ON ST. SABINUS, BISHOP OF CANUSIUM IN APULIA
ABOUT THE YEAR 566.
Preliminary Commentary.
Sabinus, Bishop of Canusium in Apulia (St.)
By I. B.
Section I. Was St. Sabinus, Bishop of Canusium, one person or two? His feast day.
[1] Bari is a maritime city of Apulia Peucetia, and the capital of the region which takes from it the name Terra di Bari. An archiepiscopal see is located there, and the archiepiscopal see of Canusium has been united with it the Bishopric of Canusium in Apulia, for nearly eight hundred years. There had been Bishops at Canusium from the earliest times of the Christian religion, among whom the celebrated Probus, learned in his scholarship, was sent as legate by Pope Simplicius to the Emperor Leo about the year 467, and Sabinus, of whom we are about to treat here. Peter, who, as some maintain, held that Church in the time of the Emperor Louis the Pious, or perhaps a full century earlier, is said to have been called Archbishop: nor is there any doubt that the Roman Pontiff sanctioned this by his authority, to make it legitimate; after being made an Archbishopric, whether that see was autocephalous, or had certain other bishops subject to it from among those who now are suffragans of Bari. But when shortly afterwards the Saracens invaded Apulia, and captured Canusium itself, and perhaps in great part destroyed it, they report that Angelarius was made Archbishop of Canusium, and then simultaneously of Bari. Whether he was spontaneously summoned by the Clergy of Bari, or ordered by the Roman Pontiff to administer both Churches; which see (the city perhaps being destroyed) or whether, to escape the fury of the Moors of Spain, serving under Prince Sigenulph, he withdrew with his people to Bari, where under the protection of the African Saracens it was possible to be somewhat safe; and there, upon the death of Archbishop Sebastianus, the holy guest was adopted to the vacant throne of that city by the Barensians — all this is obscure. After him the two united sees remained with a single occupant. This union was either first made by the command of the Roman Pontiff, or confirmed by his decision. For Urban II, united to the see of Bari. invited to Bari in the year 1089 to enshrine the body of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, which had been brought there, consecrated Archbishop Elias, contrary to the custom of the Roman and Apostolic Church, as he himself states in the diploma which Baronius recites at the same year, number 5, in his own see — overcome by reverence for the Blessed Nicholas and by love of the people of Bari. In that diploma he speaks thus: Since in our times Almighty God has deigned to visit the Church which by God's authority you govern, dearest Brother — the Church of Bari (which is also called that of Canusium) — with the body of his blessed Confessor Nicholas, etc. And below: To exalt your Church of Bari (which is also considered the Church of Canusium) over which you preside by God's authority, etc. And then: We confirm to you by the authority of this present document the entire Archbishopric of Bari (which is also that of Canusium). And further: Without prejudice therefore to the rights of any Churches whatsoever, following the tenor contained in the privileges of our predecessors, we grant you and your successors the possessions and dioceses of the Church of Bari or Canusium, to be held and governed in perpetuity.
[2] The principal Patron of that city is St. Nicholas, whose most celebrated and most sumptuous church is to be seen there, St. Sabinus is Patron of both, as Leander testifies, and Miraeus in his Register of Bishoprics. The other patron, however, is St. Sabinus, not only because his body was translated there by Angelarius, but especially because he had been the primary Patron of the Church of Canusium before. For that reason the same Pontiff Urban, in the cited diploma, specifically grants the use of the Pallium to the Archbishop of Bari on the feast of St. Sabinus: on whose feast the Archbishop uses the Pallium. Furthermore, he says, we grant to your fraternity the use of the Pallium according to custom,
that you may use it during the solemnities of the Mass on these feasts only: namely, the Nativity of the Lord, St. Stephen, Epiphany, Holy Thursday, the Resurrection, the Ascension, Pentecost, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the birthdays of the Apostles, and the three feasts of the Blessed Mary, the feasts of SS. Nicholas and Sabinus, the feast of All Saints, on the annual day of your ordination, at the ordination of Bishops or other Clerics, at the consecration of churches, and also on the Translation of the Lord's Confessor Nicholas.
[3] There were perhaps two Sabini; It may, however, rightly be doubted whether there was a single Bishop of the Church of Canusium named Sabinus, or two. Silvester Aiossa, Parish Priest of St. Leucius in the city of Capua, a most learned man, believes there were two. Nor can everything that is recorded of St. Sabinus easily be fitted to a single person. For, as we shall relate below from his Italian Life written by Antonius Beatillus, he built a church to St. Andrew the Apostle in the city of Barletta, and obtained from Pope St. Gelasius himself that he should come to Apulia to dedicate it. Gelasius died on November 21, in the fifth year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 496. one before SS. Ruffinus and Memor, But after that year the holy Bishops Ruffinus and Memor, whom we previously mentioned, administered the Church of Canusium: and the Sabinus who was appointed after Memor in the year 514 was therefore a different person from the predecessor of Ruffinus. Beatillus asserts that it is the same Sabinus the other after them: who was made Bishop in the year 514, afterwards accomplished many distinguished deeds, and had previously built that church at his own expense, before he attained to that or perhaps any grade of ecclesiastical dignity at all.
[4] In the times of the same Gelasius, St. Sabinus was present at the dedication of the altars of the crypt of St. Michael on Mount Gargano: likewise not yet a Bishop, says Beatillus. We treated of that crypt on February 7 when dealing with St. Laurentius, Bishop of Siponto, and shall treat of it again shortly from the Life of St. Richard of Andria. But in this Life, after the memorable prodigy of the bull struck from the cave, when the Sipontines asked what should be done, Gelasius is said to have answered that, if it pleased the holy Archangel of God, they should found a church in praise of St. Michael where he wished: and that this should be carried out through the holy Bishops of God — Laurentius of Siponto, [the earlier one was present with other bishops at the dedication of St. Michael on Mount Gargano in the year 493:] Sabinus of Canusium, Pelagius of Salapia, Roger of Cannae, and Richard of Andria. After this was reported to him, being summoned to perform such a ministry, he proceeded on foot both to Canusium and to Cannae, and together with the Blessed Roger of Cannae and Sabinus of Canusium, Bishops, being on foot as they were, they committed themselves to the journey. And after many things, the Blessed Richard returned with the Blessed Roger and the Blessed Sabinus to their Churches — the latter to Canusium, the former to Cannae, and the Blessed Richard arrived at Andria. Could it be more clearly expressed that Sabinus was then a Bishop and was exercising the proper functions of the episcopal Order? Therefore that Sabinus is different from the one who is said to have been made Bishop of Canusium only twenty-one years later: and the former was the successor of Ruffinus, the latter of Probus.
[5] What is more, the body of St. Sabinus the Bishop is preserved in different places — at Atripalda and at Bari. If the body is entire in both places, then it is not of one person. his body which is preserved at Atripalda seems to be his: But the people of Atripalda boast that they have the entire body of St. Sabinus, with the head placed separately. At Bari, too, weighty authorities have reported that there are not merely relics of St. Sabinus and some part of his body, but simply his body. If you ask whose body is at Atripalda, Aiossa responds: that of the younger, of whom mention is made in St. Gregory's Dialogues, and in the Acts of the Synod of Constantinople under Mennas: for returning thence to Rome, he died at Atripalda on the journey and was buried there, while the other had died at Canusium long before. But how can it be supposed that he died on the way, when his encounter with Totila, King of the Goths, is recorded as having occurred several years after his return? that of the younger is at Bari. The Barensians also say that while he was sailing from Constantinople to Italy, he diverted his course to Lycia, to venerate the relics of St. Nicholas the Bishop at Myra: and that there the Saint appeared to him and declared that it would one day come to pass that the relics of both would be venerated in one city: which afterwards happened when the body of each was brought to Bari. Therefore the body of St. Sabinus which is venerated at Bari must be acknowledged to be that of the younger one: unless the fame of that prophecy has been wrongly handed down to posterity.
[6] the Acts of both are confused, The Life, which was written at least two hundred years after the death of the younger Sabinus (if indeed there were two), has embraced the deeds of both as if they were those of one person: whence posterity recognized only one, and so did Beatillus, who recently published a book on the Bishops of Canusium and the Life of St. Sabinus. It is, however, most common in the Acts of the Saints that those who bore the same name have their deeds recklessly mixed together by unskilled or overly hasty writers, even though they were neither born of the same nation nor flourished at the same time. Examples occur everywhere.
[7] Nor shall we here distinguish what was done by one Sabinus and what by the other: since we cannot remove every scruple even for those who doubt such as we shall also give here. whether there were two or not. If a diligent reader should unearth other records by which it is established that there was a single Bishop of Canusium named Sabinus, we shall say that the one at Atripalda was a Bishop of another see. What is certain about his relics, veneration, and miracles, we shall report separately.
[8] The Martyrologies themselves, since both are venerated on the same day, February 9, present only one, and him as Bishop of Canusium. Concerning him, the ancient manuscript Martyrology which is in our possession, brought from Italy, both are venerated on February 9 has the following: At Canusium, a city of Apulia, the burial of the Blessed Sabinus, Bishop and Confessor. In nearly the same words the Roman Martyrology: At Canusium in Apulia, St. Sabinus, Bishop and Confessor. The Calendar of the monastery of St. John at Capua, published by the monk Michael, at the same day: The burial will be of St. Sabinus, Bishop of Canusium. Another from the same monastery: St. Savinus, Bishop of Canusium. A fourth finally (for the third is mutilated at the beginning) has: St. Savinus, Bishop and Confessor of Canusium. Reading 3. A certain manuscript booklet of the Carthusian house of Brussels: In the city of Canusium, of the holy Bishops Sabinus and Winandus. On the same day Constantinus Ghinius records him in the Birthdays of the Holy Canons. The Calendar published by Wolfgang Eder at Ingolstadt from the Macerata exemplar has on February 8: Sabinus, Bishop and Confessor. But the Florarium of the Saints places him on February 12. Many others on February 17, following Peter de Natali, book 3, chapter 133. Maurolycus and Felicius: Likewise of Savinus, Bishop of Canusium, of whom Gregory writes. Molanus in the first edition of his Additions to Usuard: Sabinus, Bishop of the city of Canusium, of whom Gregory writes in the third book of the Dialogues. In a later edition he omitted him. Hermann Greven in his Additions to the same Usuard: Sabinus, Bishop of the city of Camisina (Canisius has it the same way in both editions), of whom among other things Gregory reports in the third book of the Dialogues that, when at the instigation of his Archdeacon, who was seeking the bishopric, poison was offered to him, knowing this by the Prophetic Spirit, he drank it without harm, commanding the Archdeacon: I drink the poison, but you will not be Bishop. Therefore at that same hour the Archdeacon died. Concerning his various Translations, and on what days they are recalled, we shall speak below: where it will also be permitted to ask perhaps the other formerly on another day: whether perhaps the other Sabinus died on February 17 or 12, and was recklessly assigned to this day, as if he were the same person who was inscribed in the sacred tables on this day.
Section II. The Life of St. Sabinus. When was it written?
[9] The deeds of St. Sabinus, whether of one person or of two mixed together, were committed to writing in the third century after the death of the younger. The author was a contemporary of Bishop Peter, and indeed wrote that history at his command, and learned many things from his account. He himself testifies to this in chapter 5, number 13: Concerning the virtue and miracles of the life of the aforesaid servant of God, we have spoken as much as comes to memory: the Life was written at the command of Bishop Peter, now, however, with God's help, let us speak of what merit he possesses, and with what great virtues his bones shine. These things, however, which I am about to say, I heard from the venerable man Peter, Bishop of the same Church. He was accustomed frequently to narrate to me the things about his predecessor Sabinus, which he had heard through many inquiries more diligently from the elder priests, or which he was able to read from the inscription; and he commanded me to write these things. Beatillus, in chapter 15 of his Italian Life of St. Sabinus, says indeed that Peter commanded the deeds of St. Sabinus to be written, but by the mandate of Pope Leo III; because the Author begins his narrative thus: I desire to obey your will, Supreme Pontiff; not of Pope Leo III; but my hand shrinks, burdened by such great sins, from revealing the miracles of the virtue of so great a man. But there is no necessity that those words, Supreme Pontiff, and what soon follows, I obey
the pontifical commands, be understood of the Roman Pontiff — whether, as Beatillus wishes, Leo III, who reigned from December 26 of the year 795 to June 12 of the year 816, or any other.
[10] Perhaps the Author addresses Peter himself, by whose command he testifies later that he was compelled to write that history; or some other of his successors. For he did not complete that Life while Peter was alive; or at least he interpolated it afterwards. For in chapter 6, number 18, he writes thus: afterwards interpolated: Nor do I think this should be passed over in silence, which he asserted he had heard from the Primicerius of the same Church, saying: In the time, indeed, of the venerable Bursa, who was, by God's bounty, Bishop in this Church (whose Archdeacon Audoaldus is also recorded to have been, who in the third place after the aforesaid venerable Bishop Peter exercised the pontifical office) — in the time, therefore, of the aforesaid Bursa, etc. From these words it is clear that after the death of Peter, and indeed of Audoaldus, who governed that Church as the third after him, this Life was written, or again polished with the pen and amplified by the author himself.
[11] Here we must inquire about the age of Peter. Beatillus writes that Peter himself, who commanded the Acts of St. Sabinus to be written, was appointed to the episcopal insignia of Canusium shortly after the year of Christ 800, a Lombard by nation, Peter did not live at the beginning of the 9th century; closely related by blood to Grimoaldus, Prince of Salerno, and renowned for his reputation for holiness: but that when Canusium was destroyed by the Saracens, and the citizens scattered in various directions, he withdrew to Salerno, and there in the year 834, when Rodoaldus, Bishop of that city, had died, was substituted, and died ten years later. The same is reported by Gaspar Musca in his book on the Bishops of Salerno, who says that Ractulus succeeded him at Salerno, then Magnaldus, then Teupus, Aio, and Landemarius. But Beatillus maintains that after the death of Peter, the Church of Canusium was united with Bari and entrusted to Archbishop Angelarius. But if there was at that time a Peter who was elevated from the See of Canusium to that of Salerno, he must necessarily be a different person from the one by whose authority the Life of St. Sabinus was written. For this one had successors at Canusium, and among these Audoaldus as the third, formerly Archdeacon under Bishop Bursa, whom Peter had succeeded — and perhaps not immediately. Moreover, how can this seem sufficiently credible: that Audoaldus had been Archdeacon long before Peter became Bishop, and after Peter had sat for about forty-four years, only in the third place after him was he made Bishop, at a now decrepit age, having spent nearly sixty years in his former office, nor was he the last Bishop of Canusium, which is surely not usually conferred upon adolescents? And who is that Grimoaldus, Prince of Salerno, whose blood relative Beatillus supposes this Peter to have been? There was indeed a Prince of Benevento, and consequently also of Salerno, named Grimoaldus, son of Arechis, in the year of Christ 788, whom after eighteen years another Grimoaldus, his own Treasurer, succeeded, who was killed by Sico in the year 817 or 818. But the principate of Salerno was first separated from that of Benevento about the year 850, and attributed to Sigenulph, son of Sico.
[12] Furthermore, if Peter had fled to Salerno when Canusium was destroyed, how is it that the Author never mentions this anywhere, since he was writing after Peter's death? nor was Canusium then immediately destroyed. And indeed, not even in the time of the second Peter (if there was a second), when the Saracens, summoned into Italy partly by Radelchis, usurper of the principate of Benevento, and partly by Sigenulph, wrought vast devastation far and wide, was Canusium entirely destroyed or deserted by its citizens, so that it thereafter lacked any inhabitants at all; since the Emperor Louis II, son of Lothar, stationed a garrison there when he was about to wage war against the Saracens of Bari, as Eremperts testifies in chapter 34.
[13] The Author provides another chronological indicator of his age with these words: this Life was written under Emerith, Prince of the Salentines, These things were written in the time of the rule of the most glorious man Emerith, offspring of Grimoald; in whose times many prosperous things befell the Salentine people, through the granting and ordering of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory for ever and ever, Amen. The Salentine region extends from Tarentum all the way to the Iapygian promontory, which is the extreme point of Italy toward Greece, and that entire region is now called Hydruntina, or Terra di Otranto, from the city of Hydruntum. Perhaps this writer reckons the beginning of the Salentine people from the river Aufidus. After Italy was occupied by the Lombards, the Salentines and Calabrians remained for a long time under the rule of the Emperor of Constantinople: afterwards subdued by the Lombards, then the Saracens, then yielding to the Franks and again to the Greeks, with fortune frequently alternating; until the Normans gained power there.
[14] But when did Emerith, or (as the Capuan manuscripts have it) Hermarich, or Ermenrich, preside over that province? No mention of him is made either in the Lombard history of Paul the Deacon, or in the history of Eremperts, as far as I remember, unless perhaps he had two names, as Totila was called Badiula or Badwilla. He is called the offspring of Grimoald, Prince of Benevento, as I suppose. There were in all four Grimoalds who held the territory of Benevento: I. the son of Gisulf, Duke of Friuli, the son of Grimoald, who afterwards seized the kingdom of the Lombards about the year 662. The second, his grandson, son of Romuald and Theoderada. The third, the son of Arechis, of whom above. The fourth, who succeeded the third, afterwards killed by Sico. Of which of these four Grimoalds was Ermenrich the son? Grimoald I, when he was invited to seize the kingdom of the Lombards while the sons of King Aripert, Godebert and Bertarid, were quarreling among themselves, placed his son Romuald in charge of the Beneventans, perhaps of the second Duke of Benevento of that name, and afterwards gave him Theoderada, daughter of Lupus, Duke of Friuli, as wife, about the year 663 or 664, from whom he had three sons: Grimoald, Gisulf, and Arichis. Grimoald succeeded his father, but (as is said below in chapter 5, number 16) under the guardianship of his mother Theoderada, and he married Wigilinda, daughter of King Bertarid, who seems to have been previously relegated to Benevento by King Grimoald, together with her mother Rodelinda and her brother Cunibert, while her husband was in exile. Grimoald died in the third year of his principate, and was succeeded by his brother Gisulf, who in turn was succeeded by his own son Romuald. Perhaps, therefore, a son was born to Grimoald II by Wigilinda, but since at his father's death he was still in the cradle, or indeed not yet born, the government was transferred by the Lombards to his uncle Gisulf; who may then have entrusted to him the administration of the Salentine territory, which Romuald, father of Gisulf and grandfather of Emerith, had added to the Lombard dominion; as Paul the Deacon testifies in these words, book 6 of the Deeds of the Lombards, chapter 1: While these things were being done among the Lombards beyond the Po, Romuald, Duke of the Beneventans, having assembled a great multitude of his army, attacked and captured Tarentum, and in like manner Brundisium, and subjugated the entire vast surrounding region to his dominion.
[15] However, Emerith could also have been the son of the elder Grimoald, under whom the Life of St. Sabinus was written; for Grimoald, who had previously begotten from a captive girl, but nevertheless a noble one, whose name was Itta, or indeed of the first, who was also King, his son Romuald and two daughters, as Paul writes in book 4, chapter 47; the same, having obtained the kingdom, married the daughter of King Aripert, from whom he had Garibald, whom his uncle Bertarid afterwards drove from the kingdom. Perhaps Emerith was a brother of this Garibald, and when Garibald was cast down from the kingdom, was either sent back to his elder brother Romuald by King Bertarid, or voluntarily carried thither by his guardians, and there raised, and at length placed in charge of the Salentine region either by Gisulf or by Romuald II. He certainly does not seem to have been able to be a son of Grimoald III, but not of the third, who succeeded his father Arechis in the year 788; since that Grimoald, as Eremperts implies, had no offspring from his wife Iriantia, the granddaughter of the Emperor of Argos, and indeed repudiated her in order to ingratiate himself with the Franks. And if Emerith had been born of Grimoald IV, how could the Author say nor of the fourth: that in his times many prosperous things befell the Salentine people? And Sico, who killed his father — why did he not also lay hands on him? Why did not Louis the Pious take him under his protection and with fatherly clemency restore the principate to him? But let us grant that he escaped the hands of the parricide, or was defended by the favor of the Emperor, and ruled the Salentines; what prosperous things could then have befallen that people, when impious Saracens and treacherous Christians were broadly polluting the holy places, as is said in volume 2 of the French Writers of Chesne, in the deeds of Louis II?
[16] It is therefore more likely that both Bishop Peter and this anonymous writer flourished shortly after the year 700, under Gisulf and Romuald II. where was this published? This Life, moreover, Beatillus unearthed from the ancient manuscripts of the Church of Bari and transmitted to us. We received a duplicate copy of the same from Capua from Silvester Aiossa, transcribed from the ancient codices of the monastery of St. John by his uncle the monk Michael, by whom he writes it was also annotated: The Acts of St. Sabinus, previously published, but slightly interpolated. which were preserved in manuscript in the Church of Canusium, Felix Siliceus, Provost of Canusium (who later became Bishop of Troia, his native city), arranged to have printed at Bologna, where he was residing with the most Eminent Cardinal Antonio Caetano the Legate in the year 1623. These differ little or not at all from our text, but in those few points ours are more authentic. So he writes. We have not yet seen that edition. The same monk indicates that some things were inserted by Siliceus himself from time to time.
Section III. Other Lives of St. Sabinus.
[17] John the Archdeacon also described the Life of St. Sabinus, shortly before the year 1100, in elegiac verse, which the same Beatillus communicated to us, having unearthed it from the manuscripts of the Church of Bari. Another Life of St. Sabinus written by John, Archdeacon of Bari, This is the same John who committed to writing the Discovery of the same St. Sabinus, at which he was present, and who testifies that he was ordained by Urso, Archbishop of Bari, from the first ecclesiastical grade up to the Levitical order, and then adorned with the honor of the archdeaconate. Nicephorus of Bari mentions him in his history of the Translation of St. Nicholas with these words: Meanwhile a legation was directed to the Lord Archbishop Urscio, who at that time was residing at the cities of Canusium and Trani, whose pontificate he exercised together with the Archbishopric of Bari; thence after two days, with his Archdeacon John accompanying him, he was about to set out for Jerusalem. Therefore, when he heard the news of so great a novelty, he immediately renounced his intention of proceeding to Jerusalem. Afterwards, however, as John himself testifies, Archbishop Urso went to Jerusalem for the purpose of prayer at the sepulcher of the Lord: whether he himself accompanied him, he does not indicate. The same John also described the Translation of St. Nicholas, which exists on May 9 in Surius.
[18] Different from this John, and easily one hundred and eighty years more ancient, is John the Deacon, by whom the Life of St. Nicholas was written, who says the following about himself in its prologue: I, the unworthy John, Deacon of the servant of St. Januarius, greatly shrinking from this, not John the Deacon of St. Januarius: was opposing to you the obstacle of my rusticity, Brother Athanasius, as you repeatedly asked me. He lived at the beginning of the tenth century, and committed to writing the Translation of St. Severinus, Apostle of the Noricans, at which he was present, which took place in the twenty-fourth year of Leo the Wise, the year of Christ 909, as we said on January 8. He then wrote the Translation of St. Sosius, which he begins thus: After the destruction, therefore, of the town of Lucullanum, as is expressed in another booklet, when the aforesaid Abbot had merited to obtain the body of St. Severinus, he began, etc. And a little further on: Encouraged immediately by such testimonies, the Abbot himself summoned me, John, Deacon of St. Januarius, and Aligernus the Primicerius, and Peter the Subdeacon; and having given us a commission, he enjoined that we should set out for Misenum with his Provost John, surnamed Majorinus, and Athanasius the illustrious monk, and that our judgment should determine whether the testimony of so many monks had brought to light anything of value.
[19] Finally, the cited Antonius Beatillus wrote the Life of St. Sabinus much more brilliantly in the Italian style, making use of various instruments of the Chapter of Bari another in Italian by Antonius Beatillus, and other ancient records: and he published it at Naples in the year 1629, printed by Aegidius Longus, dedicated to Ascanius Gesualdus, Archbishop of Bari and Canusium; who, having succeeded his uncle Decius Caracciolo, who died on May 27, 1613, entered Bari solemnly the following year on the very feast day of St. Sabinus, February 9, and having afterwards performed various legations for the Apostolic See, was adorned by Pope Paul V with the dignity of Patriarch of Constantinople. The following, however, seemed remarkable to not a few, which happened at Naples before that Life, already written by Beatillus, was put to press. Our Marcus Antonius Palumbus, himself also distinguished by his published commentaries on the first part of St. Thomas, was carrying this Life somewhere under his arm, and it is an object of horror to the devil: wrapped in a cloak in our fashion, as it was written in the Author's hand, and was going through the city of Naples in such a manner that no one could perceive with their eyes what he was carrying, or indeed whether he was carrying anything at all. Here, not far from the monastery of St. Sebastian, he met a woman possessed by a demon, who, terrified by this encounter, began to make wild gestures. When those present asked the cause, she replied that she was disturbed by the booklet which that Father was secretly carrying. Asked further what kind of book it was, she said: It is the Life of the most mortal enemy of all who ever lived. Then the Father showed the book to those standing by, who all professed with great alacrity of spirit that they would thenceforth venerate that Saint with special devotion, since they knew that even his Life was an object of horror to the devil.
[20] Philip Ferrarius briefly summarized the deeds of St. Sabinus in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy at this day, and Peter de Natali in book 3, chapter 133, at February 17; St. Sabinus is mentioned elsewhere. Constantinus Ghinius in his Birthdays of the Holy Canons. Since, moreover, certain things are reported by Beatillus which are not found in the manuscript Life, having been unearthed by him from the ancient records of the Church of Bari, we shall briefly pursue them here. Nor should it seem surprising to anyone that the Author who wrote the deeds of St. Sabinus easily two hundred years after his death did not achieve everything; since Peter the Deacon, in book 3 of the Dialogues of St. Gregory, chapter 5, after the same holy Pontiff had related two miracles of St. Sabinus, adds these words: These things are wonderful and greatly astonishing to our times; but the life of this same man is reported to be such that whoever has known his manner of living ought not to marvel at his virtue.
Section IV. Illustrious deeds accomplished by St. Sabinus before his episcopate, if he was a single person; or by the elder, if there were two.
[21] Sabinus is believed to have been born at Canusium of wealthy and noble parents, at about the time when Majorian Augustus somehow retained the Empire of the West, Leo the Thracian that of the East, Leo I presided over the Roman Church, and Probus — of whom we treated above — administered the church of Canusium, The homeland, family, and education of Saint Sabinus: with a distinguished reputation for learning. He was then trained in every form of piety, perhaps under the instruction of this same Probus; and when he had grown up, he began to devote his very ample resources partly to the building and partly to the restoration of basilicas of the Saints. Several are mentioned in his Life as either first constructed or enlarged and adorned by him; celebrated among them is the one he established at Barletta in honor of Saint Andrew the Apostle. Barletta (which the Peutinger itinerary map calls Bardulos) is a noble, populous, and wealthy city of Apulia, the church at Barletta, numbered among the four most noble towns of Italy — Fabriano in the Marches, Prato in Tuscany, and Crema in Lombardy — as Leander attests. But what the same writer states — that Barletta was built by the people of Canusium after their own city was destroyed and was enlarged by the Emperor Frederick II — does not seem to agree sufficiently with this Life of Saint Sabinus. at his initiative, For who would believe it was merely a village on the Apulian shore that Sabinus wished to adorn with so splendid a building that he invited the Roman Pontiff Gelasius himself to its dedication? Those who admit only one Sabinus necessarily assert that at that time he had not yet become a Bishop, since — as we said above — Saints Ruffinus and Memor presided over the Church of Canusium after the death of Saint Gelasius. The ancient writer of the Life of Saint Sabinus appears to have thought that when that church at Barletta was dedicated, he was already a Bishop — which supports our conjecture concerning two Sabinuses.
[22] That Sabinus should appeal to the Supreme Pontiff for the dedication of that church was brought about by the authority of the ancient canons dedicated by Saint Pope Gelasius, and perhaps of Gelasius himself. For the latter, in his ninth epistle addressed to the Bishops established throughout Lucania, Bruttium, and Sicily — without whose command it was unlawful to do this: and indeed perhaps throughout the rest of Italy — professes that he so weighs the decrees of the ancestral canons and so measures the precepts of the Bishops, his predecessors, that what the necessity of the present times demands for the restoration of Churches, he tempers with careful consideration applied as far as possible. And yet in section 6 he expressly decrees: "Let them not dare to dedicate newly established basilicas without having sought the customary permissions." And then in section 27: "Concerning the consecration of holy places, although it was briefly comprehended in what preceded, it has also been made known to us that, without a decree of the Apostolic See, some presume to consecrate churches or oratories that have been built." Baronius thinks, at volume 8, year 591, number 24, that it pertains to the observance of those ancient canons that Saint Gregory directed the dedication of various churches to be performed in the epistles cited there, especially book 7, epistle 15. But that Gelasius did not delegate the dedication of the church at Barletta to any neighboring Bishop, but undertook so long a journey himself for this purpose, indicates the humility and piety of Gelasius himself, and how great was Sabinus's favor with him — not merely on account of his noble birth, but especially on account of his extraordinary piety and learning, known to him either through the reports of Bishop Probus or perhaps observed with his own eyes in the company of the same Probus. Anastasius the Librarian records many churches dedicated by him outside the city of Rome, concerning which see his Life on November 21. That the church of Saint Andrew built by Sabinus still stands at Barletta is reported by Beatillus.
[23] Another dedication of a sacred building was performed in the same times of Pope Gelasius, as indicated above, at which Sabinus was also present — namely that of the church which was then built on Mount Gargano in Apulia by the citizens of Siponto. Concerning this we have treated on February 7 in the Life of Saint Lawrence, at the dedication of the church of Saint Michael on Mount Gargano and the more proper place for discussion will be at September 29, on which day the anniversary of this dedication is celebrated. Beatillus writes that this was done when Sabinus had returned from Constantinople, which (as will appear below) could scarcely have happened before the end of the year 536. But the ancient history of the dedication, which exists both in manuscript and in print, reports that it occurred in the times of Pope Gelasius. The Chronicle of Sigebert of Gembloux, as edited by R. Lawrence Barrius, at the year 488 (which he establishes as the second of Gelasius) has this, which is absent from the Miraeus edition: "At this time the discovery of the cave of Saint Michael the Archangel on Mount Gargano took place, whence also his memory is celebrated each year with a solemn festival in the Churches of God." in the year 493 Baronius, at the year 493, which was truly the second of Gelasius, reports the discovery of that cave. Our John Paul Grimaldus concurs in the Life of Saint Roger, Bishop of Canne. Philip Ferrarius also, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy under September 29, testifies that the consecration was performed under Gelasius, Saint Sabinus invited with other Bishops, in the presence of Saints Sabinus, Bishop of Canusium; Roger, Bishop of Canne; and Richard, Bishop of Andria. But, as we have often said, unless there were two Sabinuses, at that time the one who afterward flourished under the Emperors Justin and Justinian had not yet been elevated to the episcopate.
[24] It will be worthwhile here to commemorate the wonders that befell the Bishops on their way to that dedication, because Sabinus was also present — illustrious for miracles on the journey, if not as a Bishop, then at least with a celebrated reputation for learning and piety. Beatillus and Grimaldus narrate these things in Italian, both drawing from the Life of Saint Richard, Bishop of Andria, written in Latin two hundred years earlier by Francis de Baucio, Duke of Andria, which we shall give in full on June 9; here we relate only what pertains to Sabinus as well.
[25] When Richard had persevered for many years in such holy works, it pleased Blessed Michael the Archangel, the Prince of the universal Church and the receiver of souls, to build an oratory on Mount Gargano, which is called by his name. When the marvelous apparition of the bull had occurred, as is contained in its history, and the victory in that affair had been granted to the people of Siponto, through their Bishop, Blessed Lawrence, who was sent to Pope Gelasius to inquire what should be done in the place chosen by Saint Michael the Archangel, he received the response from the same Pontiff that, if it pleased the holy Archangel of God, they should found a church in praise of Saint Michael wherever his will should be; and that this should be carried out by the holy Bishops of God: Lawrence of Siponto, Sabinus of Canusium, Pelagius of Salpi, Roger of Canne, and Richard of Andria. When these things had been reported to the latter, having been summoned to perform such a ministry, he went on foot both to Canusium and to Canne, and together with the Blessed Roger of Canne and Sabinus of Canusium, Bishops, as they were on foot, they committed themselves to the journey to proceed to Siponto. Since they were worn out by constant fasting and labors and were oppressed by the heat of the sun (for it was the month of September), and since that road is (as is that region, stripped of trees) exposed to the sun's heat, they prayed to Almighty God that He would deign to grant them some gentle breeze to refresh them against such heat. O wondrous thing, unheard of before! O admirable power of God! From this it was clearly evident how propitious God is to those who love Him. For the prayer of the servants of God was not yet finished when suddenly an eagle of immense size appeared, hovering above their heads and rendering a twofold service to those holy men: an eagle shading them against the heat. for walking beneath the shadow of the eagle's wings, they felt nothing of the former summer heat, and a gentle breeze arising from the motion of its wings, refreshing their weary bodies, made them more inclined to complete the journey.
[26] Whence it came to pass that they finally arrived at Siponto to Blessed Lawrence. There, having celebrated the Divine Office at Vespers, they gave themselves to rest for the remainder of the day and the following night. That night, the Archangel Michael appeared to Blessed Lawrence of Siponto in a dream and said that it was not the office of man to consecrate the church which he himself had dedicated to his own name. For he had chosen that place as an oratory for himself and had consecrated it by his coming; the cave dedicated by Saint Michael himself, and that this might be better known to all, he said that he had left, as proof of so great a matter, the imprints of the soles of his feet impressed upon the marble stone on his venerable altar, and also before the door of the oratory a stone image sculpted with the figure of the Archangel, by which he might afterward be depicted. These things Blessed Lawrence disclosed to the holy Bishops of God just as he had received them in the vision. They, gladdened by so great a vision and understanding the ministries of the holy Archangel, and how great an indulgence had been granted by Almighty God through the intercession of the Blessed Archangel Michael to that church, exhilarated with joy, gave thanks to the immortal God and to Blessed Michael, through whom they had received these things.
[27] But since, on account of the concourse of all those visiting that church, one altar was not sufficient for performing the divine mysteries, they consecrated three altars there: other altars consecrated by the Bishops. the first in honor of the Blessed and Glorious Virgin Mary, near the holy water called the stilla; the second in honor of Blessed John the Baptist; and the third in honor of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. When these things were accomplished, they entrusted the care of all matters pertaining to that church, and also the ordination of the entire Clergy, to Blessed Lawrence, Bishop of Siponto. This done, Blessed Richard, together with Blessed Roger and Blessed Sabinus, returned to their own churches — the latter to Canusium, the former to Canne — and Blessed Richard arrived at Andria. So much for that account. The same things concerning the altars consecrated by the Blessed Lawrence, Sabinus, Roger, and Richard are briefly reported in the Office of Saint Richard, printed at Rome in 1586, Lesson 6; and by Philip Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, in the Life of Saint Richard on June 9, in the Annotations to the Life of Saint Roger on October 15, and in the Annotations to the dedication of Saint Michael on September 29.
[28] There flourishes at Barletta a perpetual memory of that miracle by which an eagle overshadowed the holy Bishops Richard, Roger, and also Sabinus — whatever grade of ecclesiastical dignity he then held — as they journeyed. Anniversary commemoration of that journey at Barletta. For although the people of Barletta possess very many relics of illustrious Saints, which they reverently venerate in various basilicas of that most noble city — such as a part of the arm of Saint John the Baptist, the tongue of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, and others of that kind — yet on the feast day of Saint Roger, Bishop of Canne, who is their principal patron, in the public procession through the streets of the city with the sacred head of Roger, they carry around only the relics of Saints Sabinus and Richard: so that those who once traveled the road together as mortals, posterity may reverently behold their remains — now enjoying immortal life — being carried together through the streets.
Section 5: The Episcopate of Saint Sabinus. A Calumny Overcome. His Familiarity with Various Saints.
[29] At last, when these works of piety had been justly and deservedly accomplished, or honored with his presence, The time of his obtaining the episcopate — if it is the same person, certainly worthy; if a different one — Sabinus was elevated to the episcopate of Canusium in the year 514, when Saint Memor had died. What Platina writes, therefore, under Pope Pelagius I: and of his death. "The times of Pelagius were also adorned with the holiness and learning of Sabinus of Canusium, Gregory of Langres, Vedast," etc. — this is not true of Vedast, since he died in the year 540; but it is most true of Sabinus, who is reported to have died at last in the year of Christ 566, six years after the death of Pelagius, in the fifty-second year of his episcopate.
[30] That time was not so tranquil for him as not to have been tried by many adversities, which is the almost proper fortune of the Saints. For besides the fact that Italy was then shaken by the Gothic wars, accused of magic and summoned to Rome, he himself was denounced before Pope Felix IV, around the year 528, by nefarious men whom his admonitions and zealous guardianship of Ecclesiastical discipline had irritated, on the charge that he both neglected the duties of the Episcopal order and practiced the magical arts. The Pontiff was surprised that this charge was leveled against a man whose holiness he had long heard celebrated; yet, knowing how easily the minds of men are changed and bent toward the worse, he summoned Sabinus to Rome to plead his case. The holy man immediately set out on the road, prepared to endure whatever insult and reproach, if God should so permit. He arrived there in a single day: But even in the manner of the journey there was a prejudgment from divine favor: for in a single day he covered more than two hundred miles — which is the distance between Rome and Canusium. The Pontiff was astonished at the unexpected arrival of the man; and perhaps that speed of travel did not a little to impress more deeply upon his mind the suspicion of necromancy, conceived through the fraud of his adversaries. Receiving him, therefore, with little kindness or courtesy, he forbade him to set foot outside the palace that night, so that his case might be examined first thing in the morning; yet he assigned him a decent chamber. There, Sabinus, around midnight, after his custom, began to chant the divine praises and psalms. While Angels sang psalms with him at night, His piety was proved by a heavenly sign. For choirs of Angels were present, singing the psalms in alternation with him. That concert, heard in the dead of night through the papal apartments, roused the household and Felix himself. They found the chamber flooded with immense light. The Pontiff immediately burst in, prostrated himself at the feet of his holy guest, and his chamber was divinely illuminated, and begged forgiveness for the severity he had shown the day before. Sabinus, weeping, humbly besought the Pontiff in turn to rise, pressing upon him the saying: he is absolved: "The servant is not greater than his Lord." On the following day, the Pontiff recounted what he had seen and heard in the night, and having pronounced his judgment, absolved Sabinus, and afterward sent him back to his Church not without outstanding tokens of good will.
[31] When Sabinus was returning from Rome to his people, there is no doubt that he turned aside to Cassino to visit Saint Benedict the Abbot, he visits Saint Benedict: with whom he had a singular familiarity, as is recorded in his Life, and as we shall confirm below with the most weighty testimony of Saint Pope Gregory. And it is generally the case that the holier Bishops love and foster the pious institutions of the religious, which no pious man hates or scorns — unless perhaps he labors for a time under ignorance of the truth. An acquaintance was then also formed between Sabinus and the holy disciples of Benedict. Among them was Placidus, who was sent by the holy Father to Sicily around the year 530, or not long after — but not in 536, as his Life states (which is said to have been written by his companion Gordianus, but was afterward interpolated by some unskilled hand, as we shall show on October 5) — not, I say, in that year, since Sabinus was then absent from Italy, as we shall presently say. Placidus then visited on his journey Saint Germanus, Bishop of Capua, a very close friend of Sabinus and of his Father Benedict; and then Marcianus, Bishop of Benevento; and then Sabinus himself. Gordianus describes this meeting of holy men as follows:
[32] The most blessed Placidus, greeting Saint Marcianus the Bishop with a holy kiss, after some days came to the city of Canusium in Apulia, where, on account of his love for Blessed Benedict, he was received with great joy and affection he is visited by Saint Placidus, by Saint Sabinus, Bishop of that city. The same Saint Sabinus the Bishop showed every kindness of hospitality to both the most blessed Placidus and all who had come with him. Saint Sabinus, keeping Blessed Placidus with him for three days, sowed among themselves in turn the sweet discourse of everlasting life; and at intervals of the hours, he questioned him about the miracles which the Divine Majesty had worked through the most blessed Father Benedict, and also about his life and most honeyed and most discreet teaching.
[33] Meanwhile, while these things were being discussed and those things reported, a certain man named Landulph, having a withered and bent hand, by whom a certain man's withered hand is healed, when he learned that Placidus, a disciple of Blessed Benedict, had come there, came weeping and wailing, and cried out: "Placidus, most holy of men, I adjure you by Him who created all things, and by the holy name of your Master Benedict, that you implore the benefit of healing for me from the Lord; for I trust that through you the Lord will show me His mercy." When he had said this with great weeping, he showed his withered hand to the most blessed Placidus. All who were present at that spectacle, and all who could come, together with Saint Sabinus the Bishop, humbly besought the same thing, asking him to pray to the Almighty Lord on his behalf. But Placidus, being most compassionate, drawing long sighs from the depths of his heart, poured forth his prayer to the Lord with tears, saying: "O Almighty God, to whom nothing is impossible, who created heaven, earth, the sea, and all that is in them, from nothing; who gave to this your servant in baptism the remission of all his sins: deign to restore him to his former soundness through the merits of our most blessed Father Benedict, through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you as God forever and ever." When he had said this, grasping his withered hand with both of his own hands, he said: "May the Lord Jesus Christ heal you, who deigned to stretch forth the withered hand in the synagogue." Immediately that withered and bent hand was extended and restored to its former health. When Saint Sabinus the Bishop perceived such a miracle performed through Blessed Placidus, to the applause of Sabinus, he glorified the Lord, saying: "I give you thanks, O Life and Salvation of all, who granted to your most blessed servant Benedict to nurture such a disciple, through whom it has pleased you that signs and wonders be wrought. May your name be blessed from this time forth and forevermore." Those who were present, seeing this, glorified God and extolled the most holy Father Benedict with the highest praises. Saint Placidus, bidding farewell to Blessed Sabinus the Bishop and hastening his journey from there, after not many days arrived at Reggio, a city of Calabria.
Section 6: The Legation of Saint Sabinus to Constantinople.
[34] Afterward Sabinus undertook greater labors for the glory of God, performing an illustrious legation of the Apostolic See. For when in the year of Christ 535 Agapetus was proclaimed Supreme Pontiff, the Emperor Justinian congratulated him on this dignity, sending a profession of faith; and in other letters he requested that those who converted from the Arian heresy might retain their former dignities, and that the Bishop of Prima Justiniana, where the Emperor himself was born, might be honored with the pallium and exercise the functions of the Apostolic See. Agapetus, in his first epistle, approved the profession of faith insofar as it was consonant with the Sacred Canons — not as though he appeared to give the Emperor any authority to teach or to handle and arrange Ecclesiastical affairs: "The epistle of your piety," he says, "concerning the exposition of your faith, recently addressed to our predecessor of blessed memory, John, Bishop of the Roman See, through the Bishops Hypatius and Demetrius, and confirmed by the aforesaid Prelate, we also confirm, praise, and embrace by our own authority; not that we admit to laymen the authority of preaching, but that we confirm and strengthen the zeal of your faith as agreeing with the rules of our Fathers." In his third epistle, however, to the same Justinian, he thanks him for congratulating him on the pontificate and praises his faith, but denies that by the Sacred Canons fallen Bishops can be received with their dignities; [At the request of the Emperor Justinian, Legates were sent by Pope Agapetus to Constantinople,] and regarding this matter, Legates were sent by him, as the Emperor had requested: "And therefore," he says, "since your Clemency has deigned to offer in a salutary manner that the whole matter should be handled by our Legates, we entrust this task, with God as author, to those whom we are sending immediately." And then: "Concerning this same matter, and also concerning the city of Justiniana, which knows of your glorious birth, and also concerning the authority of our See to be conferred, whatever shall have been more fully determined — with the primacy of Blessed Peter, whom you cherish, preserved, and with the affection of your piety — we shall promptly communicate through the Legates whom we are sending to you, with God's favor."
[35] Who those Legates were, Agapetus did not specify in that epistle. Their names are found recorded in each of the Sessions of the Council of Constantinople held under Mennas in the following year. For it is clear that those who are mentioned there had been previously sent by Agapetus, from the beginning of the first Session of the same Synod, where this is read: "And sitting on his right of Mennas, and co-hearing with him, according to the pious command of our Christ-loving and God-guarded Emperor Justinian, of whom the foremost was Sabinus: the most holy and most God-beloved Bishops, Sabinus of Canusium, Epiphanius of Aeclanum, Asterius of Salerno, Rusticus of Fiesole, Leo of Nola — all from the region of Italy, first sent by the Apostolic See; and then unanimously consenting with the arrival here of the sainted Pope Agapetus of Old Rome," etc.
[36] For Agapetus himself was compelled to set out for Constantinople shortly afterward, Agapetus himself was compelled to set out by King Theodatus where he died around April 22 of the year 536. The cause of the journey is explained in book 16, chapter 3, of the Historia Miscella in these words: "Meanwhile Athalaric, King of the Goths, who had reigned while not yet having completed the years of boyhood, was cut short by a premature death. His mother Amalasuntha, after his funeral, associated Theodatus with herself in the kingdom. But that same Theodatus, unmindful of the benefit conferred upon him, commanded her to be strangled in a bath some days later. And because she, while still alive, had commended herself and her son to the Emperor, Justinian Augustus, upon hearing of her death, immediately blazed with grave anger against Theodatus. Theodatus, perceiving that the Emperor was hostile to him, sent the blessed Pope Agapetus to Constantinople in order to obtain impunity for his deed from Justinian." Amalasuntha was the daughter of Theodoric the Amal, King of the Goths in Italy, previously married to Eutharic, who died before his father-in-law. Theodatus, however, was the son of Amalafrida, the sister of Theodoric. For this reason Jordanes writes in De Rebus Goticis, chapter 59, that he was summoned from Tuscany by Amalasuntha on account of their kinship, where he was living a private life, occupied with his own labors. He then adds: "Who, unmindful of their kinship, after some time, having taken her from the palace of Ravenna, relegated her to exile on an island in the lake of Bolsena. Where, spending a very few days in sorrow, she was strangled in the bath by his satellites."
[37] The death of Athalaric and the murder of Amalasuntha occurred in the year of Christ 534, He deposes Anthimus, the heretical Bishop under the consulship of Justinian IV and Paulinus. In the following year Agapetus was sent to Constantinople. But Epiphanius, Bishop of the royal city, as the Chronicle of Marcellinus has it, died before the arrival of the Roman Pontiff. In his place, through the agency of the Empress Theodora, Anthimus, Bishop of Trebizond, a champion of the Eutychian heresy — to which Theodora herself was also devoted — was installed. Agapetus deposed him from that See and substitutes Mennas and substituted Mennas, whom he consecrated with his own hand, a Catholic man of Alexandrian origin, as Liberatus testifies in the Breviarium, chapter 21. What else Agapetus accomplished at Constantinople we shall relate on September 20, the day on which he is venerated by the Church. When he was preparing to return to Italy, dying, he commands Sabinus to remain with his companions with Mennas having left the Deacon Pelagius of the Roman Church as his representative with the Emperor, he departed this life — having first appointed Mennas as Vicar of the Apostolic See, and having commanded Sabinus and the other Bishops whom he had previously sent to remain with him and attend him, and to carry out the legation previously imposed upon them until the election of a new Pontiff.
[38] Mennas, truly worthy of those encomia with which Agapetus praises him in the letter addressed to Peter of Jerusalem — which we too shall discuss on August 25 — after the death of Agapetus, soon held a council with his legates and other Bishops, he is present at the council under Mennas in the year 536 and subscribes on the sixth day before the Nones of May, after the consulship of Belisarius, that is, in the year of Christ 536, against Anthimus, Severus, and other heretics. In each of the Sessions, the order in which Saint Sabinus and his companions sat is recorded. In the Fourth Session he subscribes to the sentence of the Council against Anthimus thus: "I, Sabinus, Bishop of the holy Church of Canusium, following the definition of our Father of holy memory, Pope Agapetus, concerning the person of Anthimus, formerly Bishop of Trebizond, have subscribed to all things." At the beginning of the Fifth Session, mention is made of him as follows: "And on the right side, sitting as co-auditors with him Mennas, according to the pious command of Justinian, the Christ-loving and God-guarded Emperor — the most excellent and most holy and most God-beloved Bishops: Sabinus of Canusium, Epiphanius of the Aesculani, Asterius of the Salernitans, Leo of the Nolani, Rusticus of the Faesulani, Theophanes, Roman Deacon, Pelagius, Roman Deacon — all indeed recently sent from the Italian region by the Apostolic See, and afterward consenting to Pope Agapetus of ancient Rome who came here." Finally, Sabinus subscribed to the sentence of the Patriarch Mennas against Severus, Peter, and Zoara in the same Fifth Session thus: "I, Sabinus, Bishop of the holy Church of Canusium, following in the Synod the definition of Pope Hormisdas of holy memory, anathematizing and condemning Severus and his impious writings, and Peter, formerly Bishop of Apamea, and their accomplices and followers, and also Zoara, and their communicants, and those persisting in the same error, have subscribed."
[39] That Sabinus suffered many harsh things during the time he was at Constantinople cannot be in the least doubted, since the impious Empress left no stone unturned he suffered much from the Empress Theodora to dislodge Mennas from the episcopal throne and restore Anthimus to it. For if she induced Vigilius, the Deacon of Agapetus, with the hope of the pontificate, to pledge himself as patron of Anthimus; if she drove the Deacon Pelagius to intercede lest Pope Saint Silverius be sent back from Patara, where he had been relegated by Belisarius, to Rome — as Liberatus writes in the Breviarium, chapter 22 — what engines did she not bring to bear, what terrors did she not threaten, what frauds and deceptions did she not compose, in order to conquer the spirits of Sabinus, a man of the greatest gravity, and of his fellow Bishops?
[40] Against the Emperor himself, too, Sabinus and his companions had to take up a struggle, together with the Pontiff Agapetus himself, and even before his arrival. and perhaps from Justinian For neither concerning the promotion of the lapsed to ecclesiastical dignities, which the Emperor wished, could he obtain what he wanted from the Legates, nor concerning the Bishop of the city of Justiniana; and indeed it is manifest that they resisted the ordination of Anthimus, who afterward so steadfastly adhered to Mennas. What sort of man Justinian was, and with what force he pressed what he had conceived in his mind, is evident from the encounter between him and Saint Agapetus, described by the author of the Historia Miscella, book 16, chapter 4, in these words: "When the holy Pontiff had gone to the Emperor Justinian, and had had a discussion of faith with him, he found that he had fallen into the doctrine of Eutyches; from whom, the day before, the blessed Prelate had suffered grave threats. even against the Pope, who was excessively harsh But when he perceived that he had found in him an unshaken constancy in the Catholic faith — for indeed it had progressed so far in words that the Prelate should say to him: 'I desired to come to Justinian, the most Christian Emperor, but I have found a Diocletian' — at last, by the will of God, acquiescing in his admonitions, he returned to the confession of the Catholic faith, together with many others who had likewise erred." If Justinian dared to threaten the Pontiff himself, what must he be believed to have done to his Legates, who are known not to have consented to his wishes?
Section 7. The Return of Saint Sabinus to Italy. Divine Revelations.
[41] When the Synod was at last concluded — the Fifth Session of which is found to have been held on the day before the Nones of June, after the consulship of Belisarius, in the fourteenth Indiction, the year of Christ 536 — and when, returning to Italy in the year 536 or 537 as is likely, the news of the creation of Silverius had already been brought, those who had been sent by Agapetus to Constantinople returned to Italy — the Legates Sabinus and the other Bishops, who had been commanded to remain there for a time after his death — while the Deacon Pelagius remained there. Unless perhaps the Bishops themselves did not immediately depart from the royal city either, for the time of their departure is not recorded.
[42] While returning to Italy, Sabinus turned aside to Lycia and venerated the sepulcher of the holy Bishop Nicholas in the city of Myra. If, He turns aside to Myra to the sepulcher of Saint Nicholas as is found in the appendix to the Chronicle of Marcellinus, in the fifteenth Indiction, after the second consulship of Belisarius, in the year of Christ 537, Belisarius relegated Pope Silverius — and indeed to Patara, a city of Lycia, as Liberatus testifies — it could appear that Sabinus journeyed thither to visit and console him. But at whatever time, he is certainly recorded to have come to Myra and to have visited the tomb of Saint Nicholas, formerly Bishop of that city, celebrated for miracles and the concourse of peoples, so that he might in person implore the patronage and protection of one whose manner of life he was zealously imitating. There, therefore, marveling at the sacred liquor flowing from his bones — which the Italians now call Manna — and at the assistance rendered through him to many mortals, he poured forth assiduous prayers at his tomb. One day, as he was beseeching God more fervently that through the intercession of that holy Bishop He would grant him His divine favor, and bestow upon him the grace of persevering in the pursuit of virtue until death, while he prays there, Saint Nicholas foretells perseverance and heavenly honors as he prayed, I say, Nicholas suddenly stood before him and thus addressed him: "Well done, Sabinus; God has heard your prayers, and in reward for the veneration here shown to my body, He has commanded me to announce these things to you: You will persevere in the worship of God until death, and when you have finished your life, the Catholic Church will inscribe you in the rolls of the Saints; and at length, after a long course of years, the relics of both of us will be translated to one and the same city, whose protection we shall both undertake." This at last came to pass when the body first of Saint Sabinus and then of Saint Nicholas was brought to Bari. This heavenly response (from the ancient records, as we believe, of the Church of Bari) is commemorated by Beatillus in the Life of Saint Sabinus, chapter 8, and in the History of Saint Nicholas, book 5, chapter 23, and book 6, chapter 3, where he testifies that whenever a provincial synod is held at Bari, when at the end the customary auspicious prayers and acclamations are made, the Archdeacon pronounces these words: "Let us celebrate the glorious Bishops Sabinus and Nicholas, whose memory is in blessing"; and all respond: "Let us celebrate." Hence we said above that if there were two Sabini, the body of the younger is preserved at Bari.
[43] Since at the very entrance of the Adriatic gulf there is a small island to which the ignorant populace gives the name Saseno, while the learned call it the island of Saint Sabinus, the same Beatillus conjectures that Sabinus perhaps landed there and performed some miracle there — though he confesses that no writer makes mention of this. Where did he land? He also believes that Sabinus, as soon as he came to Italy, proceeded to Rome in order to render account to Saint Silverius of the legation he had carried out. This does not seem so certain to us, since Italy was already disturbed by wars, and Rome was perhaps being besieged by Vitiges — if Silverius had not already been sent into exile, as we indicated.
[44] Restored therefore to his own See (being now about eighty years old, if there was only one Sabinus), the repose which seemed to be afforded him either by age or by the Apostolic See, he turned to a more ardent pursuit of virtue, especially of prayer and the contemplation of divine things. Divine liberality never allows itself to be outdone by human services. It therefore heaped upon Sabinus ever greater consolations and heavenly gifts from day to day. It is wonderful what they relate happened to him at that time — a small deed in itself, but no small proof of the heavenly wisdom infused into his soul. As he was walking in his domestic garden and, among the flower beds, reciting certain hymns and Psalms of David, he perceives distant events from the song of birds or by divine revelation an immense cheerfulness was poured into his soul, which he also betrayed by an unusual laugh. Those watching from a distance were amazed and asked what occasion for laughter had presented itself to him while he was singing the psalms. The holy man concealed from them the secret that was turning in his mind; yet he deflected their curiosity elsewhere: "Do you hear," he said, "those little birds which, fluttering joyfully, fly from one tree to another and soothe the air with their sweetest harmony? They have come here to summon their companions to a certain place not far distant from here, to feed on the grains of wheat which, a cart having overturned by accident, lie scattered on the ground. Who indeed would not exult in spirit when he hears those who lack the use of reason inviting one another with such great love to food and refreshment?" "Thus indeed that thing moved me, so that I could not repress the feeling of my exulting soul from bursting forth." In this way he eluded those who questioned him, concealing the gifts of grace that had been infused into his soul from heaven. They, marveling, secretly sent someone to investigate the matter. He found both the overturned cart and a great quantity of grain scattered on the ground. This was proof of how great the mysteries of heaven were that God communicated to him for knowledge and enjoyment — he who had discovered so small a thing either truly from the chattering of birds or by divine illumination. Beatillus commemorates these things in chapter 9.
Section 8. The Blindness of Saint Sabinus. The Gift of Prophecy.
[45] Totila, who is also called Badwilla or Badiulla, was the seventh King of the Ostrogoths in Italy. He obtained the kingdom in the seventh year of the Gothic War, which had been brought against Theodatus in the year of Christ 535, as Totila raged and soon setting out with his army into Campania and Samnium, he took the strong city of Benevento and demolished its walls; soon having gained possession of all Apulia, Calabria, Bruttium, and Lucania, he also occupied Naples — though here he used his victory kindly, in contrast to Belisarius six years earlier. From there he came to Saint Benedict on Monte Cassino, who predicted that he would reign for nine years and die in the tenth, having first visited Sicily and occupied Rome, as Saint Gregory relates in book 2 of the Dialogues, chapter 15. He besieged and captured Rome in the eleventh year of the Gothic War, the year of Christ 545, and deliberated on its utter destruction, as Procopius writes in book 3. Very many feared this, even at the very beginning of his reign, and among them Saint Sabinus, whose spirit Saint Benedict raised to a better hope, as is commemorated below by the writer of his Life. It is pleasant here to relate the same in the words of Saint Gregory. He writes thus in the same chapter 15 of book 2 of the Dialogues:
[46] "Moreover, the Bishop of the Church of Canusium was accustomed to come to the same servant of God, whom the man of God greatly loved for the merit of his life. When therefore he had a conversation with him about the entrance of King Totila and the destruction of the city of Rome, he said: 'Through this King that city will be destroyed, so that it shall no longer be inhabited.' [Saint Benedict predicts to Saint Sabinus that Rome will not be destroyed by Totila] To which the man of the Lord replied: 'Rome will not be destroyed by the nations, but, weakened by storms, lightning, hurricanes, and earthquake, she will wither in herself.' The mysteries of this prophecy have now become clearer to us than light, who behold in this city the dissolved walls, the overturned houses, the destroyed churches in the hurricane; and we see that her buildings, worn out by long old age, are being prostrated by ever-increasing ruins. Although Honoratus, his disciple, from whose account I learned this, declares that he himself never heard this from his mouth; but he testifies that the Brothers told him that he had said it."
[47] Sabinus himself also, having become blind either from old age or from some other mishap, began to see more clearly with his mind, illuminated by the Spirit of prophecy. Saint Gregory himself also testifies to this in book 3 of the Dialogues, chapter 5: "For certain religious men, known in the parts of the province of Apulia, are accustomed to testify what has become widely known far and wide concerning Sabinus, Bishop of the city of Canusium: Sabinus himself was also gifted with the spirit of prophecy that the same man had already lost the light of his eyes through long old age, so that he could see nothing at all. When Totila, King of the Goths, heard that he possessed the Spirit of prophecy, he did not believe it in the least, but endeavored to test what he had heard. When he came into those parts, the man of the Lord invited him to dinner. When they had come to the table, the King declined to recline, but sat at the right hand of the venerable man Sabinus. When a boy was offering Sabinus a cup of wine in the customary manner, the King silently stretched out his hand, took the cup, and offered it himself to the Bishop in the boy's place, to see whether, foreseeing in spirit, he would discern who was offering him the cup. (which Totila tests) Then the man of God, receiving the cup but not seeing the attendant, said: 'May that hand live!' At this word the King was both delighted and embarrassed, because although he himself had been detected, yet in the man of God he found what he was seeking." If this happened in the first year of Totila, when, having captured Benevento and stripped it of its walls — as we related above from Procopius — and having destroyed Cannae, as is said in the Life of Saint Laurentius of Siponto on February 7, he subjected to himself all Apulia, Lucania, and Campania, it must be said that Saint Sabinus became blind shortly after his return from Constantinople, and was thus tested by God for at least twenty years; and that he was already blind when he received from the mouth of Saint Benedict the aforementioned prophecy about the destruction of Rome.
[48] Saint Gregory brings forward in the same place another proof of the prophecy with which Saint Sabinus was gifted, which is also narrated below by the writer of his Life, but has greater authority when related in the words of the most holy Pontiff. It reads thus: "When the life of this venerable man was being drawn out into old age, as an example for the life of those who followed, his Archdeacon, kindled by the ambition of obtaining the episcopate, attempted to destroy him with poison. When he had corrupted the soul of the wine-pourer, [he perceives that poison is being offered to him through the Archdeacon's treachery] so that he would offer him a cup of wine mixed with poison, at the hour of the meal, when the man of God had already reclined at table to eat, the boy, corrupted by bribes, offered him the cup of poison which he had received from his Archdeacon. The venerable Bishop immediately said to him: 'You drink what you offer me to drink.' The boy, trembling and feeling that he was discovered, preferred to die by drinking it rather than to endure the punishments for the guilt of so great a murder. And as he was lifting the cup to his lips, the man of the Lord restrained him, saying: 'Do not drink; give it to me, I will drink it; but go, say to him who gave it to you: I indeed drink the poison, and drinks it unharmed but you will not be Bishop.' Having therefore made the sign of the Cross, the Bishop drank the poison in safety. And in that same hour, in another place where he was, his Archdeacon died, as if through the mouth of the Bishop the poisons had passed into the bowels of the Archdeacon. Yet although corporeal poison failed to bring death to the Bishop, but the Archdeacon dies though absent the poison of his own malice slew the Archdeacon in the sight of the eternal Judge." So writes Saint Gregory. Vincent of Beauvais in book 21, chapter 66, relates the same things about Totila recognizing him, the poison drunk, and the death of the Archdeacon, somewhat more briefly.
Section 9. The Death of Saint Sabinus. The Irruption of the Lombards.
[49] Not only in these private matters did Saint Sabinus show himself endowed with the Spirit of prophecy, but also in predicting the public devastation of all Italy that was imminent. And he contended indeed, Saint Sabinus prays against and foretells the calamities of Italy as long as he lived, by pouring forth assiduous prayers, to propitiate God who was angry with the people and to avert that calamity. This is evident from the inscription that exists in the church of Canusium, according to Beatillus. For as he was praying to God with great fervor of soul, a voice came to him, formed by the work of an Angel, of this kind: "Sabinus, ask of the Lord, and you will obtain." Sabinus replied: "I ask, O Lord, that Your wrath may be stilled, and be merciful over the wickedness of Your people, and deliver them from the hands of their enemies." But when he was already near death, as is said in chapter 4, number 10, he more clearly announced the evils that were to come.
[50] He died in the fifty-second year of his episcopate, the year of Christ 566, When did he die? as Beatillus establishes in chapter 11, where he also says he was buried in the basilica of Saint Peter, which was the Cathedral both in Sabinus's own time and long afterward. He was placed in a tomb which he himself had caused to be prepared for himself while living; but not long afterward his relics were removed by the priests of Canusium and deposited in another place not far from that tomb, without any inscription or other mark, so that by this means they might escape the sacrilegious hands of the Barbarians. So writes Beatillus, perhaps from the records or tradition of the Church of Canusium — though these do not entirely agree with the Life, as we shall say below. But it seems that the Canusians, warned by that prophecy of Saint Sabinus, deliberately buried his body in such a way that it could not easily be found, and so it would be withdrawn from the fury of the impious.