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HE pious  historians  of  the  early  Christian times state,  as  a  rule,  only  what  the  saints did and  suffered  for  the  Faith,  and  how  they  died. They deemed  the  martyrs'  glorious  combat  and their victorious  entrance  into  heaven  more  instructive, and  therefore  more  important,  than  a lengthy  description  of  their  lives.

Hence we  know  little  of  the  native  place  and the youth  of  St.  Erasmus,  except  that  at  the  beginning of  the  fourth  century  of  the  Christian era he  was  bishop  of  Antioch  in  Asia  Minor,  the city where  the  name  of  "Christian"  first  came into use. When a  long  and  cruel  persecution broke out  under  the  Emperor  Diocletian,  St.  Erasmus hid  himself  in  the  mountains  of  the  Libanon, and led  there,  for  some  years,  an  austere  life  of penance  and  fasting. Finally he  was  discovered and dragged  before  the  judge.

At first,  persuasions  and  kindness  were  employed to  induce  him  to  deny  the  Faith,  but  when these efforts  failed  recourse  was  had  to  the  most cruel torments. He was  scourged,  and  finally cast into  a  caldron  filled  with  boiling  oil,  sulphur, and pitch. In this  seething  mass  God  preserved him from  harm,  and  by  this  miracle  many  spec-