Benedict

ON SAINT BENEDICT, ARCHBISHOP OF MILAN.

AROUND THE YEAR 735.

Benedict, Archbishop of Milan in Italy (Saint)

[1] The Milanese Missal, printed in the year 1560 after the manner of the most holy Lord and Pontiff Ambrose, records in the Calendar prefixed to it, at the eleventh day of March, the memory of Saint Benedict, Bishop and Confessor, whom Galesin afterward inscribed in his Martyrology in these words: "At Milan, of Saint Benedict the Bishop, who, having piously administered the Church of Milan according to the will of God, illustrious for his miracles, Name in the Martyrologies. and flourishing throughout all Italy for the praise of his virtues, rested in the Lord." In the second edition of the German Martyrology of Canisius, the cult of Saint Benedict, Bishop of Milan, is noted: which is also done in the Roman Martyrology. Paul the Deacon provides an illustrious testimony concerning him in book 6, chapter 29, of the Deeds of the Lombards: "Then also," namely in the time of King Aripert, testimony of Paul the Deacon "Benedict, Archbishop of Milan, came to Rome and pleaded the case for the Church of Pavia. But he was defeated, because from ancient times the Bishops of Pavia had been consecrated by the Roman Church." "This same venerable Archbishop Benedict was a man of outstanding holiness, whose reputation for good repute blazed throughout all Italy."

[2] His predecessor in the See of Milan was Saint Mansuetus, who died after the year 680, on the nineteenth of February, where we treated of him. other deeds. "After Mansuetus," says Ughelli in volume 4 of his Italia Sacra, "Saint Benedict Crispus of Milan was promoted, illustrious both for his learning and his holiness." A serious lawsuit before the Roman Pontiff engaged this most vigorous defender of his jurisdiction. For when he contended that the Bishop of Pavia was subject to the Milanese throne; and the latter, on the contrary, strove to prove that he belonged directly to the authority of the Roman Pontiff by ancient right, the more favorable outcome of the case fell to the Bishop of Pavia. Benedict, having lost the case, returned to Milan, where he built a monastery of Saint Benedict, which at this time serves as a dwelling and enclosure of modesty for penitent women... He himself composed the epitaph of Codoald, King of the Anglo-Saxons, who, having abjured idolatry, had converted to Christ, and having been washed in the sacred font by Pope Sergius, and dying shortly after, was buried at Saint Peter's with such an epitaph. For the rest, Benedict was removed from the living in the forty-third year of his pontificate, or, as others wish, the forty-seventh, on the fifth day before the Ides of March in the year 735, and was buried in the Ambrosian basilica and enrolled among the Saints. Concerning King Cadoald or Caedwalla, Alford discusses everything at length in his Anglo-Saxon Annals at the year of Christ 687, in which he died on the twentieth of April, and on that day he was inscribed in the English Martyrology. Meanwhile, the epitaph which Saint Benedict, Bishop of Milan, composed for this King may be read in the same Alford, Baronius, and many others. Concerning Saint Benedict, nearly the same things which we have given are found in the Tables of the Archbishops of the Church of Milan, from the decree of the Fourth Provincial Council held under Saint Charles Borromeo, by Francesco Besuzzi, Giovanni de Deis, and other writers of the Pontifical History of the city of Milan, and with them Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, who notes that Benedict is not celebrated with an Ecclesiastical Office. Brautius, Bishop of Sarsina, in his Poetical Martyrology honors him with this eulogy:

"Here was Benedict, a Bishop in deeds and in name, Who died an old man after the greatest beneficences."

ON BLESSED AENGUSSIUS KELEDEUS, ABBOT AND BISHOP IN IRELAND.

AROUND THE YEAR 824.

Aengussius Keledeus, Abbot and Bishop in Ireland (Saint)

Aengussius, surnamed Keledeus from his outstanding piety toward God, is honored with the title of Abbot by his ancient commentator: but as Bishop by the Martyrologies, both that of Marian Gorman and the Tallaght Martyrology itself: augmented, namely, by the addition of certain more recent Saints after the death of its author, that is, of Aengussius himself. Colgan not undeservedly calls him a hagiographer, for he wrote various small works concerning the Saints of Ireland: of which the chief, and of greater authority for our purpose, is his metrical Festilogy; in which we persuade ourselves that all the chief Saints, and those to whom some particular cult was offered, have been recorded: since in the other small works and Irish Martyrologies the appellation of Saint seems to have been accepted more broadly than the usage, not only of the present day but also of ancient times, bore throughout the rest of the Church. And so a place must be given to him among the Saints, both because he holds it in the Irish Martyrologies, and because to his outstanding zeal for honoring the Saints he added those exercises of extraordinary virtues, especially of humility, and is said to have been illustrious for those miracles, which persuade us that such a man, in a nation by no means strict in establishing the cult of its own Saints, obtained after death those honors which are now permitted only to Saints canonized by the Church. And since the very ancient Irish hymn which exists concerning him has not yet been rendered into Latin, the reader will be content to see the Life written by Colgan; until that Hymn, together with the promised Festilogy itself, shall at some time be made public.

LIFE

Collected from ancient records by John Colgan.

Aengussius Keledeus, Abbot and Bishop in Ireland (Saint)

CHAPTER I

The illustrious deeds of Saint Aengussius.

[1] There flourished in Ireland, as the eighth century was declining to its end, Aengussius, of noble birth, a man distinguished by the ancient nobility of his lineage and the splendor of his virtues, called in the native tongue Aengus, in Latin Aeneas and Aengussius, who by his holy works and writings acquired for himself an eternal memory and nobly ennobled his country. Aengussius's father was Aengavanus, his grandfather Hoblenius, born of Fidhrao, descended from the royal blood of the Dal-Araidhe in Ulster, and tracing the line of his descent through grandfathers and great-grandfathers, men of princely rank, to Coelbadius, the last king of Ireland from his family. From his very boyhood he emulated the better gifts, and first a monk at Cluain-eidnech, and enrolled his name in the service of Christ, having professed as a monk in the noble monastery of Cluain-eidnech in the region of Leinster called Hifalgria: where he made outstanding progress in the study of both virtues and letters under the holy Abbot Mal-athgenius, who was taken from the living around the year seven hundred and sixty-seven: by which he at length acquired for himself so great a name for holiness and learning that he had no one in his age on his native soil who was his equal in the praise of every kind of erudition, and no one who was superior in the reputation of holiness. For although the complete acts, undoubtedly once extant and most worthy of the light, have not come to our knowledge; yet a certain other ancient writer, a contemporary, as far as we can gather, and namesake the life collected from ancient sources. (for he indicates that his name is Aengussius), who described his praises in ancient verse; and another old author, who prefixed a preface or argument to his works; left for posterity such testimonies of his virtues and miracles and such encomiums of his learning, as abundantly demonstrate that he was a man remarkable, more than imitable, for his rare contempt both of himself and of the world; moreover illuminated by the grace of heavenly visions; endowed with extraordinary zeal and the gift of singular wisdom; and also famous for signs and virtues.

[2] From an early age devoted to the utmost austerity, he repressed the inclinations of his own flesh with constant mortifications. Renowned for his devotion to rare austerity, Not far from the monastery of Cluain-eidnech he cultivated a hermitage, called from his name Disert Aengus, that is, the Desert of Aengussius: where he was so intent upon divine praises and constant struggles with the flesh and Satan that he chanted the entire Psalter every day and performed three hundred genuflections among his other divine prayers and pious exercises. He divided the Psalter into three sections of fifty, of which the first he recited in the oratory, the second outdoors beside a tall tree adjacent to the oratory, and the third immersed in a tub of ice-cold water, with a rope or net girded about his neck and tied to a stake. And when his holiness had begun to be published abroad by these and other arduous exercises of the heavenly life, and fleeing secretly to Tallaght, and to be on the lips of all with admiration and praise; that outstanding despiser of popular acclaim and of the world conceived a plan by which, unknown to the world, he might avoid the acclamations of the people and every wind of vain glory. Hearing, namely, that the name of the holy Abbot Moelruain was at that time most widely celebrated among the Irish for the rigor of monastic life and the extraordinary holiness of his life, he undertook a journey to the monastery of Tallaght, three miles from the city of Dublin, where Saint Moelruain, an outstanding restorer of regular discipline and promoter of piety, most holily governed a great community of monks.

[3] While he was undertaking the planned journey, he turned aside on the way to the Church of Buil-bennchuir in the region of Hifalgria; by an angelic vision where, around the tomb of a certain recently deceased person, he beheld an immense multitude of Angels extending to the heavens and singing divine melody and celestial canticles; he asked the Priest in charge of the place who or what manner of person was the one who lay buried in that recent tomb. The Priest answered that he was a certain Lay Convert, who, having become a soldier of Christ from a soldier of the world, persevering in penance and praiseworthy conduct, had shortly before made an end of his penitential life. And when he inquired further what his works had been and to what exercises he had been devoted; he answered that besides the customary exercises of penitents, he had observed nothing else notable in his works, except that he had the custom, when composing himself for rest, of invoking by name all the Saints whose memory occurred to him, that they might be propitious intercessors for him: roused to the daily invocation of the Saints, which custom he repeated both in the evening and in the morning every day. Hearing these things, the man of God reflected within himself what great reward would be given to the one who, having composed a panegyric in their praise, should implore the help and intercession of the chief Saints of the Church on each day: and he afterward carried out his thought in deed, as will be said shortly.

[4] Meanwhile, pursuing the journey he had undertaken and disguising his identity, received at Tallaght among the Lay Converts, he came to Saint Moelruain: and from him, concealing his name, otherwise known by reputation, and his clerical training, he sought and obtained admission among the Lay Converts in the monastery. The veteran soldier of Christ, therefore, was assigned as though a raw recruit, for the sake of probation, to whatever meaner and harder works of the monastery: which duties he discharged willingly and diligently. He was applied first to the harder and more menial labors of the barn and granary: which this rare despiser of the world and persecutor of himself carried out for the space of seven years, so that this chosen servant of God, this repository of hidden wisdom, and this supreme contemplator of heavenly things amid rustic labors, a most laborious seemed fit for nothing other than performing the duties of a lowly slave. Now he reaped the ripe harvest in the sweat of his brow, now he carried the collected sheaves on his back and brought them to the barn, now he beat out the grain from the blunted ears with a threshing flail: the expressed grain he then separated from the chaff by winnowing, purified the separated grain by grinding, and carried the purified grain, enclosed in sacks, like a donkey, today to the granary, tomorrow to the mill, on his back. In all these labors, half-naked, and most rigorous life he leads. sweating, covered with filth and ashes, with no regard for bodily care or outward appearance, he persevered to such a degree that from his unkempt and flowing locks (with which he chiefly covered his limbs, bristling from prolonged squalor), he would not sooner shake off or trouble to extricate the grains and chaff entangled therein, than that they would either fall off by themselves or (which was sometimes observed to happen) seem to germinate, having now grown into his flesh: the holy man reckoning it an illustrious proof of the monastic life that he was truly honored according to his merits when he was regarded by all not as a vile and abject little man, but as a horrible and shaggy monster.

[5] The flame of divine love, which burned within him, drove the most wise man to wonderful exercises of austerity; a flame which he well knew burns more happily and shines more gloriously in mortified flesh and a humbled spirit. And hence he rightly obtained that surname by which he is commonly called Kele-De: which word, rendered into Latin, designates a Worshipper of God or Beloved of God. he restores his own severed arm: Nor did the Lord, for whose love such great proofs of humility and self-abnegation were being made, permit them to pass without evident testimonies of approval. For on one occasion, while this holy man was cutting wood in a nearby forest for the use of the monastery, it happened by accident that, while he wished to cut a branch from a trunk, he inadvertently struck not the branch, which he held with his left hand to be cut, but his own arm with the blow of the axe, and severed it cleanly from the rest of the body. A doubly wonderful miracle follows. The birds of that forest, previously familiar, as it appears, with a man of angelic innocence and purity, as if pitying and groaning at his unexpected calamity, came running; with shrill and loud cries they indicated their compassion and grief as best they could. But the holy man, casting his thought without hesitation upon the marvelous and most merciful Creator and Restorer of every creature, with his other hand fitted the severed arm to its place, and immediately found it fully reunited and restored, as if it had never been torn away: and he dissolved into praises of the wondrous Creator and Restorer of all things.

[6] he obtains infused knowledge for another: There occurred also in the same place another incident and a subsequent prodigy, which placed that lamp, still set under a bushel, upon a candlestick, and left the extraordinary virtue which he had so laboriously sought to conceal revealed to all. There was among the disciples of Moelruain a certain boy who, because he had either neglected or been unable to learn the daily lesson prescribed by his teacher, fearing the punishment of his strict master, ran away and hid himself in the granary where Saint Aengussius was engaged in manual labor. The holy man asked him the reason for his withdrawal or flight: when the boy explained it as it was, the man of God gently consoled him and bade him approach and indulge briefly in sleep in his bosom. The boy complied: and afterward the Saint, waking him from sleep, bade him recite the prescribed lesson. He obeyed, and faithfully recited the lesson; and added that he seemed to himself to be now fully instructed in all things that could be proposed by the master for learning. The holy man charged the boy to attend school regularly and to reveal to no one what the bounty of divine goodness had deigned to work concerning him. Attending school, therefore, he was found not only to have mastered his own lesson perfectly, but also to be illuminated by the rare gift of infused knowledge. When Saint Moelruain, wondering exceedingly, noticed this, he asked the boy to narrate what had happened to him, and what was the cause of so great a change and illumination. And when the boy tried for some time to conceal the circumstances of the event as it had occurred, compelled by the master's threats, he narrated the entire sequence of events.

[7] and thence known to Saint Moelruain At these things, exceedingly astonished, and for some time hesitating in admiration, Saint Moelruain, divinely enlightened, at last exclaimed, saying: "Behold, the son of promise and the vessel of election is Aengussius, whom we have held so long in the place of a slave and as a keeper of the granary!" And since he was wearing only one shoe, he did not delay so long as to put on the other; but immediately rising, he ran to the granary, and rushing into the embrace of Aengussius, he said: "O elect of God, how have you so deceived us? How have you imposed upon us? Was it not more consonant with justice and equity that we humble and insignificant ones should serve your venerable paternity, than that you, a great and chosen servant of Christ, should serve our smallness and abjection?" And when the man of God, thus discovered, could say nothing out of shame and confusion, Saint Moelruain added another thing by which he was still more confounded. For in his presence he prostrated himself, falling on his knees, he seems to have succeeded him with the title of Abbot and Bishop. and humbly begged pardon for his error. After this he led him, blushing and reluctant, with him to the monastery, and thereafter held him in the highest veneration and respect: and having struck a bond of spiritual friendship with him, he thenceforth cultivated the closest friendship. Although Saint Aengussius, as we have already seen, strove with the utmost effort to flee all the honors of the world; yet the constant companions of virtue followed the fugitive. For it is read that he both

was the Father and Abbot of many monks, and was moreover elevated to the summit of episcopal dignity. He seems to have exercised the office of Abbot in the monastery of Cluain-eidnech or at least in the monastery of Disert-Aengus: and although the authors of the Martyrologies, who call him Bishop, do not specify of which See he was the Bishop, I believe that he held that dignity in the same place where he also discharged the office of Abbot.

CHAPTER II

Various writings composed by Saint Aengussius.

[8] This most holy man wrote various small works, by which he illuminated his country no less than by his merits and virtues, he wrote a metrical Festilogy and left his name far and wide famous among posterity, whom he well deserved. Among these, the most well-known and always held in the highest esteem among his countrymen is that Martyrology, or, as he himself calls it, Festilogy, written in ancient verse of the native language, which contains for each day only some of the chief Saints, or, as he himself says, some Princes of the Saints. The reason for so great brevity was that he intended it as a form of daily prayer, and was accustomed himself to recite it on each day, in imitation of the holy man whom we mentioned above. For if he had included all the Saints in it, it would have been impossible for him, together with the entire Psalter and the other daily exercises already mentioned, to recite the entire Festilogy on each day. Afterward some ancient commentator added glosses to this Festilogy; in which he sometimes briefly reports some memorable virtues, and sometimes the fuller deeds of the same Saints.

[9] But lest the holy man should seem to wrong other Saints whom he had omitted in the aforementioned metrical Festilogy, or to cast doubt upon their holiness, after he had compiled it together with Saint Moelruain with the assistance of Saint Moelruain, he compiled in prose another Martyrology, far more copious and embracing more Saints of every nation and age than any other we have ever seen produced. For in it he first reviews in a long series the names of the Saints of other nations for each day: and then separately appends the names of the Saints of Ireland, so that from this one may rightly conjecture that the first part, containing innumerable Saints omitted in the Roman Martyrology and others, is that Martyrology of Jerome or Eusebius, often praised by many ancient writers and long desired by modern ones; or at least compiled from the same. For Aengussius in the second preface or appendix of his metrical Festilogy cites both the Martyrology of Eusebius and of Jerome. And in the two copies of this Martyrology, both of them mutilated, which still survive, only the bare names of the Saints are usually read.

[10] We have, however, thought it should be cited under the name of the Tallaght Martyrology, moved by four arguments. First, the Tallaght Martyrology: because it was compiled in the monastery of Tallaght, in which these two holy men (as we have seen above) dwelt together. Second, because it could not be continually cited under both names without tedium and even confusion (since we cite more frequently another Martyrology of Aengussius composed by him alone). Third, because we believe it was called by the same name by ancient writers: for Marian Gorman (who lived more than five hundred years ago), in the preface to his own Martyrology, writes that Saint Aengussius compiled his metrical Festilogy from the Tallaght Martyrology previously composed; from which he drew very few, and to which he refers the reader: and we judge that Tallaght Martyrology to be none other than the present one; since this was, as we said, compiled at Tallaght, and no other Martyrology exists today which is called the Tallaght Martyrology, or could have existed which could with better right be called Tallaght. Fourth, because this Martyrology contains the birthdays of the Saints Moelruain and Aengussius themselves, and of several other Saints who lived in the same century with them, and who are established to have died after them: this addition, however, we believe was made by some monk of Tallaght who lived toward the end of the ninth century and seems to have died at the beginning of the tenth. For he mentions the holy Corpre, Bishop of Cluain, who died in the year eight hundred and ninety-four: but not Saint Cormac, King and Bishop, who died in the year ninety-three, nor any Saint who is established to have lived after the ninth century.

[11] But the claim of some that not only this Martyrology compiled in prose, but also the other metrical one, of which we spoke first, namely after the death of Moelruain; was composed by Saint Aengussius at Tallaght while he was managing the care of the granary under Saint Moelruain; is refuted by us with three arguments. First, because in it he records the birthday of Saint Moelruain (whom he calls the bright sun of Ireland) as celebrated on the seventh of July: therefore he did not write it while living under Saint Moelruain, but after his death. Second, because Saint Aengussius writes in the first prologue of his Festilogy that Dunchad, son of Domnald, King of Ireland, had already died when he himself composed or completed that work: but Dunchad, according to our Annals and other historians, died in the year seven hundred and ninety-two, and Saint Moelruain in seven hundred and eighty-seven. The work, therefore, was composed, or at least completed, after the death of Saint Moelruain. Third, because the very Scholiast of Aengussius's Festilogy, who was the first to assert that this work was composed at Tallaght in the time of Saint Moelruain, also reports that the same work was completed and published in the year in which Aed the Sixth, surnamed Oidnidhe, King of Ireland, undertook an expedition toward the borders of Leinster, with Archbishop Commachus of Armagh, and presents it to Blessed Fothadius Blessed Fothadius, and many other leaders of the Clergy and people accompanying the King on that expedition.

[12] For he reports that then this Festilogy was first presented by Saint Aengussius to Blessed Fothadius, a man most famous among the Irish in his time for the highest reputation of holiness and learning, and that Fothadius also presented to Saint Aengussius another small work, which he had written at the same time to the same King for the defense and immunity of the Clergy; and by which he merited that the Clergy, whom by a certain abusive custom the Kings were accustomed to drag to military expeditions, to the great prejudice of ecclesiastical immunity, should henceforth be freed from such a yoke. Our Annals, moreover, refer that expedition and the exemption of the Clergy to the year seven hundred and ninety-nine. in the year 792 From all this, therefore, it follows that this metrical Martyrology was first completed and published after the death of Saint Moelruain. It is different with that other work of Saint Aengussius which we call the Tallaght Martyrology; for that, although it was later augmented by someone who lived in the following century with the addition of certain Saints, was composed by Aengussius, with Saint Moelruain living and cooperating, before the year seven hundred and eighty-seven, in which the domestic Annals report that Saint Moelruain died, as is gathered from the title prefixed to the work, which is as follows: "Here begins the Martyrology of Aengussius, son of Ua-Oblenius, and of Moelruanius." Whence Marian Gorman, in the preface to his Martyrology, rightly observed that Saint Aengussius drew the Saints listed in his metrical Festilogy from the Tallaght Martyrology previously composed.

[13] likewise various booklets about the Saints Nor was it only by the Martyrologies already mentioned that Saint Aengussius deserved well of his country and the Church of God, but also by many other excellent small works, still extant and most worthy of publication, which by the favor of divine grace will shortly be given to the public. For he wrote five booklets about the Saints of Ireland, most abundant witnesses and evidence of the innumerable multitude of Saints of that kingdom and of the name of the Island of Saints most justly imposed upon it. 1. Of Saints of various Orders The first booklet in three chapters lists Saints of various orders or classes. First, Bishops numbering about three hundred and forty-five; second, Priests and Abbots, two hundred and ninety-nine; third, Deacons, seventy-eight, distinguished for the praise of holiness. The second booklet, called Of Homonyms, embraces Saints who share the same name among themselves, divided into two parts; the first part in fifty chapters lists male homonymous Saints, 2. Of Homonymous Saints and the second in twelve chapters lists sixty-two female homonymous Saints. And this book (which almost surpasses belief), although it contains diverse names of Saints, lists in all eight hundred and fifty-five Saints, of whom none is without several other homonyms listed therein.

[14] 3. Of the Children of Saints The third is called Of Children or Sons, divided into three classes: the first class contains several holy sons born from the same parent, the second contains only sons of their parent, each of whom, with his proper name suppressed, was customarily called nothing other than the son of such-and-such a specified parent; the third contains several daughters born of the same parent and famous for the reputation of holiness. And although the number of Saints treated in this booklet is uncertain, the names of ninety-four parents who begot one or more Saints are expressed, with some others omitted which cannot be read because of the excessive age of the worn codex. 4. On the maternal genealogy of Saints The fourth booklet contains the maternal genealogy of approximately two hundred and ten Saints of Ireland: which is an indication that the paternal genealogy of the Saints had been previously composed either by the same or by some earlier author. The fifth booklet is of litanies, 5. of litanies in which, in a long series in the manner of daily prayers, certain companies of Saints are invoked, who were joined together either by common discipleship under the same master, or by association for the sake of propagating the faith among nations under the same leader, or by burial in the same monastery, or by communion of the Church, or by some other similar title. all of which together And hence some thousands of Saints are invoked under such titles.

[15] The work composed from the aforementioned small works is entitled in certain ancient parchments of the country, in the native tongue, Saltuir-na-rann: which word, rendered into Latin, denotes now a Metrical Psalter, now a Multipartite Psalter. And in both senses, the various works of Saint Aengussius could rightly be so inscribed. as well as the same author's metrical history of the Old Testament For besides the works already mentioned, this most devout man wrote in a metrical and elegant style the history of the Old Testament; which, referring all the works of God finally to the praise of the Creator, and kindling the mind of the reader and reciter to His praise and love, he so formed into the shape of a prayer and distributed into parts, that it could most aptly in both senses be called Saltuir-na-rann; to be called a Metrical or Multipartite Psalter as indeed it was customarily named and entitled in one or both senses. Another work also, composed from the five small works already mentioned and succinctly reduced into the form of a prayer, as if invoking the Saints themselves, could rightly, on account of the various parts into which it is divided, be inscribed in the latter sense as a Multipartite Psalter: and that it was so inscribed and composed by Saint Aengussius, both authority attests and reason persuades.

[16] The authority is that of an ancient parchment codex, from which the booklet of homonyms, copied out, by authority was recently sent to us from the homeland, with this inscription: "The Homonymous Saints of Ireland from the Saltuir-na-rann, that is (as I interpret it) from the Multipartite Psalter; which Aengussius Keledeus composed." Reason also recommends

that Aengussius is the author of this compiled work: for no Saint is reviewed in any part of it who did not die before the times of Aengussius, and is proven by reason or at least flourished in the same period as he himself, as we have demonstrated from a careful collation of the entire work with our Annals and other domestic monuments. For the Annals and other domestic monuments treat of no Saint reviewed in these booklets who is established to have lived after the year eight hundred, except only Saint Tigernach of Doire, founder of the monastery of Meath, whom they report to have died in the year eight hundred and five: at which time we have no reason to doubt that Saint Aengussius was still alive. For although they report that Saint Moelditrib died in the year eight hundred and forty, it is nevertheless uncertain whether he is the one mentioned in the aforementioned work, booklet two, chapter forty.

[17] From what has been said thus far, it is established that this most illustrious man deserved exceedingly well of his country and of posterity, for whom he preserved the memory of so many innumerable Saints, otherwise perhaps largely destined to perish, and that he is therefore most worthy of eternal remembrance; and that, called to the rewards of eternal happiness, he departed after the beginning of the ninth century. And although we do not find that the year of his death was recorded, nevertheless from the fact that his feast day is celebrated on March 11, and that he died on a Friday according to the other Aengussius, who adds that he lies buried in the monastery of Cluain-eidnech, we may conjecture that he died in the year 819, 824, or 830: since in those years March 11 fell on a Friday.

CONCERNING SAINT EULOGIUS, PRIEST AND MARTYR, AT CORDOBA IN SPAIN, IN THE YEAR 859

Preliminary Commentary.

Eulogius, Priest and Martyr, at Cordoba in Spain (Saint)

Section I. The time of his life and martyrdom. The written Life. Sacred veneration.

[2] After Spain was seized by the Saracens, the seat of the kingdom, which had been established at Seville for a few years, was transferred to Cordoba by Abdalazis. The barbarians endeavored to raise it on every side with lofty grandeur and majesty, leaving to the Christians even the practice of their religion, and most of their churches and monasteries intact. Gradually, however, as the impious Saracens prevailed, Saint Eulogius writes the Acts of the martyrs slain under the Saracens the freedom of the Christians was oppressed and afflicted, and Cordoba was irrigated with the blood of Martyrs, especially in the last years of the reign of Haldarahman and of his son Mahomad. What the contests and trophies of the Martyrs at Cordoba were at that time, Saint Eulogius sets forth in three books of the Memorial of the Saints, in which from the Era 888, that is, the year of Christ 850, from the year 850 to 857 in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Habdarrahman, up to the Era 894, that is, the year of Christ 856, he describes the Acts of each of the Martyrs, to be brought forward by us throughout this entire work on the feast day of each one. Eulogius also wrote an Apologeticus of the holy Martyrs, and inserted into it the martyrdom of Saints Rudericus the Priest and Solomon, who suffered in the Era 895, that is, the year of Christ 857, on March 13, as we explain more fully at that place. In the same year still, but on the last day of the month of December, Wistremirus, Bishop of Toledo, in the year 858 he is elected Bishop of Toledo as is clear from his epitaph, departed this life: in whose place Saint Eulogius was elected in the year 858, but as is stated in the Life at number 12, the divine dispensation, which was reserving him for martyrdom, interposed certain obstacles. Therefore in the following year 859, in the year 859 he is slain he attained the glorious palm of martyrdom, and indeed on the fifth day before the Ides of March, a Saturday, at the ninth hour, as is observed below at number 20 in the Acts, and rightly: for in that year, with the solar cycle being 28 and the Dominical letter A, March 11 fell on a Saturday.

[2] The Life and martyrdom were written by Alvarus, his close friend The Life and martyrdom of Saint Eulogius was composed by Alvarus of Cordoba, his most intimate friend from youth, and privy to all his deeds. He appears to have been established in some Ecclesiastical dignity, inasmuch as he writes at number 90 of the Life that he ordered a certain Deacon to read a letter of Saint Epiphanius. To him Saint Eulogius sent the Documentum Martyriale, which he had written for the Virgins Flora and Maria, by a letter sent from prison: because, he says, since the soldiers of Christ manfully resisted the enemy of justice, the cruelty of the tyrant consigned us to the afflictions of prison, imputing to our exhortations what was divinely inspired in them. To the same Alvarus he sent the Passion of the Martyrs Flora and Maria, having by then been freed from prison. To the same man while in prison he sent the first book of the aforementioned Memorial of the Saints, requesting his judgment and revision. There survive with these letters a twofold response of Alvarus to Saint Eulogius, full of singular affection toward him, with which the Life soon to be given also abounds. The same Alvarus also wrote a book of Scintillae, collected from the sayings of the holy Fathers arranged by commonplaces concerning virtues and vices: of which Ambrose Morales testifies that he saw a threefold manuscript copy in his Observations on the works of Saint Eulogius; as also one printed at Basel, but incomplete and without the author's name. To the same Alvarus is also attributed an outstanding work written at Cordoba in the year 854, with mention of various Martyrs killed there for the faith of Christ at that time. The title of this work is the Indiculus Luminosus, from two manuscripts Morales published it which Morales writes was preserved at Cordoba in the library of the Cathedral in Gothic letters, but without the author's name. So much for Alvarus, the writer of the Life of Saint Eulogius, of which Morales had two copies: one in a most ancient codex of Oviedo, appended to the other works of Saint Eulogius without any title; the other was lent to him by Michael Ruiz de Azagra, secretary to the Most Serene Princes of Bohemia, Rudolf, later Emperor, and Ernest. This codex was likewise most ancient, and written in Gothic letters on parchment, and had this title prefixed to it: The Life or Passion of the most blessed Martyr Eulogius, Priest and Doctor, who suffered in the Era 897, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 859, under King Mahomad, on the fifth day before the Ides of March, by Alvarus of Cordoba. There survived in the same manuscript codices a Hymn for the feast day of Saint Eulogius the Priest, with a hymn and epitaph on the fifth day before the Ides of March, and an Epitaph with a prayer of Alvarus: all of which Morales considers to have been composed by Alvarus; certainly worthy to be published together for the completion of the history.

[3] The Church of Cordoba celebrates on this March 11 the feast of Saint Eulogius with the Ecclesiastical Office under the double rite; Sacred veneration on March 11 but the Church of Toledo under the semi-double rite, as its Bishop once elected. The Lessons of the second Nocturn, contracted into a compendium from the Life by Alvarus, are recited. The Roman Martyrology honors him with this eulogy: At Cordoba, Saint Eulogius the Priest, who merited to be joined to the Martyrs of that same city in the persecution of the Saracens, whose contests for the faith he had emulated by writing. I add also the encomium of the Spanish Martyrology composed by Tamayo Salazar in these words: Eulogius, most holy Priest of Cordoba, elected Bishop of Toledo, a man distinguished by every kind of virtue, singular in the acclaim of eloquence, who by exhorting the Martyrs to martyrdom and by soothing the horrid fierceness of death, is as a Martyr associated with the Martyrs. The same Tamayo reproves Arnold Wion and Hugh Menard (to whom could be added Dorgan and Bucelin) because they believe that Saint Eulogius donned the monastic cowl of Saint Benedict and join him among the Saints of this most blessed family: but that Antonio de Yepes in volume 4 of the Benedictine Chronicle, year 859, chapter 1, had thoroughly exploded this opinion, and had taken care that the most holy Martyr be restored to the Clerics. by what error he is ascribed to the Benedictines The occasion of the error was given to Wion by Mariana, book 7 of the History of Spain, chapter 15, where after relating the death of Saint Eulogius it is added: At Cordoba indeed, in the place of Eulogius, Sampson the Priest, in the following years Abbot of Saint Zoilus, was substituted. Sampson wrote an Apologetic work, in which he shows that he was made Abbot of the Church of Saint Zoilus the Martyr in the Era 901, that is, the year of Christ 863. That year, however, is the fourth after the martyrdom of Saint Eulogius: as Morales reports these things in the Scholia to the book of the Memorial of the Saints of Eulogius, number 9. But it does not follow therefrom that Sampson succeeded Saint Eulogius, since the latter is nowhere called Abbot, although, as is said at number 2 of the Life, as a young man dedicated to the service of the Church, he served in the church of Saint Zoilus in the college of Clerics. And at number 16 in the basilica of Saint Zoilus he spent sleepless nights prostrate on the ground in prayer: in the same basilica finally he is said at number 22 to have been buried. Moreover, he was living in the same house with his sister Anulona, a Virgin dedicated to God, when he received Saint Leocritia there, and was led away captive together with her. He was a Cleric of the basilica of Saint Zoilus, where the chief director of the Clergy was called Abbot: which does not pertain to monks. And even if monks had been there, they would not on that account be ascribed to the Benedictines.

[4] On September 20 he is inscribed in the principal manuscript codices of the Martyrology of Usuard in these words: Saint Eulogius inscribed in Martyrologies on September 20 At Cordoba, of the Blessed Eulogius the Priest, beheaded for the martyrdom of Christ, or, as some codices have it, beheaded for the faith of Christ. The Utrecht manuscript of the collegiate Church of Saint Mary: In the city of Cordoba, of the Blessed Eulogius the Priest, crowned for the love of Christ. The same is reported on that day by Bellinus, Maurolycus, Canisius, and Ferrarius, who followed Usuard, and with the following eulogy by Galesinius: At Cordoba, of Saint Eulogius the Priest and Martyr, who, struck by the axe for the faith of Christ on the fifth day before the Ides of March, is celebrated on this present day with the divine Offices of the stated Hours according to the usage of the Church of Cordoba, as has been related by us. And for this March 11 he has this: At Cordoba, of Saint Eulogius the Priest, whose martyrdom took place on this very day: but on the twelfth day before the Kalends of October, his feast is observed with the anniversary Office of prayers, as the entire account of this matter will be narrated on that day. Tamayo reproves all these as deviating from the truth. But Morales in his scholia to the Life of Saint Eulogius examines why in the Martyrology of Usuard and in the Roman Martyrology his feast is placed on September 20, and the Cordoban Breviary also has it on the same day. The reason for this, he says, I would believe to have been that, since on that very day, namely September 20, the death of Saint Eulogius the Priest (the one who was distinguished among the ancient hermits of the desert) had been noted in the book inscribed Lives of the Fathers and attributed to Saint Jerome, and in the Roman Martyrology, certain persons, believing that same one and this Cordoban to be identical, being otherwise ignorant of the truth, assigned his feast to the same day: and in the Roman Martyrology indeed the feast of both is noted on the same day. Which Roman Martyrology is meant, we do not know, unless it was the one which Maurolycus published: in which the memory of both Eulogii is recalled. The more ancient Eulogius the Priest among the Egyptians is reported by Rufinus, book 2 of the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 14, and by Palladius in the Lausiac History, chapter 75, and, citing these, by Peter de Natalibus, book 8 of the Catalogue, chapter 99, asserting that he rested on the twelfth day before the Kalends of October: whom others have followed. Morales furthermore considers that the names of Saint Eulogius and of the other Martyrs,

who suffered at Cordoba in his time, were interpolated by later hands into the Martyrology of Usuard, since Usuard inscribed this to the Lord of Kings, the most pious King Charles Augustus, as if this had been Charlemagne, although it seems that Charles the Bald, crowned with the Imperial diadem in the year of Christ 875, is to be understood. But we do not think that the name of Eulogius the hermit was inscribed in the Martyrologies at that time. Certainly we have been able to collect no trace of it thus far.

Section II. Various Translations of Saints Eulogius and Leocritia.

[5] The Translation of Saint Eulogius was not made on September 20 Constantinus Ghinius, in the Birthdays of the Saints of the Canons, celebrating Saint Eulogius on this March 11 with a long encomium, asserts that he completed his martyrdom on the fifth day before the Ides of March in the year 850, and that his body was translated on September 20 in the year 860. But as he clearly errs regarding the year of martyrdom, so he seems to have added the rest from mere conjecture, and Morales denies that any Translation was made on that September 20. And he considers the first Translation to be that which he found annotated in the other codex of the Life of Saint Eulogius, which he had obtained from Michael de Azagra, with this title: The Translation of the body of Saint Eulogius the Priest. The Translation of Saint Eulogius the Martyr and Doctor was made in the basilica of Saint Zoilus under the principal title. but on June 1 in the year 860 On the Kalends of June, Era 898. Moreover, the seventh day of his nativity is celebrated in the aforementioned place, because his solemnity always falls during the days of Lent. This Translation or Elevation of the Body was made at Cordoba in solemn procession in the year next after the martyrdom, and the celebration seems to have continued through the Octave or the seven following days, because on March 11 it was not permitted owing to the Lenten season: and this seems to be the annual recurrence of the festivity, in which, so that the martyrdom of Saint Eulogius might be read, Alvarus at number 13 intimates that it was written by himself. Galesinius inscribed this Translation in his Fasti in these words: In Spain, the Translation of Saint Eulogius the Martyr, but in the Notes he confused it with the Translation to the city of Oviedo shortly to be indicated: whom Ferrarius then followed.

[6] [The bodies of Saints Eulogius and Leocritia were translated to Oviedo in the year 883] A second Translation of the bodies of Saints Eulogius and Leocritia (whose martyrdom is reviewed in the Acts of the former) was made from the city of Cordoba to the then royal city of Oviedo, situated in the mountains of Asturias: the history of which Translation is contained in the ancient lessons of the Breviary of Oviedo as follows: When in the year of the Lord eight hundred and eighty-three, the twenty-fourth after the martyrdom of Saints Eulogius and Leocritia, the great Alfonso, King at Oviedo, sent a certain Priest named Dulcidius to Cordoba, to transact before Mahomad, King of Cordoba, certain matters pertaining to the state of both kingdoms; the Priest Dulcidius, while he was in the city, took care how the bodies of the holy Martyrs Eulogius and Leocritia might come into his possession. He revealed his intention to a certain Mozarab Christian surnamed Samuel, who promised to fulfill the holy vow of Dulcidius. Samuel accomplished what was offered: and having arranged the business, Dulcidius informed Alfonso concerning the sacred relics, who with Hermenegild, Bishop of Oviedo, and the Clergy, having organized a solemn procession, went out of the city of Oviedo to meet them. When these were received and transferred into a cypress casket, and deposited in the chapel of Saint Leocadia beneath the altar slab, the devotion of the King and the nobles was seized with joy. This Translation was made on January 9, on which day the sacred bodies arrived at Oviedo. Thus far the lessons related by Tamayo Salazar for the said January 9. January 9 Gonzalez Davila, volume 3 of the Ecclesiastical Theatre, page 123, makes mention of the said Translation of these Martyrs: which from the lessons related above, Joannes Marietta of the Saints of Spain, book 4, chapter 26, published in the same manner in Spanish. Morales cites the same in the oft-mentioned scholia, and adds that the stone sepulcher had been excavated beneath the altar, which is now also seen to be empty. Morales treats of the same Translation in book 15 of the General History of Spain, chapter 15, and then in chapter 21 narrates the foundation of the monastery of Tunon made by the same King Alfonso and his consort Ximena, on the ninth day before the Kalends of February, Era 928, to which after the King and Queen subscribed Hermenegild, Bishop of the Royal See of Oviedo: whom the aforementioned Davila counts as the second of that name. This Translation is celebrated with this eulogy in his Martyrology by Tamayo Salazar: At Oviedo in Spain among the Asturians, the Translation of the sacred remains of Saints Eulogius, the elected Archbishop, and Leocritia his pupil, Martyrs of Cordoba, from that Patrician city to the Royal one, where they are enclosed in the Holy Chamber with honorable custody. But these last words pertain to the following Translation. Ferrarius also through error placed the Translation indicated thus far on the next day, January 10.

[7] On what occasion the third Translation was made, Marietta narrates as follows, and from him Tamayo Salazar, both at the place already cited: Afterward indeed in the year one thousand three hundred, four hundred and seventeen years having elapsed after the earlier Translation to that city, another into the Holy Chamber in the year 1300 when the Archdeacon of the Church of Oviedo, Rodrigo Gutierrez by name, was suffering from a dissolution of the sinews, to such a degree that the bone nearest his ear had been displaced, whereby, the organs of voice being bound, he had completely lost the faculty of speech: therefore kindled with the ardor of devotion to the holy Martyrs Eulogius and Leocritia, he immediately approached their relics in tears: and with prayers composed in his heart, he at once obtained complete health. When this miracle was understood, Fernando Alvarez, then Bishop of Oviedo, moved by the fervor of charity, caused the bodies of the Saints to be transferred into the Holy Chamber. Regarding the Holy Chamber built by King Alfonso the Chaste and the sacred relics deposited therein, Morales is to be read, book 30 of the History of Spain, chapter 38. The same author in his scholia to this Life asserts that the silver chest in which these sacred bodies were enclosed, he himself in the year 1572 contemplated with his own eyes, struck by the holiness of the spectacle, and lifted it reverently with his hands and arms: and he testifies that the case is quite large, covered on all sides with silver and very finely adorned with figures: on the summit of which these letters are read, engraved in silver: IN THE YEAR OF THE LORD 1300, ON THE FIFTH DAY BEFORE THE NONES OF JANUARY, THE LORD FERNANDO ALVAREZ, BISHOP OF OVIEDO, TRANSLATED THE BODIES OF THE HOLY MARTYRS EULOGIUS AND LUCRETIA INTO THIS SILVER CASKET. Where two words obliterated by age, namely "the bodies of the Holy," have been supplied by conjecture. The same things are reported by Morales, book 15 of the History, chapter 15, Gonzalez Davila in the Bishops of Oviedo, Marietta indicated above, Martin de Roa in his Saint Leocritia, who explain those words "On the fifth day before the Nones of January" as the ninth day of January. In the scholia of Morales, with the word "Nones" omitted, one reads "the fifth of January." But since there is no fifth day before the Nones of January, what if one reads the year 1305, with the Translation made on the ninth day of January, or else another emendation must be applied. In the order for reciting the divine Office printed at Madrid in the year 1635, it is prescribed for January 16 under the double rite Saints Eulogius and Lucretia, Martyrs. But in a similar order for reciting the divine Office reprinted in the year 1646, not the 16th but the 10th day of January is set for the said veneration: which seems to have happened through some negligence of the printers. Morales finally observes that the people of Oviedo write Lucretia for Leocritia, of whom we shall treat again on March 15.

LIFE

By Alvarus, an eyewitness.

Published from eleven manuscript codices by Ambrose Morales.

Eulogius, Priest and Martyr, at Cordoba in Spain (Saint)

BHL Number: 2704

Author: Alvarus.

PREFACE

[1] Preparing to write the Passion of the most blessed Martyr and Doctor Eulogius, I thought I should first set forth his life in order before describing the most beautiful contest of his end: so that who and how great he was might first be made known to the readers, and thus thereafter the palm of victory attained through merit might shine forth [the Author, intimate with Saint Eulogius from adolescence, writes things seen and certain] by the most evident proofs. In the beginning of this work, relying on the help of the Lord and our Redeemer, I profess that I am not recounting things heard and doubtful, but things seen and proven by myself: since, by the grace of God cooperating, from the first flower of youth, bound together by the sweetness of charity and the love of the Scriptures in one bond of concord, we bore the yoke of this life in all questions, though not in equal rank, yet with equal affection. But he, adorned with the gift of the Priesthood, borne aloft on the wings of virtues, soared ever higher: I, steeped in the mire of luxury and pleasure, creeping upon the ground, am dragged along to this day. And hence it is that I have resolved to narrate not uncertain things learned by the report of any persons whatsoever, but things done with me and known by myself. For just as I profess it to be perilous to rashly pronounce judgment about uncertain things, so I do not think it free from danger to suppress those things about known matters which ought to be known. Praiseworthy also is the truth that must be proclaimed to all for the sake of example, and no less must the contrived falsehood of rhetoricians be detested. For it is better to say nothing about many outstanding deeds than to discourse many falsehoods from small truths: and it is safer to pass over all things that were done than to fabricate anything that did not happen. And he errs more mildly who suppresses truths not from a motive of malice but from the fault of laziness, than he who artfully contrives falsehoods. For truth, if it is spoken from zeal for truth and not from the vaunting of vainglory, bestows a crown upon the speaker: but falsehood, if it is attempted by anyone, slays the one who conjectures it. And therefore, just as I rejoice that I am to be rewarded for speaking the truth, so I do not deny that I am to be condemned if I should speak falsehood. I therefore had no reasons for leaping into the weaving of falsehood, I who knew that truth, not mendacity, is rewarded in all things.

d The same: "fuerint."

CHAPTER I

The pious education of Saint Eulogius, his studies, the Priesthood, the title of Doctor, his acquaintance with Alvarus the writer of the Life.

[2] Therefore the blessed Martyr Eulogius, born of noble stock, a native of the Patrician city of Cordoba from a lineage of Senators, Saint Eulogius of Cordoba is dedicated to the service of the Church, serving in the church of the holy and most blessed Zoilus, and leading his life in the college of Clerics of the same, Minister of the Church; he studies he flourished with many and most illustrious virtues, he was vigorous in great and praiseworthy works. For from his very cradle devoted to Ecclesiastical letters, and daily growing through the pursuit of good works, he attained perfection, and surpassing all his contemporaries in the knowledge of doctrine, and flourishing in the light of learning, he was made Doctor of his Masters. Indeed, bearing a mature mind in a very small body, he surpassed all, if not in age, certainly in knowledge. For he was a most diligent searcher of the Scriptures, he searches the sacred Scriptures and a most intent investigator of their meanings: so that he placed nothing before the Holy Scripture, chose nothing more than to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night.

[3] Nor content with the teaching of his own Doctors, he sought out others, if by chance he heard of any, he chooses the Abbot Speraindeus as his teacher placed afar off: and lest he offend his own teachers, he would steal away secretly at the hours when he could. For he very frequently visited the Abbot Speraindeus of good remembrance and memory, a man of renown and celebrated for his fame in learning, and hung upon his most eloquent lips in the manner of a student: who at that very time was sweetening the borders of all Baetica with the streams of his wisdom. There I first merited to see him, there I clung to the sweetness of his friendship, there I was bound to him by inseparable affection. For I was already a student of the said most illustrious man: and while I more frequently wore down his threshold and sharpened my uncultivated talent, at length by divine regard I am joined in the companionship of this great man. And in a chain-like fashion by an indissoluble bond I am not merely entwined but united; and we became students of the man, seekers of truth, lovers of one another to such a degree, he comes into the intimate acquaintance of the writer that that untaught age presumed upon what had not been granted to it. We both engaged in the delightful exercise of the Scriptures, and not knowing how to steer the oar in a lake, we were thought to brave the fury of the Euxine Sea. For we carried on boyish disputations through letters exchanged with one another concerning the doctrines over which we were divided, not with ill will but with delight, and we soothed each other with praises in rhythmic verses: and is stimulated by mutual study and this exercise was sweeter to us than honey, more pleasant than honeycombs, and stretching ourselves forward each day, our boyish and premature teachableness drove us to attempt many inaccessible things in the Scriptures; so that we composed volumes which a later age resolved should be destroyed, lest they remain for posterity.

[4] But when Eulogius was now reaching the years of youth, he is made a Priest and constituted a Doctor he exercises the ministry of the Diaconate, and in a short time, carried upward by merit, is elevated to the rank of the Priesthood: and soon afterward is associated with his Masters in rank and manner of life. How great was the humility, how great the goodness, how great the charity that clung to him, the love of all demonstrated. And from this point he began to bind himself with the more severe austerity of life, and to adorn himself in all his actions with the laws of modesty: to devote himself to the divine Scriptures, and to chastise his body with vigils and fasts: to frequent monasteries, to visit convents, to compose rules for the Brethren: to care for all things on this side and that in such a way that, if it could be, he might be present in both places. So he conducted his own clerical office that he did not abandon the regular Order as something foreign: so he adhered to monks that he was proved to be a Cleric, so he lived among the Clergy that he appeared to be a monk: running aptly to both, he moves among Clerics and monks and alone most sufficiently fulfilling the professions of both, he hastened frequently to the most sacred flocks of the convents. But lest he be thought to despise his own Order, he returned again to the Clergy: and when he had persisted among them for some time, lest the virtue of his soul be enfeebled by secular cares, he likewise returned to the monasteries. Here adorning the Church with the doctrine of his lips, there embellishing his own life by examining it, established in all virtues, he walked grieving and anxious along the way of the world: and daily desiring to fly to heavenly things, he was weighed down by the burden of the body, he proposes to go on pilgrimage to Rome so much so that he resolved to go to Rome, in order to subdue the blemishes of youth with tears and the journey of pilgrimage, or rather to efface them once subdued. But behold, we all press upon him from every side, and restrain him more in body than in spirit.

CHAPTER II

The captivity and liberation of Saint Eulogius; constancy given to the Martyrs; the Acts written.

[5] But while these and other things are being reported, at length Bishop Reccaffredus burst upon the Churches and Clerics like a violent whirlwind: and he bound all the Priests he could with the chain of imprisonment. Among whom, as a chosen ram, he is led, He is enclosed in prison with others and is bound with his Bishop and other Priests. In which imprisonment he devoted himself more to prayers and readings than to his chains. There for the holy Virgins Flora and Maria, arrested for the faith, he composed in one book that Document of Martyrdom: he strengthens Saints Flora and Maria for martyrdom in which he fortified them for martyrdom with the most tenacious words, and taught them both in person by words and through letters to despise death. And he commended himself and his companions to their prayers for release from bondage, which he merited to obtain soon after the sixth day of their passion: for they completed their martyrdom on the eighth day before the Kalends of December, and the Priests of the Lord obtained their release on the third day of the Kalends, through the merits of those same Virgins. he is freed

[6] There survives moreover, composed in a more illustrious style, and directed to me during those days, a letter containing the passion of those same Virgins He writes their Life and the deliverance of the Priests through the merits of those Virgins themselves. Therein he taught most perfectly metrical feet, which the scholars of Spain did not yet know, and showed them to us after his departure. Thence also he directed to me, for those books which he had written in defense of the Martyrs, never idle a letter dictated in an eloquent manner of speech. For while all the Priests who were with him were given to leisure and rest, he ceased from reading neither by night nor by day; redoubling nights and days, lapping the honey of the Scriptures, ruminating spiritually with mouth and heart.

[7] He strengthens those about to undertake martyrdom But I think it worth the effort, if proceeding somewhat more deeply, we insert how he was proved in the time of persecution. For while the Bishops, Priests, Clergy, and learned men of Cordoba were walking by a devious path regarding the recently arisen martyrdom, and, driven by fear, were almost denying the faith of Christ, if not in words, yet by their countenance; this man nevertheless, unapproachable, was never seen to waver even by a faint whisper: but meeting all who were going forth to the contest, strengthening the spirits of all, and venerating and composing the bones of each one, he burned so intensely with the ardor of martyrdom that he himself seemed in those days to be the instigator of the Martyrs. For this zeal of righteousness he was assailed with many insults, He writes the Acts of the Martyrs and harassed with great terrors. For one of the leading men, attacking him and exasperating him with threats, was by the just divine judgment turned over to a reprobate mind, and the faith which he had unknowingly attacked while holding it, the wretched fool soon lost. About whom the aforesaid most blessed man discoursed more fully in the third book of the Memorial of the Saints. In which books he also set forth the passions of each of the Martyrs in the clear stream of eloquence, and with sufficient prosecution made known to succeeding generations whatever was done and said among the Martyrs of the Lord. How great moreover, and how excellent he was in knowledge, his writings, clearer than light, reveal, which he composed with Attic salt and prosaic elegance, or rather by divine inspiration.

[8] while most yield to the fury of the King But we must return to the times of Bishop Reccaffredus, and set forth by what art he suspended himself from the sacrifice, lest he be glued to his error. For in those very days all who were bound to him both by force and by power, subjected by royal command, seemed to be joined to the iniquitous enemy: and those who in the first insurrection had stood adverse and erect against him, then, stirred by terror, clung to him as though familiars, not in mind but in body; not by the love of the heart but by the compulsion of fear; and lest a further opportunity of harming him be given. Thus also the King, raging against us with his laws, had introduced compulsion, and, interfering with free will, had subjected all to the fierce enemy. The truth of this history will be discussed more carefully in another work.

[9] But now we desire only to unravel the most holy art of this admirable man. he uses prudent constancy For, driven by the heavy impulse of grief, while he perceived the deceitful cunning of that Bishop prowling on every side around him, and discovered that the rest were in communion with him, and saw that he had no means of resistance, nor any freedom of departure (inasmuch as sureties had been given), he began to wear himself down with heavy groaning, and to be greatly tortured inwardly, as we have said, with grief. But by the will of God it happened that on a certain day, in the presence of the Bishop, a letter of the Blessed Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprian Salamis, addressed to John, Bishop of Jerusalem, was read. Which I had ordered a certain Deacon to read: in which that most blessed Bishop, refuting the follies of Origen, and defending the ordination of a certain Priest, consecrated by himself in the monastery assigned to the aforesaid Bishop of Jerusalem, set forth the reason for the ordination, and wove in with praise the continence in sacrificing of the most blessed Priests Jerome and Vincent. by the example of Saint Jerome Which account the aforesaid Eulogius then seizing more eagerly than receiving with avid mind, and recognizing the occasion given to him by God, as if struck by a great wound, drawing sighs from the depth of his heart and looking upon me, turned to the Bishop and said: If the lanterns of the Church and the pillars of our faith did this, what is it fitting for us to do, whom the burdens of sin heavily weigh down and afflict? Let your Paternity therefore know that I have interdicted from myself the license of sacrificing. he interdicts from himself the license of sacrificing And so by this kind of device, in the time of Reccaffredus, he bound himself by his own free will. Although the profession took its beginning in this manner, nevertheless having been gratified by its delightful practice, he was afterward unwilling to resume the rejected office. But his own Bishop pressed him so forcefully to return to the omitted office of sacrificing that he did not hesitate to strike him with anathema unless he should promptly promise to return.

CHAPTER III

The doctrine and virtue of Saint Eulogius: his pilgrimage, election as Archbishop of Toledo.

[10] And that man was principally and not moderately distinguished in all professions, serving all equally, and though he surpassed all in knowledge, more humble

and lest he offend his own teachers, he would steal away secretly at the hours when he could. For he very frequently visited the Abbot Speraindeus of good remembrance and memory, a man of renown and celebrated for his fame in learning, and hung upon his most eloquent lips in the manner of a student: who at that very time was sweetening the borders of all Baetica with the streams of his wisdom. There I first merited to see him, there I clung to the sweetness of his friendship, there I was bound to him by inseparable affection. For I was already a student of the said most illustrious man: and while I more frequently wore down his threshold and sharpened my uncultivated talent, at length by divine regard I am joined in the companionship of this great man. And in a chain-like fashion by an indissoluble bond I am not merely entwined but united; and we became students of the man, seekers of truth, lovers of one another to such a degree, he comes into the intimate acquaintance of the writer that that untaught age presumed upon what had not been granted to it. We both engaged in the delightful exercise of the Scriptures, and not knowing how to steer the oar in a lake, we were thought to brave the fury of the Euxine Sea. For we carried on boyish disputations through letters exchanged with one another concerning the doctrines over which we were divided, not with ill will but with delight, and we soothed each other with praises in rhythmic verses: and is stimulated by mutual study and this exercise was sweeter to us than honey, more pleasant than honeycombs, and stretching ourselves forward each day, our boyish and premature teachableness drove us to attempt many inaccessible things in the Scriptures; so that we composed volumes which a later age resolved should be destroyed, lest they remain for posterity.

[4] But when Eulogius was now reaching the years of youth, he is made a Priest and constituted a Doctor he exercises the ministry of the Diaconate, and in a short time, carried upward by merit, is elevated to the rank of the Priesthood: and soon afterward is associated with his Masters in rank and manner of life. How great was the humility, how great the goodness, how great the charity that clung to him, the love of all demonstrated. And from this point he began to bind himself with the more severe austerity of life, and to adorn himself in all his actions with the laws of modesty: to devote himself to the divine Scriptures, and to chastise his body with vigils and fasts: to frequent monasteries, to visit convents, to compose rules for the Brethren: to care for all things on this side and that in such a way that, if it could be, he might be present in both places. So he conducted his own clerical office that he did not abandon the regular Order as something foreign: so he adhered to monks that he was proved to be a Cleric, so he lived among the Clergy that he appeared to be a monk: running aptly to both, he moves among Clerics and monks and alone most sufficiently fulfilling the professions of both, he hastened frequently to the most sacred flocks of the convents. But lest he be thought to despise his own Order, he returned again to the Clergy: and when he had persisted among them for some time, lest the virtue of his soul be enfeebled by secular cares, he likewise returned to the monasteries. Here adorning the Church with the doctrine of his lips, there embellishing his own life by examining it, established in all virtues, he walked grieving and anxious along the way of the world: and daily desiring to fly to heavenly things, he was weighed down by the burden of the body, he proposes to go on pilgrimage to Rome so much so that he resolved to go to Rome, in order to subdue the blemishes of youth with tears and the journey of pilgrimage, or rather to efface them once subdued. But behold, we all press upon him from every side, and restrain him more in body than in spirit.

CHAPTER II

The captivity and liberation of Saint Eulogius; constancy given to the Martyrs; the Acts written.

[5] But while these and other things are being reported, at length Bishop Reccaffredus burst upon the Churches and Clerics like a violent whirlwind: and he bound all the Priests he could with the chain of imprisonment. Among whom, as a chosen ram, he is led, He is enclosed in prison with others and is bound with his Bishop and other Priests. In which imprisonment he devoted himself more to prayers and readings than to his chains. There for the holy Virgins Flora and Maria, arrested for the faith, he composed in one book that Document of Martyrdom: he strengthens Saints Flora and Maria for martyrdom in which he fortified them for martyrdom with the most tenacious words, and taught them both in person by words and through letters to despise death. And he commended himself and his companions to their prayers for release from bondage, which he merited to obtain soon after the sixth day of their passion: for they completed their martyrdom on the eighth day before the Kalends of December, and the Priests of the Lord obtained their release on the third day of the Kalends, through the merits of those same Virgins. he is freed

[6] There survives moreover, composed in a more illustrious style, and directed to me during those days, a letter containing the passion of those same Virgins He writes their Life and the deliverance of the Priests through the merits of those Virgins themselves. Therein he taught most perfectly metrical feet, which the scholars of Spain did not yet know, and showed them to us after his departure. Thence also he directed to me, for those books which he had written in defense of the Martyrs, never idle a letter dictated in an eloquent manner of speech. For while all the Priests who were with him were given to leisure and rest, he ceased from reading neither by night nor by day; redoubling nights and days, lapping the honey of the Scriptures, ruminating spiritually with mouth and heart.

[7] He strengthens those about to undertake martyrdom But I think it worth the effort, if proceeding somewhat more deeply, we insert how he was proved in the time of persecution. For while the Bishops, Priests, Clergy, and learned men of Cordoba were walking by a devious path regarding the recently arisen martyrdom, and, driven by fear, were almost denying the faith of Christ, if not in words, yet by their countenance; this man nevertheless, unapproachable, was never seen to waver even by a faint whisper: but meeting all who were going forth to the contest, strengthening the spirits of all, and venerating and composing the bones of each one, he burned so intensely with the ardor of martyrdom that he himself seemed in those days to be the instigator of the Martyrs. For this zeal of righteousness he was assailed with many insults, He writes the Acts of the Martyrs and harassed with great terrors. For one of the leading men, attacking him and exasperating him with threats, was by the just divine judgment turned over to a reprobate mind, and the faith which he had unknowingly attacked while holding it, the wretched fool soon lost. About whom the aforesaid most blessed man discoursed more fully in the third book of the Memorial of the Saints. In which books he also set forth the passions of each of the Martyrs in the clear stream of eloquence, and with sufficient prosecution made known to succeeding generations whatever was done and said among the Martyrs of the Lord. How great moreover, and how excellent he was in knowledge, his writings, clearer than light, reveal, which he composed with Attic salt and prosaic elegance, or rather by divine inspiration.

[8] while most yield to the fury of the King But we must return to the times of Bishop Reccaffredus, and set forth by what art he suspended himself from the sacrifice, lest he be glued to his error. For in those very days all who were bound to him both by force and by power, subjected by royal command, seemed to be joined to the iniquitous enemy: and those who in the first insurrection had stood adverse and erect against him, then, stirred by terror, clung to him as though familiars, not in mind but in body; not by the love of the heart but by the compulsion of fear; and lest a further opportunity of harming him be given. Thus also the King, raging against us with his laws, had introduced compulsion, and, interfering with free will, had subjected all to the fierce enemy. The truth of this history will be discussed more carefully in another work.

[9] But now we desire only to unravel the most holy art of this admirable man. he uses prudent constancy For, driven by the heavy impulse of grief, while he perceived the deceitful cunning of that Bishop prowling on every side around him, and discovered that the rest were in communion with him, and saw that he had no means of resistance, nor any freedom of departure (inasmuch as sureties had been given), he began to wear himself down with heavy groaning, and to be greatly tortured inwardly, as we have said, with grief. But by the will of God it happened that on a certain day, in the presence of the Bishop, a letter of the Blessed Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprian Salamis, addressed to John, Bishop of Jerusalem, was read. Which I had ordered a certain Deacon to read: in which that most blessed Bishop, refuting the follies of Origen, and defending the ordination of a certain Priest, consecrated by himself in the monastery assigned to the aforesaid Bishop of Jerusalem, set forth the reason for the ordination, and wove in with praise the continence in sacrificing of the most blessed Priests Jerome and Vincent. by the example of Saint Jerome Which account the aforesaid Eulogius then seizing more eagerly than receiving with avid mind, and recognizing the occasion given to him by God, as if struck by a great wound, drawing sighs from the depth of his heart and looking upon me, turned to the Bishop and said: If the lanterns of the Church and the pillars of our faith did this, what is it fitting for us to do, whom the burdens of sin heavily weigh down and afflict? Let your Paternity therefore know that I have interdicted from myself the license of sacrificing. he interdicts from himself the license of sacrificing And so by this kind of device, in the time of Reccaffredus, he bound himself by his own free will. Although the profession took its beginning in this manner, nevertheless having been gratified by its delightful practice, he was afterward unwilling to resume the rejected office. But his own Bishop pressed him so forcefully to return to the omitted office of sacrificing that he did not hesitate to strike him with anathema unless he should promptly promise to return.

CHAPTER III

The doctrine and virtue of Saint Eulogius: his pilgrimage, election as Archbishop of Toledo.

[10] And that man was principally and not moderately distinguished in all professions, serving all equally, and though he surpassed all in knowledge, more humble

indeed he even seemed excessively so. Endowed with the highest erudition Illustrious in countenance and preeminent in honor, resplendent in eloquence and luminous in the works of his life. An inciter and praiser of Martyrs, a most skilled expositor and composer. Who could express the ardor of his talent, who the beauty of his eloquence, who the splendor of his knowledge, who the affability of his customary office, by whatever stream of wisdom? For what volumes were not open to him? What writings of Catholics, philosophers, heretics, and even pagans could remain hidden from him? Where were there metrical books, where prosaic, where historical, that could escape his investigation? he joined outstanding virtue in all things Where were there verses whose harmonies he did not know? Where hymns or foreign works that his most beautiful eye did not survey? For daily, as if digging up new and outstandingly wonderful things from rubble and ditches, he brought to light unseen treasures. How great a teachableness resided in a soul adorned with so precious a gift, how great and inexhaustible a diligence of skill, no wise man could comprehend. And O the admirable sweetness of his mind, never wishing to know anything privately, he bestowed everything upon us. Correcting what was corrupt, consolidating what was broken, restoring what was unusual, renewing what was old, refreshing what was neglected, and whatever deeds he could find to be fitting from the men of old, he strove to fulfill in his works. The severity of Jerome, the modesty of Augustine, the gentleness of Ambrose, the patience of Gregory -- in correcting errors, in sustaining the lesser, in soothing the greater, in bearing terrors -- one and the same man displayed himself variously multiplied.

[11] Nor did it suffice him to visit the monasteries of his own country, but rather, seizing the opportunity presented by his brothers, who were in those days living in exile in the territories of France, he set out on the road, and proceeding further into the territories of the Pamplonians, he entered the monastery of Saint Zacharias and, traversing with eager desire the convents of those same regions, he sets out for Navarre he was sweetened by the friendship of many Fathers. Their manner of life he set forth by name and by place in a letter which he gave to the Bishop of Pamplona while placed in prison. In those places, finding many volumes of books hidden away and almost removed from the knowledge of many, he brought them back with him on his return to us. There he enjoyed the company of the blessed Odoardus, under whom one hundred and fifty regular monks served. he brings back very many books Thence he brought back with him the book of the City of God of the most blessed Augustine, and the books of the Aeneid of Virgil, as well as the metrical books of Juvenal and the saturated poems of Flaccus, or the illustrated works of Porphyry, or the works of Epigrams of Aldhelm, and also the metrical fables of Avienus, and the brilliant songs of the Catholic hymns, together with many matters of the most minute questions collected from holy inquiries by the talent of many -- not privately for himself, but in common for the most studious inquirers. The same man moreover, displaying the splendor of his work and the coruscation of his talent to all those present by resplendent paths, and by customary ones to those who followed, always demonstrating by specific proofs and leading by luminous traces, walking everywhere lucidly, returning on all sides radiantly, limpid, sweet, nectareous, shone forth to all as a servant crowned by Christ.

[12] Nor do I think it should be omitted in this work that after the death of Wistremirus, Bishop of the See of Toledo, of divine memory, he was elected to the same See by all the comprovincial and neighboring Bishops, and was held worthy and approved by the report of all. he is elected Archbishop of Toledo But the divine dispensation, which was reserving him for martyrdom, interposed certain obstacles. And when the common election now clamored for him to be consecrated as its bishop, they were hindered by the adversity of opposing circumstances, and while he lived they were forbidden to elect another. Although he was craftily frustrated from the Order, he was nevertheless not deprived of the gift of the same Order. Indeed he attained the heavenly Episcopate, since through the glory of martyrdom he was united to Christ. For all the holy are Bishops, though not all Bishops are holy. He indeed, finding holiness through the shedding of blood, exercises the Order of the Episcopate, since, received into heaven, he is rewarded with eternal promises.

[13] he is advanced by his merits to martyrdom And when he was distinguished by these virtues and teachings, and shone far and high to all like a lamp placed upon a candlestick, and like a city situated on the summit of a mountain, and like a learned scribe provided for all the households from the treasure of his lord things new and old, first among Priests, supreme among Confessors, sitting not last among Judges: at length having attained his desire, with the divine clemency cooperating, by an unexpected judgment but deliberate zeal, he was borne aloft to the heights. And those things which he had sought from the Martyrs with tears poured forth, and which he had scattered throughout all his little works in the manner of prayer, he merited to obtain by the works of holiness. Which he will be able to know more truly, who shall take care to read his own outstanding works. And since it is expedient, and has seemed worthy to you for the benefit of readers and for the annual recurrence of his feast, to explain his passion briefly: therefore we have introduced separately, purely and sincerely, the most beautiful end of his contest.

CHAPTER IV

A new persecution against the Christians under King Mahomad. Saint Leocritia instructed and aided by Saint Eulogius and his sister.

[14] In the time, therefore, when the savage dominion of the Arabs was miserably devastating all the borders of Spain by the cunning of their guile, when King Mahomad with incredible rage and unbridled resolution was plotting to destroy the race of Christian worshippers utterly; many, fearing the terror of the most bloodthirsty King, In the persecution of Mahomad, King of the Saracens and striving to moderate his madness, through the fierce office of iniquitous will attempted by various and exquisite occasions to assail the flock of Christ. Many, by denying Christ, cast themselves headlong: others, driven by harsh torments, were shaken: but others were established and founded by flourishing virtue. while others faltered In whose time (as we have said) the martyrdom of the faithful shone forth in splendor, and the error of those who denied wavered. For some, who retained the faith of Christ only in their minds, by the prompting of God brought forth luminously and openly what they had concealed, rushing to martyrdom with no one inquiring, and snatching the crown for themselves from the torturers. Saints Christopher, Aurelius, Felix, and Flora underwent martyrdom Among these, of Arab origin, was the Blessed Christopher, the order of whose passion we intend to set forth elsewhere. But from their number also the Blessed Aurelius and the holy Felix stood forth, who with their wives came forth to the glory of the passion after many and prolonged periods of hiding. From their number also the Blessed Virgin Flora, flourishing in virtues, who despising the passing pomp of the world, merited an eternal crown without end. Whose contest our most holy Doctor set forth individually, and explained their deeds and lives in brilliant speech.

[15] At this time a certain young woman named Leocritia, noble in birth, nobler in mind, born from the dregs of the pagans and brought forth from the bowels of wolves, had long since through a certain woman consecrated to Christ, related to her by birth, named Litiosa, been bathed in the saving waters and secretly clothed with the faith of Christ, and shone forth, Saint Leocritia is instructed in the faith of Christ and she sprinkled the nectar-like fragrance of her knowledge upon all. For when in the years of infancy she would frequently visit the aforementioned religious woman in the manner of kinship, and the latter would daily instruct her with whatever words she could; at length by a heavenly regard she received the faith of Christ in her mind: and having received it with the ardor of love, she preserved it in her heart. And when she reached the years of wisdom, and touched the threshold of knowledge, the faith which she had secretly learned by the most tender instruction, daily increased by spiritual nourishments and growing ever more, she nourished, at first secretly, then openly and plainly. she is fiercely beaten by her pagan parents Her parents, diligently admonishing her and accomplishing nothing at all, attempted to assail her with scourges and blows, so that she whom they could not remove from the faith by blandishments, they might at least restrain by terrors. But that fire which Christ sent into the hearts of the faithful knows how to yield to no threats. In this conflict, while she was beaten by day and by night, and saw herself assailed by the most bitter punishments and hindered by harsh chains, fearing lest, with her faith not publicly proclaimed, she be branded with the cautery of faithlessness; through intermediaries she made known her cause to the most blessed Eulogius, a man already most renowned for many such works, and to his sister Anulona, a Virgin consecrated to God: she consults Saint Eulogius and she explained that she wished to go to safer places of the faithful, where she could proclaim her faith without fear.

[16] Immediately the Blessed Eulogius recognized his accustomed office; and as he was a most ardent patron of Martyrs, he arranged for her to depart secretly through the same intermediaries. She quickly feigning a stratagem, and as if consenting to her parents, and attacking our faith in words, and putting on with deliberate care all her finest ornaments, she flees to him and his sister Anulona and showing herself after their fashion as if intending to please and to wed the world, she endeavored to bend their minds and to adorn the steps hateful to herself. And when she perceived that all things were now safe for her, pretending to go to the wedding of certain of her relatives which was being celebrated in those very days, in order to proceed adorned as befits such an occasion, she presented herself with swift course to the most blessed Eulogius and his sister Anulona for protection. she is hidden in secret places Whom they soon receiving with a grateful spirit, delivered to their most trusted friends to be concealed. But when her father and mother, waiting, did not see their daughter, groaning that they had been deceived, tormenting themselves with unheard-of rage and unseen grief, they disturb all things, contaminate everything, running through strangers and acquaintances, and authoritatively

and by the command of the Governor they burdened with prisons and chains whomever they thought should be assailed, while others suffered dire things on her account afflicting men, women, Confessors, Priests, consecrated women, or whomever they could, with scourges and prisons, if by any means they might recover their daughter through these and even greater measures. But that holy man, immovable, changed her hiding places to various locations, and took care with every effort that the sheep not be delivered into the hands of wolves. She meanwhile, persisting in fasts and vigils, covering her limbs with a hair shirt and lying in dust, severely mortified the members of her body. But the most blessed man also, Eulogius, to be named with reverence, while Saint Eulogius prays for her in the basilica of Saint Zoilus seeking nocturnal vigils, and praying prostrate on the ground in the basilica of Saint Zoilus, spent sleepless nights, imploring the aid and strength of the Lord for the Virgin, and consecrating himself to the Lord through these exercises.

[17] she returns to Saint Eulogius and his sister Amid these things the most serene Virgin wished to see the sister of the Blessed Eulogius, whom she loved with ardent desire, and she came to their dwelling by night, prompted by the revelation of the Lord and led by the eagerness of consolation, so that she might remain with them for one day only and then return to her accustomed hiding places. To them she also related that once and again while praying, her mouth had been filled with a liquid of honey, which she reported that she had not spat out with rash daring, but had swallowed, marveling at the appearance of the thick substance. To her that holy man expounded that this was a presage, that the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom was to be enjoyed.

CHAPTER V

The martyrdom of Saint Eulogius and Saint Leocritia. The burial of the bodies.

[18] But while the Virgin was arranging to return on the following day, it happened that the companion of the journey came not at the accustomed hour, but at the break of dawn: nor could she have the opportunity of departing, since she was accustomed to travel by night to avoid ambushes. It was decided that on the same day, until the sun should withdraw the boundary of its light beneath the earth and the nocturnal darkness should grant the desired quiet, the Virgin of God should remain in the place where she was staying. She was retained indeed by human counsel, but by divine judgment: so that she might place upon herself her own crown, and upon the Blessed Eulogius the diadem of glory. For on that day, by the instigation of I know not whom, or by whose ambushes and betrayal, the place of the hiding was revealed to the Governor, and by soldiers sent for this purpose, all that dwelling of theirs was suddenly surrounded. And it came to pass that the chosen and predestined Martyr was present at that moment. Leading forth the aforesaid Virgin in his presence, and seizing him equally together with her, striking him and afflicting him with many insults, Saint Eulogius is captured with Saint Leocritia they presented him to the iniquitous Governor and wicked Judge. Whom the Judge, thinking to kill him through scourging, with a truculent countenance and an impatient spirit, inflamed with vehement fury, interrogates with furious words, and threatens while inquiring why he had kept the Virgin in his house. To whom most willingly and most patiently, in his accustomed manner of speech, he splendidly laid open the truth of the matter in this order: Governor, the duty of preaching has been enjoined upon us, and it is consonant with our faith that we extend the light of faith to those who seek it from us, and deny to no one hastening to the paths of life what things are holy. This befits Priests, this true religion demands, he gives the Governor an account of Saint Leocritia instructed by him this also Christ our Lord taught us: that whoever, thirsting, wishes to draw the streams of faith, may find drink in double measure rather than what he sought. And since this Virgin was seen to inquire from us the rule of holy faith, it was necessary that our attention should apply itself to her the more willingly, the more her affection was kindled to greater things. Nor was it fitting to reject one desiring such things, especially for him who was chosen by the gift of Christ for this purpose. Whence also, as far as was in my power, I enlightened and taught her: and I explained that the faith of Christ is the way of the heavenly kingdom. Which I would most willingly do also for you, if you had thought fit to inquire of me.

[19] he scorns the threat of rods Then the Governor with a troubled countenance ordered rods to be brought, threatening to destroy him with scourges. To whom the Saint said: What do you desire to accomplish with those rods? I wish, he said, to draw forth your soul through them. Sharpen and prepare a sword, he replied, by which you may return my soul, freed from the bond of the body, to Him who gave it. For do not think to cut apart my limbs with scourges. he is dragged to the palace And immediately, with a clear invective and sufficient eloquence reproaching the falsity of their Prophet and law, and redoubling the word of preaching, he is led with all speed to the palace, and dragged even to the Counselors of the King. Where one of them, most intimately known to him, sprang forward in compassion: If fools, he said, and idiots have been brought down to this lamentable ruin of death, you who are girded with the beauty of wisdom and illuminated by the morals of life -- what madness has compelled you to commit yourself to this death-dealing fall, the natural love of life having been blotted out? Listen to me, I beseech you, he refuses to speak even once falsely in order to save his life and lest you fall headlong, I beg: say but a word in this hour of your necessity, and afterward use your faith wherever you can: we promise that you will be sought nowhere. To whom the most blessed Martyr, smiling, said: Oh, if you could have known what great things are stored up for the worshippers of our faith, or if I could commit what I retain in my breast to yours; then you would no longer endeavor to recall me from my purpose, but would more willingly think to remove yourself from this worldly honor. And he began to extend to them the word of the eternal Gospel, and to pour forth the preaching of the kingdom with steadfast liberty. Who immediately, unwilling to hear him, ordered him to be transfixed by the sword.

[20] he offers the other cheek to the one striking him And when he was being led forth, one of the eunuchs of the King struck him with a slap. To whom he, preparing the other cheek, said: I beseech you to strike this one again, that you may make it equal to the first. And when he struck a second time, the patient and meek man again prepared the first. But by the rush of soldiers he is led to the place of execution, where bending his knees in prayer, and extending his hands to heaven, and fortifying himself entirely with the sign of the Cross, praying within himself with a few words, he stretched forth his neck to the blade, and with a swift stroke, despising the world, he found life. he is beheaded on March 11 He completed his martyrdom on the fifth day before the Ides of March, on a Saturday, at the ninth hour. And O happy and admirable man for our age, who both sent before him in many the fruit of his work, and left in the Virgin one to follow him. Lifting up with his hands the standard of victory, and offering to the Lord the sheaf of his labor on his own behalf, offering a pure oblation and peaceable sacrifices, and presenting in himself what he had taught others to Christ the Lord of all things.

[21] A dove alights upon the body of Saint Eulogius But soon, when the corpse had been cast down from a more elevated place into the channel of the riverbed, a dove gleaming with wondrous whiteness, in the sight of all, cutting the air with its wings, alighted and sat upon the body of the Martyr. Which all attempting to drive away by hurling stones from this side and that, and nevertheless unable to repel it as it remained steadfast, they wished to chase it away with their hands at close quarters. But it, not flying but hopping around the body, settled closer upon a tower overlooking the body, and turned its gaze toward the body of the most blessed man.

[22] Near the body, Priests were seen performing psalmody Nor should the miracle be passed over in silence which Christ wrought upon the body of the Martyr for the praise of His name. For a certain inhabitant of the city of Astigi, while among others he was performing the monthly service of residence at the palace, and was there completing his watch with vigils, desiring to drink water at night, rose and came to the projecting channel of the aqueduct which runs over those places, where he saw above, over his body which lay below, Priests gleaming with wondrous whiteness, holding shining lights, and solemnly reciting psalms in the manner of chanters. Terrified by this vision, he returned to the place of his lodging, more fleeing than returning. The body is buried And relating all things to his companion, he wished to return again with him to the place: but he was no longer able to see that sight a second time. The head of the most blessed man was redeemed on the following day by the solicitude of the Christians; and the relics of his body were gathered on the third day and buried under the shelter of the most blessed martyr Zoilus.

[23] The most blessed Virgin Leocritia, softened by many enticements, assailed by many promises, Saint Leocritia is beheaded on March 15 at length strengthened by the divine gift with the firmness of faith, was beheaded on the fourth day after his martyrdom, and cast into the river Baetis. But she could neither be submerged nor concealed by the waters, for proceeding with her body erect, she presented a wonderful sight to all. And so, drawn out by the Christians, she was buried in the basilica of Saint Genesius the Martyr, which is situated at the place called Tertios. This was the end of the most blessed Doctor Eulogius: this the admirable departure, this the passing full of such work.

CHAPTER VI

The affection of Alvarus the writer toward Saint Eulogius, and his invocation.

[24] Now it remains at the end of the volume to the King of all

of ages to give thanks, Alvarus gives thanks to God who from the beginning, adorning His Church with Martyrs of the faith, gives strength to the weary and leads to eternal glory those who presume nothing of themselves. To Him our Lord be glory and dominion through the infinite ages of ages forever. Amen.

[25] But now, since we have completed in pedestrian speech and unpolished oration the contest of our Doctor and our Martyr: he invokes Saint Eulogius it remains that we turn our speech to that same Patron most dear to us, as to one who hears and is present to our prayers, and recount to him our friendship known to him. Certainly he is able to hear those who ask, and to be a patron to the wretched and afflicted: if our own merits have aided us, if harsh sins have not stood in the way, if a pure affection has demanded this. Therefore, O exalted Martyr of God, sweet in the name of Eulogius, attend to your Alvarus crying out: and him whom here you held fixed by the charity of your spirit, there associate to yourself as a servant. I shall not intercede with you by the words of others, but by your own. Certainly I am that one whom you used to say was united with you, to whom and for whom you spoke in this manner: So that there be no other Alvarus than Eulogius, you say: nor let the whole love of Eulogius be placed anywhere other than in the inmost heart of Alvarus. May this sweet and faithful love between us both prevail, prevail, O Christ the Lord. May it prevail in the perennial summit of holiness, and like a shining light may it proceed and increase until the perfect day. Behold, Lord, I have your testimony before my hands, depicted in golden letters and the gems of your sentences, but I desire the fulfillment of your patronage. For now, what you used to pray by unceasing prayer while placed on earth, that it might avail, you will be able, translated to heaven, to obtain in me by your intercession, what has been fulfilled in you. For true love, as you yourself said, faithfully preserves charity toward one who is absent, and what it could do for itself, it exhibits toward the one it loves.

[26] he seeks spiritual gifts Therefore, O outstanding Martyr and dearest friend, while it is permitted and the time of mercy still impends, extend to your friend the gift of your intercession: that there may be granted to me here an amendment of morals, that there may be frequent gifts of tears, that there may be an affection of virtues infused into my frail mind, that there may be an effectual compunction continual, that there may be a pure affection of repentance, that a desirable place may be duly granted, that a favorable access be opened that shall be broken by no obstacles. May the bonds of all perplexities be loosened, may the undertakings of all hindrances recoil, and the obstacles of restraints; by the change of the right hand of the Most High may they be transformed into aids of those who serve. May the doors of the heart be opened to receive the kingdom of God Most High: may the proud neck be bowed, and may the shoulders be submitted to bear the most sweet yoke of Christ. I would wish to ask yet greater things, but I fear to incur the charge of temerity. But you, O exalted servant of God, who are satisfied by the countenance of the Lord and are perpetually gladdened by His gift; procure for the wretched man by worthy intercessions that by which our thousandfold sins may be purged. I also desire eternal life and thirst for the rest of the heavenly kingdom. Therefore by whatever torment or scourge take care to bestow a remedy upon your servant, and desire to purge your beloved with that fire of ardor with which you were seen here bound with us on earth: so that that love may now shine forth with a brighter light, when it both shines with a more abundant radiance and is able to extend by a more powerful intercession the things sought.

[27] But I, my sweet Eulogius, have surveyed the memory of your name as far as I could, and for the labor expended in composing the Acts set forth your life, expressed your doctrine, and explained your most beautiful contest: and so that the delightful memory of your name may always flourish in the world, and with perennial splendor, as your life shines in heaven, so your mention may gleam here; I have dedicated it, if not with the most polished discourses, yet with the most evident efforts of which I was capable. For I have constructed a monument of your glory more lasting than bronze, which neither the stormy whirlwind nor stony hail may destroy, nor any fire of flames liquefy. I have built a memorial for your name of refined gold and precious stones of every kind, which no most violent tyrant will be able to demolish in the manner of a plunderer. I have composed the fabric of your eminence, and erected on high the tower of your dwelling, so that you may be a beautiful lighthouse, shining on every side with all virtues. I have adorned the inscription of your beauty with pearls gleaming with wondrous whiteness and with glittering topaz, so that it may shine forth to all the ends of the earth. I have sprinkled your holy ashes with nectar-like blossoms, withering in no heat, nor yielding to any fire applied. I have anointed your precious body with costly spikenard of pure nard, and mingled it with various kinds of incense, with amomum, balsam, and musk, so that the most sweet fragrance of your holiness, diffused and spread through all ages, may never grow tepid without end. I have fulfilled the bond of friendship, and have been unwilling to send forth your name bare to the world in your charity; so that just as you shine in heaven with your life and work, so you may gleam in the world with your tongue and name. So that the succeeding generation may find you praised, may look to you as one to be imitated, and may recognize how great you were in doctrine through our slender talent. Nor will the following age, filled in the manner of the ancients with bodily benefits, spices, and flowers, which are consumed by the age of times, wonder at you; but it will venerate you adorned with spiritual gifts and exalted with immortal titles.

[28] he desires the reward of eternal life You therefore, venerable Lord, repay us with an equivalent reward, so that since by our service your relics are adorned and your obsequies are beautified, may we henceforth be illuminated with a felicitous regard, may we be visited with a heavenly gift: so that I, the one who, flowing not smoothly thus far through downward and precipitous ways, have fallen from my iniquity, and remaining wasted hitherto in my evils, have withdrawn from the countenance of my Lord, clinging to the malignant enemy; may I, illuminated by preventing grace and consummated by gratuitous mercy at whatever term of life, merit to possess together with you the unbroken joys of heaven, just as here, worn down by equal weeping and groaning in earthly distress, I have drawn long and prolonged sighs. So that even if it is not given to me to shine with equal glory, at least may pardon for my sins be granted to me; so that I may not groan plunged in the penal abyss, but may rejoice in heavenly rest, pardoned by you and the other Lords my masters, your companions. Amen.

EPITAPH OF SAINT EULOGIUS

Here lies the elegant Martyr and shining Doctor, Eulogius, a light, a great name through the ages. Who, gleaming with zeal for the faith, with the virtue of the pious Kindled the minds of men with great splendor. Let him, here justly celebrated, be praised in books and hymns: Both rigorous in life and radiant as the sun in his end: Who, despising the world, ascended the bright realms of heaven. Nor did he perish by the sword, but lives in an eternal abode. Believe me, I pray: he lives through the ages, he lives, Whoever ascends the celestial kingdoms of the Most High.

PRAYER OF ALVARUS

Now, O Saint, I beg you to remember the name of your friend, Whom your sweet friendship here held fast, The lowly Alvarus, who, infected by the great ruin of guilt, Stained with vices, goes through the byways of the world. May your prayer hold this fallen one to the pastures of life, That as usual he may be bound to the holy one with worthy love, By which, joined to you, he remained dear through the ages. Grant this, O God of Gods, reigning through the ages. Amen.

HYMN

Now the fruitful feasts return Of our renowned Martyr Eulogius: Let us offer songs to the Lord our Prince In the harmony of faith by heavenly gift.

We praise with varied musical song Things that are not endowed with the Lord's light: Here now the matter itself is far better set forth When metrical strings resound with Christ.

Here now is the mind to revolve great things: It breathes forth splendidly bright balsams, Eagerly desiring to proclaim outstanding things freely, That the music may resound with a sweet breath.

The warrior of the Lord, more powerful in word, And equally more celebrated in doctrine and in his end: He is thus girded with the glory of Christ, That he may flourish vigorously, even in the heavens.

When as ruler he would learnedly refresh the peoples, Speaking instruction, coming forth by breaking, The multitude crowned with manifold fruit, He, shining in the heavenly host, advances.

Thus burning with the zeal of the Lord, of the faithful, Converting the wavering ways of the rebellious, Acquiring with riches by a noble gift Those drawn from the abyss, he elevates to the heavens.

But now when Christ Almighty wished To render worthy rewards for his merits, Leocritia, A beautiful Virgin, He forthwith raised up, Who would conceal His illustrious servant in heaven.

Then the lofty one duly provides his accustomed solace And gentle remedy to the adorned one, Then he instills the doctrine of the faith's worship, A just rebellion against the opposing peoples.

Forthwith the most anxious seizer proclaiming Disturbs the homeland, and by the command of the people Through all the streets far and wide it is noised abroad, What the rabid Prince, roused, commands.

The noble mind of the heavenly servant, Endowed by God, spurns the swelling ruler: At length seized in a swift and notable manner, He also forthwith spoke freely.

Saying: O Nobles, despise the impious one: Believe in Christ the heavenly Prince: Rightly repel the shameless Prophet, Who has consigned so many peoples to the fire.

Rejoicing he resounds these things from the summit vigorously, And also complaining with other strong words: He commands him to be struck on the head by the sword, Lest the holy multitude be able to recover him.

The fearless warrior stands assenting, They strike him with slaps, but he asks the terrible one, Extending his face for a blow, that the other cheek The alternating palm might strike with a double blow.

Then the little servant arms his breast With the sign of the God-bearing faith, his golden Milky neck, endowed with rosy blood, He bows to the Lord: he presses and beseeches.

Thus by the stroke of the sword he is laid among the stars, Thus by the word of faith he is gloriously proclaimed. Be present, we pray, abundantly to the wretched, To loose the perplexed swiftly by your prayers.

Assist, we ask, the groans that are stirred, Bending your mind, also now winning The gracious hearing of the Divinity, and more serenely The mind, that He may refresh it with holy prayers.

That the Ruler may destroy the fierce kingdoms, May powerfully trample impious doctrines, May the splendor of the adorned faith shine forth, By which He may open the bright summits of heaven.

That the tormenting heresy may recoil far away, That the worship of the Lord may shine forth more highly: That the rulers of the country may be fragrant with virtue, That against all things they may freely prevail.

May there be life for the upright, and also provident Religion for the holy, through all times: May there be to the Triune Lord assiduous glory, Reigning illustriously through the ages forever. Amen.

CONCERNING SAINT FIRMIAN OR FIRMIN OR FIRMANUS, ABBOT.

Firmian, or Firmin, or Firmanus, Abbot (Saint)

[1] Among other records which the Reverend Fathers of the Theatines, or Clerks Regular, communicated to us at Naples in the year 1661 with the greatest benevolence, collected from various places all around by Antonio Caracciolo, was the ancient Martyrology of Pleschion, written in Lombardic script on parchment: from which, for this day, besides various Martyrs The name in manuscript Martyrologies of whom we have treated above, we have transcribed the following: On the same day, the birthday of Saint Firmian the Abbot. The same, and indeed him alone, Saint Firmian the Abbot, we found inscribed in an ancient manuscript Calendar which was prefixed to the works of Saint Isidore of Seville, preserved at Rome in the Vallicellian library of the Fathers of the Congregation of the Oratory. In a manuscript Martyrology of the Medicean library of the Grand Duke of Etruria we read as follows: Likewise, of Saint Firmin the Abbot. From another manuscript Martyrology of Florence belonging to the most illustrious Charles Strozzi, and in the Martyrology printed at Florence in the year 1486 by

Francis de Bonaccursiis the Priest, we have transcribed the following: Likewise, of Saint Firmin the Abbot, a man of great holiness.

[2] Behold the ancient testimonies of the veneration of Saint Firmian or Firmin the Abbot: but to which Order or region he is to be ascribed is not added in the said Martyrologies. Galesinius was the first who reports him with a place attached, as follows: In the territory of Amiens, of Saint Firmin the Abbot and Confessor. In the Notes, Galesinius indicates that he has these things from a Calendar of Amiens. whether he lived at Amiens Baronius trusted Galesinius, and with the same words, omitting the name of Confessor, inserted him in the Roman Martyrology; and in the Notes he added the following: Concerning him, the Calendar of the Church of Amiens, and other old monuments of the same. We have Breviaries printed for the use of the Church of Amiens in the year 1550 and 1554, whose Calendars for this March 11 are blank. But on the Kalends of September the feast of Saint Firmin the Bishop and Confessor is celebrated, and on September 25 that of Saint Firmin the Bishop and Martyr, and on the Ides of January the feast of the Finding of the same Saint Firmin, in both cases with an Octave, or as it is there called a Septave, because the solemnity is concluded on the seventh day. Furthermore, when we consulted Ecclesiastical men of Amiens, we received the response that nothing is known about Firmin the Abbot. Meanwhile, on the authority of the double Martyrology already cited, the same Saint Firmin the Abbot is inscribed in the monastic Martyrologies by Wion, Dorganius, Menard, and Bucelin, as also in the Gallican Martyrology by Saussay, with this amplification: At Amiens, of Saint Firmin the Abbot, who cultivated the monastic life most holily, and after he had begotten many sons for Christ under regular discipline, having completed his pious labors, he rested happily in the Lord. We have omitted the place in the title, fearing lest Galesinius, whom the rest have followed, may have fallen into error on account of Saint Firmin the Bishop of Amiens.

[3] or rather in Picenum Other thoughts, to be compared with the Martyrologies written in Italy related above, are suggested by Ferrarius both in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy and in the General Catalogue of Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology: in the latter he has these few words: In Picenum, of Saint Firmanus the Confessor. In the former he reports somewhat more in these words: Firmanus, born at Fermo in Picenum, flourished with admirable holiness, mentioned by Saint Peter Damian? who was enrolled among the Confessors not by solemn rite, but only by the erection of an altar or chapel. Saint Peter Damian makes mention of him, before whose times he lived. In the Notes to the General Catalogue he adds that he is reported from the Records of certain Churches, and that he is called a native of Fermo, although he is in no way described in the Records of the Church of Fermo. Saint Peter Damian treats of him in Opuscule 6 to Henry, Bishop of Ravenna, where in chapter 29, concerning certain holy men who then flourished, he writes thus: Indeed in our age blessed men, namely Romuald of Camerino, Amicus of Ramibona, Guido of Pomposa, Firmanus of Fermo, and very many others of holy life: upon whose venerable bodies, by the authority of the Priestly council, sacred altars have been erected, where indeed the divine mysteries are offered as miracles require. Baronius, having adduced that passage in his Annals for the year 993, number 8, asserts that to grant permission by synodal decree for an altar to be erected over the body of the deceased was itself equivalent to numbering him among the Saints: so that an anniversary commemoration might be held for them. Of these the first seems to be Saint Romuald, founder of the Camaldolese Order, who died in the monastery of Castro de Valle in the territory of Camerino: in whose Life, written by the same Peter Damian and illustrated by us for February 7, it is said at number 105 that five years after the death of the holy man, permission was given to the monks by the Apostolic See to construct an altar over his venerable body. This was done in the year 1032. But in some editions of Peter Damian, Rondaldus is read for Romuald, as if he were another from Saint Romuald. Likewise he who is named in second place, Amicus of Ramibona, reported by Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy for November 2, is called of Arabona from the Arabona Abbey in Picenum. But Saint Guido of Pomposa, Abbot, died in the territory of Ravenna in the year 1046, either the day after or the day before the Kalends of April, unless this day be that of the Translation, which we shall examine in that place. In that century, therefore, Saint Firmanus lived, who seems to us to be called of Fermo because he lived as an Abbot somewhere in the parts of the March of Fermo (as Peter Damian calls it in the Life of Saint Romuald, number 53) or (as Saint Antoninus calls it) in the March of Fermo, above called Firmianus and Firminus, and by all reported for this March 11.

CONCERNING SAINT PETER THE SPANIARD, HERMIT, AT BABUCO IN THE HERNICI.

Peter, Confessor, at Babuco in the Hernici (Saint)

[1] Babuco, a city of the Hernici, of the diocese of Veroli and under Papal jurisdiction, is on the borders of the present Roman Campagna, Babuco is distinct from Bovillae not far distant from Sora, a city of the Kingdom of Naples, commonly called Bauco. Blondus Flavius asserts that it was known by the name of Bovillae in Livy, in region 3, Latina, of his Italy Illustrated, concerning the Hernici, which Leander Albertus repeats in his Description of Italy under Latium -- if, he says, we believe Blondus. Ferrarius also in the Topography for the Roman Martyrology, and from him Tamayo, assert that Babuco was first called Bovillae. But that Bovillae were far from Babuco in the ancient Latium near Rome, the Itinerary Map teaches, in which the journey from Rome to Bovillae or Bobellae is said to be ten thousand paces, and from Bovillae to Aricia three, which places Tacitus joins in book 4 of the Histories: The cavalry, he says, were sent ahead to Aricia: the column of legions halted within Bovillae. Consult Cluverius, book 3 of Ancient Italy, chapter 4. The cited Flavius in book 4 of decade 3 makes mention of the fortress of Babuco recovered by the papal forces.

[2] The homeland of the Filonardi Three Bishops of Aquino from the Filonardi family ennobled this place by their birth: Flaminius, Philip, and Alexander, of whom the first two were admitted to the number of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and chose to be buried at Babuco or Bauco, among their ancestors: about whom more may be read in Ughelli, volume 1 of Sacred Italy. from whom the notice of Saint Peter in the Roman Martyrology was derived Flaminius is also praised as a most excellent and learned man by Baronius for this day in the Notes to the Roman Martyrology, and he asserts that he received the deeds of Saint Peter from him, whose memory he therefore inscribed in the Roman Martyrology in these words: At Babuco in the Hernici, of Saint Peter the Confessor, distinguished for the glory of miracles.

[3] A summary of the Life from Ferrarius Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, from a manuscript Life of his received from the Church of Babuco, published the following: Peter, a Spaniard by nation and of noble birth, first gave his name to military service. But converted to a better life, he abandoned the military and secular life, about to try another warfare. Having therefore undertaken a pilgrimage, in which he visited various places of devotion, he came into Latium, and having stayed at Babuco among the Hernici, he ascended a neighboring mountain: where, having put on a coat of mail over his bare flesh and never having removed it for the sake of penance, he led a harsh life in a certain cave: until, paying the debt of all flesh, he was buried there. His relics are preserved and piously venerated in a Church there built in his name. In an Annotation he adds that he has not yet learned the time when he lived among men.

[4] Tamayo Salazar acknowledges that he has hitherto been unknown in Spain, nor discovered by its writers, and that he is restored from Ferrarius so that Spain may acknowledge a new son and venerate an ancient though lost Protector: wherefore he honors him with this eulogy: At Babuco in Italy, the Birthday of Saint Peter the Confessor, a Spaniard, who, having left the course of military service, eulogy from the Spanish Martyrology called to the pursuit of eternal contemplation, so proved himself in it a most keen and vigorous scale-armored soldier, that having conquered the persecutions of the demons, crowned with the glory of victory, he enters heaven. And then he treats at greater length of chain-mail or scale armor, and from Lipsius, On the Roman Military, book 3, dialogue 4, he says that soldiers were called Pholidoti, that is, scale-armored, on account of the texture of their coats of mail: which we do not wish to pursue further. Brantius, Bishop of Sarsina, honors him in his Poetical Martyrology with this couplet:

A man illustrious in war sought the mountains, retaining Upon his flesh a tunic, weighed down by the burden of bronze.

[5] The Life from the Babuco manuscript Since his deeds were not found in the Vallicellian library of the Fathers of the Oratory, we sought them at Sora through the Rector of our College, the Reverend Father John Nicholas de Marinis; who, transmitting them written in the Italian language on September 30 of the year 1665, says: I obtained them through the care and favor of the Most Illustrious Bishop of Sora, who had them transcribed from the most approved records of the Church of Babuco by the most faithful copyists: of which the most diligent writers were the Filonardi Prelates, and others of the same family, in whose possession the Acts survive which are reported in this very history: nor did any others besides these come into the hands of Cardinal Baronius. This can be confirmed from the Latin closing formula, which was read appended to the Life to be given in Latin from the Italian, in this form: These things we have received from the illustrious Filonardi, men... and especially from the Most Illustrious Bishop Flaminius Filonardi. Since these words seem to be from the people of Babuco, in whose possession the original document is preserved with the Body; we rightly wonder whether some more ancient records do not exist among the Filonardi, from which the aforesaid Flaminius excerpted in an elegant vernacular style and sent to the people of Babuco who desired to have them; as also to Baronius, who was seeking merely some notice of this Saint for enriching the Roman Martyrology.

[6] a collection of miracles is still hoped for Certainly one of our Roman friends gave us hope of extensive Acts filling a hundred pages, which (unless he himself was deceived) it is necessary to believe are not so much of the Life as of the Miracles: since from what will be brought forth below it can be sufficiently clear how little was known about Saint Peter for certain; when the Most Illustrious Flaminius, using so great a pomp of words -- which we have been unwilling to reproduce verbatim in Latin -- lacked the material to fill even a few pages in such a manner. Meanwhile, the workers hastening to the press do not permit further delay: wherefore, if we receive anything further from Rome, the Reader will find it in the appendix of this volume: for we do not yet lay aside all hope: for he who transmitted the Life soon to be given to us, transcribed from the autograph by Francis Oliverius, rural Vicar of Babuco, and sent to the Bishop of Sora, thus continues his letter: Concerning the miracles, of which mention is made in the Life, there are no authentic documents in legal form: nor are there any other Readings besides the Life itself rendered into Latin, which is preserved in the archive of Don Marius Filonardi, who presides over a certain town called Pophi, and it is entirely the same word for word as this Italian one. The absence of that gentleman did not permit us to have it: but nothing stands in the way of the truth of the history and its fidelity. Wherefore, relying on the testimonies already sent, you will be able without scruple to compose the history of this holy man to the glory of God. Thus he, to which what we have just

can add does not occur to us: we only indicate that this Life makes mention in general terms only of almost innumerable miracles, the evidence of which, proven by authentic testimonies, is preserved by various persons, but chiefly by the Filonardi: which authentic documents we certainly desire to obtain, even if they are not conceived in legal form.

LIFE

Peter, Confessor, at Babuco in the Hernici (Saint)

From an Italian manuscript.

[1] The eternal Word of God, who out of His immense love for the human race clothed Himself in our mortality, God, the lover of human salvation indeed already from the beginning exalted the man created by Himself with singular prerogatives, imprinting upon him His own image and likeness, and making him a participant in His own dominion over all created things; when, namely, He endowed him with knowledge, adorned him with original justice, and established him as an inhabitant of the earthly paradise, promising him eternal life without the necessity of dying; on this sole condition, that he should reverence and worship his Creator. After the transgression, however, of our first-formed parents, He displayed His love toward us much more evidently, never forgetting mankind, however greatly their sins might be heaped up; but continually fortifying them with His divine precepts, and inviting and exhorting them to pursue eternal glory in the heavenly fatherland; to such a degree that He even granted Himself to the world as the messenger of salvation to be proclaimed, made in the likeness of men, true man equally as God.

[2] The same infinite extent of divine goodness sent the angelic man Saint Peter the Spaniard to Babuco, He gave this great Saint to Babuco so that in him, as in an image and a pure mirror without stain, we might behold the ineffable beauty of His Divinity. This is that Saint in whom the expressed exemplar of Divine truth, wisdom, and clemency shines forth. But who among faithful Christians will be able to enumerate the heroic virtues of Saint Peter, the purity of his soul, the most orderly composure of his senses, the custody and beauty of his virginal body? Who will be able to explain how great was his piety toward God, his reverence toward the Saints, his severity toward himself, his humanity and benevolence toward all? Who then could set forth with what grace and blessing God in turn filled him in this life, with what great and admirable prodigies He glorified him, restoring health to the sick and languishing, and raising the dead through his merits, things most well known throughout all the Hernici and the Provinces of Campania and the maritime coast?

[3] Peter was born to this world in that part of Spain which the river Baetis irrigates, of Catholic parents illustrious by the ancient lineage of most noble ancestors: born in Spain of noble family but as soon as the age capable of learning the disciplines arrived, entrusted to distinguished masters, he immediately began to give indications of a great character, one born rather for God than for the world. For although nurtured as a boy amid the riches and delights of his father's house, he nevertheless displayed the gravity of a mature age: whence he quickly merited to be enrolled among the Tribunes of the Spanish military, a youth gracious in appearance and full of wisdom, affable and kind to all, clement and merciful to the poor. He was indeed clothed in splendid garments according to the rank of his birth and station, distinguished in military service and wealth conspicuous with interwoven gold and other ornaments: but he inwardly despised himself, and seemed to himself the vilest and most abject of all, a true soldier of Christ: by whose example he more willingly associated with the humble and the poor.

[4] He was generous and munificent from those goods which fortune had bestowed upon him: and considering that he ought to live not for himself alone but for the whole Christian people, zealous for the salvation of others he thought nothing of any expenditure of money and earthly possessions, nor even of his own body, provided he might gain as many as possible for his beloved Jesus: neglecting no art, study, or diligence to turn the natives from their ingrained vices and to rekindle in them the nearly extinguished holiness of the Catholic faith. Assiduous in contemplating the sufferings of Christ in His passion, he took from Him the rule of a life to be led in an angelic rather than a human manner. Since he was most desirous of preserving his virginity, it happened quite contrary to the purpose of his mind that his parents betrothed to him a bride of equal wealth and nobility. And so amid the joys of the nuptial festivity, who, on the very wedding night, leaving his bride while the whole household indulged in merriment, he himself, led into the bridal chamber, easily found a way to withdraw from his sleeping bride and his father's house; after he had prostrated himself on his knees at the feet of the sleeping virgin and commended her to God with ardent prayer; earnestly beseeching that He who kept her untouched would preserve her a virgin forever out of love for Him, to be more happily restored to him thereafter in the heavenly kingdom.

[5] Peter went forth, shedding abundant tears and full of divine consolation, like a new Alexius, he fled into Italy through unknown paths, trusting in God alone; and he sought Christ as a hidden treasure, for whose desire he had left all things: until, having traversed many expanses of land, he chose for himself a dwelling and abode at Babuco within a humble, dark, and deep cave, and having entered a cave at Babuco into which through a small opening the rays of the sun entered for scarcely one hour per day. Here the bare earth provided a bed for his body, the hardness of the rock a pillow for his head, not so much for reclining as for torturing: moreover he often took rest under the open sky, exposed to the nocturnal cold and the inclemencies of the weather, clothed in a hair shirt and girded with iron. In addition he raged against himself with scourges, and often spent entire nights in prayer, that he might obtain victory against the assaults and various ambushes of the demons.

[6] For as long as he lived there, he never warmed his cold limbs at a fire: nor did he go out except at night to quench his thirst, which was rare, with a draught from the river Masena, flowing below Babuco: he led a most harsh life in penances at which same time he sustained his hunger as best he could with oak acorns and roots of herbs, using no other food for many years. Thence he returned to his pit, wearing down his body with exquisite kinds of tortures and offering himself entirely to God as a sacrifice. For he so constricted his arms and calves with sinews and iron bonds that, with the skin cut through, they penetrated into the flesh itself. The rest of his body was covered with a military cloak woven of iron rings, by which his worn shoulders and the remaining limbs, torn on every side and almost continuously wounded as by one continuous wound, appeared after death, to the horror and admiration of all who beheld them. Persevering in this voluntary martyrdom, he filled all Campania and especially the inhabitants of the town of Babuco with the fame of his holiness, although he most studiously fled from human eyes and praises: because the more he hid himself, the more ardently he was sought by those who had once come to know his virtue.

[7] It happened that the entire Province and the territory surrounding Babuco was oppressed by a great famine: on which occasion Peter, turning to appease God with tears and prayers, became famous for many miracles: the province afflicted by famine among which that one should not be passed over in silence, that he once asked of a woman a piece of bread by way of alms: when she made excuses, alleging her own indigence and the imminent danger of death from famine, while he urged and insisted that she at least open her chest: she found it full of the freshest and whitest bread. Therefore she began to proclaim the divine mercy and the miracle with loud cries, holding forth the loaves in her hands, found in the chest, previously empty, through the merits of the holy man. he caused a chest to be found full of bread But Peter withdrew himself from the presence of the converging multitude, and in secret took care to render thanks to God for the aid obtained for the needy woman.

[8] Having returned to his cave, he intensified the rigor of his former life, and wholly intent upon divine contemplations, he did not cease beating his breast with his fists; and in great holiness until he had obtained from God the full peace of conscience and serenity of mind; continually raising his eyes to heaven, whence he sought a remedy for present evils. There were those who testified that they had seen Angels ascending from and descending to the mouth of his cave; nor did he ever go out without the tranquillity of his ever-cheerful countenance being a source of admiration to those who beheld him; especially when he most willingly bestowed his service upon the sick and infirm, he died as he was accustomed to do out of charity. At length, when God had decreed to join him to the choirs of heaven, and to grant him rest from his past labors in the eternal life promised to His faithful servants; prostrate upon the ground he gave thanks to the Lord, and with his hands raised to heaven, he returned his soul to his Creator; to be escorted to the heavenly mansions in the company of Martyrs, Confessors, and Angels.

[9] So great and so many were the prodigies that followed his death, he was famous for miracles that, equally as those which he performed while alive, most of them must be passed over in silence: the evidence for them, however, proven by authentic testimonies, is preserved by various writers, and especially by the illustrious Filonardi, who from ancient times have been the leading citizens of the town of Babuco, and by others throughout the towns, villages, and castles of Campania, preeminent in age and religion. And when it had been spread by popular report through the neighboring regions that the body of Saint Peter had been found by the indication of wondrous signs, he withdrew his hand from the kiss of a criminal and that his face shone not as that of a dead man but as that of a glorious Saint; an infinite multitude of people came running, and many were moved to repentance by the mere sight of the sacred body. There was, however, among them one man, stained with enormous crimes, from a village near Babuco called Strangolagalla, who bent down impenitently to press a kiss upon that sacred hand: but the Saint withdrew his hand, and by this prodigy admonished the wicked man that, having appeased God through true contrition for his sins, he should render himself worthy of the sacred touch. he raised a dead boy to life

[10] What more? While his sacred body was being carried in solemn procession through the town, a certain woman, bathing her infant son in a bath, left the little one in the water and ran to the window: but returning thence she found him suffocated. Therefore with great faith and full of hope of recovering life for her son, she lifted up in her arms the corpse of the dead child, and ran to the church, beseeching the Saint to restore alive to her the one whom she had lost through being more eager to honor him. The prayers of the woman were not in vain: for the boy was immediately resuscitated, and is venerated as patron of Babuco on March 11 and many other miracles followed, which both testified to the great merits of the Saint himself before God in the eyes of those present, and inspire in all who run with faith to his relics to be piously venerated a sure confidence of obtaining grace. They are preserved in the church of Saint Peter of the Illustrious Lords Filonardi: Translation on the second day of Pentecost in which his passing is commemorated on the eleventh day of March; and the memory of the solemn translation of the sacred bones on the second day of Pentecost, to the praise and glory of God, and of His most glorious Mother, and also of Saint Peter the Spaniard, Protector of the noble town of Babuco. Amen.

CONCERNING BLESSED AURIA, VIRGIN, IN SPAIN, AROUND THE YEAR 1100.

Auria, Virgin, in Spain (Blessed)

From Sandoval.

[1] The monastery of Saint Aemilian is celebrated throughout all Spain, amid most rugged mountains which, presenting their northern side to the river Ebro, have the rest of Castile to the south; Monastery of Saint Aemilian in that part which, subject to the Bishopric of Calahorra, is called the Mountains of Cogolla or Cuculla: which name Bishop Braulio, whose Life is to be given on November 12, relates to have been drawn from that Aemilian, in many

Prudentius Sandoval endeavors to show in part 1 of his work on the Monasteries of the Order of Saint Benedict in Spain. I would not here maintain with him that Spain had monks of the Benedictine institute already from the year 570 or 580: for it seems certain, and for our present purpose it suffices, that at least in the eleventh century the observance of the Benedictine Rule was introduced by King Sancho: who (as is found in a certain donation made by him in the Era 1060, subject to the Benedictines around 1060 that is, the year of Christ 1022, which Sandoval himself cites at paragraph 42) Hearing that the doctrine of Blessed Benedict shone forth everywhere, considered how he might transplant it into his own regions, and sending to the monastery of Cluny, he summoned thence the Abbot Paternus, and with him a flock of monks, whom he established in the monastery of Saint John the Baptist.

[2] Around these times, therefore, it can without doubt be believed that the monastery of Saint Aemilian was also joined to this Order; and consequently we shall venture to number Blessed Auria, who led her life in a neighboring convent of virgins subject to the Abbots of this monastery, among the Benedictine Saints: even though she is passed over by Bucelin and others, who nevertheless do not hesitate to count Saint Aemilian among the same. And indeed that the care of consecrated virgins was also undertaken from the first founder of the monastery, we have in his Life, it also nourished consecrated Virgins, even before chapter 23, which is entitled "On the reproach of the demons as to why he dwelt with women": where these words are read: Indeed he dwelt with the consecrated Virgins, and since from the eightieth year of his life and thereafter he was constrained by holy labor and suffering, he received all offices, as a father could, by the ministry of the Handmaids of God with gentleness.

[3] That both the community of monks and of virgins, while the other monasteries throughout Spain were devastated and overturned, was not dispersed by the Moors -- the latter either not daring or disdaining to approach on account of the ruggedness of the terrain -- Sandoval considers: from the first restorers of Spanish liberty, if not restored, this monastery was certainly cultivated, that is certain; which during the time of servitude, if it stood unharmed, I would believe to have been a refuge for monks and consecrated Virgins; who, as soon as religion began to breathe again, soon divided themselves into numerous settlements, which the aforesaid author carefully enumerates: of which the most ancient is the monastery of Saint Michael Petrosus, by the stream of Tironio near Velorado, seven leagues from Saint Aemilian, which Lady Nunnia Bella founded in the year of Christ 759, the first Abbess of that place, committing herself and her possessions with her sisters, whom she reviews by name, twenty-seven in number, and whom it is right to believe were drawn from the convent of Saint Aemilian in the fourth year of King Froyla.

[4] At what time Blessed Auria lived in that convent is not easy to determine from Sandoval: for although he names Abbot Peter among those who attended her as she was dying, and after the incursion of the Moors he nevertheless left us uncertain which of the two he wishes to be understood: the first, who in the year 1062 succeeded Abbot Gomez at his death, and held the government of the monastery until the year 1070; or the second, who in the year of the Christian Era 1118 was substituted in place of the deceased John, whose Prelature Sandoval extends beyond the year 1142 from public documents. And would that he had either produced the old Latin Acts, such as he states in his preface to be found in a most ancient Codex, or at least had rendered them completely in Spanish, and had not so recoiled from the frequent solecisms of the barbarous style; but, as often elsewhere, here too had pardoned what was the fault of the age rather than the author! -- whom he says was a monk of this monastery, called Amunnius: from these, Blessed Auria under Abbot Peter in the margin, however, he annotated that this history had been bound in verse by Gonzalo, likewise a monk, which verses themselves we would not wish to be lacking, given the zeal with which we embrace such ancient monuments. Meanwhile we give what is available, and render the Spanish text of Sandoval into Latin, adding by way of conclusion those things from which the Ecclesiastical veneration of this Blessed Virgin and the ancient appellation of Blessed are sufficiently proved, so that Francis Lahier was able to weave her name into his French Menology of Virgins. Acts published by Sandoval

[5] Saint Auria was a native of Villavelayo, near Mansilla, six leagues distant from Saint Aemilian, of upright and noble parents, Garcia Nunnio and Amunia, obtained by the merit of fervent prayers: who from her earliest youth, more given to the love of virtue and despising the delights of her father's house, delighted to be clothed in coarse and rough cloth, constant in reading and prayer, frequent in fasts, inflamed with so tender an affection of piety that her eyes seemed like two fountains. She distributed as much alms as she could, not against the will of her parents, who had not without heavenly presage imposed the name Auria upon the virgin, to be converted by the ardor of charity drawn from the Sun of Justice itself into gold purified seven times. Indeed not content with that austerity of mortifying and afflicting the body, her monastic life for which the opportunity in her father's house was not very great, she put on the monastic habit, intending to live a perpetual life under enclosure in the monastery of Saint Aemilian de Suso, according to the custom of the times; which permitted the communities of consecrated Virgins to be not too far from the habitation of the monks.

[6] miracles Hence the fame of her virtue and of the miracles which the efficacy of her prayers wrought spread itself far and wide through the entire region: and the more strictly she had enclosed herself, the less could be hidden the city set upon a hill, the lamp placed upon a candlestick. No less than these were the favors with which the heavenly Bridegroom refreshed His bride. Visions It happened that on the third day of Christmas, on which the feast of Saint Eugenia is observed, after the prayers of the Matins Office had been chanted, while Auria persisted in prayer, she was caught up in a deep sleep (you would more truly call it an ecstasy) and beheld three beautiful virgins conspicuous, who professed by their proper names to be called Agatha, Eulalia, and Cecilia, and dressed in precious adornment and more brilliant than stars, each one held a white dove in her hand. Auria was astounded at the novelty of the unusual vision, but when she had collected herself and dared to inquire who they were, she learned their names; and that on account of the love they bore toward her they had descended from heaven to earth, about to offer her their companionship, for which she was already destined by God: and intending to show her how great in the divine estimation is the value of hair shirts, fasts, solitude, and tears. They also gave her thanks for that affection with which she was accustomed to read their Lives and Passions, and promised that they would show her what rewards they possessed in heaven.

[7] the merit of outstanding austerity When Auria had replied that she was unworthy of so great a favor: Do not say so, said Saint Eulalia: for you have many friends, both male and female, in heaven: and the distinguished rigor of your life, weighed in the just estimation of God, has merited for you the crown of eternal reward among the blessed in heaven. And so receive from me, as from a friend, this counsel: follow this dove, which I hold out, as your guide all the days of your life: because Jesus Christ has willed you to be His own. But soon, raising her eyes in wonder, Auria beheld not far off a beautiful column, of such height that it joined earth to heaven: around which were wound certain stairs, such as are sometimes seen in ancient towers, and she heard voices saying: These are the stairs by which the souls of the Blessed ascend to heaven; and immediately the dove which Saint Eulalia had offered to Blessed Auria began to fly upward along it, Auria following it with her eyes to see where it was going, until, carried higher, it vanished from sight. Then indeed the Saints, ascending by the same stairs and leading Auria with them as their companion, went before her through pleasant places, verdant and delightful and admirable for the wonderful variety of most beautiful flowers, in which the glorious virgin beheld a very great multitude of the inhabitants of heaven.

[8] The Blessed one, stirred by this kindness from Christ the Bridegroom of Virgins, desire for the future life began to intensify still more the rigor of the penance voluntarily undertaken, and to lead a harsher life than before; disdaining the vanity of all earthly things, and desiring to be unburdened of the weight of this body as soon as possible, so that she might enjoy those goods, of which she had beheld some specimen in that vision, whether in sleep or in rapture: and within eleven months from the aforementioned vision, on the very night preceding the first day of December sacred to Saint Saturninus, to Auria stationed in prayer the Queen of heaven appeared, in that glory which no mortal in this life could contain, accompanied by most beautiful virgins, and said to her: It is fitting, daughter, that the harshness of your life be mitigated and tempered with some comfort: and that rising from that hard bed on which you sleep, a summons to eternal rest you grant some rest to your fatigued little body. Having said these things, the Virgins who accompanied the Mother of God approached Auria, and (although she resisted and humbly excused herself that this little bed on which she lay was abundantly sufficient for her, who by no means deserved greater luxuries) transferred her to another bed most magnificently prepared: and the Mother of God added that the end of her life was near, and that she would shortly be seized by a final illness, through which she was to pass into eternal rest.

[9] a blessed death The heavenly prediction was not without fulfillment: for there followed a troublesome and long-lasting illness, which the copious sweetness of divine consolations made seem light; until she returned her spirit to her Bridegroom in the presence of her mother Amunia, Lord Peter, Abbot of Saint Aemilian, the monk Amunnius the writer of this history, and Gomez the Steward, and the entire community of Monks and Hermits of Saint Aemilian, not without signs and proofs of that glory to which she was being carried as she expired. Her sacred body was buried, as may be seen today, in a tomb cut out of the living rock, and considerably disfigured by the nature of the damp place: in which within not many days her mother Amunia, having followed her daughter in death, was also herself entombed, a common tomb with her mother having first beheld her daughter, conspicuous after death, and consoling her. These and other revelations, both to Auria while living and made by her when already dead to others, are narrated in the history of her Life: which, on account of the roughness of the style employed by the Poet, I have refrained from describing. But on the sepulchral stone the following verses are engraved:

epitaph This sculpted stone which you behold covers sacred limbs; Blessed Auria the Virgin together with her mother Amunna rest In this urn, and because for Christ they led a narrow life, Together with Him and with the Blessed they rejoice in the heavenly kingdom.

[10] Similarly, in a writing of great antiquity these words are read: The Life written down Blessed Auria, who was a recluse in the monastery of Saint Aemilian the Upper, rests there in a certain cave behind the basilica of the same place; who saw many wonders and secrets before the end of her body, which are found written in the account of her passing from life. Thus far from the ancient monuments Sandoval: then from the testimony of his own or others' eyes he adds: The place where the tomb of Saint Auria and her mother Amunia is seen the place of burial is at the entrance of the church de Suso (that is, the upper one), and one descends into it by narrow stairs of thirty-five steps: beneath which the excavated rock contains four ancient tombs:

three of them smaller indeed; but the fourth larger, which is that of Saint Auria: what bones are contained in those three earlier ones, however -- whether of Saints, male or female, of this place, or of certain Kings or Princes (of which sort many, considering this holy ground, wished to be interred therein) -- remains uncertain to this day. Since moreover the name Auria is the same as Oria, which was most commonly used in a more ancient age among persons of the highest nobility; in a certain place where a church was dedicated to this Saint, the town is called Soria, as if for Sant-Oria.

[11] Whether the town of Soria derives its name from her? It is not far from the ruins of ancient Numantia, at the confluence of two streams which together form the river Duero, perhaps fourteen leagues from the monastery of Saint Aemilian: I consider it, however, to be more ancient than to have derived its name from a church dedicated to this Saint, rather than from some more ancient Aurea or Aurelia: of whom one occurs on July 14 under Nero, another on October 14 under the Saracens, both having suffered at Cordoba.