Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/141

127 ST. BONA 12: Hartyrs of Lyons ; " they are also called "Martyrs of Aisnai" — supposed to be the spot in Lyons where they were put to death. According to another theory, the site of their martyrdom was the amphitheatre on Mount Forvi^re. Blan- dina is generally considered the chief of these martyrs, and churches dedicated in honour of the forty-eight Martyrs of Lyons are often called by her name. BM. AAJ3S. TiUemont. Baillet Butler. The Epistle of the Oallican C%iircA€«,tran8latedbyBindley(S.P.C.K.). St. Blata, or Blatha, Le. Flora, Jan. 29, V. St. Brigid's cook, f c. 523. Colgan, Irish Saints, ii. 629, Appendix. St Blath (1), an Irish V., Jan. 18, honoured with St. Sooth (2). St. Blath (2), Blata. St. Blatta, April 22, V. Nun at Anastasiopolis, the capital of Ancyra. Sister of St. Theodore Syceota (f 613), bishop of Anastasiopolis, archimandrite of the monasteries of Galatia. Boll., AA.SS., Prater. St. 31ictrude. Supposed to mean Plbctbude. St Blida, May 30. 11th century. Mother of St. Walstan. Wife of Bene- dict, of arichandinfluentialfamily. They lived at Baber, afterwards called Baw- burgh, in Norfolk, where Walstan was bom. He was ascetic and pious from his youth. He gave his own clothes and shoes to the poor, and became a fJEum- servant at Taverham, near Cossey. He died working in the field. May 30, 1016. All these places are within a few miles of Norwich. A well near Cossey still bears his name, and pilgrimages were made to ensiure his intercession against fever, lameness, blindness, and palsy. Blida is represented (1) as a saint, on the chancel window of North Tudden- ham Church ; (2) crowned, and holding a book and palm. This representation was formerly to be seen on the rood- screen of St. James's, Norwich, and is now in private possession at Aylsham. Husenbeth, Emblems of Saints. Butler, Lives. Capgrave, fol. 285. Blithildis or Blithilda, Gerberga. St. Blittrude, Plectrude. St Bogha, sister of SS. Colma and Lassara. B. Bogna, June 13. 11th century. One of the patrons of Poland. She and her husband were of the most illustrious families in Poland. They were childless for thirty years. In 1030 their son Stanislas Sezepanowski was bom at Sezepanow, near Cracow. As bishop of that town, he was the only person who dared to reprove Boleslas II. the Cruel> for his licentious, tyrannical, and bar- barous conduct. After repeated remon- strances, he ezcommimicated the king^ who therefore murdered him, 1079. Stanislas and his mother are buried at Sezepanow. The Bollandists do not sanction her worship, but describe her virtues and those of her husband in the Life of their son St. Stanislas, May 7. Butler, Ltvet, ''St Stanislas." Bogna appears in the AA.SS. amongst the Psetermissi, June 13. St Bologne, Bolonia. St Bolonia, Oct. 16 (in French, BoLooNE or Boulogne), V. M. "f c. 372 or 362. Worshipped at Chaumont, Haute Mame. When she was very young her mother died, leaving her to the care of a Christian nurse. Her father, for fear of the Emperor, sent her away to live with the nurse. Bolonia tended the sheep. When she was fifteen Ptolemy, a general under Julian, tried to seduce her and then to marry her. He persecuted her in various ways, and after many tortures, ordered her to sacrifice to the gods. She answered, '^ I sacrifice myself to the living Gbd." He put her into a vessel full of water, with stones and fetters to ensure her being drowned. In this she was thrown from the top of the hill on which her father's castle stood, and arrived safe and well, shining with unearthly beauty and glory, on the bank of the river. Then her head was cut off, and she carried it in her hands across the river to be buried. She was not, as some have supposed, tho sister of SS. Gall and Bercharius. Bou- logne, in Chaumont, is said to be named after her. She is worshipped there with a special service of nine lessons and two- collects, although she is not mentioned in the old martyrologies. Boll., AA.SS.y Oct. 16 ; and Prseter., July 17. St. Bona (l), Sept. 12 (Carmundica,