Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/219

205 BB. CONSTANCE XIRA AND MARY FERNANDEZ 205 ChriBtians, and vow to serve Him ever after the event of victory. He had no sooner made the vow than a gigantic youth appeared, bearing a cross on his shoulder, and saying, " Arise, Gallicanus, take thy dagger, and follow me." He did so, and saw that he was surrounded by armed horsemen, who fought their way through the enemy. Gallicanus walked in the midst of them with his dagger drawn until they came to the Scythian king, who fell at his feet and begged for his life. By the command of the mysterious horsemen, Gtdlicanus spared his life, and took him and his two sons prisoners. The rest of the Scythians submitted; and the tribunes, and many persons in authority, in Dacia and Thrace, became Christians; those who refused were expelled from their offices. Gtilli- canus, immediately after the victory, vowed himself to a religious life, and, on his return to Bome, voluntarily renounced his marriage with Constance, liberated five thousand slaves, distributed his goods to the poor, and lived at Ostia with Hi- larinus, a holy man, whoso house he enlarged for the reception of pilgrims. Ghdlicanus, John, and Paul were martyrs in the time of Julian the apostate. Con- stance persuaded her father to build a church at the tomb of St. Agnes. There she spent the rest of her life with Attica and Artemia. Leggendario delle Santia- sime Vergini, Henschenius, in AA.SS. Constantia, a nun, is not mentioned in contemporary records as a daughter of Constantino. His illegitimate daughter, Constantia, was present at Milan at the marriage of his step-sister, Constantia. Baillet suggests that possibly there was a St. Constantia, a member of the imperial family, but not the daughter of Constan- tino. Sigonius, de Occidentale Imperio, iii. 86. Lebeau, Hist, du Bas Empire^ i. 341, 391. B. Constance (4) or Constantia, Nov. 7, V. Abbess. f 1218. Daughter of Alphonso, king of Castile ; took the veil, 1187, in the Cistercian monastery of St. Mary of Monreal, at Burgos, and was abbess there from 1205 until 1218. Henriquez, Lilia Cistercii, B. Constance (5) Donati, Dec. 17. f early 14th century. O.S.F. Her name in the world was Piccarda. She and Dante's wife, Gemma, were daughters of Simon Donati, who, in 1261, was ambassador from the Bepublic of Florence to the famoas Corradino of Germany. Piccarda was betrothed, by her parents, to Bosselino della Tosa. She determined not to marry, and fled to the convent of Sta. Maria di Monti- celli. Her father was very angry. Persuasions and threats failing to induce her to return, he tried to break the door. Not succeeding in that, he procured a ladder from some peasants, got into the courtyard and frightened the nuns, but had to go away without his daughter. His son Corso Donati, however, went by night with several men. They found Piccarda with the nuns in the choir, tied her with ropes, and took her away by force. Corso, to escape the excom- munication incurred by carrying off a nun, did penance by going to the convent church on a solemn day in his shirt, with a rope round his neck. In presence of all the nuns, many monks, and a great gathering of clergy and people, he asked pardon of God and the nuns, and obtained absolution. All the companions of his violence came to untimely and horrible deaths. Constance was married to Tosa ; but having made a vow of virginity, she prayed for some disfiguring disease. She only survived her marriage a few months, and died dressed in the Franciscan habit. Dante met her brothers Corso and Forese in purgatory (Purgatorio, xxiv.). They told him that their sister was in paradise, and there he met her among the blessed. Paradisoy iii. Wadding, Annales, iii. Cronica Serafica, iii., where she is called by mistake Bicarda. Brocchi, Sanii e Beati Fiorentini, Bossetti, Shadow of Dante, BB. Constance (0) Xira and Mary Fernandez, May 30. Probably 1 5th cent. They lived at Evora in Portu- gal, by the work of their own hands and on the aims of the pious. Their reputation for sanctity attracted so many persons that a monastery was built for them under the invocation of St. Monica and the rule of St. Augustine. Constance was prioress ,and Mary deputy prioress or vicar. AA.SS., from Cardoso.