Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/185

171 ST. CERCYRA 171 Celerinns, deacon and confessor. There was a church at Carthage early in the 5th century, whose dedication was in the name of St. Celerina. AA.SS, Bailie t, Vies. Smith and Wace, Christian Biog. St Celerina (2), Sept. 28, M. in Africa. AA.SS, St. Celesta, April lO, M. at Kome. AA,SS, St. Celestina (i), Digna ( l). St. Celestina (2), April t>, V. M. Commemorated with eight hundred other martyrs in the collegiate church of St. Mary at Utrecht. Henschenius. AA,S8. B. Celestina (3), odc of the nine sisters of St. Rainfredg. B. Celeswintha, Galswintha. St. Celine, Cilinia (i). B. Celsa. (See Berlexdis.) St. Cenburg, Quenburga. St. Cenedlon, a saint on the moun- tain of Cymorth, probably near New- castle, in Emlyn. Daughter of Brychan. (See Almheda. ) Roes. St. Cenen, Keyna. St CentoUa, August 13, V. M. Probably time of Diocletian. St. Cen- tolla was put to the torture to induce her to reuounce the Christian faith. St. Helen (2^ (called in some accounts a widow) came and stood by, and com- forted and encouraged her in her deter- minatioa Centolla answered, " See that you also be of good courage, for you are soon to be put to death for Christ's sake." And so it happened, for these things being told to the govemor, he had them both beheaded, lest the number of the Christians should increase. Some ac- counts say Centolla was a native of Toledo. In the 18th century thoir bodies were translated with great honour into the cathedral of Burgos. B.M. AA.SS. Bollandi. St. Cephinia, Tryphonia. St Cera, Jan. .5, Oct. 10 (Chera, Chier, Ciara, Cyra (2), Kiara), V. Abbess. Oth or 7th century. Under these six names, and perhaps more, and at dates a century apart, two famous virgins of the early Irish Church are honoured . Th ey are o^n confounded together, and it may be that only one saint is commemorated, and that mis- takes in the monastic records have placed her sometimes in one century, sometimes in another. Supposing, with Lanigan, that there were two, the accounts are as follows : — I. At Muscraig, in Momonia, a great fire, with a horrible smell, broke out from the earth. The people applied to St Brendan to save them from this plague and terror. He told them to go to Cera, by whose prayers they should be delivered. They went to her. She prayed, and the fire disappeared. II. The other St. Cera, or Cyra, was the daughter of Duibhre, or Dubreus, of the blood of the kings of Connor. When St. Munna, or Fintan Munnu, had lived five years at Heli, a virgin named Chier, attended by five other virgins, came to him, and asked for a place where they might serve God. He and his monks gave up their abode and the work of the place to the nuns, and went away, taking necessaries for the journey in a cart with two oxen. Ho gave his blessing to Cera, but told her the place should not be called by her name, but by that of the man who, on that day, made three jubi- lations in Agro Miodhluachne, t.e. St. Telle, the son of Segen. The place was called Tech Telle. Cera died 679. One of these SS. Cera founded and governed a famous monastery of nuns at Kilchere, orEilcrea. CkAgan^ Irish Saints, AA.SS. Brit. Saneta. Bucelinns, Men. Ben. Lanigan. St. Cercyra, April 20, V. M., c loo, at Corfu. SS. Jason and Sosipater con- verted many of the people of Corfu to Christianity, and were therefore cast into prison, with seven robbers who were among their converts. The robbers were then thrown into a caldron full of burning sulphur and pitch. Cercyra, the daughter of Cercilinus, king or governor of Corfu, looked secretly out at the gate to see the torments of the Christian martyrs. She was so impressed that she immediately embraced the same faith. Her father, enraged, gave her to a savage Ethiopian, from whom she was defended by a bear. Whereupon, the Ethiopian was converted, and, declaring himself to be a Christian, was put to the sword. St. Cercyra was suspended oyer a fire until she was nearly choked with