Martin or Martius of Massico

ON ST. MARTIN OR MARTIUS OF MASSICO, HERMIT AND ABBOT IN CAMPANIA,

ABOUT THE YEAR DLXXX.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Martin, who is also Marcius, solitary in the Roman Campagna. (S.)

BY V. D. B.

§ I. St. Martin has been confused with other saints; two days of his cult; his age; his religious profession; a description of Monte Massico.

Although the deeds of St. Martin of Monte Massico are so singular that they seem unable easily to be confused with those of any other saint, [St. Martin, who is also Martius, first at Monte Cassino, then hermit and abbot on Monte Massico,] it has yet come about by I know not what fortune that his name has been interchanged with others and that whoever wishes to write of him finds himself at the beginning in the midst of perplexities. That we ourselves may set out on our way with as much clarity and straightness as can be done, it will help to set forth first the chief matters of Blessed Martin, as Peter, deacon of Cassino and a distinguished writer of the XII century, condensed them from the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, pope, and inserted them in his little book on the illustrious men of Cassino. In the common editions this encomium does not exist; but our Papebroch found it in a fuller Cassino copy. It had perhaps been brought in here from the book of the same Peter on the rise and death of the just of the monastery of Cassino, from which Angelo Mai drew it and edited it in part II of volume VI of his New Collection, and after him Migne Latin Patrology, vol. CLXXIII, col. 1065. Martin, an excellent man and a magnificent worker of miracles, living first at Cassino under the most holy father Benedict and afterwards on Mount Marsicus, dwelt with a serpent for a long time; almighty God granted water from the rock of his cave for drinking; God terribly slew a woman who provoked him to obscene deeds; a boy rushing down from the very top of the mountain to the bottom he kept unhurt by his prayer; a most enormous stone overhanging his cave he wonderfully moved from place to place. And he was buried on Mount Marsicus. So the blessed man first stayed at Monte Cassino; then, turning aside to the south, on Monte Massico. He was contemporary with St. Benedict, father of the western monks, and St. Gregory, Pope I, wrote his praises.

[2] [long venerated on the 3rd of August and the 24th of October, he was confused with St. Marcius, abbot of Auvergne,] To these things one must add that a double feast is celebrated in his honour, one on the 3rd day of August, the other on the 24th of October; and we now enter upon this matter. In the first place, in the monastery of Böddeken of canons regular of St. Augustine, which was formerly in the diocese of Paderborn in Westphalia, our Gamans found a Life of Blessed Martin, solitary and confessor, composed in verses, whose feast is on the III of the nones of August: that was the title there. And in the Life, written by an anonymous author, one may read this: But the body of the most blessed man was buried in a cave of the same Mount Massicus on the northern side: which, because difficult of access, remained for some time at rest and unmoved, or rather unattempted; and lest it come into doubt when the death of this holy man, or rather the feast of his life, ought to be celebrated, let it be known without doubt that it ought to be venerated on the THIRD OF THE NONES OF AUGUST. Finally in Peter the deacon of Cassino you have this in the Life of the blessed man: But the body of the most blessed man was buried in a cave of the same Mount Massicus, on the third of the nones of August, on the northern side. And from this it is understood that the people of Carinola now err when on the 3rd day of August they celebrate the translation of St. Martin the abbot, since on this day there is manifestly to be kept the anniversary memory of his deposition; and next that in the Calendar of the saints of the order of St. Benedict, which Ferdinand de Valye, a Cistercian monk in the Antwerp monastery of St. Saviour, completed in the year 1527, a notable confusion was made, since at the said 3rd day of August there was written there: Of St. Marcius, abbot of Auvergne. Of this man Gregory of Tours makes mention, whose father he cured of fevers while still alive. For to pass over the fact that Marcius has been put in place of Martin (which blunder occurs commonly elsewhere too), St. Marcius, abbot of Auvergne, who cured Florentius, father of St. Gregory of Tours [St. Gregory of Tours, Lives of the Fathers, chap. 14, Works, col. 1218 and following], was never venerated on the 3rd day of August, but always on the 13th of April, on which day our predecessors illustrated his deeds Acts of the Saints, vol. II of April, p. 132. It follows finally, in the third place, that the Martin the confessor, who occurs at the 3rd day of August in the Greven auctaria of Usuard, is not an unknown man and undistinguished from the other Martins, as our predecessors said at this day Ibid., vol. I of August, p. 197, but is our very Martin of Monte Massico.

[3] with St. Martin, abbot of Vertou, St. Martin has besides a second feast, namely on the 24th day of October; and it seems certain to me that this arose from error or confusion with St. Martin, abbot of Vertou. The first, that is, whom I know to have announced the memory of St. Martin of Monte Massico at the 24th day of October, is Peter de Natalibus, in the XIV century bishop of Equilium. For this man in the Catalogue of the saints, after he had reported at this day the deeds of St. Martin of Monte Massico condensed from the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, added at the end on his own: And the man of the Lord rested in peace on the IX of the kalends of November; which he can have done for no other cause, but that he found in the calendars at this day the name of St. Martin the abbot, and, not knowing that this was St. Martin of Vertou, judged that it was to be referred to St. Martin of Massico. Nevertheless Ferdinand de Valye, whom I named a little above, following the example of Peter de Natalibus, wrote also at the 24th day of October: Likewise of St. Martin the abbot in Campania; of whom Blessed Gregory makes mention. Baronius in the Roman Martyrology saw sufficiently that the two men were different, and accurately distinguishing them, he announced separately in the monastery of Vertou the memory of St. Martin the abbot, and separately in Campania that of St. Marcius the solitary,

whose illustrious works St. Gregory the pope wrote down; but he assigned both memories to the 24th day of October, following Usuard for the former and Peter de Natalibus for the latter. And from this undoubtedly it came about that the people of Carinola began to keep the feast of St. Martin not only on the 3rd day of August, but also on the 24th of October.

[4] and with St. Martin of Saintes, Yet beware of believing that by this distinction of Baronius it was at last brought about that no further confusion took place: it is not so. Since he called the abbot of Vertou Martin and, following I know not what edition of St. Gregory the Great, the hermit of Massico Marcius, and since moreover in the notes he confused St. Martin of Vertou with St. Martin of Saintes, of whom St. Gregory of Tours treats in chapter 57 of the Glory of the Confessors and whose natal day is venerated on the 7th day of December, from this very many who came afterwards introduced wonderful errors. I shall indicate only some specimens. Ferrari Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, pp. 666 and 667 first copied out (and the Hagiology of Italy agrees with him as usual) the epitome of the deeds of St. Martin of Massico which Peter de Natalibus had made, except that on the authority of Baronius he wrote Marcius everywhere, not Martin; and he then passed on to St. Martin, abbot of Vertou, whom he would have to have flourished also on Monte Massico and to have been translated from there to Carinola: plainly confusing him with St. Martin of Massico. Hueber in the Benedictine Menology gave, following the Roman Martyrology, St. Marcius the solitary and St. Martin, abbot of Vertou; but he referred to St. Marcius what Usuard, Galesini and Felicius had said of St. Martin of Vertou; and also what Ado, not on the V of the ides of December, but on the VII of the ides of December, related of St. Martin of Saintes.

[5] all of whom however are easily distinguished from our St. Martin. It is necessary therefore to distinguish several Martins and Marciuses, who have been mixed and confused with one another. In the first place comes our Martin of Monte Massico, who was called Marcius by Baronius and then by others, whose feast was formerly kept only on the 3rd day of August, but now also on the 24th of October, and whose praises St. Gregory the Great wrote in book III of the Dialogues. Then comes St. Martin, abbot of Vertou, whose Life we have illustrated immediately before, and whose name alone is read at the 24th day of October in the old calendars and martyrologies, if you except the Catalogue of the Saints of Peter de Natalibus. In the third place comes St. Martin of Saintes, who is celebrated by Ado and others on the 7th day of December and whose deeds St. Gregory of Tours summed up briefly in chap. 57 of the Glory of the Confessors. In the fourth place finally comes St. Marcius of Auvergne, whom the same St. Gregory of Tours pursued with praises in chapter 14 of the Lives of the Fathers and whose deeds our predecessors gave at the 13th day of April. There are moreover many other SS. Martins and Marciuses, abbots and solitaries; but with these others I do not so far find St. Martin or Marcius of Monte Massico to have been confused. Him moreover I shall hereafter always call Martin, and not Marcius, since in the edition of the works of St. Gregory the Great prepared by the Maurists he is called Martin, both in the Greek text and in the Latin text, with no mention made of variant readings; next because in his Life written by Peter the deacon, in the other anonymous one, and in all the monuments of Carinola his name is always Martin, and never Marcius: and so Wion errs Tree of Life, book III, p. 349 when he urges that the books in which Martin is read should be corrected.

[6] [St. Martin of Monte Massico is without foundation called a Capuan and a Benedictine;] Silvester Agosta, who in the year 1641 sent to Bollandus the Life of St. Martin of Monte Massico, as it is held in the office of the church of Calinum (that is the title), points out that some learned men have held, and that Michael Monaco, canon of Capua and author of the Sanctuarium of Capua, has agreed with them, namely that St. Martin was a Capuan by fatherland, and that they were moved by various probable reasons to embrace this opinion; and he adds: Some years ago now, a certain man, John Baptist by name, saw an image of this saint with the inscription: SANTO MARTINO DI CAPUA Saint Martin of Capua. A very feeble argument indeed; and there is no doubt that there were others yet feebler. Wherefore the Capuans seem deserving of approval, who so far have not opened a place to St. Martin among the proper Offices of their church, since he can be said never to have had anything in common with them. But if some Capuans have made St. Martin of Massico their citizen, no one will wonder that a number of Benedictines have reckoned him to their order. Wherefore Wion Ibid., in the page cited in the Tree of Life makes memory of him at the 24th day of October; and likewise Hugues Ménard Martyrology of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, p. 92, generally however more abstinent and sparing. Ruinart and Mabillon in the first Benedictine century did the same; but although they gave his Life only in smaller type, in the following centuries, in which they are generally more severe, they undoubtedly would not have done the same. That the Benedictine menologists went to the same opinion is no wonder. And hence Antonio de Heredia, after he had fully reported the praises of St. Martin under the name of St. Marcius under the present day, proceeds thus [Lives of the saints, etc., of the sacred religion of St. Benedict, vol. IV, p. 139]: Many writers give him a place among the saints of our order and he is held to have been of that order; and indeed that he had St. Benedict as master is established from what we have reported; namely that before St. Benedict he lived on Monte Cassino, that he followed a certain counsel of St. Benedict, and that he finally left Monte Cassino to St. Benedict to dwell in. Wherefore in the image which in the year 1610 Giovanni Battista Gargano and Lucrezio Nucci published at Naples, St. Martin is shown clothed in a most ample black Benedictine garment; holding in one hand a great cross, in the other a book; bound by a chain at the foot to a rock, while behind him lies a dead harlot, and before him a winged serpent hisses. For my part I do not object to St. Martin's being held a Benedictine, if these things suffice to make a Benedictine; yet I approve the modesty of Mabillon in the Annals, of Gattola, of Tosti and of many others, who judge that the order of St. Benedict is rich enough to be able to be severe in listing its saints.

[7] [he lived on Monte Cassino about the year 528, and on Monte Massico about the year 580.] Now since St. Martin of Massico was inhabiting Monte Cassino when St. Benedict came there, from this we have an indication of the time of his age. For the arrival of St. Benedict at Cassino is placed in the year 529 by Baronius, Haeften and others, although by Mabillon and others in the year 528 [Gattola, History of the Abbey of Cassino, part I, p. 4. Compare Tosti, Storia della badia di Monte-Cassino, vol. I, pp. 76 and 77]; indeed others tie St. Benedict's coming to the sacred mountain, or the foundation of the monastery of Cassino, to the year 527 [Pellegrino, Series of the Abbots of Cassino, in the proem, in Graevius, Thesaurus of Italy, vol. IX, part I, pp. 273 and 274]. But if it pleased Angelo de Nuce [Life of St. Benedict, illustrated with notes, chap. 8, in Muratori, Writers of Italian Affairs, vol. IV, col. 200], treating the affairs of Cassino professedly, to omit this controversy, how much more us, to whom in this place it matters very little to know this year accurately? We have another indication from elsewhere. Where St. Gregory begins to narrate the deeds of St. Martin, he says: Lately also, in a part of Campania, a very venerable man, Martin by name, led a solitary life on Monte Marsico, and for many years was enclosed in a most narrow cave, whom many of our people knew and were present at his acts. Concerning whom I have myself learned many things, both from the narration of Pope Pelagius of blessed memory, my predecessor, and of other most religious men. Now the most blessed pope wrote these things in the year 593 or 594 The Maurists, Works of St. Gregory the Great, vol. II, p. 116. But one must beware of abusing the word lately. For lexicographers commonly observe that it is sometimes used of a time rather remote; indeed the Maurist editors have shown that St. Gregory so used this word as to say that things done twenty years ago had lately happened Ibid., col. 244, note e. From the age of St. Pelagius, who occupied the chair of St. Peter from the year 579 to 590, something more certain may be elicited, and from this exclamation of Peter, replying to St. Gregory at the end of the history: These deeds please because they are wonderful, and greatly because RECENT; so that he cannot stray very much from the truth who determines that the blessed hermit prolonged his life up to about the year 580, and therefore came to a decrepit old age.

[8] Monte Massico is somewhat illustrated. Of Monte Cassino, where St. Martin began the solitary life, I should not wish to write anything, since that place is known to all. Moreover in the Life written by Peter the deacon, which we shall give in its time, several things are related of this mountain; and these will be able to be illustrated somewhat there in the annotations. On the other hand, it will not be altogether useless to comment something on Monte Massico in this place; since it seems to have been unknown to the very people of the country, for example to Pietro Antonio Corsignani, formerly bishop of Venosa, then translated to the see of Valva and Sulmona among the Peligni, who related that St. Martin and St. Gregory the pope lived the monastic life on Monte Marsicano near Trisulti Reggia Marsicana, vol. I, p. 142. Compare vol. II, pp. 214 and following. Now Monte Massico is in the territory, or at least the northern neighbourhood, of the town of Mondragone, and it lies in that space of Campania which is bounded on the west by the Mediterranean sea; on the south by the river Volturno, which, passing through Capua, runs down into the same sea; on the east by the public road by which one goes from Terracina to Capua; and on the north by the stream Liri or Garigliano, which, coming from Pontecorvo, also flows into the Mediterranean sea. See the map which the distinguished Mr. Tenore appended to his physical and botanical geography of the kingdom of Naples Cenno sulla geografia fisica e botanica del regno di Napoli by M. Tenore. And if you have before your eyes the chorography of Campania Felix, which is inserted in volume IX of the Thesaurus of Graevius and which Camillo Pellegrino explained with dissertations, you see that mountain more closely defined there, namely between the Appian way, the little river Savo and the road which leads from Minturnae through Suessa to Teanum Sidicinum. And this mountain belongs to the same branch in which are contained the Meta, Cassino and Cairo, and it is held to be among the highest Ibid., p. 7. It is itself of limestone, but the valleys here and there consist of volcanic earth Ibid., p. 19. On its slopes, into various

parts inclining, are divided the fields of Mondragone, situated to the south, of Carinola towards the etesian winds , and of Suessa to the north, and its circuit extends to about thirty miles [Galanti, Beschreibung beider Sicilien aus dem Italianischen übersetzt von Jagemann, vol. IV, p. 190]. Forests, the lurking-places of wild beasts of every kind, are not lacking there Giustiniani, Dizionario geografico del regno di Napoli, vol. III, p. 175, and the descent of the mountain is occupied partly by olives, partly by wheat and other cereal plants; although this place would rather favour vines Galanti, in the place cited. Nor are these altogether lacking Giustiniani, in the place cited; but you would seek in vain the former abundance and excellence. For we are here in the region fertile in the Massic wines, which will keep uncorrupted for a hundred or even more years, and which Cicero, Virgil, Martial, Horace, Florus, Columella, Pliny and Macrobius so greatly praised. And this last distinguishes several Massic wines Saturnalia, book II, chap. 16: These, he says, are the kinds of grapes: the Aminean, namely from the region; for the Amineans were where Falernum now is; the Asinuscan, the Etruscan, the Albiverus; but the most excellent is the Aminean or Falernian, called by Virgil in the Georgics the firmest wines. But in the VI century, in which St. Martin withdrew here, that former glory of Bacchus had already vanished. Whoever wants more on this mountain, let him go to dissertation II of Camillo Pellegrino on Campania Felix In Graevius, Thesaurus of Italy, vol. IX, part II, col. 318 and following, where he pursues more than enough on what concerns the ancient condition of these places. This one thing I shall add, that these parts, the air being tainted, are now almost uninhabitable; but where we shall presently speak of Carinola, the discourse will return to this matter.

* Nord-Est

* Sessa

§ II. Certain fortunes of the monastery on Monte Massico; the translation of the body of St. Martin attempted and at length accomplished. The origin of Carinola. His cult there, on Monte Cassino, at Naples. Histories of St. Martin.

[After the middle of the VIII century Arichis II, prince of Benevento, tries in vain to take away the body of St. Martin;] That St. Martin was buried on the northern part of Monte Massico will be manifestly clear from the Lives to be edited. Nor do I doubt that shortly after his death he began to be venerated by the disciples whom he had gathered to himself in that solitude. For these did not slip away after their master's death; but those who had begun to dwell in caves and huts with St. Martin afterwards built a monastery, which at one time was very distinguished for the number of its monks. But, as is read in the Chronicle of St. Vincent on the Volturno In Muratori, Writers of Italian Affairs, vol. I, part II, p. 389, in the middle of the VIII century its lot was quite different. Wherefore Arichis II, most religious prince of the Lombards, who occupied the duchy or principality of Benevento from the year 758 Art of Verifying Dates, vol. I, p. 424 up to the 25th day of August of the year 787 Giovanni de Vita, Thesaurus of the Antiquities of Benevento, vol. II, p. 154, when, taking away many bodies of saints from various places, he had honourably placed them at Benevento in the church of St. Sophia about the year 760 [Compare the Epitome of the Cassino chronicles, in Muratori, Writers of Italian Affairs, vol. II, part I, p. 367 and Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. VIII, col. 33] and had learned that the aforesaid monastery of Christ's confessor Martin, which, as Blessed Gregory recalls in his dialogues, had flourished with a great community of religious monks, was already then almost deserted by all, the plan occurred to him, for the sake of piety and for the defence of the city of Benevento, to take away the confessor's body from there, and to carry it to be placed within the walls of his city with the bodies of other saints. When he had reported this to Bishop John and the citizens, it appeared that this had pleased all. Hastening then together from there to the tomb of the saint with great devotion, and going with bare feet from the very ascent of the mountain, they applied themselves to pious prayers. But when they came to the place where they desired to accomplish the wished-for work, the most prudent prince, thus holily uttering words of devotion, said:

Greatest confessor, shepherd of monks and abbot, Distinguished in merits, great one, to be venerated for your trophies, We seek you and yours; do you confer heavenly risings, Saving among the peoples, suggest to us by prayer … Giving assistance to conquer the hostile camps.

Then suddenly a voice was heard there saying:

If hope and virtue be death, let honour be to live for Christ. For I now can by no means go forth, Remaining in this place through long times, obedient.

At the sound of this voice, therefore, all, shaken with fear, fell together to the earth; and then a great earthquake took place, so that by the very blasts of the abyss not only the walls of that whole mountain, but all the walls of the neighbouring cities were shaken, and thus it was given plainly to all to understand that the divine power orders that very place, where the confessor's body rests, always to have an angelic guard.

[10] [This prince heaps the monastery of St. Martin of Massico with many gifts; but his successors give it before the year 800 to the monastery on the Volturno.] So not daring to go against the divine will, they determined in common to venerate that sepulchre, each offering whatever seemed acceptable. And the prince himself, with many other gifts, conferred on the same place a precept of confirmation concerning all that it had possessed or seemed to possess, adding also several other things, within the river which is called Carnellus (and here it is put for the Garigliano, although commonly Carnellus is taken for the upper part of the river Garigliano, while the lower from the territory of Sessa to the sea was called the Garigliano [Compare the anonymous chronographer of medieval Italy, in Muratori, Writers of Italian Affairs, vol. X, col. CCXXXI]) and, as the stream Saone or Savone runs down, which comes out of the rock and between the Volturno and Mondragone flows into the sea, these were designated; and bondmen and bondwomen, as many as seemed to dwell in these places, with their plots of ground, he handed over for perpetual times, that it might have and possess them. For when some few years had run on, and that place seemed to be failing through age, for the sake of pious solicitude and restoration, and of other … the princes of the Lombards and the venerable pontiffs of the churches of God subjected this same monastery with all its appurtenances entirely to the monastery of Blessed Vincent on the Volturno. In the days of Sicard, prince of Benevento from the year 833 until 840, the Volturno chronographer relates that the monasteries of St. Martin and of the Holy Cross on Monte Marsico were exchanged or handed over by the people of Benevento to the monastery of most blessed Vincent; and that in return for them the people of Benevento received the churches of SS. Lupulus and Zosimus, and also the fortress which is called Cerbinaria in the Caudine country In Muratori, vol. I, part II, p. 402. But this cannot but be erroneous; and so this handing over must have taken place before the beginning of the year 800; seeing that in the diploma or testament of Radeprand, drawn up on the day before the kalends of February, in the XIII year of the principate of Grimoald, who began to reign at the end of the year 787 Compare Art of Verifying Dates, vol. III, p. 767, these things occur [Chronicle of the Volturno, in Muratori, Writers of Italian Affairs, vol. I, part II, p. 375], from which the site also is easily understood: At the same time I also dispose to the aforesaid monastery of St. Vincent on the Volturno that noble court of mine, which I have in the borders of Suessa *, in the place where it is named Prisciano, where I have a built and erected house, containing as borders, on one side the Rivius, and the little channel of that Rivius, as that Rivius goes as far as the land of the bishop of St. Stephen; and on the other side the summit of the mountain, where the monastery of St. Martin has been built, by these borders, on one side the river Volturno, on two sides Rioza, on the fourth side land and forest and the mountain of the monastery of St. Vincent; on the fourth side, the aforesaid border, the land of the aforesaid bishop and of the aforesaid monastery of St. Martin. Whence it is clear that the monastery of St. Martin was situated on the eastern slope of the mountain towards the north, and that the people of the Volturno took that asceterium into their dominion at least a decade earlier than Lubin will have it Notice of the Abbeys of Italy, p. 233 (namely he will have it that about the year 810 the monastery of St. Martin was given by the people of Benevento to the Volturno abbey). If you ask by what right the Lombard princes of Benevento gave monasteries, I shall answer this one thing, that in the west as well as in the east kings and dukes then dared everything against ecclesiastical goods, provided they were not altogether turned aside from religious use. For the rest, Pope Paschal I, when in the month of July of indiction XII, that is in the year 819, he confirmed the goods of the monastery of the Volturno, listed among them the monastery of St. Martin on Monte Massico; and also the monastery or cell of the Holy Cross on Monte Massico Chronicle of the Volturno, in Muratori, vol. I, part II, pp. 384 and 385; of which cell mention is still made after the year 1057 Ibid., p. 514.

[11] [Now when the Saracens in the IX century had occupied some places of Italy, chiefly Trajetto near the Garigliano.] When the monastery of St. Martin had come into the possession of the people of the Volturno, then Father Epiphanius, for the example of obtaining an excellent way of life, sought this place, and after long striving in holy conversation, for his merit and his teaching of wisdom he was made abbot of St. Vincent on the Volturno Ibid., p. 390 in the month of October of the year 823, and he presided for XVII years, XI months, VIII days Ibid., p. 385; who, consummated, died in peace on the ides of September in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 843, indiction VI Ibid., p. 390. But already then the worst times were pressing on the monasteries of the Volturno and of Massico. Many troops of Saracens had entered the southern part of Italy, and, who would easily have been expelled if after the fall of the Roman empire any sound mind, manly spirit or civil prudence had still ever dwelt on Italian soil, they tranquilly occupied several cities and here and there as it were founded new colonies, imposing tributes and an impious yoke on their neighbours. Read this miserable tragedy; and you will see the Italians impatient of freedom as much as of domination, each seeking his own and envious of others, assenting to the Saracens and with their help most cruelly oppressing their brothers, and so utterly not knowing how to preserve themselves with joined forces, nor permitting themselves to be preserved by the Franks or Greeks, and hostile to these and to Italian cities too. When therefore through this incredible madness and diversity of minds it had come about that Athanasius the Younger, who was at once prelate at Naples and master of the soldiers, had made peace with the Saracens, whom, O shame! he often employed against Christians, and had placed them within the sea-gates and the wall of the city, these, going forth from this safe stronghold at their pleasure, plundered the land of Benevento and at the same time that of Rome, and also part of Spoleto, and all the monasteries and churches, cities and towns, villages, mountains and hills, and islands [Chronicle of the Volturno, in Muratori, vol. I, part II, p. 404. Compare Erchempert's History

of the Lombards of Benevento, in Graevius, vol. IX, part I, col. 36]. And how the monastery of the Volturno on the 10th day of October, a Tuesday, in the year 870 was captured by the same Saracens through the treachery of slaves, and partly burned and plundered, and nine hundred or (as others have it) five hundred monks, residents and outsiders, were slain in that slaughter, the Volturno chronographer then goes on to narrate; which history you also have in the Acts of St. Bertharius, which a colleague illustrated at the 22nd day of October Acts of the Saints, vol. II of October, pp. 672 and following. But after the mother had suffered so monstrous a disaster, the daughter could not be safe, chiefly because it had the Saracens in the neighbourhood. For when the Roman pontiff John VIII (unless I am mistaken) had handed over Gaeta to Pandenolf of Capua, a very evil man and often the friend and helper of Athanasius, bishop of Naples, and of the Saracens, the people of Gaeta, under the leadership of Docibilis or Decivilis, to protect themselves from the yoke of Pandenolf, summoned the Saracens from Agropoli (for those whom Athanasius had cast out of Naples, in order to free himself from the pontifical excommunication, had fled here). At once the Roman pontiff warned them to remove this pestilence from themselves; which they indeed accomplished by arms, yet granting them by agreed pacts Trajetto, a place near the little river Garigliano, where, as Leo Marsicanus says Chronicle of Cassino, book I, chap. 43, in Muratori, vol. IV, pp. 316 and 317, living for nearly forty years they did countless evils round about and poured out much blood of the worshippers of Christ, helping at times Athanasius and Pandenolf Compare Erchempert, in Graevius, vol. IX, part I, col. 36 and 38.

[12] [these tried to despoil the monastery of St. Martin, but by the help of the holy patron they were repulsed.] At that time, says the Volturno chronographer In Muratori, vol. I, part II, p. 407, a multitude of Saracens dwelling on the Garigliano next to Trajetto wrought the greatest slaughters of Christians and chiefly of the Capuans. Then too, going to the monastery of Christ's confessor Martin on Mount Marsicus, they strove to destroy it. The monks dwelling there, terrified by fear of them, betook themselves to the protection of the same confessor. No delays: the divine compassion came to the help of those praying. For as they were climbing the mountain, there stood by a certain man of venerable habit, who said that he was an abbot, with a multitude of monks, all of whom he ordered to mount prepared horses and to accompany him. Soon he himself, going before and bearing in his right hand the splendid standard of the cross, burst through the wedges of the Saracens, and laid low many hosts with chance slaughter, wounded very many, struck some with blindness, and drove all swiftly to flight. The mountain itself was thick with dense darkness, the shaken earth seemed to swallow up the bloodstained. From then the host of the Saracens was so worn down and afflicted that not only were they unable to bring war on the Christians, but always in flight they lay exposed to the peril of death. For shortly afterwards the most Christian princes of Capua, Atenulf and Landulf, arrived with the neighbouring magnates of various provinces and chiefly with an army of Greeks, and when the greatest multitude of them had been slain, the rest too were dispersed and destroyed; and thus the people of the Christians was by Christ's mercy set free. This expulsion took place in the year 915, whose history Leo Marsicanus has narrated more fully Chronicle of Cassino, book I, chap. 52, in Muratori, vol. IV, pp. 325 and 326. Now when that calamity threatened the monastery of Massico and such great perils hung over it, there were three hundred monks present, as is read in the history to be edited below. In very truth, in the same century an incredible crowd of monks lived in the monasteries of Italy; but since Monte Massico, its freedom lost, had become a provostship dependent on the monastery of the Volturno, it is very likely that among those three hundred there was a part of the monks who some years before had fled from the monastery of the Volturno when the Saracens rushed in.

[13] the very prior of the monastery tries to steal and sell the body of St. Martin, When better days had dawned and the asceterium of the Volturno had long been restored, namely in the times of Bl. Hilary, who from the end of the year 1011 up to the III of the kalends of October in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1044, Constantinopolitan indiction XIII, ruled the monastery of the Volturno as abbot Ibid., pp. 494, 495 and 512, when a certain nation wished to carry off the body of Christ's confessor Martin from Mount Marsicus, he went there with the brothers, and taking him from the sepulchre stored him up so secretly that to this day it is unknown to all where he has been laid up. Thus John, monk of the monastery of St. Vincent on the Volturno Ibid., p. 512, who wrote the Chronicle of his monastery in the year 1108 Ibid., p. 322. But it is not so. Certainly, since the cave in which the body of the blessed man rested was outside the enclosure of the monastery and in the lower part of the mountain, and therefore the monks of Massico could easily be deceived, it could be that in the times of Bl. Hilary some tried to carry off the relics of St. Martin; but if this was then attempted, Bl. Hilary did not for that reason so hide the precious pledge that it afterwards lay altogether hidden. For about the year 961, in which Pandulf I, called Ironhead, succeeded his deceased father Landulf II in the principality of Benevento, the very provost of St. Martin undertook to sell the sacred body, as will be established below from the often-mentioned history. Moreover at the end of the XI century St. Bernard, bishop of Carinola, easily found it; but since he had taken it away secretly from the people of the Volturno and the monks of Monte Massico, the people of the Volturno still did not know where it was fourteen years afterwards and (as was natural to happen) conjectured and supposed that it had been hidden by some abbot: which ignorance would surely be wonderful and almost incredible, if there had then been great intercourse even between neighbouring peoples; but who does not know that there was almost none?

[14] [The body of St. Martin is carried to Carinola, which perhaps occupies the place of the old Calenum,] How in the year 1094 the body of St. Martin came to Carinola I need not say in this place, since below I am going to give the best history of this matter; but it will be worth while to have brought forward a few things on that town. Carinola, says Francesco Orlendi Orbis sacer et profanus, part II, vol. III, pp. 1598 and 1599, which is also called Calinula and the city of Calinum, has seemed to some older than it really is. For Carlo a San Paolo in his Sacred Geography of Italy thinks it to be old Calenum: Calenum, he says, in Strabo book 5, commonly Carinola. Valerius, its bishop, subscribed to the first Roman council under Symmachus. The same thing Leandro Alberti had said before in the Description of Campania Felix. But we have rejected this opinion above, since Carinola is distant from old Calenum about four thousand paces. Such indeed is the common opinion; and it is most true, if Cales, from whose ruins Atenulf, count of Capua and prince of Benevento, about the year 879 built Calvi * midway between Capua and Sessa Ibid., p. 1600, is the same town as Calenum; for most certainly Cales or Calvi is IV thousand paces distant from Carinola Ibid., p. 1599. But although the bishop of Calvi now calls himself Calinensis, although under the reign of the Angevins Calenum was always said of Calvi Giustiniani, Dizionario del regno di Napoli, vol. III, pp. 174 and 175 and other arguments of that kind are brought forward, yet I shall confess that it seems to me by no means demonstrated that Cales and Calenum are the same town; neither did the anonymous chorographer of medieval Italy see this, whose luminous disputation Muratori edited Writers of Italian Affairs, vol. X, col. CCLXX, and who with much diligence collated a great number of passages in which the old classical writers spoke of Cales and of Calenum; and so the citizens of Cales seem to have been called Caleni, but those of the town of Calenum Calentini. But if they were distinct cities or colonies, nothing stands in the way of Carinola having been founded in almost the same place where former Calenum stood; and certainly Carinola was called by the Lombards Calinium, Calinidum, Carinulum and also Calenum [Ibid., in the column cited; in Giustiniani, vol. III, p. 174 and in Pellegrino, On Campania Felix, dissertation II, chap. 33, in Graevius, vol. IX, part II, col. 314]: which name is also given to Carinola in all the monuments which we shall give below concerning the translation of St. Martin. It may be added that in the XI century there still existed a public road which led from the Appian way to Forum Claudii, of which shortly, and which therefore inclined to the north or north-west between Monte Massico and the river Savone; which road the very condition of things suggests was not carried as far as the Latin way. But if this is so, nothing surely forbids that besides Forum Claudii there was placed on it another town, called Forum Popilii, still existing in the full IV century Pellegrino, in Graevius, vol. IX, part II, col. 330, and besides Calenum.

[15] and whose fortunes are briefly declared. Be these things as they may (for I would not dwell much on them), about the end of the eleventh century Carinola was a by no means ignoble town, distinguished by the title of a county, situated between a lake very rich in fish and Forum Claudii, whose ruins are now called Citta rotta, and surrounded by two streams; yet having this inconvenience, that it lacks the movement of the winds Giustiniani, Pellegrino, Galanti, etc.. And at that time St. Bernard transferred the episcopal seat from Forum Claudii, then fallen into ruin, to Carinola, almost two miles distant, namely in the year 1100: on which translation more can be read in the Acts of the same St. Bernard Acts of the Saints, vol. II of March, p. 232.

[16] Now although it was well known that the relics of St. Martin were translated on the feast of SS. Paul and John, [The people of Carinola do not rightly venerate the memory of this translation on the 3rd of August, which is the day of his death; and likewise they err on the 24th of October.] which is celebrated on the 26th day of June, yet it does not seem that any annual memory of it was ever kept at Carinola. In very truth, to the liturgical lessons which were formerly sent from there to our predecessors a history of the translation is appended; but whereas the Life itself, taken from the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, is distributed into various lessons and the abridged copy is even distinguished with proper responsories, nothing similar is to be detected in the narrative of the translation. Nor do the people of Carinola now perform anything in honour of St. Martin in the month of June; but, as I pointed out above at no. [ ], on the 3rd day of August, on which the death of the blessed man should be recalled, by an error which it is not necessary to explain again, they celebrate with the double rite of the first class without octave the translation of St. Martin the abbot; and on the 24th of October, because on that day Baronius in the Roman Martyrology recorded his memory, they keep his feast with the double rite of the second class. So I see the matter arranged in the ecclesiastical Calendar which for the city and diocese of Sessa

Bartholomew Varrone, bishop of Sessa, ordered to be published in the year 1821, wishing these things to be observed at Carinola, in Mondragone and in the dependent villages.

[17] [The cult of St. Martin is now confined to the very narrow borders of the former diocese of Carinola, formed out of those of Forum Claudii and Sinuessa.] For the diocese of Carinola is no longer of its own right; but it seemed fitting, by good right, to Pope Pius VII in the year 1818 that it should be united with that of Sessa Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione ecclesiastica, vol. X, p. 30. For it was long since that the bishop had resided at Carinola, but rather at Casale, to which the wind can come and whose site is by far the pleasantest of all. Moreover the whole diocese, which had been formed out of the old ones of Forum Claudii and Sinuessa, consisted solely of the county of Carinola and the duchy of Mondragone. And that county contains only Carinola with its hamlets, Casanova, Falciano, Nocelleto and Casale, and the villages of Ventaroli and San Donato, and about the year 1824 it reckoned to itself in all 4815 inhabitants. The duchy of Mondragone, in whose circuit was enclosed the old diocese of Sinuessa, comprised the land of Mondragone with the vills of San Nicola and San Michele, and about the said year 1824 had 2050 inhabitants; so that in the entire circuit of the former diocese of Carinola there lived only 6865 people [Compare Giustiniani, vol. III, p. 176 and Dizionario statistico de' paesi del regno delle due Sicilie al di qua del faro, 1824, pp. 30 and 31, and pp. 98 and 99]. This diocese therefore was smaller than many rural parishes in Belgium; and let this stand as an example, since several other dioceses of the same region are of no greater extent. Yet it had, and still has, a most beautiful cathedral church, and moreover a seminary of clerics, two collegiate churches and some few parish ones, a convent of Friars Minor and similar things Moroni, vol. X, p. 30. Yet these places once flourished; and even in nearer centuries the number of diocesans was greater. For it had Giustiniani, vol. III, p. 176 and vol. VIII, p. 32: But what selection and instruction of clerics there can be in such small dioceses, what authority of diocesan synods, what episcopal solicitude and honour, anyone not altogether ignorant of human affairs will easily suspect. No one surely will disapprove of those smallest dioceses being suppressed by the holy See or united with others. But of these things, however wonderful they are to us north of the mountains, we have perhaps already said much too much.

[18] He is improperly called the patron of Carinola; the old office; To report a few singular things concerning the cult of St. Martin, I shall point out first of all that the blessed hermit, in the later edition of the Italia sacra, is called, with St. Bernard the bishop, patron of the cathedral church of Carinola Ughelli, vol. VI, col. 462. Yet this to me is very doubtful, since his feast is not kept with an octave, as is done for patrons. I judge that the error arose from this source, that in the Life of St. Bernard, after it has been related there that the body of St. Martin was translated to Carinola by the blessed prelate, it then proceeds thus Acts of the Saints, vol. II of March, p. 233: O happy city of Calinum, which is endowed with so great a patron, which has in Martin the protection of a singular defence against the assault of diabolical temptation and of all spiritual wickedness; but the Lord added for himself to the glory, that according to the custom of his household you should be adorned with double and two-coloured garments; for you are strong in a double honour: therefore Bernard has been given as your defender together with Martin. But one thing is the common protection, which is laid up in those whose relics are possessed; another the solemn patronage, which is made by election and is governed by certain laws: the latter is by no means designated by those words of the Life of St. Bernard. I have an old office, which the people of Carinola formerly used in the divine offices for the honour of St. Martin. It is drawn from the Dialogues of St. Gregory and has proper responsories and versicles after each of the lessons and proper antiphons for the hours; but in these there is nothing singular. I do not know whether the hymn and prayer pertained to public cult or to private piety, which I found at the foot of the image described above in no. 6:

Dwellings rejoice, blessed one, In endless felicity, Loosed from the chains of the world:

We ask you to beseech God That the foulest demon, Who overwhelms us poor wretches, He may lay low with his powerful right hand:

As once on the rock of Marsico, At your entreaty, he fell, The crafty one, clothed In the ancient form of the slippery serpent.

Martin, most chaste man, Pray God continually That the harmful ardour of the flesh May withdraw from our hearts;

As from your breast He put it all at once to flight: Whence you resolve for time to come To see no woman.

As the wicked woman Underwent death forthwith, While she laboured to destroy you, blessed one, By the art of the demon:

So may you suddenly blot out By your holy prayers, Martin, the crimes of the heart, Which drag us to Tartarus.

So may you by praying deliver us From present perils, As you free the little boy, Who once fell from the rock.

Martin, as you bound your body With iron chains, So may you bind our bodies That they may serve the Trinity.

With the love of Christ may you at last Bind our hearts with the chain By which now, blessed one, you strongly Remain bound in the fatherland.

And you, blessed Trinity, Grant us all things; To whom may glory be always For ages of ages.

Amen.

Antiphon. Keenest triumpher over the flesh, the world and the demon, most blessed Martin, new light of Campania, glory of the people of Sessa, noble deposit of the Caleni, and pious patronage, obtain for us assiduously the grace of Christ. ℣ Pray for us, most blessed Martin, ℞ that God may grant the joys of eternal life. Let us pray. Almighty everlasting God, we suppliantly beseech your majesty, that as you willed Blessed Martin, confessor and anchorite, to be knit by the bond of your charity and to be loosed from the iron chain through a disciple of Blessed Benedict on the mountain: so by his merits and intercession you may order us to be bound fast by the ties of your love and to be freed from the snares of our sins, that we may be able to come to the mountain which is Christ; who with you etc.

[20] relics at Naples and on Monte Cassino. To the Neapolitans also the cult of St. Martin was at one time extended. Namely when Giovanni Vitelli, son of a counsellor of the royal caesar and a regular cleric among the Theatines, had succeeded his deceased paternal uncle Nicola Antonio Vitelli in the see of Carinola in the year 1594 Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. VI, col. 471, it pleased him to place the body of St. Martin in a more decent place. So he translated the pious remains to the monument where this inscription is seen: HERE LIES THE BODY OF BLESSED MARTIN TRANSLATED FROM MONTE MASSICO BY THE HANDS OF THE PRELATE BERNARD; where there is also preserved the chain with which the saint was once bound Ibid., col. 467. While the pious prelate celebrated this translation, he reserved to himself according to custom a part of the relics, namely a very large bone of the leg and part of the chain; which he assigned to the church of San Paolo Maggiore of Naples, destined for the use of the Theatine fathers J. Silos, History of the Theatines, vol. II, p. 199. This must have been done before the year 1610, in which he was promoted to the see of Capaccio Ughelli, vol. VI, col. 471; and indeed Giuseppe Silos narrates these things under the year 1607. Silvester Agossa once wrote to Bollandus that the very head of St. Martin was given as a gift to the Theatines of Naples: but the better witness is the one I have just named, Giuseppe Silos. The people of Cassino also in the XII century celebrated the feast of St. Martin every year, as is sufficiently clear from the hymn which Peter the deacon composed and which we shall give below after the Life written in prose by the same man. The cult of St. Martin at Cassino undoubtedly began in the year 1094, in which (as that same Peter the deacon narrates in the Life to be given below) some relics of the holy man were carried to the holy mountain, taken from the entire body, which at the same time was carried from Monte Massico to Carinola. Elsewhere too this hymn of Peter the deacon was in use, and certainly at Carinola, as is established from an old book of the proper offices of St. Bernard and St. Martin. In the annotations we shall mark which was sung one way at Cassino, another way at Carinola.

[21] The literary monuments which survive concerning St. Martin. We have now mentioned almost all the monuments which survive concerning St. Martin; and these are to be referred to four sources. The first is the Life written by St. Gregory the Great and inserted in his Dialogues; the second is the History of the translation, carried out by St. Bernard the bishop in the year 1094, and of the miracles which immediately followed: this was written by order of St. Bernard himself; the third is the Chronicle of St. Vincent on the Volturno, collected at the beginning of the XII century; what it has concerning the relics of St. Martin we have already given above in the commentary; the fourth source, finally, is part of the writing of Peter the deacon, which has the title: Life, translation and miracles of St. Martin the abbot, and which contains four parts (so to speak). The first was collected, or rather condensed, from the Dialogues of St. Gregory and from some documents of Cassino, and has very little weight. The second consists of some narratives concerning the often-attempted translation of the body of St. Martin; of which only a part had become known to the Volturno chronographer. The author of the first of those narratives is said to have been Severus, deacon of Benevento, who, having zealously given his effort to preparing the matter itself, is said to have been the first to commend the notice of this deed to posterity. But who that Severus was, I have found no one to teach me; and certainly, if he in fact made some writing concerning that attempt, others must have added the notes of time, since these are so disturbed, or rather so conflicting with each other, that they could not have come from a contemporary man. Of the other narratives, however, Peter the deacon indicates no author. The third part is almost word for word the history of the translation, which was carried out in the year 1094, and of the prodigies which followed. The fourth part, finally, contains some few miracles which took place on the sacred mountain after this year, in which we said the relics of St. Martin came also to Cassino. And so in the labour of Peter the deacon two parts are new, and two taken from elsewhere. We shall give nevertheless the entire writing, both because we see the tearing of monuments into fragments everywhere disapproved, and because the name of Peter the deacon is celebrated enough in literary history that this honour should be held for him. For the same reason we shall give the metrical Life of St. Martin, composed likewise (as I find noted at the head) by Peter the deacon in very singular verses; namely the middle part of the hexameter is at once the close of the following pentameter, so that the beginning and end of each distich have an echoic form. The Life of St. Scholastica and St. Maurus altogether in the same

kind of verse Paul the deacon, called the son of Warnefrid, wrote at the end of the VIII century; whence the doubt has come upon me whether the name of Peter has been substituted for Paul. Here then is the beginning of the Life of St. Scholastica In Mabillon, Benedictine century I, p. 42:

Sponsa decora Dei petit alta Scholastica cæli; Ingreditur thalamum sponsa decora Dei. Angelicis hodie manibus super astra levatur Miscetur turmis angelicis hodie etc.

[The comely bride of God, Scholastica, seeks the heights of heaven; / the comely bride of God enters the bridal chamber. / By angelic hands today she is raised above the stars, / she is mingled with the angelic troops today, etc.]

However that may be, that metrical Life of St. Martin our Gamans found in a codex of the canons regular of the monastery of Böddeken in Westphalia; where it was placed before the Life of St. Martin written by St. Gregory the Great and distributed into lessons; afterwards came the history of the translation, the prologue being omitted; and finally there followed parts two and four of the writing of Peter the deacon. I omit many other things which were diverted from the sources declared into various streams.

* Sessa

* Calvi

LIFE OF ST. MARTIN,

From the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, book III, chap. XVI.

Of St. Martin the monk of Monte Marsico.

Martin, who is also Marcius, solitary in the Roman Campagna. (S.)

BHL Number: 5601

BY ST. GREGORY THE GREAT.

[St. Martin, leading a solitary life on Monte Massico, receives by a miracle the water necessary for him;] Lately also, in a part of Campania ^a, a very venerable man, Martin by name, led a solitary life on Monte Marsico, and for many years was enclosed in a most narrow cave; whom many of our people knew and were present at his acts. Concerning whom I have myself learned many things, both from the narration of Pope Pelagius of blessed memory, my predecessor ^b, and of other most religious men. His first miracle was this, that as soon as he betook himself to the hole of the aforesaid mountain, from the same rock which, hollow in itself, had made the narrow cave, there burst forth a drop of water, which should suffice Martin the servant of God for daily use, and should neither be in excess nor be lacking to his need ^c. In which matter almighty God showed how great a care he had of his servant, to whom by an ancient miracle he supplied drink in the solitude from the hardness of the rock ^d.

[2] [the demon tries to disturb him under the form of a serpent, a familiar for three years;] But the ancient enemy of the human race, envying his powers, strove with his accustomed art to drive him out of that cave. For entering a beast friendly to himself, namely a serpent ^e, he tried by causing terror to cast him out of that habitation. For the serpent began to come into the cave, alone with him alone, and while he was praying to stretch itself before him, and when he lay down to lie down with him. But the holy man, altogether undaunted, stretched out his hand or foot to its mouth, saying: If you have received leave to strike, I do not forbid it. And when this had been carried on continually for three years, one day the ancient enemy, overcome by this great fortitude of his, roared, and the serpent cast itself down the sloping side of the mountain over the precipice, and burned all the shrubs of that place with a flame coming out from it. He, in that he burned the whole side of the mountain, was compelled, almighty God forcing him, to show of how great a virtue he was, by whom he was going away overcome. Weigh, I pray, on what summit of mind this man of the Lord stood, who lay secure with a serpent for three years.

Peter. I tremble at hearing it.

[3] a woman trying to corrupt him is suddenly slain Gregory. This man of venerable life, in the first time of his enclosure, had resolved that he would see a woman no more, not because he despised the sex, but because he feared to run into the fault of temptation from a form contemplated. A certain woman hearing this boldly climbed the mountain, and impudently burst upon his cave. But he, looking a little way off, and catching sight of the womanly garments of the one coming to him, gave himself to prayer, pressed his face to the earth, and lay prostrate until the impudent woman, wearied, should withdraw from the window of his little cell. She, on the same day, as soon as she came down from the mountain, ended her life, that from the sentence of her death it might be given to understand that it greatly displeased almighty God that she had saddened his servant with shameless daring.

[4] a boy, visiting him, falls headlong and is preserved; At another time also, when many were running to him with religious devotion, and the path was narrow which on the sloping side of the mountain led those hastening to his little cell, a little boy, walking incautiously, fell from the same mountain, and tumbled down as far as the valley, which, situated beneath the same mountain, is seen as it were in the deep. For in that same place the mountain has grown to such a height that the huge trees which come forth from that valley seem to those looking from the mountain to be as it were shrubberies. So all who were coming were disturbed, and with the highest care it was sought whether the body of the boy who had slipped could anywhere be found. For who would believe anything but that he was dead? Who would even suppose that the body had reached the ground entire, when with rocks set everywhere between it could have been torn into pieces? But the boy, when looked for, was found in the valley not only alive, but also unhurt. Then it became plainly known to all that he could not be hurt for this reason, that in his fall the prayer of Martin carried him. Now in his cave a great rock stood out above, which, since it seemed fixed to the mountain by a slight part, jutting out over the cell of Martin, threatened daily its own fall, and in its ruin his destruction.

[5] the rock in falling is divinely moved away from St. Martin's dwelling; To this rock Mascator, nephew of the illustrious man Armentarius ^f, coming with a great multitude of peasants, begged that the man of God would deign to go out of that cave, so that he might tear from the mountain the rock that was about to fall, and the servant of God might dwell in his cave now secure. And since the man of God by no means acquiesced in this, he both ordered him to do what he could, and himself betook himself to the more remote part of his cell. If however the huge mass should fall, there was no doubt that it would at once both destroy the cave and kill Martin. So while the multitude that had come was trying, if it could, without peril to the man of God to raise that huge rock which lay over him from above, with all looking on there suddenly happened a very admirable thing, that the very mass which they were trying to tear away, suddenly torn away by those same labourers, lest it should touch the roof of Martin's cave, gave a leap, and as if fleeing from injury to the servant of God, fell further off. Which he understands to have been done at the order of almighty God by angelic ministry who faithfully believes that all things are disposed by divine providence.

[6] [he is admonished by St. Benedict not to bind himself with an iron chain, but with the love of Christ; the fortunes of this chain.] This man, when he first betook himself to the same mountain, dwelling in the cave not yet closed, bound his foot with an iron chain for himself, and fixed it at the other end to a rock, that he might not be allowed to go forward further than the extent of the same chain stretched. Hearing this, the man of venerable life Benedict, of whom I have made memory above ^g, took care to send word to him through his disciple: If you are a servant of God, let not a chain of iron hold you, but the chain of Christ. At this voice Martin at once loosed that same fetter, but never afterwards did he stretch his loosed foot beyond the place to which he had been accustomed to stretch it bound, and within so great a space he restrained himself without a chain in which he had also before remained bound. And when he had afterwards shut himself in the cave of the same place, he began also to have disciples; who, dwelling apart from his cave, were accustomed to draw water from a well ^h for the use of life. But the rope on which the bucket hung for drawing water often broke. Whence it came about that his disciples asked for that same chain which the man of the Lord had loosed from his foot, and joined it to the rope and tied the bucket on it. From which time it happened that the same rope was both daily dipped in water and in no way was broken. For because that rope touched the chain ⁱ of the man of God, it too drew into itself the fortitude of iron for enduring the water.

Peter. These deeds please because they are wonderful; and greatly because recent.

ANNOTATIONS.

one mile distant from Monte Massico. Near Carinola there is an excellent spring, called Malerba; and finally on the mountain itself, in the place called Vaglie, there is another excellent spring. This one undoubtedly is indicated by St. Gregory.

HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE RELICS

Of St. Martin from Monte Massico to Carinola,

From a manuscript codex of the canons regular of St. Augustine at Böddeken, collated with others.

Martin, who is also Marcius, solitary in the Roman Campagna. (S.)

BHL Number: 5602, 5603

BY A CONTEMPORARY CANON OF CARINOLA.

PROLOGUE.

[By order of St. Bernard, bishop of Carinola, who accomplished the translation, an anonymous author describes it.] Since the Catholic faith everywhere on earth takes up an increase of religion from renewed reports of divine works, we take care to make known to the ears of the faithful certain new works of the divine mercy, which have happened in our times, that the gaze may be fed by a certain unaccustomed novelty of sweetness seen, and the hearing may be delighted by a most certain report of present good things. For when the servant, digging in the earth, hides the talent handed over to him by the Lord for the multiplication of interest, he is convicted of wickedness and faithlessness. Lest therefore the same case of injury and the same penalty of desert should befall us, we have thought it just both to notify to those of the faithful who are of our time, and by writing to convey to posterity, a treasure revealed in our times by divine dispensation. We do not doubt indeed that it is known to almost all searchers of the divine Scriptures that Blessed Gregory, pope of the Roman city, successor not unequal in merits to Pelagius the venerable pope, wrote down both the deeds * of Blessed Martin, who led a solitary life on Monte Marsico, and certain miracles in his Dialogue. And to one to whom so great a man of so great a dignity offers testimony, it is very unworthy of us to commit both the translation of his body and the miracles which he has brought forth since his translation to oblivion or neglect, and not to leave them commended to the memory of the faithful. To the boldness of this work, then, I am kindled not by the inborn wisdom of my mind, not by artificial knowledge, not by the opulence of eloquent loquacity, but by the not uncertain hope in that saint himself, of whom I desire to speak, our co-worker and helper, and by the kindly request of the venerable father Bernard, bishop of Calinum, by whom he permitted himself to be translated ^b. Whoever then comes to read this work, let him not impute it to temerity that I have undertaken it, but let him, I pray, ascribe it to obedience. Here ends the prologue.

ANNOTATIONS.

* gesta

HERE BEGINS THE TRANSLATION OF ST. MARTIN.

By the counsel and help of many, in the year 1094, on the 26th day of June, In the year, at length, from the incarnation of the Lord one thousand and ninety-four, in the fourteenth year of the principate of Richard ^a, son of Prince Jordan, the venerable Bishop Bernard ^b ruling Forum Claudii, in the eighth year of his pontificate, in the month of June, in the second indiction, the same venerable bishop began to take up again what he had long proposed in his mind: for he had decided, and had received counsel from the lord Guimund ^c, bishop of the see of Aversa, a man of great authority, through his archpresbyter John, to translate the body of St. Martin, to which, as the iniquity of the provosts ^d grew, due service was not paid in the accustomed manner, to the church of St. Mary and St. John ^e, over which he presided. For he knew that more frequent services would be paid there to the holy limbs both by the clergy and by the people. So having summoned Jonathas, son of Prince Richard ^f, who then presided over Calenum ^g, the most prudent of knights, he sought from him counsel how this could be done. And Jonathas, a man of great prudence among laymen, advised him to invite the bishops of the province to do this with him, and effectually pledged that he would give whatever better counsel and help he could on this matter. So having called together the bishops of Teano ^h and Calvi, and a day having been fixed, namely that on which the solemnity of the holy martyrs John and Paul ⁱ was to be celebrated, he climbed the mountain, coming to the tomb of the holy body with the greatest reverence of devotion.

[2] [St. Bernard secretly takes away the relics of St. Martin and transfers them into the new cathedral church.] So first Bishop Bernard, kindled with love of finding so noble a treasure, having completed his prayer, struck a blow on the marble by which the venerable body was covered: and the revelation of the holy body, which before had been difficult to many, became so easy for the aforesaid venerable bishop and his companions, that the will of that saint, consenting to the effect of his revelation and translation, could very easily be recognised. And all who were present were filled with so great an odour of joyful sweetness ^k that they did not doubt that he by whose body they were standing was a citizen of paradise and a dweller in heaven. So the long-desired relics of the holy man having been drawn out, Bishop Bernard giving thanks to the Lord, and gladdened beyond what could be said, all those also who had gone with him praising the Lord with joyful voice, carefully placed the venerable bones in a clean linen cloth; and, as those who gain a victory are accustomed to return happy, all went down eager at the so unhoped-for discovery of so great a treasure. And when the people of the city learned of the arrival of the most holy body, all, men and women, children, youths and old men, came forth to meet it. Jonathas also with his wife and his soldiers, giving thanks to God, ran to meet it with bare feet, and so with the greatest honour the holy relics were carried as far as the basilica of the bishopric; in which very many benefits are done through the same saint to those who ask, by the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and glory for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

HERE BEGIN THE MIRACLES OF THE SAME.

A captive is freed, On the same day on which the city of Calinum was adorned by the arrival of so great a ruler, a certain peasant, whose son was held captive at Teano, since he had nothing with which to redeem his son, sought the saint, and when he had suppliantly begged for the liberation of his son, and when rising in the morning he wished to go out of the house, he saw his son, freed by the saint, standing at the door. So coming to the church with gifts he gave thanks to God and St. Martin, and announced it to all who were present.

[2] a woman with disordered menses is healed; After three days a certain wife of Peter, surnamed Saracen ^a, who had lost the force of her menses, solicitous for her health, which could in no way be repaired by physicians, went to the saint and asked that the use of the conjugal function be restored to her. In a wonderful manner, before she went out of the church, she perceived that she was restored to health and indicated it to those present.

[3] a weak boy is restored to health; A certain little boy, deprived of all strength on one side of his body, his mother brought with her among the other sick before the altar of the saint, praying that he might merit some benefit for her son. And when the boy, overcome by a sudden sleep, had awakened, he seized with both hands a flask which he found placed before him, and raised himself up sound. Marvelling at this the mother gave thanks to God and the saint, who had restored to health the feeble hand of her son with the whole side.

[4] likewise a girl; Hearing this a certain noble man of the city of Capua, John Maledictus by name ^b, since he had a certain daughter bent over, contracted in hands, loins and gait, sent her with certain nuns of the monastery to which he had vowed her to seek the assistance of St. Martin. When these were prostrate in prayer before the altar, the virgin too, prostrate and given a little to sleep, rose up sound ^c.

[5] many miracles are omitted. We have recited a few of the many miracles which were done by St. Martin after the translation of his body. For we cannot record how many with fever he has healed, or how many of the languishing he has cured and daily cures. And whoever comes devoutly to beg his benefits knows him to be a most ready helper to him.

ANNOTATIONS.

Here in the manuscript codex of Carinola there are preposterously inserted some songs on the life or deeds of St. Martin. The same are found in the Böddeken manuscript codex at the end of the songs of Peter the deacon, which we shall give below and which we have said, in no. 21 of the preliminary Commentary, are nothing other than an ecclesiastical hymn used at Cassino, at Carinola and perhaps elsewhere. I scarcely doubt that those other songs were likewise written by Peter the deacon and were part of the divine office; since, however, I have ascertained this rather by conjecture than by certain arguments, I prefer to give them in this place in the annotations. Hear them then:

With you as father, us rejoicing and keeping your feasts Make, Martin, ever to enjoy your love; You, though enclosed, have exercised many virtues: The rock gave drink, the beast went back conquered. The woman who believes she conquers you withdraws conquered; Since she did not blush, she succumbed dead. The high mountain deceives the boy's incautious leaps; Yet he, when he fell, was not hurt: The impending fall of the mass, since you are unwilling to yield, You push off and compel to enter another way. You loosed yourself from iron, bound by the fetter of Christ; Your mind, full of God, ever clung to him. Translated to us, admit our prayers, Guest, and assent to your suppliant hosts. To this humble throng, which venerates you in the city, Be governor and giver of help.

The last four verses seem to fit only the little town of Carinola; but since relics of St. Martin were translated to Cassino too about the year 1094, it would not be altogether absurd if that hymn had been sung there too in the divine office.

LIFE, TRANSLATION AND MIRACLES OF ST. MARTIN THE ABBOT,

By Peter the Deacon of Cassino, from a manuscript codex of Cassino.

Martin, who is also Marcius, solitary in the Roman Campagna. (S.)

BHL Number: 5604

BY PETER THE DEACON.

CHAPTER ONE.

The solitary life of St. Martin on Monte Cassino and on Monte Massico.

St. Martin first inhabits Monte Cassino; Martin, a venerable man, born of most noble parents, possessed from infancy more noble morals. He, when, having left the pomps of the world, he sought the wilderness, came to the citadel of Heraclea of Cassino ^b, which the holy martyr Demetrius ^c with his companions had made illustrious by his own passion and by the precious burial of his body. Entering it, not far from the altar of Apollo, which was situated at the summit of the same mountain, he dwelt as a solitary in a cave near that same altar: in which stronghold, namely, there was a most ancient shrine, where after the custom of the ancient heathen Apollo (as we have said) was worshipped by the foolish people of the peasants round about, and groves had grown up in the worship of demons: in which at that same time a mad multitude of unbelievers still sweated over sacrilegious sacrifices ^d.

[2] whom to St. Benedict, divinely sent to purge it from the remnants of idolatry, And when among the foolish pagans who inhabited Heraclea of Cassino the preaching of St. Martin was sweating with fruitless labour ^e, the Lord, appearing to the most blessed father Benedict, then dwelling at Subiaco, said ^f: Rise and go to the stronghold of Cassino, and the people of that province, who still serve the abominable cults of idols and in whose hearts the cunning of Satan reigns, who know or say nothing but what the malice of the ancient serpent has written in their hearts, by preaching with the life-giving word strive to convert to my face, for I shall be with you and shall not forsake you; and confound all your adversaries. Set out for the battle against the idols, be comforted and be strong, for I shall hand over to you the stronghold of Cassino, and there shall the seat of your name be for ever.

[3] at God's order, he leaves When the holy father Benedict had heard such things, he ordered all the oratories which he had built, with twelve brothers joined in each under appointed superiors. And with two angels and three ravens piously accompanying him he began to go on to the stronghold of Cassino ^g. And when he had come there, he broke the idol to pieces, overthrew the altar, cut down the groves which had grown up round about in the worship of demons, and in the temple of Apollo he built the oratory of Blessed Martin ^h, and where the altar of Apollo had been, a church of St. John; and he converted to the faith of Christ the peoples dwelling round about. But before Father Benedict entered the stronghold of Heraclea of Cassino, the Angel of the Lord appeared to this St. Martin, who had dwelt there through several courses of years, saying:

Spare these places, another shall be the friend ⁱ. In these seats and places let Benedict remain, Marsicus too is a mountain, to which you are ordered to hasten. Where you shall plant your steps, Marsicus too is a mountain.

[4] [and goes on to Monte Massico, where he dies and is buried on the 3rd day of August.] At once then, as the angel had commanded him, St. Martin, yielding the place, sought Mount Marsicus, where after many afflictions of this fleeting life, and also various sufferings from the enemy's craft, being at length called by the Lord, he is to be said to have changed his life rather than to have ended it. And the body of the most blessed man was buried in a cave of the same mountain, on the third of the nones of August, on the northern side. Which, because difficult of access, remained for some time at rest and unmoved, or rather unattempted ^k.

ANNOTATIONS.

to feed, following, through about fifty thousand paces, St. Benedict came to this place (Cassino) at the order of Christ. So Leo Marsicanus in the first chapter of his Chronicle of Cassino Ibid., p. 247. The escort of angels and ravens he received from Mark the poet See his Song in Mabillon, Benedictine century I, p. 29, the disciple of St. Benedict Acts of the Saints, vol. II of October, p. 117. The commands of Christ, which are of a more recent time, were set out (by the right which many historians after Titus Livius have used) by Peter the deacon, or rather the Pseudo-Gordian, who brings in Christ speaking in yet more words. Tosti judges Storia della badia di Monte-Cassino, vol. I, p. 6 that St. Benedict came to Cassino because this place, as seems to follow from an old diploma, had been given him by the patrician Tertullus, father of St. Placidus; and so he judges that all the marvels which were omitted by St. Gregory the pope concerning the arrival of St. Benedict at Monte Cassino, and reported only by later writers, are rather to be set aside than praised.

This little verse is by Mark the poet, a disciple of St. Benedict and therefore a good witness. Here then is the whole passage Benedictine century I, p. 29:

To which when, warned, you came from another mountain, Christ was your guide, your way, through the deserts. For at every fork he led forth two youths To confirm you in the road you were to follow. He had also foretold to one just man living here: Spare these places, another friend is at hand.

Yet Peter the deacon did not receive that little verse from Mark the poet, but from the metrical Life of St. Martin, whether Peter himself wrote it, or Paul the deacon in the VIII century. For in this the following exists:

Alter amicus erit, tunc sic divinitus audit, His tu parce locis, alter amicus erit. Sedibus atque locis maneat Benedictus in istis; Se retinebit in his sedibus atque locis. Marsicus est quoque mons, quo tu properare juberis; Quo figes et gressus Marsicus est quoque mons.

[Another shall be the friend, thus he then hears divinely, / spare these places, another shall be the friend. / In these seats and places let Benedict remain; / he will keep himself in these seats and places. / Marsicus too is a mountain, to which you are ordered to hasten; / where you shall also plant your steps, Marsicus too is a mountain.]

St. Gregory the Great has nothing about St. Martin's dwelling on Monte Cassino. Mark the poet indicates that some just man had cultivated the eremitic life there before St. Benedict; but he is silent as to the name. In the metrical Life and in the prose one of Peter the deacon it is openly related that it was our St. Martin; as also in the Life of St. Placidus by the Pseudo-Gordian Acts of the Saints, vol. II of October, p. 117. I have seen no one who ever doubted that that just man, designated by Mark, was in fact St. Martin of Massico.

CHAPTER II.

The translation of the body of St. Martin often attempted and at length accomplished. Incursions of the Saracens.

Rachis II, duke of Benevento, Then, when seven hundred and thirty years from the Incarnation of the Lord had revolved, in the twelfth year of the reign of the emperor Constantine, who was ninth from the great son of Helena, in the seventh month ^a, in the tenth indiction, Arechis, prince of Benevento, after the twelfth year of his principate, proposed to translate the body of Blessed Martin, which he had heard was placed in a cave of Mount Marsicus, to Benevento, for the salvation of himself and his people. So having called Theofania his wife, whose faith and liberality he had experienced in many things, he did not delay to indicate to her both his proposal and the cause. And she urged that John the bishop, who at that time presided over the church of Benevento ^b, a man of venerable life, should be called and that counsel should be sought from him on this matter. So the bishop having been summoned, both indicated to his holiness what they had proposed and what they had discussed on this matter. Hearing this, the bishop dissuaded that this should be done without the counsel and leave of the pope who then had the care of the Roman see ^c. So having sent letters to the pope, begging that consent be given, through Severus the deacon, who first commended the notice of this deed to posterity, they obtained not only leave, but also with exhortation the apostolic blessing. So a three-day fast having been proclaimed and observed, the bishop and the prince with his wife, and also the greatest part of the clergy and people, their heads sprinkled with ash, beseeching the Lord with litanies *, entered upon the road with bare feet. And when they had completed a journey of a day and a half, they climbed the summit of Mount Marsicus, entered the cave in which the body of the saint had been placed, celebrated masses at his memorial, and took care that all should partake of the reception of the eucharist.

[6] he tries to steal the pious body, but is forbidden; When the services of the masses had been completed, the bishop, clothed in sacred vestments, coming together with the prince to the tomb of the saint, began to pray, earnestly beseeching God that he would permit that for which they had come, that the body of St. Martin should be translated by them. All also who had come with the bishop and prince, prostrate on the ground, suppliantly implored St. Martin to permit himself to be translated; and suddenly, terrified by the coming of a most vehement earthquake, so that the mountain seemed to be falling, they perceived that the saint would in no way acquiesce to their petitions in this, and so they returned sad to their own homes.

[7] [The Saracens, who in the IX century devastated all Campania and other places of Italy,] At that time too [d, when Ursus, son of Prince Aio, ruled the principality of Benevento, in the first year of his principate, in the month of May, in the first indiction ^e, there were sent by the Constantinopolitan emperor to conquer the city of Benevento two generals * with a great army of Greeks, of whom one was called Sabbaticus, the other George. When the city had been besieged by men of great spirit and at length captured, George, promoted to the principate, ruled it four years and four months. And while the Greeks were coming into the parts of Campania, crossing the river whose name is Volturno, they entered the stronghold of Calvestrum ^f. And the Agarenes ^g, who had come to devastate the parts of Campania, hearing that the Greeks were there, prepared war against them, and suddenly meeting the Greeks as they came out of the stronghold, they killed seven hundred and five of the army of the Greeks, and of them there died five hundred Agarenes and a hundred Egyptians. And on the next day, both parties having gathered in the field, the Christians conquering by the nod of God, killed eight thousand armed Agarene horsemen, and three thousand footmen; and thus, routed as far as the river Silarus [i], they returned into exile with great disgrace. Then Guido ^k, marquis of Spoleto, violently expelled the Greeks from Benevento.] And the Agarenes, renewing their plan of laying Campania waste, when they heard that Guido, the Greeks having been expelled, ruled Benevento, yielding from those parts, brought their ships to the shore of the greater island ^l, which belongs to the territory of Naples; and for forty-two years, invading Campania three times every summer season, they took captive whomever they could.

[8] [they attack also the monastery of St. Martin, but are repelled by him, leading the monks.] By chance climbing the summit of Mount Marsicus, they halted in the valley which is apart, not far from the cave where the body of St. Martin had rested, and seeing the enclosure of the monastery, they strove to destroy the place of God and to lead captive the servants of God who dwelt there. The brothers perceiving their din, going down in swift flight to the cave of the holy body, cried out: Martin, most holy father, help and free us from the hands of the Agarenes, who desire to pursue us and take us captive. At this cry of the monks Blessed Martin suddenly appeared to them in the form which he had had before his death, comforting them with a clear voice and saying: Hear me, my brothers, as brothers of our Lord Jesus Christ; know that I am Martin, whose praises you daily frequent; be comforted and do not fear; arms and horses are prepared for us. Go and arm your bodies with breastplates, helmets, shields, swords and lances; mount your horses and without doubt fight: for I will go before you, and you shall have an abundant victory. And the monks, going, three hundred in number, armed themselves against the Agarenes; and seeing their patron go before, they struck them with the sword: and there were slain of the Agarenes one thousand nine hundred and nine. And the rest, fleeing to the island, returned with great confusion, Christ helping his servants, who gives victory to his saints.

[9] [The prior of the monastery wishes to sell the body of St. Martin; but Hilary, abbot of the Volturno, divinely warned, prevents it;] At another time Hilary ^m, abbot of St. Vincent, situated next to the rising of the river Volturno, had set over the monastery of Blessed Martin a certain monk, who thought to carry off the venerable body by stealth and that he could obtain some price. And when by night he had rashly come to touch the tomb, suddenly so great an earthquake took place that the ruin of the mountain seemed to be pressing on. And St. Martin appeared in sleep to the aforesaid abbot, who was sleeping at the monastery of St. Vincent at Capua, saying: Why have you put such a guardian over my body? At this voice the abbot, awakened, at once commanded horses to be prepared with which he should climb the mountain, and diligently questioned his monk as to what he had done that night. He at length confessed that he had hastily come to the tomb of the holy body, but had been shaken by the excessive sound of the sudden earthquake; and being corrected with the rod of paternal correction, he was cast out from the provostship which he had badly handled.

[10] St. Bernard, bishop of Carinola, The ninety-fourth and thousandth circle of the Incarnation of the kindly Word ⁿ was revolving, while there sat in the apostolic see Paschal, supreme pontiff and universal pope the second, and Henry and Alexius in the Roman empire, the venerable Bishop Bernard ruling Forum Claudii, in the eighth year of his pontificate, in the month of June, in the second indiction, when the same venerable bishop began to take up again what he had long proposed in his mind. For he had decided, and had received counsel from the lord Vuimund, bishop of the see of Aversa, a man of great authority, through his archpresbyter John, to translate the body of St. Martin, to which, as the iniquity of the provosts grew, due service was not paid in the accustomed manner, to the church of St. Mary and St. John, over which he presided. For he knew that more frequent services were to be paid there to the holy limbs both by the clergy and by the people. So from Jonathas, son of Prince Richard, who then presided over Calenum, a gathering of most prudent knights also being summoned, he sought counsel how this could be done. And Jonathas, as a man of great prudence among laymen, advised him to invite the bishops of the province to do this with him, and effectually pledged that he would give whatever better counsel and help he could on this matter.

[11] with two neighbouring bishops he translates it to Carinola; So having called together his fellow-bishops of Teano and Acquaviva ^o, a day having been fixed, on which

namely the solemnity of SS. John and Paul was to be celebrated, they climb the mountain and come to the tomb of the holy body with the greatest reverence of devotion. So first Bishop Bernard, kindled with love of finding so noble a treasure, having completed his prayer, struck a blow on the marble by which the venerable body was covered, and the revelation of the holy body, which before had been difficult to many, became so easy for the aforesaid venerable bishop and his companions, that the will of that saint, consenting to the effect of his revelation and translation, could very easily be recognised. And all who were present were filled with so great an odour of joyful sweetness that they did not doubt that he by whose body they were standing was a citizen of paradise and a dweller in heaven. So the long-desired relics of the holy man having been drawn out, Bishop Bernard giving thanks to the Lord and gladdened beyond what could be said, all those also who had gone with him praising the Lord with joyful voice, carefully placed the venerable bones in a clean linen cloth, and as those who gain a victory are accustomed to return glad, all went down eager at the so unhoped-for discovery of so great a treasure.

[12] some relics are given to Monte Cassino. And when the people of Forum Claudii learned of the arrival of the most holy body, all came forth to meet it. Jonathas also with his wife and his soldiers, giving thanks to God, ran to meet it with bare feet, and so with the greatest honour the holy relics were carried as far as the basilica of the bishop of the city. But a part they directed to the monastery of Heraclea of Cassino. For the perpetual memory of this man of God at Cassino, those who after Father Benedict presided over Cassino added the name of their feronimi * Martin to the basilica built by Father Benedict; in which very many benefits are bestowed through the same saint on those who ask, by the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honour etc.

ANNOTATIONS.

Through thrice two lustres he so held the reins of his fatherland, As a skilled sailor drives his skiff upon the waves.

Wherefore going back from the year of his death and counting thirty, we find that Arichis received the principate in the year 758, and counting fifty-three we find that he was born in the year 735; and so the twelfth year of his principate would have been the year of Christ 769. Moreover Theophania is named as the wife of Arichis: but the name of his wife was Adelperga: but perhaps Adelperga was his second wife. Finally Urban is named, seventh pope from Gregory: but in the series of the Roman pontiffs no Urban is found after Gregory the Great or Gregory the second or third, who sat seventh in the chair of Peter; I would willingly believe that the true recording of time was corrupted by the fault of the scribes. For the rest, that Arichis, prince of Benevento, was most zealous in seeking out and translating the bodies of the saints to the church of St. Sophia is abundantly established from Erchempert in the Chronicle of Cassino. Nor is there any reason why the matter itself should be called into doubt on account of the chronological errors; we have reported it in the preliminary Commentary, no. 9, from the Chronicle of St. Vincent on the Volturno; in which all things agree well. That attempt at translation must have taken place between the year 760 and 780.

* other copies litaniis

* strategi

* read homonymi.

CHAPTER III.

Miracles at Carinola and on Monte Cassino.

A captive is forthwith freed; On the same day on which the city of Calenum was adorned by the arrival of so great a ruler, a certain peasant, whose son was held captive at Teano, since he had nothing with which to redeem his son, sought the saint and suppliantly begged him for the liberation of his son. And when rising in the morning he wished to go out of the house, he saw his son, freed by the saint, standing at the door. So coming to the church with gifts, he gave thanks to God and St. Martin and made it known to all who were present.

[15] a boy who had swallowed a pin, On the same day ^a a certain little infant, who had brought into his mouth, by chance through maternal negligence, a brass pin accustomed to be fixed for covering his mother's breast, and it had slipped into his throat and he had sent it within to his bowels, and for forty days now had borne it, his parents daily praying to the saint for him, saved by the saint voided it, and to establish faith in this miracle, his father gave that pin to be kept in the church.

[16] another weak boy, A certain boy deprived of all strength on one side of his body his mother brought with her among the other sick before the altar of the saint, praying that he might merit to receive some benefit. And the boy, overcome by a sudden sleep, when he had awakened, seized with both hands a flask which he found placed before him, and rose up sound. Marvelling at this the mother gave thanks to God and St. Martin, who had restored to health the feeble hand of her son with the whole side.

[17] a third, contracted, Hearing this a certain noble man of the city of Capua, John Maledictus by name, since he had a certain daughter bent over, contracted in hand, loins and gait, sent her with certain nuns of the monastery to which he had vowed her to seek the assistance of St. Martin. When these were prostrate in prayer before the altar, the virgin who was prostrate, having a little before been given to sleep, afterwards rose up sound.

[18] and a fourth, blind, are healed. There is also in the territory of Acquaviva ^b a villa by the name of Sanguinaria, in which a certain boy,

from the very beginnings of his birth had been blind; when he had been led by his parents to the altar of the same saint, Christ, wishing to show of how great merit Martin is toward him, enlightened him in the same manner in which he himself enlightened the man born blind, sent to the waters of Siloam. We have recited a few of the many miracles which were done by St. Martin after the translation of his body; we cannot record how many with fever he has healed or how many of the languishing he has cured and daily cures. And whoever comes devoutly to beg his benefits knows him to be a most ready helper to him.

[19] [A wonderful history of two men who had resolved to offer wax on Monte Cassino before the relics of St. Martin;] So when two merchants had hurried to the basilica of Blessed Martin ^c, having a form of wax ^d as it were in common as partners, one of them spoke to the other, that, although it was so small a thing, they should yet willingly offer it to the confessor of God. But he spent his words in vain on the mind of his unwilling partner. He however with his partner prostrated himself in his prayer, and secretly set out that wax before the railings of the awesome sepulchre. Soon the little form of that wax divided itself into complete equality, and the part of the faithful offerer himself was accepted; the other part, with very many looking on, rolling itself as far as the other railings, by the divine nod, was driven back with all contumely: as if the saint were unwilling to seize what the other had not devoutly offered him: since he always refused what did not come from faith, as certain in judgment as merciful in vow. O how incorruptible an arbiter he shines! This man is more chaste in the examination of judgment than she is in the choice of flowers who produces chaste wax. Then therefore he who had been unwilling to offer, both confounded with the crime committed, himself being witness, and struck with the guilt of immense shame, seeing that the reproaches of such great foulness had sprouted for him from the root of his conscience, looked upon the crimes of his hidden thought revealed to his face, considered, groaned and wept: that at least with the fount of tears he might wash away what he had defiled with a sinning heart. Who afterwards offered greater things and, moved, chastised himself by the judgment of the wax.

[20] his relics and the pall with which they were covered are preserved from fire. Likewise when according to custom on a certain night a candle had been lit, it fell by chance, burning, upon the sepulchre of him who gives life to his intercession: so that it burned on upon Martin, where it had fallen, without any injury. For as far as the length of the wax extended, the wax was found lying, the wick consumed, as if the wax itself had made a border between the fire and the pall. That it might be found to be defended by the very thing through which it could have been burned, it obeyed the precept of him to whom all things submit themselves. Hence then the fire dreaded the wax, and that which it had taken up as an aid in burning, it was seen to fight against. But among these things I shall not pass over this, that in the power of the confessor, which it had learned, the wax extinguished the flame; and in reversed order suffocated that by which it could have been suffocated. Diverse substances seem to have changed their nature, so that the fires neither hurt the pall on the marble, while the wax flowed as a river, but, as far as lay with him, it was his to extinguish the light of a candle, who shows light to the blind. Or when the burial of another's corpse restores the fire of the eyes, how easily we believe that he should drive away flames from his own sepulchre. I would wish, still insatiate, to sing as it were peculiarly the miracles of the most sacred man ^e, but I fear lest whence I desire to show my devotion, thence I may seem to block the mind of the hearer with disgust arising. Give me then pious pardon, nor reject the fewness of this text, of which I might say little and fill books. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

HYMN OR LIFE OF BLESSED MARTIN, SOLITARY AND CONFESSOR,

Composed in verses, whose feast is on the III of the nones of August, by Peter, deacon of Cassino

From the Böddeken and Carinola manuscript codices.

Martin, who is also Marcius, solitary in the Roman Campagna. (S.)

BY PETER THE DEACON.

St. Martin lives holily at Cassino; Vocibus organicis Martino psallite patri. Hunc laudate chori vocibus organicis. Practica despiciens, hic ^b vitam duxit honestam. Hic fuit et prudens practica despiciens. Carnea membra nimis, spiratus mente, donavit. Affligebat enim carnea membra nimis. Montis erat loculus, Marco testante poeta; Culmine Cassini montis erat loculus. Montis erat loculus loculo felicior omni; Quo fuit inclusus montis erat loculus: Alter amicus erit, tunc sic divinitus audit; His tu parce locis, alter amicus erit. Sedibus atque locis maneat Benedictus in istis. Se retinebit in his sedibus atque locis. Marsicus est quoque mons, quo tu properare juberis. Quo figes et gressum, Marsicus est quoque mons. Marsica juga subit Martinus, sic quoque montis Angelicis monitis Marsica juga subit.

[With organ-voices chant to Martin the father. / Praise him, you choirs, with organ-voices. / Despising the active life, this man led an honourable life. / This man was both prudent, despising the active life. / His fleshly limbs exceedingly, breathing in mind, he gave away. / For he afflicted his fleshly limbs exceedingly. / There was a chamber of the mountain, Mark the poet being witness; / on the summit of Cassino there was a chamber of the mountain. / There was a chamber of the mountain, more blessed than every chamber; / where he was enclosed there was a chamber of the mountain: / Another shall be the friend, thus he then hears divinely; / spare these places, another shall be the friend. / In these seats and places let Benedict remain. / He will keep himself in these seats and places. / Marsicus too is a mountain, to which you are ordered to hasten. / Where you shall also plant your step, Marsicus too is a mountain. / Martin climbs the Marsic ridges, thus too of the mountain, / at the angelic warnings, he climbs the Marsic ridges.]

[2] likewise on Monte Massico, where he conquers the devil. Rupis in exiguo sic demum se locat antro; Cunjunctus Domino rupis in exiguo. Tumque pedem religans ferro duraque catena Ut se constringat, tumque pedem religans. Ire catena vetat; sic te Martine coerces, Igne Dei fervens; ire catena vetat: Sed pater ipse pius dum percipit hæc Benedictus. Solvere vincla jubet sed pater ipse pius: Vincula junge tibi, non ferri, sed mage Christi. Constantis fidei vincula junge tibi. Tum patris imperio Benedicti vincula solvit; Se solvit ferro tum patris imperio. O pie vir Domini, solvisti vincula ferri; Vincla Dei jungis, o pie vir Domini. Vipera te refugit, dum dextram porrigis ori; Stas, oras, psallis; vipera te refugit. Tu decus eximium, vincis, Martine, colubrum; Et vincis zabulum, tu decus eximium.

[So at last he places himself in the tiny cave of the rock; / joined to the Lord in the tiny place of the rock. / And then binding his foot with iron and a hard chain, / that he might restrain himself, and then binding his foot. / The chain forbids going; thus, Martin, you restrain yourself, / burning with the fire of God; the chain forbids going: / But when the pious father Benedict himself perceives these things, / he orders the chains to be loosed, the pious father himself: / Join chains to yourself, not of iron, but rather of Christ. / Of constant faith join chains to yourself. / Then at the father's command he looses the chains of Benedict; / he looses himself from the iron then at the father's command. / O pious man of the Lord, you have loosed the chains of iron; / you join the chains of God, O pious man of the Lord. / The viper flees back from you, when you stretch your right hand to its mouth; / you stand, you pray, you chant; the viper flees back from you. / You, excellent glory, conquer, Martin, the serpent; / and you conquer the devil, you excellent glory.]

[3] His patronage is entreated. Spiritus ipse Dei, sed per juga Marsica montis. Tale malum deicit Spiritus ipse Dei. Suscipe, magne pater, pro tantis suscipe laudes; Psallimus has voces; suscipe, magne pater. Noxia cuncta tuis precibus depelle famellis; Absistant famulis noxia cuncta tuis. Dives in angelicis nos dites cœtibus ipsis; Turmis lætaris dives in angelicis. Pauper in orbe, Deo meruisti jungier ipse, Regnans cum Christo, pauper in orbe, Deo. Nos quoque tu facias conscendere cælica regna; Vivere mente pia nos quoque tu facias. Fers specimen generis pulchrum, Martine beate, Practica dum spernis, fers specimen generis. Dulce decus nimium, nobis Martine, supremum. Acquiras regnum, dulce decus nimium. En tibi, sancte, chorus monachorum concrepat almus; Concinit hos cantus en tibi, sancte, chorus [c]. Vocibus et modulis tibi clerus hic quoque psallit, Proclamant pueri vocibus et modulis. Tuque Deum rogita cunctis his parcere culpis; Ut nobis parcat tuque Deum rogita. Cum Genitore Deo sit honor, cum Flamine sancto, Lausque Deo Genito cum Genitore Deo.

[The very Spirit of God, but through the Marsic ridges of the mountain. / Such evil the very Spirit of God casts down. / Receive, great father, for such great things receive praises; / we chant these words; receive, great father. / Drive off all harmful things by your prayers from your little servants; / let all harmful things stand away from your servants. / Rich among the angelic companies, may you enrich us with them; / you rejoice, rich among the angelic troops. / Poor in the world, you merited to be joined to God yourself, / reigning with Christ, poor in the world, to God. / May you make us too to climb the heavenly kingdoms; / to live with pious mind may you make us too. / You bear a beautiful pattern of the race, blessed Martin, / while you spurn the active life, you bear a pattern of the race. / Exceedingly sweet glory, Martin, for us the highest / kingdom may you acquire, exceedingly sweet glory. / Behold, O saint, the kindly choir of monks sounds to you; / behold, O saint, the choir sings these chants to you. / With voices and measures the clergy here too chants to you, / the boys proclaim with voices and measures. / And do you ask God to spare all these faults; / that he may spare us, do you ask God. / With God the Begetter be honour, with the holy Breath, / and praise to God the Begotten with God the Begetter.]

ANNOTATIONS.