Constabilis

ON ST. CONSTABILIS, ABBOT OF CAVA IN ITALY.

The year 1124.

Preliminary Commentary.

Constabilis, Abbot of Cava in Italy (S.)

By I. B.

[1] That Cava is a city of Italy on the borders of Campania and the Picentine territory, and that near it stands a very ancient monastery from which the origin of the city itself flowed, was shown by us on the 10th of January, the feast of St. Constabilis on February 17th, where we treated of Blessed Benincasa, its eighth Abbot. There it was also indicated that the first four Abbots are honored with the Ecclesiastical Office and Mass; that the other eight are proclaimed Blessed, and on the feast day of each a Mass is celebrated of the Most Holy Trinity, which is the title of that monastery. The fourth Abbot was St. Constabilis, who is venerated on the 17th of February; whom the more recent Martyrologists also thus proclaim. Wion and Menard: "In the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity of Cava, the deposition of St. Constabilis, Abbot, renowned for miracles." Benedict Dorgani: "St. Constabilis, Abbot, renowned for miracles." Philip Ferrarius, in the General Catalogue of Saints: "At Cava in the Picentine territory, St. Constabilis, Abbot," and the same treats of him more fully in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy.

[2] His Life was committed to writing by a contemporary author. The author himself indicates his own era, the Life was written by a contemporary, when in chapter 2, number 8, he writes: "Many still survive in the monastery who, when they recall his manner of life, will judge that I have said very little and far too little in my description of him." And more clearly in chapter 3, number 13, where, speaking of the monastery's ship sailing for Africa, he says: "Over which John, then a monk, but now also Abbot of St. Benedict, presided." And shortly afterward he says that St. Constabilis commanded the same John in a dream: "Go, tell Abbot Simeon to raise my body." Simeon was the successor of the holy man, and he died on the 16th of November 1141.

[3] Wion testifies that this Life exists in the library of Cava, written in Lombard characters on parchment not by John of Capua, as some would have it: by D. John of Capua; and that it was the same Life published by Jacob Mosander the Carthusian in the supplement to the Lives of Surius. But that John of Capua was not the first author of this Life, if what Antonio de Yepes in his Benedictine Chronicles, century 6, at the year 1050, chapter 3, and Wion himself report is true. For the former says the deeds of Blessed Simeon and the subsequent Abbots were described in one volume, and that this volume had been lost, as John of Capua himself asserts (he says). Wion cites this distich composed by John of Capua about St. Constabilis:

"The fourth, Constabilis, an illustrious and venerable Father, seeking the heavenly kingdoms, now enjoys blessed abodes."

But for "illustrious Father" he reads "illustrious boy." We have twelve such distichs, composed to be placed beneath the images of the twelve holy Fathers of Cava, and evidently in the same style, by one and the same author. Since, therefore, Blessed Leo II died in the year 1296, if John of Capua is the author of all those distichs, he is at least 150 years more recent than the earlier author, whom we shall call Anonymous until someone unearths his name. We received this Life, though in an abridged form, at Naples from our confrere Antonio Beatillo, from the manuscript Chronicle of the monastery of Cava, but by the Abbot of Venosa, formerly a monk of Cava: once compiled by an anonymous monk of the monastery of Venosa and afterward augmented by Alexander Rudolphus, Provost of Subiaco, as the title states. All doubt about the author is removed by the same manuscript Chronicle, which, following the Life of Blessed Simeon, appends this: "In the time of this blessed man there flourished among the monks of Cava that Father, illustrious in learning, who graphically and eloquently described the Lives of the holy Fathers Alferius, Leo, Peter, and Constabilis, and of certain other monks of Cava; and who in the monastery of the Holy Trinity of Venosa (which at that time belonged to the Cavese congregation) was a Father of monks." This the author himself asserts in the proem of the same book, and in the Life of Blessed Abbot Peter, near the end, he calls Blessed Simeon his Abbot and mentions the monastery of Venosa, over which he presided. I believe these notes were added by Alexander Rudolphus, who likewise did not know the name of that writer. The proem that he cites is extant in the third edition of Surius at the 12th of April, before the Life of St. Alferius. What is cited from the Life of St. Peter, we shall recount below.

[4] St. Constabilis died, as is recorded in the cited manuscript, on the 17th of February, 1124, the time of his death, having presided over the monastery for 5 years, 8 months, and 7 days, and 11 months and 13 days after the death of his predecessor St. Peter. I do not know what author Paul Regio followed, in volume 2 on the Saints of the Kingdom of Naples, page 374, when he writes that he died in the year 1135. He somewhat corrects that error, or indeed doubles it, when he adds that this happened in the time of Emperor Henry IV, who had died in the year 1125. Wion contends that St. Constabilis died in the year 1121 or 1122 at the latest. For the Abbot died, he says, and the Life says nothing of any abdication

or resignation. But it speaks explicitly in number 6 of the abdication of his predecessor, which occurred in the year 1118.

[5] It is worth appending here from the cited manuscript the eulogy of St. Constabilis, composed, as I suppose, by the same Alexander Rudolphus. It reads thus: "St. Constabilis, a Lucanian, a man of the greatest sanctity and renowned for the glory of miracles, offered to the Lord as a boy by his parents to be educated in the monastery of Cava, and instructed first under Blessed Leo and then under the teaching of Blessed Abbot Peter, and by the same instituted as his successor and Abbot in the governance of the same monastery on the 4th day before the Ides of June, 1118, presided most worthily; and built a notable fortress in the region of Cilento (which almost entirely was subject to the dominion of the same monastery), which from the name of its founder is called Castrum Abbatis a fortress built by him on the monastery's lands: (the Castle of the Abbot). Rightly, from his frugality and diligence, he might have been expected to be equal to his most holy predecessor, had his life not been so quickly cut short. For this great Father, having persisted in his governance for not even a full year after the death of Blessed Abbot Peter, was translated to the state of a better life and to the glory of the heavenly kingdom, on the 13th day before the Kalends of March, 1124. And his holy body, placed in a marble chest, burial: rests not far from the sacred crypt, shining most frequently with miracles, by the Lord's grace. From his death, the Cavese see was vacant for 15 days."

[6] The same author who wrote the Life of St. Constabilis, in the Life of his predecessor St. Peter, on the 4th of March, near the end, has this: "A certain John, a Roman, a monk of our monastery, who also came with me to this monastery of Venosa — what a man of great simplicity and devotion he was is known to many. He had been ordered to stay at the castle of St. Adjutor with the other Brothers. One day, coming to the monastery, he reported what he had recently learned at the said castle, saying: 'To the Lord Leo of Bari, master of the same castle, an apparition and rebuke of negligent prayer for the dead, the Lord Abbot Peter appeared last night in a dream and said to him: Brother Leo, why do you act so negligently and fail to render the due psalmody for the deceased Brothers? Make haste and prepare yourself, for you are about to die with great speed.' When he awoke, he began to tremble wonderfully with fear at the death foretold to him. The following night, the venerable Abbot Constabilis also appeared to him and announcement of swift death, and said the same things. Terrified by this twofold vision, while chanting the psalms in church, he began repeating the psalter twice daily in order, and ceased from all his former idleness. After some days, however, the same monk Leo, seized by illness, died, and confirmed by dying what he had spoken as the truth in his life. These things the venerable monk John narrated to me while the one who had seen the vision of his death was still alive. When I learned that they had been fulfilled at his death, I also began to believe those things which I had not seen for myself."

LIFE,

by a contemporary anonymous author, from manuscript and the edition of Mosander.

Constabilis, Abbot of Cava in Italy (S.)

BHL Number: 1926

By a contemporary author, from manuscript.

CHAPTER I.

The training of St. Constabilis in the monastery; his virtues.

[1] Since I have made mention of the greatly venerable Abbot Constabilis, we must also commit to writing those things which the venerable elders of his monastery have been accustomed to narrate with great devotion concerning his life and miracles. This man, then, born in the province of Lucania, was given by his parents to the Blessed Abbot Leo of Cava from his very boyhood to be educated in the service of God. And although he made progress under the training of that venerable elder, nevertheless, more fully instructed in the discipline of the monastic order by the equally praiseworthy Abbot Peter of the same monastery, St. Constabilis is educated in the monastery in letters and piety, he shone with such perfection that he bore not merely a simple brightness of conduct, but illuminated the glory of his upright life with the rays of spiritual learning. For (which is a very exalted mark of Christian happiness) from almost the very beginning of his life he took upon himself the light yoke of the Lord, and preserved the integrity of his flesh, joined with the splendor of an immaculate mind, pure in mind and body: even to the end of his life.

[2] What was fitting for his nobility, he held in the uprightness of his life, namely evangelical simplicity, altogether pure and simple; but he displayed the good of right intention and pious work so becomingly that both by simplicity he lived most excellently, and by the uprightness of his work he commended what he did to his companions. Hence, therefore, he teaches others rightly, as is plainly discerned, anyone who is unwilling to resist the words of the Gospel can easily gather that he is great in the kingdom of heaven; for in it the Truth says: "Whoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:19 Which teaching is indeed not so much hindered by words as much more by example; for some perfect men in the holy Church, even if they do not offer words of preaching, nevertheless benefit the other faithful especially by example, through the examples of their extraordinary way of life: by keeping silent they speak, because by the voice of their examples they draw other chosen ones to the zeal of imitating them. Nor is it surprising if they can persuade more effectively; for even though they are silent with the one tongue of flesh that they have, they teach with as many tongues as they bring forth examples of virtues.

[3] Hence it is that to the first Doctors of the holy Church the knowledge of all tongues is given, so that the succeeding Church might obtain its own substitute: so that if it does not have the tongues of all nations, no examples of virtues of that same life should be lacking. Acts 2 Thus indeed the High Priest is commanded to enter the Holy of Holies, at the Lord's bidding, when he is taught that upon the beauty of his garment the great sound of the bells at the hem should be displayed. For the Holy of Holies is the secret life of the new testament; because when, following the Redeemer's example, the world is perfectly despised, the inner parts of the tabernacle are already possessed through the fervent desires for the heavenly homeland. Exod. 28 (for it is excellent not to hide one's virtues) Into this sanctuary, as the High Priest alone enters, whoever fervently loves the Redeemer; because while he is singularly lifted up in love of Him, he is adorned on the interior with the brightness of virtues, as with a pontifical garment. And if these virtues come forth for the example of others, because they provoke the minds of the faithful to the zeal of pious emulation, as it were many bells sound in the beauty of the garment; because so many voices arouse our sluggishness as so many examples of virtues cry out before our eyes. Therefore, it is not words but works that make someone great in the kingdom of heaven; because many there are who teach the highest things, but few who, living, hold to the highest things they know. And because there are some who, for the tenderness of humility, conceal the good things they do, those who both do and teach are rightly proclaimed great in the kingdom of heaven; because in truth they have it from immense virtue that they perform strong deeds; from perfect charity, that they bring forth what they have done as an example; from solid humility, that no breeze of human praise corrupts what they display.

[4] We have said these things more broadly, which, although they befit the venerable Father — because he shone with a sublime manner of life, because he gleamed with praiseworthy examples, because he despised the favors of men with a wonderful sublimity of mind — nevertheless we do not exhaust the excellence of his merits. For the highest perfection of the highest men can somehow be spoken of, but cannot be fully described. contemplating heavenly things in his mind The illustrious Preacher explains his own and their altitude, saying: "Our conversation is in heaven." Whoever, then, wishes to expound Paul and those whom he placed alongside himself, let him ascend to heaven, and discover, while still placed upon the earth, how acutely he perceived its secrets,

how ardently he loved its joys. Phil. 2 But those who knew the perfection of our Abbot Constabilis will in no way doubt that together with Paul and all the perfect he could say with conviction: "Our conversation is in heaven." Phil. 3:20 For, despised in body, he is proven to have been greater in mind than the world, in which, as in something small, he could not be contained whom he surpassed in height: so that what was eminent about him, humble, he placed on high in heaven, and there set the place of his conversation.

[5] But to set forth now certain particular details about this blessed Father: he was so hostile to all the ambitions and delights of the world even unto death, that he would grieve vehemently at the former when offered and at the latter when set before him, and repel them from himself with great indignation. In his constancy of vigils and prayer, he was incomparable to all the Brothers. But though he was so great and exalted, yet that loftiness of his virtues austere, obedient: was surpassed by the excellence of his humility and gentleness. Indeed, he subjected himself so completely to his venerable Fathers that he presumed to do nothing unless he knew it to be pleasing to their will or enjoined by their command.

CHAPTER II.

The benignity of St. Constabilis in the governance of the monastery; his death; miracles.

[6] When the venerable Abbot Peter recognized that he not only excelled in great virtues but had also established a firm habit of soul in the pursuit of them, now enfeebled by old age and mature in years, with the consent of all the Brothers, he committed his labors to him and placed him over them in his stead. In this very summit of his prelacy, he becomes Abbot: he shone with such splendor of virtues that, though he was superior in rank, in gesture and office he appeared less than all. Moreover, he put on such bowels of mercy that he never willingly harmed anyone, nor saddened anyone; and to extol that distinguishing mark of his virtue, he was a cultivator of the just and a friend of sinners. kind toward all, Indeed, he was joined to negligent Brothers with such benevolence that there was scarcely anyone who would conceal the sins of his conscience from him or hide his negligences. The Brothers, on account of the marvelous affection of his charity by which he was accustomed to cover the faults of the offending, were in the habit of calling this venerable Father the "Covering of the Brothers." He was truly one who concealed the harmful and hid the guilty, so that those whom penance had purged, without any mark of disgrace, he conceals the faults of others: he could always show to be venerable in the eyes of others. Thus indeed do pious mothers customarily conceal the blemishes of their daughters with added colors, so that what is ugly in those they love may be hidden, while what is beautiful may not be hidden.

[7] He had indeed transfused into himself the virtue of that Apostolic affection by which, even if he was silent in tongue, he said through the ministry of his service: "I have become all things to all men." 1 Cor. 9 With the strong he was indeed strong, but he would sometimes relax the vigor of his own strength to support the limbs of the weak. he adapts himself to all, With the fervent he ran swiftly toward eternal things, but to draw the slow and tepid along, he often purposefully slackened the speed of his course. But amid so many and such great gifts of virtues, the vigor of his former humility and gentleness endured so firmly that, whether previously a subject or afterward the prelate of so great a multitude, he appeared the same in all things. For he was superior only in rank, always the same in character, but in gesture he appeared equal to the others. That reverence which was owed to him by the order of the monastery, he bore in such a way that he was more indignant at it when shown to himself than the proud and arrogant are wont to grieve when they see it denied to themselves. This virtue he had seasoned with such a flavor of love that he never recalled himself as a Prelate, unless the excessive obstinacy of the stubborn had compelled him.

[8] And lest we seem to make so great a man greater by our words, many still survive in the monastery who, when they recall his manner of life, will judge that in describing him I have said very few and unworthy things. But this great and excellent man, after the death of the venerable Abbot Peter, he is praised below his merits: governed the monastery for barely a full year, and having completed the course of this laborious life, migrated to eternal joys. After his departure, he dies: it was shown by many and clear indications — indeed to arouse emulation of his virtues — that he was taken away by the debt of carnal death, but by the power of the spirit he was frequently present to the needs of his disciples.

[9] For it was asserted by certain men of perfidious mind that he had stored away not inconsiderable wealth of the monastery, which, overtaken by the force of death, he could by no means reveal. Lying that they could show the place, his successor appears to him, they began to dig up not just one place but many places in his cell. And when the ground had been dug up enough and they could find nothing, one night he appeared to the venerable Abbot Simeon and said to him: "God is my witness, there was nothing more in the cell than what you found." and forbids money to be sought as if left by him: After these words, rebuking him vehemently for having trusted foolish men, he prohibited him from searching in vain any further. And thus it was sufficiently shown that he died to pay the debt of the flesh, but lives by the promised reward of the Redeemer.

[10] John of Genoa likewise is accustomed to relate a great miracle about him. For one day, when he was ordered to dwell outside the monastery in a certain cell, in the fervor of devotion by which he desired to remain in the cloister, he punishes the disobedient one with a broken rib he bore the precept of the Father of the monastery with annoyance and began to set out murmuring. But not far from the monastery, when he wanted to dismount from his horse, he fell and broke his ribs. Therefore he was carried back to the monastery — what he had so greatly desired; but because he desired it too obstinately, not as he had wished, in health, but, to his great distress, battered. As was the custom of the monastery, being received in the house of the infirm, he was tormented by great pains. But on the following night, as he reflected on the merits of the blessed man Constabilis, he rebukes him in a dream and, anointing him, heals him: the latter appeared to him in his sleep; and it seemed to him that Stephen, a man of good memory and recently his Chaplain, followed the venerable man as he came to him from the upper house, carrying a vessel of ointment; and the holy man, lifting the lid, drew out the ointment, anointed the broken ribs of that Brother, and said to him: "Behold, you have been made well; go, and henceforth live humbly, and subject yourself in all things to the commands of your superiors." I am about to tell a marvelous thing: the monk awoke, not only instructed by the wholesome admonition, but with all his pains banished, he was well. Then the one who could not be carried except by others' hands, to the amazement of all, leaped up and hastened to fulfill the obedience imposed upon him. For by the pious dispensation of God it was brought about in him that he was both purged of small stains of fault and the merits of the blessed man were revealed. For the aforesaid monk John was otherwise a good and devout man, and an excellent psalmist; but he could not overcome his anger or perfectly restrain his tongue. And so, struck by the Lord, he was healed by the master: so that the stern chastisement might purge him, and the restored health might show the virtue and glory of the healer.

[11] Nor do I think this should be passed over in silence, which the venerable Rossemandus, then Prior of the monastery and afterward Abbot of Pausitania, used to relate. he restores a garment given to a poor man: Once, when he had given a pair of linen breeches to a begging poor man, the following day he was unable, as he had planned, to celebrate Mass in honor of the same Father. Immediately then, someone appeared who brought him sewn breeches and made him fit for the service of so great a Father.

[12] In the territory of Cilento, on the mountain that overlooks Licosa, while certain judges of Salerno were seeking the boundaries of certain estates, suddenly such a thick fog spread that they wandered through the forest of that mountain when invoked, he dispels the darkness: and could nowhere find the way by which to return. And when they had wandered for a long time, one of them, Judge Ursus, implored the merits of the venerable man Constabilis to be present with him: and at the words of his prayer the accustomed light was restored to the place, so that they could see the way, and returned to their lodging, rejoicing not so much at finding the road as at the miracle of light.

CHAPTER III.

A prosperous voyage through the merits of St. Constabilis.

[13] For the needs of the Brothers, the monastery's ship was sailing to Africa, over which John, then a monk and now also Abbot of St. Benedict, presided, and a certain servant named Peter was assigned to its service. This ship, indeed, caught between Sicily and Africa by a most severe storm, threatened both its own dissolution and the destruction of all aboard. For the sailors had already given out from their labors and could neither prevent the incoming water from entering nor, from sheer exhaustion, bail out what had already entered. And when all hope of salvation was gone, he comes to their aid in the peril of shipwreck, the holy man appeared to the monk as he was drowsing from weariness, and he who, following the example of the Savior, had overcome the world, also uttered His very words of encouragement, saying: "Take courage, and do not be afraid." Mark 6:50 When the monk beheld him, he seemed to beg him to deliver the ship of his monastery and the sailors from the danger of the impending shipwreck. To whom he, being of kind countenance and bearing as was his nature, replied, saying: "I rescue the ship, and I do not cease to guard the monastery. he commands his body to be raised: Behold, now tranquility of weather shall be restored; the winds shall be silent, the seas shall be still. But go, tell Abbot Simeon to raise my body and place it in my sepulchre, which they had prepared for me in the church." At the same hour, the same thing appeared to the aforesaid Peter, a servant of the monastery, on the prow of the ship, neither fully asleep nor entirely awake, and he said the same things. And when they had come to themselves together, they narrated to one another what they had seen; and behold — what could easily be heard but was hard to believe — over that small remaining stretch of sea, the contrary wind fell silent, the sea was still, and the monastery's ship, driven by favorable breezes, arrived at the desired port of Africa.

[14] In the same African city, an equally marvelous event took place, which, because it befits the praise of the blessed man, should by no means be suppressed in silence. A certain King of that city, he commands his own men, detained by a barbarian King, to depart, having learned that a naval expedition was being sent to conquer Africa, detained all the Christians who were there, and they were not permitted to return to their homes. The aforesaid Brother of the monastery, therefore, placed in great distress because he could not return with his purchased goods as he wished, experienced no different assistance from the aforementioned Father. For it seemed to him in his sleep that he was placed in chains, from which the venerable Father Constabilis came and freed him; and to the freed man he also commanded that without delay he should set sail and return to the monastery, because no one would be able to hinder him. When the monk awoke, confident of the Father's presence, although what he was attempting seemed a matter of great daring, he set sail and received the sailors aboard his ship. when the King was divinely pacified: This bold action was followed by a remarkable kindness on the part of the barbarian King, contrary to his customary ferocity. For when he heard that the Cavese ship had set sail, he bore it patiently, restored the sails and all the rigging that had been confiscated, and gave free permission to return home. And thus it was not enough for the holy man to rescue the ship, unless by a greater miracle he changed the hearts of the barbarians.

[15] Near the end of this work, I think this also should be mentioned, which the monk Peter testifies happened to him on the same sea route while sailing to Africa. He says that in the great heat of summer, in a troublesome calm he sends a favorable wind: with all the winds stilled, he had been caught on the deep sea with his vessel in such a way that he considered it no less laborious to be thus roasted than to be tossed about by a storm. Then, remembering that miracle by which the man of God Constabilis had rescued the monastery's ship, he begged that by the same saint's merits a breeze might be breathed into his little vessel, which would both mitigate the heat of the sun and lead them to the desired port. And indeed the marvelous power of the invoked Father followed the words of his prayer. For immediately a gentle breeze began to blow, which at length guided the ship, together with many others, all the way to the port of Africa. And when the other ships wished to pass that place and sail to Italy, that breeze immediately fell silent: so that the monk clearly recognized that by the merits of the man of God the breeze flowed into his ship, which the remaining ships were unable to obtain beyond that port.

[16] Nor do I think this should be passed over in silence, which the same monk used to add to that miracle. He says he keeps them safe, the pirates being terrified: that on the same journey they encountered two ships of pirates, who, at first rushing with agitated seas against the monastery's ship, when they had advanced a little, fled backward with the same haste with which they had begun to attack. From which pirates he afterward recognized a certain one, from whom, when he also asked what reason they had turned back that day, when they could easily have captured the monastery's little vessel, the man replied: "We did not see you as you appear. Rather, you seemed to us so many and so great that if we had approached, there was no doubt that we would by no means be allowed to return without immense slaughter." Who would doubt that this was accomplished through the merits of the man of God Constabilis? — that they were frightened from heaven, lest they should invade the provisions of the servants of God if they should seize the purchased goods of the ship, which the protection of no man was guarding.

CHAPTER IV.

Various miracles of St. Constabilis, especially at his tomb.

[17] Nor should this, too, be passed over in silence. A certain Brother, Peter de Arce, while performing the office of Sacristan he preserves a man falling from a height uninjured: and trying to tie a broken rope where the lamps customarily burn before the Cross, placed a ladder; and when he was at the top of the ladder, he fell. But as he fell, he cried out, saying: "Holy Constabilis, help me!" And so, by the merits of the Blessed one, falling from such a great height, he suffered no injury to his body.

[18] Likewise, when Arborius of blessed memory, the venerable Prior of this monastery, lay in the house of the infirm through his help, pleurisy is healed, and was most constantly tormented without ceasing by a pain in his side, and could find no remedy of any counsel or cure for himself, he had himself carried to the tomb of the blessed man; and when he had prayed there for a little while, by the merits of the blessed man the pain in his side immediately departed from him, as if that pain had never touched him at all.

[19] Another Brother, too, who was suffering from quartan fevers and could by no means be freed by any remedy, likewise fevers, approached the tomb of the blessed man with most devout prayers, and after a few intervening days, by the merits of the blessed man, he was freed.

[20] A candle, too, which burns daily before the Cross and the venerable body of the blessed man, a glass lamp falls but does not break, fell from its high position; yet the glass was not broken nor was the oil spilled. Likewise, a glass jar full of wine, falling again and again from the tomb of the same saint onto the pavement, neither was the glass broken nor the wine spilled.

[21] Moreover, two servants of this monastery, when on the vigil of the anniversary of the blessed man they were carrying two flasks full of wine and a flask of wine: from the place called Tracondia for the charity of the Brothers, one of them fell to the ground; yet neither was the flask broken nor the wine spilled.

[22] By no means should this also be passed over: that through the merits of the most holy man, a certain old man named Ursus, who by custom and duty used to clean all the workshops of the monastery, went to the mountain to cut brooms. When by chance he fell from a certain rock, his arm was broken; and when he was exceedingly tormented by the pain of his arm, coming to the tomb of the holy man, a broken arm is healed, he lay prostrate, crying out and saying: "Blessed father Constabilis and lord, for the sake of the soul of your father and mother, help me and free me from this torment!" When he had repeated the same words three times, he was freed not only from the pain but also from the fracture of his arm.

[23] John, surnamed Cirusinus, too, when a discharge descended from his head to his eye and he was afflicted with the most severe pain, came to the tomb of the same saint, asking and humbly beseeching that by his accustomed mercy he might rescue him from so great a torment of pain. He was immediately heard, an eye disease is driven away, and the discharge and the pain departed at once.

[24] A certain blacksmith, too, Peter de Mari by name, when he was most severely tormented by a similar pain, again, by dust from the tomb: came to his tomb, and having taken some dust from a certain opening of his tomb, he rubbed his eye, and was immediately freed.

[25] Moreover, a certain Deacon named Dauferius, since he frequently leaned against the tomb of the blessed man and fell asleep, the same Saint appeared to him in his sleep, saying: "Why, Brother, do you make a ^a pillow of my tomb? he rebukes one who lies upon his tomb, I warn you that you do so no more, and desist from this behavior." Seized by fear, he obeyed the blessed man for some days. But becoming unmindful of the same rebuke, he relapsed into the same habit and, leaning against it again, fell asleep. The Saint appeared to him again and said: "Did I not forbid you to make my tomb your pillow?" Terrified by fear, arising from sleep, he found his arm so contracted that he could by no means either bend or extend it. Pouring forth prayers, he humbly besought the blessed man with a devout mind to deign to free him. then he punishes with a contraction of the arm and heals: He was promptly heard and, through the merits of the blessed man, was freed.

[26] Moreover, on the holy day of Good Friday, when from various parts a multitude of men and women, as is the custom of the Christian religion, celebrated that holy day with bare feet and with tears, visiting the sacred places, it happened that many came to this holy place: among them also a certain girl came, and when several people climbed the pulpit where the lessons are read, he preserves one who falls: the girl likewise happened to climb up with them, and she fell from that pulpit. And when all cried out, "The girl is dead!" by the will of God and the merits of the blessed man, rising upon her own feet, she had no harm at all. ^b

[27] Let these things said of so great a man and his predecessors suffice for the present, although God frequently works through them many illustrious wonders. he preserves the discipline in the monastery: Through their prayers and merits we believe that the honor and the distinguished religious life with holiness has been preserved in this holy monastery to this day, and that by the Lord's authority it will be free from the attack and offense of all enemies to the end of the world.

[28] Let us therefore with the most humble prayers humbly beseech the blessed man Constabilis, that according to the etymology of his name, he may obtain from the Lord by his prayers for both present and future Brothers of this monastery constancy in the daily labor of their struggle, he is invoked by the writer, and may grant them stability in good morals, so that through these and other works of charity and mercy, we may deserve to arrive at the blessed and eternal glory where he reigns with God, through the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, forever and ever. Amen.