236
NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. iv. SEPT. u>, 1911.
Probably the tradition of this being a sacred
site determined the placing here of the
earliest Saxon church, and so of its present
representative. Might some similar cause
have existed elsewhere ? S. ANDREWS.
" TOUT COMPRENDRE C'EST TOUT PAR-
DONNER" (11 S. iv. 86, 136, 154). That striking, semi-divine saying, " Tout connaitre c'est tout pardonner," has always seemed to me equal to the best utterance in the Imitation.' I have ventured a translation :
Be patient, should your brother fall Know all, and you will pardon all.
PERCY FITZGERALD.
STREET NOMENCLATURE (US. iv. 187). The Paris Directory ('Paris, Vol. II., Rues et Plans') gives the raison d'etre of Paris street-names thus :
" Bolivar (rue). Libe"rateur de I'Ame'rique Me"ri- dionale, 1783-1830."
" Ferronnerie (rue de la). St. Louis avait permis aux ferronniers de s'y etablir."
" Paix (rue de la). Nom substitue h, celui de Napoleon en 1814, apres la signature de la paix."
" Lincoln (rue). President des fitats Unis, 1809- 1864."
This might possibly afford a few hints to your Indian correspondent, though the preponderance of French biography would evidently lessen its value. F. A. W.
SS. BRIDGET, GERTRUDE, FOILLAN, AND FEBRONIA (US. iv. 189). St. Berlinda is shown at Meerbeeke standing at the side of a cow, but I was not aware that St. Bridget is ever so accompanied. She was, however, the child of a milkmaid, and was not far from being born in a byre. Some of her acts were associated with cows, and on one occasion she was a miraculous substitute for a "milky mother of the herd." One of her nuns was ill, and no milk was to be had, so the saint ordered a companion to fill a jug with water, which, when it was poured out, was found to be milk that was as warm and good as if it had been just drawn from the cow ('Irish Folk-lore,' by Lageniensis,
Baring-Gould has an admirable passage embodying theories as to the mouse of St. Gertrude of Nivelles ('Lives of the Saints,' March vol., pp. 308, 309) :
" By a curious popular superstition, she was sup- posed to harbour souls on their way to paradise It was said that this was a three daysjourney. The first night they lodged with S. Gertrude, the second 5 *u ? abri 1 ' and the third was in paradise, bhe therefore became the patroness and protector
departed souls. Next, because popular Teutonic superstition regarded mice and rats as symbols of
souls, the rat and mouse became characteristics of
S. Gertrude, and she is represented in art accom-
panied by one of these animals. Then, by a strange
transition, when the significance of the symbol was
lost, she was supposed to be a protectress against
rats and mice, and the water of her well in the
crypt of Nivelles was distributed for the purpose of
driving away these vermin. In the chapel of
S. Gertrude, which anciently stood in the enclosure
of the castle of Mohn near Huy, little cakes were
distributed, which were supposed to banish mice
In order to explain the significance of the mouse
in pictures of S. Gertrude, when both meanings were abandoned, it was related that she wao wont to become so absorbed in prayer that a mouse would play about her and run up her pastoral staff, without attracting her attention."
St. Foillan was an, Irish worthy of the seventh century. He was invited with others by St. Gertrude to settle at Nivelles, and was murdered by brigands in the forest of Soignies when he was on his way to visit his brother Ultan. St. Fursey was another of his brothers.
St. Febronia was a virgin martyr who touched the third and fourth centuries, and was martyred brutally under Diocletian, one Selenus being directly responsible for the treatment inflicted on the beautiful, harm- less victim. She was one of fifty virgins who were in a convent at Sibapte in Syria, and a very picturesque account of her is given in ' Lives of the Saints,' June vol., p. 343, &c. ST. SWITHIN.
Though the cow is not the usual emblem of St. Bridget, it is probably used in refer- ence to her dairy- work and her miraculous multiplication of butter. See Butler's * Lives of the Saints ' and Hone's ' Everyday Book/ i. 197.
The mouse is said to belong to St. Gertrude either because she protected her monastery against mice, or because she remained so long at her devotions that they watched around her. It is an old Belgian custom to offer the first corn to St. Gertrude as a precaution against mice. F. D. WESLEY.
St. Gertrude in Tyrol (and I believe in other countries) is regarded as the protectress against rats and mice, and mural inscrip- tions invoking her assistance against these domestic pests may still be seen on the walls of Tyrolese peasant houses. k Tradition says she was a daughter of St. Itta, aunt of Pepin, father of Charles Martel. 17 March is her day. MARIE LOUISE DUARTE.
Harrogate.
St. Foillan was one of three brothers, all canonized, sons of Fyltan, King of Munster. Soon after the year 650 he travelled to Nivelle in Brabant, where St. Gertrude detained
