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efore proceeding  to  relate  the  lives  of  the Fourteen Holy  Helpers,  we  deem  it  opportune to  define  the  term  usually  applied  to  the narrative of  the  lives  of  the  saints.

The histories  of  the  saints  are  called  Legends. This word  is  derived  from  the  Latin,  and  signifies something  that  is  to  be  read,  a  passage  the reading of  which  is  prescribed. The legends  of the  saints  are  the  lives  of  the  holy  martyrs  and confessors of  the  Faith. Some of  them  occur  in the  Roman  Breviary  which  the  Catholic  clergy is obliged  to  read  every  day.

Joseph von  Goerres,  an  illustrious  champion of the  Church  during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth century,  writes  as  follows  concerning legends:

"The histories  of  the  lives  of  the  saints  were gathered  from  the  earliest  times.  A  collection of  such  histories  is  found  in  The  Golden  Legend/ The  Passionales,  too,  containing  the  life  of  a  saint for  every  day  in  the  year,  belong  to  this  sort  of literature.  In  Germany  these  histories  were  at first  translations  from  the  Latin;  later,  they  were written  in  the  native  idiom,  and,  in  style,  were  of