HAKT
763
nlrstiot] of our feUaw-creatures, that ever Hved. Her ment of the church, she returned to Our I^dy 'b statue,
death was fully in accordance with her life in this and while praying there for guidance as to her future
respect, for she died after an illness of nearly three couisegSheseemed to heara voice fromafartelling her
years' duratioii and of iadeacribablepainfuhieBs, borne that if she crossed the Jordan, she would find rest. with heroic joy to the end. Innumerable miracles fol- That same evening Mary reached the Jordan and re- lowed the saint's death, and the process tor her beatifi- ceived Holy Communion in a church dedicated to the c&tioD was be^uB in 1610 under Paul V, and finished Baptist, and the day fallowing crossed the r '
under Urban VlH in 1626. She was not, however,
canonized till sijcty-two years after her death, when
Clement IX raised her to the altars on 2S April, 1669.
Her feast is kept on 27 May.
(1) The Oratonao Lif§ (1S49), tmiiili>t«l from tli« Jtmlimit Lift by Cepari, for s Umit time confeaoi omimuiiity; the editioo truu]at«d Lb th in Rome by Bkrnabo. m A MS. Li/c— in EuIukI, only in sevenil coovsnta — c IreinlEei*ove-n«ned«rkofCEPAHra.«
wandered eastward into the desert that stretches
towards Arabia.
Here she had lived absolutely alone for forty-seven
a Lifth
eompiled u
LADHEirr HiHiA BraH'
cACCio, a Neapolitan
Cknnetite. Irom Fuo- oini's work. Tliia book
the R.luiioa» Life traia-
lated froiD the Freni*
by Farhinotoh (DubSn.
1801).
F. M. Capes. ICuy of Zgjpt,
Saint, b. probably about 344; d, about 421. At the early age of twelve Mary left her home and came to Alexandria, where tor upwards of seventeen years she led a life of public prostitution. At the end oF that time, on the occasion of a pil- grimage tj) Jerusalem for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, she em- barked for Pales- tine, not however
- -J-;— and monk, named ^osinius, who after the custom of his
t"o(TaM"publihod brethren had come out from his monastery to spend
f which mpi» eiin Lent in the desert, met her and learned from her own
mpiled by PAHTmo lipa the strange and romantic storj- of her life. As
eoBfS«(Slor'about ""' *^ ^^J' ™^*' "^^ Called Zoslmus by his name and
" t' fain, recomised himasaDrieet. After they had con vereecf
and prayed together, she begged ^simus to promise to meet ' ' the Jordan on
^#
Holy Thursday eve:
ing of the followii
2
• and bring y
mm the Rlessea
Sacrament. When
the appointed even-
ing arrived, Zosimus,
we are told, put into
a small chalice a por-
tion of the undenled
Body and the Pre-
cious Blood of Our
Lord Jesus Christ
(P.L.,LXXIII,686:
"Mittens in modico
calice intemerati cor-
poris portionom et
Bretiosi sanguinis
.N.J.C." But the
reference to both
species is less clear
in Acta SS., IX, 82:
"Accipiena parvum
poculum intemerati
corporis ac venerandi
sanguinis Christi Dei
nbstri "), and came to
^ _^ __ Ribcra. TlM Prado. Madrid
with the intention of making the pikrimage, but in the spot that had been indicated. After the hope that life on board ship would afFora her new Mar^ appeared on the eastern bank of tbe river, and and abundant opportunities of gratifying an insati- havmg made the sign of the cross, walked upon the able lust. Arrived in Jerusalem she persisted in her waters to the western side. Having received Holy shamelesB life, and on the Feast of the Exaltation of Communion, she raised her hands towards heaven, the Cross joined the crowd towards the church where and cried aloud in the words of Simeon: " Now thou the sacred relic was venerated, hopine to meet in (he dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy ^thering some new victims whom she might allure word in peace, because my ej'es have seen thy salva- mto sin. And now came the turning-point in her ca- tion". She then charged Zosiraua to come in the couree reer. When she reached the church door, she sud- ofayeartothespotwherehehadfirstmetherinlhcdeo- denly felt herself repelled by some secret force, and crt. addinK that he would find her then in what con- having vainly attempted three or four times to enter, dition God might ordain. He came, but only to find she retired to a comer of the churchyard, and was the poor saint s corpse, and written beside it on the Struck with remorse for her wicked life, which she recog- ground a request that he should bury her, and a state- □iied as the cause of her exclusion from the church, ment that she had died a vear before, on the very Bursting into bitter tears and beating her breast, she night on which he had given her Holy Communion, far began to bewail her sins. Just then her eyes fell upon away by the Jordan's l»nks. Aided, we are told, by a a statue of the Blessed Virgin above the spot wher« she iion, he prepared her grave and buried her, and hav- was standing, and in deep faith and humility of heart ingcommended hinaself and the Church to her prayers, she besought Our I«dy for help, and permission to en- he returned to his monastery, where now for the firet ter the church and venerate the sacred wood on which time he recounted the wondrous story of her lite. Jesus had suffered, promising that if her request were The saint's life was written not very long after her granted, she would then renounce forever the world death by one who states that he learned the details and its ways, and forthwith depart whithersoever Our from the monks of the monastery to which Zosimus Lady might lead her. Encouraged by prayer and had belonged. Many authorities mention St. 8o- COUnting on the mercy of the Mother ot God, she once phronius, who became Patriarch of Jerusalem in 635, more approached the door of the church, and this time as the author; but as the Bollandists give good reasons succeeded in entering without the slightest difficulty, tor belie ving that the Life was written before 500, we Having adored the Holy CYoss and Kisse*! the pave- may conclude that it is from some other hand. The
