Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/334

320 B. FLORA

to the hospitals in Jerusalem, while the men of the same Order fought against the infidels. When Jerusalem was lost the nuns were brought to Europe and established in convents, of which one of the chief was that of Beaulieu, in Quercy, in the diocese of Cahors, in France. It was a dependency of the priory of St. Giles, in Provence.

Papebroch, in AA.SS.; he quotes Bosius' History of the Order, published at Rome, 1594. Helyot, Ordres Monastiques, Part iii. chaps. 14, 15, gives an account of the origin of the convent of Beaulieu and its first abbesses.

B. Flora (5) of Todi. (See HELEN (14) of Todi.)

St. Florence (l), or FLOZENCE, July 15. At Carthage "the feeste of saynt Catulyne a deacon, saynt January his felowe, & of ye holy women saynt Flozence, saynt Jule, & saynt Juste, all martyrs togyder, & buryed in saynt Faustes chirche" (Mart. Salisbury). The R.M. has the name Florentius, apparently a man, and calls the place of their burial Basilica Fausti, and adds that St. Augustine praises St. Catulinus in a sermon to the people.

St. Florence (2), or FLORENTIA, Nov. 1O. + c. 303. A matron, martyred with SS. Tyberius and Modestus, at Agde, in Provence. R.M. Ferrarius, Novo Topographia. Gynecaeum.

St. Florence (3), Dec. 1 , V. + 367. Supposed to be a native of Phrygia, where she and her family were converted by St. Hilary of Poitiers (see AFRA) during his exile. On his return to France, she insisted on accompanying him. He placed her under the care of ST. TRIAISE, a recluse at Poitiers, and then built her a cell six leagues from the town, where she lived in holy asceticism for six or seven years, and died in 367. The priory of Comblé was afterwards built on the spot. Cahier. P.B. Gynecaeum.

SS. Florence (4) and Euphrosyne, July 7. Companions of ST. URSULA; translated from Cologne to Schleswick in 1445, and worshipped there. AA.SS., Praeter.

St. Florence (5), or FLORENTINA, June 20, V. + c. 590. The first sainted nun in Spain. Sister of SS. Leander and Isidore, successively bishops of Seville; and St. Fulgentius, bishop of Ecija, afterwards of Cartagena. Her sister Theodosia married Leovigild, king of the Visigoths, and was mother of St Hermenigild, M.

When St Isidore was being fed in his cradle, St. Florentina repeatedly saw a swarm of bees in his mouth. Being affrighted, she prayed, and presently understood this vision to be a sign that he would be a great doctor ofthe Church, and would drive the heretics (Arians) out of Spain. From that time she strove to feed him, not with animal milk, but with the milk of the Spirit. She had many invitations to marry different princes, but she preferred a celibate life, and gathered round her about fifty young women of similar tastes in the convent of St. Maria de Valle, at Ecija. She was afterwards superior of forty convents and a thousand nuns. Her brothers, SS. Leander and Isidore, wrote some books for their use and instruction. Isidore dedicated to her two books against the Jews.

AA.SS. Yepez, Sermon 50. Montalembert, Moines, book vi. chap. i. España Sagrada.

St. Florentia, FLORENCE.

St Florentina (l), June 2. One of 227 Roman martyrs commemorated together in the Mart. of St. Jerome.

St Florentina (2), of Seville, FLORENCE (5).

St. Floriana (l). May 6, M. at Milan under Maximian. AA.SS. Mas Latrie, Trésor.

SS. Floriana (2) and Faustina, July 9. AA.SS.

SS. Florida (l and 2), May 8, MM. Two martyrs of this name are among the companions of St. Acacius. (See AGATHA (2).)

St Florida (3), Jan. 18, M. at Avitina. (See VICTORIA (2).)

St Florida (4), Jan. 19, M. in Africa with more than six hundred others. AA.SS.

St. Florida (5), Jan. 14, M. in Africa. AA.SS.

St Florida (6), Jan. lO, V. M., at Dijon. She was a nun at that place,