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Editorial
This article examines the wide range of anonymous and pseudonymous naming practices to be found in West African newspapers between the 1880s and 1930s, and asks about the shape of a West African history of anonymity as compared with recent histories of anonymity in European literature. The article also discusses the ways in which colonial West African uses of anonymity and pseudonyms challenge postcolonial scholarship on agency, subjectivity, resistance, authenticity and identity.

The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints

A >> Alban Butler >> The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints




Footnotes:
1. The print of the holy face of our Saviour on a linen cloth, is kept
in Saint Peter's church at Rome, with singular veneration. It is
mentioned in an ancient ceremonial of that church, dedicated to
Celestin II. in 1143, published by Mabillon, (Museum Ital. t 2 p.
122;) also in Matthew of Westminster, Flores Hist. under Innocent
III. who died in 1216; and in a Bull of Nicholas IV. in 1290. It was
called Veronica, or true image of our Lord's face, from Vera and
Iconica, a word used by St. Gregory of Tours. (Vit. Patr. c, 12.)
for an image, from the Greek word Icon. Some moderns imagine that it
served at the burial of out Lord; others say, that a devout woman
wiped his face with it, when he was fainting under the load of his
cross, going to mount Calvary. In some particular missals, as in
that of Mentz in 1493, among the votive masses, is one "de Sancta
Veronica sei vultu Domini," in the same manner as there is a mass,
"On the cross." Such devotions are directed to honor our Lord, with
a remembrance of this relic, memorial, or pledge. From this office
of the Veronica is taken an Anthem and Prayer which are said in some
private churches, as a commemoration of the holy face of Lucca,
which is a very ancient and miraculous crucifix, in the chapel of
the Holy Cross, in the cathedral dedicated to St. Martin at Lucca. A
copy of the true Veronica is kept in the Cistercian nunnery at
Montreuil, a present of Urban IV. to this house, his sister being a
nun there. See his letter to them in Chiffleter, "de Linteis
sepulchralibus Domini." This letter was dated in 1249, when the
author was archdeacon and chaplain to Innocent IV. Some private
writers and churches have given the name of St. Veronica to the
devout woman who is said to have presented this linen cloth to our
divine Redeemer; but without sufficient warrant. See Rapebroch Matt.
t. 7, p. 356, n. 126, and Chatelain. Notes on the Martyr, on Jan.
13, pp. 201, 222.
2. Phil. ii. 8.
3. T. 1, p. 889.
4. S. Hilar. in Ps. i. p. 20.
5. 1 Cor. x. 31.

ST. KENTIGERN, BISHOP OF GLASCO, C.

IN ANCIENT BRITISH, KYNDEYRN; SURNAMED MUNGHO, OR MUNGHU.

THIS eminent saint of the ancient church of North Britain, was of royal
blood among the Picts, or original inhabitants of that country, and born
about the year 516. He was placed very young under the discipline of St.
Servanus, bishop and abbot of Culros, a monastery, situated upon the
frith which divides Lothian from Fife. By this holy prelate he was
trained up in the perfect spirit of Christian meekness and piety. For
his innocence and great virtues he was beloved by his master, and all
who were acquainted {138} with that religious family, above all his
fellow-disciples, for which reason he was called Munghu, or Mungho,
which in the language of that country signified "one dearly beloved;"
and this is the name which the Scots usually give him to this day. When
he was grown up, by the direction of St. Servanus, he retired to a place
called Glasghu, where he led a solitary life in great abstinence, till
the clergy and people earnestly demanded him for their bishop. He was
consecrated by an Irish bishop, invited over for that purpose, and fixed
his see at Glasghu, or Glasco, where he assembled a numerous company of
religious brethren, who formed their rule of life upon the model of the
primitive Christians at Jerusalem. The saint's diocese was of vast
extent, reaching from sea to sea, and being wild and uncultivated,
afforded continual exercise for his zeal and patience; he travelled
always on foot, sparing no pains to spread the light of the gospel among
the unbelievers, of whom he converted and baptized great numbers. The
Pelagian heresy having taken deep root among the Christians in those
parts, he so vigorously opposed that fatal, growing evil, as entirely to
banish that hydra out of the church of the Picts. Besides the recital of
the whole Psalter, he performed every day several other exercises of
devotion; lived in a constant union of his soul with God, and by
perpetual abstinence, rigorous fasts, and other extraordinary
austerities, he made his whole life an uninterrupted course of penance.
Every Lent he retired from the sight and conversation of men, into some
desert, to hold a close communication with God in solitude. As both in
his virtues and labors he imitated the apostles, so God was pleased to
authorize his preaching, by conferring on him an apostolic grace of the
miraculous powers. Out of his monks and disciples, he sent many
missionaries to preach the faith in the north of Scotland, in the isles
of Orkney, in Norway, and Iceland.

The form of government among the Straith-Cluid Britons and the
Cumbrians, the latter inhabiting the country from the Picts' wall, to
the Ribble in Lancashire, was in part aristocratical; for many petty
lords or princes enjoyed so great authority in their respective
territories, as often to wage war among themselves: yet they all obeyed
one monarch, who usually resided at Alcluyd, or Dunbritton. Besides the
feuds and quarrels of particular chieftains and their clans, there
happened about that time several revolutions in the monarchy. We learn
from the book entitled the Triades, that when St. Kentigern was made
bishop of Glasco, Gurthmel Wledig was king of the North Britons, and
contemporary with Arthur. He was succeeded by Rydderch, surnamed Hael,
i.e. _The Liberal_, who vanquished his enemies and rivals in war,
especially by the great victory of Arderyth, in 577.[1] He was a
religious and deserving prince, and his magnificence, generosity, and
other virtues, are extolled by the ancient author of the Triades, by
Merlin, Taliessin, the old laws of the Britons, and the authors of the
lives of St. Kentigern and St. Asaph. This prince, however, was
afterwards obliged by rebellious subjects, under Morcant Mawr, and
Aeddon, surnamed Uraydog, or _The Treacherous_, to fly into Ireland. The
impious Morcant (as he is styled in the fragment of St. Asaph's life,
extant in Coch-Asaph) usurped the throne of the Straith-Cluid Britons;
but the Cumbrians, who dwelt on the south side of the wall, were
protected by Urien, lord of Rheged, a nobleman who had lived at the
court of king Arthur, and whose great qualities are celebrated by the
pens of Lhowarch-Hen, (his cousin-german,) Taliessin, and the author of
the Triades. In the beginning of the usurpation of Morcant Mawr, St.
Kentigern was obliged to fly into Wales, where he stayed some time with
St. David, at Menevia, {139} till Cathwallain, (uncle to king Maelgun
Gwynedh,[2]) a religious prince of part of Denbighshire, bestowed on him
the land at the meeting of the rivers Elwy and Cluid, on which he built
a famous monastery and school, called from the river Elwy, Llan-Elwy, or
absolutely Elgwy, where a great number of disciples and scholars soon
put themselves under his direction. St. Kentigern was here when St.
David died, in 546, or rather in 544, when the first of March fell on a
Tuesday.[3] After the death of the usurper Morcant, Rydderch returned
from Ireland, and recovered his crown, and St. Kentigern, leaving his
school to the care of St. Asaph, (whose name the town, which was raised
at Elgwy, bears to this day,) went back to Glasco, taking with him
several hundreds of his scholars; their number having probably been much
increased after the death of Daniel, bishop of Bangor, which happened
between the years 542 and 545. The return of St. Kentigern to his see,
is generally placed about the year 560, nor can it be placed later,
since in 565 he had a conference with St. Columbo, when that holy man
came over to Scotland, in order to convert the northern Picts, to whom
St. Kentigern had already sent missionaries.[4] Wharton therefore justly
places the residence of St. Kentigern in Wales, from the year 543 to
560.[5] King Rydderch powerfully seconded the zeal of our saint in all
his undertakings, being his constant friend and protector; as were the
two princes who afterward succeeded him, Guallauc, (who seems to have
been his son,) and Morcant Mwynfawn, (who was certainly his brother.)
The valor of Rydderch, and these two successors, which is highly
commended by an ancient author in Nennius, and other British historians,
was the bulwark of their dominions against the inroads of the Saxons.
St. Kentigern employed his zeal all this time, with wonderful success,
in correcting abuses, reforming the manners of his flock, and
propagating the faith; was favored with a wonderful gift of miracles,
and died in 601, aged eighty-five years. His tomb, in his titular church
at Glasco, was famous for miracles, and his name was always most
illustrious in the Scottish calendars. See his ancient life, Leland de
Scriptor. Usher, Ant. c. 15. Hector Boetius, Leslie, &c.

Footnotes:
1. Vaughn's Dissert. on the British Chron. Carte. t. 1, p. 211.
2. See Notes on St. Gildas and St. David.
3. Usher, Ant. Brit. c. 14.
4. Vit. S. Kentigerni. Usher, Antiqu. c. 15, p. 358.
5. Wharton de Episcopis Asaphensibus, pp. 300, 302.

This is also the Octave of the Epiphany.[1] The principal object of the
devotion of the church on this day is the baptism of our Saviour by St.
John in the Jordan. We learn from the great council of Oxford, in
1222,[2] that it was then kept a holyday of the third class; on which
all were obliged to hear mass, though they might work afterwards. In
France and Germany all servile work was forbidden on it, by the
capitulars of Lewis le Debonnaire.[3] The emperor Theodosius II. forbids
all civil courts and transactions during eight days before the festival
of the Epiphany, and as many after it.

Footnotes:
1. The church prolongs more solemn festivals during eight days, with a
daily continuation of the sacred office proper to each such
festival. This term is called its octave, and the eighth day is
called the octave-day.
2. Can. 8.
3. L. 2, de feriis.

{140}


JANUARY XIV.

ST. HILARY, BISHOP.

From his own writings, and the histories of that age, which furnish the
most authentic memoirs of his life. See what Dom Coutant, the Benedictin
monk, has recorded of him in his excellent edition of his works; as also
Tillemont, t. 7, Ceillier, t. 5, and Rivet, Hiss. Lit. t. 1, part 2, p.
139. The two books, the one of his life, the other of his miracles, by
Fortunatus of Poictiers, 600, are inaccurate. Both the Fortunatases were
from Italy; and probably one was the author of the first, and the other
of the second book.

A.D. 368.

ST. AUSTIN, who often urges the authority of St. Hilary against the
Pelagians, styles him _the illustrious doctor of the churches_.[1] St.
Jerom says[2] that he was a _most eloquent man, and the trumpet of the
Latins against the Arians_; and in another place, that in _St. Cyprian_
and _St. Hilary_, God had transplanted two _fair cedars_ out of the
world into his church.[3]

St. Hilary was born at Poictiers, and his family one of the most
illustrious in Gaul.[4] He spent his youth in the study of eloquence. He
himself testifies that he was brought up in idolatry, and gives us a
particular account of the steps by which God conducted him to the
knowledge of his saving faith.[5] He considered by the glimmering or
faint light of reason, that man, who is created a moral and free agent,
is placed in this world for the exercise of patience, temperance, and
other virtues, which he saw must receive from God a recompense after
this life. He ardently set about learning what God is; and after some
researches into the nature of the Supreme Being, quickly discovered the
absurdity of polytheism, or a plurality of gods; and was convinced that
there can be only one God, and that the same is eternal, unchangeable,
all-powerful, the first cause and author of all things. Full of these
reflections, he met with the holy scriptures, and was wonderfully
affected with that just and sublime description Moses gives of God in
those words, so expressive of his self-existence,[6] I AM WHO AM: and
was no less struck with the idea of his immensity and supreme dominion,
illustrated by the most lively images in the inspired language of the
prophets. The reading of the New Testament put an end to, and completed
his inquiries; and he learned from the first chapter of St. John, that
the Divine Word, God the Son, is coeternal and consubstantial with the
Father. Here he checked his natural curiosity, avoided subtilties, and
submitted his understanding to divine revelation, resolving what seemed
incomprehensible into the veracity and power of God; and not presuming
to measure divine mysteries by his shallow capacity. Being thus brought
to the knowledge of faith, he received the heavenly regeneration by
baptism. From that time forth he so squared his whole life by the rules
of piety, and so zealous were his endeavors to confirm others in the
faith of the holy Trinity, and to encourage all to virtue, that he
seemed, though a layman, already to possess the grace of the priesthood.

He was married before his conversion to the faith; and his wife, by whom
he had a daughter named Apra, or Abram, was yet living, when he was
chosen bishop of Poictiers, about the year 353; but from the time of
{141} his ordination he lived in perpetual continency.[7] He omitted no
endeavors to escape this promotion: but his humility only made the
people the more earnest to see him vested with that dignity; and indeed
their expectations were not frustrated in him, for his eminent virtue
and capacity shone forth with such a lustre, as soon drew upon him the
attention, not only of all Gaul, but of the whole church. Soon after he
was raised to the episcopal dignity, he composed, before his exile,
elegant comments on the gospel of Saint Matthew, which are still extant.
Those on the Psalms he compiled after his banishment.[8] Of these
comments on the Psalms, and on St. Matthew, we are chiefly to understand
St. Jerom, when he recommends, in a particular manner, the reading of
the works of St. Hilary to virgins and devout persons.[9] From that time
the Arian controversy chiefly employed his pen. He was an excellent
orator and poet. His style is lofty and noble, beautified with
rhetorical ornaments and figures, but somewhat studied; and the length
of his periods renders him sometimes obscure to the unlearned,[10] as
St. Jerom takes notice.[11] It is observed by Dr. Cave, that all his
writings breathe an extraordinary vein of piety. Saint Hilary solemnly
appeals to God,[12] that he held it as the great work of his life, to
employ all his faculties to announce God to the world, and to excite all
men to the love of him. He earnestly recommends the practice of
beginning every action and discourse by prayer,[13] and some act of
divine praise;[14] as also to meditate on {142} the law of God day and
night, to pray without ceasing, by performing all our actions with a
view to God their ultimate end, and to his glory.[15] He breathes a
sincere and ardent desire of martyrdom, and discovers a soul {143}
fearless of death and torments. He had the greatest veneration for
truth, sparing no pains in its pursuit, and dreading no dangers in its
defence. The emperor Constantius, having labored for several years to
compel the eastern churches to embrace Arianism, came into the West: and
after the overthrow of the tyrant Magnentius, made some stay at Arles,
while his Arian bishops held a council there, in which they engaged
Saturninus, the impious bishop of that city, in their party, in 353. A
bolder Arian council at Milan, in 355, held during the residence of the
emperor in that city, required all to sign the condemnation of St.
Athanasius. Such as refused to comply were banished; among whom were St.
Eusebius of Vercelli, Lucifer of Cagliari, and St. Dionysius of Milan,
into whose see Auxentius, the Arian, was intruded. St. Hilary wrote on
that occasion his first book to Constantius, in which he mildly
entreated him to restore peace to the church. He separated himself from
the three Arian bishops in the West, Ursacius, Valens, and Saturninus,
and exhibited an accusation against the last in a synod at Beziers. But
the emperor, who had information of the matter from Saturninus, sent an
order to Julian, then Caesar, and surnamed afterwards the Apostate, who
at that time commanded in Gaul, for St. Hilary's immediate banishment
into Phrygia, together with St. Rhodanius, bishop of Toulouse. The
bishops in Gaul being almost all orthodox, remained in communion with
St. Hilary, and would not suffer the intrusion of any one into his see,
which in his absence he continued to govern by his priests. The saint
went into banishment about the middle of the year 356, with as great
alacrity as another would take a journey of pleasure, and never
entertained the least disquieting thought of hardships, dangers, or
enemies, having a soul above both the smiles and frowns of the world,
and fixed only on God. He remained in exile somewhat upwards of three
years, which time he employed in composing several learned works. The
principal and most esteemed of these is that _On the Trinity, against
the Arians_, in twelve {144} books. In them he proves the
consubstantiality of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He teaches that
the church is one, out of which all heresies spring; not that by this
she is distinguished, as standing always one, always alone against them
all, and confounding them all: whereas they by perpetual divisions tear
each other in pieces, and so become the subject of her triumph.[16] He
proves that Arianism cannot be the faith of Christ, because not revealed
to St. Peter, upon whom the church was built and secured forever; for
whose faith Christ prayed, that it might never fail; who received the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whose judiciary sentence on earth is
that of heaven:[17] all which arguments he frequently urges.[18] He
proves the divinity of Christ by the miracles wrought at the sepulchres
of the apostles and martyrs, and by their relics: for the devils
themselves confess Christ's godhead, and roar and flee at the presence
of the venerable bones of his servants,[19] which he also mentions and
urges in his invective against Constantius.[20] In 358, he wrote his
book _On Synods_, or _On the Faith of the Orientals_, to explain the
terms and variation of the eastern Arians in their synods.

In his exile he was informed that his daughter Apra, whom he had left in
Gaul, had thoughts of embracing the married state; upon which he
implored Christ, with many tears, to bestow on her the precious jewel of
virginity. He sent her a letter that is still extant, in which he
acquaints her, that if she contemned all earthly things, spouse,
sumptuous garments, and riches, Christ had prepared for her, and had
shown unto him, at his prayers and tears, an inestimable never-falling
diamond, infinitely more precious than she was able to frame to herself
an idea of. He conjures her by the God of heaven, and entreats her not
to make void his anxiety for her, nor to deprive herself of so
incomparable a good. Fortunatus assures us that the original letter was
kept with veneration in the church of Poictiers, in the sixth century,
when he wrote, and that Apra followed his advice, and died happily at
his feet after his return.[21] St. Hilary sent to her with this letter
two hymns, composed by himself; one for the evening, which does not seem
to have reached our times; the other for the morning, which is the hymn
_Lucis largitor splendide_.

The emperor, by an unjust usurpation in the affairs of the Church,
assembled a council of Arians at Seleucia, in Isauria, to undermine the
great council of Nice. St. Hilary, who had then passed four years in
banishment, in Phrygia, was invited thither by the Semi-Arians, who
hoped from his lenity that he would be useful to their party in crushing
the staunch Arians, that is, those who adhered strictly to the doctrine
of Arius. But no human considerations could daunt his courage. He boldly
defended the decrees of Nice, till at last, tired out with hearing the
blasphemies of the heretics, he withdrew to Constantinople. The weak
emperor was the dupe sometimes of the Arians, and at other times of the
Semi-Arians. These last prevailed at Seleucia, in September, 359, as the
former did in a council held at Constantinople in the following year,
360, where having the advantage, they procured the banishment of the
Semi-Arians, less wicked than themselves. St. Hilary, who had withdrawn
from Seleucia to Constantinople, presented to the emperor a request,
called his second book to Constantius, begging the liberty of holding a
public disputation about religion with {145} Saturninus, the author of
his banishment. He presses him to receive the unchangeable apostolic
faith, injured by the late innovations, and smartly rallies the fickle
humor of the heretics, who were perpetually making new creeds, and
condemning their old ones, having made four within the compass of the
foregoing year; so that faith was become that of the times, not that of
the gospels, and that there were as many faiths as men, as great a
variety of doctrine as of manners, as many blasphemies as vices.[22] He
complains that they had their yearly and monthly faiths; that they made
creeds to condemn and repent of them; and that they formed new ones to
anathematize those that adhered to their old ones. He adds, that every
one had scripture texts, and the words _Apostolic Faith_, in their
mouths, for no other end than to impose on weak minds: for by attempting
to change faith, which is unchangeable, faith is lost; they correct and
amend, till weary of all, they condemn all. He therefore exhorts them to
return to the haven from which the gusts of their party spirit and
prejudice had driven them, as the only means to be delivered out of
their tempestuous and perilous confusion. The issue of this challenge
was, that the Arians, dreading such a trial, persuaded the emperor to
rid the East of a man that never ceased to disturb its peace, by sending
him back into Gaul; which he did, but without reversing the sentence of
his banishment, in 360.

St. Hilary returned through Illyricum and Italy to confirm the weak. He
was received at Poictiers with the greatest demonstrations of joy and
triumph, where his old disciple, St. Martin, rejoined him, to pursue the
exercises of piety under his direction. A synod in Gaul, convoked at the
instance of St. Hilary, condemned that of Rimini, which, in 359, had
omitted the word _Consubstantial_. Saturninus, proving obstinate, was
excommunicated and deposed for his heresy and other crimes. Scandals
were removed, discipline, peace, and purity of faith were restored, and
piety flourished. The death of Constantius put an end to the Arian
persecution. St. Hilary was the mildest of men, full of condescension
and affability to all: yet seeing this behavior ineffectual, he composed
an invective against Constantius, in which he employed severity, and the
harshest terms; and for which undoubtedly he had reasons that are
unknown to us. This piece did not appear abroad till after the death of
that emperor. Our saint undertook a journey to Milan, in 364, against
Auxentius, the Arian usurper of that see, and in a public disputation
obliged him to confess Christ to be true God, of the same substance and
divinity with the Father. St. Hilary indeed saw through his hypocrisy;
but this dissembling heretic imposed so far on the emperor Valentinian,
as to pass for orthodox. Our saint died at Poictiers, in the year 368,
on the thirteenth of January, or on the first of November, for his name
occurs in very ancient Martyrologies on both these days. In the Roman
breviary his office is celebrated on the fourteenth of January. The one
is probably that of some translation of his relics. The first was made
at Poictiers in the reign of Clovis I., on which see Cointe.[23] From
St. Gregory of Tours, it appears that before his time some part of St.
Hilary's relics was honored in a church in Limousin.[24] Alcuin mentions
the veneration of the same at Poictiers;[25] and it is related that his
relics were burned by the Huguenots at Poictiers.[26] But this we must
understand of some small portion, or of the dust remaining in his tomb.
For his remains were translated from Poictiers to the abbey of St.
Denys, near Paris, as is proved by the tradition of that abbey, a writer
of the abbey of Richenow, in {146} the ninth century,[27] and other
monuments.[28] Many miracles performed by St. Hilary are related by
Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poictiers, and are the subject of a
whole book added to his life, which seems to have been written by
another Fortunatus. St. Gregory of Tours, Flodoard, and others, have
mentioned several wrought at his tomb. Dom Coutant, the most judicious
and learned Maurist monk, has given an accurate edition of his works, in
one volume in folio, at Paris, in 1693, which was reprinted at Verona by
the Marquis Scipio Maffei, in 1730, together with additional comments on
several Psalms.

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