VEN. OR B. ALIX LE CLERC -45 staried io pursne their journey, than they were killed in a forest by assassins, sent after them by the great lords in England, to whom they had been pro- mised, and whom they had thrown over. When the bodies were fonnd, an old blind gentleman put his hand into the blood of those martyrs, and, next time he happened to rub his eyes with it, he immediately recovered his sight. As a thank-offering to God, he had them honourably buned, and built a chapel over them, widely celebrated to this day for the cures and other answers to prayer obtained through the intercession of the three virgins. Pilgrims flocked thither from all parts of Flanders, and in time the village of Caestro grew up around the famous Cliapelle des Trois Viergcs. P.B., quoting the Abbe Des- tombes, SainL^a dea dioceses de Camhrai ei d' Arras, St. Algiva, June 30 (^Eloisa, Elgin). Probably the same as Elgiva, Oct. 19. St. Alice Rich, Aug. 24. c. 1270. Prioress of Catesby. Sister of St. Ed- mund, archbishop of Canterbury, and of B. Margabet Eich. They were the children of Reynold and Matilda or Mabel Rich, tradespeople at Abingdon, in Berkshire, where the locality of their abode is still called St. Edmund's Lane. Mabilia practised the austerities of a nun, while living in the world and educating her children piously. When Beynold, having settled his affairs, com- mitted his children to the care of Mabilia and became a monk at Evesham or Ensham, he found the life of the cloister easy compared with that of his home. Mabilia, who always wore a hair shirt, and always grudged food or comfort to herself or any one else, was glad when her husband's departure left her free to increase her own and her children's austerities. After Edmund had been at school at Oxford for some time, during which he married himself to the Virgin Mary, she sent him and his brother to Paris to finish their education. To teach them humility, she made them beg their way thither like the poorest students, although she could have paid their expenses. She gave them a hair shirt at parting, and whenever she sent them clothes or other necessaries, she always accompanied the gift with that of some now instrument of penance. Falling ill and not expecting to recover, she sent for St. Edmund, and commended his brother and sisters to his care. Both of the latter wished to become nuns, so Mabilia left money sufficient to purchase entrance into a respectable, if not aris- tocratic, monastery. Many parents at that time paid large sums to secure to their daughters a place amongst asso- ciates of their own class, and a certain degree of comfort Edmund, however, regarded this purchase system as simo* niacal, and looked about for.a nunnery where holiness was carried to the greatest attainable perfection, and where the piety of the young women would be of more account than their small dowry» After long search and waiting, he placed his sisters in the poor Benedictine house of Catesby, between Banbury and Daven> try, and not far from Eydon, in North- amptonshire. The prioress had heard of the sanctity of Mabilia and tho scruples of Edmund, and gladly wel- comed Alice and Margaret as daughters of her house. Here they both attained a great degree of holiness, and wer& successively prioresses. St. Edmund was appointed 45th arch- bishop of Canterbury by Gregory IX. He afterwards became a Cistercian monk at Pontigny, in Champagne. He died at Soissy, 1242, and was canonized by Innocent lY. four years later. Alice died about 1270, and miracles were wrought at her tomb. Matt. Paris, Hist Major, ad Ann, 1257. Ferrarius, Novo Cat. Hook, Archbishops of Canterbury. The Bollandists, AA.SS.^ Aug. 24, place her name among the Prsetermissif saying that her worship i» not generally authorized, although Wilson calls her "Saint" in both his< editions of the English Martyrology. St. Alikia. Apphia, wife of Phile- mon, is so called in the Coptic calendar.. A±SS. St. Alimena, Aug. 22, V. Guerin. Ven. or B. Alix le Clerc, Jan. 9: First regular canoness of the Congrega- tion of our Lady, or Ladies of the
