23 MAY

The old martyrologies today honor St. Florentius. According to Engelbert He lead a hermit's life and died near St. Vincent of Foligno. St. Gregory tells that he had five sheep and a tame bear to guard them. It must have been an extremely tame bear. He died in the year 540. (St. Florentius, not the bear.)

This is also the old feast of St. William. a baker by trade and a Scot from Perth, though honored primarily in England. After a wild youth, he converted and became quite holy. To do penance for his former way of life, he set out on pilgrimage, taking with him his apprentice, a foundling he had raised from an infant. Near Rochester, his companion robbed and killed him. The first person to find the body was a madwoman who was cured of her insanity. Rochester cathedral contained his relics and shrine until the Henrician revolution.