Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Greek Menaea and Menologies. Authorities; — The writings of S. Nilus himself, Nicephorus, H. E. lib. xiv. c. 54, and Photius.] NILUS was a member of a family of rank, probably of Constantinople; he was prefect of the city under Theodosius and his son Arcadius, was married, and had children. The love of God, or disgust with the world, impelled him to become a solitary. He asked his wife's permission, and, when it was reluctantly accorded, he retired with his son Theodulus to the desert S. Nilus.

…of Sinai. S. Nilus has left us a touching narrative of his separation from his wife, and departure with his son, of the life they led in the desert, and of the loss and recovery of Theodulus. This has already been given in his own words sostom had been banished from Constantinople to Cucusus, S. Nilus wrote in remonstrance to Arcadius: “ You have,” he said, “banished John, bishop of Byzantium, the greatest light of the world, and you have banished him without reason, giving too ready credence to bishops of little judgment. Do penance for having deprived the Church of instructions so pure and holy.” In another letter he says: “ How can you expect to see Constantinople delivered from earthquakes and fire from heaven, whilst so many crimes are committed in it, such vice reigns unpunished, and after that John, the pillar of the Church, the light of the truth, the trumpet of Jesus Christ, has been banished ? How can you expect me to give my prayers for a city shaken by the wrath of God, when I am consumed with sorrow, my spirit is agitated, my heart torn, by the excesses which are committed in Byzantium ¥* He wrote many other letters in defence of the truth or of justice. He menaced bishops guilty of avarice and crimes of violence. Laurianus, prefect of Constantinople, had put in prison some persons who had taken refuge in the church of S. Plato at Ancyra; Nilus wrote to him threatening him with the wrath of God and of the martyr Plato for having disregarded the privilege of sanctuary which the tomb of the saint enjoyed.

Gainas the Goth, before whose arms the decaying empire trembled, wrote to him asking explanations of certain difficult questions about the Divinity of our Lord. Nilus, understanding that Gainas was an Arian [followers of Arius, who taught that the Son is a created being, not fully God], did not condescend to give the explanations solicited, because he said that Divine truths could not profit ears killed and rotted by the venom of [Not xx.

heresy. That which is holy is not to be given to dogs, nor the pearls of Divine mysteries to be cast before swine. The saint wrote in 430; the exact date of his death cannot be fixed with certainty. Justin the Younger transported his body to Constantinople (between 565 and 578), and placed it in the church of SS. Peter and Paul.

S. iEMILIAN, P.C. [Roman, Spanish, and Benedictine [monks following the Rule of St. Benedict] Martyrologies. Usuardus [a 9th-century monk of Paris who compiled a list of saints for each day], Ado, &c. Authority: — A Life by S. Braulis, B. of Saragossa (631-51), in Mabillon, Acta SS. O.S.B. t. iii.] S. ^Emilian, sumamed Cucullatus, from his habit, was of low birth, and a shepherd. After some time he placed himself under the discipline of a hermit, named Felix. When he had acquired sufficient mastery over himself, he went to Veigege, a little town of Aragon, then belonging to the diocese of Tarazona, but now to that of Calahorra. Thence he retreated to the depths of the mountain recesses of Disterce, and practised the monastic life in solitude for forty years. Didymus, bishop of Tarazona, ordained him priest, and placed him in charge of the church of Vergege; but his profuse charity dissipated the goods of the church, and reduced it to such straits, that the clergy complained to the bishop. iEmilian was admirable as a solitary, he was impracticable as a parish priest. The bishop saw his mistake, and sent him back to his mountain cell, where he remained till his death, which took place about the year 574, when he had reached the advanced age of a hundred. His relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor] are preserved in the monastery of S. Milan de la Cogolla, near Najara. Milan is the corruption of iEmilian. S. Martin [St. Martin of Tours (d. 397), soldier turned bishop].