Note 115 — BOOK VI[60]
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos translation
St. Christopher (fl. 3rd Century) is said to have lived in Syria and to have been of prodigious height and strength. As a penance for having been a servant of the devil, he devoted himself to the task of carrying pilgrims across a river where there was no bridge. Christ came to the river one day in the form of a child and asked to be carried over, but His weight grew heavier and heavier till His bearer was nearly broken down in the midst of the stream. When they reached the shore:
"Marvel not," said the Child, "for with Me thou hast borne the sins of the world."
St. Christopher is usually represented as bearing the Infant Christ and leaning upon a staff. He was martyred under the Emperor Decius circa 250. The Church celebrates the Feast of St. Christopher on the 25th of July.—T.