The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March. Baring-Gould Sabine
O Christ, art with me!"
At mid-day the party, which consisted of fifteen, came to a little village, and a lady's villa. The lady very courteously invited the officer and his men into the house to refresh themselves, and they tied Basiliscus with his hands behind his back to a plane tree in the court yard. A number of the villagers came up to stare at the martyr, who stood under the dry tree, suffering intensely from the heat, and with blood dribbling from his wounded feet, "whilst Magistrianus and his folk were feasting in Trojana's house, on all kinds of delicacies, meats, and costly wines, served up in the cool summer dining hall," says Eusignius, bitterly.
But God did not forget the poor martyr under the blazing mid-day sun, for the plane tree put forth leaves, and overshadowed him, and a fountain bubbled at his feet, and cooled and laved his festering wounds.
On the party reaching Comana, Magistrianus led Basiliscus direct to the temple of Apollo, where was the governor at the moment.
The governor at once ordered him to be brought in. Basiliscus smilingly entered. "Why wilt thou not sacrifice, fellow?" asked the governor. "Who told thee that I will not sacrifice?" answered Basiliscus. "Ah! the gods be praised! thou wilt sacrifice then."
"I will offer to God the sacrifice of praise." "Offer to whom you please," said the governor, sharply, "only sacrifice and have done with this folly."
"Who is that?" asked Basiliscus, pointing to the image of Apollo. "That is the god Apollo," answered Agrippa. "The name is appropriate enough," said Basiliscus, "for he brings to destruction all who trust in him."6 Then he cried aloud to all in the temple, "Hearken, all men, to my prayer, to the Lord of Heaven and earth." And he prayed, "God, who art alone and true, with thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit; who art invisible, incomprehensible, whom none can describe and include, who art good and merciful, and acceptest not the person of man, who createst the things that are out of that which is not, and enlightenest us who sat in darkness, and gavest us the bright knowledge of Thy deity: Thou art the helper of all them that trust in Thee. God, who art alone holy, and dwellest in Thy saints, in me, thy humble servant, exhibit Thy mercy, and confirm my prayer, for I pray to Thee of Thy great goodness, Thou who spreadest out the heavens as a curtain, and by Thy command makest them fast, and adornest them with the bright shining stars, and with the glory of the sun, and the moon walking in brightness, and givest us the hours of day; Thou didst make Thy sun a chamber, and gavest him everlasting limits, and didst set the moon to rule the course of time, and didst divide the hours and days and months; Thou didst found the earth by Thy command, that it should be an habitation for man, and didst give to it an everlasting bound, and didst clothe it with trees and flowers; Thou didst lay the sea and bound it by Thy precept, and madest a way over it; and didst fashion man with Thine own holy hands after Thine image, and didst give him wisdom and reason, and didst breathe into his face the breath of life. Lord, who didst create the whole world, who from Adam till this present, and hereafter till endless ages, keepest those that love Thee, and glorifiest those that fear Thee! Lord Jesus Christ! hear the prayer of Thy servant, and be present with me at this hour, and destroy this deaf, and dumb, and blind, and senseless idol; break and dissolve this god made with hands, and shew to these heathen the madness of their worship, and Whom we worship and adore as God. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing against Thy saints? Look, O Lord, and keep not still silence, for thus behoves all honour and glory and magnificence to Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, through ages of ages. Amen."
And when he had said Amen, there was an earthquake, and a thunder underground, and the temple shook to its foundations, and the image of Apollo fell and was broken. Then all who were in the temple fled, leaving Basiliscus alone with the broken idol at his feet. And when the earthquake was past, the governor sent, and brought Basiliscus forth, and his head was struck off with the sword. The governor ordered the body to be thrown into the river, but Eusignius bribed the soldier who was carrying it away to let him have it, and he buried it in a field, and sowed herbs over it. S. Basiliscus died on July 21st. He appeared in vision to S. Chrysostom the night before that aged saint died; (see Jan 27th, p. 412.)
[Anglican Martyrologies; Saussaye, in his Gallican Martyrology, the Belgian Martyrologies. His translation from the old wooden church at Landevenec, to a stone one, is commemorated on April 28th, and to Montreuil-sur-Mer, on August 1st. Authorities: – Three Lives; the first by an anonymous writer, given by the Bollandists, is full of fable, and by no means early. The second is still less trustworthy, and is given by Surius. The third is by Gurdestin, Monk of Landevenec. The life by Albert le Grand is deserving of notice, but the historical particulars are not accurate. There is great difficulty about this saint. It is probable that there were two of his name, and only by this means can the very different accounts of his life be reconciled. One Winwaloe is a native of Brittany, and a disciple of S. Corentine, and was translated to Montreuil. Another Winwaloe is a native of Britain, a disciple of S. Sampson, of Dol, and afterwards of S. Similian, abbot of Tauriac; and his body lies at Ghent. M. Ch. Barthelemy, in his "Annales Hagiologiques de la France," 5th cent., claims for the first anonymous life to have been written by a disciple of Winwaloe. But this is more than improbable. It has none of the elements of a contemporary account. The writer says that the name of the mother of the saint was not known; and he does not name his master in the religious life, S. Corentine or S. Budock, but calls him "a holy man," or "that man of God"; and the life, like all late compilations, gives scanty details of persons and places, but abounds in fables.7]
Winwaloe was born about the year 455; his father was Fragan, related to Conan Meriadec. Fragan was governor of Léon (Lyoness) and Cornonaille, under King Grallo, or Gradillon. Fragan married a noble and wealthy lady named Gwen, of the Three Breasts, and resided with her at Lesgwen, in the parish of Plonkin. By her he had a son, whom he called Gwenaloe,8 or "He that is white," on account of his beauty. When Winwaloe was about fifteen years old he was given to a holy man, S. Corentine, or S. Budock, it is uncertain which, together with his brothers, Gwethenoc and Jacut, and they lived together, serving God in the islet of Isle-vert.
One day that Winwaloe was with his father, a fleet of pirates appeared off the coast, and hovered about the harbour of Guic Sezne, near Lauvengat. S. Winwaloe is said in the popular tradition to have exclaimed on the occasion, Me a vel mil Guern, "I see a thousand sails;" and a cross which commemorates the spot is called therefrom to this day, Croas al mil Guern, "the cross of the thousand sails." The pirates landed, but Fragan, having gathered his retainers, fell upon them and utterly defeated them. Many were cut to pieces, and a few escaped in their vessels. During the combat, Winwaloe, like a second Moses, prayed with fervour; and after the victory he exhorted his father to employ the spoil they had taken in building a monastery on the spot where the battle took place, in Isel-Vez, in the parish of Plou-Nevez. He did so, and the monastery was called Loc-Christ.
After some years, Winwaloe left his master, and settled in the island of Sein, off the Point du Raz; but, finding it exposed to the full swell of the Atlantic, and to every gale, he was obliged to desert it, and found a more suitable place of settlement at Llandevenec, on the opposite side of the harbour of Brest, where he established a monastery, into which he gathered many disciples, and there, after many years, he died, standing at the altar, after having bestowed the kiss of peace on the brethren, on Saturday, the 3rd of March, in the first week in Lent; a date which may be either 507, 518, or 529.
Another version of the history of S. Winwaloe makes him to have been born in Wales, and to have had S. Budock for his preceptor.
The body of S. Winwaloe is preserved at Montreuil-sur-Mer, whither it was translated through fear of the invasion of the Normans, after having first just found shelter at Ghent. The chasuble, alb and bell of S. Winwaloe, are preserved in the Jesuit Church of S. Charles, at Antwerp.
At the same time, the body of a S. Winwaloe is also at Blandinberg, near Ghent; and the story told of this saint is in many particulars like that of the S. Winwaloe at Montreuil, but it differs in others.
S. Winwaloe is represented in art vested as an abbot, with staff in one hand and bell in the other, standing by the sea, with the fish rising out of the water as if obeying the summons of
A pun in the Greek, impossible to translate.
The following is a specimen of the stories told by this author: Winwaloe had a sister at home, who was one day playing with the geese belonging to her father, when one of them flew at her, pecked out, and swallowed her eye. The parents were in despair. Then an angel appeared to the holy boy, Winwaloe, and told him of the trouble. Winwaloe at once hastened home, singled out the guilty goose, sliced open its belly, removed the eye of his sister from its crop, and replaced it in his sister's head, and she saw as well as before. The boy then miraculously healed the goose, and dismissed it to rejoin the flock. After this he returned to his master and studies.
He is called Guennole, or Vignevale, in French. At Montreuil-sur-Mer, of which place he is patron, he is called S. Valois. His name has also been corrupted into Valvais and Vennole.