Cosmas

ON ST. COSMAS, HERMIT AND CONFESSOR AT VENICE,

AT VENICE.

About the year DCLVIII.

Cosmas, hermit and conf., at Venice. (S.)

BHL Number: 1981

BY J. P.

§ I. The announcements of more recent writers; his ancient cult; the place in which his body is kept; the writers; the time of his life.

[ ] The silence of the ancient Martyrologists,

among whom I have not known mention

to be made of this Saint, more recent hagiologists have supplied,

his name being inscribed in the sacred

Calendars, after his sacred

body was translated to Venice from the island of Crete, in which the Saint

was renowned. Belinus to the text

of Usuard published by him subjoins this: Likewise of saint

Cosmas, confessor and hermit. Greven:

Of Cosmas the confessor, who, leading an eremitic life

in the island of Crete, rested. With Belinus

Molanus agrees. Galesinius reports him thus: At Venice,

the translation of saint Cosmas, hermit and confessor,

whose body was carried thither from the island of Crete.

Add Canisius, Maurolico, Ferrari in

the General Catalogue, and Castellanus. And deservedly

that holy Solitary was inscribed in their sacred Calendars,

as will be clear from the proof of his public cult,

which I subjoin.

[2] Ferrari, cited above, indicates in his notes

that he is found in the Records of the church of Venice on the V day

of this month. because he has a true and lawful cult at Venice: Yet the Order of reciting the divine Office

according to the rite of the patriarchal church and diocese

of Venice, printed by decree of the most illustrious D. Giovanni

Francesco Morosini, patriarch of Venice, for the year

1657, transfers this Saint's feast from the 2nd day of September,

on which then fell the dedication of the patriarchal church,

to the XXIV day of the same month, to be celebrated in this manner:

Of Cosmus, as he is there called, conf., semid. His body is in the R. Ch. of St.

George the Greater (it was the 2nd of this month) from the common of 1 conf. not a bishop.

The bone of Justus. Fortunato Olmo, a Venetian and

a monk of Monte Cassino, who published the Life of St. Cosmas

with Venetian types in the year 1612, in his notes on it,

p. 19, indicating where the body lies, and at the same time

teaching that an altar had been erected to the Saint, says: The body lies

at the altar sacred to our holy Father Benedict and to the Hermit himself.

Since therefore from these things his public and lawful cult is established,

I add no more in this place, of things which will occur in what follows.

[3] The place of St. George the Greater, in which

we have already said his sacred body rests, where lies his body, honored with public veneration. is described

by Augustin Lubin in the brief notice of the Abbeys of Italy,

p. 410, from which I select the following:

At Venice, the abbey of the title of Saint George the Greater,

of the Order of St. Benedict, … which, on account of the relics of St.

Stephen brought into its church, was also named of S.

George and S. Stephen. It took its beginning

in the year CMLXXXII from Giovanni Morosini, a noble

Doge, who led and propagated the monastic life in it,

and, having discharged the office of abbot, died.

The island, and the chapel of S. George already existing,

Memmus the Tribune gave for founding a monastery. The instrument

of the donation Ughelli reports in vol. 5, pp. 1272 and following, where

its privileges are recounted. … It is the most beautiful of all

the abbeys of the city, situated in the quarter of S. Croce.

Of it Sansovino, bk. 5, p. 166. Let these things

be said on occasion of the body of our holy Hermit translated

to the said abbey, of which matter

we shall say more when we treat of his life.

[4] Notices are given Peter de Natalibus, who flourished in the fourteenth century,

in bk. 8 of the Catalogue of Saints, ch. 26, records a few things of his

deeds, with this title prefixed: On saint

Cosmas the confessor. Then, Cosmas the confessor,

he says, a Greek by nation, led an eremitic life

in the island of Crete; who, all the days

of his life giving himself to fastings and prayers, sat

in a certain cave, where also after a praiseworthy

life he rested in peace on the IV of the Nones of September.

Whose body, when it had rested for some time buried in that same cave,

was translated by the inhabitants of the place into the city,

that he might be more honorably venerated.

That this displeased God and the Saint appeared by an evident sign.

For, a very great dryness of the air coming on,

the earth was parched and a strong famine followed;

nor did fertility abound before, with rain falling

from heaven, until the holy body was brought back to the hidden places

of its own spot. This scanty Life is printed in Peter de Natalibus.

[5] of the Life Olmo in his annotations says: There exists

a fuller one in a manuscript of an anonymous author, anciently kept

in our monastery of St. George the Greater;

from which, and from the same Peter (de Natalibus),

we have learned whatever we have written. Thus he.

But we have another Ms. copy headed with this title:

The Life of saint Cosmas, hermit and

confessor, a Cretan monk, which in the margin is indicated by the hand

of our Henschen to have been taken from the codex of the Queen of Sweden

concerning the Saints whose relics are in the monastery of St. George. It thus begins:

Most beloved, our Creator and lover has provided for us,

who the precious gem of his diadem, most holy Cosmas,

whom he withdrew from another nation,

gave to us, though unworthy, as a most pious patron to the honor

and salvation of all Venice. The author

is anonymous, and reports things like those of Peter de Natalibus

concerning the Saint; but where he digresses to the translation

of the body carried to Venice, he indulges in by-matters

about the Venetians. Here is a specimen: It happened that from the custom

of trading a ship went out from Venice and

came to those parts (namely of the island of Crete):

for this people, from love of liberty, dwelt in the sea

marshes, and is almost the only one in the world

which by a praiseworthy zeal retains the manners of its ancient nobility

even to these times.

[6] But because once, from love, as we have said, of liberty,

leaving the accessible places, the writers, they preferred

to dwell in remote marshes, and peacefully to live content

with their own manners and laws, rather than to serve

the hard exactions of kings or princes. Let it suffice to have reported

these few out of the many things which are there subjoined.

That copy perhaps coincides

with the one from which Olmo indicated that he had partly learned

what he wrote of the Saint. The same man in

his Annotations, p. 15, treating of the day of his death,

supplies this notice: Concerning the day of his death

both Peter de Natalibus and Molanus and others

agree; which our manuscript also sets forth as the same. In our copy also

is this: Therefore untiringly he clung to the term of his labor,

for which he waited and thirsted, on the second day

of the month of September, that is, he entered

upon the way of all flesh.

[7] Following, I suppose, monuments of this kind, Olmo

thus determines the day and year of his death

in the Life below in our work at n. 5: and of the time of his death. Shining with these

and countless other virtues,

he came to heaven … on the IV of the Nones of September in the year

after the birth of Christ DCLVIII. Of the day of his death

it has already been said: but of the year Olmo observes this

in the Annotations, p. 15, cited: For

both in Natalis and in the Ms. it is established that the sacred body of Cosmas

rested four hundred years in Crete.

And it was carried thence to us …

in the year MLVIII. Let therefore CCCC years be subtracted; there remains

the year DCLVIII, in which we have set that he departed this life.

Peter de Natalibus, or, as Olmo

calls him, Natalis, adds an adverb "nearly" to those four hundred

years, which our Ms. of the anonymous author indicated above

also does: on the faith of which we have set the word

"about" above at the year 658.

§ II. The body translated from the island of Crete to Venice;

its condition; the time of the translation; the copy from which these things

and the Saint's Life are given.

[ ] That translation is not narrated in the same way: The translation of St. Cosmas from the island of Crete

to the Venetians is very briefly touched in Peter de Natalibus:

But after nearly CCCC years, he says,

that body was taken thence by Venetian seafarers

and translated to Venice, and

laid up in the monastery of saint George the Greater,

where it rests at present. At far greater length

Olmo narrates it, and sets it forth clothed with circumstances sufficiently wondrous,

below in our work at n. 10

and following, indicating in his Notes, p. 16, whence

he drew these things: The manner of the translation, he says,

Natalis does not have. The whole we bring forth from a manuscript.

But that narrative would be of greater authority

if the credit and time of the writer were established.

Things like in substance our anonymous Ms. also records

about the manner in which that translation happened.

[9] the condition of the body: The biographer Olmo at n. 13 asserts that the body

was found among the Cretans so entire that

it seemed to everyone in a wondrous manner as though recently buried.

But the same author writes this in his Annotations,

p. 16: According to the report of the venerable monks

who were permitted to see it before it was closed up,

it is not now wholly entire:

but it equally denotes holiness by its incorruption and antiquity

by some corruption. The head is separated

from the body, broken, they say, and enclosed within

the body: for which there formerly served the head

of saint Felix the confessor, which now by the care

of the very reverend father dom Michele Alabardi,

abbot, covered with a silver case, is set forth

to be publicly venerated. Of this matter a slip of paper once

attached to the chest of the most holy body has thus: "The head

joined to the body is the head of saint Felix the confessor,

brought to these shores by the most serene emperor Charles

(IV), and laid up

in this monastery of St. George the Greater

of Venice, by the care and diligence of R. Fr. D.

Gerard Pante, abbot of the aforesaid monastery,

on the VIII day of the month of October in the year of the Lord MCCCLXI.

But the head of this St. Cosmas the confessor is in the body

itself."

[10] the time of the translation "And the body itself (as the slip cited above

continues) of the aforesaid most blessed confessor

Cosmas was placed in this already-said monastery

in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord MLVIII,

in the month of April, in the eleventh Indiction."

Hence it is clear that Wion errs, who, following one deceived,

was himself also deceived. At the end of the manuscript

are these words written not in the same character as the manuscript

itself, but in a finer one:

"And that most holy body was translated to this our monastery in the year

of the Lord MCCCCIII, in the month of April, in the

XI Indiction." Which Wion following, as Olmo observes,

in his Annotations on the Life of St. Gerard,

places the translation from Crete in the same year MCCCCIII.

But from the slip adduced above it is clear

that the year MLVIII must be set down. For the words are shown to have been

recently and rashly added to the manuscript,

since, as we have set them here, they are both different in character

from the manuscript, and are forced to end in the margin

on account of certain other things which follow in the Ms. But although foolishly added,

it is nevertheless pleasant to conjecture the cause of the error.

[11] wrongly marked elsewhere, The eleventh Indiction fell in the year of the Lord one thousand

fifty-eight, and the eleventh also in the year

one thousand four hundred and three. He therefore who

added these things had perhaps read that Cosmas was brought to Venice in the eleventh Indiction

in the month of April,

no memorial of the year being had: which he set about to divine from the Indiction,

but was cheated of his aim.

For the time adduced of the year MCCCCIII is refuted first by that slip

which we saw above:

and then more strongly by another Ms., which treats of the translation

of D. Paul the martyr: where among other things this

is read: "He can, as we believe, rejoice in such

a dwelling, where he is associated with the most blessed

Stephen, most worthy Protomartyr,

with Cosmas and Damian the martyrs, and also

with Cosmas the most holy confessor." And the bringing

of B. Paul the martyr from Byzantium to Venice

took place in the year of the Lord MCCXXII, and the writer of that translation

sets forth things seen, or heard from others.

[12] and here corrected For he says among other things, speaking of Marino

Storlato, then prefect at Constantinople,

who favored the religious work: "Which lord Marino,

because his parents are of old buried

at the monastery of saint George,

and he himself believes he will be buried there, loves the monastery

and the brethren." You have from those words an author contemporary

with Marino Storlato, and therefore with the said translation of Paul the martyr:

"He himself

believes he will be buried there, loves the monastery and the brethren."

Wherefore if in the year MCCXXII Cosmas, on the testimony of an eyewitness,

lay in our church, with whom D.

Paul the martyr was associated, how was he brought to us

afterwards in the year MCCCCIII? False, therefore, is the addition

to the manuscript: but true are the things which the slip

sets forth: and truly the chief honor is owed to Cosmas

for the priority of his coming. For even

before the Protomartyr's translation he was brought to us *.

[13] Who that Felix the confessor named above may be

is hidden from me. is exhibited. But the Life of Gerard, or rather

a brief summary of his Life, and Wion's annotations on it

may be found in Wion himself in the Lignum vitæ.

Of him mention will often be made in the Acts of St. Stephen, king of Hungary,

presently to be given. D. Paul the martyr, who occurs next,

I believe to be the same as St. Paul, bishop of Constantinople

and martyr, of whom we treated at the

VII day of June. From what has been deduced above there is also to be corrected

our transcript, in which these words are read:

And that most holy body was translated to this our monastery

in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and three,

in the month of April, in the eleventh Indiction,

nearly four hundred years after his most holy death. And when

he says to this our monastery, he indicates plainly enough

that the writer of this translation was a monk

of St. Gregory the Greater among the Venetians.

[14] Since besides those things which have already been said

of the Life and translation of St. Cosmas, The Acts to be published. published by Fortunato

Olmo, a monk of Monte Cassino, and dedicated to F. Alessio

Barozzi, a Camaldolese hermit sprung from Venetian patricians

and procurator general at the Roman curia,

almost nothing remains to be noted beforehand, and

the very few things that remain will have their place in the Annotations,

I set before the reader's eyes to be read what

the said biographer transmitted to posterity, divided by me into chapters

and numbers, as you here see.

And the copy which we have came from St.

George the Greater of Venice, and was given by gift

of the most reverend Fr. Bonaventura Barozzi, a Venetian,

Benedictine abbot of the Cassinese congregation,

… MDCLX.

*. read "brought"

THE LIFE

By Fortunato Olmo, a monk of Monte Cassino, published at Venice.

Cosmas, hermit and conf., at Venice. (S.)

By Fortunato Olmo.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint illustrious for various virtues in solitude.

[ ] Various are the ways of the Saints to heaven, The shining hosts of the Saints flash above all

with variety. Thus indeed the Ruler

of all things leads the elect to heaven by distinct paths,

so that no virtue here is passed over,

and the rewards of no virtue are far from those sacred

seats. For he did not will that all should be marked

with the purple honor of martyrdom; but by a provident

counsel he ordained that, for those who lacked cruel

executioners, a ready will should suffice; and that there should be plainly

other kinds of living by which, if one pleased,

each might with vast praise win for himself perpetual

glory.

[2] among which is the solitary life. To say nothing of the rest, there offers itself to us the sacred

company of the anchorites, the more to be regarded

in that those who are enrolled in it,

destitute altogether of human comfort, trusting in God alone against

invisible demons, are known to wage war in a long-lasting

battle. To whom indeed a special prerogative

is granted, that, while, stripped of perishable desires

and kindled with divine ardors, they are approved,

they are deservedly called not men but angels

though still set on earth. Among these most blessed

Cosmas, whose illustrious day is today, is seen

to shine most of all. Who in the island of Crete [a], an excellent dweller

in an uncultivated solitude, strove, as long as he was among men,

to conform himself wholly to an angelic

life.

[3] This St. Cosmas For giving himself daily to the contemplation of heavenly things

and to prayer, he sat in a rough cave,

cheerfully showing ready service to the almighty Lord.

Enclosed indeed within the walls of his beloved solitude,

wearing down his own body with fasts, vigils,

and outward work, he compelled it to serve the spirit.

Enduring heat and cold, careless

of rest, he exercised his resisting flesh with a certain wondrous

zeal. Moreover, being exceedingly instructed in the arts

of warring with the demon, he most easily withstood the inward vexations

by which he was daily harassed.

Wherefore, passing from virtue to virtue,

forgetting his former * gains,

he was always ascending to higher things.

[4] with excellent virtues For being kindled with the desire of advancing,

the more he advanced, the more he strove to draw near

to God. He always thought of God:

he always panted toward him; that he might become lovable to whom,

neither by day nor by night did he grow slack from upright works.

And lifting the eyes of his mind in the contemplation

of eternity, he judged wholly empty

everything that passes away. And when, by the favor

of the divine light, he knew himself enclosed within the secret places

of solitude, he gave thanks to God,

who had led him out from the tumult of the world, that

he might be safe from human disturbances by the divine

protection.

[5] he adorned, He hated the world, and had a wondrous compassion

for its lovers: for whom, sending forth assiduous

groans, the most pious man besought the clemency of God.

In these things the most holy Man exercised himself in solitude,

and in dwelling upon them made the beautiful places

of the desert rich. Shining with these and other

countless virtues, at length he came to heaven,

whither he had directed his steps, crowned with the crown

of immortality, on the IV of the Nones of September in the year

after the birth of Christ DCLVIII, and was buried in the same

cave in which while living he had lain hidden.

[6] with heavenly Where when he had been kept for some time,

and frequent resort was made to the cave by the neighboring dwellers,

it at length seemed good to them, out of the greatest piety toward the Hermit,

to carry the body away from that place of horror and vast solitude,

and to lay it in the town in a most adorned place.

For thus they thought both that the Saint would be more worthily

venerated, and that their way to the venerable tomb would be

easier. And how these things, provided by human counsels,

conflicted with the divine, what follows

was a sign. For either from thenceforth the closed

heaven withheld the gift of rain, or, opened,

it consumed the crops with hail.

[7] Then as long as the holy Hermit's body lay

amid worldly tumults, favors also so long, by the Saint's own prayer,

dire droughts, and therewith vast straits

of grain, endured. Which when those men

unhappily experienced, and the times of Elijah

seemed to be raised up again, when at the prophet's prayers

heaven was closed for three years and six months ^b;

doubting whence so grave a chastisement proceeded,

they ascribed the cause first to their crimes, then, God inspiring them,

to the said removal.

[8] Judging therefore that they would better take counsel for themselves

if the sacred body were laid back whence it had been removed,

after his death he is famous. they brought it back again to the friendly cave. At once

there flowed a bounteous blessing of waters, and the heavens dropped dew

from above and sent forth rains, flooding all the parts

of the region, by a manifest sign of the appeased Godhead;

and the accomplished miracle taught the ruder men

that sometimes even from those things which we judge honorable

and pious it is more honorable and more holy to abstain.

It remained in that place for about four hundred

years with the exceptional veneration of the peoples: from whom to the Saint's

tomb there lay a long and arduous way,

the more pleasing to God and to the Hermit himself

in that it was undertaken with more difficulty and labor.

[9] For the rest, as all things strong in the beginning

at length languish with time, even that plainly vast

ardor of the faithful, by the fault of corrupted nature,

had afterwards failed through the length of times. But God,

the eternal lover of the Saints, who requires that a perpetual

cult be paid by us to the Heaven-dwellers, had chosen at Venice

a place fitter for veneration, to which, however,

according to the blessed Hermit's pleasure, access should not easily lie open

to all; namely our narrow shores,

which it pleased him to make illustrious with so noble a gift.

When and how this happened, what follows

will show.

ANNOTATA.

a. This

island of Europe is very large, in the Mediterranean sea between the Cretan sea named from it to the

North and the Libyan sea to the South, called formerly by other

names, but now commonly Candia. If anyone wishes more about it, let him go to the geographers.

*. read "his former gains"

CHAPTER II.

The translation of the body to Venice.

[ ] The body from the island of Crete The island of Crete had not yet passed into Venetian

dominion [a]. Yet thither merchant ships hastened daily

for the sake of bringing back foreign wares.

Which custom of sailing thither Venetian merchants

still keep: who do not fear with vast daring to seek even

barbarous regions for the sake of merchandise. Therefore of the very many

which were making for the said island, with a happy omen a ship

of the Venetians put in there; in which was carried

not so much a crowd of riches as of men zealous for religion.

Who indeed, drawn by the fame of Cosmas,

when they silently turned over among themselves the carrying off of his body,

set their mind and their strength to this business,

not knowing perhaps whether they were about to undertake so great a thing

with Cosmas's power favorable or adverse.

To which matter also the fear of the Cretans was added:

for whom, if it became known that a theft had been attempted,

their turning would easily be to the destruction of those who carried it off.

[11] in a wondrous manner While these things shook their minds, the Saint himself took away

all doubtful thoughts, and appearing by night in a vision to one of them,

who was perhaps dreaming of such cares,

more fully admonished them that they should carry to Venice the Body

given them by God most safely.

Of which that man, loosed from sleep, admonishing his companions,

exhorted them to fulfill the purpose happily conceived.

Wherefore, calling one another back from fear to hope,

they chose an appointed day on which they should go together to the cave.

When therefore it first dawned, each hastened eagerly,

walking a way through thicket and one almost * impassable

for the thickness of the thorns.

[12] Of whom some more religious went with bare soles,

part with feet less scrupulously covered.

Then a thing altogether wondrous happened, is taken from the cave, which both confirmed the holiness of Cosmas

and freed the Venetians from all hesitation.

For those who, having taken off their footwear ^b,

made their way to the tomb, the sharpness of the thorns

in no way hurt: but the feet of those who

hastened thither shod * were pierced with stings almost

unbearable. And so, roused by the new thing,

they were filled with unspeakable joy, and paid more ardent

thanks to the Lord, who had made their voyage prosperous.

Each therefore alike approaching the cave, on bended knees

send prayers to God and to the Hermit himself,

more eagerly setting about the religious carrying-off.

[13] and is translated to Venice. The entrance to the cave was plainly difficult,

and a very narrow opening, through which scarcely the body

of one man could pass, afforded access: entering

through which, they found the precious treasure so entire

that it seemed to everyone in a wondrous manner

as though recently buried *. And so with all religion

drawing it out thence, and carefully bringing it to their own ship,

they set out as soon as possible on a calm sea

and under a serene sky, and in the year from the Virgin's

childbearing MLVIII brought it to Venice to this island of D. George,

in the month of April, in the XI Indiction,

on the XX day, the first century not yet being passed since

monks began to inhabit the island ^c: which also

he first deigned to make illustrious by his noble presence.

[14] God is praised All his deeds, as we desire, we are not able

to recall: for the more secret manner of life chosen by him

made him known to God alone, as he was dear to him alone.

But to men it was not made plain, save from his death,

of how great merit he was while living.

He lived only for God and for himself: hence known only

to God and to himself. Let therefore the few things

which we have written of him suffice for us, even against our will,

by which perhaps a more ardent devotion would not grow for us on account of more.

Namely because we despise to imitate the Saints,

the Lord, acting justly, often conceals their hidden actions,

lest examples be set before us in vain

which we use no zeal at all to follow.

[15] in a Saint, even though scarcely known, From the compassion, therefore, of that most pious Lord

what is done is not far removed: since indeed

on that last day there will be as many judges against us

as we shall have had examples of good men for living rightly.

For the rest, let us otherwise praise the Lord, by whose

providence indeed it has come about that not all the deeds

of the blessed Hermit have been blotted out:

but that at least the memory of those has come down to us

which could make us certain of his holiness.

[16] For that he whom today we strive to venerate was justified

by his works, the miracles wrought after his death,

as we have heard, show; so that if we should wish

to flee to his help even in this solemnity,

and his patronage is set forth. we may know from the certainty of his holiness that his patronage

will not be wanting. Let us therefore pray the merciful

Lord that those actions which we know may equally rouse us,

and that those his illustrious merits which we do not know

may help us; so that by both means we may be able

to come to the heavenly joys of the poles, our Lord Jesus

Christ granting it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit

lives and reigns God for ever and ever. Amen.

ANNOTATA.

a.

This island formerly obeyed the emperors of Constantinople, of whom

Baldwin, count of Flanders, gave it to the marquis of Montferrat: and by him

it was sold to the Venetians for a great price of gold in the year MCXCIV Note: otherwise 1204:

but from the year MDCXLV, being assailed in war by the Turks, at length it passed wholly to them

in the year MDCLXIX, the Venetians with difficulty keeping three coastal fortresses, namely

Suda, Grabusa, and Spinalonga Note: otherwise Suda and Spinalonga only, as Baudrand observes.

But that the body of St. Cosmas was carried to Venice is written below at n. 13 in the year from the Virgin's childbearing MLVIII, of

which year more is said in the preliminary Commentary. Then therefore Crete did not yet

obey the Venetians, according to what has been said. To these may be added what I read elsewhere,

namely that this island was not called Candia until after the founding of the city of Candia,

its chief city, from which it took its name, that is, from the ninth century; and that it

then obeyed the Saracens; but in the tenth century, in the year 962, it was recovered by Nicephorus Phocas.

*. perhaps "to the thicket, almost, for the thorns," etc.

*. read "shod"

*. read "buried"