ON ST. PETROCUS THE ABBOT,
IN CORNWALL THE BRITISH PROVINCE.
VI CENT.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Various Translations of the Body and the Cult.
Petrocus the Abbot, in Cornwall (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
William Camden, in his Britannia, first describes the Danmonii, and among them Cornwall, by the English Cornwall, and its northern shore, where there is, he says, the river Alan, "which is also called Camb-Alan and Camel, from its winding motion (for this Cam denotes to them), which placidly flows down to the upper sea, and at its mouth has the little market Padstow, contracted for Petrockstow (as is read in the histories of the Saints), from a certain British Petrocus enrolled among the Saints, who here gave himself to God: when before it was called Lodere and Laffenac. It has a very convenient site for trading with Ireland, Town named after him, formerly an Episcopal See, to which it is easily sailed in 24 hours." Thus Camden. William of Malmesbury lib. 2 "On the Deeds of the English Pontiffs," treating of the Bishops of Crediton, Exeter, Cornwall, toward the end writes these things: "Of the Cornish Pontiffs indeed the successive order I neither know, nor expound, except that with S. Petrocus the Confessor was the See of the Episcopate. The place is among the northern Britons above the sea, near the river which is called Hegelmithe." Thus there.
[2] Now Michael Alford on the year 564 asserts that the river is called Alan; and adds that the body of S. Petrocus seems to have been translated from Padstow, with the Episcopal See, to Bodmin, Body at Bodmin or Bomine, or Bosvena. The same on the year 936 proves from a certain Catalog, that by King Ethelstan, on the said year a Church was erected at Bodmin, sacred to S. Petrocus; and there the See of the Cornish Bishops was placed: but with the Dane disturbing the province, it migrated to the town of S. Germanus, situated in the Hundred of Easto. Tome 2 of the Monasticon Anglicanum treats of the Priory of Bodmin, and the Priory of S. Germanus in the Cornish district on page 5. But the body of S. Petrocus
as Ussher writes in the British Antiquities page 1014 was once buried at Bodmin; which was thence stolen and translated to the monastery of S. Mevennius in Armorican Brittany, and by the mandate of Henry II of England was restored. The history of this matter Roger Hoveden, on the year 1177, narrates thus: "Martinus, Regular Canon of the Church of Bodmin, stealthily carried off the body of S. Petrocus, and fleeing carried it with him to Brittany to the Abbey of S. Mevennius. in the 12th century translated to Armorica, Which discovered, Rogerus Prior of the Church of Bodmin, with the saner part of his Chapter, approached the father King of England, and prevailed against him, that by command he mandated the Abbot and convent of S. Mevennius, to render without delay the body of B. Petrocus to Rogerus Prior of Bodmin; and unless they did so, the King commanded Rollandus of Dinant, justiciar of Brittany, to take that holy body by force, and hand it over to the aforesaid Prior of Bodmin. Hearing this, the Abbot and Convent of S. Mevennius, careful for the indemnity of their Church, and not daring to resist the Royal will, rendered that body without any diminution to Rogerus Prior of Bodmin; and returned: swearing on the holy Gospels and on the Relics of Saints, that they had returned the same very body, and not altered, with all integrity." Thus Hoveden. The Abbey of S. Mevennius is in the diocese of St. Malo, and Mevennius the Abbot is venerated on the 21st of June.
[3] Andrew Saussay, on account of this translation into Armorica, inscribed Petrocus in his Gallican Martyrology, with these words: "In Brittany of S. Petrocus Confessor and Anchorite: who by nation a Cimber, sprung from royal blood, Memorial in the Calendars for the love of Christ scorned the Principality of his own race, and having pilgrimaged to various places for devotion's sake, after many miracles performed everywhere, among which he is reported to have brought forth a fountain from a flint, crossing into Western Britain, cultivated the eremitic life. Thence having gathered alumni of a bright life, whom he taught in the law and service of God both by deeds and by examples, filled with merits, he went forth to the Lord." Thus there. We were in the year 1662 in the monastery of Jumièges in Normandy, and there we found an English Missal, given of old by Robert its sometime Abbot, then Bishop of London, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. Which Missal from the Paschal Table we have gathered was inscribed about the year of Christ 1000. In it on this June 4 the memory of S. Petrocus the Confessor is celebrated. With which words also it is reported in an ancient Ms. Calendar prefixed to the Computus of Bede. Greven or the Cologne Carthusians in their Auctarium of Usuard, printed in the years 1515 and 1521, inserted the memory of Petrocus the Abbot and Confessor: and so also it is written in the Calendar before the old Breviary of the Church of St. Malo in Armorica. With a longer eulogy it is reported in Wilson's English Martyrology, and from him cited in Ferrarius's general Catalog, where he is wrongly called Patroclus. So also faultily in the Ms. Brussels Martyrology is indicated the Translation of S. Pectocus the Confessor: which we judge must be received as of S. Petrocus.
[4] Life of suspect credit: A Life of S. Petrocus we have copied from a Ms. codex of the monastery of Regular Canons of the Red-Valley near Brussels, which the same John Capgrave published in his Legend of the Saints of England, whose author Ussher and others make John of Tinemouth, and Pitseus asserts this man flourished about the year 1366, that is more than 700 years after the death of S. Petrocus, so that he seems to have gathered very many things from popular tradition, little certain in so ancient a matter. We desire therefore that the reader take these things in various places as of suspect credit. time of his life. Meanwhile veneration and holiness of life are proved from them. About his age nothing certain can be had. He seems to be ascribed to the 6th century of Christ. Harpsfeld chap. 27 in the first six centuries says he flourished about the year 560; Alford thinks he died somewhat earlier.
[5] S. Piranus, who is said to be venerated at Padstow (which some interpret as Petrok-stow), reported among the Passed Over on the 2nd of May, has not yet become known to us from any older writer; but neither in Camden, who is cited, do we find either Piranus or Padstow named. We ask therefore that Camden's passage be indicated more distinctly, and if anything further can be done to prove the cult either on this day or on that or on any other.
A SUSPECT LIFE
By Author John of Tinemouth.
From a Ms. and Capgrave.
Petrocus the Abbot, in Cornwall (S.)
BHL Number: 6640
FROM A MS.
[1] Blessed Petrocus, by nation a Cumber, sprung from royal lineage, so lived from boyhood, that a follower of the faith and an imitator of the works of the Prince of the Apostles, Sprung from royal lineage, as if by some presage, from the assignment of his own name divinely perceived, he contended that he too was a rock, on which Truth itself had promised to build His Church: to whom God had conferred such grace, that in all eyes he appeared pleasing and acceptable. For he was modest, humble, a cheerful giver; fervent with continual charity, prompt to all works of religion. But with the King his father dead, the Optimates, with the kingdom left, he becomes a Monk; with the consonant acclamation of the people, strove to constitute him King by hereditary right. But he, with royal pomp neglected, taking with him sixty companions, entering a monastery, took on the habit of religion. After some years had elapsed, setting out for Ireland, he gave himself to the disciplines of letters and of sacred Scripture for twenty years. in Ireland he studies: At length thinking to return home, on the shore of the sea he found the raft, which he had long since left there with no guardian but God, with no joint loosened, intact. With the sails spread and the ship committed to the wind, he prosperously made Britain.
[2] When his disciples had disembarked, reapers working there spoke to them bitterly; and besides importunely begged that, to allay their thirst, the servant of God would elicit for them a fountain of sweet water from a rock; he elicits a fountain from a rock: either to mock the newcomer, or to know his sanctity by such an experiment. But he, who was wont to give to those asking what they sought, with God's mercy entreated, struck the rock with his staff: and soon thence a fountain of sweet and clear water began to gush forth, and to this day does not cease to flow. The barbarians, wholly ignorant of the Christian religion, wondered at these things seen. And when the servant of God asked, whether any cultivator of the Christian religion was in that Province, they showed him a certain holy Sampson; making narration of his solitary life and parsimony, vigils, labor and prayers, and how he ate only sparingly of barley bread. Hearing these things the servant of God, when he had beheld Sampson, poured forth prayers to God, that he might not depart from that place, until he should merit to have conversation with him. The Lord straightway granted him the desire of his soul, adding to his prayer what he had not presumed to pray for. For at once Sampson became so stiff in his limbs, that the instrument with which he was wont to turn the earth, He frees Sampson from stiffness of limbs: he could not move with his hand, bound by the bond of the prayer of the man of God: and with Petrocus approaching, at his salutation Sampson was released from that stony stiffness: and giving each other the kiss of peace, they gave thanks and praises to God.
[3] But Petrocus made a dwelling in a place near there with his companions: for thirty years he so lived an innocent life there, for 30 years he lives in great mortification: that he did to no one what he would not have done to himself. He so afflicted his flesh with fasting and vigils and cold, that to repress illicit motions of pleasure, from cockcrow to dawn, he would spend the night in the midst of a torrent. He so tamed his gullet, that not only did he not seek delicious preparations; but he even rejoiced in the sole food of bread. On Sundays, for reverence of the Lord's resurrection, he tasted some pottage soberly; with hunger driven away by which, the dryness of his nerves would not render him debilitated for the militia of the Lord.
[4] When thirty years had passed, about to go on pilgrimage to Rome, when he had returned to Cornwall, with a whirlwind of winds stirred up, very great rain came: he goes on pilgrimage to Rome, and when his disciples had complained on this account, the man of God repressed their murmur, promising for the morrow serenity of the air, and that the journey would prosper. And when on the morrow the rain had not ceased, the man of God began to be sad; and to accuse himself of presumption, who had promised otherwise than God had provided. With the storm at last calmed, on the third day he openly confesses that he is about to set out for Rome, because he had been rash with his tongue, and falsely prophesied against the disposition of God. To which when he had come and had visited the holy places, and to Jerusalem; he sets out for Jerusalem. And when at the Lord's tomb he had poured forth pious prayers and tears; he began to hasten his journey toward India: and through very many perils of robbers and rivers at length, coming to the Eastern Ocean, exhausted with much weariness, alone he slept on the shore. But waking from sleep, he saw a vessel brought to him across the sea, light within, capable of only one man. And looking on the vessel, he confidently entered it: in an island of the Eastern Ocean he lives. and by the sole impulse of the sea without oar or rower, he joyfully landed at a certain Island, where for seven years he led a contemplative life, fed on one fish only, divinely set before him at opportune hours. With the seven-year span completed, the Angel of the Lord stood by him in sleep saying: "Come now, servant of God Petrocus, the Lord bids you set out, by whose will that fish, with which He has fed you for seven years, remains whole and intact; and the vessel by which you were brought is ready for your return. But when you have crossed the sea, with the staff which you had left with the sheepskin, you will find a wolf standing by, whom the Lord has prepared as your companion, me as your guide, until you come into known parts."
[5] All things being found as the Angel had said, he came to Western Britain. Returned to Britain, At that time reigned Tendurus, a fierce man and of savage manners, who for the punishment of thieves and the tortures of the guilty, with savage tyranny, had caused serpents and every kind of harmful vermin to be gathered in a lake. With him dead, when the son who succeeded him forbade this kind of torment, such famished serpents rising up, by frequent encounters wore each other away with livid tooth; so that of so great a number only one remained, horrendous, of enormous body, and with venomous jaws tore beasts and men with savage maws. And the man of God approaching there, and with knees bent in prayer before all, raised a certain dead man; and ordered that monster, henceforth to harm no one, he raises a dead man, to depart into the lands across the sea. And taking with him twelve companions, he began to remain in the arid wilderness, and striking the earth with his staff, he produced from the ground a clear fountain, continuously flowing. he elicits a fountain, One day he saw a stag fleeing to him, whom the huntsmen with dogs of a certain Constantine, a rich servant, were pursuing. The saint by affection of piety preserved this stag unharmed; and the huntsmen, fearing to touch the stag under the Saint's protection, told the matter to their lord in
order. Who, indignant, and moved with sharp wrath, he converts many to the faith: when he strove to strike the servant of God with a sword; suddenly was made stiff in all his limbs with stupor, until humbled by the intercession of soldiers, by the pious prayers of the Saint he was released: and teaching him and his twenty soldiers the faith of Christ, made them mild from tyrants and Christians from Pagans.
[6] As the servant of God was feasting, the vessel of water set beside him chanced to fall, and with the liquid poured out he made the sign of the Cross, and received the vessel intact and full of water: he performs various miracles: tasting which and offering it to the Brothers, the drinkers wondered at the sweetness of the liquid. Once when he was at prayer out of doors, and it rained abundantly all around, not one drop of rain touched the man of God. One day, with B. Petrocus conversing with a certain holy Bishop, behold a cloth of wondrous beauty descended from heaven between them: which when, anticipating each other in honor, they reached toward one another; and each with pious contention expounded the causes why he said it belonged more to the other; at once before their gaze it was taken up into the ether, and suddenly thence two are seen sent down to descend to both. A certain Tribune of the country was tortured by most grievous pain; to whom asleep Blessed Petrocus appeared, bidding that he release the guilty whom he held, and receive his health: which released, he was restored to his former health. A certain woman, who for many years had suffered a flow of blood, having secretly touched the holy man's garment, by the merit of faith received perfect health. A certain great dragon, flying past his cell in the wilderness, with a stick fixed in his right eye, laying aside his savage habit of harming, hastened to the place where the Saint was at prayer: and lying with bowed head for three days, awaited the Saint's patronage. Whom by Bl. Petrocus's order sprinkled with a brew made of water mixed with the dust of the floor, at once by the force of the medicine, with the stick taken from his eye, sound he returned to his accustomed wallow. A certain woman, having drunk a little serpent with water, when physicians could do nothing for her, was brought to the holy man; who made a mixture of earth and water and gave the woman to drink. Which drunk, she vomited a serpent now three feet long, but dead, and in the same hour with her health restored, gave thanks to God.
[7] after exhortations given to disciples At last with disciples called together, he began to instruct them diligently about true religion; that, as they had left the affairs of the world, they should reject the seductive pleasures, repress fury, flee lies, abhor envy; not only not detract, but not even suspect evil of a neighbor; overcome pride, give place to virtues, that they should prepare their hearts as pure dwellings for God and merit to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. And when he had given these and many lessons to the disciples, he dies on June 4. full of all sanctity and miracles, he merited to penetrate the heavens, on the day before the Nones of June.