or , i remind them of saint uncumber , who miraculously grew a beard on her wedding-day , to defend her virginity ; or saint agatha , who sacrificed her beauty by cutting off her own nose with a knife , to deter a lustful kidnapper ; or the abbess hilda , who wildly loved expensive gems as a youth , before her call to the cloister -- in particular , a red ruby on a short neck-chain -- and how , many decades later , when abbess hilda was old , a tumour grew inside her throat , and upon it being removed from her body by a surgical physician , it was the exact size and shape and colour of that ruby !