Aggeus

The beautiful pagan Callista rails at the marginal Catholicism of her suitor Aggeus over his lukewarm faith saying, "You came, and you went, and came again; I thought it reserve, I thought it timidity, I thought it the caution of a persecuted sect; but O, my disappointment, when first I saw in you indications that you were thinking of me only as others think, and felt towards me as others may feel; that you were aiming at me, not at your God; that you had much to tell of yourself, but nothing of Him!" (2) It is the ferocious persecutions by Decius that awakens the faith of the main characters in Callista.

The Hermit's knowledge of the Old Testament is quite good and he has the utmost respect for it, calling it "the Holy Bible." He refers once to Genesis, once to Exodus, eleven times to Leviticus, four times to the Psalms, 36 times to Isaiah, six times to Zechariahs, six times to Jeremiah, once to Habakkuk, once to Numbers, once to Osea, twice to Joel three times to Malachias, once to Aggeus, twice to Ezra, and once to Ecclesiastes.