Urban baptizes Valerian.

4. An angel crowns Cecilia and Valerian. 5. Cecilia converts Tiburtius. 6. Cecilia preaches to the people. 7. She is brought before the prefect. 8. She is put into the bath full of boiling water: three executioners surround her.

Francia, assisted by Lorenzo Costa, painted the life of St. Cecilia in ten compartments round the walls of her chapel at Bologna. The building is now desecrated, and forms a kind of public passage leading from one street to another. The only compartment in tolerable preservation is the scene of the marriage of St. Cecilia and Valerian, charming for simplicity and expression: she seems to shrink back reluctant, while her mother takes her hand and places it in that of Valerian. In the same series, Urban instructing Valerian, and the alms of St. Cecilia, both by Lorenzo Costa, are very beautiful. Of the other compartments only a figure here and there can be made out.

By Pinturicchio there is a series of five small pictures from the life of St. Cecilia in the Berlin Gallery.

Lastly, there is the series by Domenichino, celebrated in the history of Art. A short time after the discovery of the relics of St. Cecilia, a chapel was dedicated to her in the church of San Luigi at Rome; and Domenichino was employed to decorate it with the history of the saint.

The story is told in five large compositions.

1. Cecilia distributes her possessions to the poor. She is in the background standing on the terrace or balcony of her house, while a crowd of eager half-naked wretches are seen in the front; twenty-two figures in all. It is a rich dramatic composition, but the attention; instead of being concentrated on the benign saint, is distracted by the accessaries, among which are two naughty boys quarrelling for a garment. This is surely a discord in point of sentiment, 2. An angel crowns with roses St. Cecilia and Valerian as they kneel on

each side. 3. St. Cecilia refuses to sacrifice to idols. 4. Her martyrdom. She lies wounded to death on some marble steps; - her attitude very graceful and pathetic. St. Urban looks on pitying; two women are wiping up the blood. In all, fifteen figures.

On the ceiling of the chapel is the apotheosis of the saint. She is carried into heaven by angels. One bears the organ, others the sword, the palm, and the

crown.

On the whole, St. Cecilia is not so frequent a subject of painting as we might have expected from the beauty and antiquity of her legend. She is seldom seen in the old French works of Art: she has been a favorite with the Roman and Bolognese schools, but comparatively neglected by Venetian, Spanish, and German painters; and in point of general popularity she yields both to St. Catherine and St. Barbara.*

ST. AGNES, VIRGIN AND MARTYR.

Lat. Sancta Agnes. Ital. Sant' Agnese. Spa. Santa Inez. Fr. Ste. Agués. Jan. 21, A. D. 304.

THE legend of this illustrious virgin is one of the oldest in the Christian Church. It is also, in its main points, one of the most authentic. St. Jerome, writing in the fourth century, informs us that, in his time, the fame of St. Agnes was spread through all nations, and that homilies and hymns, and other effusions in prose and verse, had been written in her honor in all languages. Her tender sex, her almost childish years, her beauty, innocence, and heroic defence of her chastity, the high antiquity of the veneration paid to her, have all combined to invest the person and character of St. Agnes with a charm, an interest, a reality, to which the most sceptical are not wholly insensible.

*We have two churches in England dedicated to her: one at Adstock, in Bucks, and another at West Bilney, in Norfolk.

The legend does not tell us who were her parents, nor what their rank in life, but takes up her history abruptly. Thus :

"There lived in the city of Rome a maiden whose name was Agnes (whether this name was her own, or given to her because of her lamb-like meekness and innocence, does not seem clear). She was not more than thirteen years old, but was filled with all good gifts of the Holy Spirit, having loved and followed Christ from her infancy, and was as distinguished for her gracious sweetness and humility as for her surpassing beauty.

It chanced that the son of the prefect of Rome beheld her one day as he rode through the city, and became violently enamored, and desired to have her for his wife. He asked her in marriage of her parents, but the maiden repelled all his advances. Then he brought rich presents, bracelets of gold and gems, and rare jewels and precious ornaments, and promised her all the delights of the world if she would consent to be his wife. But she rejected him and his gifts, saying, 'Away from me, tempter! for I am already betrothed to a lover who is greater and fairer than any earthly suitor. To him I have pledged my faith, and he will crown me with jewels, compared to which thy gifts are dross. I have tasted of the milk and honey of his lips, and the music of his divine voice has sounded in mine ears he is so fair that the sun and moon are ravished by his beauty, and so mighty that the angels of heaven are his servants!'

"On hearing these words, the son of the prefect was seized with such jealousy and rage, that he went to his home and fell upon his bed and became sick, almost to death; and when the physicians were called, they said to the father, This youth is sick of unrequited love, and our art can avail nothing.' Then the prefect questioned his son, and the young man confessed, saying, My father, unless thou procure me Agnes to be my wife, I die.'

"Now the prefect, whose name was Sempronius,

tenderly loved his son; and he repaired, weeping, to Agnes and to her parents, and besought them to accept his son but Agnes made the same answer as before, and the prefect was angered to think that another should be preferred before his son, and he inquired of the neighbors to what great prince Agnes was betrothed? And one said, Knowest thou not that Agnes has been a Christian from her infancy upwards, and the husband of whom she speaks is no other than Jesus Christ?' When the prefect heard this he rejoiced greatly, for an edict had gone forth against the Christians, and he knew that she was in his power. He sent for her, therefore, and said, 'Since thou art so resolved against an earthly husband, thou shalt enter the service of the goddess Vesta.' To which Agnes replied with disdain,

Thinkest thou that I, who would not listen to thy son, who yet is a man, and can hear and see, and move and speak, will bow down to vain images, which are but insensible wood and stone, or, which is worse, to the demons who inhabit them?'

"When Sempronius heard these words he fell into a fury; he threatened her with death in the most hideous forms; he loaded her tender limbs with chains; and ordered her to be dragged before the altars of the gods; but she remained firm. And as neither temptation nor the fear of death could prevail, he thought of other means to vanquish her resistance; he ordered her to be carried by force to a place of infamy, and exposed to the most degrading outrages. The soldiers, who dragged her thither, stripped her of her garments; and when she saw herself thus exposed, she bent down her head in meek shame and prayed; and immediately her hair, which was already long and abundant, became like a veil, covering her whole person from head to foot; and those who looked upon her were seized with awe and fear as of something sacred, and dared not lift their eyes. So they shut her up in a chamber, and she prayed that the limbs that had been consecrated to Jesus Christ should not be dishonored. And suddenly

she saw before her a white and shining garment, with which she clothed herself joyfully, praising God, and saying, I thank thee, O Lord, that I am found worthy to put on the garment of thy elect!' And the whole place was filled with miraculous light, brighter than the sun at noonday.

"But meantime the young Sempronius thought within himself, Now is this proud maiden subdued to my will.' So he came into the chamber; but the moment he approached her he was struck with blindness, and fell down in convulsions, and was carried forth as one dead. His father and his mother and all his relations ran thither, weeping and lamenting, until Agnes, melted to compassion by their tears, and moved by that spirit of charity which became the espoused of Christ, prayed that he might be restored to health; and her prayer was granted.

"When Sempronius saw this great miracle, he would fain have saved St. Agnes; but the people, instigated by the priests, cried out, This is a sorceress and a witch, who kills men with a look and restores them to life with a word; let her die!' And the tumult increased. So the prefect, being afraid, sent one of his deputies to judge the maiden.

"As the people persisted in their clamorous cries against her, and as she openly and boldly professed herself a Christian, the deputy ordered a pile of fagots to be heaped together, and a fire to be kindled, and they threw Agnes into the midst; but when they looked to see her consumed, behold the flames were suddenly extinguished, and she stood unharmed, while the executioners around were slain by the force of the fire, which had had no power over her.

But the people and the idolatrous priests, instead of seeing in this miracle the hand of God, cried out the more, She is a sorceress, and must die!' Then Agnes, raising her hands and her eyes to heaven, thanked and blessed the Lord, who had thus openly asserted his power and defended her innocence; but the wicked