work, thirty thousand monks and nuns.
The most respected fathers of the church
called the life in a convent, the direct road
to Paradise. St. Jerome wrote, amiably:
"Now, if thy young brothers and sisters
throw themselves at thy breast, and thy
mother, with tears and dishevelled hair and
torn garments, shows her bosom which
nourished thee, and thy father lays himself on
the threshold, kick them away from thee
with thy feet, and hasten with dry eyes to
join the standard of the cross."

The fathers of the church report many
miracles of St. Anton. The animals of
the desert obeyed him like well-taught
poodle dogs. They crowded frequently
round his cave, but always waited respectfully
until he had finished his prayers;
then received his blessing and went about
their business. When St. Anton buried
the hermit St. Paul of Thebes, who died in
his one hundred and thirteenth year, two
pious lions assisted him in digging a grave.

St. Macarius had great power over wild
animals. Once, a hyena knocked modestly
at his door, and when the saint opened it,
she, a distressed mother, laid at his feet a
blind cub, but at the same time, as a fee,
the skin of a lamb. "I do not want that
skin, you have stolen it," cried the saint,
angrily. The poor hyena was so distressed
that she shed tears. The saint was moved.
"If you will promise not to steal any more
skins, I will take the skin and heal the
cub." The repentant hyena laughed "yes;"
the saint healed the cub; and the hyena
trotted off, a better animal.

Many of these gentry had a wonderful
perseverance in praying. Among them an
Irish saint, of the name of Kewdon, who
prayed so long that a swallow had time,
not only to lay her eggs in his folded hands,
but to hatch them also!

Though the saints are dead, they still
take care of the interests of pious people.
The nobility stand under the particular
protection of St. George, St. Maurice, and
St. Michael. The patron of theologians is,
most strangely and unaccountably, the
doubter St. Thomas. The patron of the
pigs is St. Antonius. The jurisdiction
over lawyers is given to St. Ivo; over
physicians to St. Cosmus and St. Damian;
over sportsmen to St. Hubert; and tipplers
stand unsteadily under the powerful
protection of St. Martin. Nations have also
their patron saints. St. Anton, though
much occupied with his protectorate pigs,
has still time to attend to the business of
the Portuguese; the Spaniards are taken
care of by St. Jacob; the French by St.
Denis; the English by St. George; the
Venetians by St. Marc.

The fanaticism which originated in
the East was soon transferred to Europe,
where it was propagated by St. Ambrose,
Bishop of Milan, and St. Jerome, who had
been a hermit himself, and wrote in praise
of solitary life what is considered to be a
pattern of eloquence. St. Martin was the
first who established convents in France, in
the fourth century. He became Archbishop
of Tours, and was a very proud saint.
When he appeared before the Emperor
Valentinian, that potentate did not feel
inclined to rise in his honour. This vexed St.
Martin; he prayed, and lo! flames burst
from the imperial seat, and the emperor
had to get up quickly. From that period
convents sprang up like mushrooms. At
the time of the Reformation, no fewer than
fourteen thousand nine hundred and ninety-
three convents, of the mendicant orders
alone, had been instituted. The Reformation
abolished eight hundred convents in
Germany; but, notwithstanding, the
Emperor Joseph the Second of Austria still
found in his estates one thousand five
hundred and sixty-five monasteries, and six
hundred and four nunneries. At the time
of Luther the number of friars of the
mendicant orders amounted to two million four
hundred and fifty thousand. Some founders
of convents were very extraordinary men;
for instance, the above-named St. Benedict,
who prescribed to his monks a very
sensible rule. They were to work. The
Benedictine convents, consequently, became
places of refuge for science and art during
a time very unfavourable to both, and were
respected. Princes who retired from
business generally chose those convents.

Far different from the rule of St. Benedict,
was that set down by the Irishman
Columbanus. Dozens of lashes were his
correction for the most trifling mistakes.
Whosoever contradicted a brother without
adding, "if you will remember correctly,
brother," received fifty lashes; who spoke
to a woman got two hundred, well told.
One of the most successful promoters of
monasteries, and at the same time a very
distinguished man, was St. Bernhard.
Luther says of him: "If there ever was a
true and pious monk, it was Bernhard; I
never heard or read of one like him, and
I value him higher than all the monks and
priests of the whole earth." He was,
however, a fanatical ascetic, and tormented his
poor body in the most cruel manner, living