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149 ST. PHILOMEXA 149 St. Pherbutha, Takbula. St. Philga or Philgas, March 26, M. in Eonmania. GnSrin. St. Philippa (1). (^See Mariamna (2) and Philippa.) St. Philippa (2), Sep. 20, M. c. 220, at Perga in Pamphylia. Mother of St Theodore, a young soldier. When it was fonnd that ho would not wor- ship the heathen gods, he was heaten and put in a furnace. He came out un- hurt. Whereupon two other soldiers, Socrates and Dionysius, were converted, and are honoured with Theodore and Philippa. Next day Theodore was tied to a cart, to which wild horses were harnessed. They ran over a precipice and perished, hut he was miraculously left free and safe. He was again cast into the furnace with Socrates and Dionysius. Kefreshed and kept cool with heavenly dew, they sat and talked together. Theodore told how his mother had heen taken captive and carried to many countries, and he prayed to see her again. A voice was heard saying, " Fear not, your mother is here." And lol there she was. Next day the pre- fect said, "I suppose not so much as a hone remains of Theodore, Socrates and Dionysius?" But when they opened the furnace they found them all sittiug talking, as if they were in a com- fortable room, and Philippa was amongst them. When the prefect heard that she was Theodore's mother, he said, " Per- suade your son to abjure his religion, or else he shall be crucified." The heroic mother replied, *' If you nail my son on a cross, he will offer himself a sacrifice to his crucified Master." Very well," said the prefect, " if you would like to find your son dead, you can." Theodore was crucified ; Philippa was beheaded, and the other two were pierced with lances. Theodore hung three days alive on the cross. The Christians took the bodies and buried them with fine linen and ointment and spices. B,M. AA,SS, St. Philippa (3). (See Agape (3).) B. Philippa (4) of Mareri, Feb. 16, abbess, O.S.F. + 1236. Daughter of a wealthy family of Bieti. She heard St. Francis of Assisi preach and resolved « to leave the world. After overcoming the opposition of her relations, she went with a few companions to the hill of Mareri, near her native town. Her brother built them a house near the church of the place. She established the rule of St. Clara in the community and became superior of it. She was very earnest in the conversion of sinners. Pius YII. authorized her worship in the Order of St. Francis. A.B,M, Migne, Die, Hag, B. Philippa (5), Oct. 15, V. 1401— c. 1450. She was bom at Changy or Chanteliman, in the diocese of Clermont in Auvergne. Her father died a few days after her birth. When she was twenty, she went to Yienne to live with the Dame du Chastel, sister of the bishop of Yienne, to be companion to certain young ladies. She despised good clothes and food and courtly ways, and gave up all her fortune to her brothers. Sbe went to Homo to the Jubilee. On the return journey, she showed great humility and charity to her fellow pilgrims. Afterwards she extended her ministrations to bad people and criminals. She died of the plague. She is specially honoured in Dauphiny. AA.SS. from a contemporary life. St. Philista, Theopista (1). St Philomena (l), Aug. lO (Philu- MENA, Filomena), Y. M. 3rd century. In 1802, in the catacomb of St. Pris- ciLLA in Eome, was discovered a tomb- stone, beariug the inscription Lumina in Pace Fi (Philomena in peace), also a lily, a palm, three arrows, an ancbor, and a scourge. When the stone was removed, there appeared beside the skeleton a little broken dish of dried blood. It was the custom of the early Christians to collect with a sponge the blood of a martyr and place some of it in a vessel in the grave. When the excavators removed this blood from its broken receptacle into a glass vase, they were surprised to see it shine like gold and silver and diamonds with all beautiful colours. This miracle continues to the present time. The remains were placed in a room with others until their final rest- ing place should be decided on. A