IX OF NOLA, P. AND C.

IT is observed by the judicious Tillemont, with regard to the life of
this saint, that we might doubt of its wonderful circumstances, were
they not supported by the authority of a Paulinus; but that great
miracles ought to be received with the greater veneration, when
authorized by incontestable vouchers.

St. Felix was a native of Nola, a Roman colony in Campania, fourteen
miles from Naples, where his father Hermias, who was by birth a Syrian,
and had served in the army, had purchased an estate and settled himself.
He had two sons, Felix and Hermias, to whom at his death he left his
patrimony. The younger sought preferment in the world among the lovers
of vanity, by following the profession of arms, which at that time was
the surest road to riches and honors. Felix, to become in effect what
his name in Latin imported, that is, _happy_, resolved to follow no
other standard than that of the king of kings, Jesus Christ. For this
purpose, despising all earthly things, lest the love of them might
entangle his soul, he distributed the better part of his substance among
the poor, and was ordained Reader, Exorcist, and, lastly, Priest, by
Maximus, the holy bishop of Nola; who, charmed with his sanctity and
prudence, made him his principal support in these times of trouble, and
designed him for his successor.[1]

In the year 250, the emperor Decius raised a bloody persecution against
the church. Maximus, seeing himself principally aimed at, retired into
the deserts, not through the fear of death, which he desired, but rather
not to tempt God by seeking it, and to preserve himself for the service
of his flock. The persecutors not finding him, seized on Felix, who, in
his absence, was very vigilant in the discharge of all his pastoral
duties. The governor caused him to be scourged; then loaded with bolts
and chains about his neck, hands, and legs, and cast into a dungeon, in
which, as St. Prudentius informs us,[2] the floor was spread all over
with potsherds and pieces of broken glass, so that there was no place
free from them, on which the saint could either stand or lie. One night
an angel appearing in great glory, filled the prison with a bright
light, and bade St. Felix go and assist his bishop, who was in great
distress. The confessor, seeing his chains fall off, and the doors open,
followed his guide, and was conducted by heaven to the place where
Maximus lay, almost perished with hunger and cold, s