ON SAINT MARK,
BISHOP OF LUCERA IN APULIA DAUNIA, PATRON OF BOVINO,
ABOUT 328.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On his cult and the Acts of his life.
Mark, Bishop of Lucera, in Apulia Daunia (St.)
BY THE AUTHORS G. H. AND D. P.
Lucera, an Episcopal city under the Archiepiscopal See of Benevento, in Apulia Daunia and the modern Capitanata, a province of the Kingdom of Naples, situated between Troia and the town of San Severo, for distinction from other cities of the same name is called Lucera of the Saracens, commonly on maps Lucera delli Pagani; An epitome from Ughelli. because the Emperor Frederick II, an enemy of the Church, having summoned Saracens from Africa, is said to have given that city to them to inhabit, in Ferdinando Ughelli, tome 7 of Italia Sacra, column 451: who then describes the Bishops, and concerning St. Mark has these things: "The second, St. Mark, born in the city of Aecae in Apulia, which they now call Troia, ordained Priest by John, Bishop of Lucera, succeeded him when he died, about the year 302. The Episcopate of Lucera, Called to the mitre by the Clergy and people on account of the fame of his sanctity, he ruled it most holily for almost twenty-six years; and renowned for many miracles, he passed to Christ, on the 14th day of June of the year 328, carried into the city of Bovino or Bivino, as he himself had charged before his death."
[2] There, in the Cathedral church dedicated to his name, he is venerated with the highest celebrity, the tutelary Saint and Patron of that city. his body translated to Bovino, His life in the vulgar tongue, from the monuments of the Church of Bovino, was written by Domenico Pietro Pauli of Bovino: concerning whom also Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, who wrongly makes Mark a Bishop of Bovino. So far there. Bovino is an Episcopal city itself also, in the same Capitanata, distant about sixteen miles to the south from the said Lucera, treating of which the same Ughelli at column 354 writes these things: it is affirmed still to lie there. "There is in this city an ancient Cathedral temple of the Blessed Mary Assumed and of St. Mark the Confessor, under the metropolis of Benevento: where lies and is venerated with great veneration the body of St. Mark, Confessor and Bishop of Lucera, Patron of Bovino, from the year 328 of our salvation up to our times."
[3] So says Ughelli, whose words are to be noted, on account of Mario della Vipera in his Catalogue of the Saints whom the Church of Benevento celebrates with a double or semidouble rite: where on the 7th day of October, from a marble inscription existing in the church, an Office is prescribed to be performed concerning St. Mark, Bishop of Bovino, as a Double. Further, Mark, Bishop of Bovino, at what time he ruled that Church, is still hidden: at Benevento, in a church dedicated to him he is said to be but his sacred body, in the sacred shrine dedicated to him, which is parochial, is kept with great veneration. We confess this to be a day of translation: for his birthday the Church of Bovino celebrates on the 8th (rather, the 18th) of the Kalends of July. The acts of this holy Bishop are wanting: yet mention is made of him in an ancient manuscript Martyrology in the Beneventan library marked number 178, and by David Romaeus in his Catalogue of the Saints of the Kingdom of Naples. When this holy Bishop lived, and when his body was carried to Benevento, does not appear from the aforesaid. The aforesaid church stands under the right of patronage of the noble family of the Sabariani. So Mario: but since the Life at number 3 expressly says that the day of his Deposition is celebrated on the Nones of October, it must necessarily be said that today is venerated a Translation, not to Benevento, but to Bovino, or rather some finding or elevation of the body, made after the Life was written, which mentions only the Deposition: which day the Beneventan Church too may have assumed, as more celebrated by a cult more recently introduced; and therefore believed to be the Birthday by those who did not read the Life. Whether the several Churches, of Bovino and of Benevento, have some parts of the Relics of St. Mark, could be known from a comparison of the bones: otherwise the continued possession of the people of Bovino would seem more to be esteemed, so that Benevento could have received the body of another St. Mark: which, since it was not known whose it was, supported by some conjecture they may have thought to be of the same one who is venerated at Bovino, to whom they also added the title, "Bishop of Bovino," although they knew nothing of his Acts, and of the time of his See or of the Translation of the Relics.
[3] David Romaeus in his Index of the Saints of the Kingdom of Naples page 407 has these few words: memory in Romaeus and Ferrari "In Daunia, at Bovino, Mark the Pontiff": which can be referred to his sacred body kept there, and the veneration as a tutelary Saint and Patron, wont to be shown to him. Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy thus writes: "Mark, Bishop of Bovino (it is a city of Apulia in the province of Benevento) is venerated chiefly on this day, yet we have not yet seen his Acts. David Romaeus makes mention of him. He is treated of in the Church of Benevento." But, what is wondrous, the same Ferrari in his general Catalogue omitted him.
[4] The Acts of the Life here to be given, our Rosweyde had received long ago from a Bovino manuscript, Acts written in the 11th century, in a verbose style, and not very polished; which the carelessness of the scribe writing the codex, or of the one taking a copy from it, made seem obscure also; so that I have had to restore certain things by conjecture to a sound sense; certain things, by transposition, or omission, or even by the addition of a single little word, to rectify: sparingly, however, because mindful of our purpose. Those Acts were written after the year 894, in which was found and brought to Bovino an ancient little book on the life and miracles of St. Mark, as is said at number 23; or even after the year 1118, if the Bishop of Bovino named at number 21 ought to be understood as Giso; yet before that Translation was made, on account of which the feast is now kept on the 14th of June, the miracles being already wrought from a little book composed before the 8th century, which are narrated through the whole of chapter 3. There, when the Author says at number 14, "In these our times"; and at number 16, "As is narrated by faithful men"; it can be supposed that both the Miracles were done and the Life written in the 11th century. The argument of the first two Chapters seems wholly taken from the aforesaid little book, whose authority indeed is great; since, hidden about the year 750, long before it was being handled before the eyes of the people of Lucera, preserved in the destruction of the city of Lucera about the year 663, as will appear from our Notes. Yet I do not think it was written in the same 4th century in which the Saint died: for such an Author would not have omitted the miracles that immediately followed his death, which persuaded them to build a church above his tomb; but that these were lacking in the aforecited little book is gathered from the silence of our Writer, who used it: who, though he adorned the phrase, perhaps simple and succinct, with a longer compass of words, can yet be presumed to have changed nothing as to substance.
[5] Hence therefore we believe that the Blessed Mark was consecrated Bishop of Lucera by Marcellinus, Bishop of the City of Rome: from which the Saint is believed ordained by St. Marcellinus, whom we have established to have been ordained in the year 216 on the 30th day of June, to have sat 7 years, 11 months, 3 days, namely up to the 2nd day of June, amid the gravest persecutions under Diocletian and Maximian; notwithstanding which he made two Ordinations, in the month of December, four Priests, two Deacons, Bishops for five places: of whom why should not Mark have been ordained for Lucera? Now this man is said, at number 13, to have given up his spirit when he was already 62 years old; and among the 139 Bishops who from the City of Rome, that is, from the Roman Province or not far from it, are said to have assembled to Pope Silvester in the year 314; a certain Mark also is named; whence it becomes likely that he is the one of Lucera, who in the year next following could also have gone to Nicaea, and have assembled again at Rome to the Synod of 325 Bishops; and so also have prolonged his life, as Ughelli reckons, and to have lived to the 62nd year of his age. up to the year 328. Yet I should wish to see the sure reason of this so definite reckoning. Meanwhile, that being supposed, it follows that Mark was not ordained Bishop in the first two years of Marcellinus; but in some of the last; lest he had not had a fit age for such a grade, who even in the next-to-last year of Marcellinus was only 36 years old.
LIFE
From the Bovino Manuscript.
Mark, Bishop of Lucera, in Apulia Daunia (St.)
BHL Number: 5301
FROM THE BOVINO MANUSCRIPT.
PROLOGUE.
[1] The Author, about to speak of the life and miracles of the Saint, Of the life of this holy and most blessed Mark the Confessor we have striven to say a little, or to relate with ready verbosity how he was elected to the Pontifical honor: of his miracles too, which he wrought in this frail world, we have tried to speak. But what do we, so insignificant and without skill in the art of letters, presume to say of so most holy a Father? Even if Homer and Maro, the most eloquent Grammarians, were present, they could not with their tongues milk out a song worthy of this Saint: but if in that time there had been Ambrose, Jerome, or Augustine, fountains of the Church, perhaps they could have fitted to his praises what he deserves. But you, dearest Doctors and offspring of the Church, and Hearers of the life of this Saint, be not our rivals, nor burst forth into the easiest outcry, and judge me inert, or say I am unlearned. he excuses his age and slenderness. Grant pardon to our years running in their sixth lustrum; drink also bitter for sweet. The earthen lamp is wont to give forth its light beside the house, and to shine through the lattices in the church. So do you too receive the life of this Blessed Mark: take my small speech in place of great things: for if my tongue had been of bronze or my voice of iron, and all my limbs spoke with a human voice, his miracles which the Lord wrought through him, and the praises of which he is worthy, we could not have related: whence well the Prophet said: "Wonderful is God in his Saints, he will give power and strength to his people." Ps. 67:36 He followed the footsteps of many Apostles, received the doctrine of the Martyrs: and, if he was not a Martyr by the sword, he bore martyrdom in his heart; he attenuated himself with fasts, and was free for prayers at every hour, and observed chastity in body and lips. But lest tardiness hold me longer, I return, as much as I can, to the things which are to be said.
CHAPTER I.
His birth, his Priesthood, a calumny dispelled by miracles.
[2] There was in the city of Aecae, which was on the borders of Apulia, a man by name Constantinus, very wealthy, most Christian and fearing God: who daily applied himself to almsgivings, prayers, and fasts; and he had an only son, by name Mark, whom, instructing him in the fear of God, he also handed over to the studies of letters. Who was so learned that, as fruitful earth receives the seed, the boy very well instructed by his pious father, and bears the hundredfold fruit; in like manner he too, receiving the admonitions of his father, ever wrapped in the study of goodness, persevered; the Lord saying in the Gospel, "A good tree bears good fruits": so he too became, of worthy parents, a worthy offspring, and grew daily in goodness and the fear of God, and the fame of his disposition shone forth with sanctity. Matt. 7:17 when the same had died, But as time ran on, his father Constantinus gave up
his spirit, and was taken up by the Angels into heaven. But no one can doubt that he who tarried so long a time in the service of God should not enter into the hall of the heavenly King, the Lord promising, "Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will make you to rest." Matt. 11:28
[3] After the death of his Father, when he was a little boy and very wealthy, he distributes his goods to the poor: he dwelt with two girls; yet he did nothing childish in his conduct. But he began to be devout to God, and to pant with all desires for the heavenly country: and he began also to dispense of his substance to the poor, to succor the oppressed; and he took care to lay up his treasure there, where rust does not destroy, nor moth corrupt. Meanwhile John the Prelate presided as Bishop over the See of Lucera, and is ordained Priest; a man very wonderful and distinguished in all honesty; who exalted him with the honor of the Priesthood; but he cried out as if unworthy. When therefore the Blessed Mark had received the mitre of the Priesthood, there was in him abstinence in foods, vigilance in prayers, strenuousness in fasts; and all that he could have he distributed to the work of piety: in which he received the grace of such perfection that even then in his very beginnings he could deservedly be reckoned perfect. O happy bowels of the holy mother, which brought forth such a germ to the world! Truly that fertile clod, which, the seed received, produces one fruit a hundredfold, another sixtyfold.
[4] because of the ministry of two girls, When the most blessed Mark dwelt in his cell, beside the hall of the holy Church of God, and in his house two girls ministered to him, whom he daily instructed in the fear of God and holy doctrine; that envious devil and detractor of all goodness sent forth darts of enmity into his satellites; and kindling rivals against the Blessed Mark, he hoped to stir up the swelling of his wickedness against him. But in vain: for it is written, "Blessed is the man who has placed his hope in the Lord"; and, "The just man, like a lion confident, fears not the adversity of this world." Ps. 39:5; Prov. 18:1 But they directed a letter to John the Prelate concerning the Blessed Mark, saying thus, and bringing forth such things in the words of the devil: he is accused to the Bishop of Lucera: "Lord Prelate, to whom God has granted such goodness, who love all men as sons, and with your words search out hidden things; this Mark the Priest, whom your Dignity exalted with the honor of the Priesthood, despising your precepts, and trampling on your admonitions, does a nefarious thing in his house, namely fornication with two girls; and he gluts himself in delights and feasts, and is daily occupied with magical arts: unless he amend this thing by your command, a most evil ill will befall our country." O type of a new Judas! and new invention of the Jews! O wicked lips! He, kindled with the tinder of envy against the Lord his master, said, "He works miracles in the art of the Python": these said of the Blessed Mark that he was occupied "with magical arts": the Jews through envy handed over the Lord to Pilate, and sent false witnesses against him; and these through envy detracted from the Blessed Mark, that they might hand him over to condemnation. But that almighty God, who knows all things before they are done, does not desert his servants, for the Lord does not cast off his people unto the end.
[5] When the wicked letter had been read before the sight of the Bishop, kindled in fury that he had heard such things of so venerable a man, when a hard and slippery report of him had not been found; by whom summoned, he calmly receives his envoys, he straightway called to him his two Deacons, Vincentius and Aristoteles; and said to them: "Go into the Trajan city, and bring to me Mark the Priest, that I may know the truth concerning him." But they, going away, found him praying in the church, and said to him: "Come, for the Bishop calls you." Then the most blessed Mark himself, as he was most efficacious, and full of all humility, said to them with dove-like simplicity: "Brothers, come, let us pray." And the Blessed Mark, prostrating himself on the ground, prayed: and again raising himself, he spread out his hands to heaven, saying with tears: "Lord God almighty, and prayer to God being made before and with them, Father of eternal majesty, holy and eternal Trinity; thou in the beginning before all creatures didst found Lucifer, and madest him good and sublime, and gavest him the principality among the Angels; but he did not give honor to thee his Creator; but through his envy and pride was cast from heaven into hell, that as much as he was a good angel, so much should he become an evil devil, whence Job says of him: 'Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God seek it from above,' because through envy he cast the first man out of Paradise, and hurled the whole world into hell: Thou didst send thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ, through the womb of the Virgin, to redeem the human race: who took the form of a servant and was tempted, as the avenger of oppressed innocence and the punisher of envy, that he might free us from the power of the enemy; he died, that he might deliver us from perpetual death; and in his resurrection destroyed the power of the devil, and illumined the world. Job 3:4 Thou didst free Susanna from the false crime, and didst lead the three Children out of the furnace of fire, and as a good lord didst show thy goodness; help me thy servant, for in thee is my hope; for if thou art my helper, I shall not fear what man may do to me: who livest and reignest unto the ages of ages."
[6] This prayer completed, he called to him the aforesaid Deacons, and said to them: "Come, he invites the same to dinner, let us take food." Truly this man imitated his master and lord, for he knew that he was to be betrayed by his disciple, and to be crucified by the Jews; yet he did not refuse him from the supper, and did not deny his blessing to his betrayer: and this man through the Holy Spirit knew that through envy they had wished to exercise a nefarious thing against him; yet he called them to dinner. But when both had come to his house, Vincentius entered and received a blessing from his holy hand; but Aristoteles, remaining in his fierceness, did not enter to him. and relieves by a miracle the thirst of the one who had refused. But when they had given themselves to the journey, and had come to a place, anxiety seized Aristoteles, and he stood as if to breathe out his spirit. But the Blessed Mark, seeing a doe, and beside her fawns standing, adjured her and said: "I adjure thee by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, that thou stand and not move thyself from this place, until thou furnish to this Deacon milk, that his soul may be refreshed, and he may know the power of my Lord Jesus Christ, which he works in those who hope in him." And straightway the doe fixed herself, and Aristoteles went, and drank milk from her udders, and the doe herself went away unharmed. Then Aristoteles, coming and falling at the feet of the Blessed Mark, kissed them, and wept strongly, and said: "Holy Father, indulge and forgive me a sinner: for thou art pious, and I impious; thou good, and I evil: from whom, repenting, I beseech, indulge me; let not the wrath of God come upon me, because I had an evil mind toward thee." O the mighty works of the Creator! O the miracles of the Redeemer! who had such love for his servants that even the beasts of the field obey their command.
[7] But when they had come to the Prelate, Aristoteles narrated the things which had been done on the way: the Bishop, taught of Mark's sanctity, and John the Prelate marveled at the things which he had heard. But when the morning hour had come, the Bishop said to the Blessed Mark: "Let us enter into the church, that we may celebrate the morning vigils." But the Blessed Mark answered: "Let thy Dignity bear with it a little while, that it may hear wonders." But when about the space of one hour had passed, the Blessed Mark heard the morning signal resounding in heaven with the praises of the Angels, and said to the Prelate: "Let my Lord raise his ear, and hear." But the Bishop began to raise his neck upward, and to strain his ears, and could not hear at all. Then the Blessed Mark said to him: "Let us bend the knees, and pray." And when both persisted in prayer, hears with him the Angelic harmonies. the Bishop and the Blessed Mark heard the hymn-singing choirs of Angels, singing in heaven: and the Bishop, together with the Blessed Mark, began to give thanks to God: and the Bishop said that Versicle: "May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips and the proud-speaking tongue: for their throat is an open sepulcher, with their tongues they were dealing deceitfully, judge them, O God": and entering into the church, they celebrated the vigils to the Lord. Ps. 5:11 Then the Bishop said to the Blessed Mark: "I ask thee, Brother, to persevere with me for one week." But the Blessed Mark answered: "What my Lord commands I will do." But the Prelate, having known his goodness and sanctity, commended himself to his prayers, and kissing each other in the charity of the Lord, sent him back to his own.
CHAPTER II.
The Episcopate of St. Mark, the miracles wrought in it, and his holy death.
[8] Not after much time it came to pass that the Blessed John the Bishop received his sleep in Christ. Elected successor to John of Lucera, Then there is made one voice of all the Clergy and Laity, that Mark should be elected to the Episcopate, so that no one among these men was found who did not cry out in his election, on account of those things which before were objected as titles of praise to this Saint, since before he became a Priest, he is ordained unwilling, he deserved to be a Confessor of Christ; and assenting to these, the voice of the Priests cried out the like. But he said that he was unworthy; and unwilling to give his assent, he prepared flight. And when, keeping vigils through the night, they had not found him, they were saddened. But, diligence being done, he was found before the doors of the holy church. So, blessed and wonderful is the clemency of God, and begins to grow famous with miracles. who would not have his Church deprived of so fit a Pastor, by his will the most holy Mark is elected to the Episcopate; and is consecrated by Marcellinus, Bishop of the City of Rome. But God conferred such grace on him that even after the solemnities of the Masses were celebrated, his hands washed, whoever had tasted of the water which flowed from them, from whatever infirmity he was held, by the grace of Christ, became whole. And many other miracles the Lord wrought through him, which we have inserted a little into this little work.
[9] When on a certain day the most blessed Mark, Confessor of Christ and Bishop, was proceeding, and was celebrating the solemnities of the Masses in the church, a demon through the mouth of a certain man cried out: "O Mark, hast thou obtained the Pontifical honor for this, that thou shouldst torment me?"
I will know what to do against thee: He frees one possessed. I will raise up thy rivals against thee on every side." To whom the Blessed Mark said: "Be silent, devil, and depart from him, and dare not any more to speak with men." Who straightway departed from him, and dashed that man to the ground, and he became as if dead. Then the most holy Mark, holding his hand, raised him up, and let him go away unharmed. But that man devoted himself never to depart from him, fearing lest by the power of the devil he should again be evilly assailed. What more shall we say of so most holy a man? For he was most pious and conspicuous in all good: for he attended not to the power of person, but to the elegance of morals, and separated his ears from detractors as from serpents: but toward the needy and strangers he showed such solicitude that, according to the word of Christ, he believed Christ himself to be in these: he so bore the care of all the Clergy that he enriched the poor Clergy from his own means.
[10] Say therefore, minister of darkness, to what will thy darts profit thee, to the confusion of the demon: which thou hast cast against the Saint of God? He has triumphed, thou art overcome: he rejoices in heaven with the Saints; and thou mournest in hell with thy ministers: for him in the judgment a white robe and an unfading crown is prepared; for thee Gehenna, and a fiery chain, and worms that never die. The first man did not suffice for thee, whom through envy thou didst cast out of paradise; but against the Blessed Mark thou didst kindle the firebrand of envy. Couldst thou not have found in paradise another beast which would have wished to obey thy precepts, except the serpent? Ecclus. 13:19 Nay, as is the master, so also is the servant: for it is written, "Every animal loves its like." He is dry on the earth, thou art dry in heaven: he is cunning and tortuous among all animals, thou art cunning and tortuous among the holy angels: he is full of poison, thou art filled with all guile: he eats the earth, and is an enemy to men: thou art bound with fiery chains. But let us return to the things which we began.
[11] A blind citizen of Lucera But when the Blessed Mark was elected to the Pontificate, he was not lifted up in human glory: but persevered in goodness and humility; and he who before had abstinence in his body, now enjoined on himself a doubled abstinence. But the fame of his goodness grew day by day, and his miracles were divulged through all Apulia. There was a certain man in the same city who, vexed with a pain of the head, was made blind: who, led by the hands of his sons to the cell where Mark the Confessor of Christ sat; fell at his feet, and said: "Help me, holy Father, and restore to me the light of my eyes: for I believe and trust that whatsoever thou shalt ask of God he will give thee." Then the Blessed Mark made a prayer over him, and said: "Lord God almighty, Jesus Christ, only-begotten Son of God, who didst open the eyes of one born blind, and didst raise Lazarus four days dead from the tomb, and didst save the daughter of the Ruler of the synagogue, and didst say, 'Ask and you shall receive,' I seek of thy holy mercy that thou restore the light to this man; that men may know that thou art God, blessed unto the ages of ages. he gives sight by the imposition of hands: And placing his hands over his eyes he said, "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, open thy eyes and see the light of this world, that thou mayest honor God who created thee": and straightway he received the light, and was made whole.
[12] A widow's only-begotten son, deceased, Meanwhile, when the Blessed Mark the Pontiff, Confessor of Christ, was passing through the street of the city, a widow woman met him: and prostrating herself at his feet, she said: "Holy Father, succor me a sinner and a widow, for my only son is dead: but I beg thee, that thou come, and stand over him, and lay hands upon him: for God is able, through thee his servant, to restore to me my son, and to soothe the grief of my widowhood." Hearing which the Blessed Mark began to weep strongly, saying: "Depart from me, woman; for I am a sinful man, and this was the ministry of the Apostles." And the woman said to him: "By him whose servant thou art, and to whom from thy youth thou wast offered, I will not let thee go unless thou come to him." When therefore the Blessed Mark had directed his journey to the woman's house, a prayer being made over him he raises him. he found the boy lying without life, and around him neighbors and kinsmen weeping, and he cast them out, and closed the door behind him: and prostrating himself in prayer with tears he said: "Eternal Father, highest Trinity, one Deity, who through Elisha the Prophet didst restore a son to the Shunammite woman, and didst accept the tears of the widow of Nain, and didst raise her son carried out dead outside the gate; and to the Canaanite woman, crying to thee, didst restore her daughter sound; to thee, most merciful Lord, I pour out prayers, that thou deign to restore the soul of this infant into this little body: and hear me a sinner beseeching thee, for thou art the Savior of the world, and all things stand under thy dominion, and nothing is difficult for thee." And when he had poured out this prayer to the Lord, straightway the boy came back to life: and he called his mother, and restored him to her and to his kinsmen.
[13] These things have been briefly said of the life or acts of the Blessed Mark, Confessor of Christ: He dies a sexagenarian, 7 Oct. now we have striven to narrate of his death. When the Blessed Mark was already sixty-two years old, seized by a fever he gave up his spirit to God: and the day of his deposition is celebrated on the Nones of October: who made a testament, and it pleased him that he should be buried in the city of Bovino: which was done honorifically: and over his holy body a church of his name was placed; and the whole crowd of all the Priests and people, who came to the most holy death of the man of God, were filled with all the sweetness of odor, as if all aromatics had been diffused there. The Priests wept, for the Father lost; the People lamented, like a flock for its Pastor, saying: "Well done, blessed Father, render to God the doubled talent, intercede for us with the mercy of God: pray for us, Blessed Mark; favor those praying, and is buried as a Saint; hear the voices of those singing psalms and beseeching thee; thou who diest most holily and piously, beseech Christ for us, that by thy prayers we may deserve to come rejoicing to the kingdoms of paradise."
CHAPTER III.
Miracles done by the intervention of St. Mark about the times of the Author.
[14] But the things which our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, through this our Father, the most blessed Mark, Confessor and Bishop, deigned to work in this frail world, are by no means to be passed over in silence. Foully contracted In these our times a certain sick man came from far-off parts to the hall of this Saint; who, when he had been oppressed with the greatest weakness in his body, and creeping on his knees, his feet joined to his haunches, so that he could in no way go on his own walk, as he could he walked upon his knees, carrying stools with his hands: who, although he had now long stayed in the same city of Bovino, and there lived on the alms which were given him for the love of God; yet assiduously with vigils and prayers he besought the Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, that through the Blessed Mark, Confessor and Bishop, he would deign to grant him mercy. But thus, when for a long time he endured in his pain, and was wearied by exceeding weakness; pouring out prayer unceasingly to the Lord, he asked pardon, saying: "Lord God almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, whom all the elements serve, to whom Cherubim and Seraphim proclaim Holy, Holy, Holy, whom the Angels and Archangels and all creatures obey; and frequenting the church of the Saint, I beseech thee, be present to me, a wretch, that thou mayest receive the tears of my eyes; and grant that with thy clemency I may deserve to receive a cure." And when he had poured out this prayer to the Lord, and had stood before the doors of the church of the most blessed Mark with weeping eyes, what he sought he deserved to have.
[15] while he plays among boys before the doors, But on a certain day, when in his accustomed manner he had come to the church of this most holy Father, it happened that in the porch of that same church the boys made a game of nuts, and he too according to his ability played with them, and they deceiving him strove to bring upon him very many adversities. He therefore, constricted by such deceptions, sighing in the very game in which he had played with the boys, and stretching his eyes to heaven with tears, besought God and the Blessed Mark. Then suddenly, by the will of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, he received from Christ the grace of health in his body and also in his feet. Who straightway raised himself rejoicing, and began to render praises to God and the Blessed Mark, and all those standing with him. he is suddenly given the use of walking, When these things were brought to Addo, the venerable Bishop of the people of Bovino, having summoned the Canons and all the Clergy of his city, together with the people, praising the Lord with praises and hymns, in heart and mouth, he entered the church. Then the Bishop, and those who were with him, rendering the offices of prayers and vigils to the holy Trinity, began to praise and glorify with heart and mouth, unanimously, God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the most blessed Mark, whence thanks are publicly given to God. for so great and such a miracle. Finally the sick man, who had been earnestly depressed by a strong infirmity, remained for a long time in the same city whole and sound, serving God and the Blessed Mark. But this miracle, which was done to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Mark, dearest Brothers, let it be known to be undoubtedly believed by all the faithful of the holy Church. But let us wretches implore unceasingly the mercy of God and of this our Patron, that through him we may deserve to receive pardon of our sins, and may be able to possess in heaven a seat of glory with him, by his help, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, unto the ages of ages.
[16] A paralytic brought to the same place, But at the same time there was a certain household servant of a certain Archpriest of the church of the holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary, Leonius by name, as is recorded by certain faithful men: who, when he wished to revisit the domestics of his family, taking a journey to them, went gratefully for the sake of visiting. But when, having seen his kinsmen, he had taken the way of returning, immediately in that very departure so importunate a pain invaded him, that no confidence of escaping remained. Scarcely therefore returning to his own, his hands and feet and also the sinews of his shins became so dry that he could neither extend nor bend them. But when he lay thus weak and contracted, and received food and drink in his mouth by other men's hands, that his body might be sustained,
he begged his relatives to carry him to the church of the Blessed Mark. Carried there, he had a little bed prepared for himself in the same church: but his kinsmen, coming to him, and bringing him food, said with tears: "O Blessed Mark, most holy Prelate, who hast deigned to grant pardon to so many wretches awaiting thy patronage, help us, and delay not to succor this sick man." But the Bishop of the Church of Bovino, moved by mercy for the same, and the Archpriest whom we mentioned above, with assemblies of other Clergy, very often coming to him, poured out litanies for him and prayers to the Lord suppliantly.
[17] after one year of continued prayer, These things were done by them over the sick man through the circle of one year: but amid these, while the sick and weak and worn man lay on his bed, and they more frequently visited the Blessed Mark in the same church with a multitude; he said that he saw and heard the army of the Saints, in the silence of the quiet night, rendering psalm-singing praises to God. Whence it came about that on the solemnity of the venerable and adorable Cross of the Savior our Lord Jesus Christ, the most blessed Mark deigned to come to visit the church, as he had been wont. But when he had rendered the vigils to the Lord, by the Saint appearing to him as we said above, the most blessed Mark forewarned the sick man with words of this kind, saying: "Why dost thou tarry here so long? and why dost thou not finish thy way?" To whom the sick man said: "And how can I depart from here, who, depressed by so great a weakness, lie here?" Then the Saint, approaching to him, said: "Give me thy right hand, that thou mayest know thou hast my relief." But while the Blessed Mark said these things, little by little the sick man's hand clung to the wall, beside which he had had his little bed spread: but raising himself, he desired to grasp the hand of this most holy one, who straightway was taken away from his eyes. he is raised up whole. So, by the mercy of divine pity granting, Brothers, he who had been sick was made whole, as the Saint had foretold him: and stretching his hands to heaven with joy, he began to praise and bless God and the Blessed Mark. Then the Bishop, with the whole Clergy and the multitude of the city, astonished at so great a miracle, rendered immense praises to the Lord, glorifying him who deigned to bestow such benefits on his Saints.
[18] and a wealthy shoemaker, but avaricious, It is not to be passed over, dearest Brothers, what God deigned to work through the intercession of this our holy Father Mark. For at the same time there was a certain man, an inhabitant of the city of Bovino, very rich, skilled in the art of shoes; who, when he was given to the allurements of the body, forgetful of the care of his soul, incurred a most grave peril of the body. For it is no wonder, because the avarice of the flesh is hostile to the soul, as it is written, "The spirit lusts against the flesh, but the flesh against the spirit": therefore mortals for the most part fall into grave sin. Gal. 5:17 For so it is. When he was enriched with many riches, he did not remember that Prophetic saying: "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and of the firstfruits of thy crops give to the poor": he is seized by a furious demon, but despising heavenly things, embracing earthly things, he wholly neglected to obey and serve God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Prov. 3:9 But it happened on a certain day, when he remained alone in his house, and no one else was present, lifted up into the greatest contumacy, and fearing no loss of indigence, that he was entangled in the snare of Satan; and preoccupied by an unclean spirit, he began to be immoderately vexed, so that he could not even be held by many. But because God wills not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live; therefore whom he loves, so he reproves, corrects, and chastises, that he may grant him pardon: and therefore, Dearest Brothers, let each one purge the stains of his sins with tears, that through the concupiscence of earthly delights he lose not the fruit of the heavenly country.
[19] and he is dragged to the church of the Saint: When therefore he had been brought to the hall of St. Mark, his friends lamenting, and his neighbors mourning, accompanied, foaming, and twisting his eyes and hands and feet, and given to many frenzies, he remained in the church until evening. But when the sun had set, the unclean spirit leaped upon him, and compelled him to agitate his head and tear his face more and more. But when the choir of the Clergy and his friends beheld this, with tears they cast themselves on the ground, and ceased not to entreat the Lord and the Blessed Mark; where, assailed by another stronger one, and rising up thence, through the whole night they devoutly rendered praises to God, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs: but morning being come, the solemnities of the Masses celebrated and the Hours completed, they returned to their own. But he who was sick from the vexation of the demon remained somewhat quiet through the whole day: but when the space of about midnight passed, suddenly another unclean spirit seized him: so that it ceased not to vex and disturb him: no hour was granted him for rest. And so, when he had fallen into such tribulations and straits, he said to the men standing by him that he saw the devil standing at the windows of the holy church, and beckoning with his hands he cried with a clear voice. Then all those standing by him, when they saw him thus disturbed, struck with exceeding dread and exceeding terror, prostrated themselves on the ground, all beseeching for him, and began to invoke the Lord and the Blessed Mark, saying: "O holy Mark, who didst recall to life the lifeless son of the widow, who didst grant sight to the blind, didst cleanse lepers, didst give soundness to paralytics, didst loose lunatics, didst cast out demons from possessed bodies; we suppliantly ask thee, that thou deign to grant health to this man worn out by a strong infirmity."
[20] At these things the wife of the sick man, beholding with her sight her husband come into so great a strait, together with the sick man's wife, plucking her hair, tearing at her eyes, lacerating her face, beating her breast, and beseeching God with struggling eyes as she could, at last went to her house, and for the love of her husband resolved to dispense alms unceasingly to the needy, the poor, the widows, and the orphans. These things being thus done, she returned again to the church; and there with oblations and incenses and prayers and tears, she poured out vigils and prayers to the Lord. But the Clergy laid hands over the head of the sick man, and sprinkled sanctified water over him from above; and making the sign of the holy Cross over the whole body, they said with heart and mouth: "O blessed Mark, favor us praying, and grant pardon to those asking. Thou who ceasest not to grant health to the wretched and those beset by various weaknesses; deign to succor this thy servant, deceived by diabolical fraud." And when they had poured out this prayer to the Lord, at last he is freed. since nothing is wanting to those who fear God, whatever they asked of the Lord they deserved to find. But he, who had long been held by the devil, by divine grace consenting, was freed; and deserved to receive health and prosperity of soul and body, through the intercession of St. Mark the Confessor and Bishop, from our Lord Jesus Christ. Then he, and those who had come there with him, ceased not to render praises to God and the most blessed Mark, with lofty voices to heaven. But all this, dearest Brothers, which we read that God did through the most blessed Mark the Prelate, is without doubt to be held by the faithful: but we strive to set forth to memory what we have seen with our eyes and heard with our ears.
[21] A poor woman with her withered arm There was in the same city a poor little inhabitant, whose arm was said to have withered for three years, so that she could in no way bring it to her mouth: and all that she could have she had taken care to spend on physicians, but found from them no relief of her lost health. And when she revolved within herself, and day and night thought what she might then do; at last, inspired by divine grace, with immense lights of tapers she ran to the church of the Blessed Mark; and there with tears she did not neglect to beseech the Lord and the Blessed Mark the Prelate. For it was her custom first to come to the church of the blessed Mother of God the Virgin Mary, and there to pour out prayers to the Lord; then, the Hours heard, to betake herself to the church of the most blessed Mark, and by entreating God to ask pardon of her sins for herself. But attending to that which our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, promised to his faithful, saying to them: "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you; for everyone who asks receives, and who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it shall be opened"; for the Psalmist thus says, "Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the petitions of thy heart": she obtains a remedy, for he who asks the things which are pleasing to God, asks just things, and knows his petition and his prayer to be heard. Luke 11:9, Ps. 36:4 All these things, I say, dearest Brothers, the poor woman considering, hoped to receive what is promised by God. For it is to be known that, for hearing the sacred Mysteries, she was for the most part seen to come to the church before light; who, while she preceded the rest of the faithful in the temple of God, after all most devoutly returned. on the feast of the Saint. When therefore the yearly solemnity of this most blessed Mark came, she came hastening to that same church with a thirsting heart, as she was wont. But when the Bishop, a most religious man and distinguished in all honesty, with all the Clergy and also with the people, had completed the offices of Vespers; the woman's arm, which for three years, as we said, had been withered, by the intercession of the Blessed Mark our Patron, appeared, all standing by, fully made solid. To this it is not to be kept silent, that on the same day on which the woman is said to have received a cure from the Lord, a certain man vexed by a demon, by divine dispensation consenting, was freed from the fraud of the evil deceiver.
[22] Who ever, dearest Brothers, will be able to relate the wonders which God wrought for the love of this most holy Father? [When Constans, nephew of the Emperor Heraclius, came into Italy against the Lombards,] Even if all the limbs of my body were turned into tongues, I could in no way unfold the praises and virtues of so great a man, which the Lord wrought through him: but that little which our memory retains, we have taken care to set down for you. But after this time, in which our most holy and most blessed Father, Mark the Bishop, died, Constantine Augustus, who was also called Constans, desiring to snatch Italy from the hands of the Lombards, having gone out from Constantinople, taking his way along the coasts, came to Aecae; and crossing the Ionian sea, his steps landed at Tarentum: who nevertheless first came to a Solitary, who was said to have the spirit of prophecy, and diligently inquired of him whether he could overcome and obtain the nation of the Lombards, which dwelt in Italy. From whom, when the servant of God had asked the space of one night, that he might himself supplicate the Lord for this; morning being come, he thus answered the same Augustus: "The nation of the Lombards cannot in any way be overcome, because a certain Queen, coming from another province, the Basilica of the Blessed John the Baptist in the province of the Lombards
built, and Lucera being destroyed and on account of this the Blessed John intercedes for the nation of the Lombards: but when the time comes, when that oracle shall be held in contempt, then that nation shall perish."
[23] Therefore, as we said, Constantine Augustus, having gone out from Tarentum, invaded the borders of the people of Benevento; invading also Lucera, an opulent city of Italy, the little book about St. Mark is hidden, having taken it by storm he destroyed it, and laid it level to the ground: and from that time it is almost eighty-eight years since the little book of the holy and most blessed Mark, Confessor and Bishop, was hidden, when now in these times two most illustrious men, fellow-citizens of Bovino, which, found in the year 994, is carried to Bovino. taking a journey in the parts of Apulia, it was found there: which they carried back, bearing it to the church of St. Mark of the See of Bovino, where his sacred body is placed, to the praise and glory of the Saints, in the year in which the little book of St. Mark was found, from the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 994; by which, through his merit and intervention, may we deserve to attain the rewards of the heavenly kingdom, our Lord Jesus Christ helping, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, unto the ages of ages. Amen.