ON ST. CASTRENSIS, AFRICAN BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, AT VULTURNUS IN CAMPANIA
ABOUT THE YEAR 450.
Preliminary commentary.
Castrensis, Bishop in Campania (St.)
By G. H.
I. The time of the Vandal persecution. The public veneration of St. Castrensis.
[1] The nation of the Vandals, as Prosper attests in his Chronicle, crossed from Spain into Africa under the consuls Hierius and Ardabur, that is, in the year 427. Their King was Genseric, for thirty-seven years, In the Vandal persecution who gradually subjugated all of Africa: and indeed under the consuls Theodosius XVII and Festus, that is, the year 439, he invaded Carthage by a treacherous peace, as the same Prosper and Marcellinus relate in their Chronicles. What persecution that barbarous nation inflicted there upon Bishops, Clergy, and other Catholics can be learned from the three books of Victor of Vita. Then, he says among other things, the King ordered that the Bishop of Carthage, named Quodvultdeus, [St. Quodvultdeus, Bishop of Carthage, with his Clergy were placed on broken ships] and a great multitude of Clergy, placed on broken ships, be expelled naked and despoiled. The Lord, by the compassion of his goodness, deigned to bring them by a prosperous voyage to the city of Campania. Of which matter more will be said on the twenty-sixth of October: for on that day this holy Bishop with his Clergy is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology. But on the Kalends of September the following is read in the same Martyrology: At Capua, likewise of another Priscus, Bishop, who was one of
those Priests who, variously afflicted in the persecution of the Vandals for the Catholic faith, and placed upon an ancient ship, came from Africa to the shores of Campania, and dispersed in those places likewise St. Priscus, St. Castrensis, and ten companions and placed over various Churches, wonderfully propagated the Christian religion. His companions were Castrensis, Tammarus, Rosius, Heraclius, Secundinus, Adiutor, Marcus, Augustus, Elpidius, Canion, and Vindonius. Ghinius in the Birthdays of the Holy Canons and Paulus Regius in On the Saints of Naples, part 2, in the Life of St. Candida of Naples, chapter 4, have nearly the same.
[2] Antonius Caracciolus in Neapoli Sacra, chapter 26, relates that all of these together with St. Quodvultdeus were placed upon an ancient ship, reached Naples, and were then dispersed throughout the places of Campania, with Saints Quodvultdeus and Gaudiosus remaining at Naples and establishing their domicile there. whether all of these were Bishops? He moreover conjectures that not all those named above were Bishops, but were from the crowd of Carthaginian Clergy sent into exile with their Bishop. From these, below in the Life, number 3, those said to have been distinguished by the honor of the highest priesthood are Rossius, Priscus, Tammarus, and Castrensis especially, who are said to shine forth; for many Bishops were among them, who walked rejoicing with their committed flocks. Hence Michael the Monk contends, in his edition of the Life of St. Castrensis in the Capuan Sanctuary, that the remaining eight previously indicated also shone with the same dignity, and adds that the same is indicated in number 6, where St. Castrensis is said to have turned to his fellow Brethren and fellow Bishops. And then each one individually prayed. Then in number 7 they are called by the same term the authors of this sect. And in number 8 they are called forth with due honor. In number 9 others seek to follow the footsteps of the holy Fathers. And these things generally concerning all of them. Individually, in number 8 Heraclius is said to have boldly spread the laws of Christ among the peoples. And above, when in the Roman Martyrology St. Priscus is called both Bishop and one of those twelve Priests, who are then called his companions, it is indicated that all were of the same Order, which can be further examined at the Kalends of September.
[3] As concerns this place, we believe that these were expelled separately, not in the company of St. Quodvultdeus, expelled separately without St. Quodvultdeus of all of whom St. Castrensis is considered the standard-bearer and leader in number 8: nor is any mention anywhere made of the city of Carthage or of St. Quodvultdeus. Indeed it does not seem improbable that these were expelled before Carthage was occupied by the Vandals. Certainly, as Prosper attests, a portion of Africa was given to the Vandals for habitation under the consuls Theodosius XV and Valentinian IV, that is, in the year 435: so that from that time the persecution can be considered to have begun. And two years later, as the same Prosper relates, under the consuls Aetius II and Sigisvult, in Africa King Genseric, wishing to overthrow the Catholic faith by Arian impiety within the limits of his habitation, persecuted certain Bishops (of whom Possidius, Novatus, and Severianus were the more distinguished) to the point that he both stripped them of the rights to their basilicas and expelled them from their cities, since their constancy yielded to none of the most arrogant King's terrors. Below in number 2, after the first harassment of the Catholics is narrated, it is added: This was done for four years — after the portion was given for habitation? On which calculation these twelve athletes would have been expelled in the year 438 or the following, and perhaps before the capture of Carthage and reached the shores of Campania, as is said in number 10, when the month of May completed ten days from the Kalends: in which same year on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of November Carthage was captured, and then in the same manner St. Quodvultdeus with his Clergy was placed upon a broken ship. Michael the Monk assigns the year of expulsion as 440 and calls it the fourth of the persecution, whose beginning he places at the year 437.
[4] How long afterwards St. Castrensis survived in Campania is not established: but that he departed from life on the eleventh day of February is read in the Acts, number 18. St. Castrensis is venerated on 11 February On which day an ancient Calendar drawn up before the year 741 and the manuscript Martyrology of St. Martin at Trier record St. Castrensis as a Martyr. Michael the Monk in the Capuan Sanctuary published five ancient Calendars from old manuscript codices, in the first of which no mention is made of St. Castrensis, while the other four have this: On the third day before the Ides of February, St. Castrensis, Bishop and Confessor; in the fourth it is added that an office of three readings is celebrated. The name Martyr, which others also use, is to be understood as meaning Confessor, that is, one who suffered torments for the cause of the faith but did not die from them. The manuscript Martyrologies of the monastery of St. John and of Cassino in the Notes in Michael the Monk have this: In Campania, St. Castrensis, Bishop and Martyr. in Campania St. Peter of Benevento: In Campania, St. Castrensis, etc., with no particular place assigned, which is indicated in the most ancient manuscript Roman Martyrology commonly cited by us under the name of St. Jerome, but as is also evident from this, subsequently augmented: in which is read: At Vulturnus, Castrensis. at Vulturnus At the same location in Campania, moreover, is the river Vulturnus, at whose mouth there was formerly a town called Vulturnum, as Cluverius shows from Livy, Varro, Strabo, Mela, Pliny, Ptolemy, Frontinus, Festus, and the Itinerary Table in book 4 of Ancient Italy, chapter 2. That place by universal consent is now called Castellum ad mare de Vulturno, or simply Castellum de Vulturno, situated on the left bank of the river: whose parish church is still dedicated to St. Castrensis and is included in the diocese of Capua. Michael the Monk relates that upon his first arrival at the shores of Campania he landed either at this mouth of the Vulturnus or near that of the Garigliano river, and that his memory is celebrated in these places to this day. The Garigliano, moreover, was formerly called the Liris, concerning which and the neighboring places Ptolemy writes thus in book 3 of the Geography, chapter 1: Of the Campanians along the Tyrrhenian Sea, the mouth of the Liris river, Soessa, Vulturnum. where also the city of Soessa or Sinuessa But what is there called Soessa is called below in number 11 the city of Suessana: in Livy and other ancients, Sinuessa, distinct from the inland Campanian city of Suessa, which by Ptolemy is then called Souessa, by others Suessa Aurunca, or of the Aurunci, now commonly called Sessa. In the suburbs or vicinity of that Sinuessa, or Soessa, St. Castrensis received according to his vow a small humble cell on the Campanian shore, near which he lived where he was buried in the church of that maritime coast: whether it was at Vulturnus, or whether his sacred body was first translated there.
[5] Michael the Monk attests in his Annotations and their Review that various churches of St. Castrensis existed: Various temples honored in his name one in the year 1123 in the parts across the river Vulturnus at the place called Alla Fontanella, near the stream of Calvus; another in the year 1573 in the parts of Cancielli; and another between Marcianise and Maddaloni. Moreover, in the territory of Suessa there is a village with a church under the invocation of St. Castrensis. Likewise in the diocese of Naples there is a village, commonly called Marano, where is seen a parish church under the invocation of St. Castrensis, which, having collapsed through the injury of time, has now been rebuilt by the inhabitants of that place and is held in great veneration: for before the doors of that church there are visible only two small columns of that ancient temple, which the faithful kiss before they enter the church, where they also venerate a portion of the arm of the holy Bishop Castrensis, translated there from Monreale not many years ago. Lord Silvester Ayossa, Doctor of Law, a dear nephew on his sister Cara's side, attests that he saw these things when he visited Marano for devotion's sake. Thus the Monk.
II. The body of St. Castrensis translated to Capua and to Monreale. The Acts written.
[6] In the tables of the Roman Martyrology for the eleventh of February the following is read: At Capua, St. Castrensis, Bishop. On the occasion of which words the Monk inquires whether St. Castrensis settled at Capua and was Bishop of Capua; and he immediately denies both. He is also venerated at Capua As to why he is attributed to Capua, he adduces various reasons: Because, he says, St. Castrensis himself dwelt within the borders of the Capuan province, which were at that time still quite extensive. Add that Vulturnus, to which he is ascribed in a codex written nearly a thousand years ago, is still in the diocese of Capua. In addition to this, says the Monk, the veneration of the Capuans toward St. Castrensis could rightly be increased because he was
a chief companion and fellow soldier of St. Priscus, their Bishop. Cardinal Bellarmine, himself also Archbishop of Capua, compiled a catalogue of the Bishops of Capua, according to which Radalpertus was Bishop in the year 830, the predecessor of St. Paulinus, as is read in the old Capuan Breviary. The Monk exhibits a certain epitaph of this Radalpertus in the Life of St. Paulinus, in which the following is read:
He also restored the beautiful citadel with temples and walls, Which lies situated at the mouth of the river Vulturnus, Beneath the sacred vault of this temple likewise, He took care to lay the sacred remains of holy Castrensis.
In the vault of the church, that is, as the Monk explains, in some small chapel above the tribune, especially on account of the body translated there he placed the body of St. Castrensis. He also consecrated an altar to the same St. Castrensis, near which he wished his own sepulchre to be placed. And this is the principal reason that he is attributed to Capua, because his body was translated to Capua from Castellum ad mare Vulturni, whose lordship belonged to the Church of Capua, as the Monk shows at length: and the head left behind he adds in the Review that the head of St. Castrensis was left there.
[7] But the remaining body was translated to Sicily by King William II, the remaining body was brought to Monreale in the twelfth century surnamed the Good, to the church of Monreale which he had built: and he summoned monks there from the monastery of Cava. William administered the kingdom from the year 1166 to 1189. For this King, Alphanus, Archbishop of Capua, brought from England to Naples with twenty-four triremes a daughter of King Henry to be his wife, as Bellarmine reports from the manuscript Chronicle of Romuald of Salerno in the Catalogue of Archbishops of Capua in the Monk's work. There exist proper Offices of the Saints of the metropolitan Church of Monreale and its diocese, printed at Rome in 1605, in which a threefold veneration of St. Castrensis is observed: for first, his Birthday is celebrated under the double rite in the city, and throughout the whole diocese under the semi-double: when first the following is recited in the Martyrology: the Translation is dedicated to the second Sunday of May On the third day before the Ides of February, at Capua, St. Castrensis, Bishop and Confessor. Second, the Translation of the same is celebrated on the second Sunday of May, with this announcement in the Martyrology: The Translation of St. Castrensis, Bishop and Confessor, to this Metropolitan Church; and it is a double feast in the city. Third, for the second Translation a commemoration is made in the city on the twenty-ninth of December with this mention in the Martyrology: The second Translation of St. Castrensis, Bishop and Confessor, to the chapel magnificently constructed to the memory of the same Saint: and on 29 December brought into a new chapel which was done by Ludovicus Torres II, Archbishop of Monreale and Cardinal, who presided over that Church from the year 1588 to 1609, of whom Rocchus Pirrus treats in Notitia 3 of the Sicilian Churches: where he also notes that the same erected chapels for St. Placidus the Martyr and Lord Castrensis the Bishop. Our Octavius Caietanus in the Idea of the work on the Saints of Sicily records the memorial of the same on the eleventh of February with these words: At Monreale, St. Castrensis, Bishop and Confessor, whose body is preserved in that basilica. The same on the twenty-ninth of December: At Monreale, the second Translation of St. Castrensis, Bishop and Confessor. On which day Ferrarius also inscribed him in the general Catalogue of Saints. The Ecclesiastical Office is from the Common of a Confessor Bishop, except for the Readings of the second Nocturn, excerpted from his Life: the last of which concludes thus: The sacred body of the same, a part of the arm is preserved at Marano translated to Monreale, is venerated with the utmost devotion in the Metropolitan Church under the altar of a chapel of magnificent workmanship constructed in his memory. We said above that a part of his arm was brought thence to the church of St. Castrensis in the village of Marano in the diocese of Naples.
[8] There exists a manuscript Life of St. Castrensis in a codex of Monreale in Sicily, and in a Lombard manuscript of the nuns of St. John at Capua, from which Michael the Monk published it in print in the Capuan Sanctuary From which manuscripts is the Life here published? and illustrated it with notes. The same Life, somewhat fuller, together with the Lives of certain other Saints from the manuscripts of the Reverend Fathers of the Oratory at Rome, was copied for us at our request by our Laurentius Koler, having obtained permission through the Most Eminent Cardinal Petrus Aloysius Carafa. This narrative lacks the insipid exordium found elsewhere, which was also omitted by the Monk and in the Readings read in the Church of Monreale. Those Acts, according to Baronius at the Kalends of September, begin thus: The text of the sacred history teaches, etc. From which the Monk writes that three very brief Readings in the ancient Capuan Breviary were drawn, an exordium about Valentinian and Valens has been attached to it the first of which begins: In the times of Valentinian and Valentinus, many Christians were apprehended in Libya. From which Breviary and the old manuscript, Ferrarius begins his eulogy of St. Castrensis on this eleventh of February thus: Castrensis, an African Bishop, one of those sent into exile in the persecution against the Catholics raised under the Emperors Valens and Valentinian, was long afflicted with imprisonment and beatings, etc. Caracciolus in chapter 26 of Neapoli Sacra, section 3, attributes this error not to the author of this Life but to some other pretender to knowledge, absurdly joining a horse's head to a human body. Valentinian the Third administered the Empire of the West, having been made Emperor in the year 425: on what occasion? whom we said above to have made peace with the Vandals in the year 435 after various battles and combats with them, and after the war was more fiercely resumed, again under the consuls Dioscorus and Eudoxius in the year 442, Prosper relates in his Chronicle that peace was confirmed between Genseric and the Emperor Valentinian, and Africa was divided between the two by fixed boundaries. On the occasion of which the author of the Life appears to have made mention of this Valentinian, which another writer absurdly transferred to Valentinian I and his brother Valens, attributing to them the Vandal persecution of King Genseric. Moreover, the author of the Life indicates his own age in number 16, when he says that he heard from the report of certain Priests who are believed to have been present at the revelation, when did the author live? or vision that occurred at his death and were worthy of it. Wherefore, as Caracciolus also observes, it does not seem likely that a writer so ancient would have so grossly erred in recording the Emperors of nearly his own time as to thrust the Emperors Valentinian and Valens upon us in place of the Kings of the Vandals, who had already died more than sixty years before the Vandal incursion into Africa.
[9] Baronius in the Notes to the eleventh of February reports from Peter the Deacon's book on the Illustrious Men of the monastery of Monte Cassino that Laurentius, a Cassinese monk, wrote the Life of St. Castrensis the Bishop in verse. Other Acts described in verse Joannes Alamannia of Calabria, as Caracciolus writes, published it from the most ancient manuscripts, though with errors due to the scarcity of codices, preferring that it be known however imperfectly rather than be entirely unknown. He said much in his preface addressed to Ludovicus de Torres, Archbishop of Monreale, afterwards Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, at the time when he had adorned with a chapel of magnificent workmanship, in which he had honorably deposited the body, and had furnished it with ecclesiastical furnishings, and had obtained indulgences to be granted by Apostolic authority. Thus he. Baronius and the Monk relate that these two verses were inscribed near the relics of the same Saint:
He preserves sailors, and rescues them from the wrath of the demon, Whom he first caused to depart from a possessed body.
These matters are related more fully in the Life, number 13.
LIFE
From the Roman, Capuan, and Sicilian manuscripts.
Castrensis, Bishop in Campania (St.)
BHL Number: 1644
By an Anonymous Author
CHAPTER I
The captivity of St. Castrensis and his companions in the Vandal persecution, the beatings they endured, and the consolation of an appearing Angel.
[1] While the Vandal persecution continued, there were at that time in the regions of Africa men penitent in their conduct and shining with the splendor of nobility, In the Vandal persecution who, in order to devoutly fulfill the precepts of Christ, having abandoned temporal things, desired to attain heavenly ones. Against whom the ancient enemy, envying them, attempted to bring such wiles; that he might stir up the minds of tyrants with such zeal that they would order whatever Christians, otherwise Catholics, to take up military arms and participate in secular warfare. But when it had been unanimously refused by all the followers of Christ to comply with such a command, The Catholics the devil inflamed the hearts of his satellites to other snares; so that those whom they could not bend by threats and royal commands, they would destroy by various slaughters. When this came to the ears of the faithful, they chose rather to die in the body than to despise the commands of the heavenly King. For when the unspeakable commands of the Arians, tortured by Arians having been entirely rejected by the faithful of Christ, availed nothing, they bring fury and terror upon those by whom they had been imposed; but after they saw that they were utterly despised, the unspeakable Princes attempted in this manner to turn the glorious athletes of Christ from the worship of the divine law: first to soothe the minds of the faithful gently and deceitfully with promised gifts toward the royal commands, then if they saw any resisting and refusing, to destroy them with various punishments and tortures. This was done so that the unspeakable crime might be thoroughly spread abroad. And when it had reached the ears of the faithful of Christ, for whom to live was Christ and to die was gain, they unanimously abandoned all things and hastened on their course, and cried out against the leaders of so savage a sect, they are put to death why they imposed such commands on the servants of God. When this was reported to the wicked and criminal ministers, the most cruel tyrants, they decreed that whoever they might find of this sect, whether men or women, youths or boys, should be destroyed with various scourgings and punishments. To fulfill this most unspeakable command you would have marveled at the order in which those holy companies ran: while boys went before the elders, women before men, coming from all sides in confusion to the crown of the contest, not secretly but openly scorning the commands of the tyrants.
[2] But when the slaughter of the Catholics had increased long and greatly, the most wicked satellites of the tyrants devised this: that however many of younger age they could find, they would beat them with scourgings and various kinds of punishments, others could not be drawn even into feigned communion so that by fear of them even the older ones might be corrected. When they saw this was of no avail, they devised another kind of deception: by which means they might be able to detach the minds of the faithful from the path of holy faith; pretending to join in their friendships whatever religious men they might find in the bosom of Holy Mother Church, so that those who were simpler in the Church, understanding that those who appeared to preside over the rest were communicating in their friendships, might themselves also headlong obey their monstrous commands. This was done for four years. But that pious Sower, who neither slumbers nor shall ever fully sleep, what he had once promised to his flock, saying: Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you a kingdom; he himself with diligent and watchful care deigned so diligently to watch over both the minds of the leaders and of the subject flock, that he allowed neither the former to be deceived by friendships nor the latter by false cunning in any way: but when the most savage tyrant, who had already believed that the people of the entire province had lapsed into the error of his dogma, perceived that he was deceived in his hope; openly he began to compel those whom he had pretended to have as friends, Luke 12:32 to consent to their unspeakable sect. When this sounded once in their holy ears, they cried out unanimously with all effort, saying that they preferred rather to be released from bodily chains than to give consent to this unexpected demand. But those unspeakable ones, seeing that the poison which they had thought to instill secretly into the hearts of the simple was producing no pestilence, openly moved the arms of their savagery, indiscriminately against both those whom they had reckoned they had deceived and those with whom they had falsely joined friendship.
[3] Whence it came about that they ordered the Saints of God to be brought bound in throngs from each province. But in the vast multitude there were also holy men, shining in their conduct and the integrity of their life, and even endowed with the honor of the highest priesthood, who went rejoicing with the flocks committed to them, thinking that with the triumph of martyrdom they would attain eternal life. Among these, Rossius, Priscus, Tammarus, and St. Castrensis especially, shining forth in his character, from among these, with Saints Rossius, Priscus, and Tammarus, St. Castrensis were resplendent in their merits, conduct, and the beauty of their understanding. But when the wicked Tyrant beheld so vast a multitude, he handed them over to the most savage ministers to be guarded; until he should consider what to do with so illustrious a company. When the savage and most unspeakable satellites had shut them in close custody and had separated one from another, he is cast into chains it happened that they secretly led forth from the prison the holy athletes of God, Priscus and Castrensis, shining with the splendor of pre-eminent holiness and austerity, and attempted to deceive them with such words: Since both the beauty and form of your body, the nobility of your birth, and moreover the friendship of the King and the distinction of philosophy, set you above the rest, why do you drag yourselves to the disgrace of such cowardice, to be reckoned among those whose family and fatherland are certainly wholly unknown? To this the Saints steadfastly said: he steadfastly rejects the blandishments of the ministers What have you, wicked ministers of Satan, dared to propose to us, that by your most savage persuasions you attempt to bend our hearts, which divine grace has so directed to the abundance of the divine majesty and so powerfully withdrawn from the pleasures of this world, that it testifies through the Prophet, saying not only that we are sons of God, but even that we shall be gods: I said, You are gods, and all sons of the Most High; and another Prophet likewise: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings of peace. Psalm 82:6 Romans 10:15 Then those men, inflamed with excessive fury, ran beneath the royal roofs, crying: Most pious and most gracious King, behold the poison which was being instilled secretly into the hearts of individuals, so that no one would obey your pious commands, is now being spread openly by the proud and contemptuous ones of your kingdom: and their insolence has blazed so greatly that they even call you yourself a savage and cruel Tyrant.
[4] Hearing this, the wicked King shook his mane, tossing his head, and swore by himself and the greatness of his kingdom three and four times By the command of the furious King not to allow these men to depart without the punishment of vengeance. Then with fierce eyes glaring at his satellites he said: Go quickly, and whatever you judge worthy to be inflicted on parricides, inflict doubly upon these criminals, so that through you the disgrace of our majesty may be removed. Hearing this, the most cruel satellites, going in companies, the Saints are afflicted with various punishments gathered the Saints into one place, and beat some with rods, some with blows, some with stones. But the Saints of God, remaining with eager mind in the love of the heavenly King, did not seem even to emit a sigh. And when the arms of those who beat them had entirely failed, and the Saints remained firm in mind and body, they separated from one another in astonishment, muttering among themselves by what kind of death they might destroy the Saints of God: and not long after, gathered in one company, they began to declare their thoughts to each other. But since nothing of what they discussed seemed suitable to them, each returned to his own place, to return the following day to complete the crime: but they caused the Saints of God to be thrust into the depths of the prison.
[5] But that same night an Angel of the Lord appeared to them, and a wondrous splendor shone round all in the prison at night they are aroused by an appearing Angel who were in the chamber of the prison, and he said to them: Behold, our Lord Jesus Christ has sent me to you, that by my words your hearts and bodies may be strengthened, and before the most savage persecutors attempt to plunge you into the depths of the vast sea, know, all of you, that the eternal King has prepared a place for each of you, in which you yourselves may rest in Christ, and may absolve the multitude of peoples dwelling in those parts from all error. To this the Saints said unanimously: Praise be to God in the highest, and may the heavenly mercy fulfill his will in us. May the divine
majesty confer upon us only this, that those whom he deigns to transfer from one land for the glory of his name, may by his mercy grant to be buried within the boundaries of one fatherland. To which the Angel responded with a serene countenance: I want you to know for certain that whatever you shall ask will be fulfilled according to your prayer. light is left behind after his departure Having said this, the Angel withdrew from their eyes, but light overflowed in the prison throughout the whole night, and the Saints exulted throughout the whole night in hymns and praises.
Notesl. The same: "island."
p. The same: "Behold, O Lords, the poison."
q. The same: "of your empire."
r. The same: "you call them savage and cruel Tyrants. Hearing which, the wicked Dukes shake their manes, tossing their heads, by which they swear three and four times, etc."
CHAPTER II
The one who struck St. Castrensis is punished and healed. The Martyrs are placed on a rotten ship and reach Campania.
[6] But on the following day the unspeakable throng of the wicked, rushing upon the Saints with daggers and rods, thought they could bend them by their terror. But the Saints of God, faithfully awaiting the angelic promise, counted their threats as nothing. The arms of a satellite who dragged St. Castrensis by his stole wither Then St. Castrensis wrapped himself in his stole: which when one of the surrounding ministers saw, one who was bolder than the rest, he began to drag him by it as if by a vile rope. But the divine mercy immediately struck him, so that not only the hand with which he had seized the stole of the holy man, but both his arms withered. And he, falling at the feet of the most holy Castrensis, began to wail and cry out, saying: Have mercy, have mercy, holy Priest of God, have mercy upon me, and rescue me from this withering which has befallen me for my offenses. At this cry St. Castrensis, moved by mercy, who, praying with the others turned to his fellow Brethren and fellow Bishops and addressed them thus: My Brothers and Lords, we ought to be mindful of the saying of our Lord and Savior, who says: Luke 6:28 Pray for those who persecute and calumniate you. Wherefore, Brothers, let us all unanimously beseech the Lord to deign by his mercy to restore these backward arms and these withered hands to their former health. At the same hour each one prayed individually in his heart, and as if with one mouth all together answered: Amen. At this voice that oppressor he is restored to health again cried out: Pontiff of God, have mercy on me. And when at the command of the servant of God he raised himself from the ground, immediately his arms and hands were restored to their former health. Seeing which, certain impious ministers, filled I know not with what spirit, began with great voices to magnify God, in whose name the prayer of St. Castrensis had so quickly restored the sick man to his former health.
[7] But when they were rebuked by the Christians who came upon them for the crimes committed against the Saints of God, their revived madness again blazed forth in anger: and they began to compel the Saints of God to obey the royal commands. But since heavenly clemency was guarding his Saints with watchful care, they began to ridicule their madness all the more. Then one, in whom Satan was believed to dwell bodily, named Aristodemus, began to utter such words against the Saints of God: If fire burns them, the dust by the counsel of Aristodemus that remains from them will again defile; and if their blood has extinguished the fire, wherever in the countryside it falls, it will infect. Now therefore assent to my counsels, and let us so thoroughly destroy the authors of this sect, who even provoke the King's mind to anger, that not even a trace of them may be found on the earth. Let them be food for the sea beasts, and let the deep abyss be reckoned their tomb. Let the most ancient ship be brought, which not only has no usefulness whatsoever for sailors, sentence is passed upon the Martyrs but also retains not even the slightest bit of pitch where the planks are joined together: in which no part of comfort may be found, with the masts and yardarms cast off, deprived of all the support of nails, so that walking barely a short distance on the sea they may be swallowed by the jaws of the deep.
[8] When that wicked pestilential man had addressed the multitude of the savage throng with such words, they immediately, having separated here and there, began to run about, and with raised arms began to shake the ropes of the old ships: lest the Saints might have any comfort within their power. And when they had cast off the supply of many ships, one was seen by their judgment to be more ancient, twelve are placed upon a rotten ship which through the course of many years had rotted and decayed only from the droppings of birds. Unanimously embracing this one with glad spirit, they hastened to bring it to the shores of the sea, crying out: This ship will transport the Christians to other shores. summoned by name And when they had launched it on the sea, pretending to call the names of the Saints separately and with due honor, they thus began: Let first the reverend Rossius, distinguished by his gray hair and sanctity, board here; after him Secundinus, the offspring of a fruitful lineage. Third, Heraclius, who boldly spread the laws of Christ among the peoples; beside him it is fitting that Benignus and Priscus should sit; and let Elpidius sit at the last part of the side. Within, on the other side, let Marcus hold his place, and Augustinus, Canion, and Vindonius shall recline together with them. Let the standard-bearer and leader Castrensis possess the fortress of the stern, he who by his character commanded the hostile blasts; St. Castrensis was considered their standard-bearer it is fitting that Tammarus should kindly steer the prow.
[9] While the savage ministers were arranging these things, suddenly an innumerable multitude of Christians arrived, men and women mixed together, with youths and little children, an innumerable multitude voluntarily joins them all crying out together: Have pity, have pity, fellow citizens, and lest your hands be polluted by our blood, allow us to follow the footsteps of the holy Fathers. Bearing this acclamation with resentment and turning it to mockery, they hastily began to compel them to board the ship, and said in derision: It is fitting that together with those whom you have imitated, you should become food for the sea beasts. But the multitude of the holy men and women we have not at all presumed to name by name; because no one under heaven is found who would dare to say that he knew the names of each individual, except only he who equally through the glory of his greatness is always everywhere, and to whom all things are present. These things, however, which the perpetual goodness of God has handed down to our understanding through the sayings of the holy Fathers, we have taken care to record for this reason, that when any one of the faithful celebrates the solemnity of any Saint, he may likewise rejoice in the triumph of all: so that from the eternal King he may worthily obtain the rewards of immortality through the intercession of all of them. For these are they who, leaving behind their estates and riches, and denying themselves, followed the footsteps of the Redeemer. But we have deemed it fitting, with our pen running ahead, to note briefly how our immense King Christ deigned to turn the savage and laughable acts of the unspeakable Tyrants to the praise of
his name. And when the savage assembly of soldiers saw men and women, youths and children, unanimously wishing to board the ship in companies, fearing lest the old ship might sink on the shore, carried out to sea on sturdier ships they determined that those who wished to join their company should finally be conveyed to them by a vessel of sturdier construction.
[10] But almighty God, whose way is in the sea and whose paths in the great waters, having changed the order, wonderfully turned their cunning to the glory of the Saints. For when the multitude of ships had scarcely conveyed the army of the Saints as far as the open sea, and they strove to cast them pell-mell into the old ship, so that the destruction of the Catholics might come together with the sinking of the old vessel; then the power of the heavenly King gave this sign of his power: while the other sailors watched that those who had led the Saints of God in chains as far as the open sea could by no means change the oars of their own ships, until they saw with their own eyes how Christ our God provided ways for his own on the sea and paths in the waters. And so, rejoicing and exulting and rendering thanks to Christ, the King of ages, they arrived on the Campanian shore when the month of May completed ten days from the Kalends. Then, when they trod the peaceful sands of the sea with their own feet, they arrive unharmed on the Campanian shore the holy Father Castrensis, from the old ship, with Christ God's help, made firm what was broken, and endeavored to send it back to the place from which it had been launched: which, with a gentle breeze blowing, took its course across the vast sea: and how it crossed, the following account teaches.
Notesc. The same: "pagan."
CHAPTER III
The labors, miracles, and death of St. Castrensis in Campania.
[11] From there, with an Angel leading them, they proceeded to the proper places which Christ had appointed for them for the salvation of believers. St. Castrensis comes to Suessa Then Father Castrensis approached the walls of the city of Suessa, and when the inhabitants of the place asked him whence he had drawn his lineage, or how he had arrived there rashly, that pious Father, as was his nature, related all things more gently: how he and his companions had despised the savage laws of the Kings, and what gifts of his mercy Christ God had bestowed upon them. When the people heard this from his placid mouth, they unanimously raised their voices to the stars, giving thanks to Christ God who reigns through the ages, who for the salvation of his people had brought forth from the ends of the earth a benign Bishop and an excellent Father, to be the guardian of his own life and the guide of others. Thus he is said with pious mind to have spurned praises and despised rewards, so that he would accept neither abundance of possessions nor pomp, but it would be a great thing for him if a small dwelling in the suburbs of that city were given him by the Lord. he chooses a small lodging in the suburbs When the people, worshiper of the Trinity, fulfilled this with all eagerness and joy, he more anxiously embraced the hospitality of a poor little cell than earthly riches and the favors of the people.
[12] But God, who permits neither a city set upon a hill nor a light under a bushel to be hidden, deigned from the very regions from which they had been cast out to cause his name to be worthily proclaimed. For that savage and cruel man, swelling with the spirit of pride, Adamas by name, who with his unspeakable mouth had given the counsel that the Saints should be enclosed in the old ship to be sunk in the deep, he heals the author of his exile and his wife, punished with many diseases was immediately afflicted and contracted from that time always as if hunchbacked, always looking down at the ground: and his wife also, Beatrix by name, was continually oppressed by a grave disease which physicians call hemorrhoids. They suffered these infirmities for as long as it took until, at the Angel's prompting, Adamas in the overseas lands on the Campanian shore found Castrensis, the benign Bishop, and having received his blessing was raised up from the ground in health, and his wife also, though absent, was likewise made well. But those who with their wagons had transported a heap of hay belonging to the Father, their beasts devoured it, and immediately fell dead. But when they proclaimed themselves pitiable to the Father and begged that pardon be granted them, on the following day they found their beasts happy in the pastures with their own straw. When this man returned, the ship also, which had been tossed on the waves of the sea as a disgrace to the Saints, was found by God's help on the shore from which it had been launched.
[13] Not long afterwards, in the same region where the blessed Castrensis dwelt, he frees a man possessed by a demon the evil enemy seized a certain man, who, when compelled at the command of the man of God to depart, immediately cried out: I cannot disobey your commands; but command where I should go. And the Saint: Let there be no entrance for you except in the depths of the abyss. Then the trembling demon was compelled and departed. But while he sought the depths of the sea, behold a ship carrying various goods was approaching: which the demon was trying to overturn. Then the sailors raised their voices together to the Lord, and sailors from the assaults of the demon and immediately the blessed Castrensis was seen rebuking the demon and saying: Wretched and most cruel one, how much is it lawful for you to perpetrate such things against the servants of God? And the demon: At your command I sought the depths of the abyss. The Saint replied: Not so, but the entrance to the lower hell has been assigned to you. Then with a wretched cry the miserable demon began to proclaim: Behold, I am unable to approach the sight of my Prince, nor to behold my own companions, because on every side you make me miserable. And with these cries he sought the dark depths of the abyss. By divine command the ship quickly reached the shore: and when they recognized the bright countenance of the blessed Castrensis, they voluntarily vowed to bring gifts to his church at a fixed time. By their example every sailor arriving at that shore desires with pious love to gladly fulfill their promises.
[14] But lest our discourse, drawn out at length, generate weariness in the hearers, let us omit those miracles which were performed while he lived: who would doubt that these are known to those who use their human senses? Now let us briefly run through his illustrious passing. he knows himself to be near death When the most holy Father recognized that he was about to be released from the prison of the flesh, summoning the various Brethren, he said: It is time for the pious King to confer upon us what the Psalmist sang, that with joy we may receive the fruits which we sowed with sorrow. Psalm 126:6 Having uttered these words, he began to admonish them concerning the hope of future blessedness, and that they should maintain mutual charity among themselves, without which no one can worthily please God. And when a certain one of those standing by, Benignus by name and by deed, asked him with humble devotion to tell him more clearly he commends charity what the rather extended discourse contained in itself, he answered: About to depart from the prison of the flesh, I have been zealous to preach this hereditary peace: but prepare yourself for this, because not long after my departure you will be the companion of my journey.
[15] Having completed this discourse, he bestowed the kiss of peace upon all those standing around, announcing to them that within three days he would receive from Christ the perpetual joy of the inheritance. he consoles his sorrowful people Then the voice and groaning of all sounded forth together. For they said: Why, O merciful God, do you not have compassion on a bereaved people? And why is not the bereaved flock,
together with the Shepherd, led by your mercy to receive the rewards of perpetual life? And when their voice filled everything nearby with great commotion, the most gentle Father Castrensis addressed them thus: Do not, my children, lead your minds to such sadness as to believe yourselves abandoned by the eternal Lord after my departure. For I, secure in the mercy of God, pledge you this comfort: that I shall never be absent in spirit from the defense of this place, so that just as in life I strove in the body to remove you from various errors, so also by the assent of my Lord I shall strive in spirit to protect you from all adversities. With these and other addresses, through the three days that he survived, he addressed the holy people of God: for he showed himself so cheerful and joyful in the sight of all, as if he were about to set out to a banquet.
[16] But when the third day had now dawned, he summoned all and joyfully and gladly celebrated the divine mysteries. In which offering, while he secretly began the first words, having completed the sacrifice of the Mass his face and body were so divinely irradiated with light that there was no one among those standing by, or even of the multitude who had assembled in the church, who could clearly behold him. entering his sepulchre, he dies This splendor did not withdraw until, with all standing by, after the completion of the Mass, he placed himself in the sepulchre and rendered his holy spirit to God. We have also heard from the report of certain Priests who are believed to have been worthy to be present at this revelation, that a kind of fire, proceeding from the altar during the very sacrifices, extended all the way to heaven. And when the entire multitude observed him as if sleeping, the Priest Orosius of blessed memory gently slipped his hand under his head, thinking he was still alive; but when he perceived that he was already lifeless, with great sorrow he announced his sacred departure to those standing by.
[17] Then mourning and grief shook the minds of all, because he had departed from this world so joyfully that none of those standing by could perceive his death. Each one began with great voices and with groaning of heart to pour forth tears, saying: Who shall ever behold so illustrious a Bishop? Who shall ever be able to rescue us most wretched ones from the bites of the ancient enemy? For he by pious words he is lamented by his own people both calmed the proud and strengthened the humble. Alas, most wretched people, bereaved of so great a Bishop! Let heaven grieve, let the very earth weep! While the entire assembly of the faithful was crying out such things, and orphans and widows were bewailing the departure of their pious Father, and by neighboring peoples suddenly there came the Priests and peoples of the neighboring cities, weeping so heavily as if over the funeral of their own children, and, so to speak, this mourning surpassed all other sorrows and groanings. Which I do not doubt was done by divine mercy, so that the almighty Lord might prove how he rewards his elect in this world. For this most pious Father, expelled from his own lands for the love of the undivided Trinity and for the love of the Catholic faith, cared nothing, and together with his possessions renounced his own desires. Whence there is no doubt that the divine majesty deigned to gather throngs of the faithful from all sides to the praise of his name at the departure of his servant.
[18] And while the entire multitude kept vigil at his funeral rites, on the following day they closed his venerable sepulchre with all diligence. the sepulchre is closed The most blessed Castrensis departed from this world on the eleventh day of February, full and laden with the virtues of good works. Amen.
Notes