Martyrs

CONCERNING THE HOLY MARTYRS

Caius Palatinus, Asterius, Uranius, Sisinnius, Paulus, Philippus, Herefilus, Basilius, Tepicerus or Cipericus, Gregory, Euticus, Victurus, Victorinus, Pecculus, Quirinus, Eutocus, Marius, Honoratus, Asclepidianus, likewise Sisinnius, Felix, Lucius, Gaiosa, Fortunatus, likewise Lucius, Peluianus, Rusticus, Florianus, Donatus, Hilarianus, likewise Fortunatus, likewise Caius, Julius, Pylicus, Antonius, Fronimus, Asclepiades, Fortunio, Castus, Fortius, and sixteen or nineteen others.

Caius Palatinus, Martyr (Saint)

Asterius, Martyr (Saint)

Uranius, Martyr (Saint)

Sisinnius, Martyr (Saint)

Paulus, Martyr (Saint)

Philippus, Martyr (Saint)

Herefilus, Martyr (Saint)

Basilius, Martyr (Saint)

Tepicerus, or Cipericus, Martyr (Saint)

Gregory, Martyr (Saint)

Euticus, Martyr (Saint)

Victurus, Martyr (Saint)

Victorinus, Martyr (Saint)

Pecculus, Martyr (Saint)

Quirinus, Martyr (Saint)

Eutocus, Martyr (Saint)

Marius, Martyr (Saint)

Honoratus, Martyr (Saint)

Asclepidianus, Martyr (Saint)

Sisinnius II, Martyr (Saint)

Felix, Martyr (Saint)

Lucius, Martyr (Saint)

Gaiosa, Martyr (Saint)

Fortunatus, Martyr (Saint)

Lucius II, Martyr (Saint)

Peluianus, Martyr (Saint)

Rusticus, Martyr (Saint)

Florianus, Martyr (Saint)

Donatus, Martyr (Saint)

Hilarianus, Martyr (Saint)

Fortunatus II, Martyr (Saint)

Caius II, Martyr (Saint)

Julius, Martyr (Saint)

Pylicus, Martyr (Saint)

Antonius, Martyr (Saint)

Fronimus, Martyr (Saint)

Asclepiades, Martyr (Saint)

Fortunio, Martyr (Saint)

Castus, Martyr (Saint)

Fortius, Martyr (Saint)

Another sixteen or nineteen, Martyrs

[1] We present this illustrious cohort of soldiers who shed their blood for the Christian faith from the ancient Martyrologies. In the Hieronymian Martyrology printed at Paris, they are enumerated by these names with no place assigned: "Archelaus, Caius Palatinus drowned in the sea, This cohort of Martyrs in the Martyrologies of Saint Jerome, Asterius, Uranius, Sisinnius, Paulus, Philippus, Herifilus, Basilius, Tepicerus, Gregory, Euticus, Victurus, Victorinus, Marius, Honoratus, Asclepidianus, Sisinnius, Felix, Lucius, Gaiosa, Fortunatus, likewise Lucius, Peluianus, Rusticus, Florianus, Donatus, Hilarianus, likewise Fortunatus, likewise Caius, Pylicus, Antonius, Fronimus, Asclepiades, Fortunio, Castus, Fortius, and nineteen others." Here are thirty-seven Martyrs indicated by their own names; and most of them are presented in the same way in the Blume and Lucca manuscripts of the same Saint Jerome: "Arcilaus, Gagus Palatinus drowned in the sea, Asterius, Uranius, Sisinnius, Paulus, Philippus, Hieriphilus, Basilius, Cipetirus, Gregory, Euticus, Victorinus, Pecculus, Quirinus, Marius, Honoratus, Asclepiades, Sisinnius, Felix, Lucius, Gaiora, Fortunus, likewise Lucius, Peluianus, Rusticus, Florianus, Donatus, Hilarianus, Fortunatus, likewise Gagus, Pylicus, Antoninus, Frunimus, Asclepiades, Furtunio, Castus, Fortius, and * sixteen others." Here are thirty-eight expressed by their own names. Victurus is absent, but Pecculus and Quirinus have been added. In our manuscript of Saint Jerome as well, forty-two are assigned to this cohort by their own names, and with the order also frequently varied, they are presented after the Roman Martyrs thus: "And elsewhere, of Fatus, Arcilaus, Palatinus, Asterius, Vrunius, Sisinnius, Philippus, Herefilus, Tipetinus, Gregory, Basilius, Euticus, Victorinus, Peceulius, Quirinus, Eutocus, Honoratus, Asclepiades, Sisinnius, Paulus, Lucius, Fortunus, Lucius, Gagiora, Felix, Peluianus, Gagus, Julius, Rusticus, Marius, Florianus, Donatus, Hilarianus, Fortunatus, Gagus, Pilicus, Antoninus, Frunimus, Asclepiades, Furtononis, Castus, Fortius, and sixteen others." Again absent is Victurus, who was in the first Martyrology, and newly present are Fatus, Eutocus, and Julius.

[2] The names of several are inscribed in other calendars. The Reichenau manuscript, after listing the Roman Martyrs, has: "And elsewhere,

of Rotus, various names in others, Archelaus, and Palatinus." Here the one previously called Fatus is now called Rotus, joined by others to Julius the Bishop, about whom we had treated immediately before. We treat separately of Archelaus together with other companions from the Greek Martyrologies. The Augsburg and Labbe manuscripts: "Lucius, Gagus, Fortunio, Gregory." If Lucius the Pope is understood, we shall begin with Caius. In the Tournai and Liessies manuscripts, Sisinnius and Gagius are celebrated; while Caius and Gregory appear in the Aachen manuscript. Usuard, Ado, Notker, and Bellinus have: "On the same day, of Saint Caius Palatinus, drowned in the sea." The same is read in the printed Bede, although no mention of these is made in his authentic Martyrology or in the supplement of Florus. In today's Roman Martyrology, citing Bede, Usuard, Ado, and others, these are thus augmented: "On the same day, of Saint Caius Palatinus, drowned in the sea, and twenty-seven others"; and especially Caius Palatinus. which number of companions Baronius had read appended in the Martyrologies of Maurolycus and Galesinius. The words of the latter are: "Likewise at Rome, of Saint Caius Palatinus and twenty-seven companions, who, having first been severely tortured, were then all cast into the sea by the same enemies of the faith and attained the heavenly palm." They are noted to have suffered in the year of Christ the Lord 259, under the consuls Maximus II and Glabrio. Ferrarius likewise inscribed them as Romans in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy with these words: "Caius, a Palatine soldier (Palatine soldiers were those deputed to the service of the Emperors), in the persecution of the Emperor Valerian, under the consuls Maximus and Glabrio, was seized together with twenty-seven others and severely tortured, and at last, for the confession of the Christian faith, was cast into the sea and completed his martyrdom." So writes Ferrarius, unmindful of what he had said immediately before against Galesinius -- namely, that what the latter had written about the time and the Consuls seemed to be said from conjecture. Nevertheless it pleased us to follow him here, because he alone added that they suffered at Rome. Hermann Greven, after citing the words of Usuard, adds: "With this Blessed Caius, twenty-seven others are also recorded" -- which he had read in the Cologne Martyrology printed in 1490. The Vallicellian manuscript: "Of Saint Gagus and twenty-seven others"; and without companions, Saint Caius the Martyr is found in the Dacherian manuscript.

[3] So far the Martyrologies, with sufficiently ample variety, from which we gather a few points. First, with Saints Lucius the Pope, variant readings of names, Fatus, and Archelaus having been assigned to other classes of this day, the leader and standard-bearer of this cohort is Caius, called by others Gaius, Gagus, Gagius, and Agius, while another Caius of the same name is interspersed among the rest with the introductory word "likewise," by which it is indicated that they belong to the same class as the others placed between them. "Palatinus" is appended to the first Caius, and is written as a distinct Martyr with an interposed comma in the Martyrology of Saint Jerome printed at Paris, where Palatinus is also inserted in the Index by Dacherius as a Martyr with a proper name; and in the aforementioned Reichenau manuscript, Palatinus is found without the name Caius -- though this could have been omitted through the copyist's ignorance or negligence. Others consider it to be taken as a common noun, and therefore Baronius and Galesinius in their Notes cite various things about the Counts or Palatine soldiers and the order of Palatine military service. Uranius is also written as Vrunius, just as Herefilus appears as Hierefilus and Herifelus, and with greater variety Tepicerus, Tipecinus, and Cipericus; Gregory is incorrectly written Grigorius; so Victorinus appears as Victurinus; and Pecculus as Peceulus; Asclepidianus as Asclepiades -- but then another Asclepiades is found with a consistent reading. Gaiosa appears as Gaiora and Gagiora; Hilarianus as Helarianus; Pylicus as Pilicus with a simple iota; Antonius as Antoninus; Fronimus as Frunimus; Fortunio as Furtuno; and before Fortunatus, Fortunus. In the Calendar of the Breviary of Rouen, many Martyrs are ascribed to this day, which can be understood as referring to these.

[4] Also on this day, Saint Basilius the Martyr is venerated at Bologna in the church of Saint Mary called "della Vita," The body of Saint Basilius at Bologna; the arm of Saint Honoratus at Turin, where his body rests, donated by Gregory XV. So writes Masinus in his survey of Bologna. We do not believe him to be the same as the one listed among these Martyrs, but we have appended this on the occasion of his name. The arm of Saint Honoratus the Martyr is at Turin in the monastery of Saint Catherine and is venerated on the fifth of March, about which we treat there among the Passed Over.

* variant reading: Herifeli.

* variant reading: Gaiosae.

* variant reading: XIII.

CONCERNING SAINTS HERAIS, ARCHELAUS, CYRILLUS, PHOTIUS, AND ONE HUNDRED FORTY OR ONE HUNDRED FIFTY OTHER MARTYRS.

Herais, Martyr (Saint)

Archelaus, Martyr (Saint)

Cyrillus, Martyr (Saint)

Photius, Martyr (Saint)

Another one hundred forty or one hundred fifty, Martyrs

[1] The ancient Menaea or manuscript Synaxaria of the Monastery of Grottaferrata, of Cardinal Mazarin, and of the Collge de Clermont of the Society of Jesus at Paris, present these Saints at this day with these words: Saints Herais, "On the same day, of the holy Martyr Herais, and of the holy Martyrs Archelaus, Cyrillus, and Photius." Sirletus also had these in his Menologion and rendered them into Latin as follows: Archelaus, Cyrillus, Photius, "Of the holy Martyr Herais and of the holy Martyrs Archelaus, Cyrillus, and Photius." The same are inscribed in the Martyrology published in French at Liege, but with the men placed first, and in place of Herais is written Aerais; with her omitted and the said Menologion cited, the Roman Martyrology has: "Likewise, the passion of Saints Archelaus, Cyrillus, and Photius." In the Martyrology of Saint Jerome, Archelaus alone is found, also written as Ancilaus in another codex, and as Arcelaus in the Reichenau manuscript. Of the other Martyrs with whom he was joined, we have already treated.

[2] The printed Menaea have the following at the next day: "On the same day, of the holy Martyr Herois," or "Hirois," as Maximus of Cythera has it in his Lives of the Saints. Then, with Saint Eulogius the Martyr in Palestine and Saint Eulampius the Martyr interposed, there is added: and 140 companions. "On the same day, the holy Martyr Archelaus and 142 Martyrs with him are perfected by the sword.

Archelaus, first placing his neck beneath the sword: the beginning of the cutting is for you, O divine people of the Lord."

On the same day, of the holy Martyr Herois, or Hirois. Then: "On the same day, the holy Martyr Archelaus and 142 Martyrs with him are slain by the sword.

Archelaus first placing his neck beneath the sword, the beginning of the slaughter is for you, O divine people of the Lord."

Since Saints Cyrillus and Photius are omitted, we note only one hundred and forty or fifty companions in the title. In the Chifflet codex there are 152 companions.

[3] Masinus in his survey of Bologna reports that at this day, in the church of Saint Stephen at Bologna, certain relics of Saints Archelaus and Cyrillus the Martyrs are preserved; but whether these are the same, who can divine? whether their relics are at Bologna.

CONCERNING SAINT PAULINUS, BISHOP OF BRESCIA IN ITALY.

AROUND THE YEAR 540.

Paulinus, Bishop of Brescia in Italy (Saint)

Brescia, an ancient city of Transpadane Gaul in Italy, venerates very many Bishops inscribed among the saints, from among whom on the immediately preceding day we presented Saint Titianus, whom we said to have administered that Church in the year 511 and was still living in 526. Saint Paulinus succeeded him, whose birthday is attested to be celebrated on the fourth day before the Nones of March by John Francis Florentinus in his Chronological Index of the Bishops of Brescia, printed at Brescia in 1614, The cult of Saint Paulinus: and dedicated to Marino Georgio, Bishop of that city. Peter Galesinius, citing the Calendar and documents of the Church of Brescia, asserts the same in his Notes on the Martyrology adapted for the use of the Holy Roman Church, in which he has: "At Brescia, of Saint Paulinus, Bishop and Confessor." Ferrarius, in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, from the records and documents of the Church of Brescia, transmits the following: "Paulinus, the seventeenth Bishop of Brescia, was appointed to succeed Saint Titianus upon the latter's death; and after having administered the Church of Brescia piously and holily for several years, leaving the See to his successor Cyprianus, he flew to the heavenly fatherland, laden with many merits, on the fourth day before the Nones of March. His body, deposited in the church of Saint Peter in Oliveto, is preserved to this day." But Florentinus asserts that his relics lie in Saint Peter's in Oliveto, relics translated: having been solemnly translated there from the most ancient church of Saint Eusebius outside the walls by Bishop Paul Zane in the year 1498. Ferdinandus Ughellus narrates the same more briefly in Volume IV of Italia Sacra, adding that Saint Paulinus was a Bishop of the same See in the year 540, and his successor Saint Cyprianus flourished in the year 546, the time of the See: and that the latter's feast is celebrated on the eleventh day before the Kalends of May. Elias Capreolus, in Book 3 of his History of Brescia, and Rampertus, in his sermon on the Translation of Saint Philastrius published by Surius at the eighteenth of July, mention this holy Bishop, but call him Paul. There is an earlier Bishop Paul, whom Ughellus reports to have attained that dignity in the year 427 and to have died on the third day before the Kalends of May -- who conversely is called Paulinus in the Roman Martyrology under the name of Paul. In the Martyrology of the holy Church of Brescia, this eulogy is recited concerning him at the fourth of March: "At Brescia, of Saint Paul, Bishop and Confessor. How great the sanctity and merit of this holy Bishop was before God, innumerable persons who obtained their desired health have attested. During the translation of this holy Pontiff, which was made around the year of the Lord 1490 by Paul, Bishop of Brescia, with the exultation and great joy of the whole city, his holy body was translated to the church of Saint Peter in Oliveto; eulogy from the Brescian Martyrology, whereas before it had lain for many centuries in the most ancient church of Saint Eusebius, Bishop and Martyr, which was situated at the hill of Goletto, near the citadel or castle of Brescia."

CONCERNING SAINT OWINUS, MONK, AT LICHFIELD IN ENGLAND,

TOWARD THE END OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Owinus, Monk, at Lichfield in England (Saint)

[1] Among the more illustrious Queens for holiness, Saint Etheldreda shone forth in the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy -- the daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, who produced a memorable example of chastity for every age. For she was married twice and yet, free from all marital embrace, [The Acts of Saint Etheldreda the Queen and of Saint Owinus as related by the Venerable Bede,] preserved her virginity dedicated to God inviolate. Of this Virgin Queen, the Venerable Bede writes magnificently in Book 4 of his Ecclesiastical History, Chapters 19 and 20, and we shall treat more fully in this work at the twenty-third of June, the day of her birthday. On this day, the fourth of March, Saint Owinus is celebrated, her close associate and steward of her household, whose virtues the same Bede extols in Book 4, Chapter 3. His eulogy is inserted in the Life of Saint Ceadda, which we illustrated on the second of March. We here repeat the chief points that are more fully reported in the same work, Chapter 2, page 146.

[2] Saint Owinus was therefore the first of the servants and head of the household of Saint Etheldreda. Saint Owinus, from the Steward of Saint Etheldreda, When after the death of her first husband she had been given in marriage to Ecgfrith, King of Northumbria, he came with the Queen from the province of the East Angles to York, the seat of the Kings of Northumbria. Afterwards, as the same Bede writes, when with the growing fervor of faith he resolved to renounce the world, he did not do this half-heartedly, but so thoroughly did he strip himself of worldly goods that, leaving behind

all that he had, clad only in a simple habit and carrying an axe and hatchet in his hand, a monk of Lastingham: he came to the monastery of the most reverend Father Ceadda, which is called Lastingham, situated in the northern part of the Duchy of York, on the borders of the territories of Ryedale and Pickering, and at the same latitude distant from the German Ocean. But Bede explains why he came to Saint Ceadda with an axe and hatchet: "For," he says, "he signified that he was entering the monastery not for idleness, as some do, but for labor, which he also demonstrated by his deeds. He labors diligently: For the less he was able to devote himself to the meditation of the Scriptures, the more he applied himself to manual work."

[3] When Saint Ceadda had then been made Bishop of the Mercians, the Lindsey folk, and indeed the Middle Angles, and was residing at Lichfield, their episcopal city, Bede says: "He had made for himself a dwelling not far removed from the church, He dwells at Lichfield under Saint Ceadda the Bishop, in which he was accustomed to pray and read in greater seclusion with a few -- that is, seven or eight Brethren -- whenever he had leisure from the labor and ministry of the Word." Here Saint Owinus, counted as the eighth among the Brethren along with the Bishop in the aforesaid dwelling out of reverence for his devotion, while the others within were occupied with reading, himself worked outside at whatever appeared needful. "Owinus was indeed a monk of great merit, who out of pure intention of heavenly reward had left the world, and was in all respects worthy of one to whom the Lord should specially reveal his secrets, worthy of one to whose account when narrating it men should give credence."

[4] It happened one day that in the aforesaid dwelling Bishop Ceadda chanced to be present with only Brother Owinus, the other companions having gone to the church for a fitting reason, he hears a heavenly canticle descending to Saint Ceadda, and the Bishop alone in the oratory of the place was devoting himself to reading or prayer; then Owinus suddenly heard, as he afterwards related, a voice of those singing and rejoicing most sweetly descending from heaven to earth. This voice, he said, he first heard from the east-southeast, that is from the direction of the winter sunrise, and then it gradually drew nearer to him until it reached the very roof of the oratory in which the Bishop was; and entering it, it filled the whole place and surrounded it on every side. But while he, and again ascending to the heavens: attentive and anxious, directed his mind to what he was hearing, after the space of about half an hour he heard the same canticle of joy ascend again from the roof of the same oratory and return to the heavens by the same way it had come, with ineffable sweetness.

[5] When he remained for some time as if stunned and was searching with keen mind what these things might be, the Bishop opened the window of the oratory and, making a sound with his hand He receives together with the other monks the last admonitions of Saint Ceadda as he was often accustomed to do, commanded anyone who might be outside to come in to him. He entered at once, and the Bishop said to him: "Go quickly to the church and bring these seven Brethren here, and you yourself come along as well." When they had come, he first admonished them to preserve the virtue of mutual love and peace toward one another and toward all the faithful; and also to follow with untiring persistence the practices of the regular discipline that they had either learned from him or seen in him or found in the deeds or sayings of the preceding Fathers. Then he added that the day of his death was now very near at hand. "For that beloved guest," he said, "who was accustomed to visit our Brethren has today deigned to come to me also and to call me from this world; therefore, returning to the Church, tell the Brethren that they should commend my departure to the Lord with their prayers, and that they should remember to prepare for their own departure, whose hour is uncertain, with vigils, prayers, and good works."

[6] When he had spoken these and many more such things, and they, having received his blessing, now stood deeply saddened, the one who had heard the heavenly song returned alone; and prostrating himself on the ground, he said: "I beg you, Father, may I ask something?" "Ask," he said, "whatever you wish." And he said: "I beg you, tell me what was that canticle of rejoicing He understands from the Angels that the day of death was made known that I heard coming from the heavens upon this oratory, and after a time returning to the heavens?" He replied: "If you heard the voices of the canticle and knew of the coming of the heavenly hosts, I command you in the name of the Lord not to tell this to anyone before my death. But truly they were the spirits of Angels, who came to call me to the heavenly rewards that I have always loved and desired, and they promised to return after seven days and to take me with them." Which indeed, as had been foretold to him, was accomplished in fact. So far Bede.

[7] What Saint Owinus did afterwards lies hidden. He may have remained at Lichfield during the time of the successors Winfrid and Sexwulf as Bishops; he may have retired to the monastery of Barrow, The remaining Acts and place of death are unknown, which Bede attests that Saint Ceadda built in the province of Lindsey, or Lincolnshire, from a donation of King Wulfhere, in which, he adds, "to this day" -- around the year 730 -- "the traces of the regular life instituted by him remain." Finally, he may have returned to Northumbria and passed the rest of his life holily in his first monastery of Lastingham; but when he died is likewise unknown.

[8] He is praised by Trithemius. Trithemius, in his work on the illustrious men of the Order of Saint Benedict, Book 3, Chapter 118, gives this eulogy of him and calls him Osuinus: "Osuinus," he says, "a monk and disciple of Blessed Ceadda the Bishop, a man of great merit and a zealous lover of regular discipline, an East Angle by nation; when he was a cleric in the service of Queen Etheldred and was held in great esteem, despising all things, he came to Saint Ceadda dwelling in the monastery called Lastingham, in which, making great progress, he began to shine with great virtues. He flourished in the year of the Lord 600." Indeed, one should read 680, as Trithemius had said in the preceding chapter concerning Saint Ceadda, whom we said died in the year 672 in his Life. Furthermore, Saint Owinus was not a cleric of Queen Etheldreda but, as we said from Bede, the first of her servants and head of her household. The Greeks would have called him an Oeconomus, and the Franks of that century a Major-domo.

[9] Arnold Wion, citing Trithemius, records him in the Appendix to the Benedictine Martyrology with these words: "Saint Osuinus, monk of Lastingham under Saint Ceadda the Abbot, shone with great virtues." Inscribed in the Martyrologies on the twenty-ninth of July. In the English Martyrology of the first edition, a Commemoration of Blessed Owen the Confessor is inscribed at the twenty-ninth of July: "At Lichfield in the County of Stafford," with a longer eulogy taken from Bede. Ferrarius, in his General Catalogue, on the authority of the said Martyrology, has: The third and fourth of March. "In England, of Blessed Odoën the Confessor," and asserts in his Notes that he lived around the year 689. But on the third of March, Edward Maihew in his Trophies of the English Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict, Menard in his Benedictine Martyrology, and Bucelinus in the likewise Benedictine Menology record the Commemoration of Blessed Owinus the Monk at Lichfield in England; and both Bucelinus and Maihew transcribe many details from Bede. Finally, Jerome Porter, in his Flowers of the More Illustrious Lives of the Saints of England, Scotland, and Ireland, published the Life of Saint Owinus in English at the fourth of March. With these Flowers cited, in the English Martyrology of the second edition the Saint is raised to the same fourth of March, and it is added that a church in his name was dedicated in his honor in the city of Gloucester, He has a church at Gloucester, situated on the River Severn in the kingdom of the West Saxons. Moreover, whether Saint Ceadda lived according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, and not rather retained the way of life of Saint Aidan and the rule of Abbot Saint Columba, we investigated in his Life, Section 2, which it is not necessary to repeat here.

CONCERNING SAINT BASINUS, ARCHBISHOP OF TRIER,

TOWARD THE END OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY.

Preliminary Commentary.

Basinus, Archbishop of Trier (Saint)

[1] The earliest origin and territories of the kingdom of the Austrasians, widely and broadly dispersed, were indicated by us and carefully established in several paragraphs before the Life of Saint Sigebert, King of the Austrasians, published at the very first of February. The principal portion of this kingdom was Belgica Prima, [The deeds of the Austrasian Kings and the Bishops of Trier in the seventh century,] whose capital is Augusta Treverorum (Trier), under which is contained the episcopal city of Divodurum of the Mediomatrici, commonly called Metz, the seat of these Kings, situated together with it on the River Moselle. So great was the ignorance of later writers concerning events in this kingdom, especially in the seventh century, that Dagobert II, the son of Saint Sigebert, was buried in an ungrateful oblivion of nearly a thousand years and expunged from the royal catalogue -- whose name and royal dignity we restored to him, having published a dissertation or diatribe on the three Dagoberts, Kings of the Franks; to which we appended a fourth book on the Bishops and Councils, because the times in which they occupied the sacred thrones of the Churches or attended Councils had been less correctly ordered elsewhere; and in Chapter 5 we treated of the Archbishops of Trier, and specifically of Saint Basinus, who on this fourth of March is venerated with ecclesiastical worship, and of several of his predecessors and successors.

[2] Among these, the Bishops Saints Modoald, Among them is Saint Modoald, who attended the Council of Reims under Sonnatius in the year 624 or the following year. Thirty years are attributed to him. Saint Numerianus, called by others Nemorianus, succeeded him; Numerianus, King Childeric, in the diploma of donations made to the monasteries of Stavelot and Malmedy, attests that King Sigebert made use of his counsel. The same Numerianus signed the documents of Saint Deodat, founder of the monastery of Val-de-Galilee, in the time of Childeric. Saint Sigebert died in the year 663, and after the deposition of Childebert, son of Grimoald, Childeric succeeded him the following year. Numerianus is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology at the fifth of July. Saint Hildulph succeeded him in the time of Childeric and Ansigisus, Hildulph, who wielded great authority with the King, and confirmed to Saint Deodat the privileges and immunities granted by his predecessor Numerianus and by the Roman Pontiff; and having left the episcopate, he built the monastery of Moyenmoutier. In the times of Childeric, Theoderic, and Dagobert, Saints Hildulph, Deodat, Arbogast, and Florentius were joined by the closest friendship; the latter two were successive Bishops of Strasbourg. We treated of them at length in Book 2 of the said Diatribe, Chapter 3. We believe Saint Hildulph died in the year 692, Basinus, although in his Life the year 707 is interpolated. When Hildulph retired to the hermitage, Saint Basinus succeeded him, perhaps around the year 670, with Childeric still reigning, who was killed in the year 679; and he seems to have lived until the times of Childebert, during whose reign we conjecture he departed from life around the end of the seventh century. The duration of his See is to be confirmed from the years of his successor. That successor was Saint Liutwin, Liutwin, nephew of Basinus through his sister Gunza, who as Bishop subscribed the donation of Saint Irmina the Abbess, made on the first of December in the fourth year of the reign of Childebert, that is, the year of Christ 701. The same endowed the monastery of Mettlach in the year of Childebert

of King Childebert, the twelfth year, that is, 709 or the following year. Saint Liutwin, before the episcopate, had a son born from a lawful marriage, named Milo, who in the year 717, having expelled the legitimate Bishop Saint Rigobert, and the usurper Milo, obtained the episcopate of Reims; and indeed upon the death of Saint Liutwin, he also seized the episcopate of Trier, which Hincmar, in his Preface to the Life of Saint Remigius, reports that he ruined for about forty years. And these few things we have said about these Bishops of Trier, leaving aside the fuller proofs deduced elsewhere.

[3] The sacred memory of Saint Basinus is inscribed in the ancient Martyrology of Saint Maximin at the fourth of March with these words: "Likewise, of Saint Basinus, Archbishop of Trier." The sacred veneration of Saint Basinus in the Martyrologies, In another manuscript, now preserved at Cologne among the Carmelite Fathers, brought there from Frankfurt, the following is read: "At Trier, of Saint Basinus, Archbishop"; and "Confessor" is added in the Cologne Martyrology printed in the year 1490 and in the supplement of Greven to Usuard. But Maurolycus and Felicius call him Prelate of Trier, while Galesinius, Canisius, and Molanus call him Bishop. These are expressed thus in the manuscript Florarium of the Saints: "At Trier, of Saint Basinus, Bishop and Confessor of this city. He flourished in the year of salvation 659." But Ghinius, in his Birthdays of the Holy Canons, thinks differently about the date: "At Trier," he says, "of Saint Basinus, Bishop, who, having administered the same See excellently, rested in peace on this day in the year of the Lord 750." The reckoning of both is refuted from what we cited above. The ecclesiastical cult of the same Saint is prescribed in a manuscript Breviary of the diocese of Trier, and in Breviaries, which we have in our possession. In the Trier Lectionary printed in the year 1665, for those who recite the Roman Office, it is only noted that a Commemoration of him should be made.

[4] In a certain booklet about the relics of the Monastery of Saint Maximin, formerly printed, it is stated: Translation of the body "On the fourth day before the Kalends of June, the precious bodies of Saints Maximin, Agricius, Nicetius, and Basinus were translated by Saint Hildulph." But these events are more accurately described in the Life of Saint Agricius published by us at the thirteenth of January, number 10, with the name of Saint Basinus omitted -- and rightly so, since he succeeded Saint Hildulph in the Episcopal See. But all agree that after his death Saint Basinus was buried in the same basilica. Afterwards, in the year 937, that church was nearly consumed by a devouring flame, and soon restored anew by Abbot Ogo, completed in the year 942, and dedicated with solemn pomp on the third day before the Ides of October. On which day, it is added in the aforesaid booklet, "the precious bodies of the Blessed Archbishops of Trier -- Maximin, made in the year 942, Agricius, Nicetius, Basinus, and Weomad -- were raised up and translated into the new church and placed beneath the high altar in separate sarcophagi, as is now seen. The first three together: Maximin indeed in the middle, Agricius on the right, Nicetius on the left; at their heads, Basinus on the right, Weomad on the left." So it reads there, which Brower reports at the same year in Book 9 of his Annals of Trier, page 557.

John Enen, in his German Epitome of the Deeds of Trier, rendered into Latin by John Scheckmann, in Booklet 3, the treatise on the Imperial Church of the Monastery of Saint Maximin, Title 2, writes the following: "The present Basilica is adorned with many bodies of saints. together with the bodies of four other Saints: In the small crypt beneath the high altar rest the five most holy Archbishops of Trier. Behind the altar of that small crypt three repose: Saint Maximin (from whom the place obtained its name on account of his many miracles) in the middle, to his right Saint Agricius, Patriarch of Antioch, and to the left of Blessed Maximin, Saint Nicetius. Before the altar of this small crypt are two Archbishops of Trier: on the right side Saint Basinus, who was Duke of Lotharingia and uncle of Saint Liutwin, Archbishop of Trier; on the left, Saint Weomad. These two, Basinus and Weomad, were Abbots of this place before their episcopate." Of the said Saints, Maximin is venerated on the twenty-ninth of May, Agricius on the thirteenth of January, as we already said; Nicetius on the fifth of December, inscribed in the Roman Martyrology; and Saint Weomad on the eighth of November, inserted in the sacred calendars of Saint Maximin and others.

[5] The Acts are given as collected by Abbot Nizo. We have some Acts from a Trier manuscript sent to us, both of Saint Basinus and of his nephew Saint Liutwin, composed by the same author, as is clear from number 19 below. He is Nizo, Abbot of the Monastery of Mettlach, on the pleasant banks of the River Saar, either first built or certainly restored by the said Liutwin. He inscribed the Life of this his Patron to Udo, Archbishop of Trier. This man, called by some Ado, was ordained in the year 1066, and after ten years in the See died in the year 1076. In another manuscript, Nithardus is read in place of Nizo. He complains below in the Prologue that the ancient Acts perished through the Normans, and that none were substituted, whether through poverty, sloth, or certainly through the negligence of writers. Nevertheless, so that some notice of Saint Basinus might be had, he scraped together these materials, but he errs in many places. First, the Bull, or diploma of a certain Pope Gregory of Rome addressed to a certain Abbot of Saint Maximin named Basinus, is unsatisfactory; and the author interprets this Abbot as the same Bishop. But meanwhile it is established that he did not live in the time of any Pope Gregory. The Bull of Pope Gregory, Saint Gregory the Great died in the year 604, at which time we do not believe Saint Basinus had yet been born, although we have shown that he was made Bishop and died in the same seventh century. was obtained not by Saint Basinus. Meanwhile, the author of the Life says that he was not yet Bishop but was Abbot of Saint Maximin, and then obtained the said Bull from Pope Saint Gregory II, whose Acts we carefully examined at the thirteenth of February, on which day he departed this life in the year 731, having been elected on the twentieth of March of the year 715 -- when at least forty years had already elapsed since Saint Basinus ascended the episcopal throne of the Church of Trier. Furthermore, it does not seem that the ancient monasteries, having left their original constitutions, accepted the Rule of Saint Benedict, which is mentioned in that Bull, before the times of the Emperor Louis the Pious, as is gathered from the Acts of Saint Benedict of Aniane and Inden, Abbot, published at the twelfth of February. During whose reign also the monastery of Landevennec in Armorican Brittany accepted the Rule of Saint Benedict in the year 818, as is said in the Life of Saint Winwaloe, founder of this monastery, on the third of March. In a doubtful matter nothing certain can be established. Perhaps Gregory IV gave it to another. What if Pope Gregory IV, in the year 834, Indiction 12, which is indicated here, in the time of the Emperor Louis the Pious, after the acceptance of the Rule of Saint Benedict, sent the said Bull to the Abbot of this monastery, named Basinus? Certainly the catalogues of Abbots are so mutilated that from the foundation of the monastery to the year 868, only four Abbots are expressed by name in the Sanmarthani. Moreover, that Basinus could have received the name from the earlier Saint Basinus the Bishop either in baptism or upon taking the monastic habit, or could also have given occasion to writers to attribute to the Saint the monastic life and the abbatial dignity of the Monastery of Saint Maximin, which is not mentioned in the older Martyrologies or writers. In the manuscript Deeds of Trier, he is called Abbot of the Cell of Saint Hilary in the territory of Trier. But we propose these things to future investigators of the truth, because they are doubtful and obscure to us, so that they may shed more light if they can and establish the truth -- to which we shall willingly yield.

[6] Our Brower, in Book 7 of the Annals of Trier, page 428, treats of Saint Basinus and asserts that he was a man of a generous and noble stock, and of no lesser fame for religion and sanctity; and that there are some who report that Blessed Clodulph was his brother, Was Saint Clodulph a brother of Saint Basinus? with whom he says he is neither willing entirely to agree nor to deny credence. The author below, in number 5, asserts that the name of the brother is unknown, but that he was a Duke of Lotharingia -- that is, a Duke or powerful man in that part of Austrasia which was later called Lotharingia. Hence the name of Clodulph seems to have been assigned to this Duke; and perhaps Francis de Rosieres, author of the book on the Genealogies of Lotharingia, led the way -- whose work, as stuffed with inventions, was condemned in the Supreme Council of Henry III, King of France, in the year 1583, as Louis Chantereau le Febvre reports in the Preface to his Historical Considerations on the Genealogy of the House of Lorraine. Here therefore Rosieres, in Volume 3, Chapter 49 of the main history, treats of Clodulph, son of Saint Arnulph, and among his children numbers Saint Basinus, first a monk then Archbishop of Trier, or father? and Gunza betrothed to Gerwinus. Arnold Wion, citing this author, composed this eulogy in his monastic Martyrology: "At Trier, the birthday of Saint Basinus, Bishop of Trier and Confessor, who, being the son of Saint Clodulph, Duke of Austrasia, which is now called Lotharingia, first embraced the monastic life in the Monastery of Saint Maximin at Trier, then was raised to govern that See, and after having governed the people committed to him for many years by word and example, departed to heaven, famous for miracles." Menard, Dorganius, Saussay, and Bucelinus copy Wion and establish him as the son of Saint Clodulph. Bucelinus assigns the year 645 for his death. But Trithemius, older than the said Rosieres, in his work on the Illustrious Men of the Order, Book 3, Chapter 159, and Book 4, Chapter 70, following these Acts, establishes Basinus as the brother of the Duke of Lotharingia, without naming him. Hence Brower preferred to write that Blessed Clodulph is reported to have been his brother. All of which collapses when the foundation is overturned.

LIFE

By Nizo, Abbot of Mettlach,

From the Trier Manuscript.

Basinus, Archbishop of Trier (Saint)

BHL Number: 1028

By Abbot Nizo.

PROLOGUE.

[1] By many testimonies of the divine Scriptures we are taught what great usefulness and what great power there is in writing the deeds of the Saints. Among the chief of these, not the least is that oracle of the Archangel Raphael, by which he addresses Tobias: "It is good to hide the secret of the king, but it is honorable to reveal and confess the works of God." Tob. 12:7 David too, that Psalmist of ours, proclaims all the works of the Lord to be very good, The Saints are the heavens, and equally explains what the works of God are: "The heavens," he says, "are the works of your hands, O Lord." Psalm 101:26 But by the name of heavens, very often in sacred speech the Saints are understood, the same Psalmist declaring: "The heavens declare the glory of God." And again: "The heavens announced his justice." 18:7; 21:32 They are called heavens on account of the pre-eminence and loftiness of their merits. Whence it comes about that the heavenly condescension of the Divinity cries out to us also this word of Moses: "Look and make according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain"; as if to say: "Set before your eyes some one of the Saints, and lean upon his demonstrated examples; and respond to his most virtuous deeds with your own." Exod. 25:40 Who does not know that the elect are mountains? Mountains For, placed on the height of virtues, by treading upon all earthly things with contempt of mind, they have deserved both to be called and to be mountains, as another Prophet cries out and says: and hills: "Mountains and

hills shall sing praise before the Lord." Psalm 148:9 In what way mountains? In what way hills? Mountains indeed, because they always stood in the citadel of virtues; hills by their merits, because although they were lofty, they thought humbly of themselves and concealed all the height of their merits. Hence I would not inelegantly contend that any Saints may be called Heavens, beyond the interpretation already given. For they think the word "heaven" is derived from "to conceal," which means to hide -- because it hides the ethereal realm by concealing it, or because it clouds the face of the earth with its horizon. Therefore any Saints can most rightly be called both heavens and mountains. set forth for imitation: "In these heavens your throne, O God, is prepared for ever and ever." And passing beyond the summits of Gilboa, you deign to inhabit these mountains: you have given them to us as an example and a model for life; you have directed them as Doctors to your Church, whose integrity of honorable character and the holiness of their exacting life grants a great pattern for imitation.

[2] Among the other Saints chosen by you from the foundation of the world, your blessed Bishop Basinus was not moderately pleasing to you, whose life, full of virtues, shone brightly. But (alas!) his most illustrious deeds, although they are believed and truly are marvelous, have not all come to our knowledge -- which we report with sorrow. This was the doing, if I am not mistaken, of the furious rage of the Normans, devastating the churches of God everywhere with fire. For it is well known that the city of Trier, together with its suburbs and adjacent churches, The Acts of Saint Basinus were lost through the Normans: was burned to ashes by the same most filthy Normans. On which account it happened that not only the Life of this holy Basinus, but also the most resplendent deeds of many other Saints, committed to writing for posterity, went to destruction. At length, after the Emperor Arnulph had routed the impious captains of the Norman host and peace was granted, the deeds of very many Saints were afterwards recovered. But Basinus, together with many others, was left suppressed in silence -- whether through the scarcity of writers, or through sloth, or certainly through negligence -- to Him who wrote the merits of each one in the Book of Life. Nevertheless, lest the outline of the merits of the most blessed Basinus, perhaps reserved for this our age -- late though it be -- should remain entirely unknown hereafter, certain things are here presented, since they can contribute not a little support for living well and blessedly, it has pleased us -- indeed the love of God and the illustrious honor of Basinus has compelled us -- to record with the service of the pen at least those things concerning his renowned life that have come down to us. But before we begin the course of our narrative, we have thought it worthwhile to review from the beginning the origin of his lineage, or rather the meaning of his origin's name (for he is reported to have descended from the Dukes of Lotharingia). The cosmographers report that the province of Lotharingia was first called Austrasia, with an absurd etymology of Austrasia, or Austerasia, or Upper Austria, while Brabant was called Austrasia, or Austerasia, or Lower Austria; and the etymologists assert that the word Austrasia is derived from Austrasius, a most magnificent Prince, grandson of Charles the Fair, through his son Lando. In ancient times also, Austrasia was called the Majorship-of-the-Palace, which it is established that the holy Arnulph, Bishop of Metz, governed most flourishingly, and after him Pippin the Elder. But before it was divided so as to be called Upper and Lower Austrasia, it extended from Burgundy all the way to Frisia, bordered by the British Sea. Then it stretched from the River Meuse to the Rhine, while extending along the channel of the Moselle; and finally it was divided into Upper and Lower Austrasia, or Austria, as we have indicated. They say that Upper Austrasia was afterwards named Lotharingia from Lothar the First, Emperor, son of the most pious Emperor Louis, son of Charles, the most Christian and unconquerable Emperor, whom they do not hesitate to call the Great, comparing him with Alexander the Great and the most warlike Pompey. This Lothar, since he had two brothers who divided the land after the departure of their father Louis the Pious from the world, named the portion falling to him Lotharingia from his own name. And although Lotharingia at that time included many territories, faithful antiquity has transmitted to posterity that part of the territory around the city of the Mediomatrici, which they also call Metz, and the surrounding country retained the name of Lotharingia. Brabant, which was formerly called by a similar name, emerged from this; from the line of the Dukes of Brabant the title of Lotharingia arose and was deservedly claimed for themselves. Enough and more than enough has been said about these things; now let us apply our pen to condensing the Life of blessed Basinus, on whose account we have recited these things.

CHAPTER I.

The birth, education, and monastic life of Saint Basinus.

[3] Saint Basinus descended from the Dukes of Austrasia, The blessed Basinus, therefore, the glorious Archbishop of the metropolis of Belgic Gaul, namely the most eminent city of Trier, a Duke from the Dukes of Upper Austrasia, which they now call Lotharingia, was descended from a lineage not so much most noble as most fortunate. But just as his parents were great in generosity and power, according to the name of the great ones who are on earth, so the most worthy offspring emerging from them, as the worthy scion of a worthy stock, increased the distinction he drew from his birth by the merits of a blessed life. Hence I would believe that the name Basinus was given not rashly but fittingly in the bath of regeneration. For certain reason teaches that the word of this name, derived from "basis," was suitably bestowed upon him. called, as it were, the foundation of virtues: For as great as a base is in bodily mass, solidity, support, and stability, so great was he in virtue of soul, humanity, fortitude, dexterity, and prudence.

[4] The boy grew up, the illustrious scion of his noble birth, equally the sweetness and glory of life. Then, crossing the shores of infancy, he approached the shores of boyhood, growing no less in virtues than in strength. Then, knocking at the doors of adolescence, as he grew in age, so he grew in wisdom and grace before God and men. holily educated: Hence from the very beginning of his adolescence, there began to appear openly what the youth of good disposition showed in secret. For the industrious young man, seeing that the whole world was placed in wickedness, and already being a guest of virtues and an enemy of pleasures, pondered silently with himself, turning over in his heart that Gospel saying: "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul?" Mark 8:36 And likewise this: "Unless one renounces all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:33

[5] When he had frequently turned these things over in the depths of his heart, at length he gave effect to his wishes, knowing that without deeds the thoughts of men are vain. Therefore in the very flower of his age, fleeing glory, pleasures, wealth, parents, his ancestral land, and finally the world and himself as he was, he enters the Monastery of Saint Maximin: so that he might find himself made new, he devoted himself entirely to the pursuit of the cenobitic life. And for him, going out from the world, accompanied by the divine disciplines of good letters, not far from the walls of Trier, to the Monastery of Saint John the Evangelist, which is situated in the suburb of the said city on the northern side in the Campus Martius, and is titled with the name of Blessed Maximin -- that was his refuge; where he found what he desired and sought, leaving to his brother, the Duke of Lotharingia (whose name, however, we have not received), and to his sister Gunera, the perishable little possession of his ancestral soil. For he preferred subjection to dominion over the earth, and to seek the grace of God rather than that of men, understanding the glory of riches and the ambition of lordship to be transient and fragile, while the state of religious life is held to be glorious and eternal; whence he also made the memory of himself as long as possible.

[6] Introduced into the courts of the house of the Lord, where, according to the mystical sense of the Psalmist, he chose to be cast down there rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners; having laid aside all pride, holding fast to hope and confidence that good grace would come to him through his humiliation, he subjected himself to the authority of his spiritual Father with such humility of soul, he obeys his spiritual Father: willing to please the Lord, that, saving the integrity of his character, he claimed nothing for himself from the privilege of his noble birth; where he whom his origin bore free, his own will made a servant, knowing the highest nobility to be that which the service of Christ approves. Psalm 83:11 Therefore, having bowed his neck to the sweet yoke of Christ, he trusted nothing in himself, believing in Him alone -- above all in Him to whom he had voluntarily committed himself to be governed and protected. And he could do all things in Him who strengthened him, who also said: "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." John 16:33

[7] But just as it has always been the habit of the insolent and base mind to mock the characters of others, while it is that of the serious and distinguished mind to look for upright men to imitate -- so Basinus, servant of the Most High God, in order to carry out more carefully the purpose for which he had come, diligently observed the graces of each one he imitates the virtues of all: and strove to carry something from them to the nourishment of his memory. He was instructed by the wisdom of one, enkindled by the constancy in prayer of another; he was delighted by the obedience of one, by the chastity of another; he followed the humility of this one, the sobriety of that one; he was formed by the sound doctrine of one, by the good life of another; he admired this one as a cautious judge of silence, that one as a skilled arbiter of speaking; he contemplated the strict fasting of this one, the temperate eating of that one; in one he marveled at the labor of the active life, in another the ardor of contemplation. And so it came to pass in a wondrous manner that while he gradually gleaned something from the virtues of each individual to serve as his example, he alone became an example to all. He himself is established as a pattern for all: And although on this account he was an object of reverence and wonder to all, he was not thereby found more elated (as is usual), but rather more quiet and submissive in all gentleness and modesty -- not impatient of instruction, not fleeing discipline, not wearied by devotion and prayer, and finally not desirous of praise -- which the nobility of the flesh is especially accustomed to find sweet and familiar.

[8] About this time, when King Childeric was disposing the monarchy of the kingdom, the most noble Duchess Gunza, whom we mentioned above, the sister of the holy Basinus, married a certain nobleman of senatorial rank, from Gunza the sister, Saint Liutwin was afterward born, who drew his lineage from the most powerful Kings of the Franks, named

Gerwinus, from whom she bore a son, the glory and ornament of the entire lineage, whom they named Liutwin in the waters of baptism, as if by a prophetic prayer. But it is pleasing to investigate the etymology of this name, even if perhaps we attempt it too playfully and are thought to jest. Liutwin in the Teutonic language means "clear wine." For since he was to be a future hierarch and dispenser of the divine sacraments, and was to inebriate the people of holy Mother Church with the wine of inexpressible sweetness... of compunction, he most fittingly deserved to be distinguished by this name.

CHAPTER II.

The life of Saint Basinus after he was elected Abbot.

[9] Further, the Christ-loving Basinus, as he was daily making more and more progress in the pursuit of his monastic profession and had emerged as a most distinguished man, Upon the death of Abbot Herwinus, it happened at length that the Abbot of that place, Herwinus, exchanged life for death. What should the Brethren do? They deliberated, they conferred with one another as to whom above all they should appoint in place of the deceased Herwinus. And behold, they cast the anchor of their hope upon the venerable Basinus, a man pleasing to God and acceptable to men, he is elected Abbot, laudably trained in the school of holy religion, most attentive to the winning of souls, and in every respect suitable for executing ecclesiastical affairs. Upon this man, I say, and such a man, as their Father and intimate, they agree amicably; they pour out their wishes to him most familiarly; upon him, as on the resting-place of their soul, they lean with confidence. And opening their will to him in due order, trusting themselves to him more than to themselves, by common counsel they choose him as Abbot. He, like a faithful and good father of a household, submitted his neck to such an honor and burden alike, not from the desire of dominating but with a view to advancement, knowing that by this means the fullness of all justice would be accomplished.

[10] Meanwhile he frequently ponders in his mind that saying of the Wise Man: "They have made you a ruler; do not be exalted, but be as one of them." Sirach 32:1 Whence it came about that the greater he became, the more humbly he bore himself. You might then have seen this veteran soldier, long exercised in the contest of virtues, presenting himself as a new recruit in the conflict of repelling vices; and as if he had just now for the first time begun to serve Christ, he avoids vices: he fled the swelling of a puffed-up mind, hateful to all; he devoted himself to humility, embraced frugality, shunned gluttony, restrained luxury with continence, waged war against the most tenacious avarice with generous liberality, avoided the harmful devices of factions, entered into the bonds of peace, checked anger with modesty, wrath with gentleness, shuddered at the short-cuts of rivalries, walked before God in truth and with a perfect heart, he strives for perfection, and directed all his attention to other upright actions. Clothed with these flowers of virtue, of no mean nobility -- indeed of no mean humility -- the man full of God, Basinus, began to be held as renowned and more festive, powerful among the powerful, not inglorious among the glorious, exalted among the exalted of the earth.

[11] That monastery which he had undertaken to govern rejoiced in many gifts, not only royal but also imperial, as well as privileges and liberties. For its foundation is known to have proceeded from the glorious heroine, the holy Helena, discoverer of the Wood of the Lord, and also from the Emperor Constantine the Great, father of Augustuses, her son; for indeed by their command, effort, and expense, it had been built and consecrated by Blessed Agricius, the venerable Archbishop of Trier, in honor of Blessed John the Apostle and Evangelist; A Pontifical Privilege is procured, and it had been received and amply provided for, not only by the aforesaid Constantine but also by succeeding Emperors and Kings, under imperial authority and the shield of royal protection -- especially recently by Dagobert the First of that name, the most powerful King of the Franks. Lest, therefore, these imperial and royal statutes should suffer any loss, the God-beloved Basinus, providing for the future, judged it worthy and useful that they should also be strengthened by Apostolic confirmations. In the revolving course of that age, Pope Gregory the Second presided over the Roman ecclesiastical affairs, and Emperor Leo the Third over the state. He therefore petitioned with prayers that Pontifex Maximus Gregory, so that he too by his Apostolic authority might ratify the decrees of such ordinances. Then the supreme shepherd of God's sheepfold not only confirmed and ratified these things, but also, struck by the most fragrant fame of his merits, confirmed by privilege to the same man of God Basinus, and to his future successors as Abbots, the power of using the mitre, dalmatic, and sandals, admonishing that the increase of honor should be an increase of virtue. We have thought it not inappropriate to weave into this small publication the written copy of this bull.

[12] "Gregory, Servant of the Servants of God, to Basinus, Abbot of the venerable Monastery of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist and of the most holy Confessor of Christ, Maximin, the formula of this privilege: whose body rests there, to you and your successors, greetings and Apostolic blessing. If those things which accord with pious desires are always to be granted, then all the more readily must those things which are requested for the sake of divine worship be bestowed with eager devotion, with every obstacle removed, and with benevolent intention, without delay. You have therefore asked us that we should grant to your monastery, which is known to have been built in the suburb of Trier in honor of Saint John the Evangelist -- where the above-named Confessor of Christ rests in body -- for the purpose of confirming to the Brethren there serving God the rule of monastic tranquility, a privilege of our holy Apostolic Church (which by God's authority we serve). And we have taken care to give assent to your pious petition, decreeing by the precept of Apostolic authority that the congregation serving God there religiously, just as has been granted to the same monastery by Kings in preceding times, shall henceforth have free power to create among themselves whomever they shall choose according to God as their Abbot; nor shall any person of whatever dignity presume to ordain anything within the aforesaid monastery at his own pleasure or to exercise any authority recklessly, unless summoned by you or by another Abbot who is your successor. Furthermore, by our Apostolic authority we forbid in every way that it should ever be subjected to any Church or See by exchange or by any contrivance; but it shall enjoy, unharmed and perpetually, the same immunity and liberty as other royal places enjoy. The place of the monastery itself shall remain perpetually under the protection of the Kings, and shall lie open to no person ever for benefice or invasion; but shall remain undisturbed for the tranquility of the monks there serving God under the Rule of Saint Benedict. We also decree and by this paternal love grant to you and your successors that you may use the mitre, dalmatic, and sandals at the sacred mysteries on principal feasts; admonishing your fraternity that with the increase of honor there may also be increased in you the power of divine love. We also prohibit, and by the authority of Blessed Peter, whose office we exercise in this Apostolic See, though unworthy, we utterly forbid that any Duke, any Count, or indeed any person whatsoever, whether ecclesiastical or secular, shall presume to seize a hill or rock in the possession or allodial property of Saint Maximin, or to make any fortification upon them -- unless perhaps the Abbot of the same monastery, on account of fear of pagans or on account of the incursion of wicked men, may for a time fortify himself and his people there until the tranquility of peace returns. For the fullness and increase of monastic tranquility we also add that no person of whatever dignity shall presume to alienate or diminish anything, great or small, of the goods of the Church, whether those which have been granted to the same monastery by you or by others, or those which other faithful persons shall hereafter bestow for the remedy of their souls. But if anyone -- God forbid -- should presume with nefarious audacity to break or in any way violate those things which have been established by us for the praise of God and for the stability of the aforesaid venerable monastery, let him know that under the testimony of divine judgment, through the intercession of Blessed Peter the Apostle, he is inextricably bound with the chain of anathema, and is to be alienated from the kingdom of God and to be burned with the devil and his followers in the most atrocious punishments. But whoever shall be an observer of this our Apostolic precept out of regard and respect for the divine fear, may he merit to obtain the grace of eternal blessing from Christ the Lord. Written by the hand of Benedict, Scriniarius of the Holy Roman Church, in the month of January, Indiction the twelfth, in the name of God."

[13] Exalted and raised above the cedars of Lebanon by this edict of the papal privilege, but humbled and abashed in his own eyes, the man worthy of God, Basinus, did not think loftily it is received with thanksgiving and humility but with sobriety. Hence he bound himself more tightly to the divine service; hence he spent his days and nights in divine conversations and prayer; hence he watched more laboriously over the word of exhortation. And because all the praise of virtue consists in action, what he taught by admonitions he himself first approved by the rectitude of his life. In the interval, Liutwin, concerning whom we wove our discourse above, the nephew of the holy Basinus through his sister, now grown to adulthood, obtained a wife distinguished by the titles of her parents and equal to his own lineage; from whom he begot a son similar indeed in genealogy but degenerate in character, named Milo, Saint Liutwin, having married, begets his successor in the See of Trier -- not by legitimate election but by tyrannical seizure. For when Blessed Liutwin had entered the way of all flesh, by unanimous consent they had decreed that Clodulph, Bishop of the city of Metz, Milo: son of the holy Arnulph, Bishop of the same See, by his wife Doda, should be enthroned in the chair of Trier. This Doda, after her husband -- that is, the most blessed Arnulph -- had withdrawn to the hermitage, served Christ as an enclosed woman at Trier.

[14] Having spoken of these affairs of Milo by way of digression, it is necessary to return to the point from which we wandered. Liutwin, knowing how to possess his vessel in sanctification, doing nothing frivolous, nothing soft, moreover governing his wife and household with the most upright management, He is appointed Duke of the Franks, and the rest

his substance and duly dispensing it, the Lord advancing him to secular dignity, he obtained the honor of the Dukedom of the entire kingdom of the Franks. He was so constant a reliever of the poor, so gentle a consoler of the wretched and sorrowful, protector of the poor and so bountiful a giver of alms, and finally so shining an executor of every kind of innocent life, that if we wished to commit to a small book even the works of his piety alone, the abundance of his deeds would exceed the brevity of our narrative. He performed such and similar good works advanced by the instruction of Saint Basinus not so much by anointing as his teacher, as by the exhortation and instruction of his uncle, the holy Basinus, by which he was both drawn away from harmful things and directed toward salutary ones.

CHAPTER III.

The deeds of Saint Basinus in his episcopate. His death.

[15] At that juncture, the God-pleasing Pontiff Saint Numerianus was driving the chariot of God at Trier, sufficiently beneficial to his Church among his predecessors; who, when on account of the abundance of his merits he was to be numbered among the Saints, as his soul left his body, He is elected Bishop of Trier he happily ascended to the heavens to gaze perpetually upon the face of the Eternal King, on the third day before the Nones of July. The people of Trier, therefore, deprived of their shepherd, deliberated with no idle curiosity as to whom they should appoint as successor to the aforesaid Numerianus on the episcopal summit. An assembly was convened, and those who were to elect a Pontiff gathered in council -- when the votes of all pointed to the most blessed Basinus. Then they decreed that he, as the most suitable and most deserving, should be placed upon the pontifical throne.

[16] The holy Basinus was therefore raised to the pastoral summit as successor to the Blessed Numerianus; Utilrad succeeded the illustrious Basinus in the abbatial government. This Utilrad lived on in human affairs until the times of the most blessed King Pippin, there is inserted the approval of the Abbey made by King Pippin, father of Charles the Great, the most unconquerable and most Christian Emperor Augustus. To this same Utilrad and to the succeeding Abbots, the most clement King Pippin bestowed a privilege with royal munificence, commanding that the same monastery with its treasure and the entire abbey should remain under the Abbot of that place, since he had found that it had been so constituted by Kings in preceding times; and he ordered that the same Utilrad and all future Abbots of the same place, together with the monks and the abbey, should remain under the protection of the Kings for all ages -- so that freed from all disturbance, they might be able to serve God more freely with spiritual joy; adding also by the authority of royal magnificence that they should have the power of electing whomever and in whatever manner they wished as Abbot; all of which he ordered to be written down and sealed with his ring in the fourteenth year of his reign.

[17] We have digressed beyond our purpose; we must return to Basinus. The most holy Basinus, having been made Bishop, soon showed in deed what his voice sounds in his name. For indeed, ascending the base and wall, he set himself in opposition for the house of Israel. Nor did he neglect the monastic discipline, dear to him from the very cradle of infancy, even though he was weighed down by the burden of pastoral care. Outwardly indeed he presided over others with pontifical excellence, while inwardly he profited himself by monastic exercise. He leads his people by example: And what shall I say? As was his inner man, so was his outer; as was his outer man, so was his speech; and his deeds were most like his speech, and his life like his deeds. For what he forbade others to do, he showed by his own deeds should not be done -- just as it is written of Christ, our Lord and Savior and the head of all the elect: "Jesus began to do and to teach." Acts 1:1 But just as he took care to break the bread of the Word of God for the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into his house, and to assist orphans (for Bishops ought to protect none more than these), so he was especially vigilant with watchful care for his beloved kinsman Liutwin, girt outwardly with the military sword and inwardly with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; involved outwardly in worldly affairs, but inwardly intent upon the divine commandments. The most pious uncle admonished his most gentle nephew to render unto God the things that were God's, and unto the King the things that were the King's; and the nephew was so acceptable to the King that he conducted almost all affairs through him. He admonished him, bound as he was by the bond of lawful marriage, to prefer divine love to conjugal love, and to value heavenly things more than earthly. He therefore embraced with the privilege of love the man of God and repository of all virtues, Basinus, he instructs Liutwin: who was to him an uncle by flesh and nature, a friend by charity and goodwill, a father by care and age, and a Bishop by God's mercy and office of prelacy; and through his salutary admonitions he was renewed day by day according to the inner man. O joyful, praiseworthy, and holy friendship! Truly no society is more excellent, none more firm, than when good men, equal in character, are joined by familiarity. Especially at the exhortation of the most holy Bishop, he enriched the holy places of the Saints, especially of the city of Trier, with the most ample gifts; and he yearned with all the effort of his heart to build a monastery among his own people.

[18] There is a place on the River Saar which is called Mettlach. This place was most pleasing and well known to him, because he ranged through all its turns, caves, and lairs of beasts in assiduous hunting. One day, as was his custom, coming upon this wooded solitude for the sake of hunting, it was shown by the sign of a certain miracle how great and what manner of man Liutwin was before God. For when he was traversing the dusty meadows of that soil and the dewy hills of flowery fleece, with the sun already heating the middle of the day, the limbs of his weary body demanded rest. But refusing the benefit of the shade of a tree, by whose interweaving of leaves he might have been covered from the scorching rays of the sun, he was said to have been protected from the sun's heat by an eagle casting himself upon the grassy ground of the field in the open air, by divine inspiration indeed, he granted refreshment to his tired limbs. And then, as was bound to follow, sleep crept over the weary man. And so, the surrounding shade of the branches being despised, he was provided with a heavenly covering: for indeed the eagle, queen of birds, with wings spread in the air, defended the face of the sleeping man from the heat of the blazing sun. His armor-bearer stood by, and overcome by the novelty of the prodigy, stood astonished in wonder; and while stunned, he awaited the outcome of the event, and then reported everything in order to his lord when he awoke. In return, Liutwin forbade him under great threat from revealing the glory of so great a sign as long as he lived. But the indication of this miracle could not and would not remain hidden from his most intimate friend and uncle Basinus; he rejoices: especially since love grows by such offices, if the secrets of one are revealed to the other. Moreover, he knew that one ought to speak as boldly with a friend as with oneself, and that friends should have the same wishes and the same aversions, since it is established that they had one heart and one soul. And in those in whom there are the same pursuits and the same desires, it comes about that each delights in the other as in himself; and, according to that saying of Pythagoras, in friendship one is made from many.

[19] Blessed Liutwin therefore revealed to the most blessed Basinus the outcome of the whole matter. Then Basinus said: "Come, most beloved son, God has brought you to the harbor of your desire; go, complete the work that you have long revolved in your mind." He dedicates the churches built by him -- of Saint Dionysius, Then, having summoned workmen, Liutwin first built a basilica in honor of the precious Martyr of Christ, Dionysius, and through the same most venerable Archbishop Basinus, with the relics of that athlete of Christ and of other Martyrs deposited there, he had it dedicated. And indeed the basilica was dedicated most justly in the name of Blessed Dionysius. For just as the eagle, which designated the place for such a structure by shading the face of the sleeper from the sun's heat with its dark body, is accustomed to fly higher than other birds and to fix its gaze more clearly upon the solar rays, so the divine Dionysius the Areopagite (for so he is surnamed) wrote more sublimely and acutely and most eloquently and ornately than all other Doctors of the Church Militant about the hierarchies of the Church Triumphant. After this, Liutwin built a monastery. Then, having assembled orders of monks, he commanded an oratory to be consecrated in the name of the Prince of the Apostles, Peter, and a basilica in honor of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with the blessing of blessed Basinus -- where, of Saint Peter and of the Virgin Mother of God, widowed not by virtue but by his wife's death, laying aside his secular habit and spurning public business and palatine cares, he afterwards put on the monastic garment -- having first, however, obtained permission from the King, albeit with difficulty. In which place, so great and such a one, he shone in virtues, that after Basinus was removed from their midst, he was held worthy of the succession. What Liutwin did thereafter, with what fervor of soul he served God, what the course of his life was, how holily, how justly, how piously he lived -- whoever desires to know, let him turn to the book of his holy deeds, and there he will find everything clearly described. We have inserted these things from his deeds, however briefly elaborated by us, into this our little treatise, because Basinus and Liutwin sprang from one root, and because the life of the one could not be explained without the other; hence it would have been unfitting to separate them in our treatment,

whom we have recognized to be joined by equal love. Therefore, just as in their lives they loved each other, so also in our little publication they are not separated.

[20] When the Bishop of God, Basinus, beheld that Liutwin, drawn by the net of his exhortation from the stormy and turbulent sea of this world, had been brought to the desired shore of holy religion, with what joys he was filled is both incomprehensible in thought and difficult to express in words. For daily he supplicated God in his prayers: "Now, Lord, now safe, now free, now joyful, I sigh and pant to enjoy and see you. Now I know and am certain that you are able to preserve my nephew until that day of my departure, to be appointed in my place. You, Lord of all, he commends him to God as his successor: whose will none can resist, guard this will of his, by which he has subjected himself to your sweet yoke and lightest burden, that he may be separated from you by no temptations -- so that I may come to you secure and rejoicing. You, from whom all power that is in heaven and on earth is named, from whom all honor depends and flows, preserve this your servant Liutwin, who is to be set over your people through you. Grant, I beseech you, right speech in his mouth, by which he may be able to make for you a people for your possession, a follower of good works, and to bring to you a nation that did not know you. For I am weary of this present life -- not, however, wearied of labor; I will undergo for you whatever work you impose. But if you care for my salvation -- indeed because you will the salvation of all and will all things that pertain to human salvation -- command me to depart from this calamitous life, which ought rather to be called death than life, so that I may live in that eternal life. He yearns for heaven: I desire indeed to be dissolved and to be with you. The world is exile to me, a prison, a rack; heaven is my homeland, my liberty, my delight. Why do you delay, most loving Lord? Have you cast me away from the face of your eyes? I know and firmly hold that you do not forsake those who hope in you. Break, therefore, the delays; dissolve the bonds; my heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready. Have you, casting off, rejected Basinus, or has your soul abhorred him? I know what I shall do: I shall not cease from my petition until, removed from the stewardship of my bishopric, you receive me into your eternal tabernacles. And indeed I have good cause: I leave your sheep a suitable and fitting Shepherd. There is nothing of adversity that now threatens, nothing of destruction that intervenes. You have tested his heart, O God; I have learned that he will be a man according to your heart. Old age itself, I will not say a stranger, has consumed my strength; and in all things I ask for no administrator and helper except Liutwin, your servant, my disciple, who gave half -- indeed all -- of his substance to the poor; who also, not defrauded but promoted and advanced, restored fourfold. He, finally, through your mediation, was, is, and will be a man prospering in all things. Therefore I boldly inquire why you delay my dissolution. As the eyes of a handmaid are upon the hands of her mistress, so are my eyes upon you, O Lord my God, who dwell in the heavens, until you have mercy on me and release me from the bond of this death."

[21] At that time, King Childeric of the Franks held the helm of the kingdom; when meanwhile Basinus, of extraordinary holiness, the base and support of the temple of God, wondrously adorned with mystic lions and oxen in relief, on the fourth day before the Nones of March paid the debt of the flesh; he dies, and he who had long sat weeping by the rivers of Babylon while remembering Zion, came with praise into Zion, full of days and holiness. He therefore, in a good old age, was gathered to his fathers and was buried in the suburb of the city of Trier, to the south, in the basilica of Saint John the Evangelist -- so that, just as he had once supported that place before his episcopate in his abbatial government with the flowers of virtues, so now, his most sacred body being dead, he might illuminate it with living virtues; where he rests together with the other holy Bishops of Trier -- Maximin, Agricius, Nicetius, and Weomad -- as well as three hundred Theban Martyrs; he is buried in the Monastery of Saint Maximin, by whose merits and intercession God, glorious in his Saints and wonderful in his majesty, performs wonders, to the praise and glory of his name, which is blessed for ever and ever, Amen.

e. That year was 764.

CONCERNING SAINT APIANUS, MONK, AT PAVIA AND COMACCHIO IN ITALY,

AROUND THE YEAR 800.

Preliminary Commentary.

Apianus, Monk, at Pavia and Comacchio in Italy (Saint)

[1] Pavia, formerly called Ticinum from the river that washes its walls -- the most illustrious city of Insubria and formerly the seat of the Lombard Kings -- is adorned with a Cathedral church, eighteen other parish churches, and many monasteries. Among these, the chief is Saint Peter's in Ciel d'Oro, which was built for Benedictine monks by King Liutprand, At Pavia, in which the body of Saint Augustine, brought there from Sardinia, rests before the chapel of the Blessed Basilius and Florentius, which is now called the chapel of Saint Apianus; the body, chapel, and altar of Saint Apianus, for the body of Saint Apianus is placed there in an altar dedicated to him. But because the Acts of this Saint had hitherto lain hidden, various conjectures about him are read in the writers. We found these Acts at Rome in the library of the Most Eminent Cardinal Francis Barberini, in a very ancient parchment Legendary, in which very many Lives of Saints were contained. The number 925 was prefixed to this codex, and from folio 312 these Acts are found -- and indeed in threefold form, The Acts are published here from the manuscript of Cardinal Barberini; of which we give first the historical account of things done in his life and of miracles performed after death at his sacred relics; we then subjoin an encomiastic sermon on the chief virtues of the same; which are also adorned in rather brief heroic verse, as all these things are contained in the said codex. Concerning the monastery of Saint Peter in Ciel d'Oro that was built, one may read Paul the Deacon, Book 6 of the Deeds of the Lombards, Chapter 58, and Gabriel Pennottus, Book 1 of the Tripartite History of the Canons Regular, Chapters 60 and 61; who in Chapter 62 teaches that under Pope Honorius III, by a bull given on the Ides of June, amid various changes to the monastery in the sixth year of his pontificate, the year of Christ 1221, the same monastery, the monks there having failed, was handed over to the Canons of Mortara, and finally in the year 1509 to the Lateran Canons, whom we ourselves visited at Pavia obliterated and inquired whether they had any ancient documents; but they produced the said printed Pennottus, as though everything were contained in it. He treats in Book 3, Chapter 36, number 6, of the relics of Saints who rest in the same church, and narrates what we have already said about the chapel and altar of Saint Apianus, which we ourselves inspected in person. But because he did not have the Acts, he could report nothing certain about him.

[2] Saint Apianus was sent from Pavia to Comacchio, and died there: Saint Apianus had lived there as a Benedictine monk, and as steward of the monastery he is reported in number 3 to have been sent to Comacchio by his Abbot, within whose territory he ended his life as a recluse; he was initially buried near the church of Saint Gervasius, then translated to a church erected in his honor. Meanwhile the Pavians desired the body of Saint Apianus as owed to them, and as one reads below in number 10, they even attempted to carry it off by theft; but when the ship was miraculously made immovable, they returned it. The body, then deposited in the church of Saint Maurus, shone with many miracles, with which narrated the Life ends, while the body still rested there -- which we believe was afterwards given to the Pavians. Comacchio, also written as Comaclium, Comaclum, Commaclum, and Cymaculum -- derived as if from sea waves, from the Greek word "kymatos," because it is situated below Ferrara between two channels of the River Po at the Adriatic Sea in marshes, this city afflicted by various disasters, commonly called Comachio. Concerning the wars at Comacchio in the year 808 between Nicephorus, Emperor of the East, and Charlemagne, Regino in his Chronicle at the said year, the Continuator of Aimoin in Book 4 of Frankish Affairs, Chapter 97, Antonius Coccius Sabellicus in his eighth Ennead, Book 9, and first Decade of Venetian Affairs, Book 2, treat; who then in Book 3 reports that Comacchio was stormed by the Venetians in revenge for Marinus, sent to Rome by his brother the Doge, who died from a wound inflicted by the Comacchians -- from which disaster the once powerful city could scarcely rise again. It seems the body was brought to Pavia: On which occasion of war we believe the body of Saint Apianus was translated to Pavia; concerning which the Ecclesiastical Office was celebrated, as of a Confessor, not a Bishop. Afterwards, with the transfer of the monastery of Saint Peter in Ciel d'Oro from the Benedictines to the Canons of Mortara, the ancient records having been lost, the Office began to be recited of a Confessor who was a Bishop, whom they believed (as Ferrarius conjectured) to have been African, not brought from Sardinia with the body of Saint Augustine, and that his body had been transported together with the body of Saint Augustine from Africa to Sardinia and from Sardinia to Pavia. But there is a profound silence concerning this Saint Apianus in the History of the Translation of Saint Augustine, which was written by Peter Oldradus, Archbishop of Milan, to Charlemagne, by Paul the Deacon, and by others who followed them.

[3] He is said below in the Acts to have died on the eighth day before the Ides of November, on which day no memory of him is noted in the Martyrologies. The veneration of Saint Apianus on various days: Hermann Greven, the Carthusian of Cologne, who died in the year 1480, in his additions to Usuard at the fourth day before the Kalends of October, mentions Apianus, Bishop and Confessor; Canisius in his German Martyrology and Molanus in his first edition of the Supplement to Usuard follow. The same Greven at the fifteenth day before the Kalends of April, that is, the eighteenth of March, writes: "On this day, the reposition of Saint Apianus, Bishop and Confessor." Molanus and Canisius have the same. Ferrarius in his General Catalogue explains what is said about Saint Apianus of Pavia at both days; which is not entirely certain. If those passages should be understood of this Apianus the monk, not Bishop, we could say that on the twenty-ninth of October the solemn deposition in the church dedicated to him is celebrated, and on the eighteenth of March the reposition made in the church of Saint Maurus. The deposition is venerated by the Pavians on the fourth of March: Finally, on this fourth of March, the Canons of Saint Peter in Ciel d'Oro celebrate the deposition made at Pavia in their basilica, as Ferrarius also testifies in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy and his General Catalogue, a public professor in the Academy of Pavia

Professor of Mathematics. Therefore we give those Acts at this day, so that if we perhaps err somewhere, we may, being warned of the matter, present more certain information elsewhere concerning the varied cult and veneration of one or more Saints of this name. He is written as Apianus the name variously spelled: or with the consonant doubled, Appianus, perhaps also Apuanus, because he is said below in the Acts to be Ligurian by birth; for the Apuani were formerly Ligurians, and a certain city of theirs was called Apua. The time in which he lived is unknown. We suspect it was in the first century after the foundation of the monastery, the time of his life, when the monks there were flourishing in their pristine vigor and the city of Comacchio, afflicted by no disasters, was thriving.

LIFE

From a very ancient codex of Cardinal Barberini.

Apianus, Monk, at Pavia and Comacchio in Italy (Saint)

BHL Number: 0619

From the manuscripts.

CHAPTER I.

Deeds at Pavia and Comacchio. His death.

[1] This Saint Appianus was a Ligurian by nation, and having been most holily ordained as a monk in the Monastery of Saint Peter in Ciel d'Oro, he flourished for a long time Saint Appianus, a monk at Pavia, and shone more broadly than all the cenobites of that time, and excelled more eminently than all the Italian anchorites of that era. He guarded himself cautiously and piously, and nonetheless devoted to the Brethren of the monastery the investigation of most diligent care. He helps all toward salvation: He was a generous debtor to all: he instructed monks in the regular disciplines and formed them by the examples of good works; the Clergy he nourished under the shade of the divine law and was a minister of the Scriptures, and he strengthened them with serene promises; but to the perilous wounds of the laity he applied unceasingly the hot iron, while upon lighter wounds he placed the softest plasters: to all indeed, as was needed, he tempered the divine eloquence. For discipline or mercy is greatly lacking if one is maintained without the other; but among those who hear the sacred word, there ought to be in preachers he mixes severity with gentleness: both sweet piety with equity and justice that chafes with gentleness; since if he showed only severity to his hearers and offered the cup of doctrine with excessive bitterness to the thirsty, they, because the inmost depths of their hearts had been embittered and they felt them refreshed by no sweetness of good flavor, would have broken forth into horrible hatred and avoided his preaching like the venom of a viper, and would have departed scandalized. But since he so wisely tempered the bridle of both reins that his course did not swerve from the right path; since he so displayed the terror of punishment by threatening that he always inserted the gentleness of God; since he so vehemently struck those whom he ought that after the stroke, as if they felt no harm, he healed them with the sweetness of his words; thus this man distributed the doctrine of God so that he profited all and bestowed on all an appropriate remedy of healing. With the Word of God he refreshed the poor, fully restored the middling, and satiated the rich and powerful with spiritual feasts; he has sermons suited to each: he tamed hearts of iron, changed the minds even of the perverse to mercy, and by his preaching advanced the devotion of the humble to a better state. To widows and orphans he was a most pious helper and unfailing consoler; the advancement of others he considered his own, and another's loss he compassionately bewailed as his own; he willingly shared in the necessities of the weak and gladly came to the aid of their labors; the infirmities of others he bore in his own body with grief as though they were his own, following the example of the Apostle: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?" 2 Cor. 11:29

[2] In secret, however, he mortified himself and privately exercised himself more rigorously in divine works, lest he should be seen by men for what and how great he was. And lest human favors should steal from him the eternal recompense he was bound to receive, he secretly chastises his flesh: he very often concealed even from the brethren of his monastery the strictness of his life. Sometimes he glowed as a live coal, sometimes he shone as a most brilliant lamp: a coal indeed gives light to itself but denies light to others; but a lamp once lit strove to spread its flames all around. But he burned as a coal without light only in this -- when as if by stealth he subdued his flesh with the sharp goads of various torments under the command of his will; but he shone as a lamp whenever he abundantly poured forth the light of good works as an example to the rest, according to the Gospel: "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matt. 5:16 Then, when the holy man had thus become known to his Abbot, the Abbot placed all his confidence in him after God, and began to venerate him with all the affection of his mind and bound him to himself with the desire of immense love. He is appointed steward of the monastery: He committed to him the entire administration of the monastic affairs and entrusted to him the whole counsel of the house of God, that he might order things prudently and piously according to what seemed best to him.

[3] At length it happened that for a certain need of the monastery, the Abbot called him with loving charity: "Dearest Brother Apianus," he said, "for we know you to be a true worshipper of God and a provident guardian of the divine religion -- one whom prosperity does not exalt, adversity does not cast down, the breeze of human praise does not lift up, he is sent to Comacchio: and biting censure does not corrupt; prepared to endure all adversity for Christ, and always prompt for every service of God. Now devoutly accept the fraternal burden that we impose upon you. Go to Comacchio and relieve our need, and weary yourself as much as you can in acquiring salt, because it is written: 'Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.'" Gal. 6:2 To this Blessed Apianus replied with serene countenance: "I have indeed read, sweetest Father, that obedience is better than sacrifice; and therefore I do not refuse your command but willingly and humbly fulfill it; I do this not unwillingly but of my own accord; not compelled but spontaneously I most devotedly obey your order and serve fraternal need and charity." 1 Sam. 15:22 Having therefore received his blessing and having bidden farewell to the Brethren, he joyfully set out on his journey and hastened to Comacchio. He carries out the tasks entrusted to him: Then he shrewdly began the labor of obedience and began earnestly to complete the work of the command he had undertaken, in such a way as to please God and provide the necessary help to the Brethren.

[4] He carries out the tasks entrusted to him: In summer indeed he lived at Comacchio to fulfill his Father's command of obedience, burning with divine service night and day; but in winter time, devoting himself to fasts and prayers, he dwelt in a certain district that is commonly called Lacus, but withdrawn far from the inhabitants of this village, he was always enclosed in a small cell and remained fixed there, leading a solitary life. And although he was there confined in body, already expanded in his whole mind he ranged through heaven; he whom on earth a despised and narrow dwelling confined, in the heavenly summit a golden and jeweled palace surrounded. From that cell he never came out alive, he dwells enclosed in his cell: but immovable he always remained enclosed during his life, and as long as the pious spirit shone in his holy body, he did not cease to pour forth divine eloquence and to scatter the mellifluous rain of unflagging preaching. By his prayers he bestowed upon them heavenly help and gave them the support of his protection. He was therefore made the foot of the Lord and shone forth as butter spread abroad, since he was a generous preacher, and wearied by daily admonitions, he helps his neighbors: he remained dissolved in the frequent ministrations of his hearers. But he did not care for their obsequious services; rather he loved the increase of souls. He was an eye to the blind and a foot to the lame, because by preaching he illuminated the blind and by sustaining he helped the lame; indeed he did both in healing sick bodies and in bringing to life souls that had fallen to the depths. Before God his constant gift was always one of true righteousness, when from the beginning of equity the flowers of piety burst forth.

[5] He preserves purity of soul. Therefore this holy man advanced so greatly in spiritual gifts because his mind was never trampled down by base things; while in external matters he found right things that he could do. And although he did not hold the governance of that Church and lacked the title of Pastor, yet relying on the divine dispensation and prompted by the Holy Spirit, at the opportune time he gave the measure of wheat to the Lord's household and, as a wise steward of heavenly gifts, provided care to the hungry. He was therefore a golden clod of earth, who, infused with the dew of heavenly grace, in no way forgot that by the debt of death he was dust; humility, and therefore he so humiliated himself in the flesh that he shone as gold in his works; he so sacrificed himself in body that the desired radiance shone forth in his mind. For he preserved the cunning investigation of the serpent prudence, and did not lose the gentleness of the simple dove; because he guarded his head -- that is, Christ the Son of God -- by loving, and loved by guarding; since for love of him he laid aside the old vestments and put on the new man with his deeds. For he drove away the oldness of sin and attained the newness of heavenly grace. In the dove he was made meek and simple, simplicity, because he never anxiously panted with the desire of rapacity and never greedily turned his eyes to worldly cupidity; he did not apply himself to the deceitful pursuits of the world, but daily enkindled by the fire of divine love, yearning only for heavenly desires and burning with eternal gains, he thought only upon eternal things and vigilantly exercised himself in divine services. He never offended anyone; meekness: to none did he ever resist, except in vices alone; he struck the mind of none with his word, nor ever exasperated anyone by his deeds; he was held to be benign to all, gentle to all, and most devoted to all.

[6] Happy land of Comacchio, into which such a guest descended, which received such a pilgrim, which accepted such a Patron destined to it from heaven -- in whose mouth no lie was found, nor, as far as he could guard himself, he strictly examines his actions: did he permit contagion to reign in himself. Therefore he constrained himself in his thinking all the more subtly, the more strictly he perceived himself to be considered by the Judge on high; for he always examined his mind, seeking to discover if he had failed in anything, so that he might become the more blameless before God, the more he daily and without ceasing found fault with himself. Nor did he on this account take the joys of security, because he considered himself to be seen by the One who saw in him those things which he himself was unable to see in himself. At length, with the same Saint thus acting unceasingly and persevering in the work of God, the Divine mercy, which wished him to rest from such great labor and desired to reward him with the heavenly prize, did not delay in wearying him in this warfare nor permit him to be tortured longer in the great misery of this life; but called his most holy soul from the prison of his body and commanded it to be placed among the companies of the white-robed heavenly host, he dies: and ordered it to be joined in the Court of the citizens on high with the blessed souls. But this Confessor died within his cell with no one knowing.

CHAPTER II.

The Burial of St. Apian. The Church Dedicated to Him. Translations. Miracles.

[7] When the people of Comacchio afterward learned of the holy man's passing, the Bishop summoned the people and said to them: Sons and dearest brothers, let us go to the Lake, for Lord Appian, God's most faithful soldier, has departed from this world and has ascended securely to the heavenly abodes, with God directing him. By the Bishop Therefore let us go quickly, and with all honor and exceeding reverence let us lay his inestimable treasure in the finest sepulcher. and the people of Comacchio Then the people, hearing these things, dissolved into a flood of tears and began to grieve so greatly over his most holy death, on account of his most serene kindness and on account of the great assistance which he had been accustomed to give them in matters of soul and body, that they could scarcely utter words between their sobs. Nevertheless, with tearful voices they gave their answer in unison to the Bishop: Although he has left us so quickly on account of our sins, and the heavenly fellowship has claimed him; yet go before us, and hasten to accomplish what pertains to his honor, with us following. Immediately the Bishop went with them to the cell where the holy body lay lifeless: with fitting observances he washed it, and having duly celebrated the office of the Mass, he is buried near the church of St. Gervasius: they buried it in a stone coffin near the church of St. Gervasius the Martyr, which is situated on the border of that same diocese. But that church was then frequented by few, because it was far removed from human habitations.

[8] Boys and girls frequently gathered there, not for the sake of reverent worship, but with the desire to play games, or even to collect herbs. Then it happened that a certain girl, who had come with the other girls, that is, her companions, placed herself unknowingly beside the coffin of St. Appian, for irreverence a girl is struck with paralysis, in order to relieve a natural necessity, and when she was already attending to the matter she had begun, suddenly such a great pain invaded the little girl's entire body, and so contracted her through all her limbs, that the poor child could not move herself from the spot. The boys and girls, however, who had come with her, breathless and stupefied as if dead, abandoned her alone and returned in flight to Comacchio, and told the people of Comacchio what had happened to the little girl. Hearing this, the Bishop was greatly astonished, and the clergy and people were exceedingly disturbed. Then with bare feet they prepared themselves with crosses and lamps and incense, a procession is made and she is freed and with the rest of the sacred apparatus, coming to the tomb of St. Apian, to seek his aid for the girl's health and for the safety of all of them. And when they had persisted for a long time at the sepulcher of St. Apian, pouring out tearful voices in prayer, soon the little child was freed from the disease of paralysis and restored to her former health: she is freed. whence there was immense joy for all, and many tears of gladness flowed abundantly from everyone.

[9] At that very hour the Bishop took counsel with the people, The body is transferred to a church erected in his honor: that they should build a church in honor of the holy Confessor. Then for that same reason all, rejoicing, constructed a modest temple for him: afterward, all going together, they brought the holy body with the coffin and placed it with great veneration in that same church.

[10] After much time had passed, citizens of Pavia, coming to Comacchio for the purpose of buying salt, stolen by the Pavians by theft, during the nighttime hours stealthily and secretly entered that same chapel, seizing the body of Blessed Apian: which when they had gladly placed in a ship, they were returning to their homeland securely and freely. But when, pressing hard with their oars, they had reached the Lake, the aforesaid Confessor, remembering good faith and pious constancy, did not wish that land, namely the territory of Comacchio, to be deprived of his patronage and destitute of his governance. With so great a weight he fixed the sacrilegious keel there, and pressed down with the burden of the sacred body so tenaciously, the ship made immobile that it could by no means be moved from the place where it was rooted. All the sailors, straining at the ship with oars and poles, b and sternposts, and with every contrivance and the full exertion of their strength, could not dislodge the vessel, but the ship remained fixed and immobile. Seeing this, the rowers, exhausted by excessive labor and struck with great fear, grew stiff: they did not know what they should do. Immediately they recognized that they had perpetrated a monstrous crime in carrying away the holy body, and that so great a misfortune had befallen them because of this. At last, terrified and confounded, they resolved among themselves that they should change the ship's course and turn the vessel's path in the opposite direction: that none of them, whether helmsman or sailor, should touch the oars; but all, with hands and eyes raised together to heaven, begged God it is returned, that the ship might be guided wherever the will of the Confessor should indicate. And indeed the ship was brought to the bank it is placed in the church of St. Maurus. which is situated opposite the basilica of St. Maurus. The people indeed, coming together with every supplication, lifted up his body and placed it in the aforesaid church of St. Maurus.

[11] After some time, however, it happened that a house suddenly caught fire near the wall of St. Maurus: and as the immense fire grew and was already entering through all the windows of the church, this fire was extinguished: so that the church would without doubt be consumed in the sight of all; through the power of St. Apian all the flames were extinguished, and the church was defended from the fire.

[12] After this, a certain woman was seized by a demon: a demoniac is healed, her parents brought her to Rome, so that she might lose the demon there. But there she was not cured of the demon: bound in iron chains, she was brought by her parents to Comacchio, and through St. Apian she was freed from the demon: and when she received healing, she vomited smoke with blood, and thus, with many watching, she cast out the demon through her mouth.

[13] Another woman came from France to the church of the Blessed Virgin c Justina, who carried on her left arm an iron ring as a penance imposed on her by a bishop, another woman bearing an iron ring, and the flesh of her arm had already grown over it to such an extent that the ring was almost entirely covered with flesh, from which she suffered intolerable pain and excruciating torment. She fell trembling before the sacred threshold of that same Virgin, that she might free her from so great a danger: and when she had prayed for a long time, sleep seized her. Then she saw in a dream Blessed Justina the Virgin saying to her: Daughter, through me you will not be restored to health; nevertheless, if you wish to be made well, go to Comacchio and humbly beseech St. Apian: from him you will most certainly find healing. And when she had been awakened from sleep, she ran in haste and came devoutly to the church where the body of St. Apian lay, and earnestly besought the holy Confessor to mercifully apply the necessary cure to so great a torment and to bring the desired remedy. Immediately the iron ring was broken, and the arm was so healed that it was never better: from that point the woman was saved in body and mind.

[14] Another man came from a village a demoniac, which is called Ustulatus, a demoniac, who was freed from the cruel demon through the same Confessor.

[15] Afterward another man possessed by a demon came forward, who was called Peter, another, from whose ill-inhabited body the holy man expelled the treacherous guest and drove out the most foul spirit.

[16] Afterward a poor man of Poitiers came, who was so contracted in his whole body and so bent over that he could never raise his downcast face upward, nor could he lift his countenance to see the sky, and he limped most wretchedly on both feet. Taking two staffs in his hands, therefore, a bent and lame man, he came confidently to the tomb of Blessed Apian and said in a clear voice: St. Apian, most excellent Confessor of Christ, who by the power of God drive away many infirmities for those who ask you, and apply diverse remedies to diverse ailments, receive me mercifully as I come seeking your aid, and powerfully break the knotted bonds of my contraction, so that through your most holy help I may be restored to health and be able to fulfill the service I have promised to you. When he had finished this speech, he was immediately raised up healthy and fully healed in all his limbs: but before he had received his recovery, he promised to serve St. Apian all the days of his life. When not much time had passed after obtaining his cure, he spoke to the Bishop with schemes and lies, saying thus: Lord Father, I want your blessing and permission to go and see my parents, and having seen them, I will return quickly. To whom the Bishop replied: You promised the Saint, who restored you to health, that you would never leave his service. To which he said: It is true, about to transgress his vow, Lord Bishop, what you recall; I do not wish to change my vow, nor do I desire to pervert the promise I made; only let me see my parents: afterward I will fulfill what I promised, I will carry out what I vowed. The Bishop, therefore, wearied by his annoying persistence and shaken by his many wicked arguments, granted him, as if compelled, leave to go and return. Then this fool, desiring to violate his promise, entered the church to hear Mass he is punished with the same affliction: and begin his journey. Having heard the Mass, he went out of the church before the door, and there he was seized more fiercely and more harshly by paralysis than he had ever been before: totally broken in hands and feet and back, he remained in a pitiable state. The people, moreover, who were in the church, seizing him, carried him with great groaning into the church before the altar of St. Apian, and there he lay until vespers. and afterward is healed. While the clergy were celebrating Vespers, there was heard a great creaking from that most wretched cripple, which he emitted as he was recovering his health. All therefore came hastening to him, and found him well, drenched in excessive sweat, and holding the coffin of St. Apian the Confessor with both hands.

[17] Moreover, a certain woman came from the Lake, deprived of sight, who was most clearly given sight by him. a blind woman and those with fevers are cured: He cured very many people with fevers there, and performed innumerable marvels, and does not cease to do so to this day.

[18] O Apian, most true Confessor, distinguished anchorite, glorious soldier, honor and salvation of your homeland, with what rejoicing you now exult: with what beautiful garments you are now clothed, and you shine with a jeweled diadem! Apostrophe of the writer Once in this world you refused the joys of the flesh; now joyful you triumph with the Angels. Once you avoided earthly gain; now secure you possess perpetual and heavenly riches. Now you shine within the court of the eternal Emperor, and you rejoice amid the delights of Paradise: you share the joy among the cohorts of heaven, and among the ethereal soldiers you gleam golden. Indeed you did not fear the cold while you lived in this world; for if

you had feared it, you would now without doubt be a beggar: and you did not watch the wind, nor consider the cloud; for if you feared the wind, you would not sow, and if you had considered the cloud, you would never reap. Surely if you have fulfilled the command, you have received the promise: You shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess eternal life. Matt. 19:29 Wherefore, most kind servant of Christ and faithful friend of God, with devout minds we beseech you, imploring the aid of St. Apian: that by your pious prayers you would make God placable toward us, render Him propitious, restore Him as one who may be entreated, and by supplicating incline His most merciful ears to our needs; that He may kindly pardon us for past things, mercifully spare us in present things, and wholly guard us from future things; so that, fortified under your patronage, we may become citizens of the heavenly kingdom and deserve to be companions of the heavenly hosts. Again and again we devoutly seek your suffrage and your greatly needed support. Grant what we ask, bestow what we pray for: protect us with fatherly affection from the sudden assault of the malicious enemy: overthrow his cruel snares, lest his savage rapacity invade us. Drive away, therefore, the deserved plagues from our borders, so that the people, aided by your help, may be protected here under the shelter of your wings, and afterward may rejoice through you in the fellowship of the citizens of heaven. Blessed Apian, the pious Confessor of Christ and most sacred monk, died on the eighth day before the Ides of November, under the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory forever and ever, Amen.

ENCOMIASTIC SERMON

From the same manuscript codex.

Apian, Monk, of Pavia and Comacchio in Italy (St.)

BHL Number: 0620

From MSS.

[1] Since the warriors of the divine battle and the glorious soldiers of the eternal King flourish adorned with so many victories and are honored with the titles of so great a memory; by what bond ought human affection to be constrained, or by what bridle can it ever be restrained, so as not to sharpen its tongues eloquently in the praises of such great men, and not to extol their proclaimed honors in declamatory fashion? For they are worthy to be proclaimed with human praises and to be highly esteemed with earthly acclamations, who are known to partake in the heavenly citadel among the supernal hosts, The Saints are to be praised and to rejoice with them without end. For the love of their Redeemer, in this world they never loved anything of pomp or honor; they never desired any earthly gain or worldly glory with longing; but with all their hope placed in God and with every intention of mind, they so made themselves strangers to the world that they refused to be participants in deceitful joy: despisers of this world. and they not only did not love carnal pleasures, but by fleeing and hating them, they abhorred them as if they were the bites of serpents. The Saints indeed, while they live in this misery of unhappy exile, set aside all earthly things, despise transitory things, reckon worldly adornments as dung, seek eternal things, desire heavenly things, strive to please God alone, and from the high step of the virtues daily endeavor to ascend with all their might to a higher one. Whence it is read: The just shall go from virtue to virtue, and if they begin more tepidly at first, they complete the end more fervently: that is, they always consider themselves to be beginning; and therefore they remain untiring in their newness. Ps. 83:8 The Prophet, beholding this constancy of the just, says: Is. 40:31 Those who trust in the Lord shall renew their strength, having advanced from virtue to virtue. they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not labor, they shall walk and not grow faint: for they renew their strength, because they strive to be stronger in spiritual work than they formerly were in the flesh: they mount up with wings like eagles, because they fly in contemplation: they run and not labor, because swift they preach with great speed: they walk and not grow faint, because they retain the swiftness of their understanding, so that they may condescend to the slower; and they always desire to go where eternal abundance may refresh them; where the Prophet desired to go, when he said: Ps. 16:15 I shall be satisfied when your glory is manifested to me: there where eternal happiness is acquired and the joyfulness of enduring gladness is heaped up, now reigning in heaven. where light without cloud is always seen, and is never obscured by any darkness, all things thrive with brightness and everything shines with the splendor of eternal majesty: there the choirs of Angels always behold the face of the Father, there the shining line of Patriarchs gleams and the provident host of Prophets shines forth: there the twelve-fold summit of the Apostles perpetually rejoices, and the white-robed army of the Martyrs exults: there the lily-bearing company of Confessors dances: there also the white host of monks gleams, who will come as judges with God at the second coming: there the bright throng of Virgins proceeds joyfully with their Spouse to the wedding feast, and there all the just, enriched with eternal reward, obtain the same glory: there no wicked person is admitted, and no good person is cast out.

[2] St. Apian Therefore, Blessed Apian, a purple flower, a white lily, and a fruitful branch of the Lord's vineyard, ardently longed to reach the walls of so great a height, when he spurned the blandishments of the world with indignation and overthrew them by fleeing: retaining in himself what he had read, It is good for me to cling to God, and No one can rejoice here with the world and reign there with God. Ps. 72:28 Then he abandoned the vain pomps of the world and joyfully took on the monastic habit with his conversion, a monk, recalling that saying which God spoke: No one shall see me and live any longer. And therefore, since he first came to know God, he at once refused to live for himself, but thereafter strove to live for God alone. And lest he be thrown down more quickly by wrestling with the cunning enemy, he hastened to strip himself bare swiftly; abandoning all things, for one who is clothed wrestles badly with a naked opponent, and is quickly thrown to the ground if he has something by which he may be seized; and where he thinks to apply some advantage toward victory, from there he twists upon himself the detriment of shameful ruin. And from that very quarter where he promises the strength of his warfare, from that quarter he receives the weakness of his forces to fall. strong in the fight against the devil: Whence this man, foreknowing so cruel a contest and provident about the demonic struggle, girded his loins with strength and held burning lamps in his hands while keeping watch, so that he might resist the diabolical snares and be able to meet his Lord worthily as He returned from the wedding feast. This man indeed was girded in loins both of mind and body; because the Angel who addresses John is said to have been girded with a golden girdle girded about the loins, above the breasts. Rev. 1:13 For since the purity of the New Testament restrains even the lustfulness of the heart, the Angel who appeared in it came girded about the chest: whom the golden girdle well binds, because whoever is a citizen of the heavenly fatherland abandons impurity no longer from fear of punishment, but from love of brightness. Therefore the evil of lust is perpetrated either in thought or in deed, whence it is also said by the Lord to the serpent: On your breast and belly you shall crawl. Gen. 3:14 Then the serpent crawls on its breast when it pollutes in thought him whom it cannot overcome through bodily lust: and it crawls on its belly upon him whom it defiles in deed. This man indeed did not wish to have fellowship with the foolish virgins, lest he should be put to shame with them before the door at so great a reproach; but with the wise he strove to share the heavenly banquet, and with the citizens above to eat the bread of Angels. This man indeed so held the sharp gaze of his discerning eye unreflected upon the sun that he never turned it to the ground, he kept his mind chaste: except insofar as human frailty compelled him: and on the way of God he walked so cautiously and meekly that he never appeared as a wandering traveler upon it: and no rest of any delight so overthrew him on the way that he did not arrive in his homeland by daylight.

[3] It is read in Solomon: The eyes of the wise man are in his head. Eccl. 2:14 This man therefore had his eyes in his head, because he fixed his whole intention upon Him whose member he knew himself to be, and he afflicted his members with constant torments for love of Him, so that he might deserve to become a sacrifice worthy of God, and be able to offer himself as a holocaust in an odor of sweetness. Abraham also, when he had prepared victims for God at the setting of the sun, behold, unclean birds came to seize the sacrifice and devour the victim with greedy bites: he offered a pure victim to God: but Abraham guarded the victims so well that he kept them unharmed from the birds, and drove away the rapacious fowl with blows and threats. So this Saint, when he had determined to offer himself as a living sacrifice to God, wicked spirits were present, attempting to pervert whatever of pious and holy devotion had been conceived in his heart: but he repelled their assault, and offered himself wholly as a sacrifice to God.

[4] For the strong athlete of Christ, because he did not wish to be pierced by the swords of the cruel enemy or to be sharply wounded by his frequent arrows, fortified himself with such arms that no sword of the adversary could penetrate. For wisdom had joined together seven coats of mail, which the provident warrior manfully put on, namely faith, hope, and charity, and four virtues armed with a sevenfold breastplate, from which the other virtues arise, that is, prudence and fortitude, justice and temperance: none of which he ever removed from himself while he lived, but wore them daily unbroken for his protection; and he waged war untiringly against the invisible enemy for so long, until as a glorious triumphant conqueror he reached the palm of victory. Indeed he had faith, because what he perfectly believed, with faith, he diligently fulfilled in works. He joined hope to himself, with hope, because he so flourished in the fire of divine love that he believed without doubt that he would ascend to the heavenly homeland if he acted justly, and he hoped without hesitation to receive the reward promised to him for his labor. He had indeed a twofold charity, with charity toward God since he loved his Creator so much that from his cradle he despised the world for love of Him, and most devoutly subjected himself to all His precepts, rejected the enticement of the flesh, preserved integrity of purity in his mind, kept himself spotless from every stain, and most zealously offered to God the hundredfold fruit from his land. and neighbor, He gave himself entirely to charity toward his neighbor, since whatever he had, he retained nothing for himself, but distributed everything to the poor. He served prudence most excellently, with prudence, fortitude, justice, temperance: because he carried out diligently and prudently what belongs to God. He shone with fortitude, because he manfully carried on the divine service to the end and powerfully overcame the enemy of the human race. He devoted himself to justice, since he weighed with the rigor of equity those things which he did, and held both scales equally. He strove to minister to piety, since he mercifully and gently

tempered justice. Because therefore he daily withdrew himself from the heat of worldly desire, and most willingly subjected himself to vigils and assiduous prayers, streams of tears always carefully flowed from his eyes, his panting breast he struck with constant blows, he was entirely full of God, modest in gravity, affable in conversation, devout in humility, vigorous in serenity, outstanding in charity, illustrious in piety. Toward his own body he was a cruel torturer, but toward the bodies of others a most faithful steward. He therefore retained that evangelical saying: He who hates his soul in this world keeps it for eternal life. John 12:25 And, Give and it shall be given to you. Luke 6:38 O man God-fearing and conspicuous for the diverse excellence of his character: who, kindled with divine love, was so fervent that he never grew tepid in idleness for any interval of a moment, but through all things, fixed in the love of God, he remained a strong contender.

[5] he tames his flesh with hairshirts, disciplines, What indeed shall I do concerning the life of so great a man, when his glorious warfare, the more it is proclaimed, the wider the abundance of praise daily applied to him? He always subdued his limbs with rough hairshirts and ceaselessly drew blood from his skin with thorny scourges: he always dragged his footsteps with bare feet, on a hard bed, and on vine branches he slept as on the finest bed: he was content with a small amount of the most common bread with raw herbs and water. His skin, wasted with leanness, scarcely clung to his bones, when he afflicted his body with so many labors. All delight of the flesh was separated from him, with meager food: and only the torment of the body was inflicted upon himself: for earthly goods are denied to the elect in this life, because even to the sick, for whom there is hope of living, not everything they desire is conceded by the physician. But to the reprobate are given the goods which they desire in this life, because to the desperately sick, everything they want is not denied of its own accord. This Confessor was corrected by the lash of discipline, because he was prepared for the patrimony of the eternal inheritance. Daily he praised God with timbrel and chorus, with harp and organ: for with the timbrel he subdued the flesh by fasting; in the chorus he exhibited sincere harmony; in both he fulfilled the duty he had undertaken, and he performed his office with moderation, because God is not pleased with one without the other. He used these four sounds, what he teaches he himself does: because he continually sang their spiritual melodies to the Lord, and always joyfully chanted pious praises with works to his Creator. For he considered it utterly useless that his speech should appear, if he himself did not practice what he professed; and the reprobate would be disgraced by the people if character disagreed with words, and actions were at variance with speech. In this Saint the virtue of abstinence so shone that it was most excellently tempered: he so practiced fasting that he extinguished the vices of the flesh: and he so nourished his body that he never deserted the other services of God. It is fitting, therefore, that so distinguished a standard-bearer should be exalted with suitable praises and harmonious songs. It is proper that the lofty wings of worthy favor should be raised for him, who shone with so many virtues and gleamed with so many miracles. He drove out demons, he cured very many sick people, he works miracles: he restored sight to human blindness, he raised the contracted to sound uprightness, and he bestowed healing on various ailments. He never wished to be idle, but always brought necessary aid to bodies and souls, because therefore nothing tepid, nothing idle, nothing burdensome is offered that would be pleasing to himself: but what is very lovable and most useful to the human mind must be ardently rendered to God. For the love of God is not idle, if it exists: since his love is great and works great things.

[6] The innermost being of this most blessed man was so inflamed inwardly with the love of divine ardor that it spread its splendor more broadly outward: so his mind burned within that it elicited sparks of miracles without: extraordinary in the love of God, so fervid was it toward God that it ministered the fire of so great a warmth to the healthy and the sick: and he so fixed the anchor of both loves within himself that he escaped the threatening dangers and arrived at the headlands of his longed-for rest. he received heavenly glory: Now placed in the pleasant harbor of rest and in a delightful valley, he so rejoices in his repose that nothing remains for him ever to grieve about from his labor. He will no longer fear shipwreck on the stormy sea, nor dread nocturnal raids, nor flee the swords of brigands, no longer will he fear the waves of the seething sea, nor think of escaping the bolts of a flashing sky. Hereafter he will not avoid the ruins of this world, nor any longer dread suspicious losses, because he so wearied himself in the commanded exercise that he now securely rejoices in everlasting merit: and because he endured the exhaustion of the master's vineyard through the heat, he joyfully received the daily wage. For that warrior becomes wise who serves such a King and triumphs under so great an Emperor, who as victor over the enemy always fought in this life. who gives to the conquerors not fleeting gifts or false riches, but perpetual life and the crown of heavenly joy: who gives to the conqueror to eat of the tree of life, and makes him shine as a pillar in his temple: who never in that heavenly abode takes away from anyone what he has once given, and does not reproach what he bestows, and does not further weary those whom he rewards; and not only does he not afflict his victors with any further labors, but he refreshes them with all good things and supplies them with every joy, and surrounds them with heavenly glory, adorns them flourishing with gleaming gems, and embellishes the aforesaid citizens with shining pearls: he enriches and exalts them to such an extent that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him. This Saint indeed knew this, when from the time of his early age he entered so fervently as a recruit into the service of God that he never succumbed, vanquished by the enemy's sword, but powerfully conquered the enemy and carried away the spoils as a rich victor: and therefore the heavenly court gladly received him in his triumph, because the illustrious soldier overthrew the rage of the monstrous dragon.

HISTORICAL POEM

From the same MS.

Apian, Monk, of Pavia and Comacchio in Italy (St.)

BHL Number: 0621

[1] The Saint tears his limbs, having endured burning lashes: He tames his body: He bore much cold, he poured forth groans from his breast. With a constant stream of tears, bowed down, He washed his face, and burned to extinguish the flames of the flesh. His food was cheap, his drink a small draught from the springs. So was he clothed, as if nearly naked in body. He kept in mind the words he received from the Prophet's mouth: If anyone has two garments for covering the body, he helps the poor: Or similar food, let him bring them to those whom want distresses, Let him offer sustenance to the wretched, let him lead them to clothing. This man was pious, modest in sweet speech, Provident and gentle; terror appeared to the wicked. He was not sparing here, but generous in giving gifts. A living sacrifice he pleased God, while he remained in the world. He was holy in mind and chaste in his whole body. holy in mind and chaste in body, He cast down sins, he trampled lusts underfoot. He spurned pomps, he shattered the pots of crime. He did not wish to behold the savage punishments of hell. He extinguished the quarrels of vices: the Soldier in his breast Took up the arms of God, while he shone with Christ's protection. The noble warrior went out into the wide field, The fierce one met him, savage with heaped-up hail: strong in the fight against the devil, He blazes and struggles, he stirs up his proud forces: He kills and rises, the shameless one holds swords in his arms, Displaying threats, he himself brought about shameful ruin. The good man removed the furies and wars of dragons: He strikes him in the throat, whence issues useless murmur, The wound gapes wide, the putrid ulcer decays, Whence the serpent hurls poison from its savage jaws. From this issued smoke, which brings death to the inmost parts. A great stench there was, which filled the nostrils with plague: The strong one prevailed, when he resisted the ancient enemy: He applied the weapon by which he would drive out the sharp venom. The shameless one always practices deceits and battles: He prepares himself for war, he builds up his industrious craft. He smooths over punishments, he prevents flames from burning, He pours the poisons of fraud into human hearts, He promises that joys will increase by the desire of the flesh: the latter's arts of harming, These he leads astray and deceives, calling them happy whom the path of a pleasant life Here draws and deceives, but everlasting hell torments: Punishment is given to those deserving it, whom living fire devours. He did not wish to accept deceits or false praises. He cast aside pomps, and to take care for the flesh: does he despise? The Saint said to himself: I desire to overthrow the savage one, The serpent that sets snares with cruel bites. No lion shall yield to me, but the ant shall lie open: The serpent shall fall, crushed, the wicked assailant: Whose deceit I overthrow, whose game I also reject: Whose head I crush, for the guilt of old treachery. He shall not creep upon me through the belly, nor shall the serpent crawl on my breast, But he shall fall, cast down and slain by our sword. I offer myself to the King who grants the rewards of heaven, To Him I keep my faith, who through my inmost being he keeps faith with Christ the rewarder. Has spread His powers and kindled the heart of a faithful mind. Those whom neither chaste love nor holy ardor moves, That one brings forth groans and bitter weeping from the breast; From our senses he hurls the sighs of the heart, He provokes to grief those whom any sin has wounded: Those whom sins slay, he treats with the rein of piety: He calls all whom he wishes to give himself a crown; Those whom he loves, he raises to the summit of illustrious light: May he deign to inscribe me in the margin of the heavenly book.