In a message dated 3/29/00 5:29:37 PM GMT Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> St Spes had a pet bear, out of whose paw he had pulled a thorn.
But the personal name "Nursia" suggests a female bear who was perhaps the
saint's protector: one suspects this is borrowed from the story of St
Gwendolin. In the Vita Guendae of Jacobus de Barry, in which the saint is
said to have been transported to a sort of child-like heaven by an angelic
boy called Peter of Panos, her "familia" was protected and succored by a
bear-like dog of this name.
Yours aye,
Henry Gough-Cooper
visit the Scottish Place-Name Society website at
http://www.st-and.ac.uk/institutes/sassi/spns/index.htm
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