ante diem iv nonas februarias
- 304 A.D. — martyrdom of Apronian the Executioner at Ancona
… it’s also Candlemas Day … And for all you Latin teachers out there … you can present this Latin ‘distich’ quoted by Thomas Browne in Robert Chambers Book of Days (the quoting of) which predates Punxsutawney Phil (and Wiarton Willy, and the plethora of other large rodents that probablyreally aspire to be beavers, but that’s a different tail):
Si sol splendescat Maria purificante,
Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante
