ON ST. PARDUS THE BISHOP
PATRON OF LARINO IN ITALY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Of his church & cultus in it, & the Ms. Acts.
Pardus, Bishop in the Peloponnesus, Patron of Larino in Italy (St.)
G. H.
Larinum, or Alarinum, a city formerly of the Frentani, much celebrated by the ancient writers, in the present County of the Neapolitan kingdom Molise, on the confine of the province of Capitanata near the river Frento, is now called Larina, & although it be small, yet enjoys its own Episcopate. The Cathedral Church, of an ample structure of squared stone, is dedicated to S. Pardus the Bishop, where his sacred body is kept. Ferrarius in the general Catalogue at this day XXVI May, thus mentions him: At Larino among the Frentani of S. Pardus the Bishop, Patron of the city. Ughelli in Tome 8 of Italia sacra, where he treats of the Archbishops of Benevento & their Suffragans, among whom are the Bishops of Larino, in column 435 has these things: This Pardus was not Bishop of Larino, as Ferrarius writes, but Antistes of a certain city in the Peloponnesus, who when he had been expelled from his See, came to Rome to the supreme Pontiff: by whom another Episcopate offered in Italy, for the sake of quiet & love of solitude he refused, & withdrew into a hermitage near Lucera a city of Apulia: where he lived in that solitude with so great sanctity of life, that he was held a Saint after his death; & the people of Larino, from whom the body of S. Primianus had been taken away, having set out into the woodland of Lucera found the body of S. Pardus. there his body is kept Which when they had carried off, they conveyed it to Larino, & laid it in the church, which in honor of him they dedicated: & he is venerated 26 May & 17 October. of whose Translation they celebrate the day XXVI May, as of the Patron of the city & diocese: but the day of the invention XVII October. His Ms. Acts have these things. So Ughelli.
[2] Those Acts the same man himself, as far as we can recollect, gave us at Rome, The Ms. Life. copied from the Ms. of Bovino. Now Bovino is, with Lucera indicated by Ughelli, in the province of Capitanata, XIV thousand paces distant from it toward the South, near the confines of the further Principate. The same Acts, but without the Prologue & somewhat contracted, we took care to have copied for us from the Ms. codex of the Vatican library, which sometimes profited for the necessary correction of the first Ms. Now they are not very ancient, but composed first in the X century or even later, perhaps from a popular tradition. The Prologue is more verbose than is just: the Author in it calls himself Radoynus the Levite, namely of the Church of Larino. The supplements of the Carthusians of Brussels to Grevenus indicate the Translation of S. Pardus on the following day XXVII May, & then XVII October, on which above is said the memory of the Invention to be celebrated, these things are read: In the city of Larino of S. Pardus the Bishop & Confessor.
LIFE
By the Author Radoynus the Levite of the Church of Larino.
From the Ms. codices of Bovino & the Vatican.
Pardus, Bishop in the Peloponnesus, Patron of Larino in Italy (St.)
BHL Number: 6465
BY RADOYNUS FROM THE MS.
PROLOGUE.
[1] To the magnificence of the Saviour, & the praise of the whole Church, He writes the Acts for the imitation of the Saint, we believe it will be worth the labor, if we note the triumphs of the Confessors & Pontiffs of Christ, & the crowns of their contests. But if antiquity be by silence depressed into ancient oblivion, there is no doubt that they are not free from the fault of envy, who chose to impart the received gift of the Lord's talent, not to the profit of the Christian faithful, but with a secular zeal and a torpid tongue: when the Gentile Poets, given to vain study, strove to spread abroad through the whole world the deeds of the ancient infidel men by the figments of their songs: when it would be more proper for illustrious men to bring to memory the most celebrated contest of this most Blessed Pontiff, & to make solid the minds of the faithful with the pious devotion by the example of that contest. But while the felicities of this most holy Pardus the Confessor & Pontiff are read again, the hearts of the hearers, secular businesses being despised, with all effort burn with love of the heavenly country, & desire to hasten thither, where they shall receive without end the kingdoms of the rewarder of contests. To these things it has pleased me to write to all the spiritual Brethren, hearing or seeing the palm of this most fortunate Athlete, in what manner he agonized against all carnal vices, & how most keenly he wrestled against his wrestler the devil: that they may glorify the Lord & the merciful Father, who confers victorious arms on those adhering to Him, & makes safe those hoping in Him.
[2] & the glory of God: But now relying on the Divine nod, aided by your most holy prayers, I shall undertake to set forth more distinctly the life & merit of this most holy Father Pardus, Confessor & Pontiff: that those drawing in with their bodily ears his most holy deeds, the inward parts being filled with sweetness, may unceasingly belch forth with honeyed throat. But that this Confessor & Pontiff the holy Pardus set out abroad, we narrate historically at the end of this little work. And when this saint by understanding & working had preached to others, he brought back as it were a doubled gain from the business. But the servant who brought back the doubled talents is praised by the Lord, & is led back to the eternal remuneration, when to him is said by the voice of the Lord, Well done, good & faithful servant, over many things will I constitute thee, enter into the joy of thy Lord. Matt. 25 But then the faithful servant is constituted over many things: by the example of the good Evangelical servant, when, all the trouble of corruption being avoided, he glories in eternal joys in that heavenly seat. Then is he perfectly admitted to the joy of his Lord, when, assumed into that eternal country & mingled with the companies of Angels, he so inwardly rejoices in the gift, that there is now nothing of which he should outwardly grieve about corruption. For also of the slothful servant it is written, Take from him the talent, & give it to him who has ten talents. Where also soon the sentence is added, by which it is said: For to everyone that has shall be given, & he shall abound; but from him who has not, even what he seems to have shall be taken away from him. admiring the charity of the Saint,
[3] Whence it is necessary, my Brethren, that above all that you do, you watch toward the custody of charity. But true charity is both to love an enemy for the Lord's sake (a) & to love a friend in the Lord: because he who has not charity, will lose every good. But this venerable man & to be sung by the mouth of all, in whom both was true confession in words, & triumph in the virtue of sanctity, was of so great charity & sanctity, that… (b) while his rivals strove to expel him, on account of his most holy preaching, & on account of the divine seed which he anxiously desired to sow in their minds, & to pluck out the thorns of impiety. And when he had of his own accord yielded to the hatreds of his most iniquitous people; that the Lord might gain it through himself, for a time he gave place to wrath, that the mouths of stammering dogs might be stopped, & in time he himself might come with fruit. But it was by no means granted him: because more were foreknown to the destruction of perdition. But now, on what occasion or by what prayers I have undertaken to deck the life of this most holy man the Confessor & Bishop Pardus, evidently hear.
[4] When I Radoynus a sinner, & unworthy Levite in the service of God, was quiet, & incited by the matron Mirata. hindered by no blasts of winds, but contemplatively girt about with divine prayers; close at hand there stood before me a certain handmaid of Christ, by name Mirata, beseeching with tears, prostrated at my feet, & her head cleaving to the ground, that I should set forth the acts of this most illustrious man; that there might both be joy to the present, & it might furnish to those to come a paradisiac gain. But while I beheld myself unlearned, (c) hearing with my ears, I did not suffer her words to cleave (d) in the inner recesses of the heart, on account of the unbearable weight; & because the merits of this most holy Pardus, even if the profuse loquacity of Maro were present, would never be able
to set forth or in order to deck: but overcome by the prayers & tears of that most illustrious woman, not from cause of temerity or boasting, aided by the prayers of this most holy Confessor Pardus, I undertook to publish those things which of so great & illustrious a man were possible to me, & accommodated to your memory, that to the edification of souls it might be profitable & most known to all.
ANNOTATIONS.
HISTORY
OF THE LIFE AND TRANSLATION.
[5] Now this aforesaid venerable Pontiff Pardus, was (a) of the city of the Peloponnesus: & because all the inhabitants of his diocese ran through precipices, Expelled he came to Rome, following their own will, he began to address them, & to confound them with the word of divine preaching, that he might be able to take them away from the pestiferous error. But they bearing his preaching ill, more wickedly & with disgrace expelled him from his Episcopate; saying after the Jewish manner; We will not have this man reign over us. And the more attentively he preached the words of truth, the more the hearts of the depraved men, after the manner of niter, gushed forth to the worse: whence also Solomon says; He who sends vinegar in niter, so is he who sings songs to a most evil heart. Prov. 25, 20 But expelled from the city, with some Clerics, he came to Rome with great grief to the Apostolic one, who in those days presided over that Chair. Whom the venerable Pope himself (b) with his Clerics honorably receiving & blandly consoling, ordered sufficient stipends & lodgings to be accommodated to him, & moreover to have a place in the city; through the Holy Spirit knowing, of how great virtue was that man who had come.
[6] But after his wearied limbs were refreshed, where he was received by the Pope & for a little while recovered strength, the misfortunes & deeds of his sheep with great mourning he related, in the ears of the supreme Pontiff; that the Blessed Pope might counsel him, what he should do thence concerning his Episcopate, or how outside his parish, however unwilling, he might sojourn by living. To whom the aforesaid Pope said; Wish not, son, to consume thy days with mourning: but have our solace: for soon the Lord will give to us & to thee His counsel. But after not many days, his fellow-citizens coming to the thresholds of the Apostles, strove to search out whether their Pastor had come thither: nor permitted to return, whom anxiously seeking in the city & in the suburbs, their bestial ferocity now laid aside, they found him giving himself to divine prayers, & dwelling with the Pope in the City. To whom coming with great mourning & instance of prayers, they earnestly besought, that he would return to his own See. Whose prayers, because he was wearied by age & ill-health, holding them of little account, strengthened by the counsel of the supreme Pontiff & the holy Council, he gave them license to enthrone another in his See, that, joined to the footsteps of the supreme Pontiff, they should leave him to remain in the city. Which command although receiving with mourning, counsel being taken they chose a Pontiff, & so to their own with vast sadness they went back.
[7] But this aforesaid Pontiff Blessed Pardus, after his fellow-citizens returned to their own, asked of the Pope, that he would grant him a place of remaining in Apulia, where he might more instantly bewail his calamities with a mournful office. Which petition the supreme Pontiff with joy fulfilling, & because he had found a place of fulfilling his desire, he assigned also companions with the petition. But he, made possessor of his wish, attended by great crowds & most holy troops, came to Apulia. And finding there a place apt for his desire, he attached himself to a most opulent suburb (c) of Lucera. Into which entering, he ordered two churches of wondrous magnitude & beauty to be built, cleaving to the wall of the city: in which he served God many seasons, & near which he ordered a very small & most narrow little cell to be made for himself; at Lucera he piously dies. in which dwelling for several years, afflicted with many vigils & fastings together with prayers, he rendered his soul to God.
[8] After whose departure, by the merits of the inhabitants the Omnipotent permitted them to be scourged with the greatest plagues, & also all Apulia to be depopulated. Because (d) then the Emperor Augustus Constantine, having gone forth from his city with a great army, crossed the seas: & coming (e) to Taranto, filled the broad fields with his army. This being overthrown by the Greeks, But quickly thence rising with his apparatus, he laid waste all Apulia, & plundered it. Thence going to Lucera he ordered it to be most keenly fought against, & divers engines to be applied, until it should be taken. But the taken one he ordered to be leveled to the ground, & it being burnt with fire, all the people, who had not before fled, to be sent into captivity. But the Augustus, made cheerful by the victory, not yet sated with the crime of his own, ordered the camp to be moved, & more swiftly the camp to be measured out by the walls of the once most rich city of Benevento, in which Romuwald the Prince, with the most holy Priest (f) Barbatus, & few & most valiant Lombards, was staying. Which being surrounded with robbers & an innumerable army, he ordered new engines to be applied, that by guile or strength it might be taken. But the omnipotent Lord, by the merits & prayers of Blessed Barbatus, enervated the strength of the soldiers: & so at last the Augustus vain & empty withdrew, only hostages being received he flies thence; & having entered Naples, & seeking the sail-winged sea, he reached his own borders.
[9] But the Bishop of Lucera, who before his diocese was taken had secretly fled with his Clerics into some part of Apulia, founded a town by name (g) Lesina, in which he also stayed for years not few. & by the Saracens Larino, the people of Larino for the lost Relics But after the Lord permitted Ausonia to be scourged by the swords of barbarians, the (h) Agarenes entered, & widely depopulating it, with great impetus came to Larino: which destroying, they slew its inhabitants with swords. But after these things, because that depopulated city lacked inhabitants, the inhabitants from the town of Lesina went, & thither secretly carried the two bodies (i) of the Saints Primianus & Firmianus, there resting, & led them to Lesina: but when the men of Larino ran here & there through the fields, they found the sepulchres of the Saints dug up, & the Bodies carried off. Placed therefore in great mourning, & long lamenting, they indicate it to their fellow-citizens: who being gathered they more solicitously consult, & through several places it is searched, that the omnipotent Lord might bring to light the pledges of the Saints, by what pirates they had been carried off.
[10] Which being found, that the men from the town of Lesina had snatched them, all preparing themselves in arms, they find the body of S. Pardus, & carry it to Larino, hastened to Lucera: which going about, they came to the sepulchre of S. Pardus the Confessor & Bishop: which digging up, they found the holy body intact, only one thumb wanting. Which with joy raising, wrapped in worthy linens, & with incense going before, & torches gleaming, with hymns & canticles, the journey being taken up, they began to hasten to Larino. But before they had drawn near the gate of the city, the bearers of that holy pledge stood still, not able to go forward, the divine clemency working such things. And when all who had flowed together to the service of the holy body, beholding this were held astounded at so great a miracle; they began to weep, & bending to the ground, & abundantly wetting their cheeks, prostrate before the holy Body, sent forth these words with prayer & great promises. O most holy Prelate, Blessed Pardus, who hast both made the blind to see & the deaf to hear, & the lame to walk, the paralytic to handle, the young, laboring with the dissolution of the nerves, hast brought back sound to their former state, the obsessed by unclean spirits, not without a miracle. not only by prayer, but sometimes also by power hast healed; be present now to the afflicted remnants of the people of Larino, & grant that, brought within the walls of this city, we may merit to have thee Protector & defender, not only of bodies but also of souls: that as the rest of the cities dance & are exalted in their holy Protectors, so also we may rejoice, having thee Governor. At these prayers & tears B. Pardus the Confessor & Pontiff, moved by divine gift, both restored the steps of the men, & a prosperous journey of going to the city: that they too might rejoice that they were heard, & he himself might rest there in the place prepared for him by the Lord. Then all the bearers & attendants of that holy pledge, raising it with hymns & canticles, & with all honor, brought into the city of the people of Larino the body of B. Pardus the Bishop: & placed him in the church of the holy Mother of God & Virgin Mary, until they should build for him a worthy church, in which he might be placed: in which after not many days he was placed: & the omnipotent Lord through him bestows on His faithful many benefits, even unto the present day.
[11] But at a certain time, when the Lord permitted the Italians to be scourged for their iniquities by the scourges of the Pagans; The Hungarians are put to flight by the aid of S. Pardus once, the (k) Hungarians having entered Hesperia, slew as enemies, according to their power, all the worshipers of Christ, as many as they had meeting them; & overturning the walls of the most fortified cities & depopulating the provinces, came to Larino; which heavily assaulting, they plundered it even to extermination. But when they wished to return with spoils & captives into their camp; the citizens praying at the tomb of the most blessed Pardus the Bishop, that he would both free them & loose the captives; he brought upon them so great confusion, that trembling (l) they fled into their tents: & leaving the men, & beasts, & all the spoils, as if compelled by a great band of soldiers, so the more swiftly they fled. But the captives returned to the city, now loosed, glorified the Lord, & S. Pardus the Confessor & Bishop, by whose prayers they merited to be freed from the hands of the enemies.
[12] But at another time the Hungarians making an onset took that city, & despoiling it came to the church, & again: where B. Pardus the Bishop was entombed: near whose tomb were hiding, a certain Guido a Presbyter, with a certain old woman & a little boy; & despoiling the said church of all goods, they were so blinded by the merits of B. Pardus the Bishop, that they neither saw nor touched those hiding. After not many years a certain blind woman came to his sepulchre, asking mercy, that she might receive sight, many other miracles are done. & immediately by his working she obtained sight. O how many blind, how many demoniacs, how many paralytics received health at his sepulchre, & even today receive, humbly & devoutly asking! For this man was a Pastor pious & merciful, humble & benign, spurning no one, to all he bestowed, to all he indulged, he animated the fearful.