ON B. FORTIS HERMIT
AT HOLY CROSS OF FONS AVELLANUS IN ITALY.
THE YEAR 1040.
CommentaryFortis, hermit of Holy Cross of mount Avellanus, in Umbria (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
Ludovicus Iacobillus, in tome 3 of the Lives of the Saints of Umbria, subjoins a Catalogue concerning the more notable Relics of the Saints, which are preserved in the same Umbria, and on page 4 hands down that in the Cathedral Church of the city of Gubbio rest the sacred bodies of SS. Marianus the Lector and James the Deacon, Martyrs, to whom the said church is dedicated: The body at Gubbio likewise of SS. Fructuosus and Rudolph, and of BB. Theobaldus and Villanus, Bishops of the same See; and the body of B. Fortis Gabriellus, monk of Holy Cross of Fons Avellanus. Of these the last B. Fortis is mentioned by the same Iacobillus in tome 1 on this IX of May, The Acts from Iacobillus. where he sets forth his deeds: which again in tome 3, where he treats of the Saints and Blessed of the monastery of Avellanus on page 331, he describes somewhat more distinctly, though more briefly: whence we have collected the following.
[2] Blessed Fortis, born of the noble Gabriella family, and by his parents, Piously educated, true lovers of Christian piety, educated and instructed in holy discipline; in his very youth was given to the mortification of the flesh, the holy meditation of celestial things, and the desire of the solitary life. he becomes a hermit in the Apennines; Therefore the city of Gubbio being left with his kinsmen he departed into the desert of a high mountain, situated in the Apennines near the township of Scheggia, at the confines of Umbria and Picenum or the March of Ancona, near the ancient Flaminian way, distant from the city of Gubbio eight miles: in which place several Hermits were exercised in the solitary life and the sincere service of God: and there is seen a small church or chapel, erected after the death of B. Fortis to his honor, still called S. Fortis. In this desert therefore he chose for himself some cave far from the popular tumult, and occupied himself in taming the flesh with various penances, and fostering the spirit with assiduous and fervent prayers: and amid winter colds and summer heats, as a strong athlete of Christ, he warred down the infernal enemy. His food was herbs and other ruder foods, his drink water, his bed the bare earth, then a monk of Fons Avellanus, his clothing rude cloths of a chestnut or tawny and variegated color. Afterward kindled with the desire of living under obedience, and instructed by the sanctity of B. Lodolphus founder of the Congregation of Avellanus, and of his monks; he betook himself to the said monastery, and from Guido of Arezzo then Prior there received the holy habit about the thirtieth year above the thousandth: and in that society of most holy monks, to whom afterward the mentioned B. Lodolphus, he dies in the year 1040, having left the Bishopric of Gubbio, had returned, he lived with great reputation of sanctity, and at length died on the ninth day of May of the year one thousand and fortieth. Then his kinsmen, on account of the singular affection and devotion which they bore toward him, the consent of B. Lodolphus and the monks being obtained, took care that his body be carried to Gubbio: he is buried in the Cathedral edifice. which in the Cathedral Church was deposited in a certain chapel at the end of the said church, to which by various steps a stone stair was ascended. But afterward his sacred body was translated to another chapel, situated in the middle of the said Cathedral, where hitherto it is honored with this ancient inscription.
D. O. M.
To the divine Fortis the Hermit, notable for whiteness of soul, the greatest constancy, and Christian piety. In the year from Christ's birth 1040 he migrated to the fatherland of heaven.
[3] This same inscription Philippus Ferrarius edited on the VII day of May, on which he related him after B. Villanius Bishop of Gubbio. His image hung in the monastery of Avellanus is seen with such a subscription: B. Fortis Gabriellius of Gubbio, monk and hermit of Avellanus, died on the ... of May of the year 1040. Gabriel Bucelinus in the Benedictine Menology on this IX of May honors him with this eulogy: The eulogy of Bucelinus. At Gubbio in Italy the birthday of B. Fortis monk and hermit. He, born of noble lineage at Gubbio, of the illustrious Gabriellia family, having professed as a monk in the monastery of Fons Avellanus, had S. Lodolphus Abbot, a most perfect master of sanctity: whose examples strenuously imitating, he lived a very rigid life, which he closed with a most happy end in the year 1040 on this day: whose body translated into the Cathedral temple, is there worshipped in a notable chapel: through whose intercession the Deity has bestowed many graces on the people of Gubbio. Concerning the desert of Holy Cross of Fons Avellanus, nay also the city of Gubbio we treated at length on the XXIII of February at the Life of B. Peter Damian §1. Concerning its founder B. Lodolphus most fully treats
Iacobillus in tome 3 from page 323 to 331. And because he was sprung from the most noble Pamphilia family, this he illustrates excellently.