June 30.

St. Paul, the Apostle. St. Martial, Bp. of Limoges, 3d Cent.

St. Paul.

Paul, the apostle, was martyred, according to some accounts, on the 29th of June, in the year, 65; according to others in the month of May, 66.* [1] A Romish writer fables that, before he was beheaded, he "loked vp into heuen, markynge his foreheed and his breste with the sygne of the crosse," although that sign was na after invention; and that, "as soone as the heed was from the body," it said "Jesus Christus fyfty tymes."† [2] Another pretends from St. Chrysostom, that "from the head of St. Paul when it was cut off there came not one drop of blood, but there ran fountains of milk;" and that "we have by tradition, that the blessed head gave three leaps, and at each of them there sprung up a fountain where the head fell: which fountains remain to this day, and are reverenced with singular devotion by all Christian Catholics."* [3] The fictions of the Romish church, and its devotions to devices, are innumerable.

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Yellow Cistus. Cistus Helianthemum.
Dedicated to St. Paul.

 

Notes [all notes are Hone's unless otherwise indicated]:

1. Butler. [return]

2. Golden Legend. [return]

3. Ribadeneira. [return]