Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/236

222 ST. DELPHINB St. Delph, or Dieppe (man or woman). Gives name to the church and village of Landulph, in Cornwall, and is there commemorated. (See Deppa.) Parker. St. Delphine, or Dauphine, Nov. 27, Sept. 26, Nov. 16, Dec. 17. f 1360. O.S.F. Delphine de Glandeve de Puy-Michel, afterwards de Sabran. Countess of Ariano, called "The Poor Countess." Wife of St. Elz6ar, daughter of Guillaume de Signe. The Signes wore a branch of the powerful family of the Viscounts of Marseilles, who descended from the Kings of Burgundy. Guillaume married Delphine de Barras, a great heiress, who had immense estates in Provence. They lived in the castle of Puy-Michel, which belonged to her, and there St. Delphine was bom about 1283. She was the sole heiress to her mother's vast possessions. She had a sister named Alasacie, who although a nun of the Convent of St. Catherine de Sorps, generally lived with her. Del- phine's parents died while she was very young, and she was styled Da^ne de Puy- Michel, a title which she bore all her life. She is thought to have been educated by her aunt Mabel de Signe, abbess of St. Catherine de Sorps, and there to have acquired the habit of reading tho Bible, and also the art of working that extra- ordinary fine needlework in which gold, silver, and silk were artistically blended, and that unceasing industry which dis- tinguished her to her latest days. She wished to spend her life in the convent which had been her school, but Charles II., king of Naples and Sicily (1285-1300), as count of Provence, was guardian of every heiress in that province, and insisted on marrying her to his cousin and hers, Elzear, or Aulzias de Sabran. He was about two years younger than Delphine. His father Hermengaud had received from Charles I., with the title of Count of Ariano, lands in the kingdom of Naples, confiscated from families who had sided with tho house of Arragon against that of Anjcrti. Elzear's mother, Laudune d'Aube, had prebented him to God from his birth, and, like the sainted Queen Blanche, she said she would rather see her first- born child die at once than that he would live to offend his Creator. Delphine's family were much alarmed by her fixed objection to marriage, as they feared to offend the king. So, through her Confessor, they persuaded her that it was her first duty to relieve their anxiety by consenting to the alliance, and also to trust that if it was God's will for her to serve Him in virginity. He would open a way for her to do so. Accordingly, she was married at the age of fifteen, in 1298, in the chapel of her castle of Puy- Michel, her husband being thirteen. His mother was dead ; his father, Her- mengaud de Sabran, had married again, and had a large family. He was at the court of Naples, where he held the lucrative post afterwards conferred on St. Elzear, of Master Justiciar of the Abruzzi. The young couple lived with Elzear's grandparents at the castle of Ansois, or Ansouis. Delphine was a beauti^l girl, very tall, with good features and a singularly sweet voice. She had received, for the times, a superior education, and possessed an extremely amiable disposition, and uncommon pene- tration and discretion. It was no wonder that she soon obtained a great ascendency over a youth of thirteen. They entirely sympathized with each other in piety and zeal for all good works. Delphine was blessed with extraordinary insight into the character and thoughts of others. Elz6ar was favoured with ecstasies and heavenly visions. Very soon after her marriage Delphine was very ill. Elzear was in great distress. She told him she would certainly die unless he promised to respect her vow of virginity ; that she would much rather die than break it; and was praying to Grod to take her rather than let her be untrue to her vow made to Him. Elzt^ar would not at that time make a vow to bind him for life, but assured her that her wishes should always be law to him. On this she immediately recovered. During the five and twenty years of their union they lived like a brother and sister in the greatest affection and confidence. They practised from the first the same asceticism as if each were in a monastery, but it