CHRISTOPHER, SAINT, a saint of the Roman Catholic and Greek churches. He is supposed to have suffered martyrdom about the middle of the 3d century. According to vulgar legend, C., whose name was originally Adokimos the unrighteous), was a native of Palestine, Syria, or Lycia, and a person of prodigious bulk and strength. His height was 12 feet. So proud was he of his gigantic frame, that he would serve only the migh tiest princes. Having attached himself to one, who went for the greatest of his day, C. stayed with him for a short time, but soon discovered that his master was terribly afraid of the devil, in consequence of which, C., with fearless consistency, passed into the service of the latter. One day, however, when the devil and lie chanced to be walking through a wood, they came across an image of Christ. His new master exhib ited such perturbation and alarm at the sight, that C. entirely lost confidence in him, and resolved to find out the Savior, and follow him. For a long while he searched in vain, but finally he fell in with a hermit, who showed him Christ, and baptized him. C. despised the customary penances, and in consequence, it was imposed on him to carry Christian pilgrims on his shoulders over a stream which had no bridge. One day, a little child came to the stream; C. took it on his shoulders, but soon began to sink under the weight of his burden. The child was Christ himself, and to prove it,
he commanded C. to stick his staff into the ground. He did so, and next morning it had blossomed into a palm-tree bearing fruit. This miracle converted thousands to Christianity. C.'s success excited the, enmity of Dagnus, the prefect of that region, who put him in prison, scourged him with red-hot rods, put a burning helmet on his head, and clapped him on a burning stool. C. still remained uninjured. Multitudes of poisoned arrows were now discharged against him, but they rebounded from his charmed body, and one even wounded the prefect himself in the eye. C. pitied his tormentor, and freely offered his head to the executioner, that the prefect might be healed by the blood which should flow from it. This was done, and, as a matter of course, Dagnus and his family became Christians. The Greek church celebrates his festival on the 9th St. C. was greatly invoked in times of pestilence, or when people were digging for treasures, to frighten away the spirits who watched over them. The formula used was called a Christopher's prayer. He was also the patron of an order of moderation, founded in Austria in 1517, for the purpose of checking excessive drinking and swearing, and which was called the order of St. Christopher.