Paris

ON ST. PARIS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,

AT TEANO IN ITALY.

About the year 346.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

His cult and Acts.

Paris, Bishop and Confessor, at Teano in Italy (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR P. B.

No general Martyrologies celebrated St. Paris' memory before the sixteenth century, in which, the Roman one having at last been reformed, it was thus inscribed at this day: His veneration flourishes chiefly at Teano; At Theanum, of St. Paris, bishop. By Theanum, or rather Teanum, understand here Teanum Sidicinum, adorned with an episcopal see under the archbishop of Capua in Campania Felix; of which, as Paris was once, while he lived, the apostle and first prelate; so after his death, on Ughelli's testimony, Italia Sacra, latest edition, volume 6, column 549, he has been held its chief protector. His body rested there in the cathedral church from all memory past with great honor indeed; yet with less pomp than now, if the work of the most illustrious and most reverend lord Joseph de Puteo, bishop of Teano from the year of Christ 1718, is already completed; concerning which, two years afterward, Ughelli's continuator wrote thus in the place cited, column 579: At great expense he has now begun to build a very noble chapel, after the pattern of that which the most pious city of Naples had raised in its chief church for St. Januarius and its other holy patrons, in which he intends to lay the body of St. Paris, its first bishop and first patron, which is now venerated in a narrow and underground church; and all the statues of the other native protectors. There is, however, another church there also in his name, famous for a fountain and for miracles; as will be plain from the Acts below, number 11.

[2] His cult was afterward propagated from the people of Teano to those of Capua; whence it was long ago extended to the church of Capua. I believe when the church of Teano acknowledged Capua as its metropolis, in the tenth century, unless I am mistaken. Certainly that it long flourished there is understood from the very ancient Calendar of the nuns of St. John, which Michael Monachus made public in the Capuan Sanctuary: where at the Nones of August, page 408, is noted the feast of St. Parus, bishop and confessor, or rather of Paris; as is read in the same place in the fifth Calendar, page 531; where it is also observed that in the Office of the church of Capua three compendious Lessons are recited concerning the same Saint; such namely as we have on this day in the Capuan Breviary of the year 1489: for before (that is, before the institution of the Office of St. Dominic, which is set forth in that Breviary on the same day) in the Office of St. Paris twelve Lessons were recited at Capua, comprising his Acts. The last ten of these (for the preceding leaf had fallen out), written out from the worn and torn half-yearly Lectionary of the nuns of St. John at Capua, Master Silvester Aiossa of Capua sent hither in the year 1665, then rector of the church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, and nephew of Master Michael de Monacho of good memory, the author of the Capuan Sanctuary, adding that this half-yearly book was written in the year of the Lord 1034. Surely so ancient a testimony of a public and solemn cult we have thus far learned does not survive in writing even at Teano: worthy accordingly to be subjoined here, were it not both headless and in more than one place so wretchedly dislocated that I could restore neither the sense nor the words. Besides, the chief substance of that same document is contained in the entire Acts, of which I shall now speak.

[3] The Acts sincere in the posthumous miracles; The Acts of St. Paris, collected with very many others by Julius Antonius Santorio, most learned Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Baronius earnestly wished in his annotations to the Roman Martyrology at this day that they be at some time published and made widely known by him; but in vain, so far as we yet know. They were indeed published at nearly the same time, that is in the year of Christ 1593, among very many other Lives of the Saints of the kingdom of Naples, in part 2 from page 230, by Paul Regio, bishop of Vico Equense; but only in Italian, and without citing the original, perhaps that he might use it more freely in changing, expunging, adding, and embellishing, as he did. Regio in the more abridged eulogies of that same Saint is followed by Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy at this day, and by Ughelli among the Bishops of Teano. We, by the kindness of our Father Antonio Beatillo, received that original sent hither from Naples in the year 1638, "From the Acts," as is noted, "anciently printed of the church of Teano." And it consists of thrice nine Lessons under this title: On the feast of St. Paris, bishop and confessor: whence we gather that that feast was there celebrated through an Octave, although those Lessons are distributed only over three days; whether because the same were to be repeated on the following days, or because others from the Common were to be substituted, or because the remaining days were impeded by other Offices. For the rest, in these the entire history of St. Paris is run through; if however that narrative deserves to be called a history which is disfigured by as many faults as we shall presently demonstrate. These fall upon the Saint's Life itself, not upon his posthumous miracles, which are reported from number 12, and from which we think no authority should be taken away; although we do not know at what time they either occurred or were written; except that we gather from number 12 that they happened some centuries after the holy Prelate's death; where these words are read: But after much time, the aforesaid church, now long consumed by age, was also utterly neglected by the people, etc.

[4] Now receive in a few words what chiefly displeases in the Life itself. not so in the history of the things The first is that at number 1 St. Paris is said to have come to Teano when the Roman world was still subject to the worship of idolatry, and the storm of persecution was raging against Christ's servants by the command of the princes. But the prince then in Italy is made Constantine the Great, not yet converted from the error of heathenism, at number 6; and that persecution is attributed to him at number 9, and indeed in these most harsh words: The rage of the Constantinian persecution. Bah, the inept author's ignorance of history! For so far is it from the case that Constantine ever harassed the Christians, that on the contrary he did not begin to reign, in the year of Christ 306, before wishing and doing well to them: Having taken up the empire, says Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors, chapter 24, Constantine Augustus did nothing sooner than restore the Christians to their worship and to their God. This was his first enactment, the holy religion being restored, or its restoration. And yet then he was certainly a heathen. What then must he be judged to have done after he had renounced heathen superstition? But he renounced it before he gained possession of Italy by conquering Maxentius; as we showed at the XXI day of May, on which we treated of him from page 12. See more in Tillemont, History of the Emperors, volume 4, under Constantine the Great; in Pagi in the Critique of Baronius' Annals; and in others everywhere at hand. Whence you will learn that it is most falsely asserted that any storm of persecution raged in Italy after the year of Christ 312 against Christ's servants by command of the princes; and accordingly that either Paris came before that year, or that the persecution under which he came to Teano is a fiction. Ferrarius doubtless saw this, when he noted these words: Paris must have departed from Athens as a young man under the last years of Diocletian's rule, and have stayed some time at Teano before he was ordained bishop, and have died worn out with old age.

[5] It displeases, second, that in the same number St. Paris is said before his arrival in Italy to have been the companion of Libanius and of the great Basil: done while the Saint was alive. for neither was born when the persecution ceased in Italy; and yet, while that was raging, the Acts narrate that our Prelate came thither from Athens: for that Libanius' birth year was 314 of the Christian era Tillemont proves in his "Julian the emperor," article 36; but to Basil we assigned at the XIV day of June, page 810, the year of Christ 316; which also seemed to that same Tillemont too early; and therefore he himself preferred to place Basil's birth at the close of the year of Christ 329. It displeases, third, the narrative which is described in the same number concerning

the dragon, both for other reasons and also for this, that he is there depicted as vehemently infecting the air with a foul breath and a fire-belching spirit, and producing a grievous corruption among the people from his presence; and that nevertheless it is none the less asserted that among the citizens each reckoned himself the happier in the duty who could prepare for him more dainty foods, to such a degree that the governor's own daughter (number 2) discharged this office, and waited before the mouth of the cave where the dragon lurked, with other girls — waiting, that is, for the monster to come forth from it, by whose breath she would be infected. It displeases, fourth, that St. Silvester, already then Roman Pontiff, hid on Mount Soracte (number 9) to avoid the rage of an imaginary persecution, concerning which we have said enough on St. Constantine the Great at the day, as I have already noted, the XXI of May, number 15. And why should I recall more? For if anyone can approve these things in an anonymous writer of unknown age, he will easily be free, so far as I am concerned, to hold him in whatever esteem he pleases in his other assertions too.

[6] The Saint is said to have died about the year 346. In what year the Saint made an end of living, these Acts, such as they are, do not teach; although they thus establish the day and month of his burial at number 11: And he was buried… on the Nones of August. But in the Life of St. Amasius, his successor, which we gave from the same Lectionary of Teano on the XXIII day of January, page 484 and following, he is narrated to have died when St. Julius had already for some time ascended the Roman Chair. Whence Regio gathers that he departed about the year of our salvation 346, Ferrarius and Ughelli following; from whose opinion nothing at all appears to compel us to withdraw. Wherefore this one thing remains, that we subjoin the Acts, divided after our manner, and illustrated with annotations.

THE LIFE

From the old printed Lectionary of the church of Teano.

Paris, Bishop and Confessor, at Teano in Italy (S.)

BHL Number: 6466

From printed sources.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's fatherland; his arrival among the people of Teano; their conversion through his miracles.

The Saint, coming from the East to Teano, When the Roman world was still subject to the worship of idolatry, and the storm of persecution was raging against Christ's servants by command of the princes, the Lord's priest Paris, an Athenian by nation, companion of Libanius and of the great Basil ^a, coming into Italy from the parts of the East, arrived, the Lord leading him, at the city of Campania which is called Teano. Now this city was bound by the errors of heathenism, fashioning for itself the delusions of divers gods; but chiefly it rendered the homage of divinity to a dragon, which for its own malice it had often felt hostile to it: for harmful and grievous things are wont to be worshipped with so much the greater reverence as it happens that they are the more feared by men. For beside the lower gate of that same city there was a spring of perpetual and very abundant water, in which lurked a dragon of wondrous size, which by a common name men are wont to call a boa ^b; this, vehemently infecting the air with foul breath and a fire-belching spirit, produced from its presence a grievous corruption among the people. And so great a fear of it had come upon the minds of individuals that above that spring the citizens of the city raised a shrine in its honor, and ministered dainty foods to it with daily ^c solicitude; in which each reckoned himself the happier in the duty who could prepare more dainty viands. It went, doubtless, to the unhappy people's grievous loss, since as time went on a sacrifice seemed to be offered not to a beast but as it were to a God.

[2] But the almighty Lord, who grants his benefits even to the unworthy, the dragon, superstitiously worshipped there, does not longer endure that a people, though heathen, be shaken by a demon's vexations and wearied by the annoyances of spiritual wickedness: for the Lord's servant Paris, arriving and drawing near the gate of the aforesaid city, found the richer preparations of the feast, and beheld the daughter of Sempronius the governor, a most distinguished man, named Tranquillina, waiting before the mouth of the cave where the dragon lurked, with other girls; and he asked what they were doing, and what was the cause of such great preparations. But when he had learned from the mouth of the maiden and her companions that those foods were destined to serve not for human uses but for the dragon's belly, and that it was not the homage of will but the token of strict necessity and of a too familiar divine worship, he grieved vehemently over the ruin and blindness of the people, and straightway turned himself to the accustomed arms of prayers.

[3] And so, poured out with his whole spirit before the lord Jesus Christ, the author of all good things, he conquers and puts to flight by prayer: who conferred on his Apostles and followers the power of treading upon serpents and scorpions, he approaches the place unafraid, and bids the girls and those ^d who were with them to stand far off and to await the mercy of Almighty God; but he himself, standing before the mouth of the cave on the bank of the spring, armed with the sign of the cross, undauntedly awaits the dragon's coming forth. Whom that most savage dragon at once catching sight of, and believing that the feast was being brought to him after the usual manner, comes out as though about to feed his belly, and judges that satisfaction is being made for his hunger. And so presently God's Servant laid upon its head the staff which he carried for the sake of easing his labor and of guidance, and, sleep being brought on, extinguished all the ardor of its venom-bearing power and the poison of its harmful will. For with his own hand he bound it, like a small reptile, with a little cord with which he was girded, and ordered the bound monster to go straightway headlong through the waves of the river, which is commonly called the Savone, into the sea, enjoining upon it with the commanding power of his mighty deeds that, being sunk in the ocean's flood, it should not thereafter resume the faculty of harming men. At which command the hydra straightway slips away, and, never to appear again, is enfolded in the sea's waves.

[4] But what does human perfidy not pervert? Behold, thence he is haled before the governor, the Servant of God, herald of truth and priest of the Most High, delivers the undeserving city from the bonds of a death-bringing pest, and frees the citizens from a certain yoke of wretched servitude, effecting by one deed ^f both that God should be more familiarly worshipped, and that to the holy Man a title of veneration should be shown for the favor bestowed. But perverse men are wont to repay evil for good, and, by interpreting benefits sinisterly, to answer amiss; and whence they might, by giving thanks, live effectually, thence they strive wretchedly to perish through the reproach of detestable pride. For when the maiden, the governor's daughter, had returned into the city with her companions, and the citizens had seen the foods brought back which they had believed consumed by the dragon, they ask the cause; they suspect that their lord is angry with them, and that they are despised in the service of his feeding. But when they had learned from the maiden's account the holy Man's victory and the dragon's flight, there arises a din and outcry among the people, there is a concourse of the people to the governor; all wonder and clamor at the might of so great a power in one man, who could both overwhelm the lord of their city and subdue the most well-known strength of so robust a body; adding that Hercules alone could have done this, whose memory, though it survives, yet his strength has passed away with time. They also decree that he who could be the author of this transgression ^g is worthy of many punishments and must be subjected to graver penalties.

[5] He defends in vain the cause of the Christian religion, The governor, therefore, that most distinguished man, marveling at his daughter's words, and indignant at the rush of the tumultuous people, said: Let that nefarious presumer be led forth and presented at our tribunal; let him be sifted with careful examination, and by the experience of like beasts let him learn that one must not lightly presume about like matters. Straightway at the governor's command a troop of executioners goes forth, and, seizing the Man of God at the swiftest run, beaten and afflicted with many injuries, took pains to present him to the governor's gaze. Brought forth therefore into the midst, he stood before the governor, hedged about by the throng of many peoples. Whom the governor, that most distinguished man, beholding with angry countenance, said: Tell me, most wicked of all, from what region do you draw your origin; and why have you entered among us so presumptuously that you both stiff-neckedly despise the decrees of the princes, and pervert the ceremonies and rites of the immortal gods? To which Paris, the Lord's servant, being a disciple of great gentleness, said: If you ask the fatherland of my native soil, the region of the East brought me forth; if you demand the cause of my coming, the salvation of you all brought me to this province; that, the squalors of idols being left behind, you may strive to know the one God who is in the heavens, and to cleave with all your desires to Jesus Christ your Redeemer: for these images, hostile to themselves and to their worshippers, are as alien from the effect of divinity as they are lacking in sense and human reason. For what is baser and more discordant with reason than that the maker should worship his own making, and should bow himself to the mockeries of his own fashioning ^h?

[6] and his own, It befits therefore the fruit and salvation of your souls that, the shadows of all errors being cast off, you strive to attend to the true light, which is Christ, and to offer to him the vows of praises and the victims of jubilation — who, the founder of every creature, disposes the times, handles counsels, changes kingdoms, transfers empires, taking away the spirit of princes, terrible among the kings of the earth. For no long stretch of time will be drawn out, and our prince himself, rejoicing in the privilege of monarchy, the error of his blindness being forsaken, will bow his neck to the God of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, and, reborn in the water of Baptism, will stand forth as the worshipper and defender of the Catholic religion ⁱ. Nor ought you to complain at all about the dragon put to flight, which I have most clearly proved to have nothing divine, in that, the name of Jesus being invoked, I not only drove it from these borders but also so consigned it to the perpetual prison of the waves that, forgetful of its native malignity, it has lost the power of harming anyone further.

[7] until, exposed to the beasts, At these words of the blessed Man the empty crowd straightway rages, and charges that the holy Priest did this by magic arts. And so they suggest to the governor that the power of other beasts too must be tried; so that he who could stoutly resist the flame-belching breath of a dragon may presume, if he can, to bridle the rage of a lion and a bear. And so at the governor's command a most violent bear is led out of its cage, whose strength both the great size of its body and long fasts increased, all expecting that the enemy of the gods must shortly be destroyed and with the utmost speed devoured by the beast's teeth. But the divine hand deigns to protect its Confessor and to change the beast's ferocity as it were into the gentleness of a sheep: for the bear, at once falling at the feet of the Lord's Priest, began to swallow back within itself the foam of its own roaring, and, its fury laid aside, to check its inborn rage within its own bounds. At which miracle the raging people is astounded, and, ascribing this to magical power, they judge that a lion must be loosed upon him.

[8] Wonderful blindness of the people, and detestable stupidity! and unharmed by them, he converts the whole city, Could he who was able to extinguish the rage of fury in a bear not be able to shake down malice in a lion? A lion therefore being loosed from its den, by its size and ferocity it became a spectacle to all, who hoped that Paris could not escape its teeth, since they knew it labored under the want of long hunger. But in like fashion and by a similar reasoning the lion rolls at the blessed Man's feet, and, forgetful of the ferocity implanted in it, testifies in him as it were certain marks of divinity. Showing indeed no signs of savagery,

but exhibiting the form of a human mind and reason, it clings to his holy footsteps and makes supplication at the Confessor's feet. And so the citizens, roused by signs so evident, are straightway turned to divine praises; they declare with accordant voice that the one God whom Paris preaches must be worshipped; they affirm that all images must be spurned by all. The holy Man therefore, instructing them more fully in the faith of Christ, sprinkled with the water of baptism both the governor and all the people, and, offering a singular victim for their salvation, strengthened them by the sharing of the Lord's Body and Blood.

ANNOTATIONS.

* that is, "lower"

CHAPTER II.

His bishopric; his holy death; his churches; his posthumous miracles.

Elected bishop there, he is consecrated by St. Silvester I, Pope, But he conferred so great a grace of blessing and holiness on the aforesaid spring, whence he had driven the dragon, that whoever, held by the disfavor of fever ^a or by any sickness whatever, drank faithfully and devoutly of that spring, obtained by his merits the effect of a saving remedy: whose grace of sanctification it is manifest endures for that same spring to the present day ^b. These things, therefore, being magnificently accomplished ^c, all the people of the aforesaid city came together, and chose that same Saint of the Lord as their prelate; that him whom they had had as their first teacher of the Christian faith on earth, they might have as their chief pastor and special patron in heaven. Being chosen, therefore, he is presented to blessed Silvester the Roman Pontiff on Mount Soracte, who was then avoiding the rage of the Constantinian persecution ^d; who, exulting vehemently at the advancement of the Church and the glory of the Christian faith, gave thanks to God, and adorned the holy Man with the mitre of pontifical dignity. And so, the mysteries being accomplished after the custom, having received license ^e from him for performing those things which belong to a pontiff, by the Lord's disposition he returned.

[10] and, his church having been holily governed, he holily dies; Returning therefore to his own, he promoted priests and men of the remaining order with due observance by degrees; among whom, by a certain balanced consideration, he raised to the diaconate blessed Urbanus ^f, who succeeded him third in the rule of the church. But overthrowing utterly all the temples and shrines of the idols, he changed them into churches of God; that where before the ceremonies of demons had been foul, there might reign the fullness, or grace, of sanctifications. And he ruled the church of Teano, conspicuous by the light of miracles and renowned for a heavenly manner of life, for a number of years predetermined by God's providence. But when, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, he knew that the day of his dissolution was pressing and that his recall was imminent, he asked that a burial place be built for him near the city at the expense of the faithful; in which, when he had strengthened all in the observance of faith and in purity of life, the course of his lawful contest being completed, he put off the man, and, paying the debt of mortal nature, poured back earth to earth, spirit to heaven.

[11] Being carried up indeed by the ministry of angels, because he labored much for the Lord on earth, he deservedly received the eternity of rewards in heaven. And he was buried with hymns and spiritual songs, he is buried on 5 August: a twofold church is built in his honor. on the Nones of August. After whose death the people of the aforesaid city, on account of the worthy grace and celebrated memory of that most holy Paris, founded in the place of his burial a church of fitting workmanship. Over the spring also, whence he had driven the dragon, they built a basilica under his name; in each of which, namely, benefits abound by the prayers of his merits, while to any sick persons whatever asking faithfully soundness of mind and body is bestowed, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it; to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit is one honor, one majesty, one dominion, now and always through infinite and immortal ages of ages. Amen ^g.

[12] But after much time the aforesaid church ^h, now long consumed by age, was also utterly neglected by the people: His church flourished again with miracles; and where before, while the strength of due vigor remained, the Sacraments were wont to be brought, it began wholly to fall away along with the buildings of the church. But when for so long a time the aforesaid church was deprived of the service of its proper honor, and that which had been delivered over to divine worship remained useless, hedged in with growing and unfruitful weeds, and utterly deserted, it could not obey the Lord Jesus Christ. But since the Lord, who guards from all adversities him who trusts confidently in him, takes care to reveal in due time the secrets of his faithful, having regard to the aforesaid due consecration of that church of St. Paris, he by no means ceased for some days to exercise his mercy in the bosom of the aforesaid church upon certain persons in ill health: how which was done will be unfolded in what follows in truthful discourse.

[13] A certain man named Guiscard, most weak in the strength of his hands and feet, for there two paralytics and other sick people are healed; namely so that he could in no way walk upright, going down on the day before the Kalends of August to clean that place of the church, where, as was noted above, nothing useful was found, escaped from the aforesaid infirmity by the prayer of blessed Paris; and not undeservedly, since the Savior of the whole world, whose words are capable of truth, whose sayings can never be falsified, cannot lie in what he promised to those who serve him (saying: He who shall have striven lawfully shall be greatly crowned). But on another day, on the Kalends of August, when the report of so great a benefit was published through the city, and so great a mighty work thundered in the ears of the people, a certain girl named Eustadia, held by a weakness of the left hand, so that she could by no means gradually raise her arm, hastening in haste to that church of blessed Paris, obtained vigor by the intervention of a companion: which several hearing, they hastened rejoicing to such great miracles of our Redeemer, which are most manifestly declared daily to be seen in his servants: but others, overwhelmed with various sicknesses and anxiously panting with excessive heat, tasting healthfully the water which is seen to flow from the spring of that church ⁱ, from which blessed Paris had driven the most savage dragon, were relieved of fevers and burnings.

[14] Hearing these so great benefits which the Lord daily performed through blessed Paris, all the people greatly rejoiced. But when it came to the ears of a certain woman dwelling in the place which is commonly called Praetorium, likewise a boy constantly weeping, who was suffering in her mouth and likewise in her chin a disease which is commonly called Celsus ^k, judging that she would by no means depart without health, she seized upon the journey by going to that church; and praying in which church, she speedily received the health in which she trusted, by washing that sore with the water of the spring flowing from the aforesaid church. Which certain persons recounting, and lifting up the hearts of the hearers ^l, a certain woman from the place of St. Pancratius, who had a boy held by a very great infirmity — namely so that he consumed night and day in weeping — hastened to the church of St. Paris together with the boy: on whose entering the church, the former sickness so fled away that thereafter he remained quiet from tears; as we afterward received from his mother's mouth ^m. Finally, so many and such mighty works having been heard, mercifully hastened by Christ in the church of blessed Paris, the clergy and people of Teano, invited to such a banquet, like a barking animal pursuing the wild beast with eager mouth upon its tracks, made their way anxiously with tapers to the aforesaid church.

[15] By these and other mighty works of this kind the fame of the most blessed Paris, wondrously increased, and innumerable others; and by Almighty God, by whose mercy these things were revealed, made known through almost the whole world by the zeal of due piety, so grew that even if the same discourses were supplied by tongues, they would by no means be able to relate it ⁿ. Why more? Or why do I linger on many things? Just as the benefits of our Redeemer, from the greatness of his goodness, can be utterly compared to nothing, so also this Saint's mighty works are held and revered by all as so great that they could in no way be set forth in words. But since the rest do not dare at all, we have thought it worth while to touch only the sum, so that his deeds may not be passed over in silence, whose works are proved worthy of memory. Of this thus far; and let us pass to other matters. But when this fame reached Gaeta, certain men, as happens, supposed that it was not so; but certain, believing, as is set forth in what follows, firmly acknowledged it.

[16] likewise a citizen of Gaeta, a paralytic, and a woman possessed by a demon. A certain man, an inhabitant of that same city, whose right side was trampled by very great infirmity, and the free use of whose tongue was quite driven away, whose name was John Spica, desiring to give himself to his former soundness, sought the thresholds of the aforesaid church, and obtained the health he had sought. And when he returned sound to his own home, those who before had wavered, seeing him, most truly believed, though unwillingly. Hearing these things, a certain woman, sprung from Reumacium, who was held possessed by a demon, confidently considering that she would be freed, ran to the promises which were promised to the sick in that same church. She at length, having stayed there the space of one day, always asking what she desired, departed sad, favoring herself with these words: Alas for you! Run quickly, because the body rests here, and know firmly that the old punishment is at rest. Which, the bishop's house

being entered, what she was not worthy to receive in the aforesaid church ^o, she obtained within, where his body lay [p], blessed Paris interceding. Again on the first day after her departure, the people running before devoutly after the usual manner to the aforesaid thresholds, gave thanks to the Lord for the miracles wrought there.

[17] There came a certain woman from Petra Molaria, whose womb was swelling from the onset of a deadly mishap, [and another swollen from having swallowed a viper. The restoration of the falling church.] namely from the entrance of a serpent: whom the priests, seeing, blessed water flowing from the spring of that same church, which having drunk, she straightway vomited up the serpent. Finally, so great mighty works of Christ's confessor, blessed Paris, and the due homages of piety, were granted to several by mercy alone, that they are deservedly reckoned innumerable by all. Who, then, would not judge that the walls of this Saint should fittingly be visited, within whose thresholds such benefits are worked? What tongue again could most brilliantly set forth how many men possessed by demons the most blessed Paris, bishop of the city of Teano, took care to free; how many blind to enlighten; how many lepers to cleanse; how many oppressed with other sicknesses to lead back to their former soundness? Since indeed one so great and such performed so many and other good works, his church, which had been subject to falling, has now by the help of upright men been raised with no rude building.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. It seems that here "episcopium," where the Saint's body lay, is taken for the episcopal or cathedral church. And certainly there even now that body lies. What then? Was the city in that part where St. Paris' cemetery once was only now enlarged, and was that church made the cathedral, and consecrated to St. John the Evangelist, according to Ughelli, which had first borne the name of St. Paris? Or are the churches rather distinct, and was the body translated from one to the other? And yet of a translation there is no memory.

* read "of Soracte"

* perhaps "wrought"

* read "they made their way"

* perhaps "reached"

* rather "given"

* perhaps "Run, know,"