Paulus of Theben

ON ST. PAUL OF THEBES, THE FIRST HERMIT, IN EGYPT.

A.D. 341

Paul of Thebes, the first hermit in the Thebaid (S.)

[1] In the Thebaid, on January 10, the feast of Blessed Paul, the first hermit, whose soul St. Antony saw being carried to heaven among the choirs of Apostles and Prophets by angels. So report Usuard and Bellinus in his first edition. Ado writes: The name of St. Paul in martyrologies, January 8 "In the Thebaid, the feast of St. Paul, the first hermit, who from the sixteenth year of his age to the one hundred and thirteenth remained alone in the desert. St. Antony saw his soul being carried to heaven by angels among the choirs of the Apostles and Prophets." Notker and many manuscripts contain the same account, as does the Roman Martyrology, in which the following is added: "His feast day, however, is celebrated on January 15." Bede, the ancient Roman Martyrology, the German, the Cologne, and those of Rabanus, Maurolycus, and other printed and manuscript martyrologies commemorate him on this day.

[2] January 15 and 29. On January 15, to which the Latins transfer his feast because of the octave of Epiphany, the Greeks venerate him, as is evident from the Anthologion, the Menaea, and the lesser Menologion. Molanus too, in later editions of Usuard, assigns him to that day. Others, finally, celebrate him on January 29, as can be seen in the Martyrology of the Dominicans, the Breviary of Evora, and the Roman Breviary published by the authority of Paul III, etc.

[3] Life written by St. Jerome. St. Jerome wrote the Life of St. Paul, as he himself attests in his book On Illustrious Ecclesiastical Writers, chapter 135, and in his Chronicle under the 19th year of Constantius, and as Paulinus states in the Prologue to the Life of St. Ambrose. Concerning this same work, Jerome writes in Epistle 21, to Paul of Concordia: "In the meantime I have sent you yourself to yourself, that is, to Paul the elder, Paul the more elder; in which, for the sake of the simpler folk, we labored greatly in lowering the style. But I know not how, even though the vessel is full of water, it still retains the same odor with which, when it was new, it was first imbued." Concerning this and other Lives, Gelasius writes in the chapter Sancta Romana Ecclesia, distinction 15: "The Lives of the Fathers -- of Paul, Antony, Hilarion, and all the hermits -- which the blessed man Jerome wrote, we receive with all honor."

[4] Foolishly attacked by innovators. This Life, approved by the judgment of so many centuries, certain upstart critics -- Erasmus, the Magdeburg Centuriators (century 4, chapter 10), and others -- have dared to call a playful fabrication, composed by Jerome to exercise his talents, not treated seriously. But while others have chastised the rash license of these censors, Baronius does so excellently (volume 3, year of Christ 343), as do Rosweyde (book 1 of the Lives of the Fathers, in the Prolegomena to the Life of Paul), and Alan Copus (dialogue 2, chapter 14). And indeed, in the words already cited, Jerome shows that he was not exercising his pen in the manner of the rhetoricians, but was rather deliberately lowering his style for the sake of simpler readers. And, besides the fact that by his very nature he was utterly averse to any fabrication of fables, would he not be judged insane if, having so many adversaries on every side seeking occasions to criticize his writings, he were to write things that were not entirely well attested, especially concerning the affairs of his own century? Would not Gelasius be foolish, who received "with all honor" a Life written in jest and not seriously? Would not the entire universal Church, Greek and Latin, be stupid, which embraced this history and always venerated Paul?

[5] Erasmus refuted. For what Erasmus says -- that there was such variety in the manuscripts that it appears Jerome treated the same subject multiple times in different words, or that someone else did this for the sake of exercising literary abundance -- Rosweyde has already noted this to be false, having carefully compared very many printed and manuscript copies, and we too affirm it on the authority of seven or eight other ancient codices.

[6] Rosweyde believed that Jerome learned these things about Paul from Amathas and Macarius, disciples of Antony, whom he mentions in the Prologue; and that he was the first to commit Paul's deeds to the memory of posterity; and that therefore the Greek narrative about Paul and Antony which exists in a Bavarian library was translated from Jerome's Latin text. But we cannot agree with Rosweyde on this point, since the writer of that Greek Life testifies that he received what he writes about Paul from Antony. Another Greek Life, more ancient: For it reads: en hetero de eremo ho Antonios dietriben; enthymetheis oun, hos autos moi diegesato, me einai heteron eis ta endotata tes eremou, etc. -- "In another desert, Antony was dwelling. When it had come to his mind, as he himself narrated to me, that no one else was living in the interior of the desert," etc. Perhaps Amathas, or Macarius, or another disciple of Antony wrote this. It first occurred to us to suspect that St. Athanasius, who makes no mention of Paul in his Life of Antony, had written this narrative separately. By whom it was written. But the style differs greatly from that of Athanasius. We shall therefore also present this Life here. However, the Bavarian codex from which we received it was extremely faulty, with many letters abraded and effaced throughout, and teeming with other errors.

[7] Those who wrote about Paul. Jerome also mentions Paul elsewhere: Epistles 22 and 27 to Eustochium, 13 to Paulinus; the Preface to the Life of St. Hilarion, etc. Sidonius in Carmen 16, a thanksgiving to Faustus. Cassian, Conference 18, chapters 5 and 6. St. Aldhelm, De laudibus virginitatis, book 1, chapter 31, and book 1 of his Poems, no. 16. Isidore, De officiis, book 2, chapter 15. Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale, book 11, chapter 86 and the two following. St. Antoninus, Chronicon, part 2, title 15, chapter 3. Petrus de Natalis, book 2, chapter 60. Ribadeneira, Surius, Villegas, Silvester Maurolycus in the Ocean of Religious Orders, Paolo Morigia in his History of Religious Orders, and other more recent authors. Galesinius errs, however, when in his Notes for this day he says that Cassiodorus, book 1, chapter 11 of the Tripartite History, mentions this Paul, and that Heraclides does so in many places. For Cassiodorus, drawing from Sozomen, treats of Paul the Simple, and Heraclides of the same Simple and other Pauls, but not of this first hermit.

[8] Rosweyde discusses Paul's age in the Preludes to his Life, His age and more concisely and better does Petavius in his Rationarium temporum, part 1, book 6, chapter 4. Briefly, his age can be reckoned thus: St. Antony was born, as Eusebius relates in his Chronicle, in the first year of Decius, i.e. A.D. 250, and died, as St. Jerome says in his Chronicle under the 19th year of Constantius, i.e. at the beginning of A.D. 356, at the age of 105. When Antony was ninety years old, in the year of Christ 340 or 341, Paul died at the age of 113. From this it follows that he was born around A.D. 228. Jerome speaks confusingly when he seems to indicate that Paul withdrew into the desert in the sixteenth year of his age, during Decius' persecution of Christians -- which has been recorded in most martyrologies. But then Paul would not have died until the year 347 at the age of 113, and Antony, who survived him by 15 years, would have died in 362, which was not the 19th year of Constantius but the 1st of Julian. It should rather be said that when he was 15 or 16, having been orphaned of both parents, he then lived with his brother-in-law until the age of 22 or 23, i.e. A.D. 250 or 249, when the persecution was stirred up by Decius. The Greek Life seems to support this, reckoning 13 and then 76 years of life spent in solitude. Baronius and Rosweyde hold the same view concerning Paul's age, though they compute the years of Christ differently.

[9] "Remarkable," says Rosweyde, "is the calculation of the manuscript Florarium of the Saints, Poorly calculated by others which places Paul's death at the year of Christ 355; still more remarkable is that of Theodoric Loher of Stratis, who supervised the Cologne edition of the Lives of the Fathers. For he noted at the end of Paul's Life that he died around the year of the Lord 287 -- an erroneous calculation he took from Petrus in his Catalogue of Saints, book 2, chapter 60." The Viola Sanctorum has the same. Notker: "who from the sixteenth year of his age until the ninety-third remained alone in the desert." But one should read "one hundred and thirteenth." Certain manuscripts have "until the one hundred and third."

LIFE FROM A GREEK MANUSCRIPT OF BAVARIA.

The History of St. Paul of Thebes and St. Antony of Egypt, dwelling in the interior desert.

Paul of Thebes, the first hermit in the Thebaid (S.)

From a Greek ms.

[1] The Blessed Paul lived in the times of the persecutors Decius and Valerian; born in Egypt, in Lower Thebaid, (a) at the time when Cornelius suffered martyrdom at Rome, (b) in a city of Cyprus. When the aforesaid tyrants had stirred up persecution, Christians endured many trials, and all offered their necks willingly for the name of Christ. When he lived. Paul lived together with his sister, who had already been given in marriage. After his father and mother died, he was left with a very ample inheritance, being sixteen years of age and accurately educated in both Greek and Egyptian letters. He was of a most gentle disposition.

[2] Accordingly, his sister's husband (c) ... began to covet his inheritance. But the schemes did not escape the young man. He departs into the desert on account of his brother-in-law's plots. He therefore fled to a desert mountain (d) ... driven by the necessities of the persecutions. And gradually making his way forward, he found a rocky mountain in which there was a cave in a very small rock sloping inward. Here, as in a kind of inner sanctuary, he rested. But soon, with the natural curiosity of men, he explored the interior insatiably. Behold, he beheld within a most pure spring. Desiring this place as one offered to him by God for a dwelling, he spent his entire life there, with palm trees providing him food and clothing. Moreover, he completed (e) thirteen years in that place, living a heavenly life on earth.

[3] When he had lived there (f) seventy-six years, in another desert Antony was dwelling. When it came to his mind, (g) as he himself narrated to me, that no other person was living in the interior desert, Antony goes to visit him on that night it was revealed to him in a dream that there was a monk in the remotest parts who was better than himself. Immediately, therefore, leaning on his staff, he set out on the journey. Since he did not know the way, he said: "I trust in my God that he will show me his servant, whom he has revealed to me."

[4] While traveling at midday, he saw a creature half man, half horse, whom the poets call a Hippocentaur. Antony said to him: "On what mountain does the servant of God dwell?" The creature replied in a barbarous voice, He finds a Hippocentaur and a Satyr and extending his right hand, showed him the desired way. Proceeding further, Antony sees in a rocky, narrow valley a little man bearing horns on his forehead, whose lower body ended in goat's feet. When the old man asked him whence he came, he replied: "I am a mortal and one of the inhabitants of the desert; I am called a Satyr. The presence of Christ and the expulsion of the devil (i) ..." Hearing these things, the old man greatly rejoiced at the glory of Christ and the overthrow of the devil, and, weeping, mourned wretched Alexandria, calling the city a harlot.

[5] Thinking within himself, then, that he would by no means be abandoned by Christ, He is admitted by Paul into the cave and persisting steadfastly thereafter, at the hour of prayer he sees a hyena ascending the slope. Following it and drawing nearer to the cave, he sees a light within, and entering, he struck his foot against a stone. Hearing the noise, Blessed Paul immediately shut the entrance, which had been open. Then Antony lay prostrate before the door until the sixth hour or even longer. Paul said to him: "Where are you from, and why have you come here?" Antony replied: "I know that I am unworthy of your sight. Why then do you receive beasts but exclude a man? I have sought and I have found. I shall die here at your door, so that at least you may bury my body." Paul said: "No one seeks in this way by making threats." And immediately they embraced one another in greeting, and after the greeting they sat down together.

[6] Paul said to Antony: "Why did you wish with such great toil to see a decrepit, rotting old man, whom you will shortly see turned to dust?" And he asked him: "How does the human race fare, and how is the world governed?" A raven brings them bread And after these words they see a raven flying down, which came to them carrying a whole loaf of bread, which it set down before them. After its departure, Blessed Paul said: "Our Lord has prepared a meal for us. Truly he is merciful and generous. (k) For seventy-four years I have been receiving half a loaf; but because of your arrival, Christ has doubled the rations for his soldiers." And giving thanks, they sat beside the spring and ate and drank.

[7] Then Paul said to Antony: "Since the time of my falling asleep has arrived, you have been sent by my God to commit my body to the earth." Hearing this, Antony, weeping and groaning, Paul foretells his own death begged him not to leave him. And Paul said: "You ought not to seek what is yours but what belongs to another. Return to your monastery and bring the garment for wrapping my body which Bishop Athanasius gave you." Antony was even more astonished at what he had heard about Athanasius and his garment, and, as though looking upon Christ himself, he kissed Paul's eyes and hands and departed for his monastery.

[8] Two of his disciples came to meet him as he arrived and asked: "Where have you been so long, Father?" He replied: "Woe to me, a sinner! I bear the false name of monk. I have seen Elijah, His soul flies up to heaven I have seen John in the desert, and truly I have seen Paul in Paradise." And taking the garment, he immediately left the monastery. The next day, therefore, at the third hour, he saw on the road, among throngs of angels and choirs of Prophets and Apostles streaming together, Paul shining with the greatest splendor entering heaven. And immediately falling on his face, casting sand upon his head, weeping and wailing, he said: "Why, Paul, have you left me? Why did you omit a final farewell?" His body still erect after death Then entering the cave-monastery, he saw the Blessed one, with knees bent, neck erect, and hands raised, and he seemed still to be alive. At length, when he understood that Paul had fallen asleep, he wrapped him, and bearing the body out, accompanied it with psalms and hymns. He was grieved meanwhile that he had no power to dig the earth, Lions dig a tomb for him and he saw two lions, which covered the holy body with earth, and having received a prayer from St. Antony, departed again into the wilderness. St. Antony, taking the tunic that Paul had woven for himself from palm leaves, returned to the monastery; and on feast days he would wear it. Through the prayers of the Saints, Lord, save our souls.

a As in the Life written by St. Jerome, at the time when these Saints were crowned with martyrdom, Paul is said to have fled into the desert, because of the same persecution (for he fled in the first year of Decius; Cornelius was killed under Gallus and Volusian; Cyprian in the fifth year of Valerian); so here he is said to have been born at that time, that is, around that period, approximately the seventh year of Alexander. We shall treat of Cornelius and Cyprian on September 14.

b We do not entirely grasp what this means. The Greek reads en te polei Kyprou. Did the author write about the death of Cyprian, but the copyist corrupt it? Or was Paul rather born in Cyprus, a city of Lower Thebaid? Indeed, the Notitia Imperii, under the disposition of the Count of Military Affairs for Egypt, has the town Cefro.

c Something is missing here.

d Again.

e Perhaps one should read "one hundred and thirteen," since he lived there until the age of 113.

f Some error lurks here: for Paul was then in his ninetieth year in the desert, unless, as we said above, these 76 years should be joined with those 13.

g From this it is clear that this Life was written before Jerome's. From this passage Jerome drew the phrase: "as he himself used to assert."

h The manuscript has hypocentauron. Whether Hippocentaurs truly exist is discussed by our Johannes Eusebius Nieremberg in his Historiæ naturæ, book 5, chapter 8. He treats of Satyrs in chapter 9. Consult the remarks to be made on the second Life from Rosweyde.

i The text is deficient; one should understand "I confess," or something similar.

k Others record a smaller number of years during which the bird served the holy man. St. Aldhelm writes: "Was it not on account of the chastity of his flourishing purity, preserved to the end with an inextricable barrier, that for twelve lustra of time -- that is, over the span of sixty years -- he deserved, rejoicing, to receive an unfailing half-portion of bread, which the feathered bird, with untiring service and reciprocal flights, had brought in its open beak, until the decrepit old age of his life?"

ANOTHER LIFE, BY ST. JEROME.

Paul of Thebes, the first hermit in the Thebaid (S.) BHL Number: 6596

By St. Jerome.

PROLOGUE.

[1] Among many it has often been debated who first began to inhabit the desert as a monk. Origin of monks. For some, going further back, From Elijah and John took their beginning from Blessed Elijah and John. Of these, Elijah seems to us to have been more a prophet than a monk, and John began to prophesy before he was born. Others, however (and the common opinion agrees with them), assert that Antony was the founder of this way of life; From Antony which is partly true. For he was not so much before all others, as the enthusiasm of all was stirred by him. (c) Amathas and Macarius, disciples of Antony, (d) the former of whom buried the body of his master, even now affirm that a certain Paul of Thebes was the originator of this way of life. (e) This we too confirm, not so much by the name as by the general opinion. From Paul of Thebes Some cast about both these and other claims as fancy takes them, inventing (f) a man covered with hair to his heels in an underground cave, and many other incredible things which it would be idle to pursue. Since their falsehood was shameless, their opinion does not seem worth refuting.

[2] Therefore, since careful account of Antony has been handed down in both Greek and Latin, I have resolved to write a few things about Paul's beginning and end -- Paul's middle years unknown more because the subject had been neglected than out of confidence in my ability. How he lived in middle age, however, or what snares of Satan he endured, no mortal has discovered.

a Rosweyde excellently refutes the foolish cavil of Rudolph Hospinian, who criticizes Abbot Piamon for asserting in Cassian (Conference 18, chapter 4) that anchorites usually came forth from cenobitic communities, on the grounds that Paul and Antony were not first trained in monasteries; for although these men, by a special arrangement, flew from their paternal homes into the desert, monasteries were nevertheless thereafter like seminaries for anchorites.

b Rosweyde assembles many testimonies from the Fathers and historians who establish Elijah and John as the first cultivators of the desert.

c Three celebrated disciples of St. Antony are mentioned by Jerome in his Chronicle: Sarmata, Amathas, and Macarius. Sarmata is venerated on October 11, Macarius on January 2; for this one seems to have been the Alexandrian, as Rosweyde holds, and as we said on January 2.

d Amathas seems to be meant. Yet in the Life of St. Posthumius, Macarius is said to have buried the body of his master. Is "the former" used here perhaps because he was elder in age, or in the degree of the priesthood?

Rosweyde annotated this passage as follows: "Here the manuscripts vary remarkably..." [extensive textual variant discussion omitted for brevity, as it concerns the Latin text-critical apparatus]

f Jerome does not mean St. Onuphrius here, although something similar is reported in his life on June 11, for that life is well attested; nor the Roman Macarius, of whom we treat on October 23, for he was of a later date.

CHAPTER I.

The occasion of Paul's withdrawal into the desert.

[3] Under the persecutors Decius and Valerian, at the time when Cornelius at Rome The persecution of Decius and Cyprian at Carthage were condemned with happy bloodshed, a savage storm ravaged many churches in Egypt and (b) the Thebaid. It was then the prayer of Christians to be struck with the sword for the name of Christ. But the cunning enemy, seeking slow tortures leading to death, desired to slay souls, not bodies. And, as Cyprian himself (who suffered at his hands) says, "Those who wished to die were not permitted to be killed." Cyprian, ep. 53 That his cruelty may be better known, we have added two examples for the record.

[4] A certain martyr who persevered in the faith, Contests of Egyptian Martyrs victorious amid the rack and red-hot plates, the persecutor ordered to be smeared with honey and laid on his back under the burning sun, with his hands tied behind his back -- so that the stings of flies might conquer him whom burning pans had previously failed to defeat.

[5] Another young man in the flower of youth he ordered to be led away to most pleasant gardens. There, among white lilies and red roses, while a stream murmured softly nearby and the wind lightly brushed the leaves of the trees with a gentle whistle, Unconquerable chastity he ordered him to be laid face up on a bed made of feathers; and, so that he could not shake himself free, to be left bound with soft silk ties. When, after everyone had withdrawn, a beautiful harlot approached him, she began to press his neck with tender embraces; and -- what is a crime even to speak of -- to touch his private parts with her hands, so that when his body was aroused to lust, she, the shameless victress, might throw herself upon him. The soldier of Christ did not know what to do or where to turn. (e) A detestable pleasure was overcoming him, whom torments had not conquered. At last, inspired from heaven, he bit off his own tongue (f) and spat it in the face of the woman who was kissing him; and thus the magnitude of pain that succeeded (g) overcame the sensation of lust.

[6] At that same time, then, when such things were taking place, in Lower Thebaid, Paul's education having been left with his sister, already given in marriage, after the death of both parents, Paul was left in possession of a large inheritance, about (h) fifteen years of age, excellently educated in both Greek and Egyptian letters, of a gentle spirit, and greatly loving God. When the storm of persecution thundered, he withdrew to a more remote and secluded estate. But

> "To what do you not drive mortal hearts, / accursed hunger for gold?" Aeneid 3

He is endangered by his brother-in-law. His sister's husband began to wish to betray the very man he ought to have concealed. Neither his wife's tears, nor the bond of kinship, nor God watching all things from on high, recalled him from his crime. (i) Cruelty was pressing in, which seemed to imitate piety. When the most prudent young man understood this, He seeks the desert he fled to the mountain wilderness, and while he awaited the end of the persecution, he turned necessity into choice. Advancing gradually, then going back the same distance, and doing this often, he at last found a rocky mountain, at the base of which, not far away, was a large cave, closed by a stone. When this was removed -- as is the human desire to know hidden things -- exploring more eagerly, he noticed inside a great vestibule, which, with the sky open above, an old palm tree had covered with its spreading branches, revealing a most limpid spring. The stream barely burst forth outside before the same earth that had produced it swallowed the waters through a small opening. There were also throughout the hollowed-out mountain not a few chambers, in which rough anvils and hammers, formerly used for coining money, could be seen. Egyptian writings record that this place was a workshop for counterfeit coinage in the time when Antony was allied with Cleopatra.

[7] So, having fallen in love with the dwelling (as if it were offered to him by God), he spent his entire life there in prayers and solitude. A dwelling divinely provided for him The palm tree supplied him with food and clothing. Lest this should seem impossible to anyone, I call Jesus and his holy angels as witnesses that in that part of the desert which borders Syria and joins the Saracens, (k) I have seen monks, one of whom, shut in for thirty years, Abstinence and choice of food lived on barley bread and muddy water. Another, in an old cistern (which the Syrians call (l) cuba in their language), was sustained by five figs a day. (m) These things therefore seemed incredible to those who do not believe, "because all things are possible to those who believe." Mark 9:22

a Decius, setting out for the Persian war, left Valerian in Rome with supreme power. Hence it came about that the persecution stirred up against Christians is attributed to both Decius and Valerian, as though they ruled at the same time; though Valerian was not declared Emperor until A.D. 254...

b See Eusebius, book 6, chapters 33 and 34; Baronius for the year 253; and what was said above on January 5.

c These two Martyrs are celebrated on July 28 in the martyrologies.

d Rosweyde reads serico silk.

e Rosweyde reads: superaret voluptas? should the pleasure overcome?

f Others read mordicus with a bite, others morsibus with bites.

g Others read occupavit seized, others praeripuit forestalled.

h Others read "sixteen." St. Jerome does not say that Paul fled as soon as he was orphaned, but when persecution was subsequently aroused, after the death of the Emperors Philip.

i Many manuscripts cited by Rosweyde and Gravius, and also used by us, read: Aderat, instabat; crudelitate quasi pietate utebatur. So Florus, book 3, chapter 5: Aderat, instabat; saevitia quasi virtute utebatur.

k Various codices add: et videre and to see.

l A manuscript of St. Maximin reads: cumbam. Gravius reads gubam. So Jerome on Jeremiah chapter 6: "But let the Latin reader understand, as it suffices to have said once, that lacus does not mean a pool according to the Greeks, but a cistern, which in the Syrian and Hebrew tongue is called gebe."

m Others read sustentatur is sustained.

CHAPTER II.

St. Antony visits St. Paul.

[8] But to return to the point from which I digressed: when Blessed Paul had already been living a heavenly life on earth for one hundred and thirteen years, and Antony, a nonagenarian, was dwelling in another desert (as he himself used to assert), the thought came into his mind that no monk more perfect than himself had settled in the wilderness. But to him as he rested at night it was revealed that another, far better than he, was dwelling further in the interior, and that he should hasten to visit him. Antony hastens to Paul Immediately, as light broke, the venerable old man, supporting his feeble limbs with a staff as his guide, began to want to go where he knew not. Already midday was blazing with the sun burning overhead, yet he was not drawn from his journey, saying: "I believe in my God that he will show me his servant, whom he has promised me." No sooner had he said this than he caught sight of a creature, half man, half horse, A Centaur meets him; he arms himself with the sign of the cross to which the fancy of poets has given the name Hippocentaur. At the sight of it, he armed his forehead with the impress of the saving sign. "Ho, you there," he said, "in what part of this region does the servant of God dwell?" But the creature, gnashing its teeth with some barbarous sound, and breaking rather than uttering words, sought amid its bristling jaws to find some kindly speech, and by extending its right hand indicated the desired path; and so, crossing the open plains with winged flight, it vanished from the eyes of the astonished man. (a) But whether the devil simulated this to terrify him, or whether the desert, which is wont to produce monstrous animals, also breeds this kind of beast, we hold uncertain.

[9] Antony, amazed and turning over in his mind what he had seen, went on further. Before long, in a small rocky valley, Likewise a Satyr he sees a little man with a hooked nose, a forehead rough with horns, and whose lower extremities ended in goat's feet. Unbroken even by this spectacle, the good warrior seized the shield of faith and the breastplate of hope. Nevertheless the aforesaid creature offered him palm fruits as provisions for the journey, as if pledges of peace. Recognizing this, Antony halted and asked who he was, and received this reply from him: (b) "I am a mortal, and one of the inhabitants of the desert, whom the pagan world, deluded by various error, worships, calling them Fauns, Satyrs, and Incubi. I am performing an embassy on behalf of my flock. We beg that you intercede with the common God on our behalf, for we know that he came for the salvation of the world, and 'into all the earth has gone forth his sound.'" As the creature spoke these things, the aged traveler freely bathed his face with tears, which the greatness of his joy poured forth as tokens of his heart. For he rejoiced at the glory of Christ and the destruction of Satan; and at the same time, marveling that he could understand the creature's speech, and striking the ground with his staff, he said: "Woe to you, Alexandria, who worship monsters instead of God! Woe to you, harlot city, into which the demons of the whole world have flowed together! What will you say now? Beasts speak of Christ, and you worship monsters instead of God." He had not yet finished speaking when, as if on winged flight, the frisky creature fled away. Lest this should cause anyone doubt through incredulity, A Satyr seen in the time of Constantine it is attested under King Constantine, with the whole world as witness. For a man of this kind was brought alive to Alexandria and provided a great spectacle for the people; and afterwards the lifeless carcass, so that it would not decompose in the summer heat, was preserved in salt and brought to Antioch to be seen by the Emperor.

[10] But to pursue my purpose: Antony continued through the region he had begun, gazing only at the tracks of wild beasts and the vast expanse of the desert; what to do, where to turn his step, he did not know. Already another day had passed; one thing remained -- to trust that he could not be abandoned by Christ. He spent the entire second night in prayer, and in the still uncertain light saw from afar a she-wolf panting with the heat of thirst, creeping toward the base of a mountain. Following it with his eyes, and approaching the cave after the beast had left, he began to peer inside, though his curiosity profited nothing, as the darkness blocked his sight. But, as Scripture says 1 John 4:18, "perfect love casts out fear." With suspended step and tempered breath, the cunning explorer entered; Paul dwells in the cave and gradually advancing, stopping again and again, he strained to catch a sound with his ears. At last, through the horror of the blind darkness, he perceived a light in the distance, and hurrying more eagerly, he struck his foot against a stone and raised a noise. After this sound, Blessed Paul closed and barred the door, which had been open. Then Antony, collapsing before the entrance, begged for admission until the sixth hour and beyond, saying: "Who I am, whence I come, why I have come, you know. I know I do not deserve to behold you; yet I shall not leave until I see you. You who receive beasts, why do you repel a man? I have sought and I have found; I knock, that it may be opened to me. If I do not obtain this, I shall die here before your door. You will surely bury at least my corpse."

[11] Such were his words as he persisted, and fixed he remained. Aeneid 2; Aeneid 6 To whom the Hero returned this brief reply: "No one seeks in this way by making threats; no one does injury with tears. And do you marvel that I do not receive you, when you have come here to die?" So, smiling, Paul opened the way in. With the door opened, as they fell into mutual embraces, they greeted each other by their own names; and together they gave thanks to the Lord. The holy kiss of greeting And after the holy kiss, Paul, sitting down with Antony, began thus: "Behold him whom you sought with so much toil: a putrid body covered with unkempt white hair. Behold, you see a man who will soon be dust. But since love bears all things, tell me, I pray, how does the human race fare? Do new roofs rise in the ancient cities? By whose empire is the world governed? Do any still remain who are seized by the error of demons?"

[12] During this conversation, they notice a raven perched on a branch of the tree. A raven brings bread to Paul Gently flying down, it deposited a whole loaf of bread before the astonished pair. After its departure, Paul said: "See, the Lord has sent us a meal -- truly loving, truly merciful. For sixty years now I have always received a fragment of half a loaf; but at your coming, Christ has doubled the rations for his soldiers." Therefore, having celebrated thanksgiving to the Lord, they both sat down on the margin of the crystal spring. Here, however, a dispute arose over who should break the bread, A contest of humility which nearly dragged the day into evening. Paul pressed by the custom of hospitality; Antony demurred by right of seniority. At last they resolved that each should seize the loaf from the opposite side, and while each pulled toward himself, his own share would remain in his hands. Then, sipping a little water from the spring with lips bent down, and offering to God the sacrifice of praise, they passed the night in vigils.

a "Nor foolish," says Rosweyde, "nor vain is Jerome's doubt whether Egypt, fruitful of monsters, might have produced a beast of this kind, mixed from two species..." Augustine, City of God, book 18, chapter 13 For although what the poets sang about Ixion and the Centaurs is a fiction, no one doubts; and according to Celsus, the promise to exhibit a Centaur would be a vain wager... nevertheless, who would deny that nature has occasionally produced such monsters? For Pliny writes: "Claudius Caesar writes that a Hippocentaur was born in Thessaly and perished on the same day; and in his reign we have seen one brought from Egypt preserved in honey" Pliny, book 7, chapter 3...

b Nieremberg proves at the passage cited above that Satyrs and Fauns are beasts. Baronius holds the same view, and believes that the speech recorded here occurred by miracle, with Rosweyde concurring.

CHAPTER III.

Paul dies; he is buried by Antony.

[13] When day had returned to the earth, Blessed Paul spoke thus to Antony: "Long ago, brother, I knew that you lived in these regions; Paul foretells his own death long ago the Lord had promised you to me as my fellow-servant. But since the time of my falling asleep has now come, and -- what I always desired -- to be dissolved and to be with Christ; the race being run, the crown of justice awaits me. You have been sent by the Lord to cover this poor body with earth -- nay, rather, to return earth to earth." Hearing this, Antony, weeping and groaning, begged Paul not to desert him, and to accept him as the companion of such a journey. But Paul replied: "You ought not to seek what is yours, but what belongs to another. It would indeed profit you, casting aside the burden of the flesh, to follow the Lamb; but it is also expedient for the other brothers to be instructed by your example still. Therefore go, I pray -- unless it is a trouble -- and bring the cloak that Bishop Athanasius gave you, to wrap this poor body." (a) Blessed Paul asked this, not because he greatly cared whether his corpse rotted covered or naked -- for he who for so long a time had been clothed in woven palm leaves -- but so that the grief of his death might be lightened for the one departing from him.

[14] Antony, astonished at what he had heard about Athanasius and his cloak, as though seeing Christ in Paul and venerating God in his breast, dared say nothing further; but, weeping in silence, kissing Paul's eyes and hands, he was returning to his monastery, (b) which was afterwards seized by the Saracens. His steps could not keep up with his spirit; but although his body, weakened by fasting, had also been broken by old age, his spirit conquered his years. Antony carries the garment to wrap the body At last, exhausted and panting, having completed the journey, he reached his dwelling. When two disciples who had long been accustomed to serving him met him, saying: "Where have you been so long, Father?" he answered: "Woe to me, a sinner, who bear the false name of monk! I have seen Elijah, I have seen John in the desert, and truly I have seen Paul in Paradise!" And so, pressing his lips together, beating his breast with his hand, he brought out the cloak from his cell. When his disciples asked him to explain more fully what the matter was, he said: "There is a time to speak, and a time to be silent." Then going outside and not even taking a small amount of food, he returned by the same road he had come, thirsting for Paul, desiring to see him, gazing upon him with his eyes and mind. For he feared -- as indeed happened -- that Paul might render to Christ the spirit owed to him in his absence.

[15] When another day had dawned and he had retraced three hours' worth of the journey, He sees Paul's soul ascending into heaven he saw among throngs of Angels and among the choirs of Prophets and Apostles Paul, shining with snowy brightness, ascending on high. And immediately falling on his face, throwing sand on his head, weeping and wailing he said: "Why, Paul, do you leave me? Why do you depart without a farewell? Known so late, departing so soon?" Blessed Antony later recounted that he had run the remainder of the journey with such speed that he flew like a bird. And rightly so. For entering the cave, he saw the lifeless body, The body still erect after death kneeling with clasped knees, head erect, hands stretched upward; and at first, thinking Paul still lived, he too was praying alongside him. But when he heard no sighs from the one praying, as was Paul's custom, falling into a tearful embrace, he understood that even the corpse of the holy man was praying, with its reverent posture, to God for whom all things live.

[16] Having wrapped and carried the body outside, and chanting hymns and psalms in the Christian tradition, Antony was grieved because he had no hoe to dig the earth. Wavering in the tumult of various thoughts, and pondering many things within himself, he said: "If I return to the monastery, (c) it is a three-day journey; if I remain here, I can do nothing more. Let me die, then, as is fitting, and collapsing beside your warrior, Paul's burial miraculously accomplished by lions breathe my last breath, O Christ." While he turned over such things in his mind, behold, two lions from the depths of the desert came running, their manes streaming about their necks. At the sight of them, he was at first terrified; but turning his mind again to God, as though he were seeing doves, he remained unafraid. They indeed, running straight to the body of the blessed old man, lay down at his feet, wagging their tails, roaring with loud bellowing -- plainly so that he might understand them mourning as they could. Then not far away they began to scrape the ground with their paws, and vying with each other to cast out the sand, they dug a hole large enough for one man. And immediately, as though demanding a reward for their labor, they approached Antony with drooping heads and ears laid back, licking his hands and feet. Antony blesses the mute animals He perceived that they were begging a blessing from him. Without delay, pouring forth praises of Christ -- that even mute animals sense that God exists -- he said: "Lord, without whose will neither a leaf falls from a tree nor a single sparrow to the ground, give to them as you know best." And, waving his hand to signal them to depart, he commanded them. When they had withdrawn, he bent his aged shoulders under the burden of the holy body; and laying it in the grave, He arranges a burial mound after the custom heaping earth upon it, he composed a burial mound in the customary manner. When the next day dawned, lest the pious heir should possess nothing from the goods of the one who died intestate, he claimed for himself Paul's tunic, which Paul had woven for himself in the fashion of baskets from palm leaves. He wore Paul's tunic on solemn days And so, having returned to the monastery, he recounted everything to his disciples in order; and on the solemn days of Easter and Pentecost he always wore Paul's tunic.

[17] At the end of this little work, I should like to ask those who are ignorant of their own patrimony, who clothe their houses in marble, who string the price of whole estates on a single (d) thread: what did this naked old man ever lack? A warning to the rich given over to luxury You drink from jewels; he satisfied himself with the cupped hollows of his hands. You weave gold into your tunics; he did not even have the poorest garment of your slave. But on the contrary, for that pauper paradise lies open; you, gilded as you are, Gehenna will receive. He, though naked, kept the garment of Christ; you, clad in silk, have lost the garment of Christ. Paul, covered with the most worthless dust, lies awaiting resurrection in glory; (e) your elaborate tombs weigh you down, destined to burn together with your wealth. Spare yourselves, I beg; spare at least the riches you love. Why do you wrap your dead in golden garments? Why does ambition not cease amid mourning and tears? Can the corpses of the rich not decay except in silk?

[18] I beseech whoever reads this to remember Jerome the sinner, to whom, if the Lord gave the choice, he would far rather choose Paul's tunic with his merits than the purple of kings with (f) their kingdoms.

a Rosweyde adds from Baronius another reason: so that Paul might show himself in communion with Athanasius, whose labors and the garment given to Antony he had divinely learned about.

b This occurred in the very year in which St. Antony died, the 19th or beginning of the 20th year of Constantius, as St. Jerome records in his Chronicle, that is, A.D. 356.

c Others read "a four-day journey."

d Some read lino thread of linen. So Tertullian, De habitu muliebri, chapter 9: "Ten sesterces are threaded on a single linen thread; a slender neck bears estates and islands."

e Some add saxis with stones.

f Some codices read cum poenis suis with their punishments.

ON THE TRANSLATION OF ST. PAUL.

Paul of Thebes, the first hermit in the Thebaid (S.)

From manuscripts.

[1] Andreas Saussay, in his supplement to the Gallican Martyrology, testifies that the relics of St. Paul were translated into Gaul, with these words: "In the Thebaid, the feast of St. Paul, the first hermit, Some relics of Paul translated into Gaul whose divine manner of life St. Jerome described in a splendid encomium. His body, however, was translated from Egypt into Gaul and deposited at the archmonastery of Cluny, where it is devoutly preserved. But also at Jouarre, a famous convent for women in the territory of Meaux, a very ancient chapel is to be seen, with a crypt consecrated to the veneration of this holy Confessor, in which many bodies of saints, long buried and then discovered by divine favor, were brought forth for due veneration and placed with all honor in the sacristy of the larger abbey church, which is most richly adorned with the relics of the saints." So he writes. Some relics of St. Paul were brought to both monasteries, perhaps from Constantinople, or Venice, or from Hungary.

[2] For it is established by the testimony of John, Archdeacon of Kikulleo, Vicar General in spiritualities of the Church of Transylvania at Strigonium (Esztergom), formerly secretary to King Louis, that the body of St. Paul was transported from Venice to Hungary The body taken to Hungary in the time of Louis I, son of Charles, King of Hungary. For he writes thus in his book On the Life of Louis, chapter 41: "Finally, the order of hermit brothers of Blessed Paul, the first hermit, began to flourish and multiply in the kingdom of Hungary. Likewise the body of the same Blessed Paul, the father of the said order, was translated from Venice to Hungary, and solemnly deposited in the cloister of hermits at Blessed Lawrence near Buda, on the summit of the mountain; in which place both the merits of this blessed Father are venerated, and a great throng of people praising God gathers. For first King Charles of blessed memory, father of the said King, introduced the brothers of the aforesaid order; and they had few convents and places, namely St. Lawrence, Holy Cross, Holy Spirit, and St. Ladislas in the forest of Pelis; and in other places laymen remained as vagabonds under the name of hermits."

[3] Peter Ranzanus likewise, in his Epitome of Hungarian Affairs, Index 19: "Louis was elected and crowned King of Poland: so great was his authority among foreign nations. Under King Louis Under him the body of Blessed Paul, the first hermit, was translated from Venice to Hungary. He established many monasteries in which hermits would live, who profess to follow the religious rule of the same Blessed Paul." Antonius Bonfinius seems to have believed that both the order of hermits was introduced and the body of the Saint was translated under Charles, the father of Louis. For he writes thus in his Rerum Hungaricarum, decade 2, book 10: "When the order of hermits of the Lord Paul the founder had come into Hungary, and his body, brought from Venice, had been translated to the church of Lawrence, which rises on a mountain near Buda at the third milestone, Charles the father first introduced the hermit communities, who occupied the sacred buildings of Lawrence, Holy Cross, the Holy Spirit, and Lord Ladislas. Louis, however, dedicated the monastery of Nosztré, the most excellent of all these, to them."

[4] The founder, or at least the chief propagator, of that congregation which imitated the anchoretic way of life of St. Paul and also adopted him as its patron, was a certain Eusebius of Strigonium (Esztergom), as Silvester Maurolycus writes in his Ocean of Religious Orders, book 1. The Order of Hermits of St. Paul To him and his companions a certain rule of pious living is said to have been delivered by Bartholomew, Bishop of Five Churches (Pécs) -- that one, we believe, by whose counsel and fortitude Bonfinius writes (decade 2, book 8) that the remnants of Béla IV's army were preserved after the Tartar defeat in 1241. Pope Urban IV, who sat from the beginning of September 1261 to the beginning of October 1264, was then asked to sanction this congregation with his authority and to order it to observe the Rule of St. Augustine, but he refused. Therefore Paul, Bishop of Veszprém in Hungary, wrote certain statutes for them in the year 1263. The name of the order was then first given from St. Paul the First Hermit. In the year 1300, the first Prior General set over the entire congregation was Brother Lawrence of Strigonium. Gentilis de Monte Floris, a Picentine from the Order of Minors, Cardinal with the title of St. Martin in Montibus, sent by Clement V as Legate to Hungary in 1308, showed singular benevolence toward this order, Legitimately approved granting it the power to embrace the Rule of St. Augustine, to write constitutions, and to convene general chapters, on December 6, 1308. John XXII, elevated to the pontificate in 1316, confirmed the same order and augmented it with many privileges; and thereafter it grew wonderfully in both the number of monasteries and the fame of holiness. So Maurolycus relates. He says that on the public seal of the order the image of St. Paul is engraved, with this motto: "Behold, I have fled far away, and remained in solitude." He adds this rhythmical prayer to the same Saint:

Holy Paul the hermit, Hope and life of the infirm; Grant me worthily to praise you, To venerate and to love you, With perpetual memory. In adversity be protector, Mediator, guide, and bearer; Lest with the wicked we be condemned, But rather with you may we be glorified In the heavenly fatherland. Amen.

So much for the order. The history of the Translation Maurolycus likewise attests that the body of St. Paul was translated to Hungary from Venice. The history of the Translation was furnished to us from a trustworthy handwritten codex by our John Gamansius, which we give here.

HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATION,

Transcribed from a trustworthy codex by John Gamansius of the Society of Jesus.

Paul of Thebes, the first hermit in the Thebaid (S.) BHL Number: 6598

From manuscripts.

[1] The Son of the Eternal Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, full of sweetness and always overflowing with ineffable love, who toward the holy Catholic Church so continues the affection of his kindness, Preface so strengthens the aid of his power, that the Church which he purchased by the exchange of his own blood he unceasingly guards -- not only through the angels, citizens of heaven, who are stationed upon her walls and who keep not silent day or night, but also through men who inhabit houses of clay -- that, fortified by such aid in peril, and enriched with the benefits of divine providence, they might be supported by the protection of the heavenly host, and those who are wayfarers might be assisted by the merits of the Blessed. For although after the departure of the magnificent Redeemer to the glory of the Father from whence he had come, he called the soul of the blessed Confessor Paul, the First Hermit, worn and afflicted by spiritual combat, to its reward after a grateful and completed triumph -- that he might repay the worthy with worthy recompense -- nevertheless, the lifeless body, which for the space of sixty years he had previously nourished with heavenly food by the ministry of a raven in the solitude of the desert (as he had long before fed Elijah the Prophet), he by no means wished to deprive of the praise of human acclaim on account of the great merit of his life. Indeed, through the Blessed Jerome, that illustrious Doctor, he recorded the life of the said Father in a beautiful style, worthy of the veneration of all in the perpetual memory of successors, after careful investigation; and the great Father Antony, led there by the divine spirit to accomplish this same task, committed that body to the bosom of the earth between rocky valleys in the manner of the faithful, supported by the help of fearsome lions. And that the merits of so great a Father might be more abundantly venerated at that same place of burial, the same holy old man Antony (a) stationed some of his brothers, prepared to live under monastic discipline, Monks in the desert of St. Paul in that place, dedicated to divine service.

[2] At length, after the passage of many years, by the efficacy of the right hand of God Most High, who pursues the just with blessing, First Translation from the Thebaid to Constantinople the Lord Manuel, Emperor of Constantinople, rejoicing in the radiance of so great a light, and desiring to bring into public knowledge the shining miracles of this holy old man, who had left behind times of sorrow and bitterness and found rest in the solitude to which he had flown -- had the incorrupt body transported from the aforesaid place, where St. Antony had interred it in the pit prepared by the labor of wild beasts, to the royal city, namely Constantinople, (b) and had it placed for rest in the church of St. Mary (c) Perilepsis, that is, "encompassed," which the Emperor himself had founded, in a most suitable place for the veneration of the faithful. Its head, which the secret places of the desert had long concealed, was at length, with grateful devotion and not without divine will -- but rather so that the solitude might become known -- brought to Rome, to be more salutarily venerated by the faithful of Christ.

[3] Then, in the year of our Lord's incarnation (d) 1240, Second, to Venice a certain James Lantzlo, citizen of Venice, hearing that prosperous worldly prosperity had not seduced the blessed Paul, (e) a citizen of the desert, having contemplated from within the auspicious beginnings, obtained from Brother Peter the Abbot and the monks of the said monastery -- under the surety of letters, the insertion of instruments strengthened by witnesses, in an elegant style, with wonderful sense, eloquent address, not lacking in devotion, with the most earnest desires, and with the effort of painstaking care -- that the sacred relics of Blessed Paul be given to him. Carrying them with eager joy to Venice, he placed them honorably in a church consecrated under the title of St. Julian, where due honor was paid to the same by the people of Venice.

[4] (f) Times run their course with their own mutability; this Saint having emerged from the secrets of the Fathers into the public through the canonization of the Church, The Order of St. Paul is celebrated in sincere conscience under his name by the religious brothers; the innocence of life and the beauty of religion is proclaimed: the spirit of storms leads as many as it can to the port of glory and salvation. The number increases especially in Hungary; the devotion of the people grows, and monasteries are built in the copious solitude. Then -- and who can doubt that by the height of heavenly counsel, disposing all things with lofty and ineffable providence, which alters the vicissitudes of things not without the dispensation of certain reason, now making the needy abound, now making the abundant lack, so that the human condition, through the alteration of its state, might recognize the instability of this world -- it was brought about that, for efficacious, reasonable, and just causes, the invincible Prince, King (g) Louis of Hungary, King Louis of Hungary wages war against the Venetians mighty in power, distinguished in valor, kind in distinction, wise in kindness, provident in wisdom, Christian in word and deed in providence, whose care for the kingdom did not fail him so that he might crush the pride of the haughty, should dispatch a mighty hand in a most powerful army against the Venetians, to repress their forces and attempts, and should continue in the siege for four years; reflecting and revolving within the chambers of his breast in diligent meditation that if the Lord, through the merits of St. Paul the First Hermit, in whom he cherished special devotion with good confidence, would grant him the desired triumph over the Venetians, he would then command the body of the same Saint to be reverently translated from Venice into his kingdom of Hungary, where it would be venerated with magnificent worship by the said brothers and his memory would be celebrated with distinction.

[5] Moreover, this pious King, whose hand the Lord did not shorten so that it could not humble the loftiness of the prostrate Venetians and the pride of their men -- he for whom the splendor of happy successes always shone, imitating the law of mobility, because exalted things did not puff up his mind nor lowly things cast him down -- after many wars, grave crises of affairs, and cruel dangers, through the intervention of certain Christian princes who sought peace, by the gracious gift of the Lord, as a friend of peace and patron of charity, he subjugated those same Venetians to a certain annual payment in perpetuity. Thus, with peace firmly established between the parties and the thorns of dissension everywhere calmed, the aforesaid most Christian King, wishing to fulfill his vow and discharge what he had freely offered to his patron, sent solemn ambassadors -- namely, the venerable Fathers and Lords in Christ, Valentine, Bishop of (h) Five Churches (Pécs), and Paul, Bishop of (i) Zagreb, Hungarian men distinguished by birth, learned in Canon law, and not ignorant of the course of temporal affairs -- He obtains the relics of St. Paul from them together with certain magnates of his realm, to the city of Venice for the purpose of obtaining that sacred treasure. They hastened with speed to the service of so great a Majesty, aspiring with full desire, devising with the effort of painstaking care the methods and means that they knew to be fitting, and they obtained the long-desired gift to their satisfaction.

[6] The relics are transferred to Hungary But since these dear relics had been cherished, lest the exit of the desired and obtained object be somewhat disturbed by the sudden rush of the raging populace, they acted with deliberate counsel and availed themselves of the advice of the citizens. In the secret silence of the dark night, as the fourth day of October dawned, in the year of the Incarnate Word 1381, they took up the lifeless body not without devotion but with great devout affection from the aforementioned church of St. Julian, and in a wooden casket skillfully crafted, with celebrated fortune to which divine clemency smiled, together with two other bodies of the Holy Innocents (who are read in the Gospel to have been slain by Herod), which the Venetians themselves with sincere gratitude also gave to the lord King -- they brought them under happy auspices all the way to (k) Buda, that distinguished and most pleasant place and chief seat of the Kingdom of Hungary, with God of heaven commanding wind and sea, all storms ceasing, with favorable course, in the tranquility of peace and desired quiet, with the divine right hand assisting their proceedings most happily. They are deposited in the Royal Chapel at Buda There these most holy relics were received with the greatest devotion and reverence by the clergy and people, with diverse adornment prepared for divine worship, with lights burning, and were reverently deposited in the royal chapel under the custody of the brothers of the same Order of St. Paul, appointed for the interim. The illustrious spirit of the King rejoiced at having attained, in a vow committed to the judgment of God, what he had vowed. Hungary too rejoiced and was glad that the consolation of so great a Saint had blossomed for it, having been wonderfully planted in the kingdom beforehand through devotion and religion.

[7] Meanwhile the miracles of this Saint spread more widely, and from all directions devout crowds gather at his relics; and the Confessor became dear to the inhabitants of the kingdom, who, even before the body arrived, had been beloved by faith. The King's strong love grows, and scarcely is a suitable place found where it might be deposited. The decision of the King and the leading men of the realm was confirmed: that the Most Reverend Father and Lord in Christ, the Lord (l) Demetrius, Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church under the title of the Four Crowned Saints, perpetual governor of the holy Church of Esztergom, supreme Chancellor of the royal court, Legate of the Apostolic See in the kingdoms of Hungary and Poland -- a man pious in his uprightness, devout in his piety, gentle in his manners, faithful in his gentleness, They are transferred to the monastery of St. Lawrence a nursling of faith and sincerity, whom the King, with proven knowledge and familiarity, had affectionately promoted to many honors in succession -- should place the aforesaid holy relics from the royal chapel in the church of the precious Martyr of Christ, Lawrence, which is one mile distant from Buda to the west and situated on the famous hill of Buda; where there is a distinguished company of monks who live under the title of the said Father, who serve in holy observance and devote themselves to divine praises and prayers, and there -- as sons to their head, disciples to their Master, soldiers to their Commander -- they jubilate before God and St. Paul himself, and render him diligent and due service. He, having gathered to himself a copious multitude of bishops, religious, secular persons, and others, taking the body of St. Paul from the royal chapel on November 14, deposited it in that church with supreme reverence for veneration, and by the vigor and authority of his legateship instituted and commanded that the feast day of the Translation should henceforth be celebrated. And so that the faithful of Christ might be more diligently encouraged to frequent the relics on that day, to all who were truly penitent, contrite, and confessed, who would humbly and devoutly visit the aforesaid relics of St. Paul on the day of the Translation, he mercifully relaxed one year of the penances imposed on them, trusting in the authority of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. In this place, innumerable benefits are bestowed by our blessed Lord Jesus Christ upon those who humbly implore the intercession of Blessed Paul -- he who alone does great wonders, whose are these gifts, whose are these sacrifices of the desert, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

a This is certainly credible, though it is not recorded in the Life of St. Antony.

b Manuel, or Emmanuel, Comnenus, son of John Calus, grandson of Alexius, reigned from April 1143 to September 1180. When he obtained the body of St. Paul is not recorded. Perhaps it was brought to Manuel's generals during the Egyptian expedition of 1169, which Nicetas narrates in book 5; or earlier to Manuel himself, and at the same time the desire to conquer Egypt by war was instilled...

c So the manuscript reads. One should certainly read Perilepsi. For perilēpsis (perilepsis) means "comprehension." Nicetas does not mention this temple when he lists Manuel's buildings in book 7.

d This was the twelfth year of Baldwin II as Emperor...

e The text seems to be missing cernens seeing.

f It seems one should read Interea meanwhile.

g He succeeded his father Charles to the throne of Hungary in 1342 and died on September 11, 1382...

h Five Churches (Pécs), an episcopal city of Hungary, received its name from five basilicas, according to Bonfinius, decade 1, book 1.

i So the manuscript and Bonfinius, unless it is a printer's error: commonly Zagreb. It is an episcopal city of Slavonia.

k Commonly called Buda, formerly the seat of the Kings of Hungary...

l Ciaconius writes that he was created Cardinal by Urban VI in 1379, and that he was Archbishop of Esztergom.