Speciosus

ON ST. SPECIOSUS, BENEDICTINE MONK, AT TERRACINA IN ITALY.

SIXTH CENTURY.

St. Speciosus, Benedictine monk, at Terracina in Italy.

BHL Number: 0000

[1] What we know about this holy monk, St. Gregory related in Book 4 of the Dialogues, chapter 8, asserting that he received it from the faithful disciples of St. Benedict, about whom he had treated in chapter 7; and we give it in his very words, which are as follows:

[2] Epitome of his Life from St. Gregory "From the narration of those same disciples of his I also learned that two men of noble birth, educated in worldly studies, full brothers, of whom one was called Speciosus and the other Gregory, committed themselves to his Rule in the holy way of life. The same venerable Father caused them to dwell in a monastery which he had built near the city of Terracina. They had possessed much money in this world, but they had bestowed everything on the poor for the redemption of their souls, and they remained in the same monastery. One of them, namely Speciosus, while he had been sent near the city of Capua on business for the monastery, one day his brother, sitting at table with the brethren and sharing their meal, was lifted up in spirit and saw the soul of his brother Speciosus, positioned so far from him, departing from his body: which he immediately announced to the brethren and hurried there, and found his brother already buried, yet discovered that at the very hour he had seen him, he had departed from the body." So St. Gregory.

[3] Terracina is an episcopal city of the Volscians in the Papal States, on the border of the Kingdom of Naples, near the sea. How St. Benedict sent monks there from the monastery of Monte Cassino, St. Gregory narrates thus in his Life, given on March 21: "At another time, he had been asked by a certain faithful man to send his disciples to his estate near the city of Terracina, and to build a monastery there. He, consenting to the request, assigned brethren, appointed a Father and a prior over them... Having received his blessing, they immediately set out."

[4] Speciosus the monk, with the title of Saint, was inscribed by Molanus in the Supplement to Usuard published in 1568; Name in the sacred calendars Canisius followed in the Martyrology published in German in 1573. Baronius in the Roman Martyrology has: "At Rome, of St. Speciosus the monk, whose soul his brother saw being carried to heaven." Concerning the same on this day, Wion, Ménard, Dorgan, and Bucelin treat in their monastic Martyrologies, and Ferrari in his Catalog of the Saints of Italy, who wonders why he is ascribed to Rome, when he led his life in a monastery near Terracina and died near Capua. He conjectures, however, that he is attributed to Rome either because he was a Roman, or because his body was brought to Rome; and in his doubt he ventured in the title to call Speciosus a Roman monk. Finally, Peter de Natalibus also mentions him in Book 11 of his Catalog, in which he treats of Saints whose feast day he asserts was entirely unknown to him, where at chapter 106 he presents St. Speciosus the monk.