Brewer's: Rosalia

or St. Rosalie. A native of Palermo, who was carried by angels to an inaccessible mountain, where she lived for many years in the cleft of a rock, a part of which she wore away with her knees in her devotions. If anyone doubts it, let him know that a rock with a hole in it may still be seen, and folke less sceptical have built a chapel there, with a marble statue, to commemorate the event.

That grot where olives nod, Where, darling of each heart and eye, From all the youths of Sicily, St. Rosalie retired to God.

SirWalterScott: Marmton j. 23

St. Rosalia,
in Christian art, is depicted in a cave with a cross and skull; or else in the act of receiving a rosary or chaplot of roses from the Virgin.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content