Fierte

Fierte a privilege enjoyed formerly by the archbishops of Rouen, in Normandy, in consequence of the miraculous deliverance which St. Romanus is said to have had from a dragon which infested the neighborhood. The saint took with him a condemned malefactor, and repaired to the haunts of the monster. He then stripped off his stole, bound it around the neck of the dragon, and ordered the criminal to lead it into the town, where it was burned in the presence of the assembled inhabitants. In reward for his bold feat the malefactor obtained his pardon; and in order to keep up the remembrance of this wonderful deliverance, a custom was long preserved in the district of bestowing pardon on Ascension day upon a criminal, if he would only assist to carry in procession the shrine called the fierte of St. Romanus.