ON THE HOLY ANCHORITES NEAR MESSINA: NICANDER AND GREGORY AND PETER AND DEMETRIUS AND ELIZABETH,
IN SICILY,
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Nicander, anchorite, near Messina in Sicily. (S.)
Gregory, anchorite, near Messina in Sicily. (S.)
Peter, anchorite, near Messina in Sicily. (S.)
Demetrius, anchorite, near Messina in Sicily. (S.)
Elizabeth, anchorite, near Messina in Sicily. (S.)
BY C. S.
§1. Their memory in the Martyrologies on this day, which is not their birthday: the Life turned from Greek into Latin, of weak credit, yet to be given.
This day, on which in the more recent Martyrologies The memory of these five holy Anchorites I find recorded at the present day of September in various more recent Martyrologies. Francesco Maurolico, abbot of Messina, in his Martyrology announces them thus: At Messina on the Sicilian strait, of the holy Nicander the abbot and of his companions Gregory, Peter, Demetrius, and Elizabeth, who lived as solitaries beneath a certain cave, enduring hunger, thirst, heat, and cold for Christ; where they likewise rested in peace. Exactly the same things are read in one and another edition of the Martyrology of Usuard, enlarged by Molanus, in our Sollier in the appendices to that same Usuard. Felici also concurs in his Historical Calendar at the same day, where he says in Italian: Nicander the abbot with his companions, Gregory, Peter, Demetrius, and Elizabeth, who, doing penance in a certain cave near Messina, there with great sanctity died in Christ. Of the same on this day likewise treat Ottavio Gaetani in the Sicilian Martyrology, Francesco Carrera in the likewise Sicilian Pantheon, Arthur of the Monastery in the Sacred Gynæceum, and those who wish to claim them for their own Order, Arnold Wion in the Tree of Life, Benedict Dorgain in the Benedictine Calendar, and Gabriel Bucelin in the Menology of the same Order.
[2] Philip Ferrarius also commemorates them today in both his Catalogues; these saints are inscribed, it is not their birthday, but in one of these, which he published on the Saints of Italy, he has this singular thing, that he will have only St. Nicander to have ended his life on this day, but the other four to be honored on the same day for the fellowship of their life, not of their death. Take his words: Nicander, together with his companions Gregory, Peter, Demetrius, and Elizabeth, led a hard life on a rock near Messina. For there, a church and little cells having been built, they led a plainly heavenly life in fastings, prayers, vigils, and meditations, obeying Nicander as their father. Who, after many signs of virtues and of sanctity (on account of which he is held in great veneration not only at Messina but also in the neighboring places of Sicily), on the thirteenth of the Kalends of October passed to Christ. Then, having praised Maurolico's Martyrology and the monuments of the church of Messina, he notes the following: Although the Companions passed away on different days and at different times, yet on this day their memory is celebrated together on account of their fellowship (which happens in the case of other Saints also). I suspect that from this passage of Ferrarius Castellanus was led to insert only St. Nicander into his universal Martyrology at the same day, saying: At Messina, St. Nicander the abbot, whose church, dedicated in his name, stands near that city.
[3] but instituted on account of the finding of the bodies. But in these assertions of Ferrarius more than one thing displeases Ottavio Gaetani, or him who completed and published his work on the Lives of the Sicilian Saints, Pietro Salerno. For as regards this matter, he asserts that the day of the death of all of them is unknown, and that the 19th day of September was dedicated to their sacred memory, not for their birthday in heaven, but for the finding of their bodies. He proves this from the Greek anonymous author, of whom we shall treat below, who in the elogium which he entitled The Commemoration of the finding of SS. Nicander, Gregory, etc., and in which, acknowledging that the day of their death is unknown, he says: A day was instituted on which the sacred clergy and the pious people of the Christians should with festal celebration honor the illustrious finding of the holy bodies. This day, moreover, Gaetani says is the 19th of September, and that on it they are venerated by the church of Messina. And in this part indeed I readily agree with Gaetani; since both from the whole history of these saints and also from what others have written about them it is more than sufficiently manifest that the time of their death is altogether unknown, and, if any credit is to be given to the Acts, was also always unknown. Of Ferrarius the discourse will return.
[4] The Life or elogium of the Saints, written by an anonymous Of their deeds we have no others than those which the aforesaid Greek anonymous author, probably a Basilian monk, recounted in an oration which he seems to have delivered to his brethren on the annual festival of the finding of their bodies, and which, turned from Greek into Latin by Agostino Florito, priest of the Society of Jesus, Ottavio Gaetani, priest of the same Society, or, as I said above, his editor Pietro Salerno, published in volume 2 of the Lives of the Sicilian Saints with this title: The Commemoration of the finding of SS. Nicander, Gregory, Peter, Demetrius, and Elizabeth. But it is to be regretted that nothing older or more certain is had about them than that document, whose author, very remote from the time of those saints and, as far as appears, destitute of older monuments, lacked the necessary aids for commending their deeds to the memory of posterity. So before me judged Gaetani, or Salerno, in his Animadversions on the same Commemoration, where one of them passed the following censure on the aforesaid writer.
[5] in Greek This monument of the holy Ascetics stands in Greek in manuscript parchments of the library of the monastery of St. Saviour near Messina, turned into Latin by Fr. Agostino Florito of our Society. At what time or under what prince these most holy Ascetics flourished I have not yet ascertained; nor does any light shine forth from the writer for illustrating the chronology. For all things are obscurely handed down by him which mattered for the knowledge of their fatherland, their parents, their age, their princes. Nor does he explain the names of those who are commemorated, such as of two bishops, or of the places from which they sailed into Sicily. But this I should turn to the fault, not indeed of the writer, but of the times; because the writer was far removed from the departure of the holy Ascetics, and gathered into his panegyric those things which were established with certainty as handed down by the elders through their hands. Thus he; from which I should not dissent, if you so take the last words that that anonymous author wrote only those things about which he persuaded himself that it was certain enough to him by tradition.
[6] But that that same man was credulous enough toward any tradition whatever is of very doubtful credit; he abundantly indicates when, affirming that St. Nicander, like the great Nicholas of Myra, was accustomed on the fourth and sixth weekday to suck his mother's breasts only once toward evening, he praises the tradition in these words: For I shall say what I have heard; since there are not lacking those who suppose that his father afterwards handed this down, and therefore there is no one who would not wish to give us credit. Behold, here he contends that sure credit is to be given him
about that prodigy of the holy Boy, because there were not lacking those who supposed that this had been handed down by his father. And that tradition, indeed, in order to be able to find any credit, had to be traced back to Nicander's father, without whose testimony, according to the narration of the anonymous author himself, nothing of the kind could have been known; but since the same writer, far removed from the age of the Saints, reports other things also as certain which labor under great difficulties, that opinion of some men about the author of the aforesaid tradition — to whom nevertheless he affirms that credit is to be denied by no one — cannot but be suspect as well. Moreover, that what I assert may be established, that whole elogium must be briefly run through.
[7] The fatherland of them all, on his own testimony, was Italy, but no place in Italy, and are shown from his narration no city, no province, is assigned. St. Nicander, sprung of noble and pious parents, in his very infancy gave a token of his future sanctity by the aforesaid abstinence from his mother's milk. As soon as he came to manhood he is destined by his parents for marriage; which, turning from it, he cautiously dissembles, and, an opportunity being seized, he takes to flight and sets out for a distant and foreign region. There by the bishop of that place (both this and that the anonymous author has left to be divined), whom he chanced to meet, he is kindly detained, and after giving proofs of illustrious sanctity he is promoted, much resisting, to the priesthood; and, his first Mass being celebrated, he is divinely endowed with the grace of healing all diseases. After these things, fleeing honors, he joins three companions to himself, namely Gregory, Peter, and Demetrius, to whom there was added also Elizabeth, a widow; and having landed with them in Sicily, he chose a cave in which to lead a solitary life with his own. Having entered the cave, they pray to God with unanimous prayer that those whom the same manner of life had joined he would also send forth from this life at the same hour and at the same moment of time.
[8] There, under Nicander, they most holily pass their life in the perpetual exercises of the ascetic life which the anonymous author recounts, briefly related, and amid the afflictions of their bodies are refreshed with heavenly delights. About their death the anonymous author has nothing; but about the finding of their bodies he thus continues at length. Not many years after, a certain shepherd, betaking himself in the winter season with his sheep into the cave, is struck with a wonderful splendor and a most sweet odor, and finds the bodies of the Saints shining in a marvellous manner. Without delay the bishop (whose name is passed over in silence), being informed by him, hastens up with his clergy and monks and people; and entering the cavern he there finds a most august tomb, gushing with most sweet and most fragrant liquids, and draws thence a liquid of most sweet odor, by which various diseases are cured. There takes place a very great concourse of the faithful to that same cave, and benefits and miracles are heaped up. But since it troubled all that they did not even know the names of their Patrons, the father of St. Nicander, roused by the fame of the miracles spread widely even through Italy, coming thither opportunely among the rest for religion's sake, recognized his own Son, lost for so many years, and taught the people who he was.
[9] and briefly discussed, Nor was that enough; but from the size of the bodies (of his companions) and from their face, he told the proper names of each, worthy of everlasting monuments. The same man finally, that he might convince his wife of the truth of the matter, cut off from the hand of his holy Son a finger on which he had found a mark known to him, and carried it away with him to her. And the natives built a church, and enclosed the sacred relics of the Anchorites in a reliquary, and ordained that the day of the finding should be celebrated as a feast. You have here, learned reader, a summary of the whole Life, from which it follows that whatever the anonymous author narrates about the deeds of these Saints up to their departure from that unknown bishop must all have been handed down by St. Nicander's father, in order that it could have been known to the people of Messina. But the father himself could not have learned the greatest part of these things except from that same unknown bishop of the distant region to whom his holy Son had fled, or from his household; which the anonymous author has nowhere hinted to have happened.
[10] is shown. Let us grant, however, that these things came to the father's knowledge from the court of the aforesaid bishop: who would readily believe that that same father from the size of the bodies and their face told the names … of each? Namely of those whom his son Nicander had joined to himself as companions in the distant and foreign region to which, as soon as he came to manhood, he had fled without his parents' knowledge, and where, long exercised, he had been initiated into the priesthood, and had carried away with him into Sicily. Who, I say, would readily believe a biographer so remote from their age, that those foreigners, never seen by St. Nicander's father, and without doubt not a little wasted by the harshness of the anchoretic life in a rough cavern, were known to him from the mere sight of their corpses? Surely these things savor of the traditions of the common people, too often mixed with old wives' fables. Of the life led in that cave the anonymous author has indeed a few things; but such as he could learn neither from Nicander's father nor from others, if they lived so unknown to men, as he himself hints. Nevertheless, since the manner of life which he describes is commonly usual among anchorites, he could relate it by easy conjecture, excepting however the prayer for obtaining one and the same moment of death common to all, of which the discourse will return below.
[11] The same Life is nevertheless to be reprinted only in Latin. Besides this, that anonymous author, writing a panegyric after the manner of an orator, seems to have indulged more than was fair in a hyperbolical style in praising his Saints: of which, among other things, it is a proof that he did not hesitate to assert that St. Nicander, while he was still living with the aforesaid bishop, was of such outstanding virtue that scarcely ever, either before or after, was anyone his equal or will be. For the rest, that anonymous author nowhere indicates his own age, nor has he anything from which anything else about it can be dug out than that he was far removed from their times. These things, moreover, I have determined to set out a little more at length, lest I should seem to anyone rashly to have charged with weak credit that elogium of so uncertain an author of doubtful credit. Hence, although we have a Greek copy of it from the library of the monastery of St. Saviour at Messina, we do not judge it worth the labor to turn it into Latin anew; especially since it is written most faultily and is difficult to read; and therefore we shall give only the Latin version of Agostino Florito from Ottavio Gaetani.
[12] Among the various more recent writers who have mentioned these same Saints in their little works, Other more recent Lives of them. the chief is Antonino Laguidara of Messina, doctor of both laws, who wrote their Life in Italian, divided into three books, and published it in the year 1685 in the types of Messina. But he so boldly amplified the assertions of that same anonymous author from his own conjectures and wit, and set them forth with so free a style so clearly, that even if he himself had been present at the deeds and words he could not have explained them more thoroughly. Neither therefore can his little work be useful to me for illustrating their deeds, except in so far as it has some things regarding their cult, and drawn from elsewhere. There stands also an elogium of them in Francesco Carrera's Sicilian Pantheon; but this is nothing else than a summary of the panegyric of the aforesaid Greek anonymous author. Some other authors we shall praise in the following §.
§2. Certain assertions about the saints are examined: information about the cave in which they dwelt: their age uncertain: the church and monastery of St. Nicander: the last translation of the Saints, their miracles, and their cult.
Laguidara's suspicion about the Saints' fatherland. We have said above that SS. Nicander and his Companions are said by the Greek anonymous author to have been born in Italy, no certain city or region of Italy being assigned. But Antonino Laguidara in the little work just cited divines that Corfinium, which was an ancient city of the Peligni, called also Italica by Strabo and Paterculus in Cluverius, book 2 of Ancient Italy, fell to St. Nicander as his fatherland. The reason why he thinks so he alleges in book 3 as follows. He judges that the true account of the deeds of St. Nicander and his Companions, which the people of Messina had received from his father, was lost when the Saracens ruled in Sicily, and that in it Italica had been written, which word afterwards, long after, on account of the similarity of the term, was changed into Italia, and was taken by that Greek anonymous author for the whole region. But this is to divine without any foundation. Then the four Companions of Nicander, if anything in that account be true, must be said to have been of another city, nay even of another region; whom nevertheless all, as much as Nicander, the anonymous author asserts to have been born in Italy, a most choice region, ample and fruitful in all goods.
[14] Many, as we have already seen above, call Nicander an abbot, It is uncertain which of them which nevertheless seems to have been done for no other reason than that in the Life he is said to have been leader and author to his four Companions for the anchoretic life and to have held the primacy among them. That he was initiated into the priesthood is expressly asserted in the same Life. Gregory the same anonymous author praises only for the holiness of his life, but of Peter and Demetrius he speaks thus doubtfully: Peter and Demetrius, two seats and receptacles of the most powerful and blessed Trinity, which had made them ministers of the sacred mysteries of the new Testament: by which words indeed he seems to indicate that they too were distinguished with some sacred Order. And for the priesthood indeed the title prefixed to the Elogium in our Greek copy favors, which I subjoin: Ὑπόμνημα εἰς τὴν εὕρεσιν τῶν λειψάνων τῶν ὁσιών καὶ ἱερέων Νικάνδρου, Γρηγορίου, Πέτρου καὶ Δημητρίου, καὶ τὴς ὁσιάς Ἐλισάβετ; that is, The Commemoration on the finding of the relics of the holy men and priests Nicander, Gregory, Peter, and Demetrius, and of the holy Elizabeth.
[15] were presbyters. Information is given about the cave, On the other hand, against our extending the priesthood to all four, the same anonymous author persuades, who, giving the reason why St. Nicander presided over the rest, presently alleges his priesthood, saying thus: Of these Companions and fellow-soldiers in the holy purpose Nicander held the first place, as being one distinguished, as we have said, with the most sacred priesthood. From the same Greek title perhaps (for in the Latin version of Florito the words and of priests are not read) Rocco Pirri, book 4 of Sacred Sicily, third Notice, and Bucelin in the Benedictine Menology, called those same four presbyters. But I should not dare to affirm anything from so uncertain a document. Of the place which those Saints inhabited, tradition, continued by religious veneration, has left us more certain things. That that narrow cavern or cave, around which a clear torrent flowed, was in the maritime hills which look toward the part of Europe opposite, the biographer writes. Gaetani in his Animadversions, asserting that the same cave is about a mile to the north from the city of Messina, speaks thus of it: Certainly both the torrent and the nearest neighborhood (not indeed, as Ferrarius says, a castle; for there is no castle of St. Nicander in the whole territory of Messina) has its name from St. Nicander: the cave is distant from Messina about a mile toward the north.
[16] in which the Saints are believed Of the same cave Antonino Laguidara treats in the Italian Life, book 2, where he first says that not far from the walls of Messina there begins a road, adorned with pleasant gardens and houses, which leads thither and takes its name from St. Nicander. Then he describes the cave itself in these words. Now the cave had rather to be called a tomb than a dwelling, even a woodland one; since besides its dark dreadfulness it was very deep, so that, before one came to its floor, one had to descend by a slope as steep as it was dark. The same, as it is seen even today, is likewise narrow rather than ample; for besides the space which a stair of twelve steps occupies, it is no longer than six perches (a perch is a kind of measure, of various length among various peoples). And its height seems to rival its breadth: for as this, though at the beginning it extends about three perches, is nevertheless always the more narrowed, until it is confined within six palms, so that also at the beginning rises to six cubits, and then toward the end (as though it invited to prayer) does not suffer a man to go further except on bent knees. The same cave is likewise most damp, even in summer; but in winter it is rather a dripping of rains than a barrier; because rain-waters, penetrating into the veins of the mountain, flow together through the upper parts of the cavern toward its recess, and there, a small pool being formed of itself, continually agitate it with their drops.
[17] to have dwelt and died, In this cave therefore these five Saints are believed to have led the anchoretic life and to have crowned it with a blessed end, as the common tradition of Messina and the veneration of the place persuade. Hence Gaetani convicts Philip Ferrarius, and Laguidara Rocco Pirri, of error, because the latter, in book 4 of Sacred Sicily, third Notice, had affirmed that the Saints lived there in a hut, and the former, reported above in number 2, that they lived a church and little cells having been built. Moreover, if we believe Laguidara, our holy Anchorites, from a desire of a stricter solitude, lived for some time before their death separated from one another in those mountains; yet in such a way that at fixed times they came together to the same common cave for the sake of conferring about divine things. But what places each of them inhabited he confesses to be unknown, except the place of St. Demetrius, which he affirms was a mile distant from the common cave, and was once distinguished by a church dedicated in his name, some traces of which existed even in his own time. But that writer asserts many things lightly; and therefore I cannot believe these separate dwellings of the Saints on his word without a witness; although the thing itself is by no means abhorrent from likelihood, and in the case of St. Elizabeth seems even more becoming.
[18] The aforesaid Laguidara, and before him Gaetani, will have it It is not sufficiently proved that they all that these five Anchorites ended their life in the same cave at one and the same moment of time. So they assert, relying on the Greek anonymous author, who among us in the Life, number 10, writes that the Saints prayed this of God when, newly landed in Sicily, they first entered the cave. Wherefore Gaetani in his Animadversions took exception in these words to the statement of Ferrarius, who, reported in number 2, had said that they died on various days: The learned man here greatly errs, and is worthy of excuse, since he had not read the Life; for they died together on one day, and hour, and instant, which they had obtained from God by their prayers. So the Acts, so the other writers; namely those whom he subjoins, Primus (rather John) bishop of Chalon, and abbot Maurolico. But that very petition of the Saints, on which this opinion rests, can rightly be called into doubt. For that Greek orator flourished at a time uncertain indeed, but certainly long after the death of those same Saints, nor does he anywhere hint that ancient monuments lay before him, and besides he is not unjustly suspect of excessive credulity, as we have shown above. And it is hard to grasp how the people of Messina, or the orator himself, learned both the prayers themselves for a death to be undergone at the same moment of time, and such a companionable death, if, as they themselves will have it, they lived so unknown to men that, unless St. Nicander's father had recognized the Saints' corpses, the people of Messina would not have learned even their names.
[19] To me indeed it appears exceedingly likely that an opinion of this kind arose from the tradition of the common people; died on one and the same day and moment. who, when they saw those holy Confessors venerated on one day, believed also that they had died according to their vow on one and the same day. And that the biographer was not averse to admitting common traditions is sufficiently established from what has been said. As regards the two other writers praised by Gaetani, the first of these in the same author has it thus: At Messina in the northern valley in a cave, Nicander with Demetrius, Peter, Gregory, and Elizabeth his companions, anchorites, pass away together. The words of the second, namely Maurolico, we gave in number 1. But those words of his, where they likewise rested in peace, are not necessarily to be taken of the same day of death; since the adverb likewise can indicate the fellowship of the place of their death as much as of the time. In a like manner the statements of the former can be explained; or, if they cannot, that author is too recent to be able to make the matter certain. Yet let these things not be said by me because I hold Ferrarius's assertion for undoubted, but because I judge it not improbable from the common example of other men, even of Saints, who, though they live together, are nevertheless wont to depart from life at different times. But it is not proved that it happened otherwise in the fellowship of St. Nicander.
[20] It is uncertain in what century they flourished, Even more obscure than their deeds are the times in which those Saints flourished; nor does the biographer relate anything from which at least some century could probably be dug out. Nor do I know of any document hitherto found from which anything at all can be determined about their age; and hence a place for divining has been left to the Sicilian historians. Francesco Maurolico, in book 1 of the Sicanian History, when he had said of St. Conon, a Basilian monk in Sicily, that he died under king Roger in the year 1136, subjoins of St. Nicander: Besides, I make either contemporary with him or older (for I read no certain time) Nicander the abbot, who with his companions Gregory, Peter, Demetrius, and Elizabeth dwelt in a cave near Messina, whose memory the people of Messina keep on the 19th of September. The Life of the aforesaid St. Conon Gaetani or Salerno published from the Greek into Latin in volume 2 of the Lives of the Sicilian Saints, and among us at the 28th day of March, on which he is venerated, it was reprinted from the same Work. But in it St. Conon is said to have died, not in the year 1136, but a whole century later, namely in the year 1236, and therefore Maurolico, or his copyist, is convicted of error in this part by the same Gaetani in his Animadversions.
[21] [some referring them to the twelfth century, others more probably before the year 800] Giuseppe Frassica, praised by Gaetani in his Animadversions, holds that St. Nicander likewise lived under king Roger and died in the year 1140. To the twelfth century Giuseppe Bonfiglio in the Sicanian History, in Laguidara, so doubtfully refers him as to add that he perhaps flourished much earlier. On the contrary Gaetani judges that, if St. Nicander and his companions had lived in the twelfth century, a certain and distinct history of them would not easily have perished among his forefathers. Hence he prefers to set them before the year 800, when Sicily, as he says, not yet harassed by the Saracen enemy, enjoyed its own peace. With Gaetani the aforesaid Laguidara agrees. Moreover, of the opinions reported, that one cannot be admitted which makes our holy Anchorites contemporary with St. Conon, who from what has been said above is in his Life said to have died in the year 1236; nor that which bound St. Nicander's death to the year 1140. The reason is what we shall show below, that a monastery called St. Nicander's already existed in the year 1131 near the often-mentioned cave.
[22] also referring them: it is uncertain too whether they were monks. Gaetani's opinion appears more likely and labors under no difficulties; but yet it is not certain, since the Saints could have lived there even in the ninth century before the coming of the Saracens into Sicily, which Pagi in his Critique judges must be fixed between the year 824 and 829; or even while they were already ruling there. But since for fixing their age to a certain century no solid argument can be produced, I leave the matter in doubt until the learned Sicilians dig out more certain things from their monuments. Equally superfluous is it to ask whether they were monks, and of what Order; since for neither side does any document exist. To me, however, that companionship of St. Elizabeth with the rest, which is asserted in the Life, all but persuades me that they were monks of no monastery. Meanwhile Arnold Wion in the Tree of Life, Dorgain in the Calendar, and Bucelin in the Menology make them Benedictines, and Arthur of the Monastery, agreeing with them, in the Sacred Gynæceum likewise called St. Elizabeth a Benedictine. But at Messina, says the aforesaid Gaetani, the Basilian monks also claim them as their own, perhaps from this, that the church of St. Nicander, which was built above the cave of these Saints, was many years ago attributed to the Order of St. Basil. Now this one thing remains, that we treat of their cult.
[23] The author of the Life to be published asserts that after the Saints' bodies were found A church erected at their cave, a church was built for them, and their sacred relics, enclosed in a reliquary, were exposed to the veneration of the faithful, and a day was appointed on which their memory should be celebrated, as we saw above. To the aforesaid church, which had been founded above or beside the often-mentioned cave, there was added also a monastery, called from St. Nicander. Giuseppe Bonfiglio, book 1 of the Description of the city of Messina, which, turned from Italian into Latin by Lorenz Mosheim, stands in volume 8 of the Thesaurus of the Antiquities of Sicily, published by Johann Georg Graevius, writes thus of it: In the village of St. Nicander an abbey of that name is seen situated on the summit of a hill. And these three abbeys (namely, besides this, the abbeys of St. Mary of Massa and of St. Gregory, which he had premised) observe the Greek institutions of St. Basil; nor do they contain anything memorable in themselves, since they are small, except the veneration of that best prince (he had premised Roger the count, as founder of the abbeys of St. Mary and of St. Gregory) who founded them, and the memory of the austere and solitary life of St. Nicander and of his Companions.
[24] Of the same abbey of St. Nicander Rocco Pirri treats at greater length in book 4 of Sacred Sicily, third Notice; and an abbey added, about which certain things are observed. but at what time it was founded is not established. It already existed, however, in the year 1131, and perhaps had existed long before, as we have from a diploma in which Hugh, bishop of Messina, at the request of Roger king of Sicily, subjected St. Nicander's of Messina, with all the other abbeys of the same institute, to the archimandrite of St. Saviour of Messina, as may be read in the aforesaid Rocco Pirri in the Notice
first. Again in the same place, in a diploma of the same Roger of the year 1134, St. Nicander's near Messina is reckoned among those monasteries which were so subject to the archimandrite of St. Saviour that they were nevertheless governed by their own abbots. Then in the year 1479, says the same Pirri in the first Notice, the Basilian monastery outside the walls of Messina (that is, the monastery of St. Nicander, as he has it in the third Notice), almost fallen into ruin, faculties having been granted by Pope Sixtus and by king Ferdinand, at the prayers of the senate of Messina, Leontius (archimandrite of St. Saviour) united to the archimandritate and built with new buildings, etc. It nevertheless went on having its own abbots, on the testimony of the same Pirri, but now, as he adds in the same place, only two monks serve it, who since the year 1598 are subject to their abbot general, and are chosen by the body of the monks.
[25] Moreover the bodies of these Saints lay hidden for a long time under the earth, The bodies, long hidden, are found again, until at length they were found anew. But on what occasion, or at what time, they were laid in the ground, is unknown. Laguidara in book 3 not idly suspects that this was done while the Saracens ruled in Sicily. He fixes their finding in the year 1611, praising Bonfiglio, a knight of Messina, his contemporary, in the History of Sicily, part 3, book 5, and adding that he had received this also from the mouth of others who had been present at the finding. And hence he refutes Rocco Pirri, who in the third Notice asserts that that finding fell in the year 1597, writing thus: The bones indeed of these Saints, found in the same very ancient tomb by the revelation of a certain pious man about the year 1597, Theodore de Judice being abbot general of the Basilian Order, on the 19th day of September, when the feast is celebrated, are thence translated with great solemnity to the great monastery of St. Saviour at Messina. The manner in which they were found, and the other things which afterwards followed, the cited Laguidara sets forth, having however first premised that neither these things nor the bodies found themselves were authentically recognized and approved.
[26] after a threefold apparition of St. Nicander But he narrates that the affair took place thus, in the Italian tongue: Not far from the Saint's church a certain nobleman of Messina had an estate, on which a certain faithful servant of his, piously affected toward the Saint, although in his palace he chiefly discharged the office of coachman, was accustomed frequently to stay, being sent thither, now as it were as overseer of the workmen and faithful steward of his master's affairs, now to take care of the horses' pastures according to his duty. To him, while he was staying there, the glorious St. Nicander appeared one night in sleep, conspicuous with venerable majesty and heavenly splendor, and seemed to lead him, taking him by the hand, near the outer wall of his church, on the side that looks south, and, pointing out that place with his finger, to command that, rising at first light, he should tell the abbot of the neighboring monastery (St. Saviour of Messina) that his own sacred body and those of his Companions lay hidden beneath that place. The coachman, awakened, remembered his dream, but did not at all care to obey, not indeed from want of piety toward the Saint, but because he reckoned what had been shown him in sleep to be nothing else than the mere offspring of nocturnal agitation.
[27] ordering them to be exhumed. But on the second night the same vision again befell the coachman as he slept; and when he had made nothing of it in like manner, it came about that the Saint offered himself to be seen by him a third time with intolerable light and venerable severity. And he seemed to himself not only to be rebuked by him for his negligence, but even to be struck. And he most severely commanded him to exhume his sacred body from the aforesaid place, and confirmed his commands with threats, and vanished from his eyes. The coachman rose, not as two days before, but shaken with a chill dread and no common trembling. Then, as soon as it grew light, without further delay he betook himself to the royal monastery of the Basilian fathers, and set forth everything to its abbot. These pious Religious, on hearing the matter, vied with time itself in swiftness, since they did not allow even a point of time to slip away idle. They went to the designated place, and found that all which the coachman had said was true. Laguidara then subjoins that the people of Messina celebrated that finding with immense joy and with feasts, and that the Saints also conferred their benefits on the wretched, of which he thus goes on again.
[28] Among other sick persons a paralytic is healed. By the mere touch of these sacred bones, or of the very place in which they had been found, the foulest and sharpest evils vanished from human bodies, and unhappy demoniacs, scarcely brought within sight of the church in which the sacred bodies were kept, though from a distance, showed plainly enough by their shrieking and horrid voices how much the malignant spirits feared the presence of these sacred relics, by which they were suddenly to be driven out of the bodies they possessed. Francesco Pizzinga (whose aged brother, called Paolo, who was born and lived in the field of St. Nicander, narrated all these things to me as an eyewitness), seized with a most grievous palsy, had long lain in bed as on a rack, destitute of all motion of the body. Having afterwards heard of the finding of the Saints and of the frequency of miracles, he pressed with repeated prayers that he might be carried to the place where the relics had been found. And when he had been brought thither, and had seen the pit from which the Saints' bodies had been exhumed, full of living faith, he took care to be laid in that same pit, and there, sweetly overcome by a pleasant sleep, he remained stretched out the whole night as though on soft feathers. Then, awakening in the morning, he found himself free from so cruel a disease, and leapt out of the pit with his limbs restored to their natural agility, and together with all the people praised God and his Saints.
[29] Some space of time having meanwhile elapsed (Laguidara continues), it seemed good to the Basilian fathers to carry the bodies of the Saints to their neighboring monastery (of St. Saviour), The same bodies are removed to the monastery of St. Saviour. that they might enjoy that sacred and venerable treasure more closely; as indeed they did. And there those holy relics are to this day splendidly preserved. About their remains having been translated thither Rocco Pirri agrees, in the words which we recited in number 25. Father Apollinare Agresta also agrees, who, on Laguidara's testimony, in the last edition of the Life of St. Basil, folio 576, enumerating the sacred relics which are honored in the aforesaid monastery, says thus: Besides, five entire bodies of the holy confessors, Nicander the abbot, Gregory, Peter, and Demetrius, brothers, and St. Elizabeth, their sister. Whether, however, these were brothers and sister, I do not inquire. From these Laguidara proceeds to the cult of those Saints which they enjoyed in his own time, that is, in the almost decrepit seventeenth century, among the people of Messina, being wont, as he asserts, to be made illustrious even then by miracles. His words I subjoin in Latin from the Italian.
[30] The day sacred to our Saints is celebrated on the 19th of September, Messina flocking thither each year The veneration of the Saints and of the cave, to kindle itself with devout fervor, by considering that hard life which the Saints so bravely endured, and by most devoutly venerating their cave, in which an altar has been erected with a most ancient image of the holy widow Elizabeth, companion of St. Nicander, at which Mass also is celebrated. The benefits which through the help of these glorious Princes of heaven are obtained from God are daily. I say that that cave is not only honored by the pious but is also frequented by the sick, who hasten thither to entreat the Saints with suppliant prayer and to receive some of the clay (of the cave). This clay, devoutly applied against any diseases whatever, produces wonderful effects; wherefore a report of the virtue of the clay of St. Nicander is spread abroad through Messina. The mere invocation of the name of St. Nicander with sincere affection frees his pious clients from any adversity. Through the measure of his images wonders are wrought.
[31] This I know myself, who acknowledge that my brother lives through the most efficacious help of the Saint. confirmed by benefits: He, struggling with a most violent disease, when nature could no longer resist the violence of so great an evil, was at every moment about to pay to the tomb the tribute of our mortality. But what could by no means be done by earthly remedies was easy through the help of St. Nicander. Recourse therefore was had to the Saint's patronage, and with a faith perhaps as living as the outcome seemed to be despaired of, we laid the measure of that Saint upon the body as though lifeless. When behold, straightway after this, the hands and breast of the dying man, being touched, were found to be somewhat warm; the body, already before destitute of all vigor, gave a sign of better life with some motion, and the eyes, which were already closed for the stroke of that last separation, in place of utter night beheld the light of the sun again. The miracle was the more manifest, the more sudden the change was, and was a proof to us from which to acknowledge the greatness both of the Saint and of our obligation. The author does not here sufficiently explain whether that sick man recovered suddenly or gradually afterwards; which nevertheless made much for asserting a miracle. After this he professes that he passes over many other miracles for brevity's sake.
[32] their Office, and the Mass of St. Nicander. At the end of his little work, about the ecclesiastical Office of the Saints, he has this: Don Calamato, a pious and learned priest of Messina, in his Collection of Offices of the Sicilian Saints, thus notes the Office of St. Nicander: "On the 19th day of September. The feast of SS. Nicander, Gregory, Peter, Demetrius, and Elizabeth the widow, confessors not pontiffs, semi-double. All from the Common of a confessor not a pontiff, the first Lesson of the Nocturn from the occurring Scripture. In the second and third, those which are had in the second place in the Common of a confessor not a pontiff. Collect: O God, who dost gladden us by the yearly solemnity of the blessed confessors Nicander and his Companions, mercifully grant that we may imitate also the actions of those whose birthdays we keep. Through our Lord," etc. He finally subjoins other collects of St. Nicander, from a most ancient, as he says, Gallican and Messina Missal, the first of which he affirms is found also in the Breviary. And they are of this kind. The first: May the precious merits of St. Nicander, thy confessor and abbot, protect us, we beseech thee, O Lord, in whom, while we proclaim the works of thy Majesty, we may receive present and future help. Through our Lord, etc. The second: May the offering of our service be pleasing to thee, O Lord, for which may holy Nicander the abbot be an intercessor, and by interceding obtain for us the things we desire. Through our Lord, etc. The third: May the divine Sacraments which we have received, O Lord, defend us from every crime and adversity, and, blessed Nicander the abbot interceding with thy mercy, do thou both grant what we have asked and mercifully join us to the heavenly choirs. Through our Lord, etc. More about these Saints I have not, and therefore I subjoin their Life, such as it is.
THE LIFE
By an anonymous Greek author
From the edition of Ottavio Gaetani and Pietro Salerno.
Nicander, anchorite, near Messina in Sicily. (S.)
Gregory, anchorite, near Messina in Sicily. (S.)
Peter, anchorite, near Messina in Sicily. (S.)
Demetrius, anchorite, near Messina in Sicily. (S.)
Elizabeth, anchorite, near Messina in Sicily. (S.)
By an anonymous author.
The author's preface. It behooved us indeed a, hearers, with no one urging us, to run of our own accord to the praise of the holy Ascetics; but
since by chance an excessive zeal for fleeting things, as being necessarily joined with ignorance, has bred forgetfulness and sloth toward things formerly done, come now, hereafter, since you so compel us and burn with a most ardent desire of hearing, let us, undertaking this charge laid upon us, shake off the foulest mire of the body and of sloth, having first implored the help and support of the holy Ascetics b. And indeed beautiful things, to which neither the mind nor the gaze of the eyes attains, if they be fitted to our mind, are wont to kindle a firm and steadfast love of themselves; just as flames applied catch hold of ready tinder; nay, they cast such goads into the spirit that those who are destitute of every kind of learning do not hesitate to unfold even by stammering the things which are denied to human strength. Whence it comes that, if our speech shall have praised these Saints worthily to the end, thanks are deservedly to be paid to them: again, if anything be sinned in (as I think must altogether be sinned in), you should hold that all this must be attributed to my boldness and ignorance.
[2] And indeed Italy c is acknowledged as the fatherland of these Saints of whom this panegyric is composed — a most choice region, ample and fruitful in all goods. The Saints born in Italy: Nicander nobly begotten, But to take our beginning from Nicander, a priest and most upright servant of God (for afterwards the rest shall be spoken of), he was born of pious and orthodox parents, distinguished no less by riches than by nobility; although the nobility of those who have resolved to give themselves over to Christ is by no means to be measured by the splendor of their parents. These are the enticements of flatterers, and of those who miserably swim in the billowy ocean of this corrupt life. But truly those are to be reckoned noble who have been zealous to preserve the image and likeness of God untouched by every foulness to the end of their life; as coming nearest to the divine nature, and thus made partakers by adoption of God himself. But now let our speech return whence it had digressed, and follow the course of its own praise.
[3] He therefore, when he came into the enjoyment of this light, and while he was still bound in his cradle after the manner of infants (for I shall say what I have heard, since there are not lacking those who suppose that his father afterwards handed this down, and therefore there is no one who would not wish to give us credit d; while still an infant he keeps a wonderful abstinence; even the things which are above our strength and beyond our expectation, God the best and greatest, since he can both perform all things and is the architect of wondrous things, continually accomplishes by his mere nod, that he may carry us away into admiration of himself) — he on the fourth and sixth weekday, as we have heard of the great Nicholas, touched his parent's breasts once in the day, and that toward evening; an omen of the steadfastness and solitary life which, rightly brought up in a perfect rule of living after the ancient example of the holy Fathers, he was to lead. But as soon as he came to manhood, his parents, as having all their hopes in him, began to consider in what way their Son, now grown in age, might take a wife.
[4] But the Youth, most zealous for solitude, after he had diligently scented out the matter, as a youth, fleeing marriage, into a distant region, rightly covering his counsels with silence and feigning a mind in no way shrinking from marriage, but rather that it would be welcome and pleasant to him, awaited a fitting time for flight, and, having now found a suitable time, he takes to flight and sets out for a distant and foreign region. There a most upright bishop e, most acceptable to God, chancing to meet him, such was the man's gentleness and diligence in his pastoral charge, earnestly urged Nicander with prayers not to think it burdensome to remain with him. There the great Nicander, with steadfast and eager mind, exercised himself night and day in the study of the sacred Letters, and gave himself wholly over to spiritual pursuits, and abstained from food and drink, lay on the ground, stood to the last hour, and finally by the utmost hardness and bitterness of living subjected the flesh to the rule of the spirit, striving with continual labors and perpetual struggles with the adversary to cleave to God and to make him propitious to himself, in a contrite heart and a spirit of humility, as the prophet speaks.
[5] But when the most holy bishop learned Nicander's illustrious and fervent exercises, he is kindly detained by the bishop, and, initiated into the priesthood, he openly proclaimed to all that he would be a vessel of election. Presently he exhorted, taught, and admonished the man; for the labors which he bore at the beginning portended the holiness and integrity of his future life. For, casting the seed into fertile ground, he strove by the tillage of assiduous exhortations that it might yield a hundredfold: but he, both by the bishop's admonitions and much more of his own accord, like a fruitful and most fertile field broken up and cherished by manifold warmth, hastened to bring forth timely fruits. The bishop's mind was struck by so great and so remarkable an endurance of the holy Man in bearing labors, so that he urged him with every effort not by any means to refuse to be initiated into sacred Orders, or to put it off to another time. He bore the matter grievously and with annoyance, wore himself out with sorrow, and, doubting in mind, said nothing else than that he was altogether unworthy of that office and by no means fit, that he should ever show himself a minister of the immortal and life-giving Body, and present himself as a Seraph on earth, and handle with his own hands the ever-living gem of that most blessed and most happy Divinity.
[6] is endowed with the grace of healing diseases Yet the force and votes of those who presided declare Nicander, unwilling and refusing, to be honored with the royal dignity of a priest. And so the bishop not only distinguished him with the office of the diaconate, but raised him also to the height of the priesthood, that he might offer the heavenly and living Victim to God, although he could scarcely at last obtain it. Accordingly a heavy ardor for spiritual exercises and struggles came upon the Man, in hope of the rewards which he knew were set forth in heaven for ascetic athletes. Besides this he heaped labors upon labors, weariness upon weariness; showing himself wholly heavenly and almost free of matter and flesh, and striving with the greatest zeal to overthrow in his own body him who had no share in a bodily mass, yet by the help and support of the holy Cross. Therefore, as soon as he was inaugurated into the priesthood, and had piously and religiously offered to God the best and greatest, with great fear and reverence, the unbloody Victim and pure Host, presently a certain force and power in driving out all diseases seemed to be granted to Nicander from heaven. Hence an almost infinite multitude of men flocked to him, that, being formed by his salutary admonitions and precepts, they might be directed to the way of salvation.
[7] and shines with virtues. From desire of a holier life For one could see, not a man indeed, but a pattern and proof of every virtue, and a rule of living perfect in every part, so that scarcely ever, either before or after, has anyone been or will be his equal f. But holding himself always in suspicion, he diligently weighed the desires of his heart, and like a diligent helmsman put all his effort into bringing the ship safe into the harbor of salvation; watching with great fear and trembling lest he should take any harm from the storms of absurd thoughts; for he well held that saying of Solomon: The bewitching of trifles obscureth good things, and the inconstancy of concupiscence overturneth the innocent mind. And so he determined that he should do nothing else than join to himself three other followers and brothers in Christ, together with the most holy and most prudent woman Elizabeth. And they had grown together in so close a bond and firm a fellowship that, although they were five persons diverse in face and appearance, yet the soul of all was altogether one, one and the same the purpose by which they had resolved rightly to be free for God, and with all their strength and all their heart to seek him out, to give themselves over to him alone, and to be clothed with his grace as with a splendid garment.
[8] with three companions and Elizabeth a widow And of these companions and fellow-soldiers in the holy purpose Nicander held the first place, as being one distinguished, as we have said, with the most sacred priesthood, and having with the greatest exertion of mind given and devoted himself wholly to the worship of the most powerful God. Then Gregory, most vigilant in guarding himself, assiduous in divine contemplations, and most closely joined to God. After these the most holy men Peter and Demetrius, two seats and receptacles of the most powerful and blessed Trinity, which had made them ministers of the sacred mysteries of the new Testament g. Last, the blessed and in every age memorable woman Elizabeth, to speak the truth, prudent and as it were another Anna of the Gospel, who indeed, being a widow, exchanged corruptible and earthly love for eternal and heavenly beauty, and by a firm and steadfast resolve insinuated herself into their fellowship on this condition, that, communicating with the necessities of the Saints, as it is in holy Paul, she might be a flowering meadow and paradise among women, a sweet odor of royal and lofty bridal chambers, and a most adorned bride destined for the heavenly nuptials.
[9] All these indeed, the sails of a ship and the wings of their spirits being spread, sailing, having landed in Sicily, he enters a cave, and with them and having overcome the waves of the sea and the storms of the winds, crossing the narrows of the most perilous strait, landed at the most illustrious island of Sicily. Here they found quiet and tranquillity suited to their pursuit of exercises. For in the maritime hills which look toward the part of Europe opposite, having by chance found the opening of a rock and a torrent there, they resolved to dwell in that place, judging that most narrow cavern h — I should better say tomb — a fit house for themselves; Let this, they said, be our dearest and most pleasant house, this the tabernacle by whose leading we hope that we shall one day be citizens and inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem. This cheap and slender dwelling, built by no architect's hands, but most happy and most blessed, shall receive us as we diligently give ourselves to the most powerful God. These and other things of the kind, anointed with the highest joy, they kept saying, and falling on their knees in prayer they said: Lord God, to whom it was by no means grievous or base to be clothed with the garment of human flesh (for such compassion for us seized thee), and who by the fellowship of thy Divinity hast raised the despised and abject condition of our nature to the dignity, so to speak, of the Godhead — in this spiritual wrestling-school of pious exercises grant fortitude and steadfastness, that we, hindered by the burden of this mortality, may fight with victory against the adversary spirits, to the praise and glory of thy most holy and most glorious name, O immeasurable Father, without beginning, together with thy only-begotten Son, holding with thee the empire of the world, and the Holy Spirit, the author of goodness and life to all things.
[10] Cherish us, most kindly God, bring us up and nourish us with the word of thy mouth; having prayed God that they might all die together also, and as, by the common sense of all, we five in number are most closely bound together by one and the same bond of thy charity, seeking thee, the one good and lovable above all things, with a most valiant purpose, so we ask thee again and again that there may be one and the same time, day, hour, and instant for us all, when thou shalt have called us from the miseries of this life to thy mercy and happiness, and that one common end of life may befall us all, most peaceful and most pleasant, as we pass over to the splendor of thy beauty. Suffer not, Father of mercies and God of all consolation, this our fellowship and conjunction to be separated or
drawn apart into various parts; but as we are joined in this companionship of the flesh, so, when we have been translated [] into the heavenly delights, suffer us by no means to be torn away or sundered. For thou art our God from our mother's womb, drawing us to thyself by thy immeasurable goodness. And so we hand over and commit ourselves, all of us, to thy care and keeping* i.
[11] Such a prayer to God having been made, they diligently prepare themselves for the spiritual struggles, he passes his life there most holily. cleansing thoroughly the inward eyes of the soul, that they might the better receive the heavenly rays in divine contemplation, and might carry off a sure victory in the sharpest encounter with the wicked enemies. Now what shall I report of the utmost exertion of them all, by which they were zealous to make progress on the way of perfect truth? To stand on their feet whole nights, to pour out assiduous prayers to God, to render the divine Godhead propitious and kindly to themselves, to live sparingly and hardly, to say nothing of their labors, their fastings, and their lying on the ground, and how they passed their life in vigils, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness. There was not lacking, however k, the food and ambrosia of heavenly consolations, which, as we have received from the sacred Letters that it was brought down from heaven by divine Providence to the most holy prophet Elijah, so was continually supplied to them, as it were a fruit for the reward of so outstanding a virtue l. For what reason is there why God the best should not repay with the delights of such feasts those who, fleeing with the swiftest wings of desire the most billowy sea of this world, most crammed with all labors and miseries [*], betook themselves into the safest harbor of salvation and into the service of Christ m?
[12] A shepherd, having entered the cave and been struck by a wondrous brightness, These things being so, not many years after it happened that some shepherd or other was making his way through the mountain where the most sacred and blessed tomb of the Saints was hidden. He, on account of the harshness of the winter and cold, betakes himself with his sheep into the cavern: and being there, he is struck partly with fear and trembling, partly with an unwonted heat and warmth. For suddenly there was presented to him an unexpected and unwonted sight, worthy to be recorded in everlasting monuments of letters. Straightway, as if from a certain opening, the bar being removed, a most pure and most fresh splendor seemed to leap forth through the whole cavern, and a most sweet odor to breathe out. The rustic man stood fast, and knew not what counsel to take in the present. But looking at the side of the cavern, terrified and almost lifeless, he saw the bodies of the Saints already laid there, shining and glittering so that they surpassed the sun itself. The rustic and altogether unlearned man, terrified by the novelty of the thing and dismayed in mind, would have fallen into sudden madness, had not the power and help of the Saints been at hand and made his mind sound and firm. Indeed, you would have seen the man streaming with sweat over his whole body, and standing fixed with his hair on end, and in anguish of mind.
[13] calls the bishop: who finds their bodies, At length, taking heart again, encouraging himself and becoming a little bolder, he left the cavern and betook himself to his feet as fast as he could, to inform the bishop n of the city and the whole people of what he had seen. And when the tale of so great a prodigy had been told, presently all gather together — the sacred clergy and the pious monasteries of Religious men, with an infinite multitude of the Christian people following; and they went forth piously chanting psalms and sacred hymns. And now they advance into the wooded place where the venerable cave lay hidden: there, entering the cavern, they find a most august tomb o, gushing with most sweet and most fragrant liquids. Then, the ceremonies having been performed which are wont to be done in solemnities of this kind, and singing glory to the honor and praise of the most powerful God, they draw from the perennial fountain a liquid of most sweet odor, by which the blind might receive sight, the lame their walking, those defiled with the foulest leprosy be cleansed, demoniacs be freed, and finally all mortals, with whatever diseases they were vexed, be cured.
[14] Presently the fame of so great a miracle, published everywhere, stirred an innumerable multitude of men to the sacred tomb, at which a boy is called back to life, and out of that huge concourse there was none at all who did not return with his health recovered, provided he visited the sacred relics full of faith and trust. Nay, the miracles of the most holy prophet Elisha [p] (which is always wont to be the munificence of the most powerful God toward those who love and are zealous for him) flashed forth anew at that time. For a poor woman born in an obscure station, who had placed all her hopes of living in one son, when he, the poor woman, yielded to fate, being bereaved and inflamed with the most ardent torches of desire and endowed with the firmest faith, took this counsel. As soon as the boy gave up his soul, she lays the corpse, placed beside the bodies of the Saints, with the greatest hope and trust, believing that she would never be frustrated of her desire from that nearness and conjunction with the most holy bodies. Straightway, beyond the expectation of all, her son rises alive, and at once bids his parent refresh him, hungering, with suitable food, and strengthen his powers. Thus the boy was recalled firm and strong to his former manner of living.
[15] The rumor of which prodigy also, spread abroad among all, drew to the bodies of the Saints an almost, I should say, infinite force of men, and many sick are healed. Nicander's father among the rest not only of the inhabitants but from foreign regions also, who, although they were affected with various kinds of diseases, on piously and with faith touching the most sacred tomb, were endowed with their former health. But all grieved at this, that they were ignorant of the names of the Saints (for no writings showed it), by which, namely, in written tablets they might with grateful minds testify to the benefits conferred upon them. But indeed, when the fame of so great and so wonderful a thing, as we were saying, wandering through all regions, spread also into Italy, so that all were inflamed with an immense desire of flocking thither, it chanced that the natural father of Nicander came on foot to visit piously the relics of the Saints. He, having entered the cavern, does not hesitate to approach nearer to the holy tomb to pray, carrying lighted torches in his hand. But when he saw five bodies in number, he began to recall to memory his Son's journey abroad, and also the fellowship once entered into among five; and that among these there had been a woman.
[16] Then he began to inspect more carefully the appearance of the Saints, and to consider their features, coming thither whether among these his son Nicander also were found; and the matter being more diligently accomplished [*], he ascertained for certain that his Son was laid there. Then the man cried out, sent tears abundantly from his eyes like some river, tore his hair [q], beat the ground with his face, and watered it with continual weeping. At length, with the good help of God the Maker of all things, he could scarcely restrain the bitterness of his grief with the bridle of consolation: for the presence of those whom we vehemently love is wont to be a continual recollection of griefs, and the sight of them to inflame the mind more sharply; as a wood when torches are cast into it, so a sight transmitted through the eyes to the mind — it is incredible how gravely it affects and strikes the heart. But those who from their earliest age have exercised themselves in the best pursuits easily find consolation in calamities and adverse strokes of fortune, and bear any loss with an even mind; whereas the slothful and inert are wretchedly tossed in the contrary chances of fortune, as in a stormy sea.
[17] Nevertheless the father was in doubt of mind by what means recognizes his own son, and relates their deeds he might rightly announce to his wife what he himself clearly knew, so that she might be led to believe it. For he knew that the race of women is incredulous, and for the most part is accustomed to call in doubt even what is seen with the eyes. And so, when he noticed that his Son's finger was marked with a sure and unchangeable sign, he determined to carry this to his wife, as an indication and witness of what had happened; and at once cutting it off with a sword from the most holy hand of his Son, and anointed with immense joy and kindled with the most ardent torches of love, laying it with due reverence, together with most sweet spices, in a little casket, he prepares his return to his house, himself carrying with him the most sacred and to himself mournful relics of his Son, both then and in our own time a most certain token of the holy bodies. And hence some end was made to the daily investigations of men, which were continually made with the most ardent desire of learning the names of the Saints.
[18] the feast of the finding is decreed. For he laid open the truth of the matter to whoever inquired. Nay, from the size of the bodies and from their face, he told the proper names of each, worthy of everlasting monuments [r]. But indeed who could set forth in speech the tears and sighs of the parent, when he narrated these things to others? For the image of his dead Son ever hovered before his eyes and even in his mind; for it wrung tears, so to speak, even from the hardest rocks, and certainly he would have settled there longer, had he not determined to inform his wife of the whole matter. And so, since there was nothing further about the Saints' names to be in doubt about, a day was instituted on which the sacred clergy and the pious people of the Christians should with festal celebration honor the illustrious finding of the holy bodies [s], a church being built [t], and a shrine constructed, in which the venerable relics, being enclosed, might be duly kept for the curing of every kind of disease and for increasing the piety of the people [u]. Although some particles were distributed to various churches, that everywhere the benefits of the Saints might flow out upon all, to the praise and glory of the most holy Trinity, of the Father and of the Son together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. Namely either of the boy of Shunem recalled to life, 4 Kings, chapter 4; or of the dead man raised by the touch of his bones, in the same book, chapter 13.
q. Namely his own, that is, he began for grief to pluck out his own hair.
r. This whole narration about Nicander's father cannot but be suspect, as we have shown in the Commentary, number 9 and the following.
s. That this day is the 19th of September, and that it is celebrated by the people of Messina, Gaetani affirms in his Animadversions.
t. Consult the Commentary, number 23 and following.
u. What was done with that most august tomb neither the anonymous author nor others have related; perhaps because it never existed. Another translation of these relics see in the Commentary, number 25 and following.
translatos*
miseriis*
perhaps perspecta*