And, with these words, Euphemian swooned.

Aglais pushed her way wildly through the attendants, and even through the ecclesiastics, like a lioness from whom they wish to tear her cubs; and, rending her clothes, she exclaimed:

"Let me see my child, the child whom I have borne, and whom I have fed with my milk! O! Alexis, could you then see me every day, and not once throw your arms round a mother's neck!"

And Marina,—who excited not less sympathy by the violence of her affliction,tore her beautiful tresses, and exclaimed in a heart-rending voice :

"I am a widow, and I never was a bride! My youth is wasted!—my mirror is broken!—perished is my hope!"

It was a scene of wild and distracting emotion, which, however, soon gave place to christian joy and jubilation.

They bore the body out in triumph, and laid it on a splendid bier; and the priests and bishops and cardinals, headed by Pope Innocent, and accompanied by the Emperor Honorius, and by all the nobles and grandees of Rome, conducted it along the streets, towards its destined resting-place, in the great church which Aglais had built.

62 LIFE AND DEATH OF THE PATRICIAN.

But the most remarkable homage paid on that day to the remains of Alexis, was that of the poor; who learning the events we have detailed, and full of faith, carried the deaf, and the dumb, and the blind, and the palsied, to the bier, that by touching the holy remains towards which God had been pleased to evince his complacency, they might be healed of their ailments. And the crowd was so great, and the press so unmanageable, that the emperor ordered purses of money to be scattered, in order to distract the attention of the poor, and obtain room to move forward with the body. But the expedient failed,—and, on that occasion, the people showed themselves more eager to obtain spiritual favours, than to gather the coinage of Honorius. This faith was amply rewarded; for, as Saint Joseph the younger tells us in his beautiful poem upon St. Alexis, and as all authorities indeed bear witness, many glorious miracles were worked that day; the blind saw, and the lame walked, and the paralytic danced, and the dumb sang the praises of God, and of His wonderful servant, Saint Alexis. And, moving forward with incredible difficulty, the procession at length reached the church of St. Boniface, where, to this day, the body of Alexis lies under the high altar, with that

THE NEW MISSION AT KENTISH TOWN. 63

of him whose name is borne by the building.

This was the romantic and wonderful life, and this the holy death, of the “Man of God," the "Scorner of the world."

It remains to read, now,

our third

chapter.

CHAPTER III.

THE NEW MISSION, UNDER THE INVOCATION OF ST. ALEXIS, FOUNDED BY THE REV. HARDINGE IVERS AT KENTISH TOWN.

BEFORE speaking of the church which the Rev. Hardinge Ivers is now raising in Kentish Town, under the invocation of Saint Alexis, it will be interesting as well as proper to give some account of the miracles which followed the death of this "Man of God," to notice the chapels and churches which elsewhere have arisen to the Lord in his honour,-and to record the various other consequences which have flowed from his enrolment in the Heavenly Armies.

Saint Alexis is honoured by the Greeks

on the 17th of March, the National Feast of Ireland; a circumstance which affords me, as an Irishman, a more particular right to commemorate his history. He was one of those who, as they compute it, entered Heaven on the same day with the great Saint Patrick.

The Latins, Greeks, Syrians, Maronites, and Armenians, honour Alexis in their calendars; but the day set apart to his name in all the West, is the 17th of July, which was the day of his death. This is a great day,-suited to solemn acts. It was on the vigil of it, that our present holy and most eminent Pontiff promulgated his memorable act of amnesty last year.

In the year 1216, during the popedom of Honorius III., the body of St. Boniface was found in the church of St. Alexis, on the Aventine hill; and, according to the acts of St. Alexis, in the Professed House of the Jesuits at Rome, that Pontiff who had begun to reign in the same year, placed the two bodies, that is to say, the body of St. Alexis and the body of St. Boniface, under the high altar. Afterwards, in the year 1595, on the 16th of July, the Vigil of the Saint's Feast, Clement VIII. ordered Ottavio Paravicini, Cardinal of Alexis, (for the name of this great servant of God gives

to one of the Sacred College his title), to perform, a second time, the ceremony of collocating the precious relics,-under the stone of the principal altar,-in the same spot, or nearly so, where they had till then rested. A portion however of the blessed remains was then withdrawn for the purpose of distributing among the pious; and the Roman College of the Jesuits obtained its share. This valuable donation was obtained by the Society of Jesus, from the Cardinal of Alexis, and with the Pontiff's express permission, on the 10th of September, 1595.

Charles Bartholomew Piazza avers that there is a part of these holy relics in St. Paul's, outside the walls; another part in St. Nicholas', in Carcere; another part in St. Praxis', in Montibus; and another in St. Cecilia's, beyond the Tiber.

In Nicholas Doglione's book, (de rebus Venetis,) an interesting fact is mentioned; that in the church of St. Alexis, there is a chapel belonging more particularly to the Barons of Aventine, the family of the Savelli; a chapel, that is to say, set apart probably for their interment, and containing their vaults; and that, in this chapel, there is preserved the stair-step, under which Saint Alexis spent eighteen, or at the least, eleven weary and wonderful years.