Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/474

SAINFOIN^. 434 SAUIT ALBANS. feet liifih and liiis rather long pinnate leaves. The fruit consists of short single-seeded pods. It prefers a light, dry, calcareous soil, with a permeable, well-drained subsoil. It is often grown on soils too dry or too barren for clover. The culture of sainfoin is similar to that of al- falfa. I'sually, however, only one cutting is made a year. From IV2 to 2% tons of hay per acre are obtained, and the yield of seed ranges from 10 to 25 bushels. It does not endure close j)asturing. SAINT (OF. saint, seint, sainct, Ft. saint, from l.at. sancius, holy, from sancire, to hallow; connected with Skt. sanj, to adhere). A name applied in the New Testament to the members of the Christian community generally, but early re- stricted in ecclesiastical usage to men and women of special eminence for personal holiness. The earliest class of saints to receive distinct recog- nition was naturally that of the martyrs (q.v.). The name of confessors was originally applied to those who had exhibited signal courage and con- stancy in professing the faith, without the final crown of martyrdom, but later was used of male saints in general who were not martyrs. Women are honored either as virgins, matrons, or widows. For the methods by which the title of saint has been conferred in early and in modern times, see Canonization. In the history of religious controversy there has been much discussion as to the status of the departed saints and their relation to the Church on earth. That there is some practical relation is contended as a logical seipience from the article of the Apostles' Creed which declares belief in 'the communion of saints;' and in like manner it is not often disputed that the saints, or those who have passed from earth into the presence of God, may offer their prayers to Him for the necessities of the Church militant. But while the Council of Trent lays down that it is a good and useful thing to invoke the saints on account of the benefits to be ol)tained from God by their aid, Protestants generally contend that such invocation is not only useless, since there is no certainty that the departed can hear our prayers, but positively unlawful, as trenching on the wor- shi]) due to God and derogating from the media- torial office of Christ. The first objection is met by the theory that the saints are in the im- mediate presence of God, and, gazing upon the Beatific Vision, "behold with open face as in a glass" all that Ciod wills them to know of what is happening on earth. It is further asserted that there is an infinite difference between the wor- ship paid to God as the Supreme Lord of the Universe and the address to the saints, which is the same in kind as that made without ob- jection to venerated friends on earth. The last objection is answered by emphasizing the belief that the prayers of the saints gain their effi- cacy only by virtue of their union with the all- prevailing mediation of Christ. For the venera- tion paid to images and relics of the saints, see iMAfiE-WoRSHip; Relics. BiiiLiociRAPiiY. The most extensive as well as most scholarly is the collection by the Bollan- dists (q.v.), Acta Hanctorum (q.v.). Familiar to all English students is Alban Butler, Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Saints (original edition, London, 1756-59; n. e. ib., 1800) ; Lives of Saints and Servants of God (edited by F. .W. Faber, ib., 1843-44) ; Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art (ib., 1848); id., Legends of the Munuslic Orders (ib., 1850) ; Baring-Gould, Lives of the Saints (ib., 1872-92, new ed., ib., 1897-98) ; Gibson, Short Lives of Saints for Every Day in tlie Year (ib., 1890-97). For British and Irish saints jiarticularly, consult: Lives of the Eiiylish Saints (written by various hands, at the suggestion of John Henry Newman, ib., 1844-45; new ed., 1900 et seq. ); Fleming, A Complete Calendar of the English Saints and Martyrs for Every Day of the Year (ib., 1902). SAINT-ACHEUL, siiN'ttl'shel'. A celebrated arclueological site in the Sonime Valley, Northern France. It gives name to the so-called Acheu- Ican epoch in French archsology, following the Chellfan, the oldest in their Paleolitliic period. It was characterized by great cold and the fauna is a transition toward that of the more temperate climate that followed. SAINT-AFFKIQUE, saN'tdf'frek'. A town of the Department of Aveyron, France, oil the Dourdon River, 37 miles east of Albi (Map: France, J 8). It is situated in a beautiful val- ley, between two mountains, and is surrounded by meadows, orchards, and vineyards. The streets are broad, but the houses are mostly old and mean. The town has woolen and cotton fac- tories and tanneries, and a lively trade in wool, and is celebrated for Roquefort cheese, made from ewe's milk, chiefiy in the mountain pasture* around the neighboring village of Roquefort. The town successfully resisted the Prince de Conde in 1028. Population, about 5000. SAINT AL'BANS. A municipal borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated on a picturesque hill, 21 miles northwest of London. It is close to the site of ^'eruhnnium, the most important town in the south of England during the Roman period. King Offa II. of Mercia, in 795, founded an abbey in meniorv of Saint Alban, a Roman soldier and the proto-martyr of England, who died at the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century. The town grew up about the abbey, which became the most important in England. During the Wars of the Roses the jdace was the scene of two battles; the first was in 1455, when the Lancastrians were defeated and Henry VI. was made a captive ; the second in 1401, when the Yorkists were defeated. (See Roses, Wars of the.) In 1877 Saint Albans became a bishop's see. The abbey is built, in part, of Roman bricks from Verulamium. 'The abbey church is cruciform and one of the largest in England. Its length is 550 feet, its breadth 175 feet, and it.s Nor- man tower is 145 feet high. Its earliest portions date from about 1080. The church underwent, in 1875, an extensive restoration. The gate, which is now a school, is the only extant portion of the other monastic buildings. In Saint Michael's Church there is a monument to Lord Bacon, who was Baron Verulam and Viscount Saint Albans. The population, in 1891. was 12,- 895; in 1901, 10.000, many of whom were em- ployed in straw-plaiting and the manufacture of silk goods. The various annals and chronicles of Saint Albans are published in the Rolls Series, in 21 volumes. See, especially, Matthew of Paris and Roger of Wendovcr. SAINT ALBANS. A city and the county- seat of Franklin County, Vt.. 45 miles northwest of Montpelier; on the Central Vermont Railroad