ST. ZITA 800 a worker of miracles. Qraeco Slav. Calendar. Perhaps same as Zenais (1). St. Zenobia, Oct. 30, M. c. 280 or 304. She and St. Zenobius were the children of Zenodotus and Thecla, good Christians of Aogea in Cilicia, whose parents had been persecuted for the faith. Zenobius was a medical man of great skill and still greater benevolence; he acquired such a reputation for the heal- ing of diseases and for his general probity and charity that his fellow-citizens chose him for their bishop. One day a man from a great distance brought his wife with a cancer in the throat. Hearing that Zenobius was in church, the pair followed him thither, and the holy bishop effected an immediate cure. Other miraculous cures followed, until Lysias, the prefect, summoned the bishop to give an account of his faith and practice, and put him to the torture. Zenobia went to the scene of his sufferings and demanded with vituperations that the prefect and bis servants should desist from ill- treating her blessed brother. Zenobius and Zenobia were then stretched on a red-hot iron bed, but as they remained there unhurt and singing praises, both were beheaded. Their bodies were thrown where unclean beasts might eat them, lest the Christians should worship them; but two good priests — Hermogenes and Caius — came by night and buried them. They are worshipped in the Greek and Latin Churches. There are several versions of their Act^^ one of which says that Zenobia was the mother of Zenobius, but the B.M, calls her his sister. A A ,S8. Mail, " Ephemeridea Oraeeo-moscae." St. Zetula (1), May 8, M. at Con- stantinople, with St. Acacius. (^See Agatha (2).) AA.S8. St. Zetula (2) or Zeculla, May 10, M. at Tarsus in Cilicia, with St. Aphro- disius and 100 others. AA.SS. Stadler. St. Zetula (3), June 3, M. at Rome with St. Marcellus and 18(3 others. AA.SS. Stadler. St. ZigUSLy CUNKGUND (4 St. Zinga, Cunkgund (4). St. Zitaor SiTTA, April 27, V., >|9i8- 1272. Patronof Lucca, of house]L ^rB> cooks, and women servants in jw^^^al, and against apoplexy. Represented as a servant girl (1) standing by a fountain, holding a little jug or a bunch of keys ; (2) giving a fur coat to a beggar at the church door ; (3) the B. V. Mary open- ing the gate of the town for her ; (4) a star near her. She was daughter of poor but pious peasant proprietors, John Lombardo and Bonissima his wife. She was bom at Bozzanello, a village on the slope of Monte Sagrati ; the neighbour- ing hill of San Graziano is so called in memory of her mother's brother, who led an eremitical life there. As a child, Zita was so well disposed that it was enough for her mother to say, " This is pleasing to God," or " That is displeas- ing to God ; " the little maid instantly followed the pious indication. At the age of twelve she had to go to service. Her parents, carrying with them a small basket of the fruits of their fields as an offering, took her to the house of Pagano di Fatinelli, a respectable tradesman of Lucca, who dealt in silken and woollen stuffs, and here she spent the remaining years of her life. Determined to serve God in serving her master and mistress, she was scrupulously honest and indus- trious, bearing all reproofs and even blows with humility. She went to the neighbouring church of San Fridiano every morning, but took the hour for this act of piety not from her work time but from her deep. Her daily life was, however, by no means agreeable. Her master, a violent tempered man, took a dislike to her ; and when he and his wife gradually discovered her good qualities and began to value her for them, her fellow-servants wore jealous and did not approve of her being more devoted either to God or to the Fatinelli than they were. She had not been long in the service of the Fatinelli when the city of Lucca was placed under an inter- dict which lasted for three years, and during that time she could only receive the holy communion by going to a church in the territory of Pisa. After some years of service, she was promoted to be housekeeper, and in that capacity she would not suffer any bad language among the servants, and turned off one of the men for transgressing in this
