Severus

ON ST. SEVERUS, ABBOT OF AGDE IN OCCITANIA OF GAUL,

About the year D.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Severus, abbot of Agde in Occitania of Gaul (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. P.

§ I. His memory in the Martyrologies, and his solemn worship among the people of Agde.

Agatha, a city of Narbonese Gaul

to Strabo and Pliny, now

Agde, a city of Gaul in Occitania,

episcopal under the Archbishop

of Narbonne, Knowledge of the place, and it is elegant

and cultivated on the shore of the Mediterranean sea,

or of the Gulf of Lyons, a little above

the mouths of the river Hérault, scarcely one league distant from Vias

to the north, 7 from Narbonne to the east

(elsewhere I read 8 French leagues), as 4 from Béziers

toward Montpellier 10, in Lower Occitania,

as Baudrand witnesses, whose words are those which

I have recited, except the parenthesis. More the curious reader will find

in the new edition of Gallia Christiana,

tom. 6, in the church of Agde, page 664. Further, this city

was the theatre of the virtues and miracles of St. Severus,

who was carried thither from Syria after various stretches of sea,

divine providence his companion and guide,

that he might spread abroad the sweetest odor of the solitary life

in the territory of that same city, and afterwards

might found in the city itself a monastery over which

he most laudably presided. But that it passed over to secular clerks

is said in Mabillon, to be cited below,

in an annotation on page 568.

[2] No memory of this most renowned Man do I find

in the Martyrologies of Ado and Usuard. Yet among

the Usuardine Supplements published by us with the Martyrology

of the praised Usuard, his memory in the Fasti: there is announced

on the day XXV of August, from Greven: At the city of Agde,

of holy Severus the abbot, who, sprung of the royal stock of the Syrians,

great riches being despised,

gave himself to a most straitened life at the aforesaid city.

Being made afterwards the father of many monks,

full of sanctity, he rested with a blessed end in the Lord.

There is no need to heap up more announcements of other more recent

Fasti, namely of Canisius,

Maurolyco, Ferrari, Saussay in the Supplement,

page 1161, Castellan; to which add the newest

Paris Martyrology: in all of which the yearly memory of St.

Severus is noted on this day. And indeed of his immemorial

worship we are so certainly assured from elsewhere

that for proving it help need by no means be sought

from the consent of the Martyrologies, as

we shall now say.

[3] The Peculiar Offices of the church and diocese of Agde

… published in the year from the Virgin's childbearing MDCXVI, the public under the most illustrious lord Louis de Valois, bishop

of Agde, are in our possession; in which at

the day XXIV of this month is set the feast of St. Severus

the confessor. Double of the 2nd class; it is celebrated at Agde on the same day.

But in the whole diocese on the first less

occupied day. At first Vespers there are prescribed to be recited

the proper antiphons from Lauds; but the psalms,

little chapter, hymn, and versicle from the common.

At the Magnificat, the antiphon: Rejoice, diocese

of Agde, for the solemnities of father Severus; let the frenzy of wars

be stilled; let faith, peace,

and concord reign; let mother Church

be at rest; let guile, fraud, and heresy be banished;

let our understanding praise God together,*

telling the heralds' praises of the Confessor.

The Prayer: O God, who art wonderful in the confessions

of thy saints: grant, we beseech thee,

that by the intercession of blessed Severus thy confessor,

in whose yearly solemnity we rejoice, we may be delivered from all evils,

and may deserve fully to enjoy eternal joys.

Through the Lord.

[4] At Matins, the invitatory from the common.

In the first nocturn, antiph. and solemn Syria was the native land of holy

Severus's birth, whose birthday shone

with royal glory. Psalm. Blessed is the man.

Antiph. In the years of boyhood, shunning the mire of wantonness,

he gave himself with straight aim to the knowledge of letters. Psalm.

Why have the nations raged. Antiph. Giving himself to the sacred letters,

he adorns his manners with virtues, spending the night in God's

praises, and surpasses his lineage by his manners. Psalm. Lord,

how are they. ℣. and ℞. from the common. The first three

lessons are read from the book of Wisdom: The just man, if

he be prevented by death, as in the common of a confessor not a pontiff. ℞. I.

While Beticus the prelate held the rule of the see of Agde,

a faithful physician of souls, affording pious solaces

to his own: behold, at that same father's words

a contemplative Guest directed himself thither. ℣. He is rendered glad here,*

relying on the kindly old man's word. Behold, at the father's. ℞. II.

The pious pontiff pleading, Severus obeys the sacred admonitions,

and under so great a judge of salvation sets his foot

in the paths of God: and by this prelate's word

he is strengthened in the summit of charity. ℣. By this virtue

the breath of fear is driven forth. And by this. ℞. III. Being confirmed,

Severus speedily showed his wealth to the man of God,

which, being received, he well distributed by scattering it

among the crowd of the poor. Thus what he had long held

in mind he fulfilled by a venerable deed. ℣.

Rewards are due to those who show mercy to the wretched.

Thus what in mind. Glory. Thus what in mind.

[5] In the II nocturn, antiph. Reason subdued the flesh,

broken with much fasting, The Saint's worship by whose service

a spiritual refreshment is given. Psalm. When I called upon. Antiph.

Content with a covering of haircloth, without bedding,*

fed on raw pulse, he is given pure water of the river to drink.

Psalm. My words. Antiph. His father's goods being sold,

his own being wholly set behind, he enters with a few subjects

upon the brine of the Aegean deep. Psalm. O Lord,

our Lord. ℣. The mouth of the just &c. ℞. And

his tongue &c. Then follow three proper lessons

from the Breviary of Agde, from Pietro de' Natali,

and from an old manuscript codex. These we do not

transcribe, since we have the Saint's Life;

but we give only the Responsories and versicles.

℞. the sixth: Now, all his treasures being expended,

willing to spend himself over and above, he busied himself to build

a short house of reeds and stakes to dwell in:

there caring to sow in the present

what should profit future harvests. ℣. He gave himself wholly to prayers,

and tamed his limbs with a haircloth garment and with fastings. There

caring. ℞. the seventh: Shut up long in a short hut,

he sought much people for God, veiling his despised

little body with no garment but haircloth. Rarely taking food of the flesh,

he is macerated with long fasting.

℣. Food rarely taken is wont to tame the motions of the skin.

Rarely of the flesh. ℞. the eighth: Lest a vessel full of light

should lie hid longer in darkness, a frequented house is made for the Saint,

that under his rule

many might stand in God's name, allurements being driven off. ℣. Brotherly grace

flourishes in fatherly goodness. Many. Glory. Many.

[6] among the people of Agde In the III nocturn, antiph. Ploughing the Tyrrhenian waters, he comes beneath the shores of the Hérault. Here the anchor stood fixed,

weary breasts breathe again. Psalm. Lord,

who shall dwell. Antiph. After the peril of the sea

Christ sent his beloved Servant as a bearer of salvation

to the people of Agde. Psalm. O Lord,

in thy strength. Antiph. This city, in the jaws of the Goth,

though modest in situation, yet by the Catholic faith

confesses the heavenly kingdoms. Psalm. The earth is the Lord's.

℣. The law of his God is in his heart. ℞. And

his steps shall not be supplanted. The three last lessons

from the Homily upon the Gospel: Let your loins

be girded, as in the common of a confessor not a pontiff.

℞. VII. When Sallustius, a senator of the city, while living

was digging a sepulchre for himself, he is taught that his son

would die and rest here first: so that by this Severus

might be shown to have been foreknowing of things to come. ℣. The Breath of wisdom *

gave him the gifts of prophecy: so that Severus.

℞. VIII. It is proclaimed in the Church of God

that Severus is renowned from his deeds. For out of a store

of three loaves he gave food to three hundred and sixty

hungering brethren, and the refreshment of the divine gift

sufficed for three days for all who were made over

to Christ's service. ℣. He who fed the crowds multiplied

his own gifts. Glory. He gave food.

[7] is shown At Lauds and through the Hours, antiph. Taught by the knowledge

of prophecy, Severus unlooses the mysteries of things to come;

by the wheat he received he enlarged

the Lord's storehouse. Psalm. The Lord hath reigned.

Antiph. Confession purges the Confessor,

worn out with venerable old age; and, fearing the coming departure,

he commends his spirit to God. Psalm.

Sing joyfully to God. Antiph. The citizens of heaven come forth

to meet him, leading the Saint to his fatherland; and, having entered

the most glorious kingdoms, he now reigns with Christ

in soul. Psalm. God, my God. Antiph.

Blessed be the king of highest glory, who has made Severus

a partaker of the joys of the heavenly court,

in contemplating the supreme prince. Psalm. Bless ye.

Antiph. A holy hymn is owed*

by all, who have taken up Severus, full of virtues,

into the heavens this day, adorned with the crown of glory.

Cap. Blessed is the man. Hymn. Jesus, loftier crown.

℣. He led the just man. At the Benedictus, antiph.

At the tomb of the noble Patron the bountiful power of Christ

abounds. There a nimble foot is given to the lame,

the tongue of the dumb unlooses itself of its own accord. Here the leper

changes his color, the blind man is made fit for seeing;

for ever be God praiseworthy and blessed, who prospers all things. Psalm. Blessed. The Prayer as above.

At the Hours, the antiphons from Lauds: the little chapter

and short ℞. from the common of a confessor not a Pontiff.

[8] At second Vespers the antiphons and psalms

as at the first. from the proper Office. From the little chapter it is made of St. Bartholomew,

with a commemoration of St. Severus. Antiph. O Severus,

heavenly violet, set among the lilies of paradise,

made a dweller with the angels, clothed with everlasting joys,

cherish thine own with thy counsels,

fly often to this city, and, cleansing it from crafty stain,

fortify it with abiding safeguards. ℣. The just man. The Prayer

as above. From these things there is proved the public and exceedingly solemn

worship of St. Severus in the city and diocese

of Agde. But the day of that worship is likely

anticipated in the said city on account of the feast of St.

Bartholomew, which is there celebrated on the day XXV

of August, which is reported to have been the day of our Saint's death.

* i. e. understanding, sense

* i. e. contemplative

perhaps contectus*

* i. e. the Spirit of wisdom:

read Sanctis*

§ II. The Saint's disciple, the time of his death, the Acts

and their writer; the unknown institute of the monastery over which St. Severus presided; a passage in the Life corrected.

St. Maxentius or Adjutor, our Saint's disciple: Besides those things which are recorded about our Abbot's

sanctity in his Life, there also deserve to be considered

the Acts of St. Maxentius the presbyter,

abbot in the district of Poitiers, his disciple, who

also had the name of Adjutor. Further, that holy

and wise disciple was the glory of his master. His Life

is extant in our possession at the day XXVI of June, in which

Life what excellent service St. Severus rendered him

the following things are an argument, which are said

on page 170: He is handed over to be instructed, that in him

divine learning might make progress, and that he himself might in some measure

deserve to come to the crown of those who lawfully contend.

Meanwhile he is admonished by holy Severus with a saving

and diligent address; that is, that, fleeing and shunning

worldly things, he might be able, Christ granting it, to attain the clerical

discipline under a regular institution …

And when he lent his ear to his sayings,

and his teaching prevailed abundantly in him,

he began so to make himself over to the divine work that to all

beholding him he became a pattern and an example, as one who should one day be a prelate in the Church. Then, in the praised Life, after his coming to the monastery of Poitiers had been treated of, and his abbatial prefecture there, the endowments by which he showed himself worthy of that same office are deservedly referred to St. Severus as to their fountain, in these words: Nor is it a wonder if he is chosen as master and teacher in the monastery, who is proved to have been for some years the disciple of the most holy Severus, in all things most prudent, a follower of all good works. These things in the Life, written by a coeval author, as was set forth in our preface to the same.

[10] The time of St. Severus's death, says Mabillon in his annotation on his Life, St. Severus seems to have lived to about the year 500: of which we shall presently say more, since it cannot be gathered from the age of Beticus bishop of Agde, which is not sufficiently known, is in some fashion conjectured from the Life of St. Maxentius abbot of Poitiers, to be cited below… In the year of Christ DVII he is visited by Clovis after the battle of Vouillé, and at length, some years after, died a septuagenarian. Hence we believe that Severus reached the beginning of the sixth century. Thus far Mabillon. But those things may be read which are had among us in the Commentary on his Life alleged above, in which it is indicated at page 169 of tome V of the month of June that he departed from life about the year DXV, so marked in the margin. For the rest, concerning the time of Beticus, with whom our Saint lived, as will presently be related in his Life, the Sammarthani write these things in tome 2 of Gallia Christiana from page 57 of the earlier edition: Beticus flourished in the pontificate of Agde in the year CDLIII, as the old Legend of the Life of St. Severus abbot and confessor affirms, a fragment of which is inserted in the Breviary of the church of Agde, and in the Catalogue of Saints of Peter of Venice, bishop of Equilio. Nor do the authors of the new edition of Gallia Christiana bring forward more distinct dates for this bishop: for from those things which they have in the tome cited above, col. 666, they gather that he flourished about the year 450, adding nothing about his death. We meanwhile, while we do not have more certain documents concerning him, have fixed our Saint's death above at about the five hundredth year of Christ, almost with Mabillon.

[11] besides other Lives A compendium of the Life Peter de' Natali has in the Catalogue of Saints, book 7, chapter 113, which Gonon wove into his Lives of the Fathers of the West, book 3, from page 151. Among us there is also an apograph of a Life from Peter Calo, as is prefixed to it, p. 2, f. 138. Concerning Peter Calo or Calotius, a nursling of the Order of the Friars Preachers, consult our tome III of this month, page 14. Since this writer flourished toward the end of the thirteenth century, and relates in substance things like those which the anonymous author narrates in Mabillon, far more ancient than he, we shall not give his Life, which begins: Severus, sprung of the royal stock of the Syrians &c. In the same the Saint is said to have been buried with due honor in the basilica of St. Mark on the fifth of the Kalends of September. But concerning the place of burial, see the Annotations on the anonymous author's Life. Then follows this miracle: In the year one thousand two hundred and ninety-one, Arnaldus Pepary of Blauin, of the diocese of Bordeaux, when he had already for a long time been deprived of the light of his eyes, was led to his sepulchre. And when he had devoutly prayed there, and had faithfully asked the Saint's help, in the sight of all who were present he straightway recovered his sight, and, giving thanks to God and to St. Severus, withdrew thence rejoicing.

[12] one is extant in Mabillon: concerning whose author, In Mabillon, in the Appendix to the first century of the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, page 563, there is set forth a Life of St. Severus abbot of Agde from the manuscript notebooks of D. Perez. The author of that same Life seems to have been a monk: for thus he begins his Prologue: The religious Life of the holy and most blessed Severus.. we have deemed worthy to search out for the Brethren in a faithful narration. His name, however, is unknown to us. That passage in the Life, with us chapter 1, number 6, written by the same man, as is contained in the books of the Kingdoms of divers nations, which an eminent historiographer by the name of Roterius published in most precious wording and in brilliant speech, deserves also a small observation. For William Catel in the History of Occitania, book 2, chapter 4, page 280, wrongly affirms that the Life of St. Severus was written by that author, whom he calls Proterius, which error is refuted from the passage just cited. This Roterius, moreover, who above was so lavishly praised by the biographer, I have hitherto not found among bibliographers other than in the Literary History of France published by the Benedictines at Paris in the year 1735; but the things which are there recorded of him in tome 3 of the same Work, from page 403, have their foundation in the eulogy of that same biographer, which indicates that he flourished about the end of the sixth century, namely in the times of Reccared, king of this (the discourse is of the city of Agde) and of the Goths in Spain: to whom, as is observed in the said Literary History, Agde, and some other cities of the coast of the same province, were even then still subject. (Consult the Life of St. Severus with us below, chapter 1, number 6.)

[13] The biographer, however, does not seem to have set his hand to writing the Life of St. Severus and concerning the time in which he lived except after two centuries and more from his death, because, when he makes mention of Roterius the historian, he speaks of him as of an author who was then very far removed from himself, as the same Literary History will have it, tome 4, page 50, which adds that, since he says nothing of the Saracens, he cannot be placed later than about the year 720. But I cannot hammer out so great a distance of time between the writer of the Life and Roterius from the terms in which he mentions him, who, as at least it seems to me, could write thus of that same Roterius fifty years after his death. Nor does James Longueval please me, in the History of the Gallican Church, tome 2, who, after he has exhibited a compendium of the Life of St. Severus, affirms at page 108 that the same was written a little while after his death; at least that the biographer asserts that the ship in which this holy abbot had been carried into Gaul was still to be seen in his own time. (See the Life with us, number 8.)

[14] For I do not sufficiently understand that from this it can rightly be elicited at what time that biographer lived, we inquire. much less that he lived so near to the death of Severus the abbot, whose Life he wrote. For how long that ship remained visible after the Saint's death, we do not know. And indeed, might it not have been preserved even for a long time, as a most precious monument of antiquity, if the things which the Life narrates of that little ship are not in some way suspect, as will presently be said? For truly, if he had been so near to the Saint in time, I doubt whether he would have written thus in his prologue: The Life.. we have deemed worthy to SEARCH OUT for the Brethren in a faithful narration. For what need was there of searching out, when he himself, had he then lived, could have seen and heard very many things, and could have learned from the elder Brethren and the Saint's contemporaries the things which he had not seen or heard? But Longueval is refuted most of all below, from the annotation on chapter 1 of the Life, letter ⁱ. Let it meanwhile be permitted us to conjecture that the biographer could have written after the middle of the seventh century.

[15] But of what kind the rule or manner of living was that was observed in our Abbot's monastery of Agde, The rule of the monastery of Agde uncertain. as the biographer does not disclose it, so it is not ready to hand for us to affirm from elsewhere; nor further was it for Mabillon: for in his preface, which is prefixed to the first century of the Acts of the Order of St. Benedict, §1, after he had investigated the origin and progress of monks in the parts of the West, he adds a few and uncertain things concerning their primitive rules. For some, he says, the abbot's will was the rule; for others, a mode of living confirmed by the usage and tradition of their elders; on others written laws were imposed. In one and the same monastery several written rules were not seldom observed together, with subtractions or additions of whatever seemed opportune for the condition of places and times. Hence it comes about that it remains undiscovered whether, and which, of the rules already named was in use among the monks of Agde under the prefecture of St. Severus.

[16] A certain passage of the biographer is weighed In our Biographer, at number 9 of our division, these things are narrated: And straightway he sank in the deep, in the very channel of the river, the little ship with which as an exile he had reached foreign nations far from his fatherland, as it is today beheld by onlookers, that in all things he might be made equal to Hermogenes, who, believing in the Lord along with James the .. apostle, sank in the depth of the sea his chests full of books of sorceries, with a huge weight of lead. That this Hermogenes is the one who is found in St. Paul the apostle, Calmet indicates in writing on his epistle, of which presently: but this is not established for us: yet the things which he writes we here set out at greater length after him. The Apostle of the Gentiles, 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 15, says: Thou knowest this, that all they who are in Asia have turned away from me, of whom are Phigellus and Hermogenes. Tertullian, illustrated by our John Louis de la Cerda, tome 2, book 1, which is On Prescriptions against Heretics, chapter 3, page 9, thus records: It is a lesser matter if certain men, Phigellus and Hermogenes, .. also forsook his Apostle: the very betrayer of Christ was of the Apostles. In the same place, book 5, which is On the Resurrection of the Flesh, chapter 24, page 608, he indicates that Phigellus and Hermogenes did not believe in that same resurrection. The author of the Commentaries on the thirteen epistles of St. Paul, which Work was once ascribed to St. Ambrose, but is now, in the Paris edition of the Works of that same holy Father of the year 1690, cast into the Appendix, in tome 2, column 306, on the passage of the epistle indicated above observes these things: These (namely Phigellus and Hermogenes) whom the Apostle records were full of guile: for they feigned friendships with the Apostle, that, clinging to him, they might learn whence to make a calumny against him, or to send it in through others. Who, after they saw themselves made manifest, withdrew from him.* But I return to the biographer.

[17] and corrected Pseudo-Abdias, bishop of Babylon, an infamous impostor and a most notorious collector of trifles and fables, among very many other apocryphal things which he obtrudes concerning Hermogenes, writes these in the Apostolic History, book 4, which is the history of St. James the Greater, folio 46 verso of the Paris edition of the year 1571: Hermogenes says to him: Behold, I know the wraths of the demons: unless thou give me something to carry with me, they will hold me fast, and will kill me with divers torments. To whom blessed James: Take (says he) the staff of my journey, and with it go safely wheresoever thou wilt. And he, taking the Apostle's staff, went away to his house. And without delay, his magical books being gathered, he brought to the Apostle full baskets, and on his own neck and*

of his disciples, and he began to burn them with fire before him. But James forbade it: Lest perchance the odor of the burning (said he) vex the unwary, hang stones and lead on the baskets, and cast them into the sea. And when Hermogenes had done this, returning he began to hold the Apostle's feet &c. But there is trifling in plenty. Further, that masked Abdias is dealt with by us at greater length on this day XXV of August in St. Bartholomew. Hence the present digression of our biographer is to us a pure and simple fabrication, which either he himself received from the reeking sinks of fabulous antiquity, or another afterwards stitched to his narration. For truly that comparison of St. Severus with Hermogenes, of which I spoke a moment ago, is not so honorable to the Saint himself as it is thoroughly worthy of our biographer, if indeed it was written by him. That Mabillon found nothing blameworthy in it seems to be gathered from the fact that in his annotations on the Life of St. Severus he leaves untouched this passage which we have corrected. What, too, of the fact that that little ship, of which we spoke above out of the Life, seems to have something suspect about it, since journeys of this kind by sea are not accomplished in little ships? It remains that we set forth the Life, which we have divided in our accustomed manner, and have endeavored to illustrate with annotations.

zabernas*, i.e. chests or boxes

elsewhere Zabernas*

LIFE

By an anonymous author,

From the manuscript notebooks of D. Perez, published by Mabillon in the Appendix to the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, first century, page 563 and following.

Severus, abbot of Agde in Occitania of Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 7670

A. By an anonymous author.

PROLOGUE.

The author praises the Saint, The religious life of the holy and most blessed Severus, which he led in Christ full of virtues, we have deemed worthy to search out for the Brethren in a faithful narration. For this man, by confessing Christ Jesus, budded like a lily, and, blazing with the ardor of faith, not like a lamp under a bushel but set upon a candlestick, offered to all worshippers of Christ the most brilliant light of his good work. This man, like a comely olive tree hedged about with the greenness of chastity, in no wise faltered to pierce through the vices of the flesh, the dagger of faith being seized, with manifold learning. This man, like a flowering palm remaining fruitful in the house of God, brought to all who live rightly, in every season, a fullness of spiritual charisms. This man, like a cedar exalted in Lebanon, scattering everywhere an odor-bearing report, sweet with virtues, took away the rottenness and stench of sinning from filthy and most foul men.

[2] This man, like a good branch of the true vine, that is, cleaving to Christ, and confesses his own slenderness. brought forth fruit that shall never wither, whose liquor, most avidly drained, offers to God minds made sober and the souls of transgressors made most pure. This man, like a cypress, set for the advancement of many upon the contemplation of God, and raised on high, straightway set behind him the worldly pomp and the vain glory of this world, teaching the rest how they might strip themselves of that most monstrous precipice. This man availed not only for himself and for those whom, snatched from the cage of perdition, he drew along with himself to the joys of eternal felicity, God's clemency working it, but truly also for all who sought his suffrage: and he will moreover be able to profit those who, cleaving to his footsteps in daily converse, shall have desired with the whole intention of the mind to imitate him. Meanwhile I beg pardon from all readers, that they judge me not rash in this labor, since, overcome by too great a love toward this most blessed Man, and inflamed with the ardor of charity, I have undertaken to hammer out this very small Little Work.

CHAPTER 1.

The Saint's fatherland, parents, pilgrimage into Gaul, solitary life.

Chap. I

Our Savior therefore appearing in the world, as the sons of Kore ^a prophesied, St. Severus's fatherland, lineage, and parents: truth is sprung out of the earth, and justice hath looked down from heaven upon the earth-born. Many also from that time shone forth far and wide as sons of light, who by their doctrines and examples rendered the whole world most splendid: of whom Christ, the rising Sun of justice, deigned to send singly, or certainly two, or three, or even very many, through the four quarters of the globe, namely by his capital clemency distributing to them the principate of all provinces, or the privilege of inheritances, that they might preserve for him the peoples of his inheritance, and perpetually fortify them. Of whose venerable college, coming forth marvelously like a new star, there shone forth the confessor of great merit, to be named by us with the giving of thanks, Severus. Him the royal province of the Syrians deserved to beget of a noble stock; but the happy city of Agde rejoices together, as at a singular benefit bestowed on it by God, that it acquired him as its peculiar Patron; whose parents, as was made plain above, were not of the lowest, abounding in various riches, favorers of the divine law, and held no small place of dignity among the crowds of the people. But what we know from the Prophet's singing, that the Lord is in the just generation, may it ever go forward to the praise of Severus, in that he strove most powerfully to adorn his own lineage, in as many ways as he could, by raising it to sublime things. For from a most worthy shoot of the earth-born a most worthy offspring, coming forth into the light of this world, adorned the nobility of his lineage with the merits of the spiritual life, while, set in more youthful years, he was made an example to elders.

[4] he spurns the world: His parents also, withdrawing from the light of this cosmos, left surviving that same most dear pledge of theirs, exceedingly enriched with earthly goods: who, when he beheld himself set in free choice, began with the pious intention of his mind to search out, in his tender age, how he might be able to serve God alone, and to render the obedience of pious devotion. For he considered the voice of Paul the Apostle saying: The figure of this world passeth away, since it is set in the evil one. Therefore it too shall pass away, and the concupiscence thereof. For indeed he had heard the Lord in the Gospel forewarning those who believe in him: He who beareth not his cross and followeth me cannot be my disciple. And therefore most blessed Severus, forsaking worldly solicitude, as soon as he passed out of infancy and attained boyhood, began, great of soul, to love God with all his strength. He took note that only the names of those are held noted down in the book of life who, set upon earth, preferring nothing to the love of Christ, cleave to spiritual pursuits, making themselves equal to the citizens of the angels, according to what James the Apostle sets forth: He who, he says, shall have looked into the perfect law of liberty, and shall have remained therein, not made a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, he shall be blessed in his deed. For fearing lest, on account of his earthly patrimony, he should fall into the ancient enemy's snare, he chose rather to be a despiser of the worldly life: and so, driving carnal affections far from himself, he gave his effort to philosophy. Amid these things there comes back to his memory what the Lord had spoken to Abraham, the illustrious one of all the patriarchs: Go forth thou, he says, out of thy land and out of thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee: and I will make thee to grow into a great nation.* But seeing that the Lord is faithful to remain in his holy words, and holy to stand fast in his works, he knew beyond doubt that he had not only fulfilled what he once promised to Abraham, but had also conferred like things upon all his followers unto the consummation of the world.

II.

[5] Vexed therefore by a fourfold meditation, he was to leave his native soil, he forsakes his fatherland. and straightway, kindled with a sudden ardor of faith, that he might be proved a true cultivator of the evangelical precept which says: He who shall leave house, or fields, or possessions, and also all things that are his own for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess eternal life: being made, as it were, a money-changer of the divine gift, having taken up a great price he sets his fatherland behind him, and with some household servants of his own family boarded the Aegean sea ^b by a voyage of ship. Then, committing himself with his whole mind to the will and judgment of the Lord, he prayed that the highest Governor would lead him to a suitable place, so that he might sing with the voice of the Psalmist: Lead me, O Lord, in thy way, and let my heart rejoice in truth, that it may fear thy name. Thereafter, furrowing the immense waste of that deep, he crossed the Tyrrhenian ^d waters through the Sicilian strait ^c; and so, passing over the main, he experienced the various and exceedingly dreadful and terrifying shipwreckings of the sea's billows (in which the race of mortals is for the most part wont to be entangled), so that, crying out with sounding voice to the All-powerful, he said: They that go down to the sea in ships, doing business in many waters; these have seen thy works, O Lord, and his wonders in the deep.

[6] Thereafter, with a prosperous voyage serving him, he was borne to the land of the Goths, Having landed in Gaul he settles into a certain mouth of the Hérault, * which is distant from the city of Agde by nearly two miles. Which city, set in Septimania ^e, was once most opulent and exceedingly populous: but, the sins of its inhabitants requiring it, it was burned with a pitiable fire by Geiseric the Vandal king, who invaded almost all Africa. Then from Hunneric the Alan prince it suffered a most cruel destruction. But afterwards, in the following time, Attila ^f, the profane and exceedingly savage king of the Avars ^g, who warred down almost all the Gauls, as also innumerable other cities, overthrew this one too from its foundations, as is contained in the books of the Kingdoms of divers nations, which an eminent historiographer by the name of Roterius ^h published in most precious wording and in brilliant speech. For this man flourished most honorably in the times of Reccared ⁱ, king of this city and of the Goths, as much in divine as in worldly disciplines. But the said city, although it has always succumbed to these and other inestimable evils, yet, reduced to the likeness of a very small town, is now inhabited by few dwellers, though its ancient freeborn dignity be lost; yet let glory for this be referred to the Most High and propitiating God, the consoler of his Faithful, now and always and through the unfailing eternities of the ages. Amen.

III.

[7] Not obscure therefore in the lamp of virtue, what our Saint of whom we treat did after these things, in the territory of Agde: whose bishop let us bring into the midst. So then, when he had struck with swift impetus into the channel of the river Hérault, which flows down almost beside the wall of the aforesaid town, using a happy rowing back, coming with his vessel not far from the walls, he attained the desirable and everlasting harbor. There governed at that same time, most strenuously, the see of the holy mother church of Agde a man in all things praiseworthy, sprung of an illustrious lineage, an excellent bishop, in whose foresight all the care of that foresight persisted. He, strengthened by the hope and love of Christ, raising the minds of very many men by the instinct of his virtue to heavenly desires, made them over to contemplative pursuits, and adorned them with honorable manners. Who also, for the greatness of his merits, was by all the citizens, as father of the fatherland, worthily elected pastor of the Lord's flock and a glorious prelate. For they knew that he sought not his own things, but faithfully willed and searched out the things that are Jesus Christ's, and to run against the most iniquitous enemies from the opposite side, and sharply to war down the troops of the airy powers, and sagaciously to set an unconquerable wall against them for the defense of the truth.

[8] is here praised with a notable eulogy. Since this his sanctity declaimed that it was for the most part done, and truly also his ripe probity of manners professed it, since indeed

by execration he fled the pleasure of the flesh, and wisely turned aside from mockeries and lightness of mind; illustrious with the gems of such virtues, exalted to the pontifical summit, he shone again in his flock like the sun by the divine office, and offered himself as an example to all who wished to obey the will of God, by ever serving those same by holy works. But inclined to fasting and to remarkable vigils, praiseworthy in prayer, singular in mercy, he pressed on like a good shepherd with ever-wakeful care, anxious lest the aged enemy might in any manner bring harm upon the sheep entrusted to him. He soothed the pious, that day by day they might advance more and more in God: he terrified the wicked, that they might come to their senses from their iniquitous manners, and, according to the Apostle, he reproved, besought, and rebuked the hard, the proud, the contumacious, and the envious, mingling times with times, blandishments with terrors. And he was exceedingly pious, and fervid with charity, so that, by suffering along with the divers calamities of the afflicted, he was the eye of the blind, the ear of the deaf, the tongue of the dumb, the hand of the withered, and the hope of the lame.

But how greatly and of what sort he showed himself in visiting the sick, in receiving pilgrims, in consoling the sorrowful, in consoling the wretched, in defending his own citizens, and in the redemption of captives, the tongue of no mortal will be able to unfold. Truly he became all things to all, that he might gain all for Christ. For such a man deserved to be rector of the Catholic church, who, living chastely and soberly, showing forth beforehand to his subjects patience and mercy, meekness and justice or kindness, should bear the care of all.

IV.

[9] Most holy Severus, therefore, learning of the said prelate's nectar-like fame, Severus, resigning himself and all his goods to him, builds a hut, came to him with faith and devotion, and related to him openly all that he had about himself, and the cause of so great a journey. From whom, hearing a discourse on contempt of the world, pricked with the fear of God, he brought down to his holy feet the tawny metal, of which he had the greatest weight with him; beseeching him with great prayers that he would in part disburse it for the need of the destitute, and in part distribute the price in the redemption of captives; the remainder again which he was able to have he committed to the care of that same blessed bishop Beticus, and with tears begged that he would spend it in alms for the poor for the remedy of his soul. Thereafter, for God's honor, he restored his slaves to liberty, that thereby he might be able to receive the fruit of a copious reward in the future joys of eternal life. But since even such things did not suffice him, he turned over in his breast that word of the Gospel, that he who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God; and straightway he sank in the deep, in the very channel of the river, the little ship with which as an exile he had reached foreign regions far from his fatherland, as it is today beheld by onlookers, that in all things he might be made equal to Hermogenes, who, believing in the Lord along with James the Apostle … sank in the depth of the sea his chests full of books of sorceries, with a huge weight of lead ^k. Then indeed, the hair of his head being taken off, submitting his neck to the light yoke of Christ, he deserved to obtain the novitiate of the heavenly warfare. After this, choosing a stricter life than he might lead among monks, the Man of God, seeking the shipwrecking shore, gathered fragile reed, out of which in a most narrow place he secretly raised a very small hut.

[10] Taking up the holy habit, he enters the most cramped little house, and begins the solitary life. blocking up the entrance, and at length, growing warm with the ardor of faith, he is stretched upon the ground, beating upon heaven with devout prayers. Meanwhile the faithful Servant within, after a space of twenty days had been completed, is sought by his own not without exceeding bitterness of soul: and, being sought, he is at length with difficulty found in that same hut where he lay hid, clinging to the pavement: prostrate at whose knees they searched out with tears what so sudden a change of the right hand of the Most High had arisen in him. To whom, opening the secret of his devotion and the integrity of his mind, he declared how, for the desire of the heavenly inheritance and the rewards of the just, he had taken up so arduous a journey. Bidding them farewell, therefore, he prayed that they would not presume further to disturb the solitary life which he had seized upon. Consider, I pray, how this most blessed Man followed the footsteps of the Apostles, of whom the evangelical discourse relates that, as soon as they heard the voice of the Lord commanding, their nets and ship being left, they followed the Lord and Savior alike. For so most perfect in God's work did Severus at once appear, that he kept back not even a single day's food. For he rejoiced and exulted in the Lord, because he knew that by his grace he was to be enrolled in the number of those of whom the Redeemer of the human race says: So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.*

ANNOTATIONS.

* the Arauris, l'Eraut, a river.

* i.e. of the world

* i.e. habit

CHAPTER II.

His virtues, monastery, the number of ascetics in it, miracles, prophecies, death.

At length, the heavenly clemency going before him and following after him, On account of his austerity and fastings, by day and night he busied himself to fulfill better and more fully the most salutary service of his converse, and ever standing by God in fasting and ever in adoration. For thus he set about fighting against the assailing enemy, that he might extinguish the foe who fought against him, and that whence he then afflicted himself alone, thence hope might come most greatly to the aid of all. But because, as the sacred utterance witnesses, a city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden, and light can in no wise lie hid in the darkness, his immense sanctity, spreading itself abroad little by little, flying through all things on happy wings, took possession of them. From then on there was no small concourse of faithful men from the neighboring parts to that same Servant of God, and from that time he was frequented by many. For the unheard-of rigor of his abstinence was published abroad everywhere: since he took food only on the Lord's days after receiving the Eucharist. But the bishop of blessed memory, the most precious Beticus, of whom we made mention above, recognizing his frugality, when the solemnities of Masses had been duly celebrated, had been accustomed to send one biscuit-loaf to the servant of Christ, on which the Lord's cross appeared to be impressed ^b: which, taking it off whole with its crust, he took, putting it into his mouth with two fingers with the utmost reverence, as it were a blessed bread ^c, and, taking food from that loaf sent to him by the bishop, he extended his fast until the coming forth of the next Lord's day. Surely he was sustained by the grace of him who fed his Israelite people with heavenly manna for forty years while they were set in the wilderness. Plainly I do not think that this eating * of the cross of bread ^d is void of mystery. For those, says Paul, who are Christ Jesus's have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences: and therefore Severus, by first taking the cross of the bread before it, took corruptible food, because he perpetually tamed his body by the cross: and, to run over all the mystical meanings in a brief discourse, the cross was the food of the eater, and the very abstinence of the faster; the cross was the contrition of the body, and the very solace of his labor. For such rare and insatiable refreshment, lasting to the consummation of the blessed Man's life, seems, as I profess, to have surpassed every rack and torment of the cross: because it was then seen rather to inflame hunger, when it ought to have allayed it.

[12] But Severus, keeping the authority of his own name, by austere strictness cutting away the allurements of the flesh, he deserves the name of martyr and confessor. raised himself against himself: and although he did not feel the persecutor's sword, yet he, standing forth as a savage torturer and cruel executioner upon himself, was found most worthy of God for the cleanness of an angelic life, not deprived of the glory of martyrdom. Now two kinds of martyrdom are shown to exist, of which one is said to be in the open, the other in secret: but that which is done outwardly is finished in a swift course; that which is inward is long drawn out and prolonged, and is ended only at the very border of death. Martyrdom, therefore, is fulfilled not only by the shedding of blood, but by turning aside from evils and cleaving to the precepts of God. But what will have to be said to these things about Severus the most pious confessor? Shall we call him a martyr or not? Certainly both can be said, both martyr and confessor. A martyr indeed he was then, when, set upon earth, sequestering himself from the commission of iniquitous work, he daily offered to God a contrite heart as a living victim: but now he is honored and venerated as a confessor, because, worn out with praiseworthy old age in the peace of the Church, he happily passed over to the Lord.

VI.

[13] While, most renowned, he flourished in the merits of virtues, at the said town of Agde, [His monastery in the city of Agde; the harshness of his life, the number of the monks.] Severus, an excellent member of the Lord, was visited by a multitude of peoples. But because they considered that the hut in which he dwelt was on every side most cramped, being of one mind by divine grace, and armed also with the zeal of faith, with common consent and devotion a suitable cell is kindly built by all beside the basilica which up to the present is adorned with the relics of the most blessed Apostle Andrew ^e; in which, having tarried no small time of his life, he offered day and night the office of prayer, with groans and sighs, to the most devout Lord, not so much for himself as also for the stability of the universal Catholic Church, which stands beneath the axle of heaven. He had no garment at all except a haircloth one: marble bound with glacial cold furnished the bedding of his little couch. For nobles too began to flow together to him from round about, desiring above all to become emulators of his converse, and, flying like most prudent bees to a spiritual hive, asking to be formed by the Man of God's teaching and erudition and Jesus's

to obey the laws of Christ. What more? By the authority of nearly three hundred brethren, or more than that, living in common, Severus the shepherd, * a ready rector and pious pastor, is unwillingly set over them. At length, devising with the rest a stricter norm of right living in the monastery, he afflicted his flesh with cruel starvation, and at the same time the whole framework of his members grew hot with continual affliction: but in the oratory, whether giving himself to reading or pressing on with psalmody, he had been accustomed to stand with bare feet, with a flooring of marble kind, chill, spread beneath him.

[14] And, behold, God, willing that the sanctity of his Servant should not lie hid from mortals, He heals a sparrow's crushed foot: willed it to become illustrious by a notable miracle. For, that it might be proved that he was gentle and mild and humble of heart, a certain sparrow, flying up unexpectedly, at once settled on his right hand; to which, showing the sweetest kindness, holding out millet or wheat with his hand, he busied himself to offer it food, knowing that it had been sent to him from the Lord, converted into gentleness by the largess of the divine gift, for the solace of an omen. But when for several days the Man of God rejoiced not a little at the novelty of that miracle, the ancient enemy raised from this no small envy. For a certain one of the neighboring soldiers had sown a field of millet not far from the monastery, which, growing up in the stalk, had come to ripeness. But when it was being laid waste by a multitude of sparrows, the guard of the field, grieving over the damage to the millet, hurls stones with force to scatter the sparrows, and while the other birds escaped in feathered flight, the adversary lying in ambush, by the cast of a single stone he crushed the foot of that sparrow which served the holy Man's gaze. Straightway therefore it sought the window of the little cell, settled on the right hand held out to it after its custom, then, bringing before his sight its hanging and crushed foot, it laments its own weakness with a tearful voice, and demands that he bring help. But father Severus, overflowing from the fount of piety, restores it to its former soundness. Therefore, that ridiculous men dare not defame the sign of so great a power shown forth through the blessed Man upon a bird, we admonish them, that although God is great and omnipotent, yet, glorious, he works wonders in the least things: since that same one always remains marvelous in his Saints.

VII.

[15] Nor indeed is that to be omitted, how the spirit of prophecy shone forth divinely in him. he foretells the death of the senator Sallustius's son: Sallustius, a senator in the land of the city of Agde, when he beheld himself set in the middle threshold of this life, and felt himself already, much wearied with old age, sloping toward death, mindful of human frailty, took pains to place a sepulchre for himself in the monastery of the blessed Apostle Andrew. He, coming to the little cell of holy Severus for friendship's sake, met that same blessed Man, and, a blessing having been asked, while common conversation was being mingled, he told the most holy Father why he had come. Hearing which, the Man of God is reported to have wept, drawing deep sighs from the bottom of his breast. But Sallustius casts himself at blessed Severus's knees, asking with mighty supplication that the cause of so sudden a lamentation be related to him. Father Severus, giving a groan, at length breaking out into speech, said to him: Thou demandest of me, a humble man, O best of men, to tell thee the immense abundance of the tears of mysteries: but I beseech thee, let me not afflict thee with heavier laments, since horror strikes my limbs, sobbing cuts off my words; and although these things be so, the sepulchre which thou reckonest to be thine own thou hast prepared not for thyself, but for thy son, whom thou wast wishing to be made heir of all thy goods. Yet, as I said, restrain thy tears reasonably, and learn thou willingly to embrace what the Arbiter of thy affairs then commands to be done. Look upon Job, who lost an inestimable store of riches, and whose numerous sons were struck down in a single disaster, yet gave thanks to the Lord: and upon David, who, his son being lost, resumed the use of the bath, and restored the banquet long denied.*

[16] he multiplies the household store by a miracle: But another notable miracle and unwonted prodigy of this blessed Confessor we deem worthy to make known to the ears of the faithful. At a certain time, when the first heat of the month of May was beginning, and the younger calogeri ^f were growing weary, overcome as much by their daily work as by the labor of fasting, and blessed old Severus, their taskmaster ^g, weighed this, when the assembly of the evening Office was being discharged, calling one of the brethren, to whom the care of the cellars had been almost wholly committed, he charged him that he should refresh those whom he saw to be weary. To whom the steward, answering, said: For the refreshment, Father, of three hundred and sixty brethren we have only three loaves, and thy fatherly truth of piety knows that we have nothing at all besides them. And so Severus, worshipper of the Trinity, orders the vessels of the monastery to be brought before his sight, and when they had been filled with water he brought forth a blessing, and, breaking the loaves piecemeal into small bits, he threw their fragments inside. There a wondrous power of Christ appeared, when they began to grow into an immense heap, so that the several vessels belched forth full abundance. In this astonishment at the miracle, therefore, all the cenobites, being amazed, blessing God the bestower of all good things, the eagerness of faith was more fully satisfied than the wretched necessity of hunger. For three days the same increase of fragments afforded the blessed company a copious substance, while the broken fragments were multiplied, and only slight losses were perceived to be expendable. Powerful is Jesus, the great Redeemer of the whole earth, to do such things through his servants, who in the presence of his disciples satisfied five thousand men, besides little ones and women, from five loaves and two fishes.

[17] There is furthermore also one no small testimony of the blessed man's work. he foresees the store of wheat brought by God's providence. For, as was made plain above, since his profession possessed a perfect spirit, on the fourth day after the foregoing miracle had been accomplished, the evening Office being completed, he calls the steward to him, and said to him: Go forth quickly outside the gate; for thou shalt behold three hundred bushels of wheat being brought in wagons, of which I bid that such quantity of grain as may suffice for the brethren's supper be at once carried off to the mills, and loaves prepared for eating: but what shall be left over, let it be brought into the Lord's granary. With no delay at all the Brother went out into the midst and recognized that the things prophesied were true, and fulfilled the precepts of his spiritual taskmaster.

[18] Adorned therefore with so many and such flowers of virtues, Dead, he becomes illustrious by miracles. worn out with long old age, the Man of the Lord Severus, seizing the way of all flesh, in the month of August, on the twentieth day of the fifth month, which is the IX of the Kalends of September ^h, while the troops of monks and clerics wept along with a numerous multitude of the people, and the angels applauded, sent forth to the heavens a soul most dear to God: and he was buried in the basilica of the holy confessor Martin [i], with the honor and praise which such a defender and patron of the citizens of Agde deserved to have: where, the divine clemency working it, many mighty deeds are wrought, so that whosoever comes as a faithful petitioner to that same place will rejoice to have obtained whatever he has asked with devout mind and pure heart, his merits interceding. But the possessed, beset by demons, as soon as they have been brought thither, are cleansed by his help. By these and by the countless miracles that follow, although the limbs of so great a Confessor lie in the sepulchre, yet by God's grace the merits of that same intercessor live unto eternal ages, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit the life-giver lives and reigns God through all ages.

ANNOTATIONS.

read comestionem*

perhaps pater*,

* that is, the cause of a lamentation of this kind.