Athanasius

ON ST. ATHANASIUS, BISHOP,

AT NAPLES IN CAMPANIA.

IN THE YEAR 872.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Athanasius, bishop, at Naples in Campania in Italy (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. C.

§ I. The cult of the Saint, and certain chronological points of his Life.

Naples, the most well-known city of Campania in Italy, of which we have already often made mention in our Acts, venerates on this day its holy prelate Athanasius, concerning whom we have a Neapolitan Office, printed in the year 1525. The relics of St. Athanasius are honored at Naples. But since the nine Lessons, and other proper parts of this Office, are taken from his Acts, which after this preliminary Commentary we shall exhibit, I judge it superfluous here to insert them. But in it there is recited the following prayer: O God, who hast conferred perennial glory on the soul of thy most holy confessor and pontiff Athanasius, grant, we beseech thee, that we may be so relieved by his patronage with thee, that with him we may possess eternal life. Through the Lord, etc. The sacred bones of this Prelate, translated into the greater church of Naples, according to the testimony of Ughelli in Italia Sacra, volume VI, column 109, now rest in the chapel of St. Salvator, where is read this inscription: Here lies the body of St. Athanasius, confessor and Bishop of the Neapolitans. The same Ughelli testifies that his head is there in the chapel of the treasury honorably kept, enclosed in a silver and gold casket.

[2] Concerning the cult of the same Saint in other places of Italy, Antonio Caracciolo thus writes, He is said to have died at Cassino, and then his arm to have remained there, in his singular book on the sacred monuments of the Neapolitan church, chapter 35, section 5. This holy Prelate is venerated also elsewhere; namely at Cassino, where he died, and whence, his arm being left there (although this is not found in the Acts of his translation), he was translated hither. To me, reading these few words of Caracciolo, a twofold difficulty occurs. First I do not grasp how he asserts that St. Athanasius died at Cassino, which town, according to the cosmographers, is adjacent to Monte Cassino, whereas nevertheless in our Acts written by a contemporary he is said to have died in the oratory of St. Quiricus, which is distant twelve thousand paces from the monastery of St. Benedict (John the Deacon in the first Life, to be given after this preliminary Commentary, number 10, clearly adds; which is situated on Monte Cassino). These things do not seem able easily to be reconciled, unless a place of the same name be found distant twelve thousand paces from Monte Cassino, which I have hitherto sought in vain, and which I therefore desire to be assigned to me by the inhabitants of that region, more skilled in their own affairs.

[3] Besides, I do not sufficiently understand how at that time the arm of the Saint was left at Cassino, since to the monks of Cassino, to whose monastery the body of the holy Prelate was first translated, each of which assertions suffers a difficulty. wishing to retain some part of the Relics, it was thus answered, as I read in the ancient Acts of the translation, number 4: As he was commended to you whole, so, with the Lord's help, his own see shall have him whole. Then, number 5, it is said that his venerable body… was found so whole, that not a hair of his head or beard fell off, and the garments and all things were found safe, as they had before been placed. From these words it seems it can be drawn that the body of St. Athanasius was then not yet mutilated in any part of itself. Wherefore let the people of Cassino either satisfy this doubt of ours, or confess that that arm, if indeed it be of St. Athanasius, bishop of Naples, was carried to them later.

[4] St. Athanasius, who is venerated at Capua, Caracciolo, in the place just cited, thus proceeds to indicate the cult of our Saint: At Capua also his memory was celebrated: for I read in a certain very ancient manuscript codex of the prayers of that church, that he was invoked in the Litanies with other holy bishops and confessors. Nor will anyone be able to suspect that not this our Saint, but the Alexandrian, ought there to be understood, since no Greek bishop is there recounted, as will be clear to one inspecting it. It is not agreed among the Italian writers whether Athanasius of Naples is the same with him who is venerated at Sorrento as one of the five patrons of that city. David Romeus, in his little book on the five divine guardians and presidents of the city of Sorrento, page 278, thinks him to be the same, and endeavors to establish his opinion by various reasons, which our Elders, on the XXVI day of January, treating of St. Athanasius as bishop of Sorrento, related in the very words of Romeus.

[5] Others contend that St. Athanasius, bishop of Naples, differs altogether from the Sorrentine of the same name; most probably he was bishop of Naples, and distinct from the Sorrentine. among them Paolo Regio, bishop of Vico Equense, in his work on the Saints of the kingdom of Naples, part 2, page 646, from the Acts of St. Antoninus the abbot, which our Bolland on the XIV day of February also edited, relates a certain apparition of St. Athanasius, in which he showed himself an old and bald man, and thence concludes that he is not the same with the Neapolitan Athanasius, who at forty years departed from this life. But if we believe Ughelli, the difference between the two is huge, since the Neapolitan easily lived two centuries after the Sorrentine: for thus he writes, volume 6 of Italia Sacra, column 747: St. Athanasius was a Sorrentine bishop, distinct from St. Athanasius, bishop of Naples. He obtained this see after Amandus in the year of salvation 617, of whom no Acts are extant; yet the sacred anniversaries are celebrated on the VI of the Kalends of February. We, the arguments on both sides being weighed, subscribe to the opinion distinguishing those two Athanasiuses.

[6] The memory of our Saint is extant in the Roman Martyrology, Although the cult of St. Athanasius, bishop of Naples, is ancient, yet among the Martyrologists his memory is recent and rare: for only in the present Roman Martyrology is he thus recorded on this day: At Naples in Campania, of St. Athanasius, bishop of the same city, who, having suffered much from his impious nephew Sergius and driven from his see, worn out at Veroli by hardships, passed to heaven, in the time of Charles the Bald. These words of the Roman Martyrology seem to intimate that he died at Veroli. Which being granted, I do not see how this place of death agrees with the opinion of Caracciolo, who thinks that he died at Cassino, or with the assertion of the contemporary writer of the Acts, who says that he rendered his spirit to his Creator in the oratory of St. Quiricus, which is distant twelve [P] thousand from the Monastery of St. Benedict. The town of Cassino,

as I said above, is not so great a distance from the monastery of Cassino; but the city of Veroli is distant more than twelve thousand paces from Monte Cassino. I do not see, I say, how these things agree among themselves, unless one so interpret the sense of the Martyrology, that St. Athanasius, returning from Rome to Naples, began to labor with a fever at Veroli, and nevertheless, pursuing his journey, died on the way, worn out with disease and hardships. Caracciolo reads that he came to the city of Nerula. But that Verula should rather be read the reason of the journey persuades, since the city of Veroli is situated between Rome and Monte Cassino. And these things indeed on occasion of the Roman Martyrology, which alone, without doubt from the Records of the Neapolitan church, confirms the holiness of our Athanasius.

[7] Capaccio thought, according to the testimony of Caracciolo now several times praised, that he had found an ancient monument concerning St. Athanasius, but not, as Capaccio thought, namely a coin, which was struck in his honor; concerning which, book 1, page 111, he is reported to speak thus: But since we have fallen upon these coins of religion, that coin is to be noted, in which the piety of Januarius and Athanasius, whom Naples had as most holy bishops, shines forth. From these words it is sufficiently clear that Capaccio wished to indicate our Athanasius; since he calls him the most holy bishop of the city of Naples, which title certainly he would not have attributed to the other Athanasius, the nephew of the holy Prelate, and his successor in the chair, who rendered himself unworthy of that appellation, as Capaccio himself knew, who in Ughelli says that perhaps still excommunicated and hated he lost his life about the year of the Lord 895. But since Capaccio speaks of coins, he is by no means to be thought to have wished to signify the seal, which at Naples the congregation of the Hebdomadarii uses in memory of St. Athanasius its founder, on one side of which is the image of St. Athanasius, before which the Hebdomadarii are seen kneeling, as Chioccarello relates in the Catalogue of the Prelates of Naples at the year of Christ 849, page 87.

[8] I scarcely doubt, therefore, that Capaccio treated of that coin, which Camillo Tutini in the Life of St. Januarius written in Italian, chapter 9, exhibits among others in the fourth place. on an ancient coin, which Tutini exhibits. On it on one side St. Januarius and on the other Athanasius, clothed in episcopal habit, and called by their proper name, are represented. But I think, with Tutini and Caracciolo, that the younger Athanasius, the nephew of our Saint, is there expressed, because on this side of the coin the titles of "saint" and the rays are lacking, which both signs of holiness are seen manifestly set to the five images of St. Januarius there adduced. Lest anyone perchance say that this coin was struck by the command of St. Athanasius; besides that this does not pertain to our question, let him remember that it was permitted only to Dukes to strike coins, such as was Sergius, the father of St. Athanasius, whose effigy is expressed on one of the mentioned coins. Although, therefore, these coins be supposed ancient and genuine, which it little concerns us here laboriously to discuss, I judge it more probable that on this coin the younger Athanasius is represented, who was at once Duke and Bishop of Naples, as will be clear to anyone turning over the Neapolitan histories. Now let us weave through in few words the chronology of our Saint's Life.

[9] The certain epoch of his birth and death, But concerning this matter we shall not have to dispute here at length, since its chief points are noted in the most ancient Acts. In the year 832 was born St. Athanasius of noble parents, namely his father Sergius, his mother Drusa, whom some call Dosa, others Drosa. He had various brothers, some of whom are recounted in his Acts. He who desires to know more fully the genealogy of the holy Prelate, let him consult Ughelli, volume VI of Italia Sacra, columns 112 and 113. The contemporary author, to be edited by us in the second place after this Commentary, indicates the epoch of his birth in these words, number 9: This one therefore being born in the tenth Indiction, that is, in the year of Christ 832, Michael and Theophilus reigning, Gregory presiding over the Roman Church, his parents confirmed their vow by the deed, as they had decreed, making him a cleric, etc. Caracciolo, in the work already cited, chapter 35, section 1, rightly warns that heed must be taken lest here two different things be confounded: for the tenth Indiction, or the year 832, pertains not to the clericate of St. Athanasius, but to his birth.

[10] it is shown against the errors of certain writers. This, besides other arguments adduced by Caracciolo, most clearly demonstrate the words of the same contemporary writer, who, number 26, testifies that he died on the Ides of July, in the fifth Indiction, the emperor Basil reigning, that is, in the year of the Lord 872. But then he subjoins there these things: The aforesaid venerable Man lived before the episcopate eighteen years, and in the episcopate sat XXII years. The computation of these forty years being made, anyone will easily understand that St. Athanasius was born in the year of Christ 832. Whence I wonder that David Romeus in the Seven Guardians and Presidents of the city of Naples, page 72, and Cornelius Grass the Carthusian in the Lives of the Saints, volume 3, page 172, against so evident a testimony assigned to his birth the year 835. By the same testimony are refuted all those writers who deviated from the true epoch of his death, among whom, besides the two already cited, is Philip Ferrarius, who in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy sets down his death in the year 877, and Ludovico Zacconi, who in the Lives of the Saints edited in Italian writes that he died in the year 881.

[11] In a youthful age, as the supreme prelate of the diocese. From the words of the Acts already cited it can easily be gathered that St. Athanasius, quite young, in the year 849, as Ughelli notes, or 850, as Baronius will have it, ascended the Chair of Naples. Moreover the reader is to be forewarned that St. Athanasius alone, as the supreme moderator of spiritual affairs in his diocese, governed the church of Naples. This warning I premise, lest anyone falsely think that at that time there were at Naples two equal ones, when in the Acts, number 4, he shall afterward read, among the other praises of the city of Naples, these words: For within it also it bears two sees of prelates. Lest anyone therefore here be mistaken, let him know that then in the city of Naples there was a double flock of Catholics, namely Latin and Greek, each of which had its own prelate, but in such a manner that the Greek was subordinate to the Latin.

[12] he governed the church of Naples. Thus also Baronius understood this passage of the Life of Athanasius, when in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 872, number 12, relating the Life of St. Athanasius, he says of the church of Naples, that a double people was contained in it, namely Latin and Greek, who separately, each their own, yet under one head, performed their rites. And this is sufficiently clear, if one read with Chioccarello, already praised, thus: For within it also it bears two sees of Prelates after the manner of the two testaments, although there is one which governs and rules the other, as by the head the diverse limbs are ruled. Nay, in whatever reading this is sufficiently intimated by the writer of the Acts, when he institutes the comparison which he draws from the head, by which the diverse limbs are ruled. He who wishes to read these things more fully disputed, let him see Antonio Caracciolo in the work already cited, chapter 35, section 2; and Bartolomeo Chioccarello in the Catalogue of the Prelates of Naples at the year 878, page 95 and following. It remains that we prenote certain things concerning the Acts of the life and translation of Athanasius, and their writers.

§ II. The Acts of the life and translation, and their writers.

Various persons committed to writing the things done by St. Athanasius, among whom are numbered Paolo Regio, David Romeus, Cesare Baronius, Antonio Caracciolo, We have in Manuscripts his Life, by the author John the Deacon, Bartolomeo Chioccarello, and others. Of the same made mention Ferdinando Ughelli in the work already indicated, and our Nicolò Partenio Giannettasio in the Neapolitan History edited in Latin in the year 1713, book 7, page 145. But we, not content with these rivulets, after our accustomed manner investigated the very fountains from which all these had drawn their materials. To this end our Antonio Beatillo, most deserving of the Acts of the Saints, gave to our Elders a manuscript Catalogue of the bishops of Naples, written by John the Deacon of Naples, who flourished in the ninth century, in which, after other deeds of the prelates of Naples, is read the Life of our St. Athanasius. The transcript was taken from an ancient codex written in Lombardic characters, which is preserved at Rome in the Vatican Library. The most illustrious and most learned Lord Domenico De Giorgio of Naples, a man most studious of our work, lately sent the same Life to us, because he believed that it was lacking to us. This Life, therefore, collated with the other, we shall edit in the first place.

[14] Since I had read in Antonio Caracciolo that there is moreover extant another Life of St. Athanasius, and another composed by an Anonymous, which he himself had once copied from a Manuscript of the Monastery on Monte Cassino, I immediately gave letters to the mentioned Lord De Giorgio, most loving of our studies, that I might obtain those Acts of St. Athanasius. He, according to his benevolence toward us, immediately ordered the same to be copied from the Cassino codex, and, fortified with the seal of the same monastery, in the year 1723 most courteously and munificently transmitted them to us. But since the amanuensis was not skilled in the Lombardic character, this transcript, otherwise most neatly written, is so filled with errors that I was compelled laboriously to collate it with certain fragments of the same Life occurring in Baronius, Chioccarello, Caracciolo, and Ughelli, and, where this help was lacking, to correct it by probable conjecture. These Acts, corrected in that manner as far as could be done, we shall commit to print in the second place.

[15] Our praised friend Lord De Giorgio also, at Naples, from a very ancient Lombardic codex, together with his translation, from which obscure verses are set forth. which is there in the archive of the SS. Apostles among the Theatines, took care to have copied the translation of St. Athanasius, subscribed by John Baptist Caracciolo, prefect of the same archive, and fortified with the accustomed seal of the Religious Order, which, collated with another had long since, we shall publish after both the Acts. To this Translation are subjoined certain little verses so obscure that scarcely an Oedipus could explain their sense. I frankly confess that I do not understand them. Nevertheless I set them before the eyes of the curious reader, if anyone perhaps, more happy than I in divining, may be able to interpret them. In both our Manuscripts they are read thus:

Whosoever thou shalt read the Life of Athanasius, and the wondrous things which the blessed father did, such writings. Of Lunissum know that I renewed with serene mind, a mean man led by the love of the offspring of the prelate. That I may be free from his reproaches by prayer or not by expiations, may I enter the highest chamber of Elysium.

I judged at first sight that these verses were faultily copied; but besides that a different double Manuscript expresses them in the same manner, the aforesaid John Baptist Caracciolo testifies that they are written thus in clear letters, although he at the same time confesses that it is not yet ascertained to him what they mean. I, as I said, gladly leave their interpretation to others. Meanwhile let us examine who are the writers of the Acts and of the Translation.

[16] The author of the more prolix Life is not Peter the Deacon of Cassino, It is sufficiently agreed among the learned that John, Deacon of the church of Naples, who lived in the ninth century, inserted the first and shorter Life of St. Athanasius into his Chronicle of the prelates of Naples. But the chief controversy is, who wrote the other or more prolix Acts of the same Saint. Baronius, at the year of Christ 872, number 4, indicates the author of the more prolix Life in these words: In this same year also, in which Pope Hadrian died, likewise departed from this life, but before him, St. Athanasius, bishop of Naples, as Peter the Deacon of Cassino testifies, who lived at this same time, and wrote the things illustriously done by him. I know not whence Baronius dug out this Peter the Deacon of Cassino, a writer of the ninth century. At least in the Acts of St. Athanasius, a great part of which Baronius there inserted into his Annals, nowhere does the author betray his name or profession of life. Certainly the contemporary author of those Acts could not have been Peter the Deacon of Cassino, who only in the twelfth century edited several little works; nor his master, called by the same name, of whom the aforesaid Peter, in the little work on the Illustrious Men of Cassino, chapter 39, thus writes: Peter the Deacon my instructor, a distinguished declaimer, going forth from the city of Teano, of which he was a native, came to Cassino, and by the abbot Oderisius was made a monk. But this Oderisius was abbot in the twelfth century, as may be seen in Camillo Pellegrino in the series of the Abbots of Cassino, page 64.

[17] but a contemporary Anonymous, I judge, therefore, with Antonio Caracciolo, that the writer of this Life is anonymous, who lived in the age of St. Athanasius; which last I elicit from these words of the Prologue, number 2. Which (little book) if anyone shall read more attentively, he will acquire for himself no small edification, by imitating the acts of the man of God, and by rendering immense thanks to the Maker of all, who IN OUR TIMES deigned to perpetrate ancient miracles through his servant. Then in the Acts themselves, number 6, he thus has it: Since IN OUR RECENT TIMES the most holy Athanasius, prelate of the same city, was so dear to God in all pious works, that his blessed life is not undeservedly compared to the Acts. Nay, I judge that this Life was written by none of the monks of Cassino, because the author speaks of the monastery of Cassino, not as his own, but as another's, thus, number 27: Thence carried even to Monte Cassino, all weeping, but the angels exulting; receiving whom, all the holy congregation of that monastery (he would probably have said "of our monastery," if he had been a monk of Cassino) worthily and most becomingly laid up the most holy body in the church of the blessed Prince of the Apostles,… where many marvels abound through him to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, even to the present day. From these last words too it can be gathered that these Acts were composed before the body of St. Athanasius, five years after his death, was translated from Monte Cassino to Naples. Although from all these I know nothing of the writer's name or profession, yet I suspect that he was a citizen and inhabitant of Naples, since he is wholly occupied in accumulating the praises of this city, as is clear from the beginning of the Acts.

[18] who also seems to have written the Acts of the translation. Bartolomeo Chioccarello, in the Catalogue of the Prelates of Naples at the year 849, page 90, thus makes mention of the double translation of St. Athanasius: In the fifth year after his death, by Athanasius the younger his nephew, bishop and Duke of Naples, the venerable body of that Saint was solemnly translated to Naples, and placed in the porch of the most celebrated church of St. Januarius outside the walls of the city, in the oratory of St. Laurence, prelate of the same see, and near the cave of St. John his predecessor and master, where he shone with miracles. Then it was translated into the greater church, where it still rests, namely in the chapel of St. Salvator. I know not at what time and in what manner this last translation was made from the oratory of St. Laurence to the Cathedral of Naples. The former translation, made five years after the Saint's death, an Anonymous author, says Chioccarello in the place cited, who was present at all, most accurately wrote. Whether he was present at all, I dare not affirm; that he was a contemporary, however, sufficiently appears from the narration itself. Nay, that he is the same who collected the Acts of the Saint, I conjecture from the Prologue of the translation, where, number 2, he sets forth these words: Concerning whose (namely St. Athanasius's) life the mind had desired to say something more; but in the preceding little book concerning his life and manners, as far as the sluggish pen was able to search out, it was pursued. Observe that the narrator of the translation excuses the sluggish pen of the preceding little book, in which he had set forth the life and manners of the Saint. Now it is time that we exhibit the mentioned Acts, both of the Life and of the translation, in the promised order.

ACTS

By the author John the Deacon of Naples.

From the Manuscript Chronicle of the bishops of Naples, which is extant at Rome in the Vatican Library.

Athanasius, bishop, at Naples in Campania in Italy (S.)

BHL Number: 0734

BY JOHN THE DEACON. FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

Athanasius the forty-fourth bishop, sat XXII years, VI months, XXIV days. But this one, from the very time of his childhood, St. Athanasius, venerable to the people for his virtue, even to the honor of the diaconate, his father Sergius being Duke, remained under tutors and guardians, that, ignorant of secular business, he might be imbued with every catholic instruction. For of what sort and how great he shone, if men are silent, the very stones will cry out. Before the twentieth year of his age, supported by the levitical honor, he was venerated [*] as though already a bishop. For the Lord, who provided so great a pastor for his Church, had in a certain manner implanted in human hearts a sign of his clemency concerning him, designating him the future Prelate of it. He, I say, he, mellifluous with so great nectar, so sweetened all, that the lord John the bishop with fatherly affection so loved him, that concerning him he never opened his mouth without the appellation of son. All the people loved him, and not ^b without the affirmation of the Lord in a wondrous manner was praised with eager rivalry by each one, and, what the Almighty had before the ages predestined, being now unmarried and holy, he foreboded.

[2] he becomes bishop of Naples, Therefore, the lord John having gone to the heavenly country, all the people at once acclaimed his election. Who presently, raised up, in a few days hastened to Rome, where, honorably received, with great glory he returned to Naples. Enthroned, therefore, he began abundantly to impart the fertility of doctrine which in his childhood he had sucked. He ordained schools of readers and cantors; some he appointed to be imbued with Grammar; others he attached [] to the office of writing, that so, as a provident pastor, he might fortify the halls [] of his flock, that no one needy might present his contemplation to the Lord, and might most truly hear: The holy Church flourishes in thy days, redeemed by the blood of Christ.

[3] Besides, he renovated the church ^c of St. Januarius placed in the very chamber, and in adorning churches, and depicted in it the effigies of noble doctors, making there a marble altar with silver rails ^d, over which he covered a veil, in which he set forth in needlework the martyrdom of St. Januarius and his companions. For in the same work in the Stephania church ^e he made thirteen cloths ^f, depicting on them the evangelical history, which he ordered to hang from the capitals of the columns for ornament, and on the altar of the same church he offered four veils of this work, adorned with much gold and many gems: for he studied to make very many cloths, which he preferred to offer in the ornaments of the churches. Of silver, therefore, he made not a few vessels in that church; for to fashion great and short [*] crowns, and other sacred little vessels, he weighed out forty-eight pounds of silver. Of the same metal, therefore, he made a great paten, sculpting on it the face of the Savior and of the angels, which within he overlaid with gold.

[4] and other pious foundations, Likewise he prepared two silver basins weighing twenty pounds, of which one had the name of Sergius engraved; he made also comitidæ ^g, which the cantors might use through the festivals. But in the very bishopric, for the daily ministries, in spoons ^h and chains, he bestowed almost a hundred pounds of silver. He ordained also that in the church of the Savior every day a public Mass with diptychs be celebrated, offering there lands from which such a college might be maintained. Then he ordained a hospice in the atrium of the aforesaid church, many lands being offered, that there might be a resting-place for the needy and for strangers. Finally, in the church of St. Januarius situated outside, he ordained a college of monks under the rule of an abbot, offering them a garden placed in the field of Naples.

[5] Many churches, therefore, whose priests labored with poverty, he showed his munificence. he took care to relieve, the gifts of his liberality being offered, and the things of his own providing. Which if we wish to recount all, both for us it is long to go through the several ones, and on the readers we press no small weariness. At the same time also the church of Misenum ⁱ, sins requiring it, was devastated by the pagans, all whose almost immovable goods, this prelate beseeching, his father Sergius the Duke granted to the bishopric of Naples, and on the altar of the Stephania church he covered a veil adorned with gold and gems and borders ^k, which contains the name of himself and of his wife Drusa [*]. He gave also into the library of the same bishopric three codices of Flavius Josephus.

[6] Besides, Sergius the Consul being dead, and Gregory his son ruling the duchy, The Emperor Louis, St. Athanasius, the ferocity of the Saracens so prevailed in these regions, that there was a daily destruction of many cities and camps. Therefore the Emperor Louis ^l, moved by the supplication of the Lombards, for their liberation moved a strong army, asserting that he would render an account, if for those for whom Christ descended from the bosom of the Father, undergoing corporeal death, he did not free them oppressed from the most pagan yoke. To his coming the entrance of all the cities round about lay open, only the Neapolitan city he did not enter, because this lord Athanasius obtained so great familiarity with him, that not even in a small matter was he embittered by his power. And so, staying at Benevento, he received a great victory from heaven. So that, the Agarenes ^m being destroyed by famine and the sword, and their king [*] Seodan captured, he took away the cities which they had taken, and recalled them to their former dominion.

[7] Meanwhile Gregory the Duke, counsel being held with his brothers and especially with the lord Athanasius the bishop, to the tyranny of his nephew, appointed his son Sergius consul; nor long after, by the long duration of sickness, he breathed out his spirit. He being dead, Sergius the Consul, at the instigation of evil men, seized all the brothers of his father, even the same Prelate, who being separately consigned to custody, within the space of the seventh day, all the monks, servants of God, priests, and Clergy gathered together, cried with tears poured forth: Sergius Consul, restore to us our Pontiff, release the Saint, the father of orphans, the defender of widows, the light of the whole region, the consoler of the sad; loose the man through whom all the country remained pacified; otherwise we shall willingly take up a pilgrimage, that, we being absent, the wrath of so great a crime may rage against thee. What he should do, whither he should turn, he had not, and so, straitened, at last at length

released the aforementioned Prelate to them, bound by such an oath, that he should nowhere go without his consent, except only to fulfill the ecclesiastical custom.

[8] Ten days, therefore, being completed, he asked leave, him withdrawing himself, he takes into his clientage, as though about to exhibit a banquet to the monks of the island of the Savior ⁿ; which being received, delaying nothing, with all the clerics he ascended into the same island. For he desired in a certain manner to bring forth his brothers from the prison in which they were detained; but Sergius, unwilling to withdraw from so great obstinacy of mind, said, Not only will I suffer these to be loosed; moreover I will endeavor to drag the same Bishop out of that island. Therefore the lord Athanasius the bishop, destining his apocrisiary ^o to the lord Louis the Emperor, intimated to him what and how great things he suffered from his nephew. Then he from the city of Benevento commanded Marinus, the elder of the Amalfitans, to lead him from the aforesaid island, with all his men, unharmed, whither he wished. But Marinus, hastening to fulfill the commands, led him safe to Sorrento with all.

[9] [and at his exhortation, unmindful of the injury, he succors the people of Salerno,] And so while he dwelt there, the Beneventans and the Salernitans, envying so great goodness of the aforesaid Emperor, rose up with the counsel of Sergius the Duke against him: him being captured and shut up together with his wife, very many Franks, their pastor lost, with mournful howling returned into their region. But afterward the Beneventans, Salerno being now besieged by the incursion of the Saracens, released that Emperor bound by an oath, that he should by no means render them a recompense for so great inhumanity as they had heaped upon him. To meet whom Bishop Athanasius, being busy to go, at once, going out from Sorrento, hastened to Rome, and there was detained a little while by Pope Hadrian, and then, going out, met the aforesaid Emperor at Ravenna. And thus, returning with him into the same City, with many prayers he extorted from him that, unmindful of his own injury, he would aid the Salernitans, hemmed in by the siege of the Ishmaelites [p], preaching to him the judgment of the Lord, in which each one shall receive according to the invention of his own hands.

[10] after the death of St. Athanasius. Whence the pious Augustus, moved, directed an armed multitude, that, the Lord protecting, they might enter into war against them. Who, coming swiftly and laying low the Saracens with very great slaughter, a triumph being granted from heaven, returned most victorious. But Cæsarius [q], the brother of the aforesaid Prelate, ended his life in that very custody. But Athanasius, journeying with them, began to labor with the force of fevers, and, the fifteenth day being completed, all weeping, passed to the Lord; whose little body, carrying it to the monastery of St. Benedict, which is situated on Monte Cassino, they buried in the church of St. Peter the Apostle established there, in the fifth Indiction, in the year of the Emperors 872 r. But he was in the times of Leo, and Benedict, and Nicholas, and Hadrian, the Apostolic ones [s].

ANNOTATIONS.

p. By the name of the Ishmaelites the Saracens or Agarenes are also called, of whom Nicholas of Lyra on chapter 10 of Isaiah thus writes: The Arabs are Saracens, from Ishmael and Cadar his son, who are better called Agarenes from their mother.

q. Of this brother of St. Athanasius Carlo Sigonio makes mention, book 5 On the Kingdom of Italy, and others cited in Ughelli, volume 6 of Italia Sacra, column 112.

r. In our other Manuscript that year is expressly expressed, which in this Manuscript was omitted. But whether, and who, afterward added that number, whether it is found in the autograph itself, I know not. Therefore I have here enclosed it in brackets.

s. Without doubt John the Deacon wishes to indicate that St. Athanasius was bishop under those Pontiffs: for it is established that under others their predecessors he was or lived, as is manifest to anyone not altogether unskilled in ecclesiastical chronology.

* elsewhere, was numbered.

* perhaps, he placed.

* read, the sheepfolds caulas.

* elsewhere, hitherto.

* elsewhere, Dosa.

* elsewhere, Senda.

OTHER ACTS

BY A CONTEMPORARY ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

From the Register of St. Placidus, written in Lombardic letters, from page 131; which codex is preserved in the archive of the monastery of Cassino.

Athanasius, bishop, at Naples in Campania in Italy (S.)

BHL Number: 0736

BY A CONTEMPORARY ANONYMOUS FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

PROLOGUE.

The author shows from the Life of St. Athanasius, The glorious and praiseworthy course of life, to which the men of God, for desire of the supernal kingdom, strive to hasten with laborious effort, although it can somehow be explained outwardly in words, yet the inner force of the manner of life, by which they assiduously cleave to God, no discourse, I think, no oration ever brings forth from the marrow. Since now in these last times the worship of Christ so glows more propensely in some, that it seems doubtful to none that they, the contest of the world being finished, from the present good securely penetrate the starry kingdoms ^a. Of whose company the venerable man Athanasius the bishop, the good fruit of a good tree, from the very beginning of his novitiate, like a most splendid star among the ruddy constellations, shone more brightly: since, bearing a senile heart in a boyish mind, he subjected himself to no pleasure, but, prompt in the love and service of God, watchful in vigils and prayers, unfailing in readings and almsgivings, was solicitous in ecclesiastical cares, so that he is deservedly believed, temporal advantages being cast off, to have purchased eternal joys, if the various suffrages of miracles which, God granting, are daily wrought by his merits at his tomb, be weighed.

[2] that holy men are found who work miracles. It is not, therefore, a wonder, or difficult, save to the unlearned and incredulous, that a celibate and God-worthy man is found even now in this present life; since the Lord says: My Father worketh until now, and I work. To him not undeservedly is said by God: Thou hast fought a good fight; thou hast kept the faith, receive the crown which is laid up for thee: And that: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord. But if anyone, being an emulator of the truth, shall attempt to gainsay, that no one can henceforth glitter with divine miracles, let him recollect what the Savior says: He who believes in me, the works which I do, he shall do. And elsewhere: The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. And again: Behold I am with you even to the consummation of the world. But if truly the head with its members abides in the Church even to the end, it is not called incredible that the Lord can now work these things through his faithful; but Solomon also, before so many years' courses, confirms this saying: The grace of the spirit, passing through regenerations into holy souls, makes friends of God and prophets ^b. For the country and stock, life and manners of the aforesaid venerable man the following little book contains: which if anyone shall read more attentively, he will acquire for himself no small edification, by imitating the acts of the man of God, and by rendering immense thanks to the Maker of all, who in our times deigned to perpetrate ancient miracles through his servant, to the praise and glory of his name, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER I.

The country, parents, pious education, and clericate in childhood of St. Athanasius.

That Italy is the most noble and richest part of Europe, according to the threefold division of the world, Naples is praised

no one who has even in part known cosmography is ignorant. Which indeed is divided into two islands ^a, and sixteen provinces, of which the seventh is called Campania, fruitful in grains and all fruits; which, as it is fertile, producing diverse germs of fruits, so has often produced and educated celibate and God-worthy men: among whom Athanasius, like a new star, gleamed not moderately. This Campania, therefore, has most comely and very rich cities; of which one is Heneapolis [*], which, after the destruction of the city of Troy, was founded by Æneas son of Anchises and of Venus ^b, so very powerful and pleasant is it, namely in the fortifications of its structure, in its suburban situation, and in the religion of the worshipers of Christ dwelling within, that in Hesperia ^c, after the city of Rome, none is found to be inferior. How eminent it is Virgil manifests in the distinct little verses of his epitaph, which, dying, he had himself dictated for himself, when he called it Parthenope, that is, virgin, from a certain unwed maiden once dwelling there.

[4] This finally Octavian ^d and Constantine the Emperors enlarged; for its beautiful buildings and temples, to its beauty Belisarius the patrician, by the command of the Emperor Justinian, added seven marvelous towers, which he made Augustal, and, on account of the number, four-sided and six-sided ^e. Narses again, a patrician and chamberlain of the Emperors, after he had, the Vandals and Goths being destroyed, stripped Italy of their savagery, augmented it in the greatest part, so that on one side he fortified it with the adjoining sea for a receptacle of ships, and fortified it with so most firm a building, that even triremes ^f laden with merchandise are most strongly protected by those overhanging. But why do we linger on the exterior buildings, which indeed are better beheld by those who see them than the eloquence of any sophist could tell? Since so within it is kept crammed [*] with most frequent and illustrious churches, of ancient, namely, and most venerable structure raised up, and also with monasteries of men and of maidens, that, aided by their continual prayers, nocturnal and diurnal, it stands unconquered and safe. For within it also bears two sees of prelates, after the manner of the two Testaments, although there be one which governs it, and rules the other, as by the head the diverse limbs are ruled ^g.

[5] and its holy patrons, There are plainly found in it temples built with ancient building; since not only from Constantine, the most pious prince, most Christian of the Emperors, but many years before, the Christian religion there flourished. Since the most blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, ordained the most holy Aspren ^h the first Bishop there. For the church of that blessed Agrippinus ⁱ also is even now shown, who was ordained the fifth Bishop from the aforesaid Aspren, and who is both the patron and defender of this city. The most blessed Januarius also, martyr of Christ, afterward ^k the Neapolitans merited to have as guardian, by whose striving and favor the aforesaid city, God favoring, remained safe, and will remain for ever; since, as it were two most firm bases, and two shining candlesticks, the same city glories to have the aforesaid Fathers, supported by two wings, that is, trusting in the prayers of two Saints. In which the laity together with the clerics assiduously in Greek and Latin, with common prayer, sing psalms to God, and continually pay the due Office; in which also the natives and inhabitants do not, by going around the houses in the habit of pilgrims, publicly seek alms, but in the place where they dwell abundantly receive all the necessaries which they desire in mind; and, according to the Lord's precept, the dwellers of the aforesaid city rather seek out Lazaruses [*], and exhibit more largely to those who are in need, than the needy inquire after the wealth of the affluent ^l.

[6] and the men sprung from it, among whom is St. Athanasius. Therefore, often assailed by many nations, and first by the Vandals, at last unceasingly oppressed by the Lombards for almost two hundred years, it persists inviolate, and unconquered by the assault of all enemies; since this city is a city of mercy and piety, hedged about on every side with all goodness; which indeed merited to have so many and such patrons with God in interceding, deservedly ought to be guarded by such protection, that it both abounds in good wealth, and exists unharmed by all adversaries. Why then do we endeavor to build up diverse things concerning the diverse structures, or attempt to narrate concerning the abundance of the ancient Saints in that city coming forth from the aforesaid city, whose conversation is in the heavens? Since in our recent times ^m the most holy Athanasius, prelate of the same city, was in all pious works so dear to God, that his blessed life is not undeservedly compared to the acts of the just; whose manners are then more truly recounted, if the beginning be taken from his ancestors.

[7] Sergius, a strenuous and learned man In the year, therefore, of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ our Lord being eight hundred and thirty-five, in the thirteenth Indiction, a certain Sergius, a man in all things strenuous, a Neapolitan sprung from the stock of the nobles, from the very cradle noble of twofold origin, but far nobler in mind, pleasing to his parents, but not unpleasing to God, flourished. At which time, namely, the said city sustained a huge persecution from the bands of the Lombards, so that this singular man was sought by them to be slain, like Moses the servant of God by the Egyptians. They feared, without doubt, lest, as he was given to them for ruin, so this one should in some way be given to these for destruction, and therefore he bore innumerable reproaches and no small losses, for the desired advantage of himself and of his fellow-citizens. But when he had come to manly age, he was favorably instructed in letters both Greek and Latin, so that if by chance he took in his hands a book written with Greek elements, he read it fluently in Latin without stumbling, and searched Latin books readily in the Greek tongue. For with so great praise of prudence and modesty, and so great patience, was he adorned, that with Gregory ⁿ the Pontiff of the Roman See, and toward the most serene men, Louis the most pious, surnamed the Kindly ^o, and his offspring Lothair [p], the most invincible Cæsars, he was most familiar, and obtained the greatest place of honor, since he frequently went to their royal palaces [q], on account of the infestation of the aforesaid nations, often assailing his city. This one, therefore, can not without reason be called the savior of his own nation, through whom the people and the city are made immune from siege. For this cause also he merited to obtain the primacy of his nation. For the ruler of the said city dying, while this one was absent, the citizens and all his kinsmen appointed him Duke for themselves, with equal consent and petition. Presently, the mercy of God aiding, the persecution of the sinister incursion ceased.

[8] But that the pen may turn back a little, the aforesaid man took a wife worthy of his stock, he marries a pious and noble wife, by name Drosu, sprung of princely lineage, and herself honorable in all manners, and conspicuous for brightness, so that rightly may be adapted to her what Solomon utters concerning wise women: A valiant woman, he says, who shall find? From afar. And a little after: Her husband is noble in the gates, when he shall sit with the senators of the land, and the rest which follow. These being joined, a crowd of offspring followed, the Lord bestowing it; of whom one, they still living, by name Gregory, is appointed master of the soldiers [r]; a man in all things strenuous, like his father, and most skilled in the Greek and Latin tongue: but two obtain the episcopal ministry. One of these two is he of whom we strive to speak, Athanasius. For him, before his mother bore him in her womb, her husband not resisting, nay greatly demanding it, she, imitating the example of holy Anna, vowed to God, that of the fruit of her womb, if there were offspring, with equal assent, they would deliver it to Christ to serve, and would name it Athanasius, that is immortal [s], for the love and honor of the most learned holy Athanasius, prelate of Alexandria; not ignorant of this mystery, which sounds "immortal"; since the Lord says: He who believes in me shall not die for ever.

[9] [from whom, born, St. Athanasius is delivered to the bishop of Naples to be trained;] This one, therefore, being born, in the tenth Indiction [t], Michael and Theophilus reigning, Gregory presiding over the Roman Church, they confirmed their vow by the deed, as they had decreed, making him a cleric, and placed him in the Church of the blessed Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary to be formed by the documents of the Ecclesiastical rule; but not long after, John [u], a reverend man, being ordained Prelate of Naples; but the father of the said man having now taken up the government of the Duchy, forthwith the aforesaid boy was ordained to the aforesaid Pontiff, not as a son, but as a lowly servant. Whom the man of God received with a willing mind, and, seeing him wholly fervent in the fear and service of God, and that the heavenly gift and grace was present in him, and that he advanced daily in the fear of God and the erudition of letters, embracing him with maternal affection, as a pious father loved a pious child; and, seeing him strong in the Ecclesiastical instruments and divine offices, joined him to the ministry of the subdiaconate: which he, lest he should seem in the least to have spurned it, did not refuse to receive. For a specimen of future humility, which in the summit of the Pontificate he would afterward exhibit, he already showed in his senile adolescence in his mind, and ministered most faithfully to his pastor, as innocent Samuel to Heli the priest, under the reverence of the divine Majesty; and not only to him, but also to all the clerics, even the lowest, he showed himself inferior in body and heart.

[10] who is promoted by him to the sacred Orders. These, therefore, seven continual years being spent under the profession of religion of this kind, when the mentioned prelate perceived his soul to grow fervent in the love of its Creator, and immovably to endure in the purpose of humility, he raised him the seventh levite of Christ in the same Church, illustrated, namely, with the grace of the sevenfold Holy Spirit. But he, receiving the diaconate, did not fall into the boasting of vainglory, but, perceiving the piety conferred on him from heaven, showed a mightier humility in his manners and former habit, not unmindful indeed of the saying of Solomon: The greater thou art, humble thyself in all things. He knew also the master's voice thundering: He who exalts himself, he says, shall be humbled. He followed also the most humble grace of the master who had taken him to be trained. Enriched, therefore, with these and very many other gifts of graces, he grew daily, like a faithful athlete in the temple of the Lord, about to fight nevertheless against all diabolical figments.

ANNOTATIONS.

namely, that those Acts are not altogether pure from the corruption of the amanuenses.

p. This Lothair is well enough known in history for his rebellion against Louis the Pious, his father.

q. "Regalia" here is the same as palaces. The same word in this signification is used by Freculf of Lisieux, volume 2, book 5, chapter 11.

r. Masters of the soldiers were called especially the prefects of the city of Naples, as Du Cange proves from many authors in his Glossary.

s. The author alludes to the Greek word ἀθάνατος, which signifies immortal, or ἀθανασία, which signifies immortality.

t. I said in the preliminary Commentary, number 9, to what this Indiction is to be referred, and how the sense is to be punctuated.

u. Chioccarello, in the Bishops of Naples, page 84, says that this St. John was distinguished with the episcopal mitre by Gregory IV at Rome about the year 838.

* elsewhere, Naples.

* elsewhere, he might unite.

* elsewhere, stuffed.

* elsewhere, that.

* elsewhere, Lazarus.

CHAPTER II.

The episcopate of St. Athanasius, his various virtues, his magnificence toward the churches, and the fame of his holiness.

St. Athanasius, made bishop of the church of Naples, One year, therefore, and two months being completed in the levitical office, the aforesaid man John of blessed memory, a prelate of most honorable life, and sufficiently dear to God, closed his last day ^a. And presently by the whole clergy and all the people, and at the same time by the Dukes, namely his father and his brother, by common vote and counsel, he was elected to the pontifical honor; and, setting out to Rome, was consecrated by the venerable Pope Leo ^b on the Ides [] of March at the altar of St. Gregory, and, returning, was received by all the citizens with great joy, because they merited to receive such a pastor and father, who should imitate his fosterer in manners and works. But Athanasius the aforesaid prelate, having received the summit of so great a mystery [], of what sort and how great he showed himself in all ecclesiastical government, and how perfect in the fear of the Lord, and how facile in the studies of letters, if we had an iron voice, or all our limbs were turned into tongues, we should not be able to explain, and to narrate his daily manner of life, and his hope ever fixed in the Lord. At least of the very many things we shall endeavor to recount a few: since in work he perfected those things which the Apostle set forth in his admonitions, saying: A bishop must be irreprehensible. And a little after: And to have testimony also from those who are without.

[12] with various virtues, Grammar first in childhood, and afterward in the honor of the pontificate, he learned most perfectly; but in the skill of the divine doctrine he was so instructed, that in Latin he was second to none. For the Church which he undertook to protect he found in every way, within and without, needy, on account of the infestation of the Lombardic nation, which, its own sins requiring, adhered by vicinity to the Neapolitans ^c; he manfully struggling, it was so augmented both in divine and in worldly things, that it was seen inferior in nothing to any church in Campania. But in the fear of God and in prayer he was so intent and watchful, that to anchorites, certainly of our days, he is to be preferred above all. He used also so most strict an abstinence from foods, that he was a wonder to all. For he removed flesh utterly from his mouth, and only on the chief feasts received something small of the blessing ^d of fowls. But from the drinking of wine he first wished to abstain, but on account of the sickness of his flesh he could not; only he followed the sentence of the Apostle, who instructs Timothy saying: Use, he says, a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thy frequent infirmities. In the necessities of the poor also bountiful, in reading assiduous, in prayer continual, in ecclesiastical Offices prompt, in laughter difficult, in sighs and daily sobbing given, avoiding much speaking, embracing silence, in erudition eloquent, in the gathering of brotherhood copious, hating his soul in this world, that he might keep it unto life eternal.

[13] For amid those very daily detriments of his body, he adds voluntary afflictions of the body, which he himself of his own accord administered to himself, he wore also lead of no small weight suspended by long subjection from his own neck; underneath, next to the flesh, he was secretly clothed with a coarser garment, not of linen, but of wool. Leaving also the couches covered with precious thread, on the vilest hair-cloth and a mat ^e, prostrate on the ground, like Jacob, a stone placed under his head, when in frequent prayer he grew weary, he gave his limbs to rest. Yet more fervently he beat his own limbs through himself so grievously, as if by a severe judge he were commanded to be afflicted, that, the body being stimulated, at least no temptation of spiritual wickedness might creep in, that, made in every way immune from the enticements of the world, he might most acceptably offer to God the immaculate and daily sacrifice, which no day did he in the least omit, unless perhaps a sickness of the limbs were present. And according to the Apostle, first always by his own expiations he offered the sacrifice undefiled before the sight of God the arbiter, then in public for the flock entrusted to him. And therefore also to many priests, and to very many abbots of monasteries, he administered subsidies of food and some necessaries, that they might for him pray to God with assiduous intercession, that if in thought and daily deed he offended, without which filth, as John says, no one born of woman is free, he might be washed by their prayers.

[14] This one, therefore, relying on divine zeal, established weekly priests in the church of the Lord the Savior, and his diocese with various foundations, which is called Stephania, who in it on continual days should celebrate a public Mass, as is the custom of the Roman Church, in which also for their expenses he distributed the necessary wealth of things. In the churches also of blessed Andrew the Apostle, and of the Protomartyr Stephen, he designated a keeper, where he both offered things for the trimming of the lights, and the expenses of the keeper himself. But to the church of St. Restituta, which was founded by the Emperor Constantine, he joins both Johns, the Baptist and the Evangelist, and ordained a keeper with official clerics, and bestowed there things for their support. He made also a hospice for the reception of pilgrims upon the steps of the ecclesiastical atrium, to which he conferred some supports, and, he exhorting it, many of the faithful conferred with like devotion. In the island, surnamed by the appellation of the Savior, which is distant scarcely twelve stadia from Naples, although for many years back it was inhabited by monks abiding in cells at the will of each in his own, hastening thither frequently and admonishing them with frequent exhortation, he appointed one abbot over them, dwelling in a monastery in place of a pastor, who should cherish them under regular restraint, for whose daily expenses he ceded the church of blessed Lucy the martyr to be held in perpetuity with all its goods.

[15] For in the church of the most holy and most blessed martyr Januarius, and he illustrates with pious works. which is founded near the walls of the mentioned city, and which is called the Great by the citizens, where before only one priest kept watch in service, he himself instituted a monastery, and there ordained a singular father of religious life, who with the flock conferred on him should without delay pay to God the continual Office of praise ^f. For his solicitude concerning the churches and monasteries, toward the commiserations of orphans and widows, and how great toward redeeming captives, whom then the insatiable savagery of the Saracens sent into exile innumerable [*], how frequent or solicitous and clement it was, is so known to many, that if the tongue in speaking grow numb in uttering it, yet without doubt the air will thunder; since the fame of blessedness can be surrounded by no cave, nor, as the trumpet of the Gospel resounds, is the lamp hidden under a bushel, but is placed overhanging on the candlestick, that it may exhibit to those entering into the temple of the Lord an unhindered ray.

[16] The holy Prelate, for the fame of his holiness, by Pope Nicholas, Learning his repute, the most reverend man Nicholas, Father of the universal Church, by Apostolic exhortations singularly called him to the synod ^g which he had gathered against John, Bishop of the city of Ravenna, and made him sit third in the Apostolic assembly, and delivered to him to read the bonds which the aforesaid Archbishop had woven, because, of the rest, they meeting there, in the conferring of divine grace he appeared more excellent than all. For his father, when he perceived his last departure to be at hand from a nearby languor, presently summoned his sons, and admonished him whom he had made a partner of his duchy, with the rest, pathetically reading "pathetice" for "Emathetiæ vice", that they should be subject to God, and obey this excellent man in all things, saying: Be subject to this one, as to a father and lord. Consult him at all times as a heavenly oracle. To whom nevertheless the Duke himself, like a son, and obeying his admonitions, obeyed him in all things all the days of his life; and, relying on supernal aid, reaped all advantages.

[17] and by the Emperor Louis is greatly esteemed. At the same time, therefore, in which Louis the most pious Augustus ⁱ came to deliver the province of Benevento from the servitude ^k of Sudan, the most cruel king of the Ishmaelites, being bound to his wife—the legates of the Neapolitans now being spurned—by the subjection of the ancient enemy (as it has been said, evil communications corrupt good manners), this venerable Man for the safety of his citizens most frequently went to the Cæsarean highness, by which he was most obligingly received, on account of the report of his pious fame, and the reverence of holiness, in which he was not moderately strong. For he was so imbued with the astuteness of the serpent, that he did not lose the simplicity of the dove. He merited to have with the man and his wife a place of singular familiarity, so much that they eagerly strove to commend themselves to his sacred prayers. And the ancient enemies and detractors remained confounded in their malice.

ANNOTATIONS.

853; but that this epoch of his death is to be corrected, is clear from those things which concerning the chronological series of the life of Athanasius we said in the preliminary Commentary, numbers 9, 10, and 11. For there it is shown that St. Athanasius in the year 849, or at the utmost 850, ought to have succeeded St. John already deceased, as will become manifest to one computing the years of the life of Athanasius.

* elsewhere, on the Ides.

* Is it not "of the ministry"?

* that is, sent into exile or servitude.

CHAPTER III.

The persecution against St. Athanasius; his exile, burial, and a miracle.

Meanwhile the mentioned Gregory the duke, seized with sickness, took care to hand over Sergius his son, long since appointed duke, Sergius, at the instigation of his wife, to this holy Man, beseeching him greatly to love him with fatherly charity; and to him he gave this in commands, that he should be subject and obedient to him, as a homeborn slave to his lord. For if, he said, thou obey so great a man, for certain thou shalt be safe, but if not, it will not profit thee. He being dead, the holy Man of God, with the zeal of a brother, began to love the aforesaid nephew of his spiritually, and [not] worldly, and to exhort him with assiduous admonition to show himself most fit in all things. Whose admonition his wife ^b, bearing grievously, began to deceive her husband with diabolical speech, that if he wished alone to obtain the monarchy, he should not only exhibit no obedience to this one, but also should either eliminate him from his side, or far off, or altogether destroy him. In which fraud of deception the most iniquitous Jezebel of craftiness found for herself accomplices in the duel [] (who were born after the manner of hinnies or mules), that the poison once conceived, as she had decreed, she might be able to pour into the ears of men, and insert into the breast of her son-in-law []; which also was done. For to this he was brought, both by the force of cupidity, and enticed by the assiduous persuasion of the viperous tongue, that he delivered the Servant of God to custody.

[19] he consigns St. Athanasius, his uncle, to prison; For that man was unstable, like a reed which is moved by every wind, and greedy in cupidity, and in nothing like his father. He secretly hid in his house men conscious of his malice, with swords and clubs, and, the Man of God being subtly summoned as if to a council, held him and his other brothers by fraud, nevertheless setting God at nought, holding his father's admonitions for nothing, and abjuring the holiness of the Man of God, as he had conceived, circumvented them with his tricks, as Judas the traitor the most just Lord; the most reverend servant of God, when all feared even to touch the fringes of his garments, being irreverently seized by one adversary of God and his satellite, and stripped of his episcopal garments, like a vile slave, the solace of the clerics being taken away, he caused to be consigned to a stricter custody.

[20] but terrified by the threats of the clergy and people, Which done, the whole city was moved, and beat the air with most miserable voices, mourning in this manner: Woe to us wretched, to whom so cruel a crime has come! Why must a just and pious man suffer such things? For who ever came to him sick, or needy, or a captive, and departed unaided? Amid these things the Greek and Latin priestly order, and the monastic crowd, and especially Antonius, a man sufficiently fit, and of advanced age, abbot of the monks, by long fastings and sickness of body now failing, raised up by others' hands, came with the whole clergy to the pretorium, and thus began: So, wretch and contemner of God, what is this that thou hast done? Know this, therefore, for thy unspeakable crime, that not only shalt thou perish and thy whole race; but also the whole city, which hitherto has been governed by the prayer of Athanasius, will without doubt be desolated, its pastor departing. Restore to us, they say, our pastor, who protects us with spiritual and carnal protection; for if thou attempt to retain him, perdition will come to thee forthwith.

[21] he feignedly frees him, Which heard, the duke, made frantic, first indeed, like a venomous serpent, rushed upon them with hissings; then he said: Go now to your own, and after decrees I will answer you. Coming, therefore, to him a second and a third time, they said like things to him. Then all, weeping, returning, said one to another: Let us strip the altars of all the divine temples, and insert against the enemy of God a perpetual anathema, which may never be expiated. But he, perceiving conspiracies of this kind against himself, counsel being held with his followers, sent and summoned the aforesaid man, and the abbot of St. Salvator, with the clerics and monks, and, simulating piety, on the eighth day loosed the Man of God, and, seeking pardon from him, though feignedly, dismissed him, his brothers being retained. But the just God, who will render to each according to his work here or in the future, most justly struck him. For in that place where he thrust the Man of God, not long after he himself was captured, like a malefactor. For, he being dismissed, there was such gladness in the whole city as is wont to be at dear ones dead, brought back to life. Seeing this gladness, he repented that he had dismissed him; yet he set snares everywhere secretly, lest anyone should dare to go in to him or out. Then the Lord's flock was torn hither and thither, widows and orphans were oppressed, because the herald had grown mute, and the evangelical trumpet was not heard.

[22] These things the Man full of God, seeing, wept most bitterly rather his ruin, and a little after he again persecutes him. as Samuel over Saul, than the contumely inflicted on himself by him. And imitating the most gentle David, when he could not by many entreaties allay his madness, he went out from the city, and left the treasure of the church sealed with his ring, and placed there a title thus containing: Let him be anathema who shall make, or command, without my presence or command, this door to be opened, or anything hence to be touched; and thus departed into the aforesaid island of the Savior. As soon as that madman heard the matter, as it had been done, he gave a mandate to the servant of God, saying: If he wishes that I not persecute him, let him, the covering of the white-robed ^c being cast off [], assume the monastic habit, and of his own accord leave to me the church to be ordered; but let him immediately send back the clerics whom he took with him. To whom the man of God: The spouse whom, God bestowing it, I have received, I will, living and willing, leave to no living man, nor, while I survive, will I give license of ordaining; the schema [] of a monk, he living, I will not accept: for it is fornication to allow the first spouse and be associated to an adulteress [*]; but those who have followed me for charity's sake, I will not deliver nor cast off; but one thing I ask of him, that it be permitted me to remain in a safe place, until the Lord soften the hardness of his heart. Such things being related to the Duke, he, gathering an army of Neapolitans and Saracens, assailed the holy Pontiff in the said island for nine days.

[23] But Louis the Emperor, hearing these things, directing Marinus the Amalfitan prefect ^d with twenty ships ^e to the island of the Savior, commanded the holy Man to be drawn thence, When Louis the Emperor had withdrawn him from the persecution of Sergius, and brought to himself. Seeing this, the Neapolitans went out against them by ship together with the Saracens, and persecuted him far from the city. But God, who overthrew Pharaoh, then also broke their pride, and they were turned to flight, the Saracens being there captured and slain. And thus the holy Man, brought to the Emperor at Benevento, was held in the greatest honorableness. But the master of the soldiers, grieving that the holy Man had departed unharmed, the treasury of the bishopric being broken open, commanded the whole treasure of the church to be carried off and borne to himself. Then were sold the treasures [*] and goods of the churches, and given to the iniquitous; the priests of God were contemned so much, that even some of them, beaten and tonsured, were dragged naked through the streets. The churches of God, which were before held by religious keepers, were given to those who, religion being contemned, bought the gift of God with gifts, and there was inexpressible mourning and immense weeping.

[24] When these things had come to the notice of Pope Hadrian ^f, about to loose Naples from the bonds of anathema he directed one letter to the aforesaid judge and another to the clergy and people of Naples, commanding that they receive their Pontiff; but if not, they should be tied by the bond of anathema. Who, reckoning the Apostolic command for nothing, would neither receive the Pontiff nor keep the excommunication. After these things Anastasius, Librarian of the Apostolic See ^g, together with Cæsarius ^h the abbot, coming to Naples on the part of the Apostolic one and of the Emperor, tied the same city with anathema. But the Man of the Lord, sad and mourning and wandering, while he went hither and thither, that bestial Delilah ceased not to persecute him, sending under her the sons of Belial, who should kill the holy Man, established at Rome, with poison. But He who neither sleeps nor slumbers guarded his servant from all peril.

[25] he sets out for Rome, Thence also the holy Man, departing, came to Sorrento ⁱ. But on a certain day, while in that city he sat with Stephen ^k the bishop his brother, suddenly he began to weep most bitterly. And when he continued long, and did not see his tears end, the bishop inquired what was the cause of so great mourning. To whom immediately the Man of God answered: Behold wretched Naples lies bound under the bond of anathema by the universal and supreme Pontiff, and by my littleness: if to both of us (which is human) the end of death shall come, what will become of it? Which also was done, as he foretold: for in the same year both died. I will go, he said, to Rome, and will ask the supreme Pontiff to loose it from excommunication. Which, as

he said, through Bishop Dominicus, sent by Pope Hadrian, he accomplished in deed.

[26] and on his return he dies; After these things the holy Man, bidding farewell to Pope Hadrian, set out to the Emperor Louis, then staying in the Sabine country ^l, and, received by him with huge honor, and returning with him to Rome, at the exhortation of the said Apostolic one, set out with the Emperor to assail the Saracens, and to be restored to his see, and came to the city of Veroli [m *], in which on the third of the Kalends of July he celebrated the day of the Apostles. The Mass being finished, he began to gasp with fevers, and, drawn on in the same infirmity, Athanasius, worthy of God and dear, was withdrawn from this fleshly dregs, and rendered his last spirit to his Creator in the Oratory of St. Quiricus ⁿ, which is distant twelve thousand from the Monastery of St. Benedict, on the Ides of July, in the fifth Indiction, the Emperor Basil reigning. But the aforesaid venerable Man lived before the episcopate eighteen years, and in the episcopate sat XXII years, and in the straits of this world was twenty-one months ^o.

[27] Thence he was carried even to Monte Cassino, all weeping, whose relics laid up on Monte Cassino restore sight to a blind man. but the angels exulting: receiving whom, all the holy congregation of that monastery worthily and most becomingly laid up the most holy body in the church of the blessed Prince of the Apostles, which was built by King Rechis [p], and is joined to the basilica of St. Benedict, where many marvels abound through him to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ even to the present day [q]. For one of the many miracles which the Lord wrought through him there I shall join to this discourse, to the edification of readers and hearers. For in the same monastery there was a certain man deprived of light for many years past, who had been wont assiduously to pray in the church where the body of the Man of God rested, who, stumbling, as is the custom of such, came upon his sepulchre; and, his foot slipping, he fell, and straightway drove away the darkness of his eyes, and received light. Who presently, receiving the joys of health, showed to all the beauty of light, glorifying God, who wrought such things through his servant Athanasius. Then all filled with joy, who were there, seeing this miracle, exulting said: Blessed art thou, O Lord Redeemer, who hast given to our regions such a light, in these last days, that is the holy pledge of Athanasius. And these things they said, wondering: If unasked he gives such things, how liberal will he be to those who most devoutly ask the benefits of God through him? But the most blessed Confessor of Christ, Athanasius the Bishop, was buried near the Castle of Cassino of the city of Heraclea [r], on the Ides [*] of July, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God, through all the ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. I think it is here treated of Rechis or Rachis, king of the Lombards, who in the Cassino Chronicle, chapter 8, is said to have been made a monk, although concerning the building of this church there is no mention made.

q. From these words I gather that these Acts were written by the Anonymous author a little after the death of St. Athanasius: for after five years from his death his body was translated from the monastery of Cassino.

r. I know not what this city of Heraclea is: for the rest, this clause is not read in the other Manuscripts. Wherefore I suspect it was added by some unskilled person.

* elsewhere, foes.

* read, of his spouse.

* elsewhere, in the government.

* elsewhere, the monastic state.

* elsewhere, to another.

* that is, treasures.

* elsewhere, Nerula.

* that is, on the Ides.

TRANSLATION

BY A CONTEMPORARY ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

From a Lombardic Manuscript, which is preserved at Naples in the Archive of the Fathers Theatine, and was collated with another Manuscript.

Athanasius, bishop, at Naples in Campania in Italy (S.)

BHL Number: 0737

BY A CONTEMPORARY ANONYMOUS FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

PROLOGUE.

[The author says that the Saints for the most part illustrate with their relics those places in which they lived,] It is wont for the most part to be a certain special and proper thing of holy men, that the places in which, while living, they had been wont to dwell, although by their prayers they are present to all the world, they illustrate by the presence of their relics, even if it happens that they lay down the burden of the body elsewhere. Which without doubt is believed to be done by supernal governance, that namely their fellow-citizens may rejoice in their bodily presences, and specially may trust to be fortified by their prayers; as is proved to have been done at the death of blessed Martin ^a, who, departing from his see, ended his human affairs elsewhere; but, deceased, returned from heaven to his own sheepfold, lest his people, even he being dead, should seem forsaken. For so also the venerable Athanasius did, who, while he died far from his diocese, did not suffer his holy relics to stay outside the enclosures of his sheepfold. But glittering with frequent miracles, he in a certain manner solicitously invited his sheep [*], not to leave him, but to be busy to translate him to his own see: which also was done.

[2] [as is clear, against the vain efforts of certain impious men, from the translation of St. Athanasius.] But the custom of the iniquitous is so perverse, that they hate men good and dear to the Lord, and cease not with viperous tongues to carp not only at the living, but even at the dead, as the reprobate lips of the Jews are toward the author of our redemption and his servants: which both in the manners of the blessed man Athanasius is clear; and after his death, certain of our countrymen attempted to do. But, the iniquitous either vituperating or flattering them, the pious Redeemer disposes concerning his faithful servants, according as the immovable will of his power is, who deigned to restore to us the relics of blessed Athanasius, leading him back to his own see, that we may be gratified concerning so great a father, and may therefore render assiduous praises to the Lord; of whose life the mind had desired to say something more. But in the preceding little book concerning his life and manners, as far as the sluggish pen was able to search out, it was pursued ^b: but now concerning his miracles and the return of the same Saint's body the discourse must be woven.

ANNOTATIONS.

* elsewhere, his own citizens.

CHAPTER I.

The translation of the body of St. Athanasius from Monte Cassino, and the miracles wrought on the journey.

When the report of the most holy Man's holiness and the fame of his virtues ran far and wide, Athanasius ^a the prelate, hearing it, [The bishop of Naples sends certain men to Monte Cassino to obtain the body of St. Athanasius;] who by him had been loved and nourished as a most dear child, and had succeeded him in honor and place, the son of his brother Gregory the duke, considered how he might bring back the body of the holy pontiff to its own see, that his see might not be bereft of such a patron and pastor; but the ancient enemies and benefactors ^b resisted him, who had hated and expelled him living, so much that they would not receive him even dead; but at length the word and will of the prelate prevailed, and in the fifth year of his deposition, he sent religious men, the good priest John, and Peter, and John the subdeacons, with a coffin and other necessaries, to the father of that congregation and the brethren; who, entering the monastery of St. Benedict, which is under Monte Cassino, saluted Bertharius ^c the abbot and the brethren, and said: Our lord and pastor Athanasius your bishop commended, beseeching, has directed you [*], that you restore to us our deposit. What is that? say they. These say:

the body of our lord Athanasius the bishop. Who all, denying with one voice, said: Where he now rests, he shall not go forth, except on the last day, when he shall meet the Lord. On the contrary they said: Do you restore him to us; for wherever he shall be he will rise again, because the Lord is everywhere. For it is impossible [*] that he be an exile from his own see, although, the ancient enemy working, he was, living, cast out of it.

[4] The abbot and the whole congregation, seeing their petition intent, so that nothing else could be done, consenting, said: The will of the Lord be done; who, after a short contention with the monks, admonished from heaven, and the petition of the lord Athanasius their prelate be fulfilled. One thing only we ask of you, that a part of the body remain here with us, because from the time when his most holy body was here buried, as it is in the choir of bishops [*], so we have exhibited veneration to him: for wherever he shall be, we believe that he will not desert us; for while living he was our lord and defender. But they, answering, said: As he was commended to you whole, so, the Lord aiding, his own see shall have him whole. For that same night they rested there, and among themselves resolved, saying: Let us be solicitous, and as soon as the signal shall be heard, rising, let us ascend the mountain, and at dawn dig the sepulchre. Then they gave themselves to sleep; and when, on account of the heat of summer and the fatigue of the journey, they were weighed down with sleep, the most holy Man himself appeared to the good priest, in the likeness of the Pontiff his nephew, and said to him: Why art thou oppressed with so heavy a sleep, colleague? Arise, watchfully perform the enjoined work, for the hour of your appointment has already passed. And when he answered: Thou rather oughtest to have been solicitous of this matter; then he, as is the custom in schools, caused him to be raised, and, coaxing, gave him three strokes of the ferule; and to one of the bystanders said: Take this ferule and strike the rest. Who, presently, terrified, awaking, roused his companions: We have been beaten ^d, most beloved, he said: for thus and thus was it done concerning us. But let us, rising, hasten quickly, that we may complete the work begun. This said, the signal was struck, and, wondering, they said: Truly we could not have been ready unless this revelation had been made manifest.

[5] they dig it up whole, and quickly translate it. Then they ascended, together with that venerable company of monks, the summit of Monte Cassino, and entered the basilica in which the venerable body had been buried. Digging the sepulchre, it was found so whole that not a hair of his head or beard fell off, and the garments and all things were found safe, as they had before been placed; and a fragrance of such sweetness seized all, that from wonder they prostrated themselves on the ground; and, weeping for joy, they rendered praises to the Lord, the bestower of all good things: for the frame of that sacred body was so firm, that the fabric of the coffin, which had been consolidated, was disjoined by the force of his body; and the psalter being run through in order, they placed the body of the most holy Man in the coffin which they had brought with them, sound and whole, as it was buried. And, lifting the said coffin on their shoulder, they descended the mountain, singing psalms and blessing the Lord; and there met him all the elders, and the abbot, and all the brethren of the monastery, singing psalms and giving thanks to the Lord, for so magnificent a glory which was shown in the holy body, and, leading him out of the monastery, they kissed the Saint's coffin, and, blessing the Lord, returned. Likewise also all the neighbors, through whom the body of the most holy Man passed, flocked to him, and with bowed heads kissed the Saint's coffin, and went back; but they, the coffin being placed on horses, accomplish the journey begun. For with so great speed did they traverse the journey, that within the space of one day they came from the monastery of St. Benedict to Atella ^e, which is distant sixty miles, and they stayed at the church of St. Elpidius ^f. Then the whole congregation of the priests of the church of St. Elpidius, gathered together, remained watchful the whole night, giving themselves to psalmody, and sent a messenger to Naples, saying: We have come with the body of the Man of God to Atella.

[6] As soon as the venerable Prelate, his nephew, heard, The sacred relics, by which a possessed man had been freed, he straightway sent runners through all the churches and the places adjacent to him, that colleges of priests and of monks, gathered from all places, and a multitude of men and women, might meet his holy obsequies [*]; but the priests of all the churches of Liburia ^g, together with the Congregation of St. Elpidius, with lights kindled before the Saint's coffin, singing psalms the whole way, and coming to the place which is called Grumo ^h, there met them a certain man vexed by a demon, and, unwilling, he entered under the bier where the body of the Man of God was carried, and straightway freed from the demon, he began to give thanks to the Lord, and, descending the slope by the way which is called the transverse, they placed the most holy body in the church of blessed Peter, which is distant from Naples about three stadia; where met them the supreme pontiff with the nobles of the city, and all the assembly, except those who were filled with the poison of malice and envy, and those who feared the blowing wind. But the aforesaid prelate brought with him the Lord's crosses and ornaments as on festival days.

[7] But both sexes and diverse age flocked together, the prelate of Naples with the clergy and people honorably receives him, and, as they could, the chants of psalmody in both languages, Greek and Latin, resounded with sweet modulation; but as soon as the divine pontiff beheld the holy coffin, prostrate on the ground he pressed his head to the earth, and, watering his face with tears, called him "father," him "fosterer and instructor," him "pastor," with tearful voice. Likewise also all the clergy and the whole order, all the illustrious [*] and noble men and women, and all the common people weeping said: Where art thou, father of orphans? Where art thou, consoler of mourning widows? Where art thou, redeemer of captives? Where art thou, keeper of the church? Where art thou, ruler and teacher of all? For almost one hour, wearied with mournful groans, they could not fulfill the courses of the psalms of the due office. At last, grief being driven away, they began to give thanks to the Lord, because they had merited, after the courses of five years, to receive the body of their Pontiff whole and unharmed; then, the office being begun after the pontifical manner, they brought the Prelate's body to its own see.

[8] But on that journey by which he was borne to the temple of St. Januarius, and, a deaf woman being prodigiously healed, a sign which the Lord deigned to show, for demonstrating the merit of the Priest, is not to be passed over in silence. For a certain woman, Blattu by name, while she was held by a grievous pain of the head, and could obtain health by no one's medicine, had lost the vigor of her head and the hearing of her ears, but, as she herself now relates ⁱ, her ears had so hardened that she could hear no one's cry, no sound of any voice or thunder; then she also, meeting with all, came, and, her head being placed under the coffin, sought with tearful entreaty that a remedy be given her by the Saint's body, saying: God have mercy on me, and by the benefit of thy holy Athanasius may I merit to receive the hearing which I have lost. Then the most blessed confessor of God, the divinity bestowing it, showing a miracle of his wonted piety, restored hearing to the widow; and she who had come sad and mourning returned rejoicing. Behold, he who always lent his hearing to the Lord's precepts merited, in hearing, to minister the offices of the word of salvation.

[9] he delivers to burial. And so, as we had begun to say, all that multitude of psalm-singers, with the holy obsequies, hastening to the temple of St. Januarius, ascending, entered the basilica, and, the coffin being set down, placed it near the altar; and there the supreme pontiff, all the people standing by, sacrificed the host of praise; and, the sacred gift being taken, the prayer being finished, he completed it. Presently, lifting the holy pledge of the body; and the deacon, the antiphon being intoned: Open to me the gates of justice, and, going in to them, I will confess to the Lord: this is the gate of the Lord, the just shall enter into it, then all the people, turned to huge weeping, leading him out beyond the doors into the oratory of the holy confessor of Christ Laurence ^k, prelate of the same see, near the ornament of the most holy John his predecessor and fosterer, most diligently and worthily delivered him to burial with the very coffin with which he had been brought, on the Kalends of August ^l, well considering this, that of those whose mind had ever been one in the Lord, the bodies too the place of burial should not separate, that they who were "pheronymi" ^m might obtain from the Lord the fitting merit of their name.

ANNOTATIONS.

* elsewhere, beseeches you.

* elsewhere, For it is not fitting.

* elsewhere, of the Saints.

* that is, obsequies.

* read, prostrate.

* that is, illustrious.

CHAPTER II.

The miracles wrought at the sepulchre of St. Athanasius.

But what benefits the Lord then bestowed on those flocking to his precious sepulchre, I shall touch with most truthful speech. An aged monk is freed from a grievous pain. For in the same monastery of the most holy Januarius there was a certain monk, Anastasius by name, an old man, who, constricted by a grievous pain of the limbs and sinews, had the faculty of walking taken from him, so that, supported by a staff, he could scarcely accomplish the necessary uses of his body. For resting in one place with the brethren, compelled by pain, he shook the air with his cries. By his infirmity or distress the resting brethren were disquieted, and whence one had it ill, thence all had it worse. But he was exceedingly held by pains. He believed that one remedy would be his, if, coming to the sepulchre of the Man of God, he should either receive health, or certainly, paying the debt of death, might at last put an end to his torments; but in this too the almighty Lord, approving the merit of his servant, restoring the aching members to health, and confirming the wavering steps, and dissolving the knots of all the sinews, restored the vigor of his youth. After the course of nine months also, prevented by another infirmity, he went out of the body. O immense mercy of the goodness of God! that which old age sunders, and age excludes, the pontifical holiness, grace being joined, restores.

[11] Now, therefore, the fame of his virtues running everywhere, St. Athanasius appears to a certain blind man, there flocked a multitude held by various languors from diverse places; among whom a certain blind man had come, who, his eyes closed, saw nothing at all. This one had been carried through many places of the Saints, that the Lord, by the prayer of his Saints, might deign to show him light with divine solace, and to demonstrate to him the appearances of creatures. For he was brought to the cave of the most blessed Prelate: and when for a long time he poured forth prayers to blessed Athanasius, that he would succor his misery, on a certain night the Saint himself specially stood by, and pleasantly said: Why art thou so long troublesome to me, brother, and by complaining continually dost interrupt me? Have I inflicted any loss on thee? Have I, oppressing thee by force after the manner of the fisc, extorted anything from thee? Know that, occupied in another matter, I am not here. But when I shall have returned, know that thou art saved; and these things said, he departed. But the priests of that place having gone out from the matutinal office, that man, fearing and trembling, hastily ran to them. And, one of them being called, as though secretly he said: Dost thou think, my Lord, I dare say what I saw in a dream? To whom, answering, he said, Why not? Say, brother, what thou hast seen. And he: There appeared, he said, to me a most splendid man, clothed in priestly garments, girt with an orarium ^a, with curling hair, tall of stature, angelic in countenance, and as though threatening me, and running through the rest as we related above, he intimated the vision in order.

[12] and to him, as he had promised, he restores sight. But he, trusting, awaited the promise, and even to the next Lord's day earnestly prayed that the same one who had appeared might fulfill what he had promised, and while nothing was done concerning him, the Lord's mysteries being performed by the priest, communion being taken, he returned to his own; and, staying there some days, his eyes turned to a tumor (a kind of white film began to run over them) which also were wearied with pain; and within a few days he received the desired light. Who presently, the benefit being received, returning with thanksgiving, showed to all his illuminator, namely the face of the picture of St. Athanasius, saying: This, this is my illuminator; this is he who said to me in the vision: I am not here; but when I shall have returned, know that thou art saved. Behold, most beloved, the divine Priest imitated his Lord. He, ready to go to the servant of the centurion; but this one, though already placed in heaven, does not disdain to enter the chamber of the tent [*] of the poorest man: but yet he, as the Lord, absent, granted health; but this one, as a most faithful servant, coming, restored light to the poor man; he, as almighty, needed the help of no one; this one, in all things, he bestowing or aiding, was able to show a miracle.

[13] To a certain nun and a noble matron he restores health. For while these and other things were published to many, a certain consecrated woman, wearied with pain of the steps, by no means able to walk, was brought, borne by a horse, to the sepulchre of the holy confessor of Christ; who, keeping watch there for some days in prayer, restored to health, returned home on her own feet. Another, noble by birth, Matrona ^b by name, for very many years was tortured by pain of the bowels, who, coming upon the sepulchre of the Man of God, casting herself on her face, suffused with tears, said: Succor me, most kind father, succor, provider of all good things, succor me unhappy, that at least for a momentary time I may be able to find rest. She for two days was vehemently afflicted with pain, so that now she joined her head to her feet, now was rolled like straw; but, the Man of God compassionating her infirmity, on the third day, the Lord having mercy, she was released from the pain; who, remaining eight days in praise and thanksgiving, by the benefit of the blessed Januarius and Athanasius, rejoicing, returned to her own.

[14] He frees a young man from pain of the head. Another certain young man, Leo by name, was afflicted with a grievous infirmity of the head, which is called "aubrema" ^c: for, loosed from all vigor of health, he walked like a madman. Who among others came with his widowed mother to seek benefits. Who, casting himself upon the sepulchre of the Confessor and Priest of Christ with his wretched mother, who was more endangered than her son, sought a remedy for his pains; for, asking that the priest offer an oblation to the Lord for him, he received in his mouth the mystery of the holy Body of the Lord Jesus Christ: who, departing thus, on another Lord's day returned most sound, as if he had never suffered any madness of the head; giving thanks to the Lord and blessed Athanasius, nay to God, who worked in him, who said: My Father worketh until now, and I work. With this gift, therefore, he glorifies his attendants, that in God's stead they should cast out demons, revive the dead, illuminate the blind, and drive away all diseases; give hearing to the deaf, walking to the paralytic; that it might be fulfilled which is said: These signs shall follow those who believe in me: In my name they shall cast out demons, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, they shall lay hands upon the sick, and they shall be well. This grace, therefore, the most kind confessor of Christ Athanasius merited: this merited all the elect who truly believed in God and our Lord Jesus Christ. For he truly believes who bears faith not in word only, but in deed: for truly blessed Athanasius increased his faith by works, who adorned his life with continence, humility, abstinence, vigils, almsgivings, and all good things. Of these meanwhile let me be silent, that of his certain [*] virtues I may narrate something.

[15] Besides, a certain little boy, when he was now led to the end of his last life, A little boy and violent death hastened to snatch from his parents the hope of his childhood recovering, neither considering the untimely death of the infant, nor looking on the venerable hoariness of desired old age, voracious, whatever time of life it finds, seizes all by encompassing, nor, ever satiated, rests. But amid these things the holy prayer of blessed Athanasius alone remained to the dying one an occasion of health. Which wretched and endangered mother, who was more endangered in the death of her son, at last, bearing as it were the obsequies of one already dead, within the temple of the most blessed Januarius, anxiously running hither and thither, entered the chamber where his most holy body rests; who, weeping and wailing, offered to the priest who there on the Lord's day was celebrating the solemnities of Masses, weeping and saying: I beseech thee, Lord, that thou put into the mouth of this little infant even a drop of the holy liquor of the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[16] But when the priest applied a part of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to his mouth, reduced to extremity, he heals. he, his head averted, his eyes lowered, and his teeth locked, composed himself wholly as in death, and only in his breast the breathing was alive. Then the wretched mother, departing with a huge cry, came to the venerable sepulchre of the Confessor of Christ; who there, the body of the pledge being stretched out, weeping, said: Consoler of the mourning, father of orphans, defender of widows and of the fatherless, have mercy on me; and despise me not desolate; cast not off and spurn me unhappy and wretched; but to thy accustomed work join a work, and restore to me my only one. Then he did not bring delay, nor composed tarryings by feigning, but, the Word cooperating, presently granted the sought health, and, framing the boy's members, restored and gave his former soundness. Who presently, rejoicing, going out with her only one, showed him unharmed to all. Wonderful therefore is the Lord in the highest, wonderful in the lowest, wonderful in the deeps, wonderful in his Saints, working prodigies through his servants.

[17] He drives away the disease of another boy. Another certain woman, hastening with her only one, came to the sepulchre of the Man of God, beseeching that she might merit to receive water from off the marble of his sepulchre. Who was so held by sickness that he could in no way take food, all the hairs of his head fell off, and no hope of life was had in him; but as soon as the blessed water was offered to the mouth of the sick little one, and drunk, his mouth being opened, he vomited out all the poison indeed. Who was made so sound that straightway he asked for food, and, glad and rejoicing, blessing the Lord, returned with his mother to their own; and, mindful of the benefit, returning with lights, gave thanks to the Lord and blessed Athanasius. For in this miracle too is known of what merit with the Lord the most blessed Athanasius the prelate is.

[18] A lamp before his sepulchre prodigiously burns; But in the same oratory in which the body of the same venerable Man rests, a lamp was wont to burn daily; which, as is the custom, mixed with water and oil, at the dawning of the Lord's day, was kindled; and thus likewise on the second, and third, fourth, and fifth feria, day and night, it remained unextinguished, so that neither was it extinguished, nor was the oil diminished. Which seen, all, wondering at so unheard and pleasant a miracle, one by one began to say: You see that this candlestick is neither extinguished, nor is the oil diminished. And when in turn they said these things in talk, and had publicly sounded these things to all, presently it began to be diminished. For no ambiguity can be in this (although also of all the others many and fit witnesses are had), both this miracle was manifest to all, and was divulged through the whole land.

[19] which miracle certain incredulous men vainly deny. But those possessed by the ancient enemy (whose names, willing, I shall be silent about, because the Lord too was silent about the name of the rich man), raving, said: If such things, as you set forth, this Saint truly [*] works, let him heal also the hump of such a man. Such things these said, as the crucifiers of the Lord: If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross. But to these it so happened as to those, because he himself says: He who despises you despises me. But to me vengeance, I will repay. But what wonder, most beloved, if, to show the merit

of his Servant, the almighty Lord kept the lamp filled and unextinguished, who beheld his breast ever full of the oil of mercy? What wonder, if the nature of the oil served the holy Man unfailing for five days and nights, who at every time of his life exhibited to almighty God a continual and most acceptable service? O blessed and admirable holy merits of the most blessed Athanasius! which acquired for him eternal rewards, perennial life, a stable mansion, holy rest, everlasting glory, the Lord bestowing it, and cease not to grant health to us who ask.

[20] A boy is freed from blindness. Meanwhile a certain little boy, son of a certain houndsman ^d, for seven months had lost the light of his eyes; who had been carried through many physicians, that they might in some way be able to restore to him the faculty of seeing; but the infirmity became so much the worse, the more amply care had been bestowed on him: who came to this, that a certain most skilled of the physicians said: This boy cannot receive sight unless his infirmity be checked with a cautery. Which heard, his father was greatly terrified, and would not apply fire to the tenderer member of his son, lest a greater peril should arise from the burning than had been inflicted from the loss of light; but while the virtue and fame of the most holy Man was everywhere divulged, confidence being resumed, trusting he ran to his venerable memorial, asking that he would bestow on him the support of his wonted piety, saying: Shining candlestick, lamp placed not in hiding but on high, light of those who tarry in darkness, splendid mirror, my only hope, succor my son, that he may be able even a little to look upon the figure of anything. And while, without delay, he insisted on these and other daily entreaties, the man in all things pious, ignorant of hardness, unknowing of severity, within a few days restored the desired light to the boy, and gave consolation to the anxious [*] father.

[21] Another certain consecrated woman, by too great infirmity had lost the office of voice; A nun recovers the use of voice and a young man the light of his eyes. who ran to the chamber of blessed Athanasius, and there, weeping, said: Health of the sick, consoler of the troubled, gladness of the sad, succor me wretched, that I may be able to receive the clearer sound of my voice, which I have lost. And, praying these things, returning home, she was so restored to her former health, as if her speech had never been impeded by obscurity of voice. Who, returning, straightway with lights gave thanks to the Lord and blessed Athanasius. A certain young man, his head filled with disease, had lost the light of his eyes, whose thickening eyelids hung down over his cheeks like udders; who, brought to the sepulchre of the confessor of Christ, day and night besought that the Lord would succor his misery, that, aided by the patronage of the holy prelate Athanasius, he might merit to receive the light which he had lost; for, trusting in hope, he said: Father of the fatherless and defender, light of those who tarry in darkness, ray illuminating the world, succor and have mercy on me forsaken and desolate, having the trust of no one but thine, asking the help of no one but thine. Praying these and like things for some days, he returned home. Then the same Saint appeared to one of the ministers of the holy church, shining like lightning: in which vision also the father of the boy, already dead, seemed to be present. And the Saint said to the minister: Go; tell this one who beholds us to send me his son. Who, awaking, took care to publish the dream; and straightway the boy hastily came to the sepulchre of the Priest of Christ, who, remaining there two or three weeks, obtained the health which he sought: for suddenly, bursting from his eyes, for three days a discharge ran down. And, restored most sound, with clear gaze blessing the Lord, he returned to his own.

[22] A certain one of the servants of the holy church of Naples, holding the ministry of a hirer, had a son who from his mother's womb was afflicted with a stridor and horrible motion, so that all his still most tender members were disjoined; and, as it was seen, he was as it were agitated by a demon; St. Athanasius appears to a certain woman, who had been carried by his parents to many places of the Saints, that the Lord, made propitious by the prayers of the Saints, might grant him health, but they could by no means obtain it; to whose mother a venerable effigy of a certain one appeared in dreams, and said to her: Why do you leave the patronage of your fosterer, and wander through diverse places: for the Lord has kept your pastor to console you [*], that he himself, absent, may free you, who, placed with you, was in all things your rescuer and defender, and that he himself, now placed in safety, may deliver you from all calamities, who, dwelling amid adversities, defended you from every adversary; and when she asked him, saying: Where, lord, shall I go to seek him? He answered: In the church of the Savior, or at his venerable sepulchre; because there, to those asking, he frequently stands, about to grant benefits; who, awaking, took care to intimate the order of the vision to her husband.

[23] But he, somewhat weighed down with incredulity, began to waver concerning his Pastor, [concerning which apparition the husband doubting, penance being done, obtains health for his son.] although namely he heard such things concerning the venerable Man: but from this they experienced a grievous peril: for, the stridors being doubled, nay tripled, and the tremors, the members of the little one were dashed together; but when the parents felt this grievous peril, in haste they hastened to the sepulchre of the Athlete of Christ; to whom, as they went, there met them the keeper of the precious sepulchre, bearing with him for the benefit of others a leathern girdle, which they affirm to have been his; and as soon as he placed it upon the head of the little one, the pain, tremor, stridor, and all peril fled from him; but they accomplish the journey begun, about to render thanks for the benefit. And to all by them the matter is made plain, rebounding. O clemency of the Athlete of Christ, offering himself of his own accord to those not seeking, he granted without price the medicine of health! There are more and other things worthy of relation concerning this Man's virtues, which for the sake of brevity we have omitted, lest the heaped-up abundance should generate weariness in the readers; but yet, if the pen cannot comprehend all his deeds, at least we have taken care, the Lord favoring, to subjoin a few of the holy Man's miracles.

ANNOTATIONS.

* perhaps, of a shepherd.

* elsewhere, the rest.

* elsewhere, your.

* that is, anxious.

* to be consoled.