The feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was first instituted by Pope Urban VI. A.D. 1389 in commemoration of the visit of the Blessed Virgin to her cousin Elizabeth. The institution was confirmed by decree of the Council of Basle, in their 43rd Session, upon July 1, 1441.

Martin, Bishop of Tours (see Nov. 11), died A.D. 397 at Cande, and was there buried. On July 4th, A.D. 473, his remains were translated to a Basilica dedicated in his honour. It is this translation which is commemorated.

Swithun, Bishop, was born early in the ninth century. He was devoted when very young to the monastery at Winchester. He became Bishop of the diocese A.D. 838. He died July 2, A.D. 862, and was buried, in compliance with his own request, outside the church. In A.D. 971 his relics were translated into the cathedral. It is this translation which is commemorated.

Margaret, Virgin and Martyr, is said to have suffered at Antioch in Pisidia, at the close of the 3rd century. Nothing is really known of her. Her festival has been observed universally and from the earliest times. The Greeks commemorate her under the name of Marina, on July 17th.

An office for St Mary Magdalene's Day was appointed in 1549. In 1552 this office was withdrawn and her name left out of the Calendar. In 1561 her name was restored. She is commonly believed to have accompanied St John and the Blessed Virgin to Ephesus, and there to have died. Her remains were translated from Ephesus to Constantinople by the Emperor Leo the Philosopher at the close of the ninth century.

The earliest mention of the feast of St James the Apostle is A.D. 1229. See note on Collect. The Proper Lessons were first appointed in 1559.

St Anne was mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and wife of Joachim her father. The appointment of days for the Visitation of B. V. Mary, Martin, Swithun, Margaret and Anne, was made in the reformed Calendar in 1561. The more expanded titles of the commemorations were added in 1662.

Lammas-Day. In the Roman Church this day is known as the feast of St Peter ad vincula, being the commemoration of his imprisonment at Jerusalem and miraculous deliverance as related in the Acts of the Apostles. In the fifth century a church of St Peter ad vincula was dedicated at Rome on this day, which has since been kept as a festival.

The festival of our Lord's Transfiguration in the mount is very ancient. It was observed at Rome in the fifth century, though not ordered to be placed in the calendar before 1455.

Name of Jesus. How the festival originated is not known. The general order for celebrating the feast was not promulgated in the Church of Rome before 1721, and then the day fixed on was the second Sunday after Epiphany.

St Laurence, Martyr, is said to have been by birth a Spaniard. About A.D. 258, he was Archdeacon to Pope Sixtus, whom he attended to his martyrdom. He himself suffered shortly after. He is mentioned in the oldest Roman Calendar, A.D. 354, and in all the Martyrologies. He has been commemorated in the Canon of the Roman Mass since the time of Gregory the Great, A.D. 590.

St Bartholomew's festival is mentioned in a calendar of the eighth century. See note on Collect. The Proper Lessons for the day were first appointed in 1559, the morning Lesson being Ecclus. 25. This was altered in 1662 to Ecclus. 24.

St Augustine, Bishop, was born at Tagaste, an episcopal city of Numidia, A.D. 354. His father, Patricius, was a pagan, but his mother, Monica, was a Christian. He was educated for the profession of rhetoric; and through the interest of some friends, who, like himself, had embraced the Manichean heresy, was appointed professor of rhetoric at Milan, where he arrived A.D. 384. Here he was converted, under the preaching of St Ambrose, who baptized him A.D. 387. He returned to his native place, A.D. 389, and was ordained A.D. 391 by Valerius, Bishop of Hippo. At the request of Valerius, he was made coadjutor Bishop of Hippo, A.D. 395, and succeeded to the sole charge of the see, on the death of Valerius, in the following year. He died at Hippo, A.D. 430. St Augustine was the most profound thinker and the most prolific writer of the fathers of the Western Church. In his "Retractations" he enumerates 93 separate treatises, which he had composed. His festival was observed at Carthage in the sixth century.

A festival in commemoration of the Beheading of St John Baptist was observed in the Western Church before the time of Gregory the Great, A.D. 590. It is marked in Bede's catalogue, and in several ancient Roman Calendars.

The appointment of days for Lammas and Laurence was made in the reformed Calendar in 1552; for the Transfiguration, the Name of Jesus, Augustine, and the Beheading of St John Baptist, in 1561. The more expanded titles of the commemorations were added in 1662.

Giles, or Egidius, Abbot and Confessor, was born at Athens. He retired to a hermitage in Provence about A.D. 666. Flavius Wamba, king of the Goths, who found him in his cell, while hunting, endowed an abbey for him at Nismes, where he died about A.D. 724.

Enurchus, or Evurtius, Bishop, was a Sub-deacon of the Roman Church.

He

came into Gaul early in the 4th century, became Bp of Orleans, and died about A.D. 340.

The festival of the Nativity of B. V. Mary is mentioned in the 7th century. Innocent IV. added an Octave to it, and Gregory XI. prefixed a Vigil, A.D. 1370. Holy-Cross Day has been kept from A. D. 629, when the Emperor Heraclius restored to Jerusalem the relic of the Cross which Helena had left there, and which Chosroes, king of Persia, had carried away A.D. 614.

Lambert, or Landebert, Bishop and Martyr, became Bp of Maestricht A.D. 668. He evangelized the pagans of Brabant. In A.D. 709 he was murdered at Leodium, now Liege.

Mention of the festival of St Matthew, Apostle, is found A.D. 703. See note on Collect. The Proper Lessons were appointed in 1559.

St Cyprian, Archbishop, was born at Carthage, where he taught rhetoric for many years. When past middle life he was converted by a priest, Cæcilius, whose name he prefixed to his own at his baptism. In A.D. 248 he became Bishop of Carthage, and in A.D. 250, in the Decian persecution, was proscribed. He escaped by withdrawing. After the death of Decius he returned to Carthage, and governed the Church with prudence till his martyrdom A.D. 258. Cyprian's works are in high repute. His name has been commemorated in the Canon of the Roman Mass from the time of Gregory the Great. His day in the Eastern, Roman and Sarum Calendars is Sept. 16th. The Cyprian, commemorated in them on Sept. 26th, was a converted magician of Antioch.

The festival of St Michael and All Angels has been observed from the 5th century. See note on Collect. Proper Lessons, Ecclus. 39 and 44, were appointed in 1559. The present Lessons were appointed in 1662.

St Jerome, Confessor, Doctor, was born about A.D. 342. He studied at Rome, and, for some time, pleaded as an advocate; but abandoned the profession for sacred studies. With this view he went to the East A.D. 373, settled in the desert of Chalcida, between Syria and Arabia, and studied Hebrew. In A.D. 378 he was ordained priest at Antioch. About A.D. 380 he went to Constantinople to study the Scriptures under Gregory Nazianzen, and in A.D. 382 returned to Rome. He went to Bethlehem A.D. 385, where he continued his study of Hebrew. He died A.D. 420. St Jerome revised the Latin version of the New Testament and made a fresh one of the Old. The Latin Vulgate, with the exception of some Apocryphal books, is the result of his labours.

Giles, Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary, Holy Cross, Lambert, Cyprian and Jerome, were first noted in the Reformed Calendar in 1561. Enurchus was added in 1604. Their designations were added in 1662.

Remigius, Bishop, became bishop of Rheims in his 22nd year, about A.D. 472. On Christmas-Day, A.D. 496, he baptized Clovis, king of the Franks, and many Frank nobles. The Ampulla out of which he then anointed Clovis is preserved in his church at Rheims. Kings of France have been usually anointed out of it at their coronation. Remigius died A.D. 533.

Faith, Virgin and Martyr, was born of Christian parents at Agen, a city of Aquitaine, in Gaul. She suffered martyrdom about A. D. 290.

St Denys, Bishop and Martyr, was sent from Rome to Gaul, about A.D. 245. He fixed his See at Paris, where he remained till his martyrdom, about A.D. 273. He is the patron of France. He has been confounded with Dionysius the Areopagite. Edward, the Confessor, the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, ascended the throne of England A.D. 1041. He died A.D. 1066, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. On Oct. 13th, A.D. 1163, his body was translated to its present shrine.

Etheldreda, Virgin, was daughter of Anna, king of the East Angles. She founded a nunnery at Ely, where she died and was buried A.D. 679. On Oct. 17, A.D. 695, her body was translated into the church by her sister Sexburga.

The festival of St Luke, Evangelist, is mentioned A.D. 484. See note on Collect. The Proper Lessons were appointed in 1559.

Crispin, Martyr, a native of Rome and companion of St Denys (Oct. 9th), preached at Soissons, where he worked as a shoemaker. He was martyred A.D. 288.

The festival of St Simon and St Jude has been observed from the 11th century. See note on Collect. The Proper Lessons were appointed in 1559.

Remigius, Faith, St Denys, Trans. of King Edward, Etheldreda and Crispin, were first noted in the reformed Calendar in 1561. The designations were added in 1662.