Cataldus

ON SAINT CATALDUS

BISHOP OF TARANTO IN ITALY.

Cataldus, Bishop of Taranto in Italy (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

Taranto of the Salentines in Magna Graecia, formerly, as Pausanias attests, the greatest and most opulent of the maritime cities with an excellent port, even at this time still adorned with an Archiepiscopal See, Cataldus once Bishop of Taranto, and Patron situated in the Province of the kingdom of Naples called Hydruntina: concerning whose Antiquity and varied fortune John Iuvenis of Taranto composed eight books, printed at Naples in the year MDLXXXIX, and then inserted into Italia Illustrata printed at Frankfurt in the year MDC. This author in book 8 chapters 2 and 3 treats of S. Cataldus, once Bishop of Taranto, and even now the Patron of the city and Church of Taranto: on account of the Finding he is venerated 10 May, and chapter 3 indicates that the Finding and Translation of his body is celebrated most solemnly on the sixth Ides of May, and that on that day there was a great concourse of the neighboring inhabitants, on account of the plenary indulgence granted by the supreme Pontiff Gregory XIII, at the entreaty of Laelius Brancatius then Archbishop. From which time also began to be recited the office of S. Cataldus, according to the norm of the Roman Breviary, as is prefixed to the said Office in these words. We William Sirletus, by title of S. Laurence in Panis-Perna Presbyter Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, make faith and attest, that our Most Holy Lord Gregory XIII, by an oracle of the living voice made to us, granted and gave license to the Archbishop and Clergy of Taranto to say in choir and outside the above-written Office of S. Cataldus Bishop and Confessor their Patron, reduced and amended to the form of the Roman Breviary, both on his feast and on the Finding throughout the whole metropolis, according to the ancient custom of the Church of Taranto. Given at Rome in the Apostolic palace, in the place of our accustomed residence V Nones of July MDLXXX. Cardinal Baronius, citing this Office, inscribed the name in the Roman Martyrology on this X May, in these words: At Taranto S. Cataldus Bishop, famous for miracles.

[2] The History of the Finding and of the miracles is given from MSS. We subjoin in the first place, as more certain monuments, the history of the Finding and of the miracles, described, as appears below from num. 24, from the Acts which Berlengerius of Taranto published, a noble man and most eloquent Jurist, who by command of the King, summoned to Palermo, betook himself thither for translating a certain volume from Greek into Latin. But whether all the miracles which we give were written by Berlengerius, is not certain. We are also ignorant in what order they were first described, which between the history of the Finding and the Translation we have in a double MS. as to the said order discrepant: wherefore it were to be wished, that the text of Berlengerius himself were found. Bartholomew Moronus published the Miracles of S. Cataldus, most faithfully taken from very old copies, with the style moderately changed at Rome in the year MDCXIV. But we prefer to give the things themselves drawn up in the original style, and not departing from the sense of the author; such as together with the aforesaid history of the Finding and Translation we received at Naples from P. Nicolaus Beatillus. Michael Monachus in the Sanctuary of Capua cites the MS. Acts of the Finding under this title, with Tragon the Archbishop a religious man: but it should be read Drogon. The birthday is by Petrus de Natalibus to be reported below assigned to VIII May: a cult on various days and places which at Taranto with solemn rite is performed, and is found inscribed in various annals. Moreover on VIII March it is commemorated in the MS. Florarium, and in each Catalogue of Ferrarius, churches built who asserts that day to be the birthday. Iuvenis adds, that from this Saint many towns and parishes are called and his name is celebrated at Venice, in Umbria and in Sicily: also at Coralto in Apulia, that the pestilence might cease, a church was built to Saint Cataldus, and granted to the Minorite Fathers in the year MDVI. John Francis de Abela Vice-chancellor of the sacred and most eminent Religion of Jerusalem, in the description of the Island of Malta published there in the year 1647, book 1 notice 4 of the Cemeteries page 47, attests that beside the city, near the crypt of S. Paul, and contiguous to the crypt called of S. Mary of Hope, there is another crypt dedicated to S. Cataldus with a cemetery, above which today is a very small church consecrated in honor of the same Saint, and much frequented by a devout people, on account of the continual graces which there by his intercession are reported by the ruptured, for which cause there almost daily Mass is celebrated.

THE HISTORY OF THE FINDING AND TRANSLATION

By the Author Berlengerius of Taranto, and perhaps others.

from MS. codices.

Cataldus, Bishop of Taranto in Italy (S.)

BHL Number: 1653

FROM MSS.

CHAPTER I.

The body found. Several miracles wrought.

[1] With a special indeed and singular affection of devotion is the present solemnity to be celebrated by us. For when we celebrate the memory of other Saints, it is not doubtful that it consists in reason, that for celebrating the solemnities of the most blessed Confessor of Christ Cataldus we should more manfully gird ourselves: S. Cataldus Patron of our people of Taranto, whom the supernal grace, not by merits, but by sole clemency, deigned to bestow on us as Patron. For although the divine power is governor and guardian of all creatures, yet to diverse provinces and cities it appointed singular Patrons: to some indeed Apostles, to some Martyrs; to others Confessors, and to others Virgins. For God willed his Saints to be as it were certain mediators between himself and men, that their vows, which for the mass of crimes could not ascend on high, as it were by certain wings, with the Saints' prayers mediating, might be raised to heaven. Lest therefore the people of Taranto, without a Shepherd wandering alone, be swallowed by the jaws of the wolf, he willed it not to be deprived of so great a benefit, but constituted him for it as Patron: by whose intercessions it may both turn aside from harmful things, and be directed to wholesome things: whom we ought to venerate so much more honorably, by how much more precious an exchange we rejoice that he was given to us.

[2] For if we pass to the history, and wish to scrutinize the beginnings of our belief, given in place of SS. Peter and Mark. we ought to seek out the documents of our faith from the holy Prince of the Apostles and Blessed Mark, his son in baptism: who having set out from Antioch came divinely to Taranto; and the people obscured by an idolatrous mist they illumined with the fire of the divine light; and sowing the seeds of faith, the multitude being left not of gods but of demons, they changed it to the knowledge of the one true God. But because the other of the two, namely Peter, Master and head of the future Church of Rome, owed it, among the other Churches destined to have the primacy; but Mark of the province of Egypt about to believe in God: they besought of God, that, since he had foreseen them to be ordained elsewhere, the people acquired by them he would not leave orphaned, but provide another Patron for it in their place. To the pieties of the Apostles God conferred efficacy, both by the merits of those praying, and by the reason of justice: for each wrought unto the effect, both because such were those who prayed, and because they sought things worthy to be granted: for neither, if they should ask against right, although Apostles, would they obtain what they desired, wherefore B. Paul's prayer concerning the removal of the goad of the flesh was not heard. The holy prayer of the Saints obtains its effect, and in their place sets this patronage and protection upon our land. But how great this glorious Pontiff was in life, the miracles wrought after his passing demonstrated. But how the precious treasure, namely his venerable Body, was found, and some miracles wrought after his passing, with God's help, will be narrated in compendium.

[3] Therefore ^a Drogon the Archbishop, a religious man, panting to the services of God with his whole heart, divinely inspired, disposed to demolish from the foundations the greater church of Taranto, consumed by age, and to found a new one: which in ornament and magnitude should surpass the old one. This so praiseworthy purpose pleases sufficiently all who hear it: the work is begun: From a sweet odor the Relics are discerned: and with the other diggers, a certain man of a most excellent life was digging, whom God had prepared for uncovering so great a treasure: who when he had dug somewhat deep, began to perceive an odor of wondrous sweetness: he persists at the work, and is filled with greater sweetness. Meanwhile he uncovers a tomb of marble fair enough: and perceives the odor proceeding from the sepulcher. He began to cry out to the Pontiff. The Pontiff is called, he hastens: and gazing at the monument, began to conceive in mind, that from the Relics held within that most sweet odor proceeded. The Clergy runs: the people hastens, not so much by the voices as by the sweetness of the inviting odor. The Prelate, the spade taken, opens the tomb, from which all who were present are suffused with a wondrous odor. They see the holy Relics, more ruddy (as is read) than old ivory. Lam. 4, 7 They find a golden Cross, designating the name of the saint ^b in Latin letters. A procession is suddenly prepared, the name is designated: lamps of wax candles are lit: aromatic spices of diverse kinds are burned. But the sweetness proceeding from the Relics far surpassed the odors.

[4] A vast joy arises: they kiss the Relics: and render thanks to God for so inestimable a treasure found. the Relics are reposited The Pontiff with his own hands collects the holy Relics, and the ropes brought down, the monument is drawn up on high, and in the best place, where at present it is seen, ^c is established, in which, reverently composed, the most holy bones are most devoutly ^d reposited. For declaring his merits God doubles the testimony: because him whom he first made manifest by the sweetness of the odor, he rendered more manifest afterward by the effect of miracles. Meanwhile through the neighboring places flies the fame of so great miracles: and in troops they come bringing the sick. Of whom those who came with a faithful heart are restored to their former health.

[5] Among whom a certain woman came, with her arms withered by languor: which laid upon the monument, withered arms are cured, she was so totally restored to health, that in her no vestige of the languor remained. A certain man of Benevento, dissolved in his whole body by the sickness of paralysis, paralysis, hearing the aforesaid miracles of the Confessor, devoutly visited his church: and laid upon the monument, devoting himself to prayers, he obtained his former health. In whose cure two other miracles concurred. For besides the paralytic aforesaid, with no one being in the church, it being locked, the several bells began to be rung of themselves by angelic hands: and its very doors, which were closed, the deaf and mute, are unbarred of their own accord. A certain woman also, long now remaining deaf and mute, coming to the tomb of the Saint, and there lying through the night, prayed to God with what mind she could. And having received health, the tongue, which had long been silent, proclaims the miracles of the most blessed Confessor. the contracted. A certain youth, deprived of the power of his limbs by a long sickness, laid by his parents at the sepulcher of the man of God, with a copious multitude of men present there, who by annual custom had come to visit the Saint, by the merits of the Confessor merited to obtain bodily health.

ANNOTATA.

is said to have been present at the consecration of the church of Cassino with Leo

of Ostia book 3 of the Chronicle of Ostia chapter 30.

CHAPTER II.

The Translation of the body, and various miracles thereafter wrought.

[6] Moreover ^a Giraldus Archbishop of the Church of Taranto, devoted to B. Cataldus, divinely inspired, determined to repose the Relics of the Confessor in a more precious place. A skilled silversmith is found, who completes a fitting silver chest: in which were sculpted the images of the Saviour, of the glorious Virgin Mary, of the holy Angels and of the Apostles the number of twelve. There was also applied to the work a small portion of the health-bringing wood of the Cross, covered with gold and with precious stones; that the Redeemer, beholding the sacraments of his passion, by the pious prayers of men by that contemplation might more clemently be inclined. And so, the felicitous casket for the Saint's receptacle completed, the same Pontiff appoints the day of the Translation: the Relics are transferred into the silver chest for which to be most devoutly celebrated in the church, not only those dwelling within the bounds of the diocese of Taranto, but those existing in remote parts, likewise convened: and a fast having been proclaimed by the Prelate, the day with the night is spent in prayers and praises, and works of charity. On the morrow the day of the Translation is appointed. In the morning the aforesaid Pontiff with his fellow Bishops and the Clergy, litanies and psalmodies having been chanted, they open the marble monument fair enough: which for the receptacle of the saint's Body long since now ^b Raynaldus of good memory Prelate of Taranto, under the principal altar of his own church had reverently caused to be reposited: which being opened, an immense fragrance of the odor proceeded from his Relics. Which Relics indeed, thence reverently drawn out by the Prelate, in the same silver chest are honorably reposited. But from the excessive rush of the people thronging in the church, many were variously held: and those who seemed as it were dead, by the merits and virtue of the Confessor were rendered unharmed: in the year 1151. But the glorious Translation was celebrated in the year of the Lord's Incarnation ^c MCLI, on the tenth day of the month of May, in the XIV Indiction, presiding indeed over the Holy Roman Church the Lord Eugenius Pope the third, reigning also the Most Serene Lord Roger King of Sicily, with the excellent Lord King William his son.

[7] The frenzied are healed, The first miracle therefore, by which he illustrated the vigils of his translation, was in a certain poor little woman, of the village ^d of Lellanum, frenzied for a long time, utterly despaired of her health: who, when she heard of the future Translation, came together with others: and at the tomb pouring out tearful prayers, was swiftly restored to her former health.

[8] A certain man of the castle ^e of Massafra, having a son he might be present at the solemnities of the Confessor. On the night therefore preceding the day, on which the glorious Translation was to be celebrated, he laid the blind boy at the Saint's monument, tearful prayers being poured forth, and after the cure of the frenzied woman at a small intervening interval he perceived an odor of wondrous sweetness, and he who had been blind received the light of his eyes. While he ran through the church unharmed, the Shepherd and the people seeing these things, sang psalms: and hymns to God and to his blessed Confessor Cataldus.

[9] the strumous, On the same day on which the glorious Translation was celebrated, whose whole body the king's-evil had so filled, that the surface of the flesh seemed swollen in the manner of balls; coming to the church as he could by limping, and prostrating at the Saint's sepulcher, scarcely the prayer finished which he had begun, suddenly received health. Who, ungrateful for so immense a benefit, wished to cover under silence the gift of God, by returning to his own house. And when he had come to the doors of the church to go out, he is stopped against his will: and the more he strove to go forth, the more, as though driven by a wind, he was turned back inward. And so it came to pass, that, compelled, he published what had happened: and he who wished to conceal one thing, necessarily afterward proclaimed two miracles.

[10] A certain nun of ^f Mutula, whose sister for eighteen years labored grievously with the sickness of paralysis, visited the church of the Confessor: the paralytic, and hearing so many miracles wrought through the Saint, called herself unhappy and wretched, that she had not led her sister to the Saint for recovering health. At length the said nun returning, and again coming back with her sister weak and languishing, both entered the church itself: who alone prostrate devoted themselves to prayer, and at once the sick one was restored to her own health. the possessed, Another nun also of S. Peter of Mount Joy, not coming of her own will, but unwilling was present at the solemnities of his Translation, compelled by the college of the Sisters: for a malignant spirit had invaded her, and sharply vexed her, so that she could in no way be at rest. When she came with the other Sisters, with God and the Saint praying for her; she on the contrary blasphemed. At last by the merits of the Saint utterly freed, with her Sisters she gave thanks to God and to his wondrous Confessor.

[11] A certain other nun of ^g Gallipoli, struck with three years' blindness, disposed to come by ship to Taranto, the blind, and to visit the Saint's church. Who having entered the ship, before she arrived where she was bound, received the light of her eyes, which she had lost. And so her vision recovered, going to the church, she narrated what had happened: from which by her and others the clemency of God is praised and the piety of his Confessor. A certain man of Bullita, withered in legs and feet: having a daughter twelve years old, withered in legs and feet, brought her to the church of the Confessor: where for four days staying and likewise praying, his daughter received not health. But the father despairing of his daughter's health, disposes to return, and places her before the doors of the church, that he might put the little baggage on the ass. He turns his head for his daughter, and finds her not: he enters the church, and seeking her, finds her unharmed before the Cross. Which done, they render praises to God, and give thanks to his Confessor.

[12] A certain nun of the borders of ^h Alexanum, seized with languor, the deaf, lost the hearing of both her ears, so that for all wishing to speak to her it was necessary to use signs and noddings of the fingers. The fame of the wonders of the Confessor (although it resounded higher) was not able yet to penetrate the deaf ears of the nun. Her sister indeed suddenly inspired, leads her sister to the Saint, not knowing whither she was tending. They enter the church, and the sister shows the sister the tomb and the image of the Confessor: she looks up to heaven, and touches both ears of the suffering nun: and so the deaf one perceives by an evident sign for what she had been led by her sister, and began with clamorous voices to beseech the Saint. She believed perhaps that she had come to an equal and like hearer. But the blessed Confessor, condescending to her prayers, swiftly restored to her her former health. Both sisters therefore began, with a multitude of people thronging, to give thanks to God and to his Confessor Cataldus.

[13] A certain man ⁱ of Pellicorium, Ursus by name, a man just and rich, had lost half of his body, oppressed by a grievous infirmity. the hemiplegic, He therefore the fame of miracles having learned, and seeing certain ones whom he had known to have languished returned unharmed, caused himself to be led to the church of the Saint: which having entered he is prostrated on the ground, and with tearful prayers beseeches health. So in the night while he slept in the church itself, he saw in dreams only going before her: who coming to the sick man commanded the minister gently to raise the sick man's feet, that he might withdraw the bedding of the sleeper. But when he was fulfilling the Lady's commands, the sick man somewhat cried out. The Queen therefore saying to the minister, more harshly than thou shouldest hast thou raised the sick man's feet; the minister humbly thus answered: Lady, he felt no injury thence. Therefore when the sick man had awakened from sleep, he found himself unharmed: and narrating the vision which he had seen, he most certainly recognized that the most blessed Virgin the mother of God had conferred health upon him, with her minister his wondrous Confessor mediating.

[14] A certain girl of ^k Brindisi, with pain of the head long aggravated, the blind, lost the light of her eyes. Her parents indeed paying the price with a liberal hand, invited physicians to extirpate the blindness of their daughter: who promised health to the sick girl, which they knew not how to bestow. At length, the parents utterly despairing of their daughter's health, the fame of miracles being heard, they propose to come to the church of the Confessor. Silver eyes are made, to leave in memory in the Confessor's church. The girl in the night perceiving herself to see, calls her parents to rise, saying that the day had already dawned. The parents grieve very much, believing the blind daughter unable to discern day from night. When she more openly asserts, God has restored to me the light, know it most certainly; they rise hastily, and find that she has most truly recovered the light of her eyes. Rejoicing they come with their daughter, and render thanks to God and to the Saint for the health recovered. The silver eyes also are hung upon the image of the Confessor.

[15] A certain woman of ^l Basilium, languor had wounded her shoulder, withered in the arm, from which her whole arm withered. She sought health first through temporal physicians, then, the oratories of diverse Saints having been visited, asked for bodily health with vows and prayers, but was not able to obtain it: for the temporal physicians promised what they could not give; the spiritual ones indeed could, but would not, because they knew it was reserved for others. Meanwhile the sick woman learned of the Confessor's miracles, and applying faith, with her brother as forerunner and guide, visited the Confessor's church. And both praying before the tomb, that night on which she had come the sick woman received health.

[16] withered in the hand, A certain carpenter of Taranto, Argentius by name, living justly, his hand with the arm withered, had lost the necessities of life with the same: for by the art of his hand he lived and his own. And when through diverse oratories he sought, it was revealed to him through a dream, that elsewhere and from another he should ask health. So coming to the Saint, with a tearful prayer he thus spoke: I esteem, O Lord, nay I believe, that I have been sent to thy sanctity, and that my health is reserved to thee. To thee I come, to thee I run: render me whole to thy flock, that I may proclaim God's and thy piety. But when he was beseeching these and other things, the piety of the Confessor was not lacking: for his former health restored, his hand with the arms, he aggregated him unharmed to his flock.

[17] The fame of the miracles of the Confessor not only the Apulians: but the Calabrians also being roused, it pleased eight inhabitants ^m of Croton to come by sea, with two other sick men taken with them and brought in the ship, one of them an inhabitant and fellow-citizen withered in hands and feet, the other of the castle of Persigro likewise suffering. And when between the Lato with rain added to the wave, likewise a storm dispersed. thus the ship on every side was shaken, that unless God should succor they would await shipwreck, the ship being filled with a double water, namely rain- water and sea-water. And so the sailors utterly despairing of safety, began to invoke the help of the Saint, that he would free them from the peril of death. the other two are healed, But the ineffable piety of the Confessor renders itself more liberal than it is asked: for the storm suddenly calmed, to the sick he afforded health. Thus therefore by the protection of the Confessor freed, going to his church, they glorify and praise the clemency of the Saviour, narrating the miracles wrought by the merits of the Confessor.

[18] The vertigo of the head is cured, To a certain Presbyter of Pomaria, suffering a lasting vertigo of the head, beseeching the blessed Confessor for his health with vow and tears, sleep having seized him

he seemed to be present in the church of S. Mark, to confer about his languor with a certain disciple of his. Who advising his ailing master said: Go to the Pontiff sitting behind the altar, who by name is called Cataldus: and as he freed many sick of various languors, so by accustomed clemency he will deign to have mercy on thee. It seemed therefore to the sleeper that to the Saint with swift step he came: who, making the sign of the Cross on the head of the sufferer, kissing the forehead, announced the sick man healed: enjoining upon him moreover that he should go to his church. The Priest therefore awaking and perceiving himself healed, did not delay to come to the church; proclaiming to all the miracle wrought for him unto the praises of God and the glory of the Confessor.

[19] epilepsy, A certain man of Lombardy, renouncing this world, the Lord's sepulcher and the other holy places, where our Lord had conversed, having most devoutly visited, disposed to visit other houses of God, situated through diverse provinces. Who passing through Monopoli ^o, when he returned, remained there some days. And understanding in the same territory the monastery of S. Angelus to be situated, going to it for a certain time he dwelt there with the monks. At length by the cunning of the ancient enemy, envying his good acts, with the epileptic languor, the falling sickness which it is called, he is so sharply struck, that not once in any month or day, but twelve times in each he was tortured. He having heard the miracles of the Confessor did not delay to set out to Taranto, and health recovered returned unharmed to the services of the monastery.

[20] A certain girl of Meyaneum was on her neck so surrounded by a multitude of scrofula, that in her no space of health was left: of which some, broken open, emitted continual matter; scrofula on the neck, part indeed swollen threatened a near opening and effusion of putridness. Her parents, desiring the health of their daughter, used first the enchantments of women, then various and diverse ointments, at last procured health for the sick by the counsels of physicians. All which aforesaid affording her no health, the fame of the Saint's miracles being heard; that to the blind sight, to the deaf hearing, to the lame walking is restored and step, the paralytic are cured, and whosoever weak by his merits receives soundness; they had brought to him their daughter, asking with devout prayers his health. The Confessor therefore with accustomed piety beholding the parents' tears, so healed their daughter, that in her no scar of the wounds remained.

[21] A certain widow woman of [p] Roseto, of good conversation and life, in her whole body, although she was tortured with languors, yet greater pains in her feet she sustained: for they were made as it were dry wood, rendering no service to the body. The kinsmen of the sick woman, the miracles of the Confessor heard, began most devoutly to beseech, that he would deign to succor their kinswoman. The Saint therefore, benign hearer of suppliants, appeared the following night to the sick widow, a languor of the feet, and said to her: To thy languor the piety of the Saviour will set an end: and for certain thou shalt be healed without delay, if thou wilt set out to my house. And so the sick woman coming to the church and praying, the clemency of the Confessor restored entire health.

ANNOTATA.

is noted toward the borders of Bari, at an interval of about 20 miles from Taranto, and other places of the same name are found in Calabria.

p Rosetum, on the confines of Calabria and Apulia, situated not far from the sea, commonly Rosito.

CHAPTER III.

Other miracles, even wrought upon the Writer.

[22] The citizens ^a of Gerrusium, judging themselves wicked men, because in some of their sick the clemency of the Confessor had not wrought its virtue; The leprosy of a Priest is cured, with the greatest devotion went to his church, armed with this confidence, that the sound might receive the health of their souls; and the sick, who could not accompany them, the health of their bodies: for they knew that power of divinity to be present everywhere to those invoking it. Of which sick ones struck however with the infirmity of leprosy of two years: Who, the scaliness of his spotted flesh cleansed, and the hoarseness of his voice laid aside, by the merits and virtue of the Saint cured of his leprosy was and cleansed. In haste therefore to Taranto he studied to hasten, accompanied by many of his citizens: and rendering thanks to God and to B. Cataldus, on his very altar he celebrated the solemnities of the Masses.

[23] A certain woman an inhabitant of ^b Cubersanum, while she was going to visit her sister dwelling at Polignano, a tumor of the belly, the beast on which she sat being terrified, fell from it: and so struck her belly against a stone, that from that blow a tumor in the manner of a pot stretched out beyond the belly as it were generated another belly. By this most hard suffering wearied for seven years (although she knew not the name of the Confessor) she began nevertheless with a tearful voice to invoke the help of the Saint, who tarries at Taranto: and scarcely the prayer completed she was made wholly sound: and freed from all pains: and at once rendering due thanks to God and to the Saint, and publishing the miracle to all.

[24] A certain distinguished soldier of Taranto, Lord Bedengerius named; a pain of the side and of the body, who, as a most eloquent man and skilled in law, published the venerable deeds of the Confessor, for translating a certain volume from Greek into Latin, betook himself to Palermo, by Royal command summoned. Whom an unusual and sudden pain of the side so invaded, that he believed he would close his life with the pain: on this pretext chiefly, as he himself attests, that to him no member remained, but that it suffered the greatest pains. Placed at the extremity of life (as he believed) the piety of the Confessor came to him, whom he began with his heart with tears to beseech. The Saint therefore wondrous and benign heard the prayers with tears the more clemently, in that by his word he swiftly restored him to health: showing by a most true argument, that what he had said of the ^c Finding and Miracles, he held grateful and esteemed.

[25] The eyes of a certain man of the place ^d of Salandra a black cloud had so possessed for three years, a three years' blindness that it not only had deprived him of light, but he was compelled to seek the necessities of sustenance by begging another's aids. He, diverse oratories, chiefly the Lord's sepulcher, with the greatest labor having visited, divinely inspired wished to visit the Confessor's church. Who, the journey of coming undertaken, felt the greatest itching in his eyes: and while he scratched them with both hands, from his eyes there fell as it were the husks of an onion: and the lost sight he recovers by the merits of the Saint so suddenly. By such therefore a dispensation of God health recovered, he came to the church of the Confessor, doubly weeping, rendering thanks to God and to B. Cataldus.

[26] a withering of the feet and legs, A certain man of Taranto, Dominicus by name, having a seven-year-old son, withered in legs and feet, by the counsel of his kinswoman carried the boy himself to the Saint. Where, prayers being poured forth with mourning, the first night on which he had come, the boy restored to his former health, ran about through the church. Concerning whom God's power is praised and the piety of his Confessor.

[27] the tempest of the sea is calmed. Certain sailors of Taranto, returning from the parts of Sicily, the gulf, which is called Nolpo, existing in Calabria, while they furrowed by ship; a tempest arises unexpected, and the sea changed into waves by the rage of the winds, the seas were troubled. The iron chain the mighty tempest dashes off, by which the rudder was held, and it was cast into the sea: from which the sailors utterly despairing awaited the peril of death. Weigh therefore the miracle: which follows, and was done by divine dispensation, not by human boldness. One of the sailors, leaping of his own will into the sea, strove to draw out the seized rudder: whom the wave with the seized rudder separated so far from the ship, that the companions could not behold him. The companions therefore for themselves and their companion besought the Saint with tearful prayers, that he would free them from shipwreck. And suddenly the rage of the winds being lulled, the sea is utterly calmed, with the rudder brought back into the ship with the companion to the companions unharmed. Who returning to their country came to the church, and the vows which they had vowed paying, render thanks to the Redeemer and to his wondrous Confessor.

[28] On a certain day, the sun verging to its setting, of light for two years, The blind woman is healed, lodging. Who kindly received by her, questioned her about the quantity of time, in which she had incurred blindness. Informed by her answers, the pilgrim added to her, why she did not go to Taranto, about to seek the help of the Saint tarrying there. The woman justly swears that of the Saint she had never heard anything. To whom the pilgrim: To the Saint delay not to set out: and for certain thou shalt receive health. But in the morning the pilgrim not being found anywhere, the woman hastening to Taranto, on the way receives soundness. Who with hastened step visited his church, to render due actions of thanks.

[29] In the little village of Barsentum ^f there was a certain woman, who had a son of one year, and a little boy burned by fire: sitting in a certain straw-heap of hers: to whom by custom four neighbor women had come, spinning and chatting with her, carrying spindles in their hands. While they were intent on the work and the conversation, by the cunning of the ancient enemy the boy withdrawing himself from the midst, crawling as he could hastened to the fire, putting his head with his face into the midst of the flames. Which done, as dead, and not being able somehow to weep, the women perceive the burning and the stench, and so perceive by smell what they did not see with their eyes. They cry out suddenly weeping, Holy Cataldus of God, bestow the help of thy piety; the little boy snatched from the flames breathed not at all. Two hours therefore now having passed, the spirit began subtly to be moved. To trust in his life after four days somewhat when they had begun, they were nevertheless utterly despaired of the light of his eyes. While they therefore vowed, the piety of the Confessor was present, and obtained life with light from God. Wherefore quickly they take the journey, and come to the Saint's monument. The grandmother therefore and the mother of the boy, with bent knees with their hands dragged along the ground, from the entrance of the bridge to the church proceeded, that they might render thanks for the saved boy, whom with a four-footed gait to the fire the enemy had dragged.

[30] A certain young man of the Gauls, made Master of the liberal Arts, divinely inspired, disposed to visit the Lord's sepulcher and the other places, which our Lord and Saviour by his presence illustrated. Which having most devoutly traversed, through the islands of Romania ^g while he returned thence by ship, by the obstacle of the winds a certain trumpet-ship in which he was carried makes a delay at Trani. But when he understood of the Saint's miracles, from then after God he commits himself in all things to the Confessor. The pilgrim is freed, the others being drowned. For the tempest of the sea being lulled, while he furrowed the Calabrian sea, after Croton was left behind, on the sea a mighty storm arose: which so strongly shook the ship, that by the surges of the waves it was filled on every side. Thus therefore with the pilgrims the sailors shaken, all that they had cast into the sea, even the necessary tackle of the ship itself. Meanwhile the ship was driven to the shore of Gerace ^h by the whirlwind: and from the land it seemed to be distant as far as a stone's throw is, where now it is lifted to the sky, now it is cast down to the depths. The bodies of the pilgrims, wrapped in the marine waves, were straightway deprived of life, with only that pilgrim excepted, of whom above mention was made. Who placed in so great a peril, the Saint assumed to himself as protector with tears besought, that he would not permit him to close his day in the waves of the deep. And at once as if compelled by a wind, to the land unharmed he is carried, and stood as it were made beside himself. At length returned to himself he visited the church, giving thanks to God and to the Saint, to whom after God he ascribes the remainder of his life.

[31] A certain woman of Oria ⁱ, grievously made sick, was tortured by a lasting pain of the head: from a pain of the head a blind woman is enlightened, nor at a great intervening interval did the pain bring forth blindness. Who weeping continually ceased not to beseech Blessed Cataldus, that she might recover the sight lost. On a certain day at midday sitting at home praying to God, and to the Saint after the accustomed manner with tears, she hears suddenly a noise as of someone walking softly in the house: and asking who it might be, on her head she receives a light blow, no answer being received. She cries suddenly to a neighbor, that from which she received the light of her eyes: and so to the neighbor coming and others running together at the cry, she recites the order of the thing done. Almost all the people of Oria assemble, paying praises with joy to God and the Saint: on the morrow the woman comes to the church with a great company of citizens, praising God's power, who through his faithful servant cured her of her languor.

[32] A certain youth of ^k Ostuni in his hand is struck with the suffering of pain in the thumb, The ulcer of a thumb is cured, whose flesh into a wound is so perforated, that putridness from the wound continually flowed forth. Which suffering by some is called a fistular drop. His parents therefore began to seek physicians: who profited the sufferer not at all. At last they determine to go to Taranto to a certain physician, proved in infirmities: and while on the morrow they prepared to take the journey, in dreams the boy's father saw by him likewise and saying; Why dost thou not labor to seek a physician, who may heal thy son's evil? To whom the father: Lord, whatsoever physicians I could find, I have applied to the care of our child. One thing only still remains, to go to Taranto to a proven physician, if perhaps he can render health to the sick one. To whom he: Why, says he, dost thou not bring him to the physician tarrying at Taranto, who bears medicine [not] laborious to the sick: and at once will restore thy son sound to thee? And he seemed to touch the thumb of the sufferer. But that man being awakened, narrating the vision to his wife, she believes the Confessor is the physician: to whom together with the boy while they came, the boy on the way obtained health. So coming to the Saint, they glorify God and praise him, and proclaim the wonders of the Confessor.

[33] A certain girl of ^l Trani, the only child of her parents, adorned with nobility, beauty and morals, the paralytic mute and lame is healed struck with the infirmity of paralysis, lost the office of walking and of speech, with all her beauty. The parents seek out temporal physicians, hiring them at a great price: whose antidotes approved affording the sick girl no health, they dispose to bring her to the tomb of the Confessor. And the journey begun while they ride between Mutula and Massafra, the mount which bore the sick girl falls to the ground suddenly, its foot struck against a stone. But the sick girl fearing lest by the beast's fall she be hurt, God help me, with a great voice cried out. And at once running about with a cry, far from the mount she withdrew: and so in the same moment to speak she recovered and to walk. While she therefore ran about for joy and spoke, the parents perceive God's mercy to have been present, and by the Saint's patronage their daughter restored to health: who with psalms and actions of thanks come to the Saint's monument, and what had happened they make manifest.

[34] The Lord of the castle of S. Nicandro ^m, of the territory of Bari, with his wife, illustrious in nobility of morals and birth, had a beautiful and comely son, now reaching three years: whom a most grievous fever so invaded, that with his appearance changed to pallor he refused to suck the breasts, nor was the faintest pulse perceived. With closed eyes the vital warmth leaves the limbs, the dying boy he becomes colder than ice, and the infant is reckoned dead. The wretched parents grieve weeping with their kinsmen and crying out: and when they prepared the shroud, and all the things necessary for burial; the father divinely inspired, as if from sleep awaking from the tears which he poured, began to say with a cry, O most holy Confessor of Christ, Blessed Cataldus, and the sick mother, as by thy mediating prayers the clemency of the Saviour restored to me my partner almost dead; so to me and my wife let the boy be restored unharmed, that we may bring him to thy holy Relics. The wife also implores the help of the Confessor praying; that as he freed her from sickness, so from death he would free her son. Soon the infant began to open his eyes, and to suck the breast of his mother. Whom restored to health the parents bringing to the Saint's tomb, vows double for the mother and the boy they rendered.

[35] A certain man of the Transalpine parts, who confessed himself after seeking everywhere on earth in vain the benefit of health, hearing of the Saint's miracles, on Palm Sunday betook himself to Taranto: and the solemnities having been performed outside the gate while the procession returned, to all that man appeared exceedingly monstrous. Which seen, those praying and individuals began to wonder alike and to be amazed, and a monstrous king's-evil is cured. and for fear signing themselves with the sign of the holy Cross, for his health with tearful prayers they implore the mercy of God. For he bore in his throat side of the throat far protruding, exceeding the magnitude of a ball, which the camels display when they coil up the length of their neck. The wretched man approaches the church, embraces the tomb, provokes the Divine clemency with sighs and weeping. On these works he persists until the following day of the Lord's Supper. On that day the solemnities of the Masses being begun by the Prelate, while the Gloria in excelsis Deo was solemnly sung; and the people responded And on earth peace to men and the rest; that fleshy mass, before harder than bone, is changed into the softness of butter: and by divine aid perforated at each head poured forth poison and bloody matter, like a wineskin perforated on both sides; and the skin exhausted, remaining emptied of putridness, was gathered up again like the dewlap of a bull. And the sick man being so restored to health, all so jubilate and exult, to God and the Saint with hymns and praises as many as possible chanting.

[36] Many indeed and other miracles the holy Confessor wrought, but they are few written of many: for who could write all things, which assiduously work in us his virtues? With accustomed piety therefore, holy Father be to thy people an impregnable wall, S. Cataldus is invoked. an impenetrable shield, an inviolable helmet, an unfailing breastplate, a daily fortification, an everlasting patronage. Increase health by thy prayers, obtain peace, and minister whatsoever wholesome things: remove the noxious, obtain pardon of sins: grant therefore that, cleansed of crimes, we may please him whom thou pleasest, our Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through the infinite ages of ages.

ANNOTATA.

APPENDIX.

On the finding of the tongue of S. Cataldus and of the book written by him.

Cataldus, Bishop of Taranto in Italy (S.)

BHL Number: 1654, 1655

FROM MSS.

[37] After many ^a courses of years, which flowed from the passing of this Saint, under the Prelacy of the Lord ^b Roger Archbishop of Taranto, while by the command of the same Pontiff, through certain good and honest Clerics of his Church, The tongue found the Relics of B. Cataldus, which had been reposited in ^c a silver arm, were sought, to be reposited in a better and more honorable [way]; there by chance was found the tongue of the most blessed Confessor (as is seen) whole and unhurt ^d. The Lord wishing to show: that the tongue, which in his life effectually preached him, after his death immaculate should wonderfully remain; that there might be fulfilled the Prophetic saying, A gracious tongue in a good man shall abound. Eccl. 6, 5

[38] On the VIII day of the month of April, the X Indiction of the year MCCCCLXXXXII, of the Pontificate of the most holy in Christ Father and our Lord D. Innocent by divine providence Pope the eighth ^e the eighth year, which was the day exalted our Lord ^g D. Ferdinand, by the grace of God King of Sicily, Jerusalem &c. On the Saturday before the said Sunday, in the year 1492 Cataldus appearing causes his book to be sought. at two or three hours of the night, there appeared visibly to the Deacon Raphael Cucera of Taranto, standing in prayer in the choir of the greater church of Taranto, Blessed Cataldus Rachau Archbishop of Taranto: and after exceeding terror received by the said Raphael, he addressed the same Raphael, saying: Often and oftener I have told thee, that thou go into the church of S. Peter, existing outside the walls of Taranto by a stone's throw, and thou wouldst not go: I tell thee that at once thou go to the Bishop, who the people and Clergy of the city being assembled may go to the said church: on the front of which he will find in a column with his hand and two fingers the place, in which you will find a certain prophetic judgment, which I made while existing among men, and that I placed beneath the feet of the said image, which I caused to be painted. In which place indeed you will first find a certain Cross of lead fashioned in the said column. Beneath the said image, in which are sculpted the below-written letters. And afterward thou wilt find a certain book of lead beneath the said Cross, with leaden covers: and on whose cover are appointed the below-written letters. Let that book be sent closed as it remains to the King, and let him observe the contents in it: otherwise woe to his kingdom, because it shall suffer the greatest ruin, pestilence, famine and war of the infidels. And the aforesaid if he will not believe, go thou Raphael to him, and tell him this vision shown to thee. These things said he vanished from his eyes ^h.

The Book.

thus it was on the leaden cross Open ye here ye will find and at once let it be sent to the King

ANNOTATA.

On the following light with solemn pomp the minister with a company of the people proceeded to the hiding-place, in which for a very long age the little book had lain hidden; and that he found it sealed with leaden tablets and barred with keys, is sufficiently established.

INQUIRY

On the age and deeds of S. Cataldus in life.

Cataldus, Bishop of Taranto in Italy (S.)

BHL Number: 1652

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

[1] A difficult question it is, or rather conjecture, concerning the time in which S. Cataldus was Bishop of Taranto, and from what part of the world he came thither. John Iuvenis book 8 on the Antiquity of the people of Taranto chapter 2, where he treated of the Life of S. Cataldus, adds these things: Who succeeded Saint Cataldus as Bishops, Presidents of the Church of Taranto, Many uncertain things about the life of S. Cataldus. is not sufficiently clear until the year DXCI, with Gregory Pontiff Maximus: either because the writings were burned, or because there were none before this time: since those who by the Pagans were found Christians, were either afflicted with stripes, or with swords and various kinds of torments slain. It is wonderful therefore, that of Cataldus alone there exist writings, and those almost beyond human faith to be admired: and yet they as it were the first foundations are brought forth by the said John Iuvenis in his antiquity of the people of Taranto, and from him by Ferdinand Ughello tome 9 of Sacred Italy in the Archbishops of Taranto. Which with great labor Bonaventure Moronus of Taranto of the Order of Minorites in six books in heroic verse published at Rome in the year MDCXIV, but his brother Bartholomew Moronus added to them the Life of S. Cataldus, from the Catalogue of the Saints and the most ancient MS. codices of the Church of Taranto, and from the Office reformed by Sirletus the Cardinal.

[2] In the History of the Finding and of the miracles num. 2 it is said: How great this glorious Pontiff was in life, written by Petrus de Natalibus, the miracles wrought after his passing, nay after the finding, demonstrated, which soon in compendium are narrated, long before the Catalogue cited of the Saints was written by Petrus de Natalibus about the year MCCCLXX, and any foundation of fables was given. There book 4 chapter 143 it is said that he was born of the town of Ireland called Catandus, that his mother having died in childbirth without anyone's help he embraced and revived; and having fallen on a stone, the mark of his crown, as if it had been the softest wax, by a hollow he made; and by rainwater fallen into it whatsoever sicknesses were healed. Afterward a Presbyter he raised two dead; and when by the King he was to be expelled, that man being terrified by Angels, he received the dominion of the extinguished Duke; in which after a church was constructed being elected Archbishop, he constituted twelve suffragan Bishops; and all things duly disposed, he rested in peace on the eighth Ides of May: but where? Was it in his Archiepiscopal Church among the Irish? But afterward it is said the body was found and entombed in the Church of Taranto.

[3] and drawn from MSS., as to his birth, country, These things from the Catalogue of Petrus de Natalibus, which in the first place Moronus alleged; who then alleges the MS. codices of the Church of Taranto, which we also received various, and sufficiently agreeing with the Life published by Moronus and Iuvenis. In these it is said that he was born among the Irish in a town of the province of Numenia. But which is that? We judge Momonia is understood, in whose County of Waterford is Lismore, a city once Episcopal, then united to Waterford, near which there was the town of Catandus. His birth is said in the MS. Acts by a most bright star designated, and that Dichas the hermit himself foretold he would be great. But whatsoever wonderful things in his birth here and above we have noted, in the Office by the Cardinal Sirletus amended are omitted as fabulous, and dictated by a certain wandering Irishman under pretext of piety brought to Taranto, from those things, which everywhere of Irish Saints are narrated for the genius of the nation, the easily credulous fables of their poets: for so we have already elsewhere often discovered to have happened, to the Patrons of celebrated places, whose age, origin and country were less known. But this of S. Cataldus could be done more confidently, because the name seems to be Irish rather than Greek. Certainly many Cathaldi in his indices to the Acts of the Saints of Ireland Colganus names. But we fear lest the rest ascribed to Ireland be of like flour, of the dead raised, and an Archiepiscopal see erected with twelve suffragan Bishoprics, and this in the second century of Christ, that is about two hundred and sixty years before the coming of S. Patrick, who first brought the Christian faith into Ireland. Hence to our MS. in which it is indicated that he came to Taranto in the time of Anicetus Pope in the year CLXVI, someone had written in the margin in the year DLXVI: and in Sirletus the time of his coming to the city of Taranto is involved in silence. Moreover the above-mentioned Alexander ab Alexandro, the Episcopal see Rachau: while he indicates the finding of the book (which happened in the year MCCCCXCII) after about a thousand years elapsed from that time, in which he had presided over the See of Taranto, sufficiently intimates that about the five-hundredth year more or less he lived.

[4] Moreover by Moronus he is surnamed Cataldus Rachau, from the Archiepiscopal See which in Ireland he had held. But who mentions this metropolis? The city of Armagh S. Patrick chose, but situated in Ulster: and in Momonia was Cashel the metropolis, where the first Bishop and King at once Cormac, is said by the Danes about the year DCCCCV or somewhat later to have been slain in battle. While round about through various regions we seek the province of Rachau and its metropolitan See, there occurs a city in Illyricum the Ragusan, which John Lucius in his Dalmatia calls Ragusium and Rausium, as it were Ragausium, that thence Rachau could have been formed. But because from Epidaurus,

destroyed in the seventh century of Christ. Ragusium or Rausium it is established was constructed, that See should be assigned to S. Cataldus too late; and because among the people of Taranto after Caesarius the XI Archbishop there is a gap of nearly three centuries, to the eighth century or the following his coming to the people of Taranto would be assigned: which though it seem not inconvenient, that, the people of Taranto breathing again from the yoke of the Saracens, Cataldus undertook to govern them under the empire of the Greeks, yet we are unwilling first to assert: but to the examination of the learned men among the people of Taranto we leave conjectures of this kind, perhaps Rath… until for supporting them more solid arguments offer themselves, than is the sole affinity of the names Rachau and Ragusium. Especially since the very name of Cataldus favors the Irish; and as the names of Catondus and Numenia are held corrupt without doubt and depraved, otherwise in Ireland not easily to be found: so also it can be believed that the name Rachau is depraved, whose perhaps true beginning is Rath, signifying a fortress, or fortification, in the nomenclatures of the Irish churches taken from the site by no means infrequent. So in the old notice of the Bishoprics subject to the Roman Patriarchate (which at the end of the Sacred Geography from an ancient MS. of Thuanus Carolus a S. Paulo published) under the Archbishop of Armagh are reckoned the Bishops of Rathbotum and of Rathurum or Rathburum. Because moreover before the dioceses, ordained under Eugenius III in the XII century, the division of dioceses was very confused among the Irish, and the ministries of Abbots and Bishops undistinguished, and many Bishops were ordained in Ireland, who then attaching themselves to a simple parish or monastery, did not raise those places to the number of Episcopal Sees; not difficultly can it be conceived that Cataldus, before he departed from Ireland, was ordained Bishop in some place, whose name from Rath begins, if this is the legitimate correction.

[5] these being omitted, the last part of his life is given from a MS. In the other MS. submitted to us after the history of the Finding, Translation and Miracles we find the Life of S. Cataldus after his departure from Rachau accomplished in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, thence on his return to Taranto, and with his labors there transferred until his death: from which at least it is established that the said pilgrimage was instituted, after there the sepulcher of the Lord by command of Constantine the Great had been erected, which in the following centuries was wont with a great concourse of pilgrims to be visited. That part therefore as in some measure probable here we set down, in which the better are wanting the companions of the journey added by others, and they are Euperpius, afterward called Leucius, Bishop of the people of Brindisi, and Barsonuphrius, by the people of Oria reckoned among the Patrons: of him we treated XI April, and his Acts we showed partly fabulous, partly uncertain. But the various Acts of S. Leucius we gave XI January, but which concerning the times in which they lived confer nothing certain. Morenus adds, that Donateus or Donatus his brother was brought, and given to the people of Alezio or Lecce as Bishop, whom Ughellus constitutes their third Prelate. These and other things omitted the assigned part of the Life we add and it is of this kind.

[6] Rachau converted, Blessed therefore Cataldus the devout Confessor of Christ, after he had the whole province of Rachau, in which he shone with the dignity of the prelacy, by his wonderful preaching converted to Christ; divinely inspired disposed to visit the health-bringing sepulcher of the Lord, in which for the redemption of the world he had lain; and to adore the places; where his most holy feet had stood. A ship being hired, he sets out on the way by ship under the habit of a pilgrim: and after much labor coming to the holy city of Jerusalem, the sepulcher of the Lord he entered; he visits the Lord's sepulcher and it with the lips of his heart and of his body he most devoutly kissed, rendering immense thanks to the Redeemer of the human race, who deigned to grant him, that he might touch his most precious monument, from which he had risen victor of death. Then the holy oracles he visited of that most blessed Virgin: which by him with exceeding devotion visited, his mind was filled with spiritual joys, while from virtue he was advanced unto virtue. After these things to lead an eremitic life he chose in the parts mentioned: yet his purpose, which to God he commended, he disposed to His will: who directed his works. And when according to the desire of his heart he had suppliantly besought God, that to him he would deign to show, what would be pleasing to His will; to him devoutly praying appeared the Lord Jesus Christ, and among other colloquies recalled him from his eremitic purpose, commanding him, by God he is destined for Taranto. that to a part of Italy he should betake himself into a city, which Taranto vulgarly is named, and the people once uncultivated and given to idols, by Peter the Apostle and Mark his disciple converted, to the truth of the Christian faith, and again entangled in their former errors, he should lead back to the firmness of the Catholic faith.

[7] Truly faithful B. Cataldus the servant and minister of Christ, hearing the Lord's precept made to him, of coming to Taranto, with hastened step came to the shore: he foretells a tempest of the sea; and a ship being found sailing to the parts of Apulia, he covenanted that it should carry over there himself and the other pilgrims, who were there. As they departed therefore from the Transmarine parts, sailing the various seas of the places, with a prosperous wind blowing, the holy man mighty in the prophetic Spirit, foretold to the sailors, that after nearly half an hour they would run into the greatest tempest: when of this thing no indication appeared. And scarcely after an interval of about half an hour, there arises tranquillity of the deep into waves. And so the thick rope, by which the sail is lifted on high of the mast, is broken by the violence of the most mighty tempest. Meanwhile one of the sailors younger and apter than the rest, while into the ship's mast he had climbed, that he might fasten rope to rope, suddenly him beneath the ship cast the stormy rage of the winds, and the ropes broken he breathed out his spirit. At length all, who in the ship were present, of bodily life utterly despairing, their souls to omnipotent God with tearful prayers and vows commended. And amid such straits some were mindful of the word, which the holy man had said of the aforesaid tempest, who at his feet prostrated, him humbly asked, saying: O man of God, who this tempest about to come by the divine spirit didst foretell, he drives it off by prayer: we beseech God, whom thou worshippest, that for us it may please thee to beseech him, who by thy prayers may deign mercifully to free us from the present peril. The holy Confessor, as he was filled with piety, fled to the protection of prayer: and the prayer made suddenly the tempest is lulled. With exceeding serenity succeeding, and to God thereupon are rendered manifold prayers of thanksgiving. So the placation of the winds being made, again the most blessed Confessor in prayer gave himself, with tearful prayers beseeching the Lord, that to life he would restore the dead young man and broken. he raises the dead, For the clemency of the Saviour was present: for the dead young man to life he restored sound and whole, by the prayers and merits of his wondrous Confessor. The impediment of the winds being lulled from then on, the parts of Romania being left behind, into the waves of Apulia the ship glides: and to the port of Otranto they come, a prosperous breeze succeeding. Where the servant of God setting down they suppliantly asked him, that for them he would beseech the Lord. To whom blessing bestowed he departed from Otranto toward Taranto, directing his prosperous steps.

[8] And while he had his journey to the same city through the territory of a certain little village, the deaf and mute he heals: which is called Fellinum, and passing by had gone, the said place being near by one mile, he met, who was leading a flock of sheep to pasture. And when the holy man had several times addressed her, she in no way answering him; the blessed Confessor understood her not to have the benefit of hearing and of tongue: having compassion, he said to her: I command thee, girl, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thou answer me without delay. And at once the girl received hearing likewise and speech: and leading him into the hamlet, to all she divulged the miracle; which the holy man, in her had wrought by divine power. Wherefore the inhabitants of her hamlet received him honorably.

[9] But the most blessed Confessor of Christ Cataldus entering into the city of Taranto, there entered into it likewise the grace of the Saviour. a blind man by baptizing he enlightens: For while he had passage through the gate of the city, there met him by divine disposition Whom blessed Cataldus addresses thus saying: Of what religion or faith are these men of this city? The blind man answered: Our fathers were anciently Christians: but now there are few who hold the faith of Christ. To these things blessed Cataldus. Thou, son, art a Christian or a pagan? The blind man answered: Never did anyone teach me the faith of the Christian name: For much time, that there was not any Bishop in this city. To whom B. Cataldus said: If from thy whole heart thou wilt believe in the holy Trinity, that is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and in his name in water thou wilt be baptized, in soul and body thou wilt receive brightness. And at once the blind man answered: I believe as thou Father truly tellest me. Then the blessed Confessor the water taken him in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit with his own hands baptized. In the same hour his eyes are opened, and he began enlightened to the bystanders to say with a cry: Come and see the holy man of God, who me in the name of the Lord by baptizing restored to me the light of my eyes. At this voice there was made a concourse of crying peoples, praising God and saying, that such a stupendous miracle from the age they had not seen.

[10] he converts the people of Taranto Then the blessed Pontiff and minister of Christ seeing an innumerable people gathered who would believe in the Lord, began to preach to them the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. and the neighbors, But the people of Taranto all and each, and the multitude of the peoples of the neighboring cities, who flowed together to his preaching, hearing his health-bringing doctrine; and also the signs and prodigies, which through him daily the Lord Jesus Christ wrought, were baptized, receiving the Lord's faith expounded to them by the venerable Confessor. Now the same blessed Pontiff was for governing the people exceedingly solicitous and intent, conspicuous in goodness, the thresholds of the church he continually frequented; his body with fastings, vigils and prayers he afflicted; he aids all, toward the oppressed and desolate very compassionate; whose affairs as his own he managed. His tongue mellifluous of spiritual and health-bringing doctrine to teach daily all and each ceased not. he ordains a Clergy; He ordained meanwhile Priests and Clerics of diverse order for performing the sacred mysteries of the church, in the city of Taranto and the other neighboring villages, which through him in the Lord believed.

[11] After these and other tokens of virtues, which God wrought through his Pontiff still with the carnal burden weighed down; there was now imminent the time, in which for his labor he was to receive the full reward from the Lord. By exceeding sickness of the body therefore weighed down, seeing the dissolution of his body imminent, sick he comforts the faithful; the Clerics and several other faithful men of the city being called before him, he said to them: Brethren and my most beloved sons, know that against the Catholic faith by heretics a very great persecution will be at hand.

But you after my death confirm the people and teach them; that in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, which I preached to them, they remain firm and constant. For to this province not by chance but by the Lord's precept did I set out. For when I was at Jerusalem there deigned to appear to me our Lord Jesus Christ, and to give in commands, that to this city personally I should betake myself, and his faith solicitously I should preach, which B. Peter the Prince of the Apostles and B. Mark his disciple, in baptism his son, preached there. Moreover I will, he disposes concerning his burial; that you place my body in the greater church on the eastern side, in the place, which is called of S. John in Galilee, and that under the earth with all diligence you repose it. At length, in him completed the ministries, which are wont to be done about the faithful dying, he dies with the bells ringing. that holy soul released from the flesh in the joys of eternal brightness was placed: but in that same hour the bells of all the churches of the city by Angelic hands began to be rung. The body of the holy man therefore being brought into the midst of the greater church, famous for miracles that about him the venerable Clerics might laudably celebrate the exequies; to him of both sexes innumerable peoples flowed together, with a copious multitude of diverse sick, and of the languishing miserably oppressed. Who as they touched his venerable body, were restored forthwith to health. At length the exequies and praises being honorably celebrated the Clerics and other citizens of the city, diligent counsel having been held upon this, a sepulcher of marble of wondrous beauty erected. In which placing most devoutly that most holy body, he is buried. it under the earth, as he had commanded, with all diligence they put, to the praise and glory and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.