Peter

ON ST. PETER, ABBOT ON MOUNT CAPRARIO NEAR PERUGIA IN UMBRIA IN ITALY. IN THE YEAR 1007.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

The public cult of the Saint; the Life, which is here given; the age in which he lived; on what occasion he was converted to a more perfect life; the monastery over which he presided.

St. Peter, abbot and confessor, at Perugia in Italy.

THE AUTHOR I. P.

Philip Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy on this day, the X, assigns a place among the heavenly ones to St. Peter, named the Perugian, from the place to which he owes his birth, or from the monastery over which he presided; although he has not, he says, by solemn rite, so far as is known, St. Peter is venerated at Perugia from time immemorial; been enrolled among the Saints: since he has long been venerated with an ecclesiastical Office by the church of Perugia; and so, on the testimony of that author, concerning his constant cult and public veneration from time immemorial it is sufficiently established. And indeed on the wrapper of the Manuscript of his Life, sent hither, it is written, thus rendered by me into Latin from the Italian, that his feast is celebrated with an Octave in the monastery of St. Peter of Perugia of the Cassinese monks, and in the diocese of Perugia, on the X day of the month of July; the monks of the said monastery, on the testimony of Jacobilli, volume 1 of the Lives of the Saints of Umbria, page 700, celebrating it with an Office with proper Lessons, but the clergy of Perugia under the double rite from the common of a Confessor not a Pontiff, venerating today the yearly memory of the holy Abbot.

[2] The Benedictine Martyrologists enroll the name of St. Peter in their calendars. Dorganius commemorates him thus: whose name is enrolled in the Benedictine calendars. Of St. Peter the Abbot, most renowned for the glory of his miracles and the holiness of his life. In almost the same words Wion had preceded: At Perugia on Mount Calvary, of St. Peter, first Abbot of that place, most renowned for the glory of his miracles and the holiness of his life. Menard and Bucelinus are added; of which last one, the little eulogy, borrowed from I know not what Fortunatus of Vincent, scarcely deserves to be transcribed. On this day too, besides that Ferrari reports him in both Catalogues; in that which is of the Saints of Italy, he published a compendium of his life and miracles, afterward reported by Mabillon among the Benedictine Acts, sixth century, part 1, from page 71. Jacobilli did the same in Italian. It did not seem good to us to follow their example, since we are to give the Manuscript Life, preserved among the Perugian monks, from which Ferrari confesses that he received his material: and Mabillon supplied the lack of that Life, which he then lacked, with a compendium, adding that, if he could sometime obtain the Life itself entire, he would give it at the end of the said volume; which, having afterward obtained it, he published in the promised place, from page 761.

[3] [That the Life is conformable to its exemplar, from which it is taken, is proved by juridical testimony;] The Life which we here give, Father Philip Alegambe, continuator of the Library of the writers of the Society of Jesus, sent from Rome on the XIV day of January of the year 1651. The conformity of the copy with its exemplar, from which it is taken, is confirmed by the public and juridical testimony of a Notary, written at the end of the same, where likewise it is asserted from what place it came forth; which therefore it will not be beside the point to bring forward: I, Sinibald Tassi of Perugia, public Notary by Apostolic authority, and ordinary judge, declare that all and each of the aforesaid things, just as and in the manner in which it is preserved on certain papers in the form of a quarto leaf of cotton-paper in the archive of the venerable monastery of St. Peter of Perugia, of the Order of St. Benedict, of the Cassinese Congregation, situated in the said monastery: in which archive indeed the writings and other things pertaining to the said monastery are preserved, and are wont to be preserved under key, and are kept in diligent and faithful custody, I found transcribed, so that I committed the individual items to be faithfully copied word for word, and transcribed, by another trusted by me; yet adding or subtracting nothing, except perhaps a point or a syllable, only by error; but not such as could in anything change the substance and vitiate the truth; and a collation being made with the said original, and the copy being found to agree with it, with all rights always reserved to me, etc., and not otherwise, etc. In faith, etc., I have subscribed with my own hand and published, being requested, in the year of the Lord 1650, in the third Indiction, in the pontificate of the most holy Father in Christ and our Lord Innocent X, by divine providence Supreme Pontiff, on the XXV day of the month of September.

[4] Further, I render an account of those things which I performed in perusing this copy. concerning which some things to be observed are proposed. The abbreviated expressions of words, recurring frequently enough, or abbreviations, as we call them, I have rendered in full; some things

I have corrected the errors of writing: others enclosed in brackets I have restored from Mabillon or from another Manuscript of ours, of which presently. Finally, a few little things, omitted in our Manuscript which we print, I judged should be transcribed here from both these exemplars, by which the whole narration of the life, death, and miracles is completed: And so the people, seeing such a miracle, which you have at the end of the life here published, concerning the strong wind uprooting the trees, on account of the yearly feast of the Saint not being kept, decreed that his anniversary day (the text published by Mabillon adds "every year") should be solemnly celebrated, and thus to the present day his tomb is venerated by all the people, and spiritual benefits, divine grace working, are ministered to those who devoutly ask. This clause moves in me the suspicion that our copy savors of greater antiquity, in that it lacks that clause which seems to have been added later by an interpolator. And indeed if it had been added by the first Author, the later one, as I judge, would not have omitted something conducing not moderately to the public veneration and glory of the Saint. The texts published by Mabillon, although in substance they agree well enough with both our exemplars, seem nevertheless to smack of a little polishing, some things in more than one place being expressed somewhat more neatly and elegantly. The sentence placed there at the end of number 4, which is likewise read in another Manuscript of ours, and the things which immediately follow it there, indicate that the writer was, to the miracles wrought by the Saint which he recounts, and so to the Saint himself, if not equal, at least nearly contemporary, or not removed from him by a great interval of time: But the Lord worked through him very many powers of miracles, which we know from the report of those who saw them with their eyes. Which words our Manuscript, which we submit to the press, does not have.

[5] From the various chronological marks scattered here and there through the life, Concerning the time in which the Saint lived; it is given to gather in what time our holy Abbot lived. There at number 2 it is signified that he lived with Honestus, Bishop of Perugia, who in Ughelli holds the twentieth place among those Prelates; and whom he reports to have attributed the church of St. Peter of Perugia, once the cathedral, to the Benedictine monks in the year 955, and to have consecrated the new cathedral erected by his predecessor Roger, concerning which matter consult the Life at the same number 2. Which, as you have at the end of number 5, the work being accomplished by the help of God, and the church brought to completion, and the Prelate of the said city being summoned, on the XI day before the Kalends of December, in honor of God and the Mother of God, under the name of the Prince of the Apostles, they dedicated it about the year of the Lord 969. At number 6 St. Peter is set as having gone to Rome with the aforesaid Bishop to John XIII, certainly before the end of the year 971, in which he is set to have departed from the living, on the XVI day of September. What you have at another number concerning Otto I and II, Berengar, and John XII, see in the Annotations. Mabillon affirms from others that the Saint died in the year 1007, in the fortieth year of his governance. Hence infer that St. Peter came into the light about the tenth century somewhat advanced, namely about its twenty-fifth year; although concerning a determined year I have nothing certain to define.

[6] Jacobilli narrates something singular concerning the occasion of the Saint's conversion to a more perfect life, as also concerning the manner in which he passed to a more perfect life. of which mention is made neither in Mabillon nor in either of our Manuscripts; namely, that St. Peter, having on a certain day entered the church, heard read from the Gospel those words, spoken by Christ to his disciples: Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart; and that he so received those words, as if they had been spoken to him alone; and, moved by the Holy Spirit, and bidding farewell to all things, withdrew to a certain Cluniac monastery; where he professed the monastic institute; but, the fame of his sanctity being spread abroad, the church of St. Peter was granted to him by Honestus, Bishop of Perugia, in the year 966, and that he presided as first abbot over the monastery founded by himself. So he; citing in the margin an ancient Manuscript Lectionary in the library of St. Peter of Perugia and the Cathedral of the said city, which things I would more safely admit, if they were attested either by the Author of the Life, or by some other ancient monument.

[7] The beginnings and progress of the monastery over which the Saint presided: Mabillon thus describes the beginnings and progress of the aforesaid monastery, on page 70: It was once, he says, the cathedral church, built by the first Prelates of the same see, and enriched with the sacred relics of St. Herculanus, Bishop and Martyr, praised by Gregory the Great. But because it perhaps was situated outside the city, Bishop Roger raised a new Cathedral in the city at the beginning of the tenth century, whose successor Honestus handed over the old church of St. Peter to our Peter, lest it should remain uncultivated, license being given him of building a monastery. And this he immediately committed to execution. And these were the beginnings of the celebrated monastery of St. Peter on Mount Caprario, which, long inhabited by the Cluniacs, Pope Eugene IV, at the instance of John Andrew, Bishop of Perugia, in the year 1435 attributed to the Cassinese monks of the recently erected congregation of St. Justina; who to this day persevere there. It will not, I think, be unwelcome to understand how greatly, already from ancient times, that oft-mentioned monastery existed under the protection of the Apostolic See, most strongly defended by the same against aggressors.

[8] which was defended also by the patronage of the Apostolic See, A double diploma bearing on this matter exists in Ughelli, in the Appendix to volume 9. On what occasion the first was issued, he thus sets forth there at column 918: Cono was consecrated Bishop of Perugia by Pope Sylvester II in the year 999, in which he took part in a Roman Council; and he was also present at another * Roman Synod, gathered under the same Sylvester in the year 1002, in which, being accused of inflicting annoyances on the monastery of St. Peter of Perugia, he sought pardon, and freely renounced to the Supreme Pontiff all the right which he claimed to have. After this he subjoins the diploma itself, from the archive of the same monastery, in the box of privileges, number 3; which reads thus: Whatever disputes are settled by judicial reckoning, it is best that they be committed to the office of a writer, lest by the lapse of time they succumb to oblivion, and by a relapsing rise renew a past error. And so, the Lord Sylvester II, Pontiff of the Roman See, presiding, in a Synod held in the sacrosanct Lateran palace, in the fourth year of his ordination, on the third day of the month of December, in the first Indiction, Peter, Scriniary of the same sacred Palace, stood forth, and before the whole Synod delivered this speech, saying: Lord Pope, this Abbot of yours from Perugia complains against Cono, Bishop of Perugia, who charges that, by the armed band of his satellites, from beneath the altar of your monastery, of which he himself holds the governance, things were dragged away and drawn out from the doors of the church and the cloisters of the brothers, and that they gave over to plunder all things which were found there for the use of the brothers, of which the Bishop is known to have a part; since the Bishop shares in the same sacrileges, and is by no means believed innocent of the same crime.

[9] To whom the Bishop, being present, replied: I am prepared to clear myself according to the judgment of these my brothers: as is established from the double diploma, since it was done neither by my command nor by my will; and if the Abbot should make complaint to me about anyone, I would either compel him to satisfaction, or, if I could not, I would maintain for him my favor with every benefit. But, Father of all Pontiffs, I entreat your mercy and that of the whole present Assembly, that no prejudice be done to me today. You committed to me the church of Perugia to be guarded, and you made me swear that I would neither diminish it, nor consent to its being diminished. That monastery which this Abbot holds properly pertains to my bishopric, and shall be subject to no other jurisdiction; if a law were made from it, your Apostolate would have no special right in it. To whom the Reverend Pope rejoined: I have neither withdrawn the monastery from your church, nor caused it to be withdrawn: I found it under the right and dominion of our church, and thus possessed I have held it until now. Let the privileges of our Predecessor Popes come, and these being read through, let the brother Co-bishops judge what is the rectitude of equity.

[10] The privileges, namely, of Pope John and of Gregory, therefore being brought into the midst, against two his Predecessors, and read through before the whole Synod, the Bishop says: I do not reject these privileges, but I say that that former privilege was made without the consent of my predecessor, in whose times it was made: if only I might see the consent, I would thereafter keep eternal silence. To whom, on the contrary, all the Clergy of the holy Roman church said: We all saw the letter of your predecessor, in which there was both consent, and which earnestly requests with prayers that this be done; of which matter we are witnesses, and according to canonical sanction we prove it to have been true. The Gospels being at last offered, and the clerics being ready to swear, the Bishops gave this sentence, that either the Bishop should accept those testimonies, and pay the penalty of the privilege; or should renounce that monastery. But the aforesaid Bishop Cono of the holy church of Perugia renounced that aforementioned monastery of St. Peter, situated not far from the city of Perugia, with all things pertaining to the same monastery, and titled in the aforesaid privileges, to his Lord Pope Sylvester, and gave the kiss of peace to the aforesaid Abbot, and promised that he would thenceforth help him. But after these things the same most Reverend Pope decreed this with the Roman Judges, that whatever Bishop of the church of Perugia should attempt to reopen this settled dispute against this Abbot or his successors, should pay ten pounds of purest gold to the Lateran Palace. Let this decree remain valid forever.

[11] Another diploma in favor of the monastery of St. Peter of Perugia, [issued in favor of the aforesaid monastery, against the Bishops of the city of Perugia,] issued on the occasion of Andrew, Bishop of the same city, is produced by the praised Ughelli, from column 920: For the rest, why that diploma was issued, and the other things which bear on this, can be gathered from the text of the diploma itself, which I produce entire, given, on Ughelli's testimony, in the year 1036, in a Roman Synod, Benedict IX presiding: which, taken from a fragment of the same Synod, he says is preserved in the archive of the same monastery, in the box of privileges, number 51. The tenor of the said Diploma is as follows: Be it known to all present and future, how Andrew, Bishop of the holy church of Perugia, renounced to the Lord Pope Benedict, his consecrator, namely the monastery of St. Peter, which is situated outside the wall of the aforesaid city, and another monastery, namely of St. Saviour, and the monastery of St. Mary in the valley of Ponte, together with all their properties and appurtenances. There being present Dominic, Bishop of Labico, Robert, Bishop of Segni, Hugh, Bishop of Assisi, Hugh, Abbot of Farfa, Bartholomew, Abbot "the Greek," John, Abbot of St. Montanus, Hugh, Deacon of the holy Roman Church, Crescentius, Deacon of the same Church, Leo, subdeacon, Benedict, Cardinal-presbyter, Sergius, Scriniary; nay, he even professed with his own mouth to preserve all the things which were touched on above, by the Sacraments of the holy Gospels, the oath being adjudged to him

by Gregory, brother of the aforesaid Pope. But afterward the said Bishop, by boasting and doing injury against a certain archpriest of St. Constantius of the aforesaid monastery of St. Peter, showed himself to be laying claim to the monastery, and to introduce it to his own jurisdiction.

[12] which we here publish. Then the venerable Abbot Bonizo came to the synodal council, and indicated this to the aforementioned Pope. But Benedict himself, the supreme Apostolic pontiff, asked the same Bishop Andrew whether in any way he laid claim to the aforesaid monastery: for he professed that he laid claim to it by no reasoning; and again he renounced it before the Lord Pope Benedict, and also before all their Bishops and Abbots, whose names we have taken care to note below. Peter, Bishop of St. Rufina, patron of the same monastery; Teudald, Bishop of Albano; Peter, Bishop of Ostia; John, Bishop of Porto; John, Bishop of Palestrina; Leo, Bishop of Velletri; Munald of Rimini; Peter of Città di Castello; Teudald, Bishop of Gubbio; Adam of Fossombrone; Tederic of Urbino; Arduin of Montefeltro; Onestus of Populonia; Adalbert of Siena; Hugh of Fara; Hugh of Assisi; Azo of Centumcellae; Albert of Castro; John of Lucca; Atto of Florence; James of Fiesole; Henry of Populonia; John of Sovana; Leo of Orvieto; Gottfried of Volterra; Wido of Pistoia; Wido of Chiusi; Crescentius of Roselle; John of Terracina; Stephen of Secca; John of Piperno; Girard of Berolum; Landuin of Orte; Crescentius of Fillara; John the Cardinal; Benenatus the Archdeacon, with others indeed, Deacons of the Holy Roman Church; Gregory, Abbot of St. Saba; Titus, Abbot of St. Paul; Francis, Abbot of St. Lawrence; Benedict, Abbot of St. Peter in Chains; Crescentius of St. Sylvester; Martin, Abbot of Farneto, and the names of others of various orders, which are too long to narrate, etc.

[13] And these things indeed, pertaining only remotely and obliquely to St. Peter, but closely and directly to the monastery, of which he himself was the first Founder and director, it seemed good to us not to neglect in this place, but to commit to the press, lest even in those matters, among the sufficiently mediocre monuments transmitted to posterity concerning his deeds, we should seem to anyone to have deserved less rightly of him. With all which we put an end to this commentary, and subjoin the life, collated with other exemplars, and illustrated with notes, as will be seen in the course of it. Let the reader remember that in the annotations that copy of ours is called the Manuscript from the codex of Gallenius, in which I found written in the margin, "from the codex of O. P. Gallenius" (perhaps of the Oratorian father Gallonio), which Baronius received from Cajetan.

* read "aliique."

VITA

From the archive of the monastery of St. Peter of Perugia, of the Order of St. Benedict, of the Cassinese congregation; collated with the Manuscript from the codex of O. P. Gallenius; and also with the text published in Mabillon in the appendix to part 1, sixth century, of the Benedictine Acts, page 761.

St. Peter, abbot and confessor, at Perugia in Italy.

BHL Number: 6766

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

CHAPTER I.

His birth; the restoration of the church approved by a miracle; the journey to Rome; the abbatial dignity useful to his subjects and to the people.

Peter was born in the province of Tuscany in the castle of Agello ^a, which is distant nearly six miles from the city of Perugia ^b. He had parents not ignoble, The birth of St. Peter and his zeal for virtue. who instructed the boy Peter from the first in human studies; but he, applying himself to sacred studies, found that hidden treasure, wherefore, all things being sold, he bought the field, and bound himself to the ministry of the Church, and through the grades came to the priesthood. And so he, desiring above all things to please God, setting his hands to strong deeds, preparing himself to fight against the prince of darkness, fortified himself with the most powerful arms of light, namely with chastity, innocence, long-suffering, simplicity, and prudence, and above all he persisted in prayers and tears. Wherefore with these arms he was able to repel all the fiery darts of the enemy: he was also not forgetful of almsgiving and beneficence, that being merciful he might himself obtain mercy from God ^c.

[2] There was at that time outside, and near the city, in a place which was called Calvarius ^d, or Caprarius, [Desiring to restore the destroyed church, but at first forbidden, then permitted to do it;] a certain church, dedicated in honor of the Prince of the Apostles, lying in ruins for a long time. This the man of God burned with excessive desire to restore, taking it ill that so noble a building, erected in honor of the Saint of God, should lie in ruins. Wherefore, glowing with piety and religion, he approached the Bishop who then ruled the church of Perugia, Honestus ^e by name: he promised that he would have all care and vigilance, if he would allow the aforesaid church to be repaired: but the Bishop, stirred up by the malice and envy of certain persons suggesting to him that this Peter was a pretender and a slanderer of him; on that account was unwilling to hear him: but afterward, the truth being known, and the man's sanctity, he summoned him and asked that, as he had in his wishes, he should endeavor to rebuild the aforesaid church; believing which words, and filled with excessive joy, he gave thanks to almighty God, and, girded with the strength of the Holy Spirit, with very many religious men helping, together with the Bishop, in the name of the Lord he laid the foundations, and in honor of blessed Peter the Apostle rebuilt the aforesaid Church.

[3] God approving it by miracles, Meanwhile, while he was completing the aforesaid work, almighty God, to show that it was pleasing and acceptable to himself, made it manifest by many miracles: for when on a certain day, as the workmen were engaged on the pious work, bread was lacking, the holy Man addressed them as they complained, that they should trust in God; who indeed is able to console and refresh them, as he did for many holy men. These things said, bending his knees to God in prayer, he commended himself to his great mercy and beneficence, to which vows God assenting provided them with food; for as he stood in prayer it is announced that there were present before the doors unknown men, with horses laden with grain; hearing which, he gave thanks to God for the gift received ^f.

[4] that this work was pleasing to him But while the work was being prolonged, one of the masons, walking incautiously, fell from the top of the wall to the ground, but, the man of God standing by and supported by his prayers, he who was to be gathered up shattered in a little sack, suffered no injury.

[5] that work. It also happened, that on a certain day, while the workmen were maneuvering one of the marble columns of wondrous beauty, which, weighed down by its excessive weight, the ropes being broken, amid crashings this way and that, was making for the ground with excessive impetus: and now the hope of saving that column had departed from all the workmen. But the man Peter, standing before it, setting against it the sign of the Cross, raised it up when it was already bent. And so, the work being accomplished by the help of God, and the church brought to completion, and the Prelate of the said city being summoned, on the XI day before the Kalends of December, in honor of God and the Mother of God, under the name of the Prince of the Apostles, they dedicated it about the year of the Lord 969.

[6] [Having gone to Rome he is appointed abbot, and, returned to his own, presides excellently.] Afterward the aforesaid Bishop, together with Peter, sets out for Rome to the feet of the supreme Pontiff John XIII, that he might consecrate Peter himself as Abbot and perpetual Rector with his successors. Which was so done. But Peter, master of his wish, returns to Perugia with great gladness and spiritual joy, and, made Abbot, took up the governance of this place, and began, as before he had built for God a church out of dead stones, now to construct another out of living and chosen stones, where the Holy Spirit dwells: for by his example many, leaving the world, took up the habit of holy conduct: all of whom, embracing them with dear affection, he was fashioning by word and example, to be fitted for the heavenly city in their places.

[7] Complaining about the depredations of the soldiers at Perugia Meanwhile, while Peter persisted in those things which please God, Otto ^g the First of Germany, and the second of this name, summoned to Italy and the City by the Romans and other Princes on account of the many grave evils and scandals which were being done by Berengar and John XII the Pontiff, who was of a deplorable life, came with a great army; he came also under John XIII, with his son Otto, at which time he is seen to have taken his route through Tuscany after receiving the crown ^h, and tarried at Perugia with his army, who did many evils to the citizens and inhabitants of the city, as that kind of men is wont, having license for law, and fearing neither God nor men. Wherefore, moved by the tears of the widows and the poor, Abbot Peter approached the Emperor (whoever he was, whether the second or the third of this name, this matters little ⁱ), standing before whose presence with manly spirit, he thus addresses him:

[8] The most high King, O Emperor, committed to you an earthly kingdom to rule, not to destroy; before the Emperor Otto. but you are not a governor, but rather a dissipator. O wretch, do you not see how great goods you cause to be dissipated and devastated? Do you not know that you will render an account on the day of judgment? Wherefore you will merit his wrath, when you come to be strictly judged before him, and other things of the like. Moreover he added: the strict judge in judgment will say, not to those who plunder, but to those who give nothing of their own: I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me not in. And the rest; for which fault a horrible voice thunders beneath, saying: Go, you cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his Angels. If therefore, O King, he is punished with so great a penalty, who gave nothing of his own to the poor; with what penalty shall you be visited, who by plundering seek what is another's, and especially the poor's? By which words the Emperor, moved, had him expelled from his presence: but when he afterward heard of the holiness of his life, he had him summoned; he sought pardon from him, which he also received. For he was an excellent Emperor, and catholic, and a strenuous defender of the holy Roman Church ^k. Wherefore, having a conversation with the man of God about many things which would conduce to curbing the petulance of the wicked, he granted him many things by privilege, and confirmed them, and thus he heads for Germany. For Peter, directing his mind to the things which are of God, shone with many miracles, God working in his servant: who indeed said: Without me you can do nothing; but signs are the proof of the faith of those who believe in him: for, about to ascend to the Father, he says: These signs shall follow those who believe. Laboring therefore for this faith, Peter, deservedly these signs followed him, so that even inanimate things, and things lacking sense, obeyed him.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER II.

Miracles wrought by the Saint; his holy death.

[9] A beam; likewise a little boat with men kept safe by the Saint's aid. For when on a certain day he was beside the river Tiber, whose water washes the roots of the mountain of the aforesaid city *, with some men who were setting up a mill, a beam of wondrous size, floating upon the waters, threatened ruin to the mill: then the man of God, the sign of the Cross being made, turned it aside from its begun course, lest it should bring any trouble or damage. Few days passed, when, the man of God being at the bank of the river, and the river swelling greatly with its waves, certain men dwelling across the Tiber, that they might be able to come to the holy man of God, boarded a little boat; but the deep commotion of the waves turned the little boat aside from its straight course. Then those men, crying out to the servant of God, say thus: Servant of God Peter, succor us by praying; for we are perishing wretchedly. Then the holy Man, invoking Christ, raised the rod which he held in his hand, and the little boat, which before was being plunged into the abyss, at the command of the blessed Man, being led to the desired shore, set down its men safe and unharmed.

[10] An electuary spent on the poor From the Bishop too on a certain day he received a box full of electuary ^a, to keep, but the man of God, filled with the love of charity, had spent it all on the weak and the sick. But after many days the Prelate, requiring it, when he learned that the man of God had spent it on the sick, angrily demands that he return the entrusted electuary; but Peter, having nothing from which to return it, trusting in the Lord, and entering the oratory, asked almighty God that he would deign by divine power to restore the electuary, which for his love he had bestowed on the afflicted, that he might have the Bishop's troubled mind appeased.

[11] he recovers it from heaven. When after a little, the prayer being completed, he had opened the box, he found it full of better electuary than it had been before. At once therefore the holy Man, filled with great joy, giving thanks to God, sent it secretly to the Bishop by a messenger; but the Bishop, when he saw it, greatly astonished, coming to the man of God, diligently investigates whence he had received the aforesaid electuary, before spent, then so complete. But the Man, desiring to conceal the miracle, but by no means able, falling at his feet, asked him * that he should never make the deed known to anyone, as long as he lived in this life. For the omnipotent King, he says, just as once for Boniface ^b, Prelate of the church of Ferentino, restored the twelve Byzantines ^c which he had in like manner spent on the poor, so also had done for him with the electuaries.

[12] But on a certain day guests came to the gates of the monastery, [The loaves, which were to be distributed to the poor, being untouched by the dogs, others substituted.] and asked for alms. Then the man of God, the cellarer being summoned, commanded, saying: Brother, do not delay to give alms to the guests, but go, give them wine and bread, if you have it. But he, at once falsely denying, said that he had no loaves. But the holy Man, recognizing his lie by the spirit, entering the cellar found only five loaves in the chest, which, on account of his disobedience, he commanded to be thrown to the dogs; which the dogs, when they saw them, running together, and smelling them, fleeing in every way and far off, left untouched; which the man of God, weighing, gathered the loaves, and breaking them gave them to the poor, and vehemently rebuked the lying and disobedient monk, and scourged him with regular discipline. At once therefore before the doors of the monastery came a certain man sent by a certain noble woman, who brought thirty loaves and other things ^d to the holy Man and the brothers.

[13] But we know that he did also another very great miracle, on the juridical report of men, which we judge should by no means be kept silent. Two guilty men to be visited with punishment, And so in those times a certain Teutonic Count had been sent by the King to rule the land justly and lawfully, and by judging to restrain it, and to afflict the impious with penalties and to destroy them; who, obeying the King, knew how to correct the wicked well and manfully in all things, and never suffered robbers to live, but those caught in such a crime he had visited with the punishment of the gallows. But on a certain day two men were caught, wicked in such a crime, whom the aforesaid Count commanded, bound, soon to be condemned to the aforesaid punishment; but the holy Man, greatly interceding with the Count for them, that he should not destroy them penally, but rather grant them life, heard that this could by no means be done.

[14] Meanwhile, the ocean now snatching away the day, the setting of the sun was pressing on, therefore the sentence of death was pronounced upon them for the following morning. with the greatest peril to the holy Man But the holy Man asks to keep them until morning. Then the Count ordered that, according to his will, they should be given to him to guard; on such a condition indeed, that, if he lost them, he should undergo in his own body the death which was owed to them. Whom the holy Man, receiving on that condition, led them to his own lodging, and admonishing them sufficiently ^e that they should cease from such wickedness, fed them, clothed them, and permitted them to go away free by night. But morning being come, word was sent to him by the aforesaid Count, that he should present and return those entrusted to him, or otherwise, that he himself, undergoing that said penalty which was owed to them, should pay it. But all the acquaintances of the man of God, terrified, and weeping for such a sentence, came together with him to the court, and found the Count exceedingly disturbed against the man of God.

[15] For he threatened him with death for the robbers let go; but when he had learned from the sayings of many, [they are freed from death; and he himself escapes, the miracle which he worked being seen.] that the Lord had wrought very many powers through him, so that among the other marks of his virtues, if he ever blessed bread with the sign of the holy Cross, the dogs could by no means touch it. Which the Count hearing, said that he could not escape the sentence of death *, unless he did this before his eyes, with him seeing; but when this was reported to the man of God, he said: I will by no means for this tempt God: for it is written: You shall not tempt the Lord your God; I am in his hands. As it pleases him, let him work concerning his servant. Then the faithful, and lovers of the man of God, together with the Count, he not knowing, had a table prepared, and asked the servant of God to bless it; and the blessing being given, they at once threw the loaves to the dogs, that they might prove with how great merits of virtues the Lord adorned his servant. At once therefore, when the dogs had seen the thrown loaves, they ran together, and smelling them, left them untouched, and went away howling far off; which deed, when the Count had seen, he thenceforth venerated him with the greatest admiration.

[16] He frees a woman laboring in childbirth. It also happened that on a certain day, for the sake of the monastery and the obedience of the brothers, as he was going along a certain road, a certain woman dwelling near that road in a poor lodging, endangered by the pain of childbirth, was sending forth exceeding cries; but the man of the Lord, moved with pity, the sign of the holy Cross being made over her house, freed the woman from the suffering of that torment.

[17] Heading to Rome, he is wondrously not touched by the rain. At another time too, as he was going to the thresholds of the Apostles Peter and Paul, many people ^f of both sexes and of every age, on account of the great kindness and hospitality of his sanctity, accompanied the holy Man. A great immensity of rains had then burst forth, the air being gathered into clouds; but by the wondrous will of him who does great and unspeakable things, along the whole way by which the man of the Lord went with those following him, up to the aforesaid thresholds of the Apostles, not one drop of rain indeed fell, although on both sides a very stormy flood pressed on, just as we read happened in the times of Pope Gregory to Cerbonius, Bishop of Populonia, and to Fulgentius of Utricoli ^g.

[18] About to die, he exhorts the Bishop The most holy Man Peter, most illustrious Abbot, doing these and many other and greater miracles; before the twelfth day of his death, on the vigil of the Apostles Peter and Paul, seized by a fever, grew weak. But all the people, together with the aforesaid Bishop, running together to his death, deserved to hear this preaching from his mouth: Hear, sons, brought forth from one Father, most beloved brothers, a word of admonition. First I admonish your chief priest: the glory of a great priesthood consists in the rectitude of its subjects. Whence the excellent preacher says: You are my hope, joy, and crown before the Lord. The Priest and pastor ought therefore to fulfill by deeds what he teaches by words, as it is read of our Lord Jesus Christ: Jesus began to do and to teach: for if he does not do the good which he speaks, there will be fulfilled in him what is said by the Psalmist. But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare my justices, and take my covenant into your mouth? But you have hated discipline, and cast my words behind you.

[19] and the subjects to virtue, But you, the subjects, the ark of the eternal covenant, the bride of the King on high: you, members of the body of Christ, place the terror of the last judgment before the eyes of your mind, as it is said by wisdom: In all your work remember your last end, and you will not sin forever: Have the bond of love and of peace. Have humility, be humbled under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of tribulation: Have continual and mutual charity among yourselves; for charity covers a multitude of sins. Act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, hoping in the Lord and in the power of his might, that you may be able to resist against the snares of the devil, and that you may deserve to receive from God the crown of your struggle.

[20] These things said, his eyes and hands raised upward, he dies holily. he commended himself and all the people to the Lord, and at last, the Lord's sacraments being received, and the brothers singing psalms, amid the words of prayers, on the sixth day before the Ides of July, he sent forth his spirit, received into the eternal rest of paradise, and his body was honorably laid to rest beside the aforesaid church, to the praise and glory of the eternal King and our Redeemer Jesus Christ: who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns as God through the immortal ages of ages. But when the circle of one year had come round again, after the holy Man died; since it lay hidden from men of how great merit he was with God, by the disposing clemency of almighty God, who knows all things, his merits were declared by very many powers and various miracles: for when the anniversary day was not being kept, a most vehement wind suddenly came, which, uprooting very many trees, cast them down, and devastated much of the crop.

ANNOTATA.

can be taken. Consult Du Cange. Mabillon reads "a box full of Hadrian electuary." In the Gallenius Manuscript it is "Adrian."

* read "perluit" (washes).

* read "rogavit" (he asked).

* elsewhere: "sententiam."