CONCERNING SAINT LAURENCE THE ILLUMINATOR, BISHOP OF SPOLETO IN UMBRIA.
ABOUT THE YEAR OF CHRIST 576.
PrefaceLaurence the Illuminator, Bishop of Spoleto in Umbria (Saint)
By the Author I. B.
[1] It is reported in the Acts of Saints Carpophorus and Abundius, which we shall present on December 10, and which exist in Mombritius sprinkled with very many errors, Formerly apostolic men journeyed from Syria to Italy, that twelve apostolic men came to Italy from Syria in the times of Diocletian and Maximian. Although there are those who would have them journeyed from Antioch to Rome with Saint Peter, and that most of them survived to the times of Domitian. These were Anastasius and his two sons Briccius and Eutychius, and nine grandsons: Carpophorus, Abundius, Laurence, John, Teudila, Isaac, Proculus, Herculanus, and Baractalis, whose name, however, does not appear in Mombritius.
[2] Anastasius is said to have suffered martyrdom at the Aquae Salviae, a place not far from the Porta Capena, adorned with a famous monastery and the relics of another Saint Anastasius, the Persian Martyr, under the leadership of Saint Anastasius the Martyr, as we said in his Life on January 22, section 4, number 16. Ludovicus Jacobillus, volume 1 of the Saints of Umbria, under January 5, in the Life of Saint John I, Bishop of Spoleto, reports that he was killed on December 5, because he considers him to be the same person who is mentioned on that day in the Roman Martyrology. He seems to us to be a different person, different from the one recorded on December 5 in the Martyrology: since he was inscribed in the Martyrology by Baronius from the Greek Menologion, in which it is reported that he voluntarily ran to the arena, and standing in the midst of the assembly freely preached, and for that reason was beaten with scourges, beheaded, and cast into the sea. Baronius, summarizing this more briefly, says he voluntarily offered himself to the persecutors from the ardor of martyrdom. But the parent of Saint Carpophorus, Anastasius, sought out with the greatest diligence and care by the lictors and brought before the tyrant, was beaten with knotted clubs for a very long time, and finally shut up in a most foul prison, tormented by the long wasting of imprisonment, and beheaded at the Aquae Salviae. These accounts do not agree with each other.
[3] Saint Briccius, or Brictius, having suffered much as a Bishop, finally rested in peace at Martula in Umbria on July 9. Saints Carpophorus the Priest and Abundius the Deacon were crowned with martyrdom at Spoleto on December 10. the rest are venerated in Umbria on various days: Saint Proculus is said to have been Bishop of Carsulae and Terni, and is venerated (according to Jacobillus) on April 14: Ferrarius on that day places Proculus II, killed by the Goths, whom Ughellus places on June 1, Jacobillus on December 1. Saint Herculanus I, Bishop of Perugia, died a martyr on November 7, on which day, however, the Roman Martyrology records Herculanus II, whom others place on March 1. Saint Baractalis was killed for Christ at Spoleto on October 9. Saint John I, Bishop of Spoleto, is said by Jacobillus to have died on January 5. Saints Theudila, Isaac, and Laurence are written by Ughellus, volume 1, part 2, page 166, to have been consumed by martyrdom on July 22: on which day we find their names in no Martyrologies; nor anywhere the name of that ancient Saint Eutychius, or Euticius.
[4] others likewise from Syria in the sixth century, Many with the same names flourished in the times of the Goths, namely in the sixth Christian century: Saint Eutychius the Abbot who is venerated on May 23, Saint Isaac on April 11, Saint John Bishop of Spoleto Martyr on September 19, and another Saint John of Penaria, Abbot near Spoleto, on March 19. Saint Proculus II, Bishop of Terni, Martyr, on June 1 or December, as already indicated. Saint Herculanus II, Bishop of Perugia, Martyr, on March 1. Saint Laurence, Bishop of Spoleto, on February 3. And because certain of these were Syrians (for Saint Gregory reports this of Saint Isaac, and the Life of Saint John of Penaria states it of him; some also of those whom we have previously mentioned from the Acts of Saints Carpophorus and Abundius set out from the same place), hence perhaps both the calendars of certain Churches have been disturbed, and those bands of Saints have been supplemented with reinforcements drawn from a much later or much earlier age, perhaps some are the same, as if all who are numbered had come from Syria at both times: which, however, learned men deny regarding some of them. Thus we see that however many apostolic men came from Ireland to our Belgium at different times, they were subsequently, by unskilled writers who lived long after their era, all made companions of some one primary figure, and some who were born in Belgium or Gaul were joined to them.
[5] However the matter may stand, Umbria has contracted great shadows, if not darkness, concerning the deeds, origin, and era of its ancient Saints. There will be those from that nation who will at some time dispel them with learned studies: the matter is obscure, and some have begun not unsuccessfully; yet no one has as yet restored full light. For us, removed by so great a distance and unable to examine the records of all Churches (for many have been destroyed by wars and the sacking of cities), it will be enough if, holding a torch before us, even a smoky and sometimes dim one, we follow from a distance.
[6] And Saint Laurence indeed, who is ascribed to that second band of newcomers from Syria, Saint Laurence the Illuminator, one of the later group, is recorded on this day by Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, and by Ludovicus Jacobillus on February 4, because on that day he is venerated at Spoleto, the third day being occupied by the annual festival of Saint Blasius the Bishop. Ferdinandus Ughellus also mentions him in his Catalogue of the Bishops of Spoleto, and writes that he came from Syria to Pope Vigilius and died on the third of February in the year 576; he died on February 3, 576 and so does Ferrarius: Jacobillus reports that he came somewhat earlier. All agree that the surname of Illuminator was attributed to him from antiquity. Jacobillus and Ferrarius cite ancient Readings customarily recited at his feast, and other records, from which, since we lack them, we have rendered into Latin the Life published in Italian by Jacobillus.
[7] The Blessed Peter Damian makes mention of Saint Laurence, although he does not name him, in his letter 9 to Pope Nicholas II, who was elected in the year 1058 and died on July 27, 1061; and this letter is Damian's Opusculum XIX on the Abdication of the Episcopate, where in chapter 1 he has the following: [celebrated in memory in the time of Blessed Peter Damian, in the eleventh century] That Bishop of Sabina also, who deserted the pontifical throne and, despising the priestly dignity, built the monastery of Farfa -- what a noble man in Christ he was, the ancient tradition testifies, which celebrates the marks of his sanctity; the modern devotion testifies, which frequents his pious memory with blessing. Gregory the monk of Farfa, a contemporary of Blessed Peter Damian, cited below by Jacobillus, also makes him a Bishop of Sabina: Jacobillus contends that he was always regarded as a Bishop of Spoleto by the people of Spoleto, who possess both his relics Bishop of Sabina or of Spoleto? and celebrate his annual memorial: he acknowledges, however, that he was perhaps transferred from the See of Spoleto to that of Sabina. Ughellus both counts Laurence ninth among the Bishops of Sabina, as the founder of the monastery of Farfa; and eleventh among those of Spoleto, whom he writes to have laid aside the episcopal insignia and sought the wilderness, with no mention made of the monastery of Farfa; nor does he inquire whether they are the same or different.
[8] The monastery of Farfa, or Farfarense, commonly called "di Farfa," is not far from the river Farfarus, or Fabaris, which flows into the Tiber above the temple of Feronia. Blondus describes it in Umbria, or the fourth region of Italy, thus: the founder of the monastery of Farfa. After a very long course, once Farfarus has left the mountains, it flows through cultivated plains, bordered on all sides by shady trees. In this most pleasant plain a very large monastery, called Farfense, overlooks the river itself on the right, where is it situated? possessing about ten castles, the first of which, called Fara, is placed upon a hill overlooking the monastery. Leander, in his description of Umbria, reports that the monastery itself is situated on a hill: On its right, he says, that is of the Farfarus, on a beautiful hill is the monastery, once sumptuously built, of Farfa. Both write that it is situated to the right of the Farfarus, because it is to the right for those going from the mouth toward the sources: we would call it the left, because to the river itself flowing from its source as from its head, it truly lies on the left side.
LIFE
Written in Italian by Ludovicus Jacobillus.
Laurence the Illuminator, Bishop of Spoleto in Umbria (Saint)
From the Italian of Ludovicus Jacobillus, translated by I. B.
CHAPTER I
The Arrival of Saint Laurence in Italy, His Priesthood. Regular Clergy Established by Him.
[1] At the time when aSaint Hormisdas was governing the Roman Church, bAnastasius the Empire, cTheodoric King of the Ostrogoths Italy; dSeverus, the usurper of the Patriarchate of Antioch [Severus, pseudo-Bishop of Antioch for five or four years, persecutes the Catholics:] and most fierce defender of the Eutychian heresy, supported by the power and authority of the Emperor, who was tainted with the same stain, around the year of Christ 514 waged a cruel war against the Catholics inhabiting Syria. For he both drove orthodox Bishops from their Sees and esubstituted heretics; or if there were some whom he could not cast down from their legitimate throne, he nevertheless intruded rivals and competitors, who would gradually spread the pestilence among the people: and he devised other outrages, and oppressed the Catholics with whatever evils he could. Therefore very many of these, lest they be forced to witness that abomination which they could not resist, many migrate from Syria; and finding themselves unable to bear any fruit at all, migrated from their homeland -- namely from Antioch, fJerusalem, Caesarea, Laodicea, and other places of Syria and Palestine -- to foreign provinces, where they might be allowed to be pious and Catholic in safety.
[2] From all this multitude about three hundred came together, with the plan of seeking Italy and approaching Rome, the capital of the world, three hundred to Rome: and there reverently visiting the bodies of the Saints and the temples dedicated to them: and thence, in whatever places and manner the Roman Pontiff should judge, they would sow the Catholic faith and, if fortune so required, pour out their lives for Christ, who had first laid down His own for their salvation. And so there came into Italy, divided into various bands, about three hundred persons, men, women, monks, ecclesiastics, laypeople, of every order and condition; many connected to each other by blood: as is mentioned in the Acts of Saint gCarpophorus the Martyr, and of Saints hIsaac, iEleutherius, kJohn, lLazarus, and others who were from that company; as was also Saint Laurence, whose deeds we here undertake to narrate. When all were at Rome together, they frequently held meetings in secret places, [from among these some were made priests by the Pope, and preached throughout Italy,] having first greeted the Pontiff with the greatest humility and reverence; by whom many were admitted into the Clergy, and also initiated into the priesthood, and sent in various directions throughout Italy, usually in pairs, to preach the Gospel, and they drew very many to the true faith and the pursuit of piety by their sermons and the sanctity of their lives.
[3] Since indeed, as the flood of heresies overflowed -- especially the Arian, Nestorian, Eutychian, and Theopaschite -- the people of Antioch were gradually sliding into more numerous and more shameful crimes: by Divine vengeance first the Emperor Anastasius was killed by lightning in the year 518; then mSeverus was cast down from the See Severus expelled, which he had occupied through the utmost madness; finally in the year 525 Antioch was partly disfigured by fire, partly shaken and overturned by a terrible nearthquake, Antioch shattered by earthquake, with an infinite slaughter of mortals: so that the city itself seemed to rise up against its own inhabitants, and to be unable to bear so great an ingratitude toward God; so that where those who professed the religion of Christ had first been called Christians, there especially an impiety hostile to Christ should rage.
[4] When Laurence came to Rome with the sacred company we have mentioned, he was kindly received by Saint Hormisdas: for when the most wise Pontiff saw him endowed with the best character, Saint Laurence dwells for some time at Rome: the most blameless morals, remarkable erudition, and knowledge of Divine matters, he retained him with himself for some years, and advanced him through all the grades of ecclesiastical offices to the priesthood. Then, made a priest, having blessed him, he consented that he should set out for Umbria to certain of his former companions: by whom he was regarded and honored in the place of a father on account of his singular learning, prudence, and sweetness of character. he preaches in Umbria: With these he began to direct all his industry toward the cultivation of souls, and especially toward uprooting the tares of the Arian heresy, which were widely springing up throughout Italy under the dominion of the Goths.
[5] Then devoted to the quiet life, in the very flower of his age, ohe withdrew to a place eight miles distant from Spoleto, [p]called Penolacum, because it lay at the foot of Lake Velino. Here, with the consent of a wealthy man, the lord of the place, he builds a monastery, beside Lake Velino he founds a monastery, and shuts himself up in it together with that same man, who, placing himself under his discipline, gave him a certain estate of his near the monastery, and thereafter ministered to him with outstanding zeal of charity and modesty, and at last closed his life there with a holy end. When the fame of Laurence's sanctity was spread abroad, many flocked to that monastery from the Clergy of the Church of Spoleto and others from neighboring places, and gave themselves over to him to be instructed in piety. In this manner, around the year 521, he established there a congregation of Regular Canons, and in it he establishes Regular Clergy: much like the one that Saint Augustine had established at Hippo in Africa about 130 years earlier: for the Rule of Saint Benedict had not yet been promulgated.
Annotationsp. Pedelucum is a town (whether it is the same as what this writer calls Penolacum, we do not know) near Lake Velino in Umbria, which the Italians now call from it the Lake of Piediluco, "lago di Pie di Luco," as Leander, Blondus, and Cluverius attest.
CHAPTER II
The Episcopate of Saint Laurence. His Abdication. The Foundation of the Monastery of Farfa.
[6] When Laurence had spent nearly twenty years in this manner of life, aSaint John, Bishop of Spoleto, ended his life by a noble martyrdom. The Clergy, he is elected Bishop of Spoleto against his will: whose fame for religious life was celebrated, chose Laurence by unanimous consent to succeed him: bPope Vigilius ratified the election in the year 541, and compelled him, who was declining the appointment out of humility, to submit his shoulders to the burden. The people of Spoleto, rejected by the people, cried out that a Bishop ought to be taken from their own nation, not some foreigner; and accordingly shut the gates against his approach. Laurence, a good and modest man, when he saw himself barred from entering the city, placed his knees upon the ground and prayed to God that, since he had undertaken this burden out of obedience to His Vicar on earth and out of zeal for the salvation of souls, He would declare His Divine will concerning the bearing or laying down of it. He had scarcely spoken these words he opens the gates by prayer: when the gates opened of their own accord, and the Spoletans, astounded by this portent, received him with great honor and joy.
[7] Laurence neglected absolutely no part of the episcopal office: assiduous in prayer, cautious and sincere in his words, generous in dispensing alms, diligent in carrying out every work of charity and religion, he flourishes with virtues worthy of a Bishop: patient in adversity, faithful in the charge committed to him, steadfast and firm in the observance of the Divine laws and Apostolic Constitutions, ready to bring help to all; so gentle and kind that no one departed from him without being filled with consolation and cheerfulness, however great the trouble under which he had come to him. Moved by his great goodness, prudence, and charity, many of the people vied with each other in giving him possessions, money, and various furnishings, that he might use them at his discretion. He retained part of the possessions thus donated, he wisely administers what was given to him: so that from their revenue he might live, though very frugally, and support his household, and provide for the sustenance of his successors; the rest he spent on the adornment of sacred buildings, the provision of Divine worship, and the relief of the poverty of the poor. He was marvelously illuminated by heavenly light and restored sight to many, he becomes famous for miracles; hence called the Illuminator: both bodily sight to those deprived of light, and spiritual sight to those blinded by the darkness of vices; and he performed other miracles by Divine power: so that from this it is thought that cthe surname of Illuminator was given to him.
[8] He had already been pasturing his flock in holy fashion for eleven years, four months, and eight days; when, allured by the desire for a tranquil and quiet life, not without the sorrow of the people, he abdicates the episcopate: having obtained the consent of the Pontiff, he hands over the episcopate to a certain dPeter, a holy man, in the year 552, and withdraws to the estate of Acutianus in the Sabine territory. Here, assisted by the donations of pious men, he builds a temple and monastery, dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God: and because it was near the river Farfarus, it was called the Abbey of Farfa, commonly "di Farfa." In it he himself assumed the monastic habit, together with not a few laypeople who wished to lead their lives under his direction: he founds the monastery of Farfa, they chose him as Abbot, and adopted the Rule of Saint Benedict, already widely celebrated throughout Italy and other provinces, as their own to observe. When the fame of his and his companions' most holy manner of life was spread abroad, soon increased in men and resources, certain wealthy men donated estates, houses, and other possessions to the monastery: and so many flocked thither for the exercises of the monastic life that in a short time there existed a very large congregation of the most proven monks.
AnnotationsCHAPTER III
The Death and Celebrated Memory of Saint Laurence. The State of the Monastery of Farfa.
[9] he dies in 576, on February 3. At last, heavy with age and merits, Laurence departed this life in the same monastery of Farfa, on the third day of February, in the year 576. His body, religiously buried by the monks in the church, was afterward translated beneath the high altar. he is venerated on the fourth: His annual feast in the city and diocese of Spoleto is celebrated on the following day, the solemnity of Saint Blasius occupying the third day.
[10] Concerning this holy Bishop and Abbot, on February 3 Ferrarius treats in his Catalogue of Saints published in the year 1625, praised by writers and Pontiffs: with these words: At Spoleto, Saint Laurence the Bishop. The Blessed Peter Damian also mentions him in his letter to Pope Nicholas II. aJohn, when he had dedicated the church of Farfa in the year 702, confirmed by a special diploma all the members, goods, and privileges of that monastery to bSaint Thomas of Maurienne, its Abbot and restorer: in which diploma he calls Saint Laurence the Bishop and founder of the said monastery of Saint Mary of Farfa, on the estate of Acutianus. Gregory the monk of Farfa, born of the noble family of the lords of Catinum in the Sabine territory, composed the Chronicle of his monastery in the year 1098. In it he reports that Saint Laurence came from Syria to Italy in the first times of the Goths, with his sister cSusanna, he had a sister Susanna, Isaac and John his relatives, who were monks near Spoleto; that he was made Bishop of Sabina, abdicated that dignity; founded the monastery of Farfa in the Sabine territory, on the estate of Acutianus, and was its first Abbot, and died there in holiness: the monastery of Farfa was destroyed that after his death the monastery was destroyed by the Lombards, and at last, under Pope John V, was restored by the aforesaid Abbot Thomas, and restored, with Duke Faroald of Spoleto providing the expenses.
[11] The first times of the Goths are reckoned from the year of Christ 493 to 526, during which entire period Theodoric held power in Italy. When did Saint Laurence come to Italy? What therefore we have established, that Saint Laurence came to Italy in the year 516, agrees with the opinion of the cited Chronicle, and with Pope Saint Gregory, who in book 3, Dialogues, chapter 14, writes of Saint Isaac, companion of Saint Laurence: "In the earlier times of the Goths, the kingdom of the Goths in Italy founded in 493 he came from the parts of Syria to the city of Spoleto, and survived almost to the last times of the Goths": and he reports the same of the holy Abbots fSpes and gEutychius. The kingdom of the Goths was destroyed in the year [h]554 by the eunuch Narses, destroyed in 554 commander of the forces of the Emperor Justinian. Those who trace the first times of the Goths back to the year 430 are mistaken. Alaric did indeed come into Italy with a most powerful army of Goths, and captured the city of Rome in the year 410. But after a few days he departed and ireturned to Pannonia, where the Visigoths then reigned, who afterward occupied the Spains. The Goths, or Ostrogoths, invaded Italy in the year 493, under the leadership and auspices of King Theodoric, who died in the year 526. Therefore the first times of the Goths should not be reckoned from the year 410: from which year to 554, when the dominion of the Goths was extinguished, 144 years intervened, and it is not likely that those holy men lived that long by the ordinary course of nature. The plainer and safer approach is that they lived from about the year 516 to 554, which is an interval of thirty-eight years.
[12] Furthermore, in the above-written Chronicle Laurence is called a kBishop of Sabina, Saint Laurence, Bishop of Spoleto, when he was in fact Bishop of Spoleto, as all ancient records confirm: and the diocese of Spoleto always regarded and venerated him as its own Bishop: his body is preserved at Spoleto in the church of Saint Peter, and the citizens celebrate his annual solemnity. If anyone thinks the authority of the Chronicle should not be set aside, it will have to be said that he was first Bishop of Spoleto, afterward translated to the See of Sabina, perhaps later Bishop of Sabina, and finally, having laid down even this dignity, retired to the estate of Acutianus in his diocese, founded the monastery, and became a monk in it. But if he founded the monastery immediately upon resigning the throne of Spoleto, he did not do this except with the permission of the Bishop of Sabina, since it was in a place subject to his jurisdiction.
[13] When the disciples of Saint Laurence, and afterward Saint Thomas himself and other Abbots and monks, flourished with great sanctity of life, many colonies were led from that monastery, many monasteries, I say, were founded throughout Italy by them, bound to the statutes of Farfa. The Farfan monks establish many monasteries elsewhere: Many Dukes of Spoleto as well, Supreme Pontiffs, and other powerful men, donated many and great possessions to that monastery. Ancient records survive which attest that the Farfans possessed in various provinces 683 churches and monasteries, two cities -- lCentumcellae with its port and mAlatrium -- five castaldates, 132 castles, 16 towns, 7 ports, 8 salt works, 38 estates, their immense possessions, 14 villas, 82 mills, 315 villages, numerous lakes, pastures, tithes, customs duties, and other goods. Many monasteries and churches in Umbria were subject to it: in the diocese of Spoleto, two monasteries and ten churches; in that of Assisi, one monastery and four churches; two in that of Terni. The Abbey of Farfa was then given in the year 1388 to secular clergy in commendam, as they call it; and Benedictine monks of the German nation were introduced into it. But in the year 1567, when the Germans were removed, Pius V, Supreme Pontiff, established there others from the Cassinese Congregation, over whom presides a claustral Abbot, and over him another Commendatory Abbot, now diminished, who holds temporal and spiritual jurisdiction over eight castles and several villages: the most ample other possessions having been restored to the Apostolic See.
Annotationsh. Rather 553.