Clement

ON BLESSED CLEMENT,

GENERAL OF THE HERMITS OF ST AUGUSTINE,

AT ORVIETO IN ETRURIA.

IN THE YEAR 1291

Clement, General of the Hermits of Augustine, at Orvieto in Etruria (B.)

By the author D. P.

[1] The Augustinian family of Hermits, as the 13th century was drawing to a close, Blessed Clement notably illustrated, cognominated by Jordan in the Lives of the Brothers "from the March of Ancona"; by several writers of the Order "from Osimo," perhaps on account of a long stay; for the authority of Giles of Viterbo persuades that he was born from St Elpidius, a town of the same March, not far from the shore of the Adriatic sea between the rivers Letum-vivum and Tinga, since Giles in that title grants to the Sant-Elpidians Born in the March of Ancona, some particle from the body of Blessed Clement. So that Ambrose Coriolanus in his Chronicle is undeservedly accused by Herrera in his Alphabet, because he ill designated the holy man as from St Elpidius: as also Alphonse d'Orosco did not deserve to be accused, because he cognominated him "of Orvieto," where both living and dead he shone with miracles and obtained the cult to be granted only to the Blessed; since this form of appellation is observed in several Blessed of that Order. From this dissonance of writers, however, we gather, that he was not wont to use any certain cognomen, nor otherwise than "Clement" did he subscribe himself in public Acts, for otherwise he would have been constantly so called.

[2] elected general in the year 1270, He had been on the 12th of May in the year 1270, a council of the Order being held at Orvieto, constituted Prior general, as writes Joseph Pamphilus Bishop of Segni in the chronicle of the Order: who, when on the 16th of May 1274, at Lyon, where a general Council was being celebrated, in the Convent there gathered to constitute magistrates, he strove to lay down the office; they declared him Prior general a second time: for they had conspired either that the same should preside or no one. he abdicates in the year 1274, Nonetheless the council at Molaria in the territory of Frascati is held on the 18th of November of the same year, at which the most worthy Cardinal Richard Annibaldi was present: and when in this Convent no one could prevail upon Clement to retain the office, since he had already withdrawn himself; at length Francis of Reggio is designated Prior general. Finally in the year 1284, Francis having died, Clement is again announced Prior general, again he is taken up in the year 1284, on the 5th day before the Kalends of June, at Orvieto, where the whole Curia was: and in the year 1287, on the 8th day before the Kalends of June, stabilized in the office at Florence, famous for many miracles and supreme piety, at Orvieto in extreme old age he drew his soul, to whose body many sick were brought, many blind were led, mute and lame received back their former health, by the merits of Blessed Clement, from God. These things in substance Pamphilus, who so exactly describes the space of nine months, in which Paul of Perugia with the title of Vicar ruled the Order, and how at his death in the year 1292 on the very day of the Epiphany Giles of Rome was made General, he dies in 1291 at Orvieto. that he leaves no room for doubting, but that the death of Blessed Clement is rightly attributed to the year 1291; which however, because it preceded Easter of that year, falling on the 22nd day of April, some, beginning years from Easter, imputed the death of Blessed Clement to the year 1290.

[3] Scarcely seventy years after the death of Blessed Clement, Jordan of Saxony wrote the Lives of the Brothers, in the second book of whose work, chapter 4, he makes mention of him, with praise of his wondrous clemency and piety and great sanctity: and he adds that he was "as dear to God, as wholly gracious to men, through whom God showed many miracles in his life: and finally in his death, in the presence of the Curia and all the Lords Cardinals, he shines with miracles, in the time of Lord Pope Nicholas IV, he shone with great miracles: and at Orvieto, where he died, on account of the plurality and greatness of the miracles, for several weeks at the command of the same Pope he remained unburied, asserting that it was not worthy that a body of such sanctity should be covered with earth. For such a great multitude of the people by singular devotion rushed in crowds to see that body, that on account of the excessive pressure of the peoples, it was necessary for the community of Orvieto to break through several houses, and to widen the common street leading to the place of the Brothers, and is visited with great concourse. that thus freer access might be afforded to the people. From whose body in the hottest time no dreadful exhalation, but rather a most sweet odor, was fragrant, as the Venerable Father Lord Benedict Cardinal testified, who had been his son of confession, and from special devotion had visited that blessed body several times: who also afterwards was made Pope Boniface VIII."

[4] From these things we gather, that concerning the virtues and miracles of Blessed Clement somewhat more diffusely were written things, whence Jordan drew these, and which to be lamented by the carelessness of posterity have perished. A worthy man certainly, in Herrera's judgment, body formerly on the altar. that his sanctity should be decreed by the infallible judgment of the Church: meanwhile however he has this honor, that everywhere he is illustrated with the title and diadem of the Blessed. His body was held in supreme veneration among the Orvietans for two and more centuries, the same Herrera attesting, and lay on the altar outside the greater shrine placed on the side of the epistle, and several miracles of the holy man still are seen there depicted. It lay however there beyond the generalate of Giles of Viterbo, extending from the year 1507 to 1519, as, also concerning the cult then flourishing, this epistle to the Elpidians transcribed from the register will testify, and most amicably communicated to us by Ludovico Torelli, Historiographer of the Order, under the attestation of Master Brother Gregory Rocca of Marino, public Notary, and it is such:

[5] "Although mortals on earth have drawn as their lot a seat, where at the same time they may both rise and set, nor anywhere is the way to destruction hidden: yet some are so joined to the immortal God, that, he is praised by Giles of Viterbo, when they had to die on earth, they attained immortality in heaven; which so much excels the life of mortals, as heaven is more sublime, more divine, more lasting than the earth. These, I say, have appeared most happy among men, since not only, having despised human things, they clung to God, but even have merited the divine name and honors. In the number of these was the divine Clement of Elpidium your countryman, who professed my Augustinian Religion; who with such light of sanctity, of life, of holy morals, shone; that both by the supreme Pontiff for managing great affairs, and by God the Best for exercising miracles was he called. He when he had drawn out a most holy institute of life long, when while living he had shone with innumerable miracles throughout all Italy… when he had been compelled twice to undertake the reins of the republic and of his Religion; finally when he had conquered both human allurements and Stygian snares with admirable virtue, fortitude, constancy, that from the human victory he might at some time celebrate a heavenly triumph, in the city of Orvieto he left a mortal and falling life. The body of this most holy man lies in my temple at the city of Orvieto, buried by Pontifical hands; to whom no one has had recourse in vain, no one led by good hope has approached without result, no one who asked, did not obtain the same."

[6] who grants to the Elpidians a part of the Relics, "And when so many peoples, so many nations cultivate the memory of the most blessed man; you, who cultivate his fatherland, could not, by nature reconciling, not be compelled to do the same. Wherefore Nicholas Briottus of Elpidium, of the diocese of Fermo, most consulted also in both laws, who traces his origin from the school of the holy man, since by his good deeds he had both merited and bound the Orvietan Republic to himself, easily obtained from the Princes of the City, that he might bring back to his fatherland some part of the blessed body. When therefore he had come to me in the Cimini, letters

also your most sweet and most pious ones he had brought to me, with little effort he moved me, that I should acquiesce to your desire or rather to your piety, and command the custodians of the monument to satisfy the desire of the fatherland: in which matter indeed I did not seem to give a benefit, but to receive one. Wherefore you, most deserving of your Republic, receive the Relics which you have wished for: and at the same time consider this, that nothing could be provided by you, by which either the piety and charity toward your fatherland could be shown better, or its salvation and happiness could be sought more. Farewell."

[7] Thus far Giles, from the Sutrian Convent, as it appears, whence he had been snatched to the Generalate; and to which he seems gladly to have returned, when he was permitted, to devote himself to the beloved leisure of letters: a man, as Jovius says, destined and fitted for the Pontificate; but of such singular modesty, that although the highest both skill of doing things and knowledge of letters had raised him to the dignity of the Cardinalate, yet he had to be impelled to write by the letters of Pope Clement VII, Neglected cult is revived in the year 1572. which can be read in Herrera: who rightly laments that the love and honor of Blessed Clement so cooled; in the very century in which Giles wrote the aforesaid Epistle, that his body in the year 1572 was found among the lockers of the sacristy, where, enclosed in a chest, it was kept less decently. But Augustine of Jesus, Archbishop of Braga, did not again hide the treasure found, but more decently kept, transferred it to a more honored place. John Baldi in the catalog of the illustrious men of Osimo, after the lives of the Saints of the same city published in Italian in the year 1620, where he mentions Clement of Osimo (for so by many he is named, as we have said), adds, that on his feast day his body is shown to the people, visible within a well-adorned sepulcher.