Toribio

ON SAINT TORIBIO,

BISHOP OF ASTORGA IN SPAIN,

AROUND A.D. 460.

Toribio, Bishop of Astorga, in Spain (St.)

G. H.

[1] Astorga, a very ancient city of Spain in the kingdom of León, celebrates on April 16, under the double rite of the first class with an octave, the feast of Saint Toribio, the Bishop and Patron of its city: who also at this time is venerated in the Ecclesiastical office under double rite, in the cities and dioceses of León and Palencia, Celebration in the Breviaries as is indicated in the Order of reciting the divine office frequently reprinted at Madrid. Ambrosio Morales, in book 11 of the general Chronicle of the Spains, chapter 26, states that the same is also accustomed to be venerated in the churches of Burgos, Segovia, Sigüenza, and others, to which Francisco Sandoval, in his apologetic Discourse concerning Saint Antoninus and Saint Toribio, adds the churches of Toledo, Granada, and Salamanca. In the Burgos Breviary of 1502 this prayer is recited: and Martyrologists, "God, who art the glory of the holy Confessors, and the splendor of the holy souls; mercifully receive our vows, and by the merits of your holy Confessor Toribio, make us to remain unharmed from all disturbance, and to arrive at the honors of eternal glory promised. Through the Lord," etc. The same cult is confirmed by the present tables of the Roman Martyrology in these words: "At Palencia, Saint Toribio, Bishop of Astorga, who by the help of Saint Leo the Pope utterly routed the heresy of Priscillian from Spain, and illustrious for miracles, rested in peace." Similar things are read in Molanus in the Auctarium of Usuard, Galesinius, and Canisius, with the city Palencia also mentioned: which word Tamayo de Salazar in the Spanish Martyrology would rather have expunged, because he judges there was another Toribio, Bishop of Palencia, whom he himself celebrates on November 11, but relying on the fabulous authority of Maximus and Julian Peter.

[2] Tamayo published the Acts of Saint Toribio of Astorga from an ancient manuscript codex of the Astorga Legendary, The Life written: written in almost Gothic letters, and judges them to be genuine and purer: which we here give, and we note that the Prologue prefixed to them seems to be pieced together from five Antiphons usually employed at Vespers and Lauds; for it is not a continuous discourse. John Basil Santorius, Alphonsus de Villegas, Juan Marieta, Thomas de Trujillo, the aforementioned Ambrosio Morales, and many others have also published the Life of the same Saint Toribio: but Tamayo warns that some do not sufficiently distinguish the various Toribios of the same name.

[3] In the said Acts it is said that Saint Toribio succeeded Saint Dictinnus, whom Tamayo asserts from an ancient manuscript sepulchral poem to have died in the Era 458 or the year of Christ 420, on the 9th day before the Kalends of August, or July 24, on which day he inscribed him in his Spanish Martyrology. Hence therefore if the authority of that poem is sufficiently certain (for Tamayo praises many recent fictions of this kind as though they were ancient epitaphs), the beginning of the Episcopate of Saint Toribio should be taken from this. Bishop elected in the year 420, Saint Leo the Pope wrote to him when Alypius and Ardaburius were Consuls, or according to others, Ardaburius and Callepius, in the 8th year of his Pontificate; that is, in the Era 485, or the year of Christ 447. Prudentius de Sandoval, in his treatise on the monastery of Saint Toribio of Liébana, reports that he died in the year 460, died around 460. where he asserts that Saint Toribio is believed for certain to have come from the city of Palencia or its vicinity; and that his sacred relics were first deposited in the city of Palencia, and were afterwards translated to the said monastery of Saint Toribio, whose relics he enumerates in §9, and has these things: "The body of Saint Toribio, the most blessed Bishop of Astorga, the body in the monastery of Saint Toribio of Liébana: Patron of the whole region of the Asturias, whom all the inhabitants of the neighboring mountains venerate with the greatest devotion, is preserved": and, with some things interposed, he relates that in the same place there are two Pontifical rings of Saint Toribio, in which is the virtue of staunching blood, on account of the onyx gems which they hold. There is moreover preserved there the body of Saint Toribio the monk, nearly a whole century younger than Saint Toribio of Astorga, whom Tamayo asserts to have been Bishop of Palencia; Sandoval and González Dávila, who in the Ecclesiastical Theater of the Church of Palencia enumerates the Bishops of this See, deny this.

[4] The Council of Braga was held in the Era 598, or the year of Christ 560, in which Lucretius, Metropolitan of Braga, thus addresses the others: "I believe the fraternity of your blessedness knows that at the time when the most wicked poisons of the Priscillian sect were creeping through these regions, the most blessed Pope of the city of Rome, Leo, who was nearly the 40th successor of the Apostle Peter, sent his writings through Turibius the Notary of his See to the Synod of Galicia, against the impious sect of Priscillian. with the body of Saint Toribio the monk: By whose command also the Tarraconian and Carthaginian Bishops, and also the Lusitanians and Boetici, having held a Council among themselves, writing a rule of faith against the Priscillian heresy with some chapters, sent it to Balconius, then Bishop of this Church of Braga." These things there, which are to be understood of Saint Toribio, the letter of Leo itself, inserted in the Acts, indicates: and with what title the Pontiff had honored him, to perfect these things, that he was Notary of the Apostolic See, Bishop Lucretius assumes the same. Nor is the fabulous narration of Julian Peter to be heard, is called Notary of the Apostolic See. by which he makes him out as different from Saint Toribio the Bishop: which Tamayo at length attempts to defend. But because Saint Leo, in the said Council, with the assembled Bishops, wished to threaten Idatius and Ceponius, Turibius the Notary is said to have written to Idatius and Sponius, and that these Pontiffs presided in the Council of Toledo as legates of the Pontiff, and that Idatius was Bishop of Braga. García de Loaisa, in his Notes on the First Council of Toledo, laments that two Councils, then celebrated by the will of Saint Leo, do not exist. In the Chronicle of Idatius these things, bearing upon this matter, are read in number 23: "The Bishop Leo presides over the Roman Church as the 43rd. His writings are brought to the Spanish Bishops through Pervincus the Deacon of Bishop Turibius, against the Priscillianists: among which a full disputation is directed to Bishop Turibius concerning the observance of the Catholic faith and of the blasphemies of heresies: which is approved by some Gallicians with a deceitful judgment."

[5] Now what had previously been done against the Manichaeans, the same Idatius describes in number 21: "In the city of Astorga in Galicia, certain Manichaeans, who had been hiding for some years previously, are detected by Episcopal proceedings, he expels the Manichaeans. which were sent by Idatius and Turibius, the Bishops who had heard them, to Antoninus Bishop of Mérida." And in number 24 these things indicate the diligence of Saint Toribio. "A certain Pascentius of the city of Rome, he says, who had fled from Astorga, a Manichaean, Antoninus Bishop of Mérida seized, and having examined him, caused him to be expelled from the province of Lusitania." These things Idatius, who in an ancient manuscript of the Paris College of Clermont, in Philip Labbe, volume 1 of the New Library of Manuscripts, in the Syllabus of writers, is said to be Bishop of Aquae Flaviae in Galicia, on the river Tamarus — this place is believed to be now called Chaves. But who Priscillian was, hear from Loaisa in the place cited: "A Spaniard, he says, of noble family, rich, sharp, eloquent, learned by much reading, by a perverse pursuit he corrupted an excellent nature; from a layman infected with heresy, Who Priscillian was, he was secretly made Bishop of Ávila; from the dregs of all heretics he drew his heresy, especially of the Gnostics, against whom Pope Leo wrote in a letter to the Bishop of Astorga, which is given below, and Augustine in his book On Heresies to Quodvultdeus. The Synod of Zaragoza was also held against him. At length he perished by the secular sword."

LIFE

From the manuscript Legendary of Astorga.

Toribio, Bishop of Astorga, in Spain (St.)

BHL Number: 8344

FROM TAMAYO.

[1] Preface on celebrating the feast of Saint Toribio. On the birthday of the holy and most blessed man Toribio the Bishop, dearest Brothers, let the whole Church of Christ rejoice with us, whom throughout the whole world the heavenly preaching of the Apostolic word has instructed, and adorned with the gift of saving doctrine. For there was in this most holy man, whose day we venerate, both a fullness of spiritual wisdom against the errors of the devil, and especially against the Priscillianist heretics, who with the pestilent leprosy of false doctrine soiled the untiring constancy of the Christian heart. Today, dearest Brothers, let us honor with due offices the annual feast of Blessed Toribio the Confessor of Christ, and praise with devout minds Christ the King, who raised him up in the present age, adorned him with excellence and the dignity of the priesthood, and today in heaven among the angelic choirs exalted him with the joy of eternal blessedness. Today Blessed Toribio the Pontiff migrated happily from the world, and was honorably received by the citizens of the heavenly fatherland, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of heaven, deserved to receive with ineffable joy the most glorious mansion of the starry region. Happy was his life, it deserved to have a happy passage. For he passed from death to life, from the world to the kingdom, from labor to rest, from the pilgrimage of this exile to the fatherland, from the misery of the present life to eternal blessedness.

[2] This most blessed man, therefore, as we have truly learned, made Bishop of Astorga was a Spaniard by nation, a native of the region of Galicia, Bishop of the city of Astorga, a true worshipper of God, a despiser of himself, a lover of religion, an asserter of Catholic truth, a subverter of idolatry, and a strong conqueror of errors: especially the detestable heresy of the Priscillianists (which at that time in Spain, creeping like a pestilent disease, not only had stained the peoples of various cities with the pestilent leprosy, he fights the heresy of the Priscillianists: but also, which more

grievous, had invaded the hearts of some Priests who seemed to rule the Church of God: by whom the error of others should have been removed, not followed) he condemned with all his might, and by the authority of Pope Leo, who at the same time was presiding over the Roman Church, he took care to purge it with all his strength. When therefore the aforesaid Pope Leo, by the pastoral care of his rule, was directing writings of his letters to the Bishops of various Provinces, praised by Saint Leo the Pope in this letter, among others to this most blessed man Toribio, at that time Bishop of Astorga, he took care to send a certain letter, containing all the errors of the Priscillianists in sixteen chapters, in which he thus addresses him.

[3] "Leo the Bishop to Turibius Bishop of Astorga, Greeting. How praiseworthily you are moved for the truth of the Catholic faith, and how carefully you expend the devotion of your pastoral office upon the Lord's flock, the writings of your fraternity handed to us by your Deacon demonstrate: in which their filth is explained in which you have taken care to inform our notice of what a disease of errors has arisen in your regions from the remnants of the ancient pestilence. For both the words of your letter and the series of the memorandum, and the text of your eloquence declare that the most fetid sink of the Priscillianists has grown warm again among you. For there is nothing filthy in the thoughts of any impious men which has not flowed together into this doctrine: since from the mire of all earthly opinions they have mixed for themselves a manifold dregs, so that they alone might drink up whatever others had only partly tasted. Finally, if all the heresies which arose before the time of Priscillian are diligently reviewed, almost no error will be found from which this impiety has not drawn its contagion: which, not content to receive the falsehoods of those who have deviated from the Gospel of Christ under the name of Christ, and the doctrine of fate has also plunged itself into the darkness of paganism, so that through the profane secrets of magical arts and the vain lies of astrologers it might place the faith of religion and the reason of morals in the power of demons and the influence of the stars. And if this be allowed to be believed and taught, neither reward will be due to virtues, nor punishment to vices: and all the decrees not only of human laws but also of divine constitutions will be dissolved: because neither concerning good nor bad acts will there be able to be any judgment, if fatal necessity impels the motion of the mind in either direction, and whatever is done by men, is not of men, but of the stars. To this insanity pertains that prodigious division of the whole human body among the twelve signs of the heavens, so that different powers preside over different parts: and the creature, which God made in his own image, is in as great bondage to the stars as it is in connection of its members. chastened by secular Princes: Rightly our fathers, in whose times this nefarious heresy broke forth, acted vigorously throughout the whole world, that this impious fury might be driven from the universal Church; when even the Princes of the world so detested this sacrilegious madness, that they cut down with the sword of public laws its author and many of his disciples. For they saw that all care of honesty would be taken away, every bond of marriages dissolved, and both divine and human law subverted, if it had been permitted anywhere for men of this kind to live with such profession. And this strictness long profited ecclesiastical leniency; which, although content with the judgment of the Priesthood and shunning bloody vengeance, is nevertheless aided by the severe constitutions of Christian Princes, since those who fear bodily punishment sometimes have recourse to spiritual remedy. But since hostile incursion has occupied many provinces, and the storms of wars have interrupted the execution of the laws; and since among the Priests of God passage has become difficult, and assemblies have begun to be rare; but renewed through wars: secret perfidy has found liberty on account of the public disturbance, and to the subversion of many minds has been incited by those evils by which it ought to have been corrected. But what and how great a part of the peoples there is alien from this pestilence, where (as your charity indicates) even the hearts of some Priests are corrupted by this deadly disease; and through those by whom falsehood was believed to be crushed and truth defended, through them the Gospel of Christ is subjected to the teaching of Priscillian; so that, the piety of the sacred volumes being depraved to profane meanings under the names of the Prophets and Apostles, what is preached is not what the Holy Spirit taught, but what the minister of the devil interpolated. Because therefore your charity with faithful diligence, as far as you could, has comprehended the long-since condemned opinions in sixteen chapters, we too shall briefly review all, lest any of these blasphemies should seem either tolerable or doubtful." Here follow sixteen Chapters; after which thus:

[4] "Let there therefore be held among you an Episcopal Council, and to that place which is convenient for all, let the Priests of the neighboring provinces come together, a Council is prescribed. that according to those things which we have answered to your consultation, it may be most fully examined, whether there are any among the Bishops who are polluted by the contagion of this heresy; to be separated without doubt from communion, if they shall have refused to condemn the most nefarious sect through all the depravities of its senses. For in no way is it to be tolerated, that he who has undertaken the office of preaching the faith, should dare to dispute against the Gospel of Christ, against the Apostolic doctrine, against the symbol of the universal Church. What disciples will there be, where such Masters teach? What religion of the people, what salvation of the common folk is there, where, against human society, the sanctity of modesty is taken away, the bonds of marriages are removed, the propagation of the race is forbidden, the nature of the flesh is condemned; and against the true worship of the true God the Trinity of the deity, the crimes of the heresy are enumerated. with the property of the Persons denied, is confounded; the soul of man is preached as of the divine essence, and the same is enclosed in flesh at the will of the devil; the Son of God is preached as only-begotten through that by which he was born of the Virgin, not through that by which he was born of the Father; and the same is asserted to be neither the true offspring of God nor the true birth of the Virgin; so that through a false passion and a not-true death, even a lying Resurrection is held of flesh assumed from the tomb? In vain do those use the Catholic name, who do not resist these impieties. They can believe these things, who can hear such things patiently. We have therefore given letters to our Brothers and Fellow-Bishops of Tarragona, Carthage, Lusitania, and Galicia, and announced a Council of a general synod. It will pertain to the solicitude of your love, that the authority of our ordination be brought to the Bishops of the aforesaid provinces. But if anything (God forbid) shall impede the general Council from being celebrated, let at least the Priests of Galicia come together into one place, with whom congregated, our Brothers Idatius and Ceponius shall preside, with your own urgency joined to them, so that as quickly as possible, at least by a provincial convention, remedy may be brought to such great wounds. Given on August 12, Alypius and Ardaburius being most illustrious consuls, in the 8th year of the Pontificate of Leo, that is, in the Era 485."

[5] Having received this letter, he forthwith determined to bring the mandates of the Roman Pontiff to the due height of execution; he convenes Councils. whence certain Councils indicted throughout the borders of all Spain condemned the sacrilegious doctrines of the Priscillianists, and embraced with their whole heart the teaching of the most Blessed Leo as Catholic and as having flowed from the head of the universal Church. Whence it came to pass that, for some space of time, the scandalous perfidy of the heretics was lulled to sleep.

[6] But when, to the summit of the Episcopate, after the death of Saint Dictinus, although he himself was refusing, a certain Deacon of the same Church, Rogatus by name, ascended the See of Astorga, who through various devices of the human condition had aimed at the island of so great dignity. He resists an ambitious Deacon But by divine disposition Toribio broke the machinations of that Deacon, from which Rogatus so raged in hatred against the holy man, that whenever occasion offered itself, he at once disclosed the perfidious covering of his mind. But overcome by obstinacy, and drawn on by the goad of envy, he reached further attempts at crime: and so he irreverently accused the most holy Bishop falsely of a grave crime. Who, to clear the charge and publicly show his innocence, turning his eyes to God, and crying out "Rise up, Lord, and let your enemies be scattered," accused, he carries fire unharmed in his rochet. taking a coal of fire in his own hands and wrapping it in his rochet, thus through the precinct of the church, intoning all that Davidic psalm, he walked; nor in the whiteness of the rochet was any sign even of injury, indeed not even of a stain from the burning fire found. Confused by so great a miracle, Rogatus, having confessed the imposture, soon burst asunder in the midst, like another Judas. Toribio, giving thanks to God, turned his mind afterwards to the works of charity, hoping until his expectation should appear.

[7] Finally, toiling in good works, he died on the 16th day before the Kalends of May, with the Angels exulting, the earth mourning, dead, he shines with miracles: heaven rejoicing. His sacred body after his death wrought divine miracles, Christ working them. For he was not only renowned in life for the glory of signs, but even after death gloriously shines forth with the greatest virtues and miracles. We therefore beseech you, venerable Father, we ask, glorious Prelate, we beg, excellent Confessor, most Blessed Toribio, that you would always assist us sinners, your servants, he is invoked. still laboring in the pilgrimage of exile, always hear our prayers, see our affliction, remove our dangers, grant our requests, save our souls, and after our passing make us to reign eternally with the eternal King Jesus Christ, our Savior; by the grant of the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, unto ages of ages. Amen.