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107 ST. NINO 107 in a desert place, called Penmnr, on the southern coast of Brittany. There St. Ninnoc built a church and convent. She wrought miracles during her life and after her death. To this day, the remains may be seen, of the little monastery she built for the holy men who accompanied her to Letavia. Many of them built other churches and shrines in different parts of that country, and are still held in veneration by the pious inhabitants. Ninnoc planted many trees and sowed useful seeds and taught the natives of Penmur the arts of cultivation and of sea-fishing, so that she furnished them with the means of living in plenty and comfort. About three years after Ninnoc had settled in Brittany, it happened that Gneric was hunting near her church, and a stag that the dogs had nearly caught, bounded across a river and took refuge in the church which was on the further side. Gueric followed and saw the holy monks and nuns singing their psalms and prayers, with the wild stag lying meekly at the feet of Ninnoc. He remained seven days at the monas- tery, and commended himself to the prayers of this holy virgin. After his departure, he gave her for herself and her successors, the whole of the district called from her, Lan-Ninnoc; he also gave her other places, three hundred horses, and much cattle. St. Ninnoc is mentioned in a litany used in England in the 7th century, given by Mabillon, Vetera Analecta, p. 069, and quoted in an English Martyr- ology of the 8th century. Baert, in AA.SS,, says her Acts bear in them- selves the proofs of their falsehood, although her worship was very early established in Brittany. Albert lo Grand, Vie de St. Ejflam. Monta- lembert. Baring Gould, Book of the West^ says she had four bishops under her com- mand, and that she must have been the hereditary head of the ecclesiastical tribe. St. Nino, Jan. 14, Dec. 15. 4th cen- tury. The apostle of Iberia (now Georgia), vras a Christian captive, and is always called Nino by the Eussians ; the Ar- menians call her Nouni; Latin historians call her Nina, Nunia; and she is also called Captiva, Christiana-Escbava, Chkistiana-Cautiva, the Christian cap- tive or slave ; etc. Eepresented : (1) praying, while a large pillar is suspended slanting in the air. (The story of this miracle is that during the building of the first Christian church in Georgia, when two fine pillars had been erected, the third defied all the efforts of the builders to set it in its place or make it stand upright : the people began to doubt the power of Nino's God, but the saint spent the night in prayer, and when they reassembled in the morning, they saw the great pillar gradually rise from the ground without human agency and stand firm on its proper pedestal); (2) as a captive, con- verting a king. In the time of Constantine, the inhabi- tants of Iberia were almost savage. The country had preserved its independence and had never become subject to the great empires which existed in Asia. The C/hristian religion had not pene- trated there, but after the oonversion of Armenia, that of Iberia was inevitable. During the persecution under Diocletian and his immediate successors, several Christian virgins had fled from the Eoman empire and sought an asylum in Armenia ; but as Tiridates, the king, had not yet renounced idolatry, they were not safe there. (See Kipsima.) They lived hidden and dispersed in Armenia. Nino, one of them, either fled to Iberia or was taken there as a captive. The fame of her virtues and the miraculous cures she wrought soon acquired for her the veneration of the people. It was the custom that when any woman had a sick child, she carried it from house to house to see if any one could cure it. When Nino was appealed to, she at- tempted no treatment but merely prayed for the little sufferer. In this way she cured many sick babies, and at last one that belonged to Mihran, king of the country. His wife also was very ill, and sent for the Christian slave, who cured her and taught her to believe in Christ. The conversion of the queen was sx)eedily