Sophias

ON ST. SOPHIAS, OR CADOC, BISHOP OF BENEVENTO AND MARTYR.

Sixth century.

Sophias, or Cadoc, Bishop of Benevento in Italy, Martyr (St.)

From various sources.

Sophias, or Cadoc, called by some Sophius, is recorded as having been a Bishop of Benevento in Italy, born of St. Gundleus, King of South Wales. His feast on the 24th of January is recorded by Philip Ferrari, Mario Vipera, Nicholas Harpsfield, The feast of St. Sophias, or Cadoc, the English Martyrology, and his biographer. The words of Mario will be given below. Ferrari thought Sophias and Cadoc were two different people; for he writes thus: At Benaventa in England, of St. Sophias, Bishop and Martyr. Not of Benaventa, At the same place, of St. Cadoc, Martyr. There was indeed once a city of Britain, as is clear from the Itinerary of Antoninus, called Benavenna, or Bennavenna, or Bennaventa: which learned men place in the province of Northampton, near the sources of the river Aufona, almost at the very navel of England, where Wedon, formerly the monastery of St. Werburgh (of whom we shall treat on February 3), is. But that Cadoc was a Bishop there is not likely, since Bennaventa was under the dominion of the pagan English, and perhaps destroyed by them.

[2] But a Bishop of Benevento; The author of the English Martyrology makes him a Bishop of Benevento in Italy, and what he had established in the first edition, making Sophias the Bishop and Martyr different from Cadoc the Martyr, he corrected in the later edition. The same author writes that many churches in Wales and in the district of Gloucester were dedicated to him. Constantine Ghinius in the Birthdays of the Saints of the Canons records him on November 20 with Dorus, Deodatus, and Milo, Bishops of the same See. There is also Sophias, he says, who made a devout pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times, elsewhere assigned erroneously; to Rome seven times; at Benevento, where he was Bishop, while celebrating Mass, he was pierced through with a lance. So writes Ghinius. And indeed St. Dorus is honored at Benevento on that day with a double rite, as is clear from Mario Vipera. But St. Deodatus on June 27: and he was not a Bishop of Benevento but of Nola: yet his relics were afterwards translated to Benevento, where he is also honored with the celebration of a double Office. The feast of St. Milo (whom Ghinius himself calls Milus) is observed on February 23, but not with an ecclesiastical Office.

[3] An anonymous writer, unskilled and dull, composed the Life of St. Sophias. We found it in a manuscript codex of Rouge-Cloitre, and collated it with the very ancient edition of John Capgrave. But we hesitated for a long time whether to publish it or not. Nevertheless, since it is established that the Saint is venerated, we preferred to bring forth whatever had been handed down about him, however imperfect; especially since what is narrated about him in the histories of other Saints agrees, as we shall note below. The raising of a condemned man is true. There are certainly some things mingled therein that are paradoxical and scarcely credible: such as the tale of the giant Can recalled from the dead to life. Yet those will not consider this beyond belief who, following St. John Damascene and certain very weighty theologians, hold that the soul of Trajan, nearly five hundred years after his death, was freed from the torments of Erebus through the intercession of St. Gregory the Great: and a similar thing is mentioned in the Life of St. Francis of Paola: we shall examine both in their proper time. But here it is not necessary to establish any other miracle than exists in the raising of many others who had departed this life destitute of the gift of faith or bound by sins, liable to eternal torments or already condemned, but not by a peremptory sentence; and who were nevertheless restored to life by the patronage of Saints, that they might either lead a holy life thereafter, or at least end it holily. For the duration of punishments already endured cannot prevent the Judge, who is willing to be merciful and thus to further the honor of His Saints. What if that which was originally said or written about a certain powerful man raised from the death of sin, or metaphorical? and as it were snatched from hell, but still enjoying these vital breezes, was dragged by the unskilled writer to an actual damnation? However that may be, those are without hope of mercy whom the avenging Divinity has once hurled headlong into those infernal shadows; and it is certain that immediately after each person's death that judgment is carried out: and yet very many Saints, with singular confidence in a Deity propitious to them, To what extent it is lawful to pray for those who died in mortal sin. dared to pray for many days after their death that they might return to life: and God has frequently granted this. Remarkable is the response given from heaven to St. Boniface, Bishop of Lausanne, a most wise man, which is thus narrated in his life on February 19, and which pertains to this matter: This holy man had the greatest compassion on the soul of Aristotle, and grieved greatly over his perdition; and often prayed that, if it could be, God would deign to have mercy on him. But on a certain occasion he heard a voice from heaven saying to him: Cease to pray for that soul, because he did not build My Church, as Peter and Paul did, nor did he teach My Law. Hearing and grieving at this, he thenceforth ceased.

[4] Ferrari writes that St. Sophias was killed in the year 490; St. Cadoc (whom he considers different, as we have said) in the year 500, which he took from the English Martyrology. And indeed in the latest edition of the latter, that slaying is said to have occurred around the year 490. Therefore Mario Vipera, Sophias was not killed in the fifth century; a most learned man, in the Catalogue of the Saints of the Church of Benevento, conjectures that it was perpetrated by Arians; for he writes thus: Sophius, twenty-fourth Bishop of Benevento, son of Guiglesci, King of North Wales in Britain, became a monk, and afterwards Abbot of the same monastery which he had founded at his own expense. He made devout pilgrimages to Jerusalem three times and to Rome seven times. At last, when St. Thammarus, Bishop of Benevento, was translated to the better life, he was raised to the episcopal dignity on account of his virtues, shone with wondrous sanctity, and governed the Church of Benevento with the highest piety: where, for the Catholic faith, pierced through with lances by Arians while he was celebrating the sacred mysteries, he was slain at the altar, made a victim of Christ, on the 9th before the Kalends of February, in the year of salvation 490, with Epiphanius succeeding him in the episcopate; Odoacer the King, contaminated by the plague of Arianism, then holding Italy. So writes Vipera. Odoacer invaded Italy in the year 476 and was killed in the year 493. St. Thammarus is honored on October 15.

[5] But while Arthur reigned among the Britons, Cadoc was still an Abbot, as is clear from no. 8 below: the same Cadoc converted St. Iltutus, cousin and contemporary of the same Arthur, as is said in his life on November 6: yet Arthur, as Matthew of Westminster writes, but in the sixth century. succeeded his father Utherpendragon in the kingdom in the year of Christ 516, at fifteen years of age; and died in the year 542. From which it follows that Cadoc was still alive long after the year 490, since in the year 516 he was not yet a Bishop. Nicholas Harpsfield writes that he died in the year 570, in book 1 of his English History, chapter 27. At this time also, he says, Cadoc is celebrated, the founder of the monastery of Llancarfan (so called because in beginning that work he had tame and obedient stags): his successor was Ellenius, who in no way degenerated from such a master. He died around the year five hundred and seventy under Maelgwn, on the 9th before the Kalends of February. The church constructed in his honor at Corinnia preserves the memory of Cadoc to this very day.

[6] Mention of St. Cadoc is made in the life, as has been written above, of St. Iltutus on November 6: also in the life of St. Gundleus the King, his father, His mention elsewhere. on March 29; whom Cadoc is said to have frequently visited while he was leading the anchoretic life, and to have strengthened with his admonitions, and then to have been present at his death together with Bishop St. Dubricius. In the life of St. Keyne the Virgin as well, his maternal aunt, on October 8, he is treated. Another Caidoc, a holy man but much younger than ours, is mentioned in the life of St. Richarius on April 26.

LIFE BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR,

from the manuscript of Rouge-Cloitre and Capgrave.

Sophias, or Cadoc, Bishop of Benevento in Italy, Martyr (St.)

BHL Number: 1493

From manuscripts.

CHAPTER I.

The monastic life and miracles of St. Cadoc, or Sophias.

[1] St. Cadoc, son of Blessed Gundleus the King, while he was enclosed in the womb of his mother Gladusa, The parents of St. Cadoc. on each night four lamps gleaming with fiery splendor were seen in the four corners of the house in which she was staying, until the birth of the child. Prognostics of his sanctity. An Angel of the Lord appeared on the night the boy was born, saying to the King: Tomorrow a certain holy anchorite will come to you, whom you should receive devoutly and humbly implore to purify your son with the bath of regeneration and to call his name Cathinail, his baptism, and after seven years to take him in hand for instruction in letters and morals. When this was done, at the time the boy was born, his education, the cellars were found full of milk and honey.

[2] As the infant grew, his almsgiving, whatever came into his hands he distributed entirely to the poor. Frequenting the church at every hour in humble dress, and at night taking a small portion of bread and water, his piety, having entirely rejected richer foods. Often invited to various games, he fled to the church, saying: O blind mind of men, his abstinence, which always craves what is transitory and rejects what is eternal! See what you are, and for what you were made. Do you not know that the day of the Lord will come, his gravity. when laughter will be turned to mourning and mourning to joy?

[3] One day, when the fire had gone out, the teacher commanded the boy Cathinail, that is Cadoc, to bring fire for cooking food. He carries coals in his garment without burning it. And a certain peasant refused to give him fire unless he carried the burning coals in his lap. But he received the live coals in his cloak and carried them to his teacher with his garment unburned. Then, raising his eyes to heaven, he poured forth prayers to God that that peasant should be consumed together with his grain and likewise the fuel of his firebrands. And he added: Not for this reason, O Lord, have I besought Your goodness, The peasant who mocked him is burned. that I should wish that sinner to be condemned in his wickedness; but that the divine power may be manifest in this world to the wicked, and that they may fear You more, and dread to resist those who serve You. When this was said, that peasant was set ablaze and burned up with his threshing floor.

[4] He builds a monastery. Departing at length from his teacher, he built a monastery and gathered many Brethren. Then Cadoc, setting out without money or purse and crossing the sea, was begged by a certain Queen to deign to free her from the reproach of barrenness. He obtains offspring for a Queen, baptizes and instructs the child: To whom he said: Go in peace; may God grant you the petition you have asked. And on that very night she conceived a son, to whom when born he gave the name Elle in baptism. Cadoc at last arrived at Jerusalem and visited the holy places: and the Lord conferred upon him the language of the peoples he goes to Jerusalem: through which he passed, and he began to speak in various tongues. Returning after three years, he took up the boy Ellinus, son of the barren Queen, carried him upon his shoulders, he obtains the gift of tongues. raised him, and instructed him. For since his mother had vowed him to God and had entrusted him to Cadoc to be raised and formed in character, he loved him greatly.

[5] A certain malicious executioner, after his pilgrimage, having slain Bellivus, his own cousin, Murderers are divinely punished: upon learning of the holy man's return, was exceedingly terrified with fear and fled more swiftly from his face. But as Cadoc pursued him, before his very eyes, like dust or smoke before the face of the wind, by the command of the Thunderer, he vanished. A certain tyrant named Sawil, violently seizing the food and drink of the man of God together with his companions, gave himself to drunkenness and gluttony, and hastened on his way to kill Cadoc and his Brethren. And behold, before the eyes of the servant of God, the earth opened its mouth, and having swallowed the tyrant with his satellites, the pit persists there to this very day as a testimony. The blessed man daily fed a hundred Clerics, as many poor, and as many widows, in addition to guests and strangers who came to him frequently. For although as Abbot he governed many monks under him, he nevertheless possessed a portion of his father's kingdom and distributed the necessities to the indigent.

[6] While he was sitting in his chair teaching the people, fifty soldiers of a certain petty king, others who did injury to Cadoc, carrying hawks in their hands, came to him in order to seize his food by force. He ordered fifty loaves, one pig, and beer to be sent to them. But when they had seated themselves to partake of the prepared meal, the earth suddenly splitting open swallowed them in the blink of an eye into the depths, the food remaining untouched. Seeing this, Iltutus, their Prince, who was absent at the time, whose leader Iltutus becomes a monk. prostrated himself at the feet of Blessed Cadoc, begged pardon, and took the monastic habit.

[7] A certain Irishman came to the place where St. Cadoc had built an oratory, who surpassed all the Saint's workmen with his subtle skill. The rest, envying him on this account, wickedly killed him, and having cut off his head and tied a great stone around his headless body, he was thrown into a deep pool. When St. Cadoc heard the lamentation of the sons of the slain man, Cadoc raises a dead man: he spent the night awake in prayers with his Clerics, that the Lord might deign to reveal the matter to him. And when morning came, the beheaded craftsman, carrying his head in his lap and bearing the great stone upon his back, presented himself in bloody and horrible appearance to the holy man; and the severed head burst forth in these words: Servant of God, fix me upon my neck in my former state, and what has hitherto been unknown to you about this matter, I shall reveal. When he had done so, the craftsman disclosed to him the crime of the workmen, and how, led by envy, they had shamefully slain him. And the Saint said: Choose what you wish: either to live again with us in this life, or to return to eternal life to reign forever with God. And he said: Lord, let my soul return to eternal rest. And having said this, he expired.

[8] A certain Duke of the Britons slew three soldiers of the most illustrious King Arthur. And as Arthur pursued him everywhere, he could find no safe place, He receives a murderer who flees to him: and no one dared to protect him because of the King's favor, until, exhausted by flight, he came as a fugitive to the man of God. Who, pitying his labors, kindly received him. At last, when the King acquiesced to the prayers of the Saint, it was decreed by the Judges that, for the ransom of each of the slain men, King Arthur should receive three choice oxen: for such a judgment had been sanctioned among the Britons by the ancient Kings. Arthur, however, rejected cows of one color, he changes the color of the cows and turns them into bundles: and with great evasion demanded ones that were red in the front and white in the back. At the command of Cadoc, therefore, nine cows were brought, and upon pouring forth prayers to God they were changed into the aforesaid colors, and in the hands of those holding them, in the sight of the King, they were transformed into bundles of fern. Seeing this, King Arthur humbly begged pardon for his unjust demand.

CHAPTER II.

Various and astonishing miracles.

[9] When a certain petty king, offended at the inhabitants, wished to lay waste the neighboring region with a gathered army, the terrified people of the region entreated St. Cadoc and said: Lord, help us and rescue us from the hand of this king, because whatever you ask from God you will obtain. He wards off enemies by a miracle: Be steadfast, he said, and do not fear: the Lord will reduce our enemies to nothing. And when on that night he had poured forth prayers to God with his Clerics, at dawn a pillar of cloud preceded him: which covering the tents of the king obscured the day, so that no one could see another. And the holy man, approaching the king, said: Hail, O King. I ask, he said, if I have found favor in your sight, receive my words well. The king said: Speak. And the Saint said: Why have you come to my country with an armed hand for the purpose of plundering and laying waste, especially since I have not deserved it? And the king said: I confess that I have sinned against you, which I did foolishly; graciously and mercifully grant pardon and forgive, and through your intercession may this darkness depart. The Saint said: May your very great offenses be forgiven you. And while he was still speaking, a summer light poured down from above and spread extraordinary serenity in the camp. And the king, falling upon his face, gave him thanks and glorified God.

[10] He restrains plunderers: The son of a certain king came with a great multitude to plunder the possessions of the Southern Britons and to utterly depopulate the land. When his horsemen had set fire to the barn of St. Cadoc, and only smoke could come forth, the smoke, like a wooden post, stretched in a straight line all the way to the tent of the king's son and blinded the sight of all their eyes. But when the king's son prayed to St. Cadoc with humble supplication and sought pardon, he recovered his former sharpness of sight together with his men.

[11] He visits Jerusalem three times and Rome seven times: Having gathered his disciples, he said to them: Since by divine command I have gone three times to Jerusalem and seven times to Rome for the love of God, it remains for me to set out to the church of St. Andrew in Scotland for the sake of prayer. As he was proceeding there, an Angel appeared to him, saying: The Lord your God commands you through me not to depart from here, but to persist in this place for the space of seven years for the grace of converting the people to the faith of Christ. He preaches in Scotland: There therefore he taught the people, baptized them, and cured all who were sick. He is renowned for miracles. On a certain day, while he was digging the earth to build a monastery, he found a monstrous and incredibly large neck bone of an ancient giant. And the Saint, marveling, said: I will not go for food or drink, but prayer will be my food and tears my drink, until this prodigy is revealed to us by God. On the same night an Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: Behold, the cry of your prayer ascending to God has been heard; for tomorrow the old giant, raised from the dead, he raises one long since killed, will be a man who digs, as long as he shall live. And when morning came, a giant of immense and horrible stature arrived, and prostrating himself at the feet of the Saint, spoke thus: Holy Cadoc, servant of God, I beg your kindness not to permit my miserable soul, tormented hitherto in the harsh punishments of hell, to return there again. And when asked who he was and of what nation, he said: Once reigning beyond that mountain, when I had once come here with my plunderers for the purpose of plundering and laying waste, the king of this land slew me and my army in a fierce battle. Asked his name, he said he was called Can. Rejoice, said the man of God, and be of cheerful spirit, for it has been granted to me by God that you shall live longer in this world; and after the course of this present life, if you render faithful and devoted service to God and obey my precepts, your soul will depart to reign with God in everlasting glory. He remained in that same place, digging and laboring, until his death.

[12] Returning to his monastery, the Saint found that Gildas, a noble scholar, had arrived there from Ireland with a most beautiful little bell. When its beauty, sound, and color pleased Blessed Cadoc, he implored Gildas to sell him the bell. I will not sell it, said Gildas, but I will offer it upon the altar of St. Peter. And since he asserted that he would not sell it at any price, having gone to Rome, he showed it to Pope Alexander, saying: This bell, fashioned by me and brought here from Ireland, I offer to God and to St. Peter. And when, being struck, it gave no sound at all, the Pope, marveling at how this could be, inquired. And having heard what had been said by Cadoc, he blessed the bell and said: Carry back this bell, blessed and consecrated by me, to Blessed Cadoc, so that every principal oath may be taken upon it. For if anyone incurs the crime of perjury upon it, He wonderfully obtains a certain bell: unless he does worthy penance, he will beyond doubt be anathema both here and in the future. For I have heard of the unbelief and rebellious stubbornness of that nation; and therefore I send it to them, so that through it they may make covenant and peace concordantly with oaths. And when the bell was brought to Blessed Cadoc, it gave forth a sweet and desirable sound to those who heard it. For the Britons assert that for the love of St. Cadoc the Lord raised two dead persons to life through this bell.

[13] He draws forth a spring: Holy Cadoc also brought forth from the earth a spring flowing perpetually: he struck a certain great river three times with the staff he carried in his hand and crossed it with twenty-four companions dry-shod. He crosses a river dry-shod. When the sheep of St. Cadoc were being pastured one day, behold, two wolves came upon them and, having torn many sheep and killed some with their rapacious bites, Wolves turned to stone. began to swim across an arm of the sea. And when they had reached the middle, by divine judgment they were transformed into stones. When he had come from Mont St. Michel to Cornwall, He draws forth a spring whose waters cure diseases. and was suffering the greatest thirst, in a dry place he fixed his staff, and immediately an abundant spring began to gush from the earth: and he prayed that all who were sick, coming there, might receive a cure for their diseases; that the water might extinguish poisonous plagues and cast out all worms from the bellies of those who drank it. Near that spring in Cornwall a great church was founded in honor of St. Cadoc.

CHAPTER III.

The Episcopate. Martyrdom.

[14] An Angel of the Lord appeared to Blessed Cadoc, saying: God has decreed that you shall now depart from the land of Britain. And he said: Whatever is commanded me by the Lord, I will willingly carry out to the best of my ability: but I am entirely ignorant of how I shall depart from here. The Angel said: Tomorrow you shall go to the place At the Angel's warning he appoints Ellenus as Abbot: where you used to rest after preaching, and there suddenly a shining cloud will cover you; and thus carried upon it you will be transported to the city of Benevento. At the very hour when you descend from the cloud, the Abbot of that city will in your presence be honorably committed to burial, in whose place the monks will hasten to appoint you as Abbot. That same night the same Angel appeared in a vision to the Prior of the city of Benevento, saying thus: Tomorrow a certain wise British Cleric, a chosen servant of God, will come to you here; earnestly beseech the Pontiff that he be ordained and appointed as your Abbot. For God has chosen him to be appointed in the place of your Abbot; and he shall be called Sophias among you, because he is full of the wisdom of God. Cadoc, rising in the morning, ordained his disciple Ellenus as Abbot in his stead. And while he was still delivering a discourse to his disciples, behold, the brightness of God suddenly shone around all of them, and unable to bear the brightness of so great a light, he is transported to Benevento in a cloud: they alike fell prostrate upon their faces on the ground. And holy Cadoc, caught up in a white cloud, vanished from their eyes: and in almost the blink of an eye, descending from the cloud in the city of Benevento, he was seen among those who were burying the Abbot. He is chosen Abbot, then Bishop. In that same hour the entire congregation of monks, together with the Bishop, appointed him Abbot and called him Sophias. When at last the Bishop of that city died, an Angel of the Lord appeared to Blessed Sophias, commanding him to accept the order of the episcopate. On that same night, the same Angel commanded the Archdeacon in a dream that on the following day, without delay, by divine command, he should promote Blessed Sophias to the rank of the pontificate. When this was revealed in the morning to all the Clerics in order, by the unanimous consent of all he was raised to the rank of the episcopate.

[15] The Angel of the Lord then at last appeared to him in a night vision, saying: Behold, the choice is given to you by the Lord your God; He chooses martyrdom: the Angel promises it to him. now choose by what manner of death, leaving this mortal life, you wish to depart to the eternal kingdom. He answered: Since martyrdom is found more precious than any death in the sight of the Lord, choosing it I desire it above all others. And the Angel said: Be stout of heart and spirit, for the Lord is with you. For tomorrow a certain cruel king, entering this city, will ravage it, and a certain soldier of his, entering the monastery, will atrociously pierce you through with the point of a lance as you celebrate the divine mysteries at the altar. St. Sophias then, giving thanks to God, said: I am made ready for martyrdom, for by this manner of death our Lord Jesus Christ, and His Apostles, and many others triumphed over the world and attained the glory of the heavenly kingdom. He is pierced through with a lance while celebrating: At the first hour, when he was celebrating Mass, the tyrant with his army laid waste the suburbs, and a certain horseman, entering the church with fury, pierced St. Sophias with a lance while he was offering the consecration of the Lord's body and blood. Raising his eyes to heaven, he commended his soul to the Lord, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit, he prays for his killer and for those who will venerate his relics; and do not hold this sin against him, for he did not know what he did. Lord God Almighty, invisible King, Jesus Christ, Savior, hear my petition and grant that those who possess any part of my bones may work miracles, drive demons far away, and let every plague depart from them; and whoever honors my body on earth, his sins having been forgiven, may he always glorify You in heaven. And without delay, a voice came from the shining cloud, with God's approval. saying: Cadoc, my servant, ascend to the kingdom of my Father, and what you have asked I will do for you, and I will not sadden you, because in death you are mindful of me. Whoever in great tribulation, mindful of your name, shall invoke me, amen I say to you, I will graciously and mercifully free him from his tribulation. Hearing these things, on the 9th before the Kalends of February, he sent forth his spirit into the hands of the Lord.

[16] A church built in his honor. In his honor a great church was founded there upon his tomb, into which no Briton is permitted to enter: for it is to happen, as the citizens assert, that a certain Briton will come there from his monastery in Britain, namely Llancarfan, and at some time steal the relics of the holy body from there. Nay more, what is more grave, after the removal of the holy body, they foretell that the spring which is near the city, which he caused to flow from the earth through his prayers for the use of the workmen in building the walls of the city, will flood like a sea over the entire city and its inhabitants. The aforementioned monastery in Wales is three miles distant from Cowbridge, and there is a parish church situated on flat ground.