Catellus

ON S. CATELLUS, BISHOP OF STABIAE IN ITALY.

Year DCXVII.

Catellus, Bishop of Stabiae in Italy (S.)

[1] In the Campanian territory, Stabiae was a town, up to the consulship of Cn. Pompeius and L. Cato, on the day before the Kalends of May; on which day L. Sulla, as legate, destroyed it in the Social War. It has now been converted into country estates. So Pliny, book 3, chapter 5. In the time of Justinian it was a town, Stabiae, a city, or a village. The Historia Miscella, book 16, chapter 15: And also the Nolans and Surrentines, and from the estate which is called Stabiae. That designation of "estate" belongs to writers of the Middle Ages. Stabiae was situated on the sea in the innermost bay between Surrentum and Neapolis, closer to Surrentum. In that place, or at least nearby, two miles, as Leander writes, from the mouth of the Sarnus river, is situated an episcopal city, which is commonly called Castel a Mar di Stabia; Guilielmus Kyriander, the translator of Leander, calls it Castellum Almarinum, now Castellum ad mare, surnamed Stabiense, to distinguish it from another Castellum Almarinum of the Vulturnians.

[2] Leander writes that it lies in a corner of Mount Gaurus, where it begins to turn westward, forming the promontory of Minerva. The side of the city facing Surrentum is indeed a great and long hill, but it is not Gaurus, although it has been called by that name by other modern writers as well. But Gaurus, as Cluverius proves from clear testimonies of the ancients, was on this side of Neapolis, near Avernus, the Lucrine Lake, and Puteoli, at Mount Lactarius, which is now called Monte Barbaro, entirely barren, as if its ancient fertility had been exhausted. But the mountain to which Stabiae is adjacent was called Lactarius by Cassiodorus, Variae, book 11, letter 10, and τὸ Γάλακτος ὄρος (Milk Mountain) by Procopius; it is described more fully below: and it is part of a higher and greater mountain ridge, which extends from the town of Cava toward the winter sunset to the promontory of Minerva, as Cluverius writes, who carefully surveyed it.

[3] Moreover the Bishop of Castellum ad mare is still called Stabiensis in the Notitia of bishoprics. The feast of its Bishop S. Catellus. That city venerates S. Catellus as its tutelary Saint, its former Bishop, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of February, as Philippus Ferrarius attests in his general catalogue and his Saints of Italy. We received a life of his, composed from the records of that Church by Fathers of our Society, at Naples from our Antonius Beatillus, the life, and translated it into Latin. We shall append another account of his deeds, from the life of S. Antoninus the Abbot, drawn from the manuscripts of the Church of Surrentum by the same most learned and inquisitive Beatillus, which we shall give in full on 14 February. David Romaeus also wove the illustrious deeds of S. Catellus into the history of S. Antoninus in his book on the five saintly patrons of the city of Surrentum, and Paulus Regius, Bishop of Vico: Ferrarius treated them somewhat more briefly in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy.

LIFE

from the records of the Church of Stabiae.

Catellus, Bishop of Stabiae in Italy (S.)

From an Italian manuscript.

[1] Catellus of Stabiae. S. Catellus was Bishop of Castellum ad mare (a city born from the ruins of ancient Stabiae), born there in the sixth Christian century of honorable parents, holy from boyhood, who are commonly said to have been of the Coppola family. He devoted himself to sacred religion from his earliest age, and discharged various functions of divine service. As a youth he avoided those whose manner of life was more dissolute, being himself a lover of seclusion and solitude. When he reached a more mature age, he was initiated into the priesthood: and then, when the Bishop of that city died, he was, though unwilling, elected his successor by the unanimous consent of the people. He becomes Bishop: Pelagius II was at that time governing the Roman Church. Catellus immediately embraced the care of his Church with inflamed zeal, devoting himself especially to the relief of the poor and to other actions of Christian piety.

[2] Perhaps at about the same time, when the monastery which S. Benedict had built on Monte Cassino had been destroyed, He receives the fugitive S. Antoninus from Cassino. the most holy Abbot Antoninus fled to Catellus, the one who afterwards governed a community of monks at Surrentum. Catellus received him with the greatest kindness, and asked him to remain in his diocese, so that he might seek both comfort from his companionship, and counsel in controversies arising in the administration of his Church. He kindly receives him. Antoninus therefore lived there for many years; then he asked the Bishop, and with great difficulty by many prayers wrung from him, permission to move to Mount Gaurus, now called Mount Aureus, six miles distant from Stabiae, where as a solitary he might lead a more religious and quiet life.

[3] Nor could Catellus long endure his absence: he therefore besought him by letter to return to his former lodging. Rather Antoninus himself encouraged him he withdraws with him to the mountain, to retire himself also into solitude. Hence was born in Catellus the intention of abdicating his episcopate: which, when Antoninus did not approve, he nevertheless resolved to follow his holy companion onto that mountain, and thence to manage the governance of the Church, returning to the city from time to time, going back and forth to the city to perform his episcopal duties and settle controversies. From there also he himself was accustomed to fetch the equipment for sacred services whenever he wished to celebrate them: a cleric whom he had asked to procure it for him refusing to do so.

[4] There one day, while the Bishop and the Abbot were engaged in prayer, the Archangel Michael appeared to them, and commanded that a church be built for him in that place. They build a church for S. Michael: they bring forth a spring. The Saints obeyed: and lest there be delay, they set up a wooden one: afterwards another, built of stone, stands to this day. But while building it, they lacked water: the Saints elicited a spring by their prayers, which flows with a perennial stream to this day, and is called the Holy Water, salutary against diseases.

[5] They are refreshed by the singing of Saints. They were conversing in sight of the sea about heavenly things, when a vast throng of Saints, male and female, appeared to them, soothing their minds with the most sweet harmony of voices and instruments, and kindling in them a great and swelling desire to enjoy the delights of heaven as soon as possible.

[6] In this holy and pleasant repose, by the admonition of the Archangel Michael, Catellus is warned from heaven, the Bishop learned that a sad storm was threatening him, and that he would be dragged in chains to Rome, imprisoned there, but would finally return to his own with great honor. The author of the tumult stirred up against him was that rude and shameless Cleric he is accused of error, who had refused to bring the Bishop the necessities for performing the sacrifice when asked. He therefore spreads among the common people that the Bishop had both conceived and was teaching perverted opinions about religion, and was even worshiping idols after the manner of the pagans.

[7] Even before the Pope. The people, being incited, sent Tiberius, the Primicerius of the Church, to Rome, to denounce Catellus to the Supreme Pontiff: they say that Sabinianus, or Boniface III, was then in office. Tiberius so conducted the case that he was ordered to drag the Bishop whom he had accused to Rome in chains. He therefore rushed to Mount Gaurus with armed lictors. The lictors are checked by a twofold miracle; he is dragged to Rome. And when they were preparing to lay hands on the holy man, the attendants were held motionless by divine power, and Tiberius was struck with a paralysis that held him until his death. But the lictors implored the prayers of Catellus: these being sent to heaven, they were immediately restored to themselves, and with incredible and more than human ingratitude, they dragged him in chains to Rome.

[8] When they arrived in the City, the Bishop was given into the custody of a certain Chamberlain of the Supreme Pontiff, he is visited in prison by a Chamberlain of the Pope, whose name was Boniface. To him in his sleep a monk in Benedictine habit (it was believed to be Abbot Antoninus) appeared to stand by and advise him to visit the innocent Joseph, guilty of no crime, committed to prison. Another person in different attire likewise commanded him in his sleep. Waking immediately, he went to Catellus and asked for what reason he had been committed to custody. Catellus then briefly explained both the charge that had been brought against him by his adversaries, and by a conversation prolonged for several hours, instructed Boniface with spiritual precepts, he predicts the pontificate for him, and as he was leaving asked him to remember him when within a few days he would be elevated to the supreme pontificate. A certain youth of admirable beauty also predicted the same thing to him in his sleep, whom Catellus, when Boniface told him the story, interpreted to have been the Archangel Michael.

[9] Nor did the augury prove false in the event. Not long after, Pope Boniface III died, and Boniface IV, his Chamberlain, was appointed as his successor in the supreme priesthood. But neither the great cares, by which he had embraced the Church spread throughout the whole world, by him, warned from heaven, nor what providence of the great Deity permitted within some months, allowed him to remember his prophet. Again the Benedictine monk (the same Antoninus) warned him in his sleep that an innocent Bishop was being held in chains. Rousing himself from sleep, he remembered Catellus, learned from him who that man was whose image had now been presented to him a second time, he is acquitted, and having legitimately investigated the case, acquitted him, and sent him back to his own people adorned with deserved praises and precious gifts.

[10] He returns to his own. None of this was unknown to Abbot Antoninus from heaven, who went out to meet him at the Tower called Annuntiata, and conducted him to Stabiae, where he was received with great joy by the people. The dire death of his adversary. Tiberius lay confined to his bed, and when he understood the public rejoicing of the city and the cause, seized by a new frenzy, he dashed his head against the wall so violently that he knocked out his wretched spirit.

[11] Catellus, having returned to Stabiae, resumed the care of the Church entrusted to him: The death of S. Catellus. soon he also withdrew to the church of S. Michael on Mount Gaurus; but the people began to flock to him there in rivalry. Warned by a heavenly oracle that he would soon depart this life, he summoned Antoninus to himself from Surrentum, whither he had moved in his absence. Antoninus was at hand as Catellus died, around the year, as is commonly believed, 617.

[12] Having been entombed in his own church, he is said to have been afterwards translated to Surrentum by Antoninus; but this is not known with certainty and beyond doubt. A part of his skull is honorably preserved at Stabiae, or Castellum ad mare, in the college of the Society of Jesus, relics, enclosed in a gilded statue skillfully made, and is publicly displayed for veneration on 19 January, with distinguished celebration extended for eight days, the festivities, with an excellent musical concert and other incentives to piety.

p But the life of Antoninus, Romaeus, and Regius say he later withdrew to Surrentum.

ANOTHER LIFE

from the manuscript life of S. Antoninus the Abbot.

Catellus, Bishop of Stabiae in Italy (S.)

BHL Number: 0582

From manuscripts.

[1] At the time when the savage cruelty of the Lombards devastated the province of Campania with hostile sword and fire, S. Antoninus is said to have come to these parts and to have attached himself to the Bishop of the Church of Stabiae. When the same Bishop had learned of his purity of life, his honest manner of conduct, and his deeds, S. Catellus, Bishop of Stabiae, he associated him more intimately with his company: with whom, since he thenceforward did nothing without him, he stood by him as partner in all his counsels, sharing in all his cares: he discharged the duty of a faithful friend and vigorous minister. Finally, with their similarity of character gradually increasing, they grew together so tenaciously that you would have said there was one heart and one soul in the two, as in twins: for in them you would have found neither any other will nor any other aversion.

[2] He commits the episcopate to Abbot S. Antoninus. Catellus, confident in the prudence and faithfulness of this companion, now his own son, or rather his only friend, committed to him entirely the governance of pastoral care. He himself, avoiding the waves of the worldly sea, sought the vast solitudes of forests among the cloud-capped mountain summits suitable for hermits. The mountain itself, to which the Archangel Michael gave its name for the reason soon to be shown, extends transversely, he withdraws to the mountain, and is washed by the sea waves at both extremities; while along its lateral length it separates the land of the Surrentines, like a tongue of land thrust into the sea, from the open world, and providing narrow paths to travelers along precipitous cliffs, renders it secure from all hostile tumult. At its summit, however, where the ridge is ending, it raises its continuing head more boldly toward the sea, so that its sides are frequently wrapped in misty vapors, while it looks down on clouds and rains in clear weather. From that place the entire landscape of Campania, its cities, towns, and castles, and likewise the expanse of the seas, as far as the eye can reach, can be seen and pointed out. The aforesaid servant of God then, judging that summit suitable for the combats he had undertaken, occupied it, and there, contemplating God with a pure mind, devoted himself to divine services.

[3] Antoninus comes there too. Nor did Antoninus endure the separation from his inseparable companion any longer, but hastened to him with swift steps, and just as in worldly occupation, so in divine service he clung to him inseparably. Their unanimity and equal manner of life was proved by an angelic vision demonstrated thus. For in the dead of night, one and the same figure appearing to both, said: I wish S. Michael appears to them, that in the place where you are accustomed to engage in prayer, and where you recently saw a burning candle, you build an oratory in my name. When asked his name, he answered, Archangel Michael, and vanished. They immediately awoke, and when each had heard and related the other's identical vision, confirmed by the authority of mutual testimony, they prepared to assent to the angelic command. Then the diligent builders of the divine edifice girded themselves, and with wooden joinings they built a small but grateful dwelling for the Archangel who had admonished them, with prosperous success. They build an oratory for him.

[4] O wondrous power of the righteous! O most salutary fortitude of the Saints! O ineffable virtue of pure prayers! O inestimable efficacy of a pure mind! Behold, through the merits and prayers of these Saints, as if laying foundations, an oratory is built in the lairs of wild beasts, an angelic dwelling is erected in the dens of animals, a holy house, celebrated and suited to human salvation, is constructed on empty, desolate, and uncultivated ground. For there to the Lord, the author of all good things, and to the blessed Archangel Michael its inhabitant, praise is offered daily: through whose outstanding benefits no one fails to obtain what he worthily requests. Afterwards renowned for miracles. They flock from near and distant parts, and fulfilling the vows promised for every kind of tribulation, they return cheerfully to their homes, having received consolation.

[5] The enemy of human salvation, already foreseeing what sort of benefits for the sick would be granted there and what joys of the faithful would be multiplied, strove, according to his habitual envy, in vain (thanks be to God) to overthrow Catellus is accused by envious persons: what was being founded for the praise of God and the advancement of men. He therefore stirred up his familiar detractors, who murmured with superfluous complaint that Bishop Catellus had deserted his See and his flock, and, what was worse, was celebrating all the rites of Christian Masses through the horrid dens of wild beasts and the pathless mountain summits, and was indeed sowing a most dangerous heresy.

[6] What more? Catellus was seized and brought before the Rector of the Apostolic See. When he responded that the dominion of God is in every place, and that the secret place of a pure heart is a dwelling pleasing to Christ, he is cast into prison: the latter, examining the matter inconsiderately and judging without due counsel, thrust Catellus into prison: and (by the Divine will, as it is worthy to believe, as the subsequent outcome of the matter proved) a certain one of the clerks of the Pope was assigned as his guard. He predicts the future: To whom shortly after Catellus, filled with the spirit of prophecy, said: Remember me when it shall be well with you, and bring me out of this prison, for I have been violently taken away. For soon, when the Pope has died, you will succeed to the Apostolic See.

[7] He is absolved and returns to his own. Elevated to the supreme pontificate in accordance with the word of the prophet, and overflowing with the abundance of prosperity, he consigned the one who had foretold his dignity to oblivion. Whom, however, shortly after he led forth and bestowed upon him such an accumulation of honor that he promised he would without doubt grant whatever he might ask. When all expected him to ask for something great, he, devoted only to Christ and to his monitor the Archangel Michael, said: I ask only that you grant me as much lead as I shall request. This done, returning by a prosperous voyage to his own, he rebuilt from the foundation in stone the oratory that had been constructed of wood, and covered it with the lead he had brought. Antoninus, moreover, during the time of his exiled friend's absence, served the Lord no less diligently than usual in the same place; for he prayed not for himself alone but for both, offering prayers and libations to the Lord in common.