he never reached the place of his destination. The many miracles he
wrought by the way, consisting principally of the destruction of
dragons[93] and conversion of pagan priests, had rendered him obnoxious
to Fescenninus, the Roman governor of the province; and the saint was
consequently doomed to suffer the pains, not without receiving the palm,
of martyrdom.

[Illustration: Plates 51-52. CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF NOTRE DAME, AT ROUEN.
_West front from the Place Notre Dame._]

To Nicaise, succeeded St. Mello, a native of England, who, in the
performance of his duty, to carry the annual tribute from Britain to the
Roman emperor, was converted by the pontiff; and, if credit may be given
to the legends recounted by Pommeraye,[94] was, in the presence of the
Pope, invested by an angel from heaven with the pastoral staff; and, at
the same time, enjoined to take upon himself the spiritual jurisdiction
over Rouen and its vicinity. A mission thus constituted, and still
farther verified by the gift of miracles, could not fail of the desired
end. St. Mello not only succeeded in converting the lower class of the
pagans, but he likewise reckoned many of the principal citizens among
his disciples; and one of these, of the name of Precordius, ceded to him
his house, on the site of which was built the first Christian place of
worship known in Rouen. Hence, in the following distich, Ordericus
Vitalis, entirely passing over Nicaise, places St. Mello at the head of
the line of the Norman prelates:--

"Antistes sanctus Mellonus, in ordine _primus_,
Excoluit plebem doctrina Rothomagensem."--

Of the duration or history of the church thus erected, nothing is known;
but it is certain that, from that time forward, Christianity continued
to gain ground in Normandy, and the annals of the see have preserved an
uninterrupted catalogue of the bishops. Indeed, the conversion of
Constantine, which happened only a few years after the death of St.
Mello, necessarily gave a new aspect to the religion of the Roman
empire.

Succeeding prelates are stated in general terms to have manifested their
zeal, in building new churches, as well as in enlarging and ornamenting
that of the capital; and Pommeraye suggests,[95] but only as a matter of
great probability, that a second cathedral was raised by Victrice, or
some one of his immediate successors, in the fifth century. With an
equal, or still stronger degree of probability, it has been inferred