any idle or ridiculous story told by the Romanists concerning their saints, and other persons, in order to support the credit of their religion.

The legend was originally a book used in the old Roman churches, containing the lessons to be read at divine service; hence the lives of the saints and martyrs came to be called legends, because chapters were read out of them at matins, and in the refectories of religious houses. Among these the golden legend, which is a collection of the lives of the saints, was received by the church with great applause, which it maintained for two hundred years; though it is so full of ridiculous and romantic stories, that the Romanists themselves are now ashamed of it.