Page:Barlaam and Josaphat. English lives of Buddha.djvu/23

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THE GREEK BARLAAM.
xvii

inclusion in the saintly calendar, as in the "Golden Legend" of Jacobus de Voragine, to the popularity of the parables which, as we shall see, were connected with their name. But in any case, the ultimate source of each entry is to be found in the life of the two Saints, attributed to St. John of Damascus. In fact, the Roman martyrology in the form given to it by the great Baronius, and just quoted, expressly states that fact.

It must not be supposed that the inclusion of these names in the lists of the Saints is of equal validity with the formal process known as "Canonisation." It is usually stated in summing up the inquiries on which we are about to enter that "Buddha has been canonised as a Saint of the Catholic Church," and much searching of heart has been caused to earnest Catholics by this statement. But M. Cosquin has conclusively shown in a special article devoted to the subject (Revue des Questions Historiques, October, 1880) that there is all the difference in the world between the two processes. Inclusion in the calendar only implies a verdict similar to that of a magistrate's court or a Grand Jury; a prima facie