed in the French tongue, committed to print, still survive: but also nearly two hundred years ago from now had been inserted into the Breviary of Auxerre, and are referred to by Benedict Gonon in the Lives of the Fathers of the West; and (unless conjecture deceives me) those very things were, which arranged into nine lessons were customarily recited in the church of Troyes, on the festive day of S. Syria, by the institution of Henry de Noya, Dean of the church of S. Peter of Troyes, as is read in his Epitaph in the year 1300.
[14] I find all these things in Gonon page 248, and the Epitaph in Des-Guerrois, as I have said. and was begun to be called sister of S. Fiacrius, and a Scot, But if it is a fable, that S. Fiacrius, the alleged brother of S. Syria, who (as is read in the Life) born in Ireland of noble parents, seeking the solitary life, came to Meaux to Bishop Faro, in the 7th century of Christ; was son of David, reigning in Scotland-Britain around the year 1000: why is it not also reputed fable, that S. Syria, disciple of S. Burgundofora in the Brige monastery, and foundress of the Catalaunensian monastery, came from a distant region to the parts of Gaul; who was perhaps of Meaux, and that she was sister of S. Fiacrius; that finally she is the very same, who at the body of S. Sabinian recovered sight, of which she had been deprived for 40 years? The name Syra or Syria certainly sounds nothing Irish or Scottish: and that one of this name is venerated in the diocese of Troyes on the 8th, the other from Meaux on the 22nd of October, is an argument to me, not only that each is different; but also that they are buried in most different places; one at Rilly, about which no one doubts; the other at Meaux, namely whither she returned to the Brige monastery of S. Burgundofora or Fara; after the Catalaunensian rightly founded, about to die in the first place of conversion, with her spiritual Fathers Faro and Fiacrius: and the cult indeed persevered, but the Relics as of many other Saints have perished.
[15] Meanwhile the Catalaunensians, when perhaps, the monastery which she once ruled having been restored, they understood that she was held a Saint anciently; different certainly from the Rilliacian much older. nor had they either her body or a certain day of cult; could most easily be led in the 12th or 13th century, to confuse her with the Rilliacian Syria, although far more ancient; and what they knew about her from the Acts of S. Sabinian, to apply to the Meldensian,
[16] These things being deduced against Chifflet's opinion for Henschen's more probable opinion, from the same I take the closing of the Opusculum, No miracles of Rilly written, whence the effective help of the Saint in curing the stone will more clearly shine. In noting down the miracles of S. Syria, I require the diligence and selection of the Trecensians and Rilliacians. Many things are neglected, which, if they had been taken up by suitable witnesses, and committed to writing, would much augment the glory of God and the Saints, and bring much usefulness to pious minds: many things are circulated by the mouth of the crowd and darkened by little fables, besides one in which Gaspar Colignius, which do not produce credit with the prudent. Des-Guerrois admonishes his readers, that he had hardly dared to name a famous, and of the first nobility, follower of the Calvinian heresy, who, S. Syria having been invoked of old, was relieved of immense torments from the stone. Nay for this very cause (if the matter were so) he ought to have been made known to all, that it might be understood that Syria was offspring of that Father, who makes his sun rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust. But Des-Guerrois narrated an incredible thing. For Gaspar Colignius, (not that heretical Admiral; cured by B. Syria, was a good Catholic, and namesake and in the third degree consanguineous of him, who as Admiral, that is, Prefect of the Royal fleet, the Catholic religion having been abjured, branded a most foul mark on his name and family.
[17] The series of the Colignian family the most illustrious man Lord du Bouchet has explained in a just volume (whence the scheme of consanguinity, deduced from the common great-grandfather of both William Colignius, but his consanguineous, from the ministry of the King's sons) is here omitted) which Lord du Bouchet transmitted the following monument, from the autograph papers of Nicolas Camuzat, a man of ancient probity, for the sake of foreigners to be read thus in Latin. This is written on a tablet, hung in the chapel of S. Syria of the diocese of Troyes, now consumed by age, which still could be read in the year 1604. Gaspar de Coligny, Lord and Baron of Bovain and of Beaufort, Steward of the table of the Lords Dauphin and Duke of Orleans, in the year 1539 vomited up 7 stones, born of the free County of Burgundy, on this 14th of April, 1539, was freed from seven stones, which he vomited up by the mouth: who feeling himself in danger of life, when he had vowed himself to Lady Saint Syra, the aforesaid stones ejected, now enjoys prosperous health: whence the same Lord professes himself tributary to the church of Lady Saint Syra. The aforesaid two Royal youths, were sons of Francis I King of the Franks (whose Steward of the table Gaspar de Coligny was in the year 1539): Henry Dauphin, who born in the year 1518, was then in the 21st year of his age; and his brother Charles Duke of Orleans, at the invocation of S. Syria: who afterwards departed life before his father in the year 1545. Nor indeed let it seem incredible, that kidney stones were ejected by the mouth by Gaspar; not only, because to divine power nothing is impossible; but also because everywhere we see, with the ureters obstructed, urine elaborated in the kidneys ejected by the mouth: whence it is established, that as for urine, so also for stones the passage is pervious from the kidneys to the stomach, and thence to the throat, if at any time it shall have pleased almighty God to change the natural order of ejections.
[18] Thus far Chifflet, about this miracle: who finally makes an end to his Opusculum, in an image of the Saint; whose image at Dijon among the Carmelites which he does not approve, not many years ago, to be represented in an ornate and variegated dress, such as would be of noble lay-women: and more praises, and exhibits engraved in copper another, an image of solid mass, which at nearly just stature stands at Dijon in the Basilica of the Carmelites, in which long ago was instituted a Sodality of citizens, under the name of S. Syria, with no small benefit to the people
of Dijon's solace and fruit. Her garment oblong, her head veiled with linen, the folds modestly covered with a stole: her right hand sustains an open book, on which she has her eyes intent: the inner garment sprinkled with lilies, I suppose to designate her royal lineage; the left also bears a palm, symbol of virginity; and a staff, either a support of elderly age, or a sustenance of one on pilgrimage. In this manner could be expressed the Meldensian Syria, and Catalaunensian sojourner; not likewise the Rilliacian (as I at least judge) except so far as it can suit matrons of advanced age, even lay ones, and the confraternity. of whom you will find many anciently so painted. But the chief cause for me of describing this place was that Dijon Sodality, which I believe was instituted especially for stone-pains either to be lessened or averted: just as elsewhere others of S. Liborius, who is venerated on July 23.