CONCERNING ST. FRANCO THE HERMIT,
OF ASSERGI AMONG THE VESTINI IN ABRUZZO.
11TH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
His Cult and Life, to be given from a manuscript of the very place.
Franco, Hermit of Assergi in Abruzzo (St.)
G. H.
The Vestini, peoples once of Italy, in the present Further Abruzzo of the kingdom of Naples, had the cities Amiternum, Pinna, Sacred cult. Avia, which they will now have to be called Aquila: and there too is Assilicum, or Assericum, commonly Assergi, distant from Aquila eight miles for those going to Penne, fewer from Amiternum. There on this 5th of June is venerated St. Franco the hermit, of whom Philippus Ferrarius in the General Catalogue says, "Of Assergi, among the Vestini, St. Franco the Hermit."
[2] The same in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy has this eulogy of him on this 5th of June: "Franco, born in the castle of Roio near Forcona among the Vestini, while still a boy, having despised the riches in which he abounded, secretly fleeing into the monastery of St. John of Collis-Mantus, there put on the monastic habit. Eulogy from Ferrarius, But he so advanced in the observance of regular discipline, that, since many signs of sanctity shone forth in him, although young he was elected Abbot. Which dignity being constantly refused, by the leave of his Superiors, having gone out from the monastery, he sought solitude, and hid himself in a cave for the sake of penance: where, refreshed by a honeycomb shown to him by a she-bear, since there was no water in that place, having soon made prayer he divinely brought forth a spring: which long profited for healing diseases. He wrought many miracles: of which it is pleasing to relate these. When he was going to Assericum, the nearest town, a boy, whom a wolf, seized in its teeth, was carrying off to be devoured, he snatched, drawn out from its jaws, and restored unharmed to his parents; and obtained from God by prayers, that wild beasts should thenceforth not harm men. To a certain man, who now for fifteen years had been unable to walk, he restored the power of walking. To another too, who had long been deaf, he restored hearing; and freed a leper from his disease, the signs which now appeared on his face being blotted out. Finally, conspicuous in all sanctity, under Frederick the Norman King, and Hadrian the Supreme Pontiff, he migrated from life, the bells sounding of their own accord, and a most sweet fragrance breathing out from him: whose body was laid in the aforesaid monastery." These things Ferrarius says from a manuscript monument of the Church of Aquila, in whose diocese is the town of Assericum, who had Acts not very reliable: and in it the monastery of St. Mary in Silice, of which no mention is made above, where the bells sounded of their own accord: and in which his sacred body once laid is even now kept with due veneration. At last Ferrarius notes in his Annotation, that the Acts related by him need correction as to the time, because no Frederick by name, a Norman by race, is read to have reigned at Naples.
[3] we exhibit the original from a manuscript of the place, Other and safer Acts we have obtained from a manuscript book, kept at Assergi with the very sacred Relics, which, diligently collated word for word, the Reverend Father Antonius Beatillus of the Society of Jesus once transmitted to us, then living at Naples, where in the year 1642 he died, most well-deserving concerning the Saints of the kingdom of Naples, of whom he sent us very many Acts. The copy sent by him, and illustrated with a few little Notes in the margin, at the end enumerates the names of the Relics which today are extant in the church of Assergi; and in the first place is indicated the Head of Bl. Franco, kept beside the body. with all the bones of his body; so that it seems to be kept apart from these, to be set out for public veneration, and perhaps enclosed more preciously. The author, although anonymous, is altogether weighty, perhaps someone from the Clergy of Assergi; nor very long removed from the age of the Saint himself; inasmuch as those healed by the miracle of the living man he not only names by name, but in no. 10 even cites trustworthy testimonies, which proved and prove their multitude. Concerning the same St. Franco the hermit, Brautius Bishop of Sarsina in his poetic Martyrology thus played:
The Lord bore that Franco living should lie hidden, The dead man he himself transferred by new signs.
LIFE
From a manuscript codex kept at Assergi, Transmitted by Antonius Beatillus.
Franco, Hermit of Assergi in Abruzzo (St.)
BHL Number: 3143
FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.
[1] At the time when Roger King of Sicily, of the race of the Normans, under Pope Hadrian, took up the Roman empire; and William his son, crowned King of Sicily, the Greeks and Apulians being conquered, took Brindisi, and occupied Apulia and Calabria; born at Rodium, a magnificent and noble Paronia ruling in the Amiterno and Forcona province; a certain little child, named Franco, is born in the castle which is called Rodium: whose parents an abundance of riches more fully smiled upon. From infancy he obtained a good spirit, through which even as a boy he was rendered humble and amiable. His parents hand him over to the Priest Palmerius to be instructed: with whom, before the rest of his equals, he advanced in letters, but most of all came out praiseworthy in manners. from the keeping of sheep His elder brother, in the absence of his parents, rebuking him sometimes beyond what was due, destined him to the keeping of sheep. But he himself, at the impulse of the Holy Spirit, the flocks being left without a keeper, fled to the monastery of St. John of Colimentum. There received by the Abbot, the venerable Lucullanus, in whom his parents had a special devotion, he passes over to the monastery; with the affection of piety, he is immediately deputed with the rest of the Novices to be instructed in letters. Who when he came to that Prophetic verse, "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord, they shall praise thee for ever and ever"; and that, "I have chosen to be an abject in the house of God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners"; the habit being soon received, vigilantly persisting in the regular observances, in humility and virtues he shone forth before the rest. Ps. 83:5 & 11
[2] and he relieves it from his parents' faculties: His parents, having often tried both with tears and in various ways to call him away from the purpose of religion, never accomplished anything at all. But the man of God, studiously asking and receiving many goods from his parents, kindly imparted them to the needy Brethren and others, according to that; "He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor." Which the aforesaid Abbot Lucullanus diligently considering, asked him, why he so burdened his parents. Ps. 111:9 To whom Franco answered, there, ten years having been spent, he refuses to become Abbot, "If I am their son, more is owed me from their faculties." The Abbot, ten years after the entry of the little child, having died; and the whole Convent harmoniously electing Franco; he himself refused the Abbot's title and every title of Prelacy; and so, for twenty years, rendered regular service to the Lord. At which time hearing that concerning John the Baptist,
"The caves of the desert under tender years &c."
and after 20 he withdraws into the desert, and contemplating the other examples of the holy Fathers, leave being obtained with difficulty from the Brethren, weeping piously, with the kiss of peace, by night he departs. For covered with his usual garments; with a Breviary and nine loaves and a fistful of salt, a flask and a dish, the Brethren sleeping, taken cautiously, going out of the monastery, he enters the grove through trackless ways: and traversing in search of a suitable place, by the Lord's provision, a bear preceding him and showing the way, he came to a cave, hedged about with very sharp thorns, and the hollow of an oak trunk, full of clearest water.
[3] about to live more severely: This cave, in the inmost recess of the grove, had been the dwelling of some holy Hermit until that day. Here, more devoutly paying the praises to the Lord, from the said nine loaves with little herbs and acorns, he provided for himself food and the necessaries of life. Where the Lord, the giver of graces, by the merits of the same Blessed, showed many wonderful things. For the bear, of whom we just now spoke, seeking food, farther from the cave found a stony hollow in the root of a projecting rock, in which bees had made honey, full and dripping with honey: who, a modest refreshment being taken, returning to God's servant, with his mouth anointed with honey indicated the food. he abstains from the honey shown to him by the bear, But the man of God, hastening with the bear to the place of the honey, and a modest quantity being taken without any trouble from the bees, returns to his cell, and for a year, wild little fruits being used, is fed without any other food. But the bear very often frequented the place; but the servant of Christ, refusing all sweetness of taste, and the bear driving it off with a staff, approached no more.
[4] those about to be overwhelmed by the mass of a falling rock he saves; But after a little time, while the man of God was being more diligently sought by the faithful of the surrounding regions, in the inmost grove; a rock, suddenly loosened from the cliff of the sloping mountain, rushing into the deep hollow of the valley, covered and shut in five men from among those. To whom, while no human protection seemed possible; those of them who had remained, imploring the suffrages of God and of the man of God with most devout prayers, and submitting themselves to the rock of marvelous size, rolled it over as if the lightest weight: but those who had been mortally shut in, escaped unharmed; and all hastening to the little cell of the servant of God, humbly returned thanks to God and the man of God. becoming known by this and other miracles But the man of God, reckoning himself unworthy of such honor, exhorted them, that these and similar benefits of God they should attribute to God himself, who is the merciful bestower of all good things, in whom those hoping are by no means confounded.
[5] His fame of sanctity growing strong, innumerable peoples flowed together to him from everywhere: he flees elsewhere: he turns away 7 wolves from himself: which he himself abhorring, and fleeing the throng of men, through the steeps of the groves and the Alps, for a long time known to no man, satisfied his hunger with wild herbs and little fruits. When once seven wolves, driven by hunters, rushed upon him with open jaws; the holy man, his knees bent, and his hands raised to the Lord, the sign of the Cross being premised; drove the wolves, with closed jaws and bowed heads, into another part farther from himself. Then through the mountain woods above the plain of the city of Novovila proceeding in his usual manner, he found a man of Cafassae, named William Grossus, almost crushed under a very tall tree, which he, in cutting it down, had not foreseen would fall upon him: he saves a man about to be overwhelmed by a falling tree, who, his hands raised to the Lord, said: "O vegetable body without sense, in the power of him who made you, the Creator, grow on high, beware lest you bend further; nor presume to destroy a rational animal, bearing the image of the Creator." At whose command that tree, now cut from the stump, bent crosswise through the air, stood immobile so long, until William, who had cut it, could be freed from danger.
[6] For some time, in the mountains rising above Guartum, he immediately designated a place pleasing to himself, yet lacking water; yet by the power of him he draws forth a spring by prayers, who struck the rock and the torrents overflowed, he obtained a spring of clearest waters, by whose washing many then and afterward were freed from various sicknesses: where for five years under a certain overhang of rock, covered with herbs and leaves, dwelling, he lived holily. Ps. 77:20 Then, because beyond his will very many peoples visited him, at God's warning proceeding toward the Sabine Alps, he stopped on the mountain above the castle of Assilicum, a she-bear with three little bears preceding him. he passes by Assericum, There, building a narrow cell under the rocks in a certain cave, the same she-bear with her grown bears conversing for a very long time with him gently and familiarly, he led a harsh and meager life.
[7] where he receives unharmed an infant carried off by a wolf, There the Lord distinguished him with many miracles. For while at harvest time he was going toward Assilicum to receive the Lord's sacraments, he found a rabid wolf carrying off a boy wrapped in little rags and swaddling-bands, whom it had snatched among the stubble: which, hearing the plaintive voice of the servant of God, putting down the boy unharmed, fled. But the servant of God himself running up,
carried the boy in his arms to the weeping parents, who gave thanks to God: and he obtained from God by prayers the privilege, that thereafter the men of that castle should not be harmed by animals of this kind: and so by the goodness of God that region remained and remains safe and unharmed from wolf-bites, by the merits of the servant of God. But always on the principal feasts he returned to the church of God, to receive the Eucharist: yet sometimes devout Priests and Monks, about to have consolation with him, visited him with alms.
[8] Moved by the fame of these miracles and of his sanctity, many inhabitants of the province of Abruzzo, descending through the trackless way of the sloping mountain which is called Portella, often visited him. But while certain of them on the feast of the Apostles Philip and James were hastening to the man of God, he turns away the mass of a falling snow lest it harm, passing through a deep ditch and hollow in the root of the said Alps; a mass of snow of marvelous quantity, which in the common tongue is called "gravara," slipping down from the summit of that mountain, was inevitably striking down and shaking them. Among whom a certain Priest, named Deodatus, terrified, said; "O servant of God, most holy Franco, succor us perishing on this road." As they bent their heads to the ground with fear, soon that mass, hurtling down, burst from the projecting rock, passed over them like a bird flying down to the lower part; and he who is near to those calling upon him, nor forsakes those hoping in him, preserved them unharmed from so terrible a fall, on account of the merits of the servant of God. Who immediately going to the man of God, found him meeting them and foretelling what had befallen them, saying; "The God of mercies, and the Lord of all consolation, has consoled us in the tribulations which came upon us exceedingly; therefore with you, his spiritual servant, gladdened we rejoice." Whom the servant of God himself, rejoicing in the Lord, received; and after a little space they departed, divulging miracles of this kind.
[9] He also restored to health, at those times, many oppressed with various sicknesses, as trustworthy testimonies proved and prove. For to Sanctorus of Vasto, who for fifteen years had been unable to walk, before the people standing by, on a feast day, prayer being poured out to the Lord, he raises up a lame man, he restored whole and perfect walking. But the space of fifteen years of his dwelling there being completed, the spiritual Sacraments being received after the manner of Hermits, his hands folded in the form of a Cross, and after 15 years spent there he dies, not without miracles: in the night time he ended his life in the Lord. At whose blessed death, by the marvelous power of God, the bells of the monastery of St. Mary in Silice, preceding the usual hour, all ringers being removed, immediately sounded, and the cock's crow sounded forth. By which the monastic community and the people, unanimously roused and gathered together with one another, straight toward the little cell, beheld a light like a carbuncle; the body is buried in the monastery: immediately conceiving the happy death of the servant of God. And because to the upright in heart a light had risen in the darkness, the Clergy and People, with the sighs of devotion, ran together as quickly as possible to the cell. Whose body, sending forth a sweetness like cinnamon and balsam, with hymns and canticles and what solemnities they could, they carried, to be entombed in the said monastery.
[10] There the said body is evidently seen to shine with frequent miracles, to it the farmers obtain rains; and to obtain singular benefits for those devoutly supplicating. At the time, indeed, when the flowering crops were putting forth fruitful ears, in that region the rays of the sun so heated, that they seemed to scorch the individual crops, before they bore fruit. Wherefore devout Priests and townsfolk, especially the elders, hastening to the tomb of Bl. Franco, with devout urgings, suppliant prayer being poured out, after their departure, immediately beheld rain-clouds in the air; from which a gracious rain poured down, watering the abundant crops, and making them fruitful with copious fruits: at which the individual supplicants rejoiced.
[11] A certain man of Assilicum, named Joannes Jacob, while at the dawning of the daily star he was leading oxen with sheep to the woodland pastures; a boy lost, his little boy, a little after taking up the same road unknown to his mother, strays from his father's path. Who, entering the wood thick with trees through trackless ways, the whole day running here and there through it, wearied with weeping and labor, after the setting of the sun, overcome by sleep, fell asleep. The father, returning in the evening, asks the mother about the boy, but the mother the father. Him not being found, kinsmen and neighbors being summoned, all run together toward the woods with lights, found nourished by the appearing Saint: diligently inquiring about the boy: whom not finding, they believe him devoured by bears and wild beasts. They return weeping and sad to the body of the servant of God, suppliantly commending the boy. The next morning they find the boy, placed outside the wood, unharmed. Who, asked who had been with him the past night, answered; "A certain Monk yesterday evening gave me bread and cheese, and spent the night with me, and after the coming of light led me to this place, and said; 'Behold your father and mother come to you, fear not,' and withdrew."
[13] a Monk, bringing Relics from Rome, is preserved from robbers. A certain Monk, having set out for Rome for the sake of piety, by his skill acquired certain Relics of Apostles, Evangelists, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins, from the Lord Apostolic and certain servants of God, to be carried more devoutly to the monastery of St. Mary of Silice, of which from boyhood he had been professed. He, surrounded on the way by robbers, when no human aid appeared, extended the sign of the Cross against them, and suppliantly invokes the name of Bl. Franco: which done, immediately those robbers, pardon being asked, withdrew: but the Monk exulted vehemently in the Lord. Who, anxiously seeking again the monastery, enclosed those Relics, with the writings distinguishing them, in the stone tomb, with the precious body of the man of God.
NOTES, G. H. & D. P.
In the 11th century a book, containing the Order of the divine Offices through the year, began to be called a Breviary: yet there were not yet contained in it, as far as I know, the shorter contexts of the sacred Lessons; but those were read from ample volumes, written for that end, of the Bibles, and of the Passions or Lives, and of the Homilies; until these too began to be abbreviated, in the 14th or 15th century. A more certain notice will give the inspected book for the use of the Choir of Monte Cassino under Alexius Comnenus (as Du Cange is witness in the Glossary), that is written about the year 1100, with this title; "Here begins the Breviary or Order of the divine Offices through the whole course of the year." Reading these things, a desire came over me of knowing whether even in that book were found short histories of the lives of the Saints: and first I wrote to Monte Cassino, and received the answer that the book was now to be sought at Paris, but thence it was reported to be kept among the Fathers of the Oratory and to lack Lessons. So the most humane Mabillon, asked to inspect the book, told me, adding that it was altogether written under Odorisius I, who held the Abbey from the year 1087 to 1105. And so we are made certain of what I said at the beginning, that Lessons began later to be inscribed in Breviaries.
p The town of Cafassa Beatillus noted in the margin of this Life: but he did not indicate its site, nor do I find the name in the tables.
q Guartum is distant three miles from Astergium, says the same Jacobillus in the margin, but the tables do not express even this place.
r This water perseveres to this very day and is called the water of St. Franco, as the same teaches.
s Namely those mountains which separate Abruzzo from the Sabina.
t Vastum Aymonis, a mountain in Hither Abruzzo.
u In Ferrarius also hearing was restored to a deaf man.
x Of these perhaps is that little list, which is thus woven after the Life as of those extant at Assergi today.
Relics of St. Thomas the Apostle, and of St. John the Baptist; of SS. Paul and Sebastian; of SS. Stephen, Lawrence and the Innocents; of SS. Sebastian, Dominic, and Leonard; of SS. John and Paul; of the four Crowned Ones, of St. Placitus, of St. Barbara Virgin, of St. Chrysanthus Martyr, of St. Placidus, of St. Lucy Virgin and Martyr; of SS. Eunofrius and Eugenius; of SS. Blasius and Hilarion the Abbot; of St. Agnes Virgin, of the Head of St. Clement, of the Palm which the Virgin Mary planted, of the sepulchre of the Blessed Virgin, of the place of the nativity of J.C., of the column at which he was scourged, of the place of Mount Calvary, of the place from which Christ ascended to the heavens.