Barontus and Desiderius

ON SAINTS BARONTUS AND DESIDERIUS, HERMITS, AT PISTOIA IN ETRURIA, ABOUT THE YEAR 700.

Preliminary Commentary.

Barontus, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.) Desiderius, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.)

[1] Pistoia or Pistoria, an ancient and pleasant city of Etruria, lies between Florence, to which it is subject, and Lucca, adorned with an Episcopal See: in whose territory, abounding in every kind of fruit, towns, villages, estates, and palaces are said to number several thousand. Here, among the foothills of the mountains, Saint Barontus found a small plain, and with his companions, Saint Desiderius and others, he spent his life holily and on March 25 migrated to heavenly glory. Concerning these, the Tables of the Roman Martyrology have the following for this day: "At Pistoia, of the holy Confessors Barontus and Desiderius." Where in his Notes Baronius indicates the Acts are published from a Pistoia manuscript, that he received their Acts sent from the Church of Pistoia to Rome: which we obtained through the singular benevolence of the Reverend Fathers of the Congregation of the Oratory at Rome, and publish them, brought from there to this place. To these we add the Vision of Saint Barontus, which he himself had and wrote down while a monk in Gaul. The history of this vision was formerly in the possession of Heribertus Rosweyde, found among the manuscript Lives of the Fathers sent to him from Bavaria, in a most ancient codex written over 800 years ago, which belonged to the monastery of Saint Florian, and from 2 manuscripts, the Vision of Saint Barontus, commonly called Monksminster or Muenchsmuenster, situated on the bank of the river Ilm between Ingolstadt and Abensberg. We obtained another copy of this Vision from an ancient Codex of the Most Serene Christina, Queen of Sweden, marked number 1270. From this Vision, very many excerpts were taken and inserted into the Chronicle of Maillezais or Saint Maixent in Poitou, published by Philip Labbe in volume 2 of the New Library of Manuscript Books, p. 193 and following.

[2] Let no one understand this Vision as if the soul were truly

separated from the body and locally conducted to heaven and hell; rapt in ecstasy, for thus Barontus would indeed have been dead: which the very words of the holy Angel Raphael at number 3 do not allow to be believed: "I lead this soul with me hence before the tribunal of the eternal Judge, but I leave his spirit here in his body." Therefore only a perfect ecstasy is signified: which in the Visions of Saint Frances of Rome is called an immobile ecstasy, when, with the operations of almost all the sensitive faculties suspended, the soul is so acted upon through species presented to the intellect, just as if, actually separated from the body, it would perceive external objects present, whose species are exhibited interiorly during the time of the rapture: the body meanwhile retaining the same position it had at the very moment of the onset of the ecstasy; or not even preserving this, but being similar in all respects to a corpse, except that a slight reciprocation of breath remains as an indicator of life, as we read happened to our Holy Father Ignatius in his eight-day rapture at Manresa, and as happened to this Saint Barontus. Therefore, since in these raptures of ecstatic persons the intellect is thus acted upon by a certain higher power, just as in dreams we experience the phantasy being acted upon by the natural motion of animal spirits, the truth of these raptures ought not to be estimated from the fact that heaven or any other objects are really and physically such as they are represented: but that those similitudinarian and imperfect representations of them tend toward inducing true practical judgments. And since the Vision of Saint Barontus was followed by the effective purposes of a holier life, on account of the vivid apprehension of those things which happen to souls emigrating from the body and being presented before the tribunal of God; his vision is to be held as true, and as such, being of the best example for persuading good works and penance, it was rightly transcribed and preserved in Ecclesiastical books.

[3] The monastery in which he lived before in Gaul, when he had this Vision, in the monastery of Longoret, is called in these Acts Longoretum, Longoretus, and Languritus, situated in the forest of Brion, on the bank of the river Claise in the territory of Bourges, on the borders of the territory of Poitou, commonly Lonrey en Brenne, but now it is commonly called Saint-Ciran en Brenne, from Saint Sigiranus, Founder and first Abbot of this place, whose day is assigned as sacred on December 4. The Sanmarthani in volume 4 of Gallia Christiana, p. 828, report the tables of the foundation of this monastery, as if built by Dagobert I, King of the Franks, but which they rightly hold suspect. Philip Labbe in the already cited volume published on p. 439 and following a historical eulogy of Saint Sigiranus and his more extended but at the end mutilated Life: from which it is established that the origin of both this monastery of Longoret and another not far distant, mentioned below, whose name is Mille-becum or Mille-pecus, should be referred to the times of Clovis II, called the son of Dagobert, and approximately to the fourth year of his reign, when Flaucadus or Flaucatus or Flaocatus had been established in the kingdom of Burgundy (to which the Bituriges were then subject) as Mayor of the Palace for Clovis, and indeed, as Saint Sigiranus had foreseen in the spirit, was extinguished not long after. Hence it is clear concerning the time of the life and conversion of Saint Barontus, before whose Vision these words are prefixed in the Chronicle of Maillezais: "Under the reign of Theuderic, a terrible Vision appeared, which the ancient enemy wrought in the territory of Bourges, that is, the soul of Barontus the monk was translated from his body and returned." under King Theuderic, At the end of the Vision, however, all these Acts are said to have taken place on the eighth before the Kalends of April, in the sixth year of the reign of Theuderic, King of the Franks. In the Chronicle of Maillezais the fifth year is read. This would be the year of Christ 684 or the following, around the year 684. according to the chronological framework we have established elsewhere. Hence in the Acts of the Life of Saint Barontus from Pistoia, an error is noted in the first words, imprudently added by some pedant: and one should read "in the time of King Theuderic, in his kingdom," not "in the time of the Kings Theuderic and Theudebert, in their kingdom." These were brothers, sons of King Childebert of the Austrasians and Burgundians, of whom in the year 596 Theuderic began to reign among the Burgundians and Theudebert among the Austrasians, and then the sixth year of this King Theuderic would correspond to the year of Christ six hundred and one: which would be about forty-six years before the monasteries of Longoret and Millebecum were built. In the Chronicle of Maillezais, what precedes and follows pertains to the King Theuderic assigned by us above. How long after this Saint Barontus lived in his pilgrimage, and then in the Pistoian territory, is not clear: we easily believe he reached the year of Christ 700, and that Saint Desiderius and other companions departed this life in the eighth century.

[4] Andrew Saussaius, at the day of March 25, on which we said they are inscribed above in the Tables of the Roman Martyrology, Eulogy of Saussaius, adorns them with this eulogy in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology: "On the same day, the deposition of the holy Confessors Barontus and Desiderius, monks, who, Gauls by birth, having despised worldly things, having abandoned their homeland, withdrawing to Etruria, embracing the monastic life at Pistoia in the monastery of Saint Peter de Languore, crucified the flesh with all its concupiscences, and dead to the world and living for Christ, offered themselves to God as a pleasing sacrifice in the odor of sweetness. Barontus moreover, becoming the immolator of his own bowels, sacrificing his son Ahloaldus upon the altar of faith, with living hope and fervent charity, even to the Divine Majesty, also made him a companion of his mortification, so that he might at last deserve to have him also as a participant of blessed immortality." These things Saussaius writes with quite beautiful amplification, but straying too much. The monastery of Saint Peter de Languore to be corrected: is the Longoretum sacred to Saint Peter, not in Etruria but in the territory of Bourges: in this place Aigloaldus the son together with his father began the monastic life, but when the father went abroad as a pilgrim to Italy, what the son did is completely unknown. Then Saint Desiderius did not depart with Saint Barontus from Gaul to Etruria, but joined himself to him there on account of the widespread fame of his sanctity, and should be considered Italian rather than Gallic. Both are also inscribed in the monastic Martyrologies of Wion, Menard, Dorganius, and Bucelinus. Wion cites their deeds as described by Silvanus Razzi in his book on the Lives of the Saints of Etruria, The monastic Martyrologies are not without errors. and by Peter Bugiano in his Monastic History, final colloquium, from p. 542: but he himself also errs when he says both were Gauls by birth and embraced the monastic life in the monastery of Saint Peter de Longore around the year of the Lord 570, in which year Childebert, the royal father of the Kings Theuderic and Theudebert, had not yet been born: meanwhile Razzi asserts that Saint Barontus was born under these brothers, while Bugiano says he flourished then: the latter calls the monastery of Saint Peter "Longoretum." Razzi says it was called "de Longore," now called "del Capo," which fictions Bucelinus also transcribed, who seems to have read them more carefully, when he writes that Saint Desiderius was joined not in the monastery of Longoret in Gaul but in the hermitage of Etruria.

[5] Ferrarius in his General Catalogue at March 27: "At Pistoia in Tuscany," he says, "Saint Barontius the Abbot." In his Notes he cites the Tables of the Church of Pistoia. Veneration at Pistoia on March 27, Ferrarius had a manuscript Life received from Pistoia, from which he compiled an excellent compendium published by him at March 27 in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, and notes that although the Birthday of Saints Barontus and Desiderius is described in the Roman Martyrology on the eighth before the Kalends of April, in the Church of Pistoia the feast is nevertheless celebrated on this day from ancient custom: and this feast seems to have been transferred on account of the feast of the Annunciation and the feast of Saint James the Apostle, which is celebrated on March 26. On the same day, March 27, the Translation of the bodies of Saint Desiderius and his companions occurred, which Razzi wrongly transferred to March 28. In the Latin Acts, the day of the sixth before the Kalends of April is assigned, for which Bugiano substituted the sixth day of April: as also for the death of Saint Barontus, the eighth day of April, for which in the Acts the eighth before the Kalends of April is read. With a greater error, Razzi wrote that he died on April 25. Wion corrects two errors of Bugiano and the last of Razzi: whose first error, with another error added, he describes at March 28, Invention and translation also on March 28. in these words: "At Pistoia, the invention and translation of Saints Barontus and Desiderius and their companion monks." Dorganius, Menardus, and Bucelinus have the same, and the latter cites the erring Bugianus in his own support. Ferrarius in his General Catalogue, omitting the companions, has: "At Pistoia, the Invention of Saints Barontus and Desiderius." In his Notes he cites Wion, Razzi, and Riccordatus, who is Bugianus to others. Meanwhile from the printed Acts, not on this day but on the preceding sixth before the Kalends of April, the bodies of Saint Desiderius and his companions were translated to the same church to which the body of Saint Barontus had previously been translated. In the manuscript Acts of Pistoia and Saint Florian, it is always written Barontus, with which the Chronicle of Maillezais agrees: in the manuscript of Queen Christina of Sweden, Baronthus with aspiration: in the Roman Martyrology he is called Barontius.

LIFE

From the Vallicella manuscript of the Fathers of the Congregation of the Oratory, received from Pistoia.

Barontus, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.) Desiderius, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.)

BHL Number: 0996

FROM THE PISTOIA MANUSCRIPT.

[1] In the time of King Theuderic, in his kingdom, a man of distinguished character shone forth, born of the noble race of the Franks, A noble Frank, named Barontus. He, kindled by divine ardor, together with his own son named Agloaldus, setting aside all worldly pomp, with his whole mind sought to embrace the monastic life. a monk at Longoret, In the monastery of the most blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, called Longoretum, he laid down the hair of his own head: where he persevered most devoutly in the work of God. In that same place, the man of God was admonished by so wondrous a vision he has a vision: that, borne up by Angelic service, he came to know the heavenly joys of the Saints by contemplation and to behold the dire torments of Hell. Soon therefore he began to beseech the father of his monastery with assiduous prayers, that by his permission he might be allowed to leave the Gallic soil of his birth, having obtained permission, and to visit the various oratories of the Saints for the sake of prayer, and thus at last to lead the anchoritic life. After a very long and unceasing insistence of his petition, his Pastor with the whole flock, though unwilling, satisfied his desire: and having obtained their consent, the blessed man immediately set out for Rome, he sets out for Rome, that he might merit to see the long-desired tomb of the Keyholder of heaven, who had already rescued him from diabolic power. The Confessor of Christ, Barontus, therefore, having obtained the permission of his father, setting out on his pilgrimage, while praying he visited the memorials of very many Saints, he visits holy places: returning from Rome through Tuscany and thirsting for the solitude of a desert to be found, he arrived in the territory of the town of Pistoia: where he heard that there was a most famous place, he comes to the Pistoian territory: sufficiently suitable for the solitary life, surrounded by mountains from the eastern and western regions.

[2] The venerable man of God, therefore, desiring to see the place of solitude he wished to inhabit, he builds a cell among the mountains, whose praiseworthy fame he had already perceived by report, guided by the Holy Spirit, he came there: and at the foothills of twin

mountains, finding a small plain, yet very pleasant, he immediately began to build a small cell for himself there. After the most devout hermit of Christ had completed the little workshop of his solitude, he obtains a spring by his prayers: since that place lacked water, he prostrated himself there in prayer, where he merited to obtain from the Lord an unfailing vein of flowing water, and digging out the neighboring bank with his own hands, he was endowed with the gift of a living spring from the Living Spring.

[3] Remaining in that place, the servant of God meditated on the law of the Lord day and night, that advancing from virtue to virtue, Psalm 83:2, his fame of virtue spreads far: he might merit to see the God of gods in Zion, singing with the Prophet: "How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord God of hosts; my soul longs and faints for your courts." When the most celebrated fame of the blessed man was now spreading everywhere in all directions, a certain venerable man called Desiderius, armed with constancy of hope, faith, Saint Desiderius joins him, and charity, approached this excellent Father: that instructed by his example he might ascend the high kingdoms of heaven. His praiseworthy fame was followed by four other young men also, who, abandoning the things of the flesh, with a placid mind and benign love, and 4 young men: learned to bend their necks to the instruction of the blessed man, in order to fulfill the Lord's commandment, by which he says: "He who leaves father or mother or all that is his own shall receive a hundredfold." Matthew 19:29 And so, while these also imitated the teaching, life, and example of the most perfect Master, they were worthy to ascend to the highest peak of sanctity.

[4] After Blessed Barontus, adorned with shining virtues and radiant with the various flowers of virtues, they die holily; Barontus on March 25, was now weary with long old age, following the path of all flesh, leaving earth to earth, on the eighth day before the Kalends of April he happily migrated to the kingdoms of heaven, to reign with Christ in perpetuity. His disciples most diligently cared for the most precious remains of his body and honorably deposited them in the basilica which he himself had founded while living. In which place the same Blessed Desiderius also, Desiderius and the other 4, after a very long labor of his spiritual exercise, when he had departed from this world to the Lord, merited to receive burial close to his footsteps, with praise and glory. There also the other four, of whom we made mention above, after several cycles of years, individually taken from this light, were most gloriously buried there in like manner. In which place the wondrous power of God through his most precious Confessors daily shines upon those they shine with miracles: who devoutly flee there on account of some impediments of infirmities: in like manner, heavy vengeance is inflicted upon invaders, if any should attempt to offend them in anything.

[5] the body of Saint Barontus is transferred to a monastery built in his honor. Then after a long time, while the tomb of Blessed Barontus constantly shone with very many and diverse miracles, a monastery was built in his honor by certain leading men of that land, into which the precious members of his body were translated by^c Restaldus, Bishop of the city of Pistoia.

[6] After the venerable and admirable translation of Blessed Barontus, After various apparitions, the body is found, Saint Desiderius, of holy memory, his companion mentioned above, by no means tolerating that he should be separated from the body of his holy Master, very frequently appeared threatening not only to the Brothers of the monastery in a vision of sleep, but also manifested himself to very many men and women. He revealed that a very unjust thing had been done to him, in that he stood divided in burial from his colleague: with whom he had been united in the Catholic faith and had held unanimously the life of anchoritic conversation, and to the end, at the last moment of his expiring breath, they were found united by the love of accustomed affection. Therefore, terrified by many visions, and now made certain, both the Abbot and the other Brothers of that monastery began with devout minds to implore God, the most merciful Author of all good things, that he who had deigned to make manifest to the blessed Helena the wood of our Redemption, which had been hidden through the passing of many years, might himself hasten to fulfill their wish of finding the body of the blessed man. At length they came to the place where the body of the excellent Confessor Desiderius was hoped to rest buried, since some had already seen in a vision that a most clear spring emanated from it: but lest the hope of such great visions, which had been divinely revealed, should seem vain, the earth was evacuated from the depths and they arrived at the venerable sepulcher of the most excellent body. And since the perfect and proven virtue of the Saints is accustomed to openly refute the negligent and incredulous, lest perchance some distrust about the finding of the Saint's body should longer trouble the hearts of the Brothers, a marble stone was found there inscribed with Latin letters in individual figures as follows: HERE RESTS THE BODY OF SAINT BARONTUS AND SAINT DESIDERIUS WITH THEIR COMPANIONS: of Saint Desiderius, which was afterward inserted into the wall of the new temple and placed in public view, preserved as a testimony of the Saints' bodies to this present day, to be inspected or read through the ages by the multitude of people who flock there. and the bodies of their companions, Animated from these letters by a greater confirmation, the Brothers, digging here and there lest that title be held worthless, found the others resting individually in their monuments. And these also, together with Blessed Desiderius, were equally raised by the Reverend Brothers and most gloriously translated into the new hall of the temple, on the^d sixth day before the Kalends of April, in the year one thousand and eighteen from the Passion of the Lord. they are translated on March 27 in the year 1018. Blessed Desiderius was placed on the southern side of the temple in a new casket, where, if any faithful petitioner approaches, whatever he faithfully suggests to so great a Confessor, he can without doubt obtain from the Lord by his merits. The bodies of the remaining companions were placed on the northern side, and since their names were unknown to all the Brothers but manifest to God alone, their relics were honorably placed behind the altar of the Mother of God Mary and of Saint Martin.

VISION OF SAINT BARONTUS From the manuscripts of Saint Florian and Queen Christina of Sweden.

Barontus, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.) Desiderius, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.)

BHL Number: 0997

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

CHAPTER I

The rapture of Saint Barontus. The encounter with two demons and the Angel Saint Raphael. He is healed when near death.

[1] I wish therefore to relate to you, most beloved Brothers, in order, what happened in^a recent time. In the monastery of Saint Peter the Apostle, which is called by the name^b Longoretus, a certain man of noble lineage named Barontus, recently converted, came to the Order of monasticism: who, when he had devoutly^c completed the Matins praises of God in the church with the Brothers, as soon as he returned to his bed, was suddenly seized by a fever and brought to the point of death; Saint Barontus summons Eodo through his son he began to be tormented with great pains, and to call his son, named Aigloaldus, that with the greatest haste he should go to Eodo the Deacon, that he might come to visit him out of brotherly love. Then the boy himself began to run with great wailing, and brought the summoned Brother with him. But when the Brother entered the same room in which the sick Barontus lay, he began to call him^d twice and thrice. But the man could say nothing to the man; but pointed with his finger to his throat, and fought forcefully with his palms before his eyes. Then the Brother, trembling, turned to his daily weapons, began to cross himself, and with a heavy groan asked that^e a sprinkling be made in that room, he is rapt into ecstasy: so that the throng of evil spirits might be put to flight from there. But that Brother, with his hands extended to his sides and his eyes closed, began to lie half-dead, so that he could see nothing at all.

[2] Then around the third hour the Brothers gathered to pour out prayers more earnestly to God for his soul: when they saw him moving no limb, they began to weep vehemently from grief, and began to arrange^f groups the monks praying all day and night, to recite the chanting of psalms in order, that the heavenly Physician might send the soul back into his body. And so it happened that the Brothers, chanting all day, never interrupted until the evening hour came, in which they would begin the praises of God in the church in the usual manner of singing. But that Brother so far^g failed in his body that now no one who saw him could have confidence in his temporal life. But the servants of God, as they saw, began to chant strongly, and to beg the heavenly Creator for his soul, that he who was taking it from Egypt might place it in the eternal region: and so, spending the night in chanting, they came to cockcrow: at which hour the wondrous power of Christ appeared, manifested, which ought not to be kept silent throughout the whole Catholic Church, so that those who hear may be terrified of their vices and with their whole heart be converted to the service of Christ, lest at the last they lament in perpetual punishment what they did not wish to amend here through true penance. Soon, while they were chanting, he awoke, opened his eyes two or three times, he returns to himself: rendered praises to God, and the first words from his mouth were these: "Glory to you, God: glory to you, God: glory to you, God." The Brothers, on the contrary, when they saw him, began to give thanks to God with great trembling, who had thus returned his servant alive in his body, whom no one any longer hoped to hear speaking.

[3] Then all, gathered together, asked him in order where he had been, or what he had seen, to explain to them point by point. in his rapture, He, as if waking from a deep sleep, said: "When you saw me complete the Matins praises of Christ with you in good health last night, as soon as I returned to my own bed, then suddenly, weighed down by sleep, I fell asleep. But immediately in that slumber two foul demons came, he was beaten by 2 demons, whose appearance I could not bear, trembling: who began to strangle me violently, desiring to tear me with their savage teeth and devour me, so as to lead me down to hell: and until the third hour they boldly beat me. The holy Archangel Raphael came to my aid, shining in the splendor of brightness,

who began to prevent them from acting more savagely against me: defended by Saint Raphael: but they, resisting him proudly, said: "If the brightness of God does not take him from us, you can by no means take him." Then the holy Raphael said to them: "If it is so, as you say: let us go together to the judgment of God, so that there your vice may be repudiated." With them thus disputing all day long, they came to the evening hour, and the most blessed Raphael said to them: "I lead this soul with me hence before the tribunal of the eternal Judge, but I leave his^h spirit here in his body." But they also objected that they would never release it unless they were deprived of it by the judgment of God.

[4] Upon hearing this, the holy Raphael, extending his finger, touched my throat, and I, a wretch, immediately felt my soul torn from my body: and the soul itself, as far as it appeared to me, I will describe how small it is. It seemed to me he sees his own soul like a baby bird, that it had the likeness of a little chick when it comes out of the egg in its smallness; thus also, being small, it carried with it head, eyes, and other members, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch in their entirety: but it can by no means speak until it comes to the examination and receives a body from the air, similar to the one it left here. But there too, upon my little breast, there was no small contention between them: Saint Raphael fought to raise my soul upward to heaven, and the demons always desired to cast it downward. But Saint Raphael began to raise me from the earth to the heights of power, to be raised amid the contest between Raphael and the demons: and to sustain me strongly: but on the contrary, one demon from the left side gripped me bitterly, and a second demon behind my back kicked me grievously, and said, full of wrath: "I had you in my power once before and greatly harmed you: but now you will be tortured in hell perpetually."

[5] As he said these things, when we had ascended above the forest of the monastery, the bell sounded for vespers above the basilica itself, and to be carried over the monastery of Millebecum, and immediately Saint Raphael commanded the demons, saying: "Withdraw, withdraw, bloody beasts, you can no longer harm this little soul while the bell sounds over that church: because the Brothers are gathering to pray for it." But they by no means acquiesced, but more strongly pounded my side with their kicks: and thus with rapid course we came over theⁱ monastery which is called Millebecum by name: over which Saint Raphael prayed at length and spoke this verse from his mouth, saying: "In every place of his dominion, bless the Lord, O my soul": and I, when I heard, looked and saw that monastery, and recognized the whole flock celebrating the evening Office, and I saw one of the Brothers carrying green herbs for the service of the kitchen. This, most beloved Brothers, we ought to marvel at with great trembling, that between the two monasteries, at a distance of twelve miles, they had thus transported the captured soul in one moment of the hour over the habitation of the most blessed man.

[6] But the holy Raphael, when his prayer was completed, said: "Let us visit this Brother, a true servant of God, who lies sick in this monastery, and is unequal in humility and work to the others in the city of^k Bourges, whom a grave affliction of punishment had led to the point of death: in which Saint Raphael restores health to a pious monk. who could in no way take food; concerning whose health all the Brothers, having despaired, were discussing nothing else but how to commit him to burial." But after the Archangel's visitation and his comforting, the Abbot[l] Leodoaldus himself reports a great miracle from there, which can terrify incredulous hearts that are not moved to do penance, and to ask Saint Raphael, whose name is interpreted as "medicine of God," to come and heal their sins, lest the devil lead them captive to eternal punishments, from which they could not escape to their temporal joy, in which they had all their confidence. Then the Abbot himself asserts, saying that at the hour when the Brother Barontus says he was present there with Saint Raphael, he testifies that he saw a wondrous splendor over that house in which the sick man lay, greatly burdened with pain in his chest; and that the holy Raphael followed, illuminating the whole house with the brightness of his face, and passing over the man's chest with the sign of the Cross impressed upon it: and at that hour he healed him of his infirmity, which he had borne grievously in his chest.

[7] After all these things were done, Barontus himself says: "When we had passed beyond that monastery, Barontus is attacked by 4 more demons, four other most black demons met us, who wished to tear me cruelly with their teeth and claws: and I, a sinner, when I saw them, began to fear greatly lest they should snatch me from Saint Raphael and plunge me into the pit of hell; since they were already six and he alone could not resist them. But Blessed Raphael resisted them strongly: and while they argued with each other, behold, two Angels in bright garments and with a wondrous fragrance met us, who with swift course seized the holy Raphael from below and began to chant an antiphon: 'Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy.' Immediately those demons lost their strength, who are soon cast down by two Angels. and two fell to the ground and vanished, and then the other two likewise did the same: but those first ones, who were present when I was extracted from my body, did not depart; but always kept us company, and we traveled near hell, and we saw the guardians of the underworld.

CHAPTER II

The introduction of Saint Barontus into heaven. The defense undertaken by Saint Peter. Alms prescribed.

[8] Thus after the second battle was completed, we came to the first gate of paradise, where we saw many of the Brothers of our monastery, [At the first gate of heaven he recognizes various from his monastery who had died holy:] who were gathered, awaiting the day of judgment, when they would fully receive eternal joys, whose names are contained and inserted, and they are: Corbolenus the priest, to whom God granted good things in this world; Fraudolenus the Priest, who guarded his days well; Austrulfus the Deacon, who departed from this world at a moment at God's command; Leodoaldus the Lector, whom God blessed with his own mouth; Ebbo the Lector, a servant of God, chosen by name. When they saw us, and the demons clinging vehemently to my left side, they began, astounded, to wish to converse with us: but the most wicked demons in no way wished to give place to their side: but the greatest servant of God, named Leodoaldus, adjured Saint Raphael by the Creator of heaven and earth to let me rest for a little while. Then he humbly inquired of the holy Raphael and me, the wretched one, from what monastery I was, and for what reason I had erred so grievously that the demons had received such power over me. And I said to them: "From the monastery of Saint Peter, called Longoretus, and I do not deny that all these things which I suffer have befallen me because of my sins." But they, touched within by excessive grief, when they learned I was of their congregation, began to groan and complain that never had the devil so dared to ensnare any soul from that monastery. But the holy Raphael began to console them gently about me, saying: "I have left the spirit in his body: but if the heavenly Father wills, he will still return there." Immediately the Brothers began to humbly ask the holy Raphael to throw themselves together upon the ground, and to beseech the merciful Lord for me, the wretch, that the wicked enemy might not be able to devour me, and thus they gave themselves together to prayer.

[9] Soon, when the prayer was completed, at the 2nd gate he finds infants, we came to the second gate of paradise, where there were innumerable thousands of infants, adorned with white garments, praising the Lord with one harmonious voice; and we immediately entered within that gate through the midst of those Saints, and saw a small path prepared, by which we began to travel to another gate. But there was so great a multitude of Virgins on either side, to the right and to the left, then Virgins: that no human being except God could see through them. As soon as they saw us, they began to cry out with one voice: "This soul is going to judgment"; and now they repeated again: "Conquer, O Warrior Christ, conquer: and let not the devil lead this soul to Tartarus."

[10] at the 3rd gate, crowned Saints and Priests: Then we came to the third gate of Paradise, and that gate had the likeness of glass: and within was a multitude of crowned Saints with shining faces, sitting in a splendid dwelling and on seats, giving thanks to God always: there was a multitude of Priests of the highest merit, whose dwellings were built of golden bricks and gems, just as Saint Gregory commemorates in his book of Dialogues, and still the dwellings of many were being built in great brightness and honor: and new mansions being prepared, whose inhabitants were not seen at present, but their mansions were being built in heaven for those who on earth did not cease to give bread to the hungry. And while I carefully observed all these things, one of our Brothers, named Corbolenus, who had long since died, appeared to me: and he himself showed me in these places a mansion built with great honor and said: "This is the mansion of our Abbot Francardus and now the Lord has prepared it by his merit":

"for I shall set forth in order a few things from his deeds which I saw, and one prepared for their Abbot Francardus. because he nurtured me from infancy. He was devout in the fear of God and instructed in sacred reading, and through his religious devotion, possessions were given to his monastery by the will of God, from which the servants of God and pilgrims have full consolation. He was indeed a nurturer and teacher of the sons of noble families, whom a long illness purified, and through these good deeds God prepared eternal joys for him."

[11] Then, having entered the third gate, when we began to travel quickly, as the Holy Martyrs saw us, he saw Martyrs they humbly began to pray with one voice, as we said above: "Conquer, O strong Warrior Christ, you who redeemed us by shedding your blood, and let not the devil lead this soul to Tartarus." Without any^e falsehood I say, it seemed to me that the noise of the voices of the Saints resounded throughout the whole world. And so then we came to the fourth gate of Paradise, and there I recognized one of our Brothers, named Baudolenus, who once lay at the gate of our monastery, crippled in great tribulation, and Baudolenus the monk. and he told me that by the ordinance of Saint Peter he had received the care of the lights of the churches throughout the whole world: and he began to reproach me because in our church, which is built in his honor, the light failed at night and did not burn at every hour, as he himself without doubt saw as present. Thenceforward we were no longer permitted to enter further: but I saw a wondrous splendor and brightness in all parts, which I could scarcely behold even a little with my dazzled eyes.

[12] Then Raphael summoned one of the Angels and sent him to quickly call Peter the Apostle to himself. Saint Peter, summoned, He departed with swift course and called Saint Peter. He, without any delay, came, saying: "What is it, Brother Raphael, that you have caused me to come?" To whom Saint Raphael said: "The demons are contradicting one of your monks and are absolutely unwilling to release him." Immediately the most blessed Peter, with a handsome face, turned to them and said: "What crime do you have to charge this monk with?" And the demons replied: "Principal vices." And Peter said: "State them." hearing the accusation of the demons And they said: "He had three women, which was not lawful for him: and he perpetrated other vices, numerous adulteries and other faults, which we had suggested to him; and they recalled in detail those things which I had done from infancy: and that which I myself never brought back to memory." And Peter said to me: "Is it true, Brother?" And I said: "It is true, Lord." And the blessed Peter said to them: he sets forth the good deeds in response: "Even if he did something contrary, almsgiving redeemed it: because almsgiving delivers from death: he confessed his sins to Priests, and did penance for those sins: moreover, he laid down his hair in my monastery, and abandoned all things for God, and delivered himself to the service of Christ. All these good deeds have trampled down all those evils which you mention: therefore you cannot take him from me. Know plainly that he is not your companion but ours." But they, strongly fighting back against him, said: "Unless the brightness of God takes him from us, you cannot take him." Then Saint Peter, moved to anger against them, began to say two or three times: "Withdraw, wicked spirits, withdraw, enemies of God, who are always contrary: release him." And they never wished to release me. Immediately the blessed Peter, having three keys in his hand, he puts the demons to flight. wished to strike them on the head with those keys, but with swift course, spreading their wings, they began to flee and, flying, returned whence they had first entered. But with a strong voice the blessed Peter the Apostle forbade them, saying: "You shall not have leave, foul spirits, to come here again." And they, extremely sad, began to fly above that gate, and thus fled through the air.

[13] After the routing of the demons, Saint Peter, turning to me, said: "Redeem yourself, Brother." And I said to him with great trembling: he enjoins alms on Barontus: "What can I give, good Shepherd, since here I have nothing at hand?" And he said: "When you have returned to your own pilgrimage, that which you kept hidden when coming to the monastery without provision, reveal to all, and do not delay to give twelve solidi with haste: begin from the Kalends of April, and so through each month in the circuit of the year, place one solidus in each month in the hand of a pauper, well weighed, and signed by the hand of Priests, and bring legitimate witnesses, that after you nothing of that money may remain, and as I have already said, place it in the hands of pilgrims: and thus transmit your redemption to the heavenly homeland: and beware lest through those sins which you committed through human frailty you ever fall back: and watch with diligent study, that when the year is finished, no coin remains after you. Because if you appear negligent in this, it will greatly grieve you at the departure of your soul, and your ruin will be worse than the former." And there was a certain old man there of excellent appearance, of venerable aspect, who stood nearer to the blessed Apostle Peter and asked him, saying: "Lord, if he gives all these things, are his sins forgiven?" [he orders him, after seeing the torments of hell, to be led back to the monastery.] And the most blessed Peter said to him: "If he gives what I have said, his crimes are immediately forgiven." The blessed Peter also said to that old man: "This is the price of both rich and poor: twelve solidi." After this admonition was made, Saint Peter ordered two little boys, who were clothed in white garments, with shining brightness of face, of beautiful form, to lead me to the first gate of Paradise, where the brothers of our monastery were resting in quiet, and from there to lead me through hell, so that I might inspect all the torments of sinners, and know what I should say to the other Brothers, and then lead me safely to our monastery. Then those boys, after the command was received, prompt to obey marvelously, led me to the aforesaid place. But when the Brothers saw me, they gave immense praises and thanks to the heavenly Physician, who had freed me from the jaws of the devil. When the prayer was completed, they received the command from the most blessed men to lead me back to my temporary homeland.

CHAPTER III.

The return from heaven. The torments of hell seen. The return to the body. An exhortation to penance.

[14] They began to discuss among themselves which of them it should be who would bring me back to my own pilgrimage. Framnoald is appointed as guide for the journey, Having taken counsel, they asked one of the Brothers, named^a Framnoaldus, who in this monastery of ours, which divine piety had granted to him, had departed from his body at a youthful age, and whose little body lies at the threshold of the church of Saint Peter: they asked him magnificently to lead me back to the monastery, and moreover they promised him, saying: "If you lead this Brother back to the monastery, on every Sunday he will clean your tomb with brooms, with the added obligation of adorning his tomb and upon it he will chant 'Have mercy on me, O God' in order to the end." But they turned to me and said: "Promise this to us, Brother, that you should fulfill those promises." And I immediately promised and confirmed with my word. And they said: "See that you do nothing different from this, lest you appear condemned by falsehood." Then the Brother Framnoald answered them: "I will obey your command, on account of which he should fulfill what he has promised."

[15] And the Brothers give thanks to God for his obedience: and they gave him a candle in his hand, he received a candle signed with the Cross from Ibbo, that he might carry it to Ibbo, the servant of God, in the church, and that he himself should make the sign of the Cross of Christ upon it, lest it be extinguished by malignant spirits on our journey, who always desire to call us back to darkness both in word and in deed. And the Brothers themselves said that the aforesaid Ibbo was celebrating the mysteries of the Apostles in the church. Thus journeying together we came to him: whom the Brothers began to ask: "Man of God, sign this candle, because Saint Peter has commanded us to lead this pilgrim from here to the monastery, lest he suffer the calumnies of the demons on his journey." Then Brother Ibbo said to them: "Most beloved Brothers, let us sign it together." And he himself, as he first began to raise his hands for signing, a wondrous splendor began to radiate through his arms and fingers. And I, when I saw more carefully, began to consider what this great splendor was that so adorned his arms and fingers: but as I inspected them, they were whitened with the likeness of gold and gems; and not without reason did all those things appear so made. In what my small self saw, I will relate a few things. His birth was of a distinguished lineage, and he left all earthly possession, a man of great virtue, and devoted to almsgiving. according to what the Lord teaches: "Go, and sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come, follow me." Having fulfilled the precept with full devotion, having taken counsel, he delivered himself to the service of Christ, laid down his hair, cut off his vices, and thus renewed became a minister of Christ: whose hands were always generous in giving alms; he spent transitory things, he purchased eternal ones: by doing these and other good things, his fingers and arms shone. Matthew 19:21 Let no one, therefore, most beloved brothers, doubt to give alms, since the merciful God thus makes his faithful ones to dwell in glory in eternal life.

[16] After the example of the signed candle, the servant of God Ibbo said to the Brother Barontus: Having received security against the demons "Listen, brother, if the demons wish to prepare snares for you on the road, say: 'Glory to you, God,' and they can never by those means make you deviate from your path." After all these things were done, the most blessed Ibbo himself began to ask the Brothers to lead me on the journey, and to visit hell, and to see the guardians of hell, and to know what I should announce to our Brothers. And he said to them: "For Brothers, we know that the demons cannot lead him astray, since Saint Peter has commanded them to return to their own place, so that he should improve his life." Then the Brothers, fulfilling the commands, began to walk. When we came between Paradise and hell, Barontus descends and sees the bosom of Abraham:

I saw there an old man, most handsome in appearance, having a long beard, sitting quietly in a high seat. And when I saw him, I began with bowed head to cautiously inquire who he was, so powerful and magnificent a man. But they, turning to him, said: "He is Abraham our father, and you, Brother, must always pray to the Lord that when he commands you to depart from your body, he may cause you to dwell quietly in the bosom of this Abraham."

[17] Then, traveling on, we came to hell: but we did not see what was being done within, he sets forth the torments of the damned he had seen, on account of the darkness of the shadows and the multitude of the smoking: but through those mansions that were held by the demons, I shall describe as much as God permitted me to see. I saw there innumerable thousands of men, who were held bound and constrained most grievously, and the terror of the groaning, and like the similitude of bees running back to their vessels: so the demons dragged souls ensnared in sins to the torments of hell, and ordered them to sit in a circle upon leaden seats. But I shall explain in detail how the orders of the wicked and their groupings were arranged. The proud were held there with the proud, the lustful with the lustful, the perjurers with perjurers, murderers with murderers, the envious with the envious; detractors groaned with detractors, the deceitful with the deceitful, according to what Saint Gregory set forth in the book of Dialogues: "They will bind them in bundles for burning," etc. There also an innumerable number of Clerics, also of Clerics, who here transgressed their vows and, deceived, defiled themselves with women, pressed by torments, emitted a great wailing: but it availed them nothing, according to what Saint Gregory says: "He comes vainly to the Lord with prayers who has lost the time of fitting penance." There also the weary Bishop Wulfredus, and of Bishops, sat in the most shameful garment in the likeness of a beggar; there also Bishop Dido and others whom we recognized among our relatives: there also the foolish virgins, who in this world boasted of their virginity and carried nothing of good works with them, groaned bitterly enough, joined in the custody of the demons. And another thing I saw there, very much to be dreaded by sinners: all those who were held under the custody of demons, bound with chains, and some given a certain refreshment, and some who had done good in part in this world, manna taken from Paradise was offered to them at the sixth hour, having the likeness of a mist, and was placed before their nostrils and mouths, and from it they received^b refreshment. They had the likeness of Levites, clothed in white garments; and others, who had never done good in this world, and to them also it was offered: but groaning, they closed their eyes and beat their breasts and said with a loud voice: "Woe to us wretches, who did nothing good that we heard, but we only saw this one great evil pass."

[18] Our fathers, whose names are contained inserted above, came to us, as the others returned and together with them we were fellow travelers, who said they would walk until we descended into a pleasant plain: then they, giving thanks to God, returned to the heavenly homeland. So afterward I and the Brother Framnoald himself, he comes with Framnoald to the temple of the monastery: who had received the power of leading me back, traveling on, came to our monastery, and a wondrous mystery of God appeared there: because at his coming the doors of the church were opened, and he entered and prayed at length: and when the prayer was completed, we came to his tomb, upon which, kneeling, he said this verse: "Have mercy on me and raise me up at your coming, O Lord." And he said to me: "Behold, Brother, here lies my little body: if you wish to fulfill what you promised, you will have the full reward." When these words were completed, he took from me the body which I had received from the air and the light, when this one departs and departed. And I, a sinner, all help having been taken from me, remained before the doors of the church of Saint Peter, placed in such great tribulation as I had not had from that hour when I had departed from the presence of Blessed Peter: and I began to drag myself along the ground and to hasten to my little body. But the immense clemency of God sent a wind which raised me on high, and in the twinkling of an eye carried me over the very roof elevated, he sees his companions near his body, where my little body lay. I saw the Brothers keeping vigil, and my son Agloaldus sitting beside the bed and holding his jaw in his hand, and nodding between sadness and the weariness of sleep. And again, with the wind blowing, I entered through my mouth into my body, he enters it: and the first word I burst out with was in praise of God: "Glory to you, God," as Ibbo, the servant of God, had instructed me.

[19] So afterward all the things remembered above, I who presumed to write, he himself wrote these things not things said by another but proven by myself in the present, I have learned. If anyone takes this little work made by me into his hands to read, he can reproach me for the rusticity of my words: he cannot convict me of the guilt of falsehood. Who, I ask, most beloved Brothers, has a heart so iron that these announced punishments do not terrify him, where the demons snatch every sinner departing from the body so swiftly and drag him with them to hell? This also Saint Gregory confirms, that the Lord permits the devil to drag the sinful soul from the body he exhorts to penance and holy life. so that, compelled, it may learn whom it voluntarily delivered itself to in the present life in guilt. Who will be so foreign to the faith as not to believe the sentence of this man? But the reason many do not believe is that the love of the world and earthly comforts delight them more than the love of God and the Society of Angels and Saints. The Prophet cries out and says: "Let us not delay to be converted to the Lord, and let us not put it off from day to day: for suddenly his wrath comes, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy us": and what will the things we have gathered by cupidity profit us? He calls us again, saying: "Come, children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord." He calls us through the Gospel, saying: Ecclesiasticus 5:8; Psalm 33:12 "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened with the loads of sins, and I will refresh you." He calls through himself and says: "Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matthew 11:28; Matthew 25:34 Saint John the Apostle preaches to us: "Brothers, do not love the world, nor the things which are in the world. 1 John 2:15 If anyone loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him: because all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh and the concupiscence of the eyes and the pride of this life, which is not from the Father but from the world: and the world passes away and its concupiscence, but he who does the will of the Lord abides forever." But the cupidity of the world hardens human hearts, like a hard stone, so that they cannot rise to uprightness. Let our faith, therefore, most beloved Brothers, grow warm again; let us recall our desires to the heavenly life; let us recall before our eyes the sins we have committed; let us consider how strict a Judge is coming, who disposes to judge not only our evil works but even our thoughts: let us form our mind for lamentation, let our life become bitter in penance; lest through earthly love it may feel vengeance in eternal damnation, but let good deeds summon us to the eternal region: so that when we have departed from the body, the holy Angel may lead us to the heavenly kingdom, and we may merit to have eternal life, which may he himself deign to grant, who with the eternal God the Father lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

All these things were done on the eighth before the Kalends of April, in the sixth year of the reign of Theuderic, King of the Franks.