Stephen

ON ST. STEPHEN, ABBOT, AT RIETI IN ITALY

IN THE SIXTH CENTURY OF CHRIST.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Stephen, Abbot, at Rieti in Italy (St.)

By G. H.

Section I. The sacred veneration of St. Stephen; his life and death as related by St. Gregory the Great.

[1] Rieti, an ancient city of the Sabines, famous from the march of Hannibal in Livy, book 25, and to Cicero in the Third Catilinarian and in On the Nature of the Gods, book 2, as also to Festus, only a prefecture, Rieti in the Sabine country, situated in a valley through which the river Velino flows and divides the city, is forty miles distant from Rome, and is believed to have received the Christian religion from the times of the Apostles at the same time as Rome, with St. Prosdocimus, a disciple of the Apostle Peter, Prince of the Apostles, bringing the light of the Gospel -- he who was afterward given as Bishop to the Paduans, as will be said on November 7, his birthday.

[2] Among the Saints of Rieti is Stephen, Abbot of a monastery established near the walls of the city, whose annual commemoration is celebrated on February 13; St. Stephen the Abbot is venerated on February 13. on which day Galesinius has the following: At Rieti, of St. Stephen, Abbot and Confessor. The Roman Martyrology: At Rieti, of St. Stephen the Abbot, a man of wonderful patience, at whose passing (as Pope St. Gregory relates) holy Angels were present, with others also seeing them. The same words are read in the monastic Martyrology of Menard and Dorgany, but more abridged in Wion, and somewhat more fully expanded in the German Martyrology of Canisius. Peter de Natalibus in the Catalogue of Saints, book 3, after treating in chapter 120 of St. Stephen, Abbot and founder of the Order of Grandmont (whose Life we gave on February 8), adds in the following chapter 121 another St. Stephen, Abbot of Rieti, and narrates his deeds from Pope St. Gregory. praised by St. Gregory the Great: The rest of the Martyrologists follow Peter; to whom is added Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, where he published another summary from St. Gregory. Wion records the same St. Stephen again on March 24, and following him, Dorgany and the author of the Martyrology printed in French at Liege. St. Gregory treats of him in Homily 35 on the Gospels and on March 24 and in book 4 of the Dialogues, chapter 19. We give both passages here; in the former he has the following:

[3] I think it not irrelevant, dearest brethren, to tell you one example of preserving patience for your edification. There was in our days a certain man named Stephen, the Father of a monastery established near the walls of the city of Rieti, a man of great holiness, singular in the virtue of patience. And many still survive who knew him and tell of his life and death. His language was rustic, but his life was learned. devoted to poverty, prayer, and especially patience: He had despised all things for the love of the heavenly homeland and fled from possessing anything in this world. He avoided the tumults of men and was intent on frequent and prolonged prayers. Yet the virtue of patience had grown exceedingly in him, so that he counted as a friend whoever had inflicted any annoyance upon him. He returned thanks for insults. If any loss was inflicted upon him in his very poverty, he considered it the greatest gain. He regarded all his adversaries as nothing other than helpers.

[4] When the day of death pressed him to depart from the body, many gathered to commend their souls to so holy a soul departing from this world. When all who had gathered stood around his bed, in death he is visited by Angels, some saw Angels entering with their bodily eyes, but they could in no way say anything. Others saw nothing at all, but a most violent fear struck all who were present, so that no one could stand there as that holy soul was departing. all who were present fleeing: Both those who had seen and those who had seen nothing at all -- all were struck and terrified by the same fear and fled; and no one could be present as he was dying.

[5] Consider then, brethren, how Almighty God inspires fear when the strict Judge is to come, if he so terrified those present when he came as a gracious rewarder; he is abundantly rewarded, or how he can be feared when he can be seen, if he so prostrated the minds of those present even when he could not be seen. Behold, dearest brethren, to what a summit of recompense this patience, preserved in ecclesiastical peace, has raised him. What did his Creator give him inwardly, about whom so great a glory was made known to us outwardly on the day of his departure? like the Martyrs With whom shall we believe him to be associated, if not with the holy Martyrs -- him who is known to have been received by blessed spirits with bodily eyes also bearing witness? He fell by no stroke of the sword, and yet at his departure he received the crown of patience that he had held in his mind. So far St. Gregory in Homily 35 on the Gospels, who in book 4 of the Dialogues explains chapter 19, "On the passing of Stephen, man of God," in these words:

[6] For from the aforesaid Probus and other religious men narrating, I learned those things which I took care to set forth to my hearers about the venerable Father Stephen in the homilies on the Gospel. For he was a man, as the same Probus and many others testify, who possessed nothing in this world, sought nothing, loved poverty alone with God, always embraced patience amid adversities, fled the assemblies of worldly people, and always desired to devote himself to prayer. he bears calmly the burning of his harvest, I relate one good deed of his virtue, so that from this one his many good deeds may be weighed. For when one day he had brought the harvest, which he had cut with his own hand, to the threshing floor, and had nothing else with his disciples for the provision of the whole year, a certain man of perverse will, instigated by the goads of the ancient enemy, set fire to that same harvest, just as it was on the threshing floor, and burned it. When another man noticed what had happened, he ran to the servant of God and reported it. After giving his report, he added, saying: "Alas, alas, Father Stephen, what has happened to you!" To which Stephen immediately replied with a calm face and mind: "Alas, what has happened to the one who did this to me? grieving more for the arsonist's sin For what has happened to me?" In these words of his it is shown at what summit of virtue he sat, who lost with so serene a mind the one thing he had for the expenditure of the world, and grieved more for the one who had committed the sin than for himself who bore the losses of that sin; nor did he consider what he himself was losing outwardly, but how much the one guilty of the fault was losing inwardly.

[7] When therefore the day of death pressed him to depart from the body, As he was dying, only Angels, many gathered to commend their souls to so holy a soul departing from this world. When all who had gathered stood around his bed, some saw Angels entering, but they could in no way say anything; others saw nothing at all. But a most violent fear struck all who were present, so that no one could stand there as that holy soul was departing. Both those who had seen and those who had seen nothing at all, no mortal deserved to be present, all struck and terrified by the same fear, fled, so that it might be openly understood what and how great was the power that received that departing soul, whose departure no mortal could endure.

Section II. Another Stephen, Abbot of Rate in Lusitania, distinct from him.

[8] A new difficulty is raised here by the Portuguese, as if this Stephen should be attributed not to Italy but to Lusitania. Braga Augusta was the former seat of the Suevian and Gothic Kings, At the same time there lived in Portugal Stephen, Abbot of Rate, anciently included in Tarraconensian Spain, then comprehended under the kingdom of Portugal; whose Archbishops contend with those of Toledo for the primacy. Near this Braga there is a very ancient church of Rate, with an adjoining Benedictine monastery, over which in the times of St. Gregory the Great an Abbot named Stephen presided, as Maximus, Bishop of Caesaraugusta, writes in his Chronicle. And first, at the year of the Hispanic Era 1128, of Christ 590, among the Abbots who, in addition to 72 bishops, attended the Council of Toledo, is listed Stephen, Abbot of Rate, of the Order of St. Benedict; of whom, however, no mention is made in the Third Council of Toledo itself, as published by Garcia de Loaisa from five manuscript codices. Then at the year of the Hispanic Era 1136, of Christ 598, the following is read in the same Chronicle of Maximus: "St. Stephen, at Rate near Braga Augusta."

[9] On the occasion of these words, Rodrigo de Acunha, in part 1 of the History of Braga, chapter 79, writes thus about that Stephen: "As far as concerns the Acts of his Life, among our people there is profound silence. The Father of lights, who sees in secret, will reward the merits of that holy Abbot. For that same M. Maximus places the death of the Saint in the year 598, nine years after the conclusion of the Third Council of Toledo. A certain burning suspicion seizes us that this blessed Stephen the Abbot is the same believed to be the same one praised by St. Gregory, whom the Roman Martyrology commemorates on the Ides of February, at whose glorious death a host of Angels, whom those present deserved to perceive, carried his spirit to heaven, as St. Gregory relates. And so instead of 'Rieti' one should substitute 'Rate,' so that the miracle would be believed to have occurred not in Italy but in Portugal, the fame of which penetrated all the way to Rome, to the throne of so great a Pontiff." So far Acunha, cited by Tamayo-Salazar in his Notes for February 13. What was proposed by this burning suspicion is assumed as certain and undoubted by George...

[5] From the earlier Life we have the following about his age: "When he had reached a mature age, his father forthwith commended him to Clothar, King of the Franks... For the said St. Licinius was a wise youth... When the aforesaid King had found him so proven and worthy, he himself had served under Clothar II, he employed him in his service and appointed him Count of his Stable and of all his horses, and their keeper. For his strength in waging war and his power, adorned by him with great honors, with the Lord's help, who guarded him in his actions, were great." Marbodus in chapter 1 writes thus: "King Clothar willingly received him, and after a short time, having honored him with the belt of military service, began to have him among his friends, recognizing him clearly as worthy to consult about great matters and the administration of the kingdom." And a little later: "Whence it came about that, at the demand of all, he was made by the King a Tribune of soldiers, who is now in our usage called Count of the Stable." Then he was made Count and Duke of Angers; and, as the earlier Life has it in number 9, he was powerful among the foremost in the palace of the said King. But at length he became a Cleric, and when he had lived for some time in a congregation of religious men, the fame of his holiness, as is said in chapter 2, number 11, spread through many places, even to the royal palace, finally made a Bishop, and came to the King's knowledge. And at length, with the passing of years, it happened that the aforesaid city of Angers needed a Bishop.

[6] From these facts a conjecture must be drawn about the time when he was elevated to the episcopate. Clothar II, son of Chilperic, began his reign in the year 584, being four months old; he died in the year 628. Grandinus writes that Licinius was ordained in the year 586. It must be admitted that most of the offices and dignities he held in the palace were conferred upon him by Clothar's guardians, not by the infant King himself. Yet how could he have been made a Bishop in the year 586, not in the year 586, Clothar's third year? For there were certain stages both of the said offices and of his age itself. He came to the Court as a young man, perhaps about twenty-four years old, for he had reached a "mature age" (as was said); then he served in the military, was employed in the King's intimate counsels, presided over the royal stable, governed the province of Angers with the power of Count and Duke; then he bade farewell to all these things and lived for some time among the company of consecrated men. Who does not see that many years passed in the discharge of these offices? yet before the year 601. Before the year 601, however, he was already a Bishop and had a famous name, as is clear from the cited letter of St. Gregory.

[7] How many years St. Licinius held the episcopate could be gathered from the Life of St. Magnobodus, his successor, which we shall give on October 16, if it were accurately arranged. He is said to have been born when Lothair, son of Chilperic, being still within the years of adolescence, together with his kinsmen -- namely Theuderic and Theudebert -- was engaged in dispute with feuds arising on all sides. Clothar frequently waged war with those two Kings; for he himself first invaded them in the year 596, and inflicted a severe defeat. St. Magnobodus, In the year 600, attacking him together, they cut down his army and drove him to harsh terms, with a notable part of his territory torn away. In the year 604, Theuderic again crushed him when he rebelled. born in the time of Clothar II, Peace was established at Compiegne. St. Magnobodus therefore seems to have been born within that period of nine years. And when he had passed through the stages of infancy and childhood, with the growth of his years now reaching maturity, by St. Licinius, Bishop of Angers, with the hair of his head removed, he is tonsured as a Cleric by St. Licinius, he was instructed in the duties of the holy Church, and raised to the honor of the grades, he was commended to the sacred oracles in order. So it is recorded in chapter 1, number 3. And then "he decided to place him in a somewhat higher grade and to keep him with him, so that he might be a helper to him in all things, and the rest might become emulators of his example. Indeed, he appointed him Father over the holy congregation that served Christ in the monastery of Colonetum," etc. Somewhat more explicitly, Marbodus in the Life of St. Magnobodus, number 5: "When these things had come to the knowledge of the blessed Bishop Licinius, whose admirable holiness was then esteemed among the Gallic Bishops, congratulating the generosity of the divine gifts, he summoned the young man to himself and tonsured him in the ecclesiastical manner... With the passage of time he advanced him through the ecclesiastical grades all the way to the priesthood, he is ordained a Priest, judging him rightly worthy to share the care of his solicitude and by whose counsel he could be extricated from the difficulties of emerging problems." The same Bishop Licinius then, as the earlier Life has it, sent Magnobodus, a man of memorable holiness, promoted to the ministry of the ecclesiastical order, he is sent as legate to Rome; to Rome to the Supreme Pontiff as his Legate.

[8] These things having been accomplished, and the course of many years having passed, when the Almighty Lord wished to release the Bishop of Angers from this wretched and passing life and to establish the blessed Magnobodus as Pastor in his Church, being constrained by infirmity, he began to be deprived of his own strength. He called the companies of the Brothers to him, asked for the Viaticum, and having received the Eucharist of the sacred Body of Christ, he succeeds him, he was laid in the earth by his disciples with the greatest care, to rise again with glory. When he had been taken away, the whole people of Angers, both clerical and lay, gathered into one, with a united mind, together with the consent of the illustrious Dagobert, King of the Franks, son of Lothair, began to desire that Magnobodus be made their Pastor... But the blessed Magnobodus, as the assent of the people bore, having attained the priestly miter, was raised with the favor of all to the episcopal throne. Marbodus writes that Magnobodus did not succeed St. Licinius immediately, although perhaps not immediately, but that another was substituted. "But when that one too," he says, "died shortly after by God's dispensation, it was already quite clear that this man was demanded by divine judgment. By the common prayers of all, therefore, with the assent of King Dagobert, to whom the succession of the kingdom had now descended, he was elected and compelled, according to God's arrangement, to preside over the Church of Angers." The one interposed between these two holy Bishops is called Cardulphus by Demochares and Chenu, and Cardulphus or Radulphus by Claudius Robert.

[9] What is said here about the consent of King Dagobert is a manifest error. For St. Magnobodus, already a Bishop, attended the Synod of Rheims held under Sonnatius in the year of Christ 624 or 625, as has been proved elsewhere -- at least during the reign of Clothar. he attends the Synod of Rheims in the year 624: For John, Bishop of Poitiers, was also present, to whose successor Dido, Bishop of Poitiers, St. Leodegar was handed over by King Clothar to be imbued with learning at the very beginnings of his life, as Ursinus writes in the Life of Leodegar dedicated to Ansoald, Dido's successor. Modoald, Bishop of Langres, also attended the same Synod of Rheims; his successor Bertoald is mentioned in a diploma of the same Clothar II for the monastery of St. Benignus, as Claudius Robert relates in Gallia Christiana. Finally, Senocus, Bishop of Eauze, was present, who in the year 626 seems to have been perpetually exiled by order of Clothar. Thus indeed Fredegar writes in chapter 54: "In the 43rd year of the reign of Clothar, Palladius and his son Senocus, Bishop of Eauze, at the accusation of Duke Aiglinanus, on the charge that they had been privy to the rebellion of the Basques, are thrust into exile." Other arguments to prove this are gathered elsewhere.

[10] Although Dagobert was then King of Austrasia, but not of all of it, yet Angers was in no way subject to him, so that his authority would be needed for appointing a Bishop over them. And perhaps Magnobodus was a Bishop before Dagobert even obtained that half-kingdom. St. Licinius died before the year 618, Certainly St. Licinius died earlier. This is evident from the testament of St. Bertrannus, or Bertigrannus, Bishop of Le Mans, in which he mentions "the lord Licinius the Bishop of holy memory" -- words that are used only of one who has died. Thus he writes: "The vineyards which the lord Licinius the Bishop of holy memory gave me out of his affectionate love, near Cariliacum, as his gift, which we had previously purchased from a certain Sargitius, a merchant on behalf of the church, together with land, and there planted vineyards, as is evident from the testament of Bishop St. Bertrannus, and joined them in one enclosure with the vineyards of the holy Church -- we wish that the holy Church of Le Mans possess them for the reward of our soul." The author of the earlier Life of St. Licinius cites this same testament in chapter 2, number 16. The full testament survives in the history of the Bishops of Le Mans by the distinguished Antonius Corvaeserius, and is said to have been written on the sixth day before the Kalends of April, in the twenty-second year of the reign of the most glorious Lord Clothar the King. Now a threefold beginning of the reign of Clothar can be established: the first from the death of his father Chilperic, which occurred in the year 584; the second from the death of King Childebert in the year 596, when he claimed for himself (as we said) not a few territories that had been in the power of his kinsman Kings, and perhaps also the city of Le Mans; the third from the year 613, when the monarchy was obtained, or the beginning of the kingdoms of Burgundy and Austrasia. written in that year. It seems that his twenty-second year in the cited testament should be understood in the second way, so that it would be the year 618, before which year St. Licinius must have died. Nor are we persuaded by what Jean Bondonnet, otherwise a learned man, holds in the Acts of the Bishops of Le Mans: that the Licinius who gave those vineyards to Bertigrannus was a Chorepiscopus, or Co-bishop, in some city within the diocese of Le Mans; for he is named by St. Bertigrannus as a Bishop well-known everywhere and of celebrated fame.

Section II. The burial, annual celebration, and Relics of St. Licinius.

[11] Around the year 616, therefore, St. Licinius happily departed to the Lord on the Kalends of November, and was buried with magnificent honor in the church of St. John the Baptist, died on November 1; St. Licinius was buried in the church of John the Baptist, which he himself had founded anew, in which he had gathered companies of monks and established them to serve under the rule, as is said in the earlier Life, chapter 5, number 29. Concerning this church and monastery built by the holy Bishop, fuller treatment is given in the Life of St. Magnobodus, chapter 1, number 5, in these words: "When the aforesaid blessed Bishop Licinius wished to dedicate, in the suburb of the already mentioned city of Angers, a basilica built with wondrous design in honor of St. John the Baptist, which he had dedicated with relics received from Rome through Magnobodus, summoning the man of memorable holiness Magnobodus, promoted to the ministry of the Ecclesiastical Order, he directed him to the city of Rome, where the relics of the Apostles are honored with due veneration, so that he might deserve to obtain relics from the Supreme Pontiff, with which he could consecrate the basilica fitted out in modern style." And then in number 7: "Therefore, having obtained the relics of St. John for which he had gone, he returned with a prosperous course to the venerable Bishop Licinius at Angers, bearing the welcome relic. he had dedicated it, The Bishop eagerly received it, and, as he had conceived in mind, storing it within the oratory built in modern work, he dedicated it with a splendid ceremony; adding a richly endowed monastery. in which, gathering a community of monks to dwell together, he established them to live according to the norm of the holy profession, and assigned very many estates for the service of those serving God there, and arranged for the building of hospices and poorhouses and various dwellings." Marbodus narrates the same, and says that St. Licinius built from the foundations a church of costly and magnificent work, which is now called by his own name. Andreas Chesne writes that a college of Canons is now in that church and that it is called St. Julian's. Yet there is in it a chapel of St. Licinius. But concerning the first dedication of that church, Marbodus writes thus: "St. Licinius therefore, having received the relics that Magnobodus had brought, rendering no small thanks first to God, the giver of all good things, and then also to his disciple, celebrated the joys of the dedication of the new church with the same disciple, as he had wished, placing there with the sacred honor they deserved the holy relics of the Precursor of Christ."

[12] Although St. Licinius died on the Kalends of November, yet in no Martyrology do we find his name inscribed for that day, he is venerated not on that day, except in the General Catalogue of Saints by Ferrarius, who in his Notes cites the Monastic Martyrology and the Lives of Saints by Rene Benoit. But neither in these nor in that is there any mention of St. Licinius on that day. I believe it is because the solemnity of that day, indeed during the lifetime of Licinius himself at Rome, had been consecrated to the memory of All Saints by Boniface IV, and the same observance was prescribed a century later by Gregory IV for the other churches throughout the world, so that another feast day began to be observed in his name by posterity. This is February 13, but on February 13, on which he is venerated with a Double Office by the Church of Angers. And for that day Usuard commemorates him thus: "In the city of Angers, of St. Lucinius the Bishop, a man of venerable holiness." Bellinus, Maurolycus, Galesinius, Canisius, the Roman Martyrology, and very many manuscripts agree, but some add: "whose body is honored with frequent miracles." Many call him Licinius, not Lucinius.

[13] Benedict Dorgany in the Benedictine Calendar, and Ferrarius in his Notes for November 1, hold that he was entered in the calendar of the Blessed on February 13, on which day he is said to have been canonized, which Grandinus reports was done in the year 664, by the authority of Pope Vitalian. At least his deposition is not observed on this day, as it is expressed in the Roman Martyrology, and Saussaius seems to agree in the Gallican Martyrology on the same day, and again on June 8, where he writes: "On the same day at Angers, the ordination of St. Lucinus, Bishop and Confessor, who is recalled as having entered the heavenly court on February 13." For that eighth day of June, in the ancient Martyrologies of Ado, Bede, and Notker, and likewise in the manuscript of the Church of St. Lambert at Liege, and in the supplement of Hermann Greuen to Usuard, the memory of St. Licinius exists with no distinction of ordination or other celebration: "At Angers, of St. Licinius, Bishop and Confessor." He is also named in the Martyrology printed at Cologne in the year 1490, but as Lucianus, instead of Lucinius or Licinius.

[14] On the day before the Ides of February, Saussaius in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology recorded the canonization of St. Licinius, believing he had died on the following day (as we said), in these words: "At Juliomagus of the Andes, or the day before, in the year 664, the commemoration of the canonization of St. Lucinus, Bishop of Angers, whom ancient tradition of that Church relates was enrolled in the register of Saints by Pope St. Vitalian (who began to reign in the year 655)." On the same day, Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of Saints: "Likewise, the Canonization of St. Licinius, Bishop of Angers." But in his Notes he warns that others place it on the following day. In the manuscript Florarium and in the printed supplement of Hermann Greuen to Usuard, on the same February 12, Livinus Bishop and Confessor is mentioned, whom we suspect to be Licinius, since we know no other Bishop Livinus except as a Martyr. But Maurolycus, who with others assigns St. Licinius, Bishop and Confessor, to the Ides, has the following for the day before: "Likewise at Angers, of Licinius, Bishop and Martyr. Of Lucianus, Confessor."

[15] In the year 1169, when Henry II, King of England, held the County of Anjou, the Relics were translated on June 21, 1169, the relics of St. Licinius were translated with solemn ceremony on June 21 by Geoffrey, Bishop of Angers, Stephen of Rennes, and Hamo of Leon, as Grandinus relates, who also writes that he was inaugurated as Bishop on that very same day of old. Hugh Menard and Benedict Dorgany mention this translation in the Benedictine Martyrology at June 21.

[16] Grandinus, cited frequently, testifies that the body, bones, and ashes of St. Licinius, enclosed in artfully made reliquaries, are reverently preserved in that church which he had built in honor of St. John the Baptist; the bones still survive, also that the sacred vestments in which his corpse lay wrapped for thirty-three years in the earth still survive, uncorrupted and intact, even after so many centuries. He adds that very many pregnant women flock to that church, vestments and girdle, salutary for pregnant women, even from distant regions, and reverently girding themselves with the holy Bishop's belt, pray for a happy delivery, and very many experience certain help from this.

[17] It is worthwhile to append the prayer that the Church of Angers recites on the solemn feast days of St. Licinius, from its Breviary: Prayer for St. Licinius. "Grant us, Almighty God, to venerate worthily the memory of our Guide and Pastor Licinius; and just as he by his prayers, with your favor, protects his city safe from enemies and seducers, so may he himself be a shield for our souls and bodies against all the wiles of enemies. Through our Lord."

LIFE

by an anonymous author of Angers, from two ancient manuscripts.

Licinius, or Lucinius, Bishop of Angers in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 4917

By an anonymous contemporary author, from manuscripts.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

[1] Commemorating the venerable works of holy men, we pray to the Lord that he may open our mouth, so that, being able to narrate something worthily about them, we may be able to hand down to posterity wonder and example, The Author writes the deeds of St. Licinius at the urging of a Bishop, and commend them to memory in writing. For the Lord says: "Open your mouth, and I will fill it"; and by the encouragement of friends, the exhortation of many servants of God, and especially of our Bishop, I was provoked to dare to undertake this work. Psalm 80:11 Obeying their commands, lest I be condemned by the evil of disobedience, and especially the commands of our Bishop (since no one ought to be disobedient to the Bishop), I have endeavored to record some knowledge of the good deeds of St. Licinius, Bishop of Angers.

[2] which he learned from trustworthy witnesses, How the same holy Bishop conducted himself for the most part, or how he dealt with his people, I learned from a certain Daniel, his disciple, narrating. Some things I also found written in his letters and small works, and those of his disciples. Of the many miracles performed by him, therefore, I have chosen the few that I judged worthy to collect and insert into this small work, having learned them not on the authority of any single author, but by the assertion of innumerable faithful witnesses, who could know or remember these things. I pray the reader, however, that whatever he believes should be added or corrected, he may endeavor to do truthfully. Before our aforesaid Patron, namely the Lord Licinius, and before all readers, I humbly pray that I may find the fruit of pious intercession. You will also determine by your prudent counsel that, just as it is meritorious to unfold to the faithful something new of doctrine and good conduct for the instruction of souls in the Catholic religion, so I consider it criminal to conceal in silence those things that can be profitable as increments for those who hear and wish to imitate the examples of the Saints.

[3] For the rest, Holy Father and Pastor, but he could not attain to everything. obeying your commands, as has been said, I did not delay to publish this work; but the simplicity of my heart and the fluency of my mind cannot unfold the praises of the virtues of so great a man, whose holy and sufficiently praiseworthy life and work arose in modern times -- how many good things he did, no one knows except he alone to whom he presented them inwardly. For the outcome of his work showed outwardly how much he had wrought while hiding inwardly, inasmuch as no servant was present to see this; since he was accustomed to do these things in secret hiding places, with the private gaze of his eyes, and avoiding human praise, he strove to please and devote himself to God alone. Whence it is clear that he accomplished greater and more admirable things than the report transmitted for the people in succeeding times seems to recall. And I humbly and suppliantly entreat that our common supplication may obtain pardon for me, devout as I am, if I have passed over anything of his virtues, lest I produce an excessive volume for readers. Yet, asked to write these things briefly, I deemed it fitting that all who understand his miracles by hearing may desire to imitate his examples. If therefore anyone searches out more zealously the deeds of the aforesaid Saint, he will always find something more to wonder at. And whatever bitter things we endure in this holy world, and whatever good we do for our Savior, we should know that it will be returned to us for the better in that prize of eternal glory through Christ our Lord.

Of Angers, as is evident below, where he calls St. Licinius "our Patron," and in chapter 4, number 25, "Angers, our city."

I do not believe these letters and small works survive.

Perhaps one should read "age" (seculo).

CHAPTER I

The courtly and religious life of St. Licinius.

[4] The most blessed Bishop Licinius, therefore, born of the royal line of the Franks, was exceedingly useful, noble, and most wealthy in worldly goods; but he remained yet nobler and more exalted in the discipline and faith of Christ. He grew in faith and age, better and more fully from day to day, and was filled with the grace of God. [The Author learned the deeds of St. Licinius from his close associates; he saw most of the miracles himself.] The praiseworthy deeds of this holy man that he performed -- some of these I learned from his close associates narrating them, who had seen his disciples, from whom they in turn received what they handed down to me; most of them I came to know myself, having witnessed things worthy of writing and preaching performed at his tomb through his merits.

[5] He himself, as I learned from the aforesaid holy men, was in his boyhood handsome and noble, chosen by birth, and grew up kindly among his kindred. Among his servants and acquaintances St. Licinius, a handsome boy, he excelled with a radiant countenance, prominent in age and in every bearing. When his father saw such great diligence in his son and recognized that he was beloved by all good people, he rejoiced in spirit and exulted with joy, giving immense thanks to the Lord, who had deigned to console him with such a beautiful child. When the time came for him to be given to the study of letters, he was soon handed over to a teacher and formed to be educated by the most learned masters of sacred literature. He, among his fellow students, sharp in intellect and capacious in memory, shone lovably; he studies letters successfully, and by the Lord's prompting he was subject to all, but in obedience, faith, and charity higher than all. When he had been instructed by the most prudent men, he returned to his father's house, passing beyond the spirit of childhood, and conducted his adolescence with diligence. devoted to piety in adolescence: Shining also with the spirit of wisdom and the grace of humility in his actions nobly, he grew from virtue to virtue and daily shone with good and holy works.

[6] When, fully educated, he had reached a mature age, his father forthwith commended him to Clothar, King of the Franks, of whom he was also a close kinsman. For the father of the said St. Licinius was a Satrap of the aforesaid King Clothar, he conducts himself honorably among the courtiers of Clothar II: and held a superior place among his closest associates. For the said St. Licinius was a wise youth, lovable in appearance, affable in conversation, walking in right conduct both with the King himself and in holy faith, and with his whole household, so that he became conformed to all the good, but alien to the bad and undisciplined. He was also outstanding in form, strong and swift, agile and very wise and gentle, and grounded in chastity, charity, and humility.

[7] When the aforesaid King had found him so proven and worthy, he employed him in his service he is made Count of the Stable, and appointed him Count of his Stable and of all his horses, and their keeper. For his strength in waging war and his power, with the Lord's help, who guarded him in his actions, were great -- especially since with his sword he very frequently put to flight many phalanxes of adversaries a distinguished soldier, with the Lord's assistance. For he was diligent in prayer and fasting, and was especially devoted to mercy toward the poor; he also very often devoted himself to reading, and, as it is written, he rendered to the Lord the things that are the Lord's and restored to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Matthew 22:21 He was indeed so perfectly fitted for all the elders, and he stands out among the Magnates: equals, and subordinates, that his eloquence pleased all who followed him, so that he restored joy to the sorrowful and discipline to the wicked.

[8] Meanwhile, when the time came, scarcely compelled by friends and parents, he betrothed to himself a girl from a distinguished and most noble family, to take her as his wife at the proper time. When the time came and his friends and parents pressed him more to take his bride as his wife, compelled to marriage, lest he remain without offspring and his inheritance subsist without its own heir -- for he had a great inheritance and possessed vast estates -- since he could no longer resist the words and exhortations of his friends without great enmity, it happened that, with an agreement made, he set a day on which, with the consent of friends and relatives, he would take the aforesaid bride in marriage. When, with all urging, he was about to take her, when the bride suddenly became leprous, by God's will she was found before everyone to be struck with leprosy, because the Lord so willed, that he might afterward become his Bishop, and just as he was chaste in mind, so he might become chaste in body.

[9] While these things were happening, as we said above, he himself flourished in the palace with various honors and was first in the ministry, but his constant meditation kept watch over monasteries and holy places. But when the aforesaid matter concerning his wife came upon him, confused with shame, he resolved in his mind to dismiss all worldly military service and to serve the Lord alone, King of all Saints. Which was done undoubtedly by God's will. Having taken counsel according to the Lord's precept, who said: "Go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me," leaving all things, he devoted himself to spiritual and clerical service Matthew 19:21 he himself, already Count and Duke of Angers, and strove to devote himself to the Lord alone. For previously he was Count and Duke of Angers and was powerful among the foremost in the Palace of the said King. But at length, having become a Cleric, he strove to please the Lord alone and his spiritual brothers, he becomes a Cleric: desiring to lead a poor and common life, spurning the pomp of the world, and setting all his desire in the Divine will and its service.

[10] Henceforth, now that St. Licinius was made full of spiritual grace, robust in faith, obedient to the rules of the Holy Scriptures, imbued with divine knowledge of letters, he was lovable to all the soldiers of Christ and spiritual brothers. in a congregation of pious men, For he was most honorably devoted to great eloquence, tall in stature, most handsome among many, comely in appearance, sweet in speech, most acute in intellect, he excels in every religious virtue, provident in prudence, fervent in divine zeal and love, and a most devoted guardian of perpetual virginity, as he was -- since the Lord, Savior of all, had withdrawn him from marriage when he wished to marry, and preserved him to become his future Bishop, living in chastity. He was also full of charity and gentleness, devoted to obedience, strict in frugality, disciplined in fasting, watchful through long vigils of the nights, remembering that it is written: "Blessed are those servants whom, when the Lord comes, he finds watching." Luke 12:37

So the Sirmond manuscript. The Chesne manuscript has "relatives."

The Sirmond manuscript has "affection."

Wion in the Appendix to book 2 of the Wood of Life calls him Warnerius, Count of Burgundy, and cites Grandinus, who only says his father held the second place after the King in the palace. But Saussaius calls him Garnerius, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia under King Clothar. Who was his father? There was indeed a Warnacharius (whence the name Warnerius, as also Garnerius, is derived), Mayor of the Household in Austrasia, who passed over to King Clothar in the year 613, afterward became Mayor of the Household in Burgundy, and finally died in the 43rd year of the reign of Clothar, the year of Christ 626. But St. Licinius had long before been a Bishop; nor could he, as a youth, have been brought to the Court of Clothar by a father who was then serving under the Kings of Austrasia. By which reasoning it is established that neither was another Warnacharius the father of Licinius, whom Fredegar reports died in the 4th year of the reign of Theuderic, the year of Christ 599, for he was the Mayor of the Household of Theuderic in Burgundy, which did not belong to Clothar; nor can Warinarius the Frank, whom St. Gregory of Tours in book 4, chapter 33, writes was sent as an ambassador by King Sigibert to the Emperor Justinian together with Firminus of Auvergne, be considered the father of Licinius, unless he afterward passed from Austrasia into the territory of Chilperic or his son Clothar.

The Sirmond manuscript has "of his affairs."

Wion writes that he became a monk in the monastery of Cincillacum, or, he says, as the manuscript has it, but corruptly, Colonetum. If the manuscript has Colonetum, whence did he restore Cincillacum? Or who knows of such a monastery? Was Licinius a monk at Colonetum? St. Magnobodus was appointed by St. Licinius to the monastery of Colonetum, but nowhere is it said that Licinius himself previously lived in the same. Grandinus doubts whether the Colonetum monastery was not where the prefecture of Chalonnes now is, with an ancient castle, where was it? on the river Loire, four leagues below Angers on the Nantes road, belonging to the table of the Bishop of Angers.

CHAPTER II.

The episcopate and palace prefecture of St. Licinius.

[11] When the time came for the farmer to yield his fruit and the good deeds of so great a man to reach the benefit of the whole people, the fame of his holiness, spread through many places, reached even to the royal palace and the King's knowledge, He himself, famous for his reputation of virtue, for "a city set upon a hill cannot be hidden." For the Almighty Lord no longer allowed so great a man to be concealed under such circumstances, as the Gospel trumpet testifies: "No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that it gives light to all who are in the house." Matthew 5:15 When in these and other pursuits of diverse good works, the aforesaid St. Licinius, like a most powerful charioteer, kept watch, with the passing of years it happened he is sought as Bishop of Angers: that the aforesaid city of Angers needed a Bishop. Then a copious multitude of men inhabiting that region, knowing the prudence, faith, works, most noble conduct, and most illustrious life of the aforesaid St. Licinius, with one voice arranged to elect him as their Bishop.

[12] The magnates and most illustrious men, who at that time appeared as rulers of the Palace, made known to the glorious Clothar, King of the Franks, the aforementioned man's kinsman, the fame of the blessed man, he is nominated for this to Clothar: and not keeping silent about his deeds, they bore witness that so great and such a man was worthy to become their Bishop and that by their election he should perform the highest priesthood. Their petition obtained its effect with the Lord's help, and they willingly obtained what they devoutly requested. Then the whole people, having received counsel together equally in the Holy Spirit, with the command of the same King, with the Lord's assistance -- by whom he had been chosen long ago -- he was appointed to preside over the aforesaid Church of Angers. But he, weeping and compelled, because it was so pleasing to the Lord, he is ordained unwillingly: taking up the said Church to govern, was canonically ordained a Bishop.

[13] In which rank, sowing the divine word in the hearts of believers, he benefits his subjects: healing the infirmities of souls and bodies, redeeming captives, caring above all for widows and the needy, he usefully governed the people entrusted to him by the Lord. And so thereafter, bearing the episcopal insignia, filled with the fear of the Lord, he daily multiplied his good office toward the poor. And hence it happened that he held also the domestic solicitude and the primacy of the Palace, he is placed over the Palace: as if unwilling, by the election of the King and all his Magnates.