Julian

ON S. JULIAN, BISHOP OF CUENCA, IN SPAIN.

Year 1207.

Julian, Bishop of Cuenca in Spain (S.)

[1] Cuenca, a city of New Castile, commonly called Cuença by the Spaniards, situated on the borders of the Celtiberi between the rivers Sucro (now called the Xucar) and the Guecar, upon a steep and precipitous hill — and for that reason powerfully fortified by its natural position — was, as is believed, founded by the Moors; but it was wrested from them by Alfonso IX, the most valiant and most pious King of Castile, The second Bishop of Cuenca, S. Julian, the maternal grandfather of S. Louis IX, King of France, on 21 September 1177, a Wednesday. The bishopric, which had formerly been at Valeria (a neighboring city, a Roman colony, now a small town called Valera by almost its old name), was established at Cuenca by Alfonso with the authority of the Roman Pontiff Alexander III; and the first Bishop appointed was John Joannesius, a pious man. When he died in the year 1179, Julian was appointed in his place, a man widely celebrated for the fame of his sanctity; he was, as some record, Archdeacon of the Church of Toledo, and he finally died on 28 January 1207.

[2] He is venerated on that same day by the Church of Cuenca with a double rite of the first class, Venerated on 28 January. with public solemnity, all secular business being suspended. The Divine Office of his feast, which is carried out with the established religious observance of eight days, was approved by Pope Clement VIII on 18 October 1594. On that day the Roman Martyrology declares the following concerning Julian: "At Cuenca in Spain, the feast day of S. Julian, Bishop, who, distributing the goods of the Church to the poor, seeking his sustenance by the work of his hands in the Apostolic manner, rested in peace, renowned for miracles." In earlier editions of the Martyrology the following was added, which has been omitted in the latest: "whose more celebrated solemnity is observed on 5 September." For Pope Julius III had given a diploma on 5 June 1551, by which he granted the Church of Cuenca the power to transfer the solemnity from 28 January to the Nones of September, Formerly also on 5 September. so that it could be celebrated more splendidly, alms more generously bestowed, and other pious works more conveniently performed, by the public devotion of that city; as Peter Ribadeneira of our Society attests in his Flower of the Saints. And in the Roman Martyrology this was again to be read on that day: "At Cuenca in Spain, S. Julian, Bishop and Confessor." Although Philip Ferrari in his General Catalogue of Saints doubts on that day (but erroneously) whether that Julian might perhaps be different from the one customarily venerated on 28 January. But these things too have been omitted in the recent edition of the Roman Martyrology, and in the Order for celebrating the Divine Office in the Church of Cuenca, no mention of S. Julian is made in the month of September.

[3] Translation on 11 April. The body of S. Julian was taken up from its former tomb and honorably redeposited in the year 1518, on the Sunday in Albis, 11 April. Therefore on that day Ferrari writes thus: "At Cuenca in Spain, the Translation of S. Julian, Bishop of the same city." He cites in the Notes the Records of the Church of Cuenca. Which records? In the Order of the Divine Office cited by us above, certainly no mention of S. Julian is made on that day.

[4] Francis Scuderius of the Society of Jesus, a Spaniard by nationality, born in the town of La Parra in the diocese of Cuenca, Life written by Francis Scuderius, a man praiseworthy for his piety and zeal for souls, as Peter Ribadeneira attests in the Catalogue of Writers of the same Society, wrote in Spanish the Life of S. Julian, Bishop of Cuenca. John Fernandez Vadillo approved it in the year 1589 by the authority of the Royal Council, having acknowledged that he had compared it with the Acts in which the miracles of the same Saint had been juridically reported by Alfonso Carillo, Bishop of Vasto, by command of Paul III. We have not yet seen this Life published by Scuderius.

[5] Ribadeneira of our Society published an abridgment of it in his Flower of the Saints, and by others. as did John Marietta of the Order of Preachers, book 5 of the History of the Saints of Spain, chapter 69 and the five following. We give his narrative from the Spanish, because he recounts the miracles more carefully, which Ribadeneira only touches upon in passing, although he describes the history of his life more elegantly and more gravely. Stephen Garibay also treats of S. Julian in his Compendium of Spanish History, book 12, chapters 21 and 31; Thomas de Trujillo in volume 1 of his Thesaurus of Sermons; Alfonso Villegas in his Flower of the Saints; Julian del Castillo in his History of the Gothic Kings, book 4, discourse 6; and John Mariana of our Society in his Spanish Affairs, book 11, chapter 15.

[6] The age of S. Julian is not established by all in the same way. Most agree that he was made Bishop in the year of Christ 1179. Garibay holds that he was then forty-one years old; Ribadeneira, sixty-six. The latter writes that he died, as does Marietta, in the year 1208; Garibay says 1206. But Trujillo, His age. Villegas, and Baronius in his Notes on the Martyrology say 1207, and the date expressly stated by Ribadeneira agrees; for he says he died on 28 January, a Sunday. Now 28 January in the year 1208 fell on a Monday, while in 1207 it fell on a Sunday. According to Ribadeneira's calculation, he would be said to have been born in the year of Christ 1113, and to have died when he was ninety-five years old. Garibay, who writes that he was ordained Bishop in the forty-first year of his age, must place his birth in the year 1138 and assign him sixty-eight years of life. But if he was born in the year 1128 and died in 1207, he reached the age of eighty or seventy-nine.

LIFE

from the Spanish of John Marietta.

Julian, Bishop of Cuenca in Spain (S.)

From the Spanish of John Marietta.

CHAPTER I.

The birth and private life of S. Julian.

[1] Julian was born at Burgos, a city of Spain, around the year of Christ 1108. On the day when he was to be cleansed by the baptismal waters, voices of Angels chanting in the air were heard: The birth of S. Julian; "A boy is born today, to whom there is no like in grace." Presages of future sanctity. When he was carried into the church for the grace of holy baptism, a boy of extraordinary size and beauty of body was seen to stand above the baptistery without touching it, holding a tiara on his head and a Pontifical staff in his hand, and saying: "Julian is his name."

[2] Before he was brought into the light, his father seemed to himself on a certain night in a dream to see his bedchamber shining with a certain immense light Even before his birth; and as if ablaze; then very many bats and other animals foul in appearance burst into the same chamber and gave forth a hideous shrieking, whence a great horror seized him. At the same time, he saw coming forth from his wife a small dog far whiter than snow, by whose barking those obscene creatures were immediately terrified and put to flight. And his wife herself, on that same night, felt the infant leap wonderfully in her womb.

[3] These were the presages of the works to be accomplished by Julian. Holiness grew in him with his age, together with modesty, charity, learning, Various virtues. zeal for fasting and a more austere life. Abundantly instructed in the knowledge of letters, he was initiated into the priesthood; and while he performed the office of preaching the divine word to others, he himself flourished in every kind of virtue.

CHAPTER II.

His Episcopate. Miracles.

[4] When Alfonso IX had taken the city of Cuenca from the Moors on the feast of S. Matthew the Apostle, 21 September, a Wednesday, in the year of Christ 1177, he erected an episcopal throne there, the first Bishop chosen being John Joannesius. When this man died shortly afterward, he appointed Julian in his place, a man widely celebrated for the fame of his holiness. He becomes Bishop of Cuenca: The holy man indeed struggled against it; but because true modesty of soul is not obstinate and pertinacious, but adapted to every will of God, he at last yielded and submitted his neck to the burden. He held the chair for ten years, which, by the example of his innocent life and the efficacy of his salutary teaching, were worth ten thousand. Generous to the needy. Nor did the good shepherd nourish his flock only with spiritual food, but he also relieved their temporal necessities, and spent all the revenues of his bishopric upon them; he procured sustenance for himself by his own labor, namely by weaving baskets, He lives by the work of his hands: following the example of the ancient anchorites. He himself visited his diocese, having taken into his counsel and partnership in holy labor learned and religious men.

[5] When a terrible plague was raging, he strove to appease the Deity by fasts and constant prayers. He drives away the plague by his prayers: And a voice was publicly heard, sent by no mortal author, which announced that the scourge of divine vengeance was being restrained by the prayers of the Bishop; but that men should thenceforth abstain from wickedness. The same thing was also indicated from heaven to several holy persons: that the plague had been calmed by the intercession of Julian.

[6] He fed many poor people daily, and he himself spread the table with his own hands and brought the food. Among the poor he receives Christ at table: Seeing among the throng of beggars a certain man who was indeed in tattered clothes, but of a very noble countenance, and thinking him a man of noble birth who had been stripped of his wealth by some adverse fortune, he called him aside and asked him again and again who he was. And behold, over the whole face of that beggar an immense splendor began to shine forth, and he addressed the Bishop thus: "My friend Julian, I thank you, who with such zeal and charity sustain my poor. I promise you eternal life as the reward of this charity." Having said these things, he ceased to be seen. Julian understood that it had been Christ under the guise of a beggar, and gave Him most abundant thanks for having deigned to console him in this way.

[7] A great throng of the poor flocked together to seek alms. He obtains grain by divine favor; The Bishop ordered his servant Elesmus to distribute grain to certain of them. The servant denied that even a single grain remained. Moved by compassion for the needy, the Bishop again commanded the servant to revisit the granary and at least to sweep the floor so as to collect a small amount. The servant, who knew the holiness of his master, carried out the orders; and entering the granaries, he found them filled with wheat, from which provision was made both for the present need and for other necessities. On another occasion the city of Cuenca was struggling with an equal scarcity of grain. And again on another occasion. Julian approached the fountain of mercy with humble supplication. Immediately a long train of pack-animals laden with grain entered the city, led by no one, and proceeded directly to the Bishop's residence. He ordered the loads to be taken down from the animals. It was long sought but in vain who had sent that grain. It had of course been supplied from heaven, and Julian attributed it to God alone. By these prodigies God was honoring His faithful servant and diligent guardian of the flock.

CHAPTER III.

Temptations of the devil overcome.

[8] Mighty are the devices which the devil employs against pious men, so as to draw them away from the friendship of God and reduce them to his own power; to bring even one man under his sway, he moves earth and sea and hell itself. But his forces are not of such strength that he can overcome anyone by whatever assaults, unless the person is slothful and feeble and willingly surrenders. He is tempted by the devil with gluttony; And indeed the devil attempted to ensnare Julian in his nets; but Julian eluded all his stratagems and machinations. It happened that after a long fast, when he was thinking of restoring his strength with a small amount of bread and water, he found a richly prepared table set before him, and upon it a trout placed ready. He asked who had set and furnished the table; his servants denied knowing. The Saint approached to overturn it and throw down the dishes; and suddenly it was withdrawn from his sight. He perceived the fraud of the evil spirit and established his soul more firmly in God.

[9] Frustrated in his hope, the most foul enemy devised yet other assaults. Once, while Julian was occupied in prayer, a certain man approached carrying coffers full of money. Thinking — Avarice, since he had not sufficiently directed his attention — that it was his steward, he asked what the man was bringing. He replied that these were coins from his annual revenues. The Bishop supposed that the money had been supplied from somewhere by divine bounty for the relief of the poor, since he knew that nothing was owed to him from those revenues. But when he stretched out his hand toward it, both the money and the one who had brought it vanished, leaving behind a foul odor and smoke.

[10] Nor did the malice of the adversary stop here. Having assumed the appearance of a beautiful maiden, he stood before Julian as he prayed, and said, "Julian, servant of God, do you know me?" Thinking her to be a girl whom he had recently redeemed from the Moors and had given in marriage to an honorable young man, he asked what she wanted. She said, "O my Lord, Vainglory, how much I am indebted to you, who freed me from a most burdensome servitude and generously provided for me! I now desire to show my gratitude and to devote the rest of my life to your service. I pity you indeed, who lie upon the ground with no one taking care of you; who so abase yourself when you are so great a man." The Bishop fixed his eyes upon her and asked where her father and husband were. "At Burgos," she said; "but I would gladly leave not only them but all my kinsmen for your sake." As she said these things and came closer to him, Lust. mixing in certain indecent words, he felt himself being pulled away from her to a greater distance by a hand laid upon his shoulders which he could not see; and together with the push he heard a voice: "What are you doing, Julian? She is not who you think she is, but the evil spirit who lays snares for you. She in fact is already dead." The holy Bishop was greatly shaken, and casting his eyes all around, he saw no one.

CHAPTER IV.

Death, burial, miracles.

[11] A fever, and a violent one, seized him, destined at last to open for him the gate of eternity. Having devoutly prepared his soul, he received the last Sacraments with great piety, clad in a hair shirt beneath, and above it in all his pontifical vestments; then lying upon a hard bed — namely, the bare ground — with a stone placed under his head in place of a pillow; now in his last agony, he beheld coming toward him a matron of extraordinary beauty, clothed in white garments, with a shining face, Invited by the Mother of God, crowned with a wreath woven of the most fragrant roses, attended by a numerous choir of Angels and Virgins singing: "Behold the great Priest, who in his days pleased God." Hearing that symphony, he rose to his knees and gave thanks to God. The Mother of God — for she was that matron — drew nearer and said: "Receive, O servant of God, this palm, the token of your virginity and purity which you have kept forever inviolate." Having spoken these words, she withdrew from his sight; but throughout the entire chamber a wonderful fragrance of a certain celestial odor was diffused.

[12] The heart of the holy Pontiff was moved by that vision, and he began with copious tears to mourn his sins and to say: "I humbly beseech Thy majesty to have mercy on me and to pardon my transgressions." While he was sending these and other prayers to God, He dies. he simultaneously breathed forth his most holy soul, in the year 1208, on the twenty-eighth day of January, on which day his feast is celebrated by the Church of Cuenca with the solemnity of the Divine Office. Nor were heavenly portents wanting. As soon as he expired, those standing around saw issuing from his mouth a noble branch of palm, rising upward Not without miracles. until it entered the open heavens. The bells are also reported to have rung, struck by Angels without human agency.

[13] Funeral rites were performed for him for nine days, illustrated by many heavenly miracles — extraordinary healings of the lame, the mute, the deaf, and other infirm. The wife of the Emperor Henry VI herself, Constance, having struggled for twenty years with an incurable illness, having learned by report the virtues of Julian while he was still alive, He appears to an infirm woman. deeply moved by a great feeling of piety, besought God to free her from her long illness through his merits, or else, first cleansed from every stain of sin, to take her from this calamitous life. To her one night Julian, now departed from life, offered himself to be seen, adorned in pontifical vestments, and promised that she would thenceforth be free from all illness if she sent certain men to Cuenca who would bring to her one of the two small baskets which had been woven by him and were preserved in the cathedral, and would offer it to her hand to touch. The Empress asked who he was that commanded these things. "Julian," he said, "whose help you have implored. God has heard your prayers and has commanded me to restore your health." She tried to rise And heals her by the touch of his relics. so as to reverently kiss his garment; but in an instant he ceased to be visible. She immediately sent to Cuenca, obtained the basket, and was healed by its touch.

CHAPTER V.

The Translation of S. Julian.

[14] The sacred body of Julian had lain buried for three hundred years and more, when in the year 1518, under the Emperor Charles V, with Leo X governing the Roman Church and Cardinal Raphael of S. George administering the Church of Cuenca, it was discovered and raised up. When the tomb was opened, a most sweet odor His body elevated on 11 April 1518. was diffused throughout the whole basilica. The Clergy of the entire diocese were summoned to Cuenca to be present at the solemnity of the translation, which was celebrated with various joyful songs and dances. The body was placed in a coffin made of fragrant Sabine wood, and set in a higher place where it is still to be seen. A finger with its ring was detached from the rest of the body as a remedy for the sick, to whom it is offered to be kissed, Not without miracles: and it very often drives away diseases. This Translation was made on Quasimodo Sunday, which in that year was 11 April. Three hundred and more sick persons were then healed by the aid of the holy Bishop.

[15] In the year 1588, John Vayllius, Bishop of Cuenca, together with Francis Arganda the Inquisitor and others endowed with ecclesiastical dignity, Again inspected in 1588. opened the coffin and examined the relics, from which a most delightful odor breathed forth. The matter was legitimately recorded in public documents — a lasting testimony among mortals of the glory which Julian enjoys in heaven. His feast has been celebrated from time immemorial with an ecclesiastical Office on 28 January; but since, on account of the winter cold, the celebration cannot be carried out with so great a concourse of peoples or with so great a splendor and frequency of processions, Pope Julius III granted by a diploma dated 5 June 1551 that it should again be observed on 5 September, as a renewed celebration.

CHAPTER VI.

Various miracles after his death.

[16] Although miracles performed by the living are not always proof of their sanctity, since they are done by God's power and not their own, God is nevertheless accustomed, after they have departed this life, to confirm their holiness by miracles, as if by certain testimonies, by which an occasion may be provided for the supreme Heads of the Church to decree public sacred honors for them. Many miracles performed through S. Julian: Very many miracles of this kind were produced by the merits of S. Julian; we shall proceed to narrate some of them.

[17] A certain citizen of Cuenca was afflicted with a severe hernia, A hernia healed, so that he was unable to do any work. His wife went to the tomb of S. Julian and lit several candles in veneration; her husband felt no discomfort thereafter.

[18] Balthasar of Villasaña, from the town of Talavera, had scrofulous sores that had eaten away his entire neck, Scrofula, so that his life was already in danger. He came to Cuenca and drove away the foul scrofula by the application of the finger of S. Julian.

[19] Gaspar Lopez, a native of Daroca, had been suffering from a hernia for thirty years, A hernia; with his intestines prolapsing in foul agony. He came to Cuenca together with another man also struggling with the same infirmity, Four mute persons. and both obtained their health. Four mute persons — two on the journey itself toward Cuenca, and two by drinking water in which the finger of S. Julian had been dipped — obtained the faculty of speech.

[20] A certain young man, deprived of the use of his legs and arms, after his legs were wrapped in a linen cloth Debility, that had touched the finger of Julian, recovered the power of walking; the bystanders were astonished at the miracle and then sang praise to God.

[21] Cancer, A dreadful cancer was eating away Isabella Henricia, a citizen of Cuenca, which the physicians had already declared could be cured by no remedy. She requested that a linen cloth be applied to the relics of S. Julian, and when it was placed upon the wound, she was healed. John de Moya, a citizen of Cuenca, had a two-year-old son A desperate illness, who, seized by illness and brought to the point of death, was carried by his mother to the church of S. Julian; she covered him for a time with the tapestry that veiled his tomb while she devoutly prayed to God, and carried him home safe and sound. Two mute persons were also healed at that time.

[22] Another long-standing infirmity. Agnes Barricentia, married to the nobleman Louis Carillo, Lord of Colmenar de Oreja and its territory, when she felt that the physicians had given up hope for her health, implored the aid of S. Julian, visited his tomb, and returned well.

[23] A hernia. Lupus Ordas, a Treasurer of the Church of Cuenca, incurred a hernia while traveling, so that he could no longer continue on his way. As he lamented his misfortune, the ever-present patronage of S. Julian came to his mind. He made a vow that, as soon as he returned home, he would perform a devotion of nine days of constant and set observance in his honor, with a certain number of sacrifices added — and he was healed in an instant.

[24] Madness. Francis Ybañez, an inhabitant of Yecla in the diocese of Cartagena, had been seized by a violent madness. His family was already taking him to the public asylum when, on the road itself, they remembered S. Julian; they stationed him before his tomb and offered prayers. Without delay, having recovered the use of his reason, he returned home joyfully with them.

[25] Don John de Salamanca, a citizen of Salamanca, was suffering from a fatal dropsy. He set out for Cuenca to entreat S. Julian. Dropsy: When he had reached a certain hill from which the city can first be seen by those approaching, he was entirely freed of the noxious fluid.

[26] A demon expelled. A certain woman, born in the town of Lagartera in the bishopric of Avila, had been possessed by a most wicked demon for seven years. Brought to Cuenca by her mother, she felt no trouble at all either on the entire journey or ever afterward, the most foul guest having been driven away by the help of the holy Bishop.

[27] Peter Ximenez, born in the town called S. Clement in the diocese of Cuenca, Debility healed. because one of his shoulder bones had been broken or dislocated so that his shoulders were weakened and his entire body enfeebled, was unable to walk except supported by crutches. When he had heard the fame of the miracles of S. Julian, he sought the basilica of Cuenca, anointed his affected limbs with oil from the lamp that burns before the Saint's tomb, and was restored to his former vigor.

[28] A young man of Albacete named Peter was attacked by a severe pleurisy, in present danger of death. Pleurisy: His father, having laid him in a chamber, commended him to S. Julian, adding a vow to visit his tomb with his son and to give alms for the purchase of oil to feed the light before it — and immediately all pain was wiped away from the young man.

[29] A woman in labor freed. A certain woman of Cuenca experienced the immediate help of S. Julian in a difficult and dangerous childbirth. A certain woman from what they call Ciudad Real had a son entirely deprived of his strength; An infirmity driven away. she herself brought him to the church of S. Julian and, having poured forth prayer, brought him home well.

[30] Weakness of an arm. Francis Peñalver of Tortola came to Cuenca and applied his withered and feeble arm to the reliquary of the holy relics of S. Julian; it soon grew warm and was restored to its former vigor. Ferdinand Calvo, a native of the town of Caravaca in the diocese of Cartagena, had had a swollen and then ulcerated leg for two years, and it could be healed by no art of the surgeons; he took refuge with S. Julian and found him favorable.

[31] Madness. The reason of Antonio Lopez, from the diocese of Cuenca, had been disturbed by the violence of a fever. The patronage of S. Julian was implored, the relics were applied to his neck, Various diseases. and immediately sanity returned to his mind. Joanna Lopez of Cuenca was afflicted with various diseases. She resolved to recite for an entire year, daily in honor of S. Julian, five times the Lord's Prayer and the Angelic Salutation. While she did this, the diseases were healed. But when she felt herself to be better, forgetfulness gradually crept upon her, and the illness grew worse. She came to her senses, resumed the devotion she had begun, and obtained complete health.

[32] Danger of rabies. A certain inhabitant of the town they call Colmenar de Oreja, wounded by the bite of a rabid dog, was almost driven to despair. He heard of the miracles of S. Julian, came to Cuenca, implored the help of the Saint, and was entirely free of that affliction. Francis de la Roca, a Frenchman living in the town called Alcazar de Consuegra, Various pain: was suffering great pain throughout his entire body and especially in his legs. Having heard the fame of the miracles of S. Julian, he commended himself to him and obtained health from him, and afterwards visited his tomb.

[33] Peter Valdes, pretending under the guise of devotion to kiss the finger of S. Julian, bit off and tore away a small piece of it with his teeth. On his way back, a quarrel arose with some other person, Sacrilege punished. by whom his hand was wounded with a knife and exactly as much of his own finger was cut off as he had taken from the Saint. He recognized it as divine retribution, and returned the small bone of the finger and had it placed back with the rest of the Saint's relics.