Quinidius

CONCERNING ST. QUINIDIUS, BISHOP OF VAISON IN GAUL.

About the year of Christ 578.

Quinidius, Bishop of Vaison in Gaul (Saint)

By I. B.

[1] We said on February 14 that St. Theodosius was Bishop of Vaison in Gaul about the year 550 of Christ. St. Quinidius succeeded him, who is called by some Quinidus and by others Quindius, having obtained a much more celebrated name than his predecessor, being indeed the city's Patron, as Claudius Robert and others write. Of him Usuard writes on the fifteenth before the Kalends of March: "In the Gauls, in the city of Vaison, of St. Quinidius the Bishop, whose death, precious in the sight of the Lord, frequent miracles attest." The birthday of St. Quinidius the Bishop, The same is found in the printed Bede, Ado, Bellinus of Padua, the Roman Martyrology, Canisius, and others. The Hagiologion of France, published by our Labbe from an ancient Martyrology of the Abbey of St. Lawrence at Bourges, has: "In the Gauls, in the city of Vaison, of St. Quindius the Bishop." The same is read in the manuscript Martyrology of the Carmelites of Cologne, but our copy has "Narsionensian" city instead of Vaison. There are similar errors regarding the same name in other sources. Hermann Greven in his additions to Usuard and the old Martyrology of Ado from the monastery of Lobbes call it "Vangionensian." The same Ado's Martyrology extant in the monastery of St. Lawrence near Liege calls it "Wangionensian." The Viola Sanctorum, "Vasconnensian." Bellinus, "Vasianensian." The manuscript Florarium, "Wansionensian." The manuscript Bede, "city of the Vangiones." The ancient records use "Vasiensum," "Vasionensium," "Vasensium." Maurolycus, Galesinius, and Ferrari in his general Catalogue of Saints also mention St. Quinidius on this day, as if his name were not in the Roman Martyrology. More briefly, the manuscript of St. Mary ad Gradus at Cologne: "And St. Quinidius the Bishop."

[2] Galesinius and Claudius Robert write that his Acts exist in the Church of Vaison. The Life. Our John Ferrand sent them to us from Chambery in the year 1652, distributed into Lessons for Ecclesiastical use, from an ancient parchment codex extant in the archive of the Bishop of Vaison, written in Gothic characters. Robert says that his Office was recently published, in which he is called a monk of Lerins, in the time of Siffredus of Carpentras and Eutropius of Orange. Saussay gives the same at greater length: He is said to have been a disciple of St. Siffredus, a monk of Lerins; "At Vaison of the Vocontii," he says, "of St. Quinidius, Bishop and Confessor of the same city. This noble disciple of St. Suffredus, Bishop of the Church of Carpentras (under whose instruction very great Saints grew up), from being a monk of the monastery of Lerins (that famous seminary of the Churches of Gaul), was called by divine will to this pontifical chair on account of the most sweet odors of his virtue and wisdom, and shone before the flock committed to him with the greatest piety and learning, and so excelled in episcopal gifts that he attained the chief ornament of sanctity among the Pontiffs of his age. And since he led a heavenly life on earth, at length, loaded with the charisms of divine grace, he flew to heaven to receive the rewards of glory he had merited; and after his death he was divinely glorified by many miracles."

[3] But these things do not much agree with the Life; for in it there is no mention either of monastic profession Which is not sufficiently probable: or of the master Siffredus. Nor was St. Siffredus, or Suffredus, Abbot of the monastery of Lerins, but a monk, thence drawn out to the Episcopate at age thirty. Whether St. Quinidius perhaps devoted himself for some time to the study of sacred letters under Siffredus when he was already a Bishop, or as a boy drank in the rudiments of knowledge in the Lerinan monastery, there is neither evidence to affirm nor any clear reason to deny. He is said in chapter 2, number 5, to have received the office of Deacon in the Church of Vaison. Monks are not customarily called from the cloister to that office. The rest of the context of the Life suggests that he was continually active in the same Church, unless he was absent for a period for the sake of studies. The Life of St. Siffredus exists in the Lerinan Chronology of Vincent Barralis of Salerno and in the third edition of Surius at November 27. Far less probable is what Claude Robert writes, that he lived in the times of St. Eutropius of Orange, who was a full hundred years later, as will be clear on the birthday of Eutropius, May 27.

[4] For the rest, the date of Quinidius himself is by no means obscure. For at the Fifth Council of Arles (which is said to have been held in the forty-third year of Childebert, He flourished after the year 550, the year of Christ 552, as is established from what we have said elsewhere), he subscribed thus: "Quinidius, in the name of Christ, Archdeacon, sent by my Lord Bishop Theodosius, have subscribed." He was adopted by the same Theodosius in his old age as Coadjutor, or Bishop-designate, with the consent of King Childebert, around the year 553 perhaps, at least before 558, when the same King died. He then subscribed to the Fourth Council of Paris, in the twelfth year of King Chilperic and his brother kings, the year of Christ 572, thus: "Quinidius, in the name of Christ, Bishop of the Church of Vaison, have re-read and subscribed to our constitution." He died perhaps around the year 578. For at the First Council of Macon, Dead before 581. convened on the day of the Kalends of November, in the twenty-first year of King Guntram, the year of Christ 581, Artemius, Bishop of the Church of Vaison, subscribed. Whence you may refute Claude Robert, who admits that Artemius attended that council but places him before Quinidius.

Here begins the Life of the most blessed Quinidius, Bishop and Confessor, which is celebrated on the fifteenth before the Kalends of March.

Quinidius, Bishop of Vaison in Gaul (Saint)

BHL Number: 6996

By an anonymous author, from manuscripts.

CHAPTER I

The birth and education of St. Quinidius.

[1] Men of secular eloquence, endowed with secular eloquence and enriched with a wealth of most famous words, have endeavored to transmit to the knowledge of posterity the memories of former things of diverse kinds -- whether in the contests of the powerful, or in the songs of those singing undeserved praises, or in whatever else favors the glory of the world. They have subjected their labor of this kind to vanity and popular applause. For what purpose does it serve to pour into the ears of the common people, in the most ornate orations, the crimes, debaucheries, and even the most shameful persecutions -- I shall not say of men, but even of those whom they falsely called their gods? It is not for us to sing vain fables like the Pagans, What profit do the most superstitious commendations of the wretched and deceptive magical arts bring? What use to us is the most shameful Egyptian ox, wretchedly worshipped by wretches as a god, with its extravagant words? What profit will that most foul fable provide? What of the bull of Minos and the unspeakable intercourse of Pasiphae? What of the greed of Tantalus? What instruction will the fables of Pygmalion, Sychaeus, and Dido bring? Unless perhaps the harsh contest of Titan and Saturn for their kingdoms, and the most fraudulent expulsion afterward of Jupiter from his father and uncle's kingdom, teaches us to set aside natural affection. Whether therefore to know not only the battles but the most deceitful trophies of Ulysses and Achilles -- if it be persuasive to the human mind and brings even a little advantage -- is to be submitted to the judgment of the mind. Yet these most studious and most clever speakers in deceiving arranged these things, so that those who were ignorant of the truth and less experienced in divine and good things might perish, wandering after the vanity that had grown upon them from the worship of created things. They served the times, not reason; fame, not truth; they sharpened their talent on visible things. For us, who are of a far different mind, it is fitting not to be burdened with transitory things but to be joined to the joys that endure without end and are eternal; But we ought to write the Acts of the Saints: for the sake of which it is expedient to live in true faith, to grow in the true religion of divine things, to aid, honor, and cultivate the lovers of truth with true piety of faith and charity, and continually to meditate upon their life for the increase of our own progress. If the tongue has any power, it is most fitting to extend the praise of God in narrating these things, so that it may go forth to expel all else. Moved by this consideration and impelled by this love, we have taken care to bring to the knowledge of many by our writings the Life of the blessed Quinidius, Bishop of the Church of Vaison. And among them, St. Quinidius. Not doubting that what was lacking in talent, the grace of the Lord God would supply on account of the man's merits.

[2] Quinidius, then, was a native of the municipality of Vaison, born of no lowly parents in the part of Gaul that borders on the Mediterranean Sea. How great he was to be, the very beginnings of his birth, as is commonly reported, Who, to his pregnant mother, most clearly foretold. According to the custom of the Christian religion, the feast of the blessed Genesius, Martyr of Christ, who suffered at Arles for his confession, was being celebrated. And behold, among the crowd that gathered from all directions at the threshold of the blessed Martyr, the woman who was soon to be the mother of Quinidius, heavy with child and burdened with a happy pregnancy, arrived, led by the ardor of piety, for she too was particularly devoted to the place. When the doors of the church had been shut, On the vigil of St. Genesius, and she had stayed outside to keep vigils for the love of the Martyr, bathed in tears with pious affection, as she was carried away into the love of God and continued her prayer, she immediately heard, The doors having been divinely opened, on account of the memorial of the holy Martyr, the most sweet and wonderful harmony of Angels. For the doors, which the vigil guards had closed, were opened by divine will. The holy woman, reverently entering with pious awe and struck by the wonderful vision, was prostrated on the ground, nourished by a brightness she had never before experienced. Having entered the church, an Angel reveals to her what her son shall be: One of the blessed Angels, from that multitude, stood by her to give her consolation, that she should not fear. "Receive carefully, woman," he said, "the gifts that are given to you by God's bounty. You shall have a son whom the city of Vaison shall one day receive as its Priest. He, being destined to please God with his vows and devotions, shall be the cause of salvation for many."

[3] The Angel departed. The woman, filled with joy, entrusted the promises to the Lord; she was uplifted with happiness at the prospect of a remarkable child -- refreshed now not merely by the child about to be born, but above all by his merits. Similar in this to Isaac, We marvel at Isaac, promised to aged parents, born through the faith and obedience of his father, and therefore offered to God, though in a figure of Christ. We marvel also at Samson the Nazarite, foretold to his mother, whose hair was cut off by the deceits of Delilah, To Samson, his eyes put out; and yet if we contemplate him, a greater trophy of victory follows him at the moment of death than could ever have attended him elsewhere. But Solomon too, who is so exalted by the dignity of his name, To Solomon, who is adorned with wisdom beyond all others, who dedicated a temple to God with most famous power -- when the lights of his prudence were troubled in old age, he fell into folly through the embrace of foreign women. We marvel at the happy advances of this man. We marvel at so blessed an omen in the child, prepared to proceed wisely with the discernment of judgment. But we conclude with the wisdom of the Apostle, that vessel of God: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments and how unsearchable His ways!" Romans 11:33 And the figure of Christ was not absent from accompanying this man. To Josiah, Moreover, the name of Josiah, known to men before he was born, even if the figure conveyed nothing else in reality, the destruction of idols and the demolition of altars would minister the fruit of salvation to almost the entire world. And concerning the Precursor of Christ, born to aged parents, To St. John; unless we declare that grace and heavenly piety increased in him, unless we say that his unique life, that very lamp, came into the world -- it will appear that little or nothing has been said. Now our Quinidius, venerable in our own age, if he does not approach those men in figure, succeeds them not unequally in grace and piety, by the promise of God. In them the divine gifts so abound that they strengthen us by faith, instruct us by words, and nourish us by their figures; in this man, divine grace so shines forth that the life of his sanctity first brings us joy and most powerfully urges us to seek the blessed life. In them Christ is shown in figure; in the work of this man, the same Christ, now truly given to the world, is proclaimed. Blessed were they, assuredly by faith, blessed by hope, who desired, expected, and beheld the prophecies that Christ would come for their salvation. Blessed indeed is this man, who believed by faith that the same Lord Christ had come into the world and brought salvation, and by his pious conduct and worthy works declared what he believed. I would believe that this woman was like the blessed Anna, whose countenance, persisting in prayer and persevering eagerly, The mother is like Anna, mother of Samuel. was no longer changed to different things. And seeking a son from God, to her frequenting the tabernacle and house of God, the Pontiff promises a son; to this woman honoring the memorial of the Martyr, an Angel predicts a future Priest. She gives birth to a Prophet; this woman bears a servant and Priest to the Lord of all the Prophets.

[4] Therefore the things divinely granted to the woman are fulfilled: she gives birth to a boy; with the affection of piety she extends the office of nature so far as to have him reborn in the sacred font and made sacred rather to the Lord Christ. Finally he is entrusted to the ministers of the Church to be instructed in letters, Quinidius as an infant is offered to God, so that, like Samuel the Prophet in the temple of the Most High God, in the religion of piety, sincerity, and faith, the future Bishop of the people of God might be prepared, until he advanced so far that having received the tonsure he attained the more distinguished lot of the people of God. But what kind of man or how great he was in those still most tender years, then in boyhood, and afterward in youth, no word of any of ours will suffice to tell. In the maturity of his conduct he was so circumspect Endowed with outstanding virtues in boyhood and youth, that he was the equal of elders. Modesty, which is the first virtue in adolescents, was so joined to him that it seemed innate. His humility and patience were beyond the human measure. Chastity commended him as pleasing to God and men by true proofs. The watchfulness of prayer, the constancy of reading, the meditation upon and study of the Law of God, provided him with a constant readiness against invisible enemies.

a Isis, formerly called Io, daughter of Inachus, concubine of Jupiter.

b She was the wife of Minos, Queen of Crete, whose nefarious offspring the poets celebrated.

c This is a well-known story from Virgil's Aeneid.

d Jupiter's father was Saturn; Saturn's elder brother was Titan.

e I fear this may be written corruptly.

f August 25.

g The sentence is unclear, if there is no scribal error.

CHAPTER II

The Episcopate of St. Quinidius, his fortitude of soul in adversity.

[5] By ecclesiastical favor it came about that he received the office of Deacon in the Church of Vaison, He becomes a Deacon: which the servant of the Lord had earned by passing through all the grades in canonical order. At that time the venerable and God-beloved Bishop Theodosius governed the Church of Vaison. The man of God, Quinidius, stood by him with the greatest obedience; he increased in merits, and thereby the heavenly gifts increased in him. He brought forth the precepts of the Gospel both by living voice to the people and by his upright conduct Celebrated everywhere by the reputation of holiness, and the integrity of his faith. But since one town could by no means conceal the overflowing gifts of Almighty God in him, his fame spread to the surrounding regions. It traveled through the Cottian Alps, the Apennine villages, and Italy, and did not remain hidden even at Rome. The kingdoms of the Gauls, and finally Reims with its Germanic peoples, and the Pyrenean heights did not conceal it. For he was indeed a pursuer of righteousness, piety, faith, and charity from a pure heart and a good conscience, seeking the things of God, always serving the welfare of all. As age advanced and time passed, the man of the Lord, Theodosius, weighed down by old age, with the consent of the people and likewise the clergy, A successor is sought by Bishop Theodosius, concerned about the guardianship of God's flock, endeavored to leave the holy man as his successor. The common welfare of all, the common necessity, had made a common vow of all upon the holy man. The mind of the Bishop, the clergy, and the people had submitted itself to the divine will, With the clergy and people consenting, and a single voice was raised in the people's suffrage, proclaiming that Quinidius was most worthy of the Episcopate, that Quinidius alone was the one who, Saint for Saint, should succeed the other. The neighboring cities consented; the Bishop of Arles also yielded to the prayers of the people; no one of the clergy, no one of the laity contradicted.

[6] The decision of Bishop Theodosius was confirmed; the prayer and petition of the people was directed with pious solicitude to King Childebert, who ruled the nation of the Franks. And his will was found no different With King Childebert assenting, in so good and illustrious a work: he received the prayers of the Church, granted his authority's favor; his nobles ratified it without delay; the Queen, named Ultrogotha, was not herself excluded but hastened to be a sharer in so great a good. The swift and eager legates returned, bringing festive joy to their city. The Bishop himself was joyful, now leaving the sheep committed to him under the hope of a good shepherd, approaching his last day to receive eternal rewards: he fell asleep in the Lord; his poor body was enclosed in the tomb; the fruit and progress of his good work shone in Quinidius. Among other merits, this too is rewarded by the grace of God in Theodosius, that out of love for God's flock he chose Quinidius as Pastor; though he was dead in body, because he left behind him so blessed an heir He is designated Bishop, in whom the image of his own life might shine, I would say he was, as it were, not dead. Who could separate the merits of these two? Who would not marvel at the temperance of the old man's rule, the ardor of the younger man's faith, and his obedience? Who would not embrace the charity of the one and the humility of the other? Equal in virtue to his predecessor: I see Elijah and Elisha, Prophets of God, flourishing in diverse gifts of grace: Elijah seeking heaven, leaving to Elisha the grace of his gift. So also Theodosius and Quinidius, illustrious in the gifts of God, one preceded the other, seeking the glory of Christ; one bestowed the gift by departing, the other earned it by remaining.

[7] Having assumed the Episcopate, what temperance he employed in all things surpasses description. As for the prudence he maintained throughout his entire life, the tongue, much less the page, will not suffice to convey it... He most diligently admonished each one to remain devoutly in his own order, He lives holily in the Episcopate: and to be vigilant in prayer according to the saying of the Apostle Peter, lest the adversary of all, the devil, who goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, should find any of them disorderly and unwary. While he was thus intent on so worthy an office, as usually happens to holy men for the increase of their reward and merit, a trial was inflicted upon the blessed man by the devil. For a certain Patrician named Mummolus, of a fierce nature, entered the city of Vaison, swollen with arrogance. When the Patrician Mummolus proudly takes offense against him, The holy man, keeping before his eyes the apostolic precept -- "Be subject to every human creature for God's sake, whether to the King as supreme, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of the good, because such is the will of God, that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish men" 1 Peter 2:13 -- went out some distance to meet the haughty Patrician. But that man, barely able to contain himself in his pride (as is usual with foolish men, who think the things above them more important than the things below them), burst forth into insults against the servant of God, indignant that he had not met him more submissively and with greater pomp; and among other things, as the opinion has it, he maliciously contrived this: "Ox, you do not yet bear horns. Why did you not await our arrival and give us a solemn reception?" O ancient serpent, who, at the goading of pride, desired to be like God -- you spread the venom of your malice in the Patrician against the servant of God, to prostrate him by your fraud and replace him through impatience. At the voice and the rather harsh bearing of the proud man toward him, the blessed Quinidius, girded with the weapons of virtue, He turns to prayer: withdrew to his cell, and pouring himself out in prayer, said: Lord Jesus Christ, all creation serves You; by Your will all things run in order and disposition; in Your power is not only rational creation, but beasts, cattle, oxen, and whatever is nourished by Your providence while roaming the mountains; You know all the birds of the sky; the beauty of the field is with You; You with the Father and the Holy Spirit have created all things, govern all things, rule all things, dispose all things; You humble the proud and exalt the humble. My soul blesses You, and all my innermost being exults in Your name and in Your praise.

[8] Mummolus hastened to complete the journey he had begun; but, struck by divine judgment on the spot, at last he unwillingly remembered that he was a man, which indeed he was. Seized by the force of excessive heat, He is soon struck with illness, weighed down most grievously by weariness and bodily collapse, he thought death was close at hand. Supported by the hands of his attendants, he was dragged rather than led to the cell of the holy man. As the burning fever raged, his limbs lost their function; his blood congealed with a deathly chill. He was laid at the feet of the holy man, begging with such affection and tears as he could, pledging that he would never again attempt such things against any of the servants of God. The man of the Lord, full of the bowels of mercy and piety, freely granted pardon to the wretched man who asked it, He heals him and instructs him with admonitions: and having healed him, the pious Pastor admonished him to venerate Christ in the servants of God: "Keep, my son," he said, "the saving precepts of your heart: 'He who hears you hears me; and he who despises you despises me.'"

[9] Humbled and made more cautious by his chastisement, wishing to render fitting gifts to his healer, he sent them to the servant of God; who, lest he seem to have despised the man, ordered them received for the relief of the poor. But what did the ancient deceit wish to attempt? He receives the gifts for the use of the poor. It assailed one of the associates or companions of the Patrician, who was known for avarice. He, with the devil as counselor, addressed the Bishop a little later, concealing his cunning, saying that he had been sent to recover the money once given by the Patrician to be distributed among the poor, by his command. But divine vengeance did not long tolerate the liar. A certain man who fraudulently demands it back dies suddenly. For as the divine sentence through the Apostle Peter restrained Ananias, who lied to the Holy Spirit, and struck him with the punishment of death together with his wife, lest anyone should thereafter presume such things, so also it struck this man down with a swift death by its just judgment. Let him serve as a warning example to others in such matters, lest they rush headlong into similar situations, when God inflicts sudden bodily punishment upon the wicked themselves. Did not Gehazi steal away secretly from St. Elisha to greedily demand money from Naaman, which was impossible to conceal from the prophetic eye, and for that money which he fraudulently and avariciously snatched, was he not eternally condemned with the leprosy of Naaman? Thus holy men, as often as they inflict the blow of correction upon sinners, either absolve them from eternal punishment through bodily scourges, or, lest more should perish by following their example, they see more clearly that they must strike and condemn. Thus Paul Acts 13:7 struck with blindness Bar-Jesus the magician, who was trying to turn the Proconsul Sergius Paulus away from the faith of truth. It is believable that our Quinidius, moved by the same spirit, punished with bodily chastisement alone the deceiver who wished to remove the work of piety.

a We treated of him on February 14.

b The manuscript had "Scoticas."

c For under the King of Austrasia, Reims was, along with the Germanic provinces of the Franks.

d This was Sapaudus, or Sabaudus, who is often mentioned in the Gallic Councils.

e Childebert was a son of Clovis I, King of Paris.

f A poem of Fortunatus on her garden survives. It is established from many passages in Frankish history that she was very devout.

g Something appears to be missing.

h The memory of the Patrician Mummolus is famous in Frankish history.

i The text had "Bergaeus," but it is clear that this is the magician mentioned in Acts 13:3, whose name was Bar-Jesus.

CHAPTER III

The miracles, death, and burial of St. Quinidius.

[10] Many were the benefits that he ministered from the gift of God's grace to those in need and seeking help -- those paralyzed, those most foully disfigured and harshly ulcerated and torn by the stains of leprosy, those most wretchedly possessed by demons, and those weighed down by any and every kind of infirmity. The Saint is famous for miracles, By the power of Almighty God, as often as he laid on hands, so often did he accomplish the work of salvation; and if the devil by perverse persuasion had cast any into guilt, the man of God, inflamed with love, took care by his sound and secret counsels to lead them back medicinally to salvation. It was his custom He succors all spiritually: to overcome by prayer a world that both flattered and raged, to become more cheerful in adversity, to trample the world with firmer step, made all things to all men that he might save all. No sick person ever departed from him without being improved. To grieve over the miseries of others, to groan when he saw anyone lying in evil -- and especially when he saw them scorning penance -- with constant tears, preeminent in contemplation, most compassionate in fellow-feeling. These are Your works, O Lord; for Your servants, by Your grace, are what they are. And what indeed would they be if they were not from You? But You who gave them to be such from You, brought it about that Your grace should not be void in them, so that it would not only benefit them but through them You would have mercy and come to the aid of others.

[11] Now moreover, when the time came for the blessed man to gather the harvest of his labors and to reap in joy what he had sown in tears, he persisted all the more fervently in that happy work, as he perceived that the reward drew nearer and that its door was nearly within his grasp. A few days before he fell asleep in the Lord, He dies on February 15, seized by a welcome languor, he was at last consummated on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of March, having completed the duty of his course. The city groaned with deep tears and heavy sighs, bereaved of its Father and deprived of the consolation of so great a Pastor.

[12] The entire flock, the children nourished by him with the bread of life, attended to the funeral of the blessed man in the deepest sorrow, save that they were sustained by hope. He is buried, It cannot be told how great a multitude of people, from every quarter, rushed to meet the procession with tearful voices as he was carried to burial. Amid the voices of the singers and the pious weepers, he was conducted to the place of burial. There the pious Patron was fittingly buried by his devoted children, the Pastor by his sheep. So great was the affection toward the Father that scarcely could the lifeless body be separated from their dear eyes. It was uncertain by what art grief over the death of the Pastor could be assuaged. The excessive sorrow of their affection did not permit them to see him dead; and on the other hand, the agony of their hearts did not allow them to be separated, With the great sorrow of his people: lest even the cold body be out of sight for long. In both matters the contest was uncertain: what they would prefer, they could not easily choose. Compelled at last by final necessity, they now believed they might find consolation in the limbs of the deceased, because they could no longer earn the privilege of having him alive among them. At length the obsequies were completed; a wonderful cult around the place, and the concourse of the people, grew ever greater thereafter.

[13] They seek in heaven the intercessor whom they once deserved to have on earth as teacher. Renowned for miracles: Moreover, divine miracles are performed; the precious death of the holy man and blessed Bishop is commended; demoniacs and those oppressed by various infirmities are healed, and how great he was before the Lord is shown by continuous signs and wonders.

[14] We have a Patron, we have a Protector; and he shall always be ours, because he shall reign with Christ, to whom we belong, without end. And we shall have him the more, the more closely we follow what he taught -- his life, his conduct, Patron of his people, his teaching, and the work of his piety. He who is now joined to the vision of Christ can help very much more, for in order to be united with Him he never ceased to minister the consolation of blessed encouragement to His sheep. Pray for the wretched, come to the aid of those who seek help, He is invoked by them. obtain mercy from Christ, through whom you merited, O blessed Bishop, the eternal and happy crown without end; which may He deign to grant to us, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit reigns through the immortal ages of ages, Amen.