CHRISTOPHER, SAINT (Christophorus, Christoferus), patron saint of ferrymen, is honoured in the Latin Church on July 25 and in the Greek Church on May 9. He appears to have been born a pagan in Syria, to have been baptized by Babylas, bishop of Antioch; he preached in Lycia and was martyred c. A.D. 25o during the persecution under the emperor Decius. The more conspicuous of the legends which collected about this nucleus of possibility are included in the Mozarabic Breviary and Missal, the best known being given in the Golden Legend of Jacopus de Voragine. According to this, Christopher was a giant in search of a master stronger than himself. He left the service of the king of Canaan because the king feared the devil, and that of the devil because the devil feared the Cross. He was converted by a her mit ; but as he had neither the gift of fasting nor that of prayer, he decided to devote himself to a work of charity, and set him self to carry wayfarers over a bridgeless river. One day a little child asked to be taken across, and Christopher took him on his shoulder. When half way over the stream he staggered under what seemed to him a crushing weight, but he reached the other side and then upbraided the child for placing him in peril. "Had I borne the whole world on my back," he said, "it could not have weighed heavier than thou!" "Marvel not!" the child replied, "for thou bast borne upon thy back the world and Him who created it !" See Bolland, Acta Sanct. vi. 146; Guenebault, Dict. iconographique des attributs, des figures et des legendes des saints (Par. 185o) ; Smith and Wace, Dict. of Christ. Biog.