Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. But at Soissons on July 15th. Hrabanus, Ado, &c. Authority The Acts, ancient, and confirmed or quoted by Flodoard in his Hist. EccL Remensis (d. 966.)J 1 the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, Rictiovarus, of infamous memory, was prefect of Gaul, and he carried out the edicts of the emperors with ferocious zeal Ruffinus and Valerius were officers whose duty it was to provide corn for the palace at Vidola, the modem Bazoches, on the Vesle, near Braine. Rictiovarus, after leaving Fismes, where he had put S. Macra to death (June nth), came to the palace at Vidola, where he learned that the two commissariat officers were Christians. They at once fled, and hid in a cave, but were pursued, tracked, and discovered. Rictiovarus ordered them to be hung on the little horse, and beaten with leaded whips. They were not cast off till their bodies were a mass of wounds and bruises, and only a faint breathing indicated that they were still alive. They were taken back to prison, and in the night, lo ! an angel stood before them, holding a crown of dazzling brightness, like unto emerald, in either hand, and saying, “Be of good cheer; valiant soldiers of Jesus Christ A little more of battle, and then these crowns are yours.” In the morning the two martyrs were brought before Rictiovarus again, and he ordered them to execution with the sword by the side of the Roman road, on the banks of the river. The castle of Bazoches is supposed to stand on the site of the martyrdom.

La MARK, B. OF LUCERA [Venerated at Bojano, Beneventum, Lucera. Authority: — The life written in the zxth cent.] S. Mark of Lucera was the son of a rich Christian of ALcana, in Apulia. On the death of his father he was or> dained priest. Scandal having arisen from the circumstance of two young girls living in his house to minister to him, the Bishop of Lucera sent his two deacons, Vincent and Aristotle, to iEcanea, to summon the priest Mark before him. Mark invited the deacons into his house, to refresh themselves after their journey, but Aristotle refused to break bread with him till his character was cleared of the stain cast upon it After Vincent and Mark had dined, they set off for Lucera, Aristotle accompanying them. But the want of food made Aristotle faint, and at length he sank down, unable to proceed. Not far off, on the edge of a wood, was a fawn feeding. Mark called her, and the fawn bounded to his side. He led her to Aristotle, and bade him refresh himself with the milk from her full udder. Aristotle did so, and revived. On his arrival at Lucera Mark went to John the bishop, who received him coldly; but bade him remain and pray with him. And at midnight Mark raised his head and said, “ Hark ! I hear celestial voices/* Then the bishop listened, but could hear nothing. So Mark said, “Let us pray on,” and presently the bishop heard singing, far off, like a gteat choir chanting in some distant church, wafted upon his ear j the music rose and fell, like waves of the sea. These wonders, and the evidence of his innocence produced by Mark, satisfied the bishop that the priest had been blackened by slanderous tongues, and he let him depart with his blessing. On the death of John, the Christians of Lucera chose the same Mark to be their bishop, and he ruled the see till he was aged seventy, when he died in the odour of sanctity.