prevent confusion, is the patroness of Augsburg. "She was a woman of that city who had for a long time followed the profession of courtesan; and it happened that a certain holy man whose name was Narcissus, flying from the persecution which afflicted the Christians in the reign of Aurelian, took refuge in the house of Afra, without knowing that she was abandoned to sin. When she found out that it was a Christian priest, she was overcome with fear and respect, and by a feeling of shame for a profession which it cost her, for the first time, an effort to avow. The good man took the opportunity to exhort her to repentance; she listened to him weeping, and fell at his feet, entreating to be baptized; he, knowing that Christ had never rejected a repentant sinner, administered to her baptism, and assured her of forgiveness.

"And Afra had three handmaidens, who, like herself, had led a dissolute life. She brought them to the begged that he would salvation. Meantime

feet of the Christian priest, and instruct them also in the way to those who were in pursuit of the priest came to search for him in the dwelling of Afra; but she concealed him, first in her own house, and then in that of her mother Hilaria; and, by her help, he afterwards escaped to his own country, which was Spain.

"But the idolaters seized upon Afra, and accused her of having assisted in the escape of a Christian, and of being a Christian herself. The judge, whose name was Gaius, and who had known her former profession, was astonished at the modesty and dignity with which she replied to his questions, and acknowledged herself to be a follower of Christ. How!' said he, do you, a woman of evil life, expect to be accepted by the God of the Christians?' To which Afra meekly replied, It is true I am unworthy to bear the name of Christian; nevertheless, He who did not reject Mary Magdalene, when she washed his feet with her tears, will not reject me.' And, continuing constant in the faith, she was condemned to be burned alive: so they tied

her to a stake, and heaped round her a pile of vincbranches. Then she lifted up her eyes to heaven, and prayed, saying, 'O Thou, who didst call, not the righteous, but the erring, to repentance, and who hast promised that even at the eleventh hour Thou wouldst receive the sinner who called upon Thee, accept of my penitence, and let the torments I am about to suffer be received as an expiation of my sin, hat through this temporal fire I may be delivered from the eternal fire which shall consume both body and soul!' Having said these words, her spirit departed, and was carried by the angels into heaven; and a few days afterwards her mother Hilaria, and her three maidens, Digna, Eunomia, and Eutropia, also perished for the faith with a like constancy." (August 5, a. D. 307.)

This St. Afra appears only in the German pictures of the Suabian school. Behind the choir of the Cathedral at Augsburg, there is a large altar-piece by Christoph Amberger, in which the painter has represented in the centre the Madonna and Child; on the left wing, the Bishop-patron of Augsburg, St. Ulrich; on the right, the martyrdom of St. Afra. In the predella beneath, five half-length figures: - St. Hilaria in the centre, and on each side St. Eunomia, St. Eutropia, St. Digna, and the holy man, St. Narcissus. I saw this picture in 1855. It has a peculiar mixture of German and Italian feeling; is correctly drawn, and full of refined sentiment in the expression, particularly in the St. Hilaria. Over the high altar in the same church, the same saints are represented in colored sculpture, modern, but in an admirable style.

When a bishop is seen in company with the German St. Afra, it is St. Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg in 973; while the companion of the Brescian St. Afra is St. Apollonius, bishop of Brescia in 300.

ST. CHRISTINA AND ST. JUSTINA.

These are two famous Virgin Martyrs who figure in the churches all over the North of Italy, both being patronesses of the Venetian States. There is, however, this differend: that while the fame of St. Justina of Padua is confined to Italy, and her effigy to Italian Art, St. Christina is 'venerated in France, Sicily, and Bohemia.

Ital. Santa Cristina.

ST. CHRISTINA.

Fr. Sainte Christine. Patroness of Bolsena, and one of the patronesses of the Venetian States. July 24, A. D. 295.

The legend of this saint is one of those which have been rejected by the Roman Catholic Church. The little town of Tiro, on the borders of Lake Bolsena, which, according to tradition, was her birthplace, has since been swallowed up by the waters of the lake, and no trace of it remains. She is celebrated, however, all over Northern and Central Italy; and is the subject of some beautiful pictures of the Venetian school.

Her legend, as given in the Perfetto Legendario, represents her as the daughter of Urbanus, a Roman patrician, and governor of the city. He was an idolater, but his daughter, who had been early converted to the faith of Christ, called herself therefore Christina. "One day, as she stood at her window, she saw many poor and sick, who begged alms, and she had nothing to give them. But suddenly she remembered that her father had many idols of gold and silver; and, being filled with the holy zeal of piety and charity, she took these false gods and broke them in pieces, and divided them amongst the poor. Strange it was to see one carrying away the head of Jove, and another the hand

of Venus, and a third the lyre of Apollo, and a fourth the trident of Neptune. But, alas! when her father returned, and beheld what had been done, what words could express his rage and fury! He ordered his servants to seize her and to beat her with rods, and throw her into a dark dungeon; but the angels of heaven visited and comforted her, and healed her wounds. Then her father, seeing that torments did not prevail, ordered them to tie a millstone round her neck, and throw her into the lake of Bolsena: but the angels still watched over her; they sustained the stone, so that she did not sink, but floated on the surface of the lake; and the Lord, who beheld from heaven all that this glorious virgin suffered for his sake, sent an angel to clothe her in a white garment, and to conduct her safe to land. Then her father, utterly astonished, struck his forehead and exclaimed, What meaneth this witchcraft?' And he ordered that they should light a fiery furnace and throw her in; but she remained there five days unharmed, singing the praises of God. Then he ordered that her head should be shaved, and that she should be dragged to the temple of Apollo to sacrifice; but no sooner had she looked upon the idol, than it fell down before her. When her father saw this, his terror was so great that he gave up the ghost.

"But the patrician Julian, who succeeded him as governor, was not less barbarous, for, hearing that Christina in her prison sang perpetually the praises of God, he ordered her tongue to be cut out, but—oh miracle! she only sang more sweetly than ever, and uttered her thanksgivings aloud, to the wonder of all who heard her. Then he shut her up in a dungeon with serpents and venomous reptiles; but they became in her presence harmless as doves. So, being wellnigh in despair, this perverse pagan caused her to be bound to a post, and ordered his soldiers to shoot her with arrows till she died. Thus she at length received the hardly-earned crown of martyrdom; and the angels, full of joy and wonder at such invincible fortitude, bore her pure spirit into heaven."

In the island of Bisentina, in the lake of Bolsena, is a small church dedicated to her, and painted it is said by the Caracci; but few, I believe, have visited it. The superb Cathedral of Bolsena is also consecrated in her

name.

In devotional pictures, the proper attribute of St. Christina is the millstone. She has also the arrow or arrows in her hand, and bears, of course, the crown and palm as martyr. When she bears the arrow only, it is not easy to distinguish her from St. Ursula; but in early Italian Art, a female saint bearing the arrow, and not distinguished by any of the royal attributes, is certainly St. Christina. Pictures of her are common in all the cities of Northern and Central Italy, but more especially at Bolsena, Venice, and Treviso. find her frequently grouped with the other patrons of this part of Italy; for example, with St. Barbara of Ferrara, with St. Catherine of Venice, with St. Justina of Padua, &c.

I shall give a few examples.

We

1. St. Christina, as patron saint, stands, crowned and bearing her palm, between SS. Peter and Paul. In a beautiful picture by D. Mazza.*

2. Johan Schoreel. She stands as martyr, one hand on a millstone, the other bearing a palm; her dress is that of a lady in the time of Henry VIII.

3. Vincenzio Catena. St. Christina kneeling on the surface of Lake Bolsena: angels sustain the millstone, which is fastened round her neck by a long rope; in the skies above, our Saviour appears with his banner, as victor over sin and death, and gives to an angel a white shining garment in which to clothe the martyr. This is a variation from the commonplace angel with the crown and palm; and the whole picture is as pure and charming in sentiment as it is sweet and harmonious in color.t

4. Lorenzo di Credi. St. Christina kneeling and holding the arrow, grouped with St. Nicholas of Bari,

* Venice, Abbazia.

Venice, S. Maria-Mater-Domini.