Castor

ON ST. CASTOR, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,

AT APTA JULIA IN THE PROVINCE OF GAUL.

Between the year CDXIX and CDXXVI.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Castor, bishop and confessor, at Apta Julia in the Province of Gaul (S.)

BY C. S.

§ I. The Saint's memory in the Martyrologies: his ancient cult in the church of Apt: the ecclesiastical Offices.

Apta Julia of the Vulgientes in Pliny, a city of Narbonese Gaul, now called by the natives Apt, is an episcopal see in the Gallic Province under the archbishopric of Aix, The Saint is announced by various martyrologists on this day, as has already been said in tom. III of May, pag. 285, in St. Auria the martyr, where you will also find the situation of the same city set forth. This city reckons among the bishops of its see, and venerates with notable cult on this XXI day of September, St. Castor, who in the V century governed it most holily and made it illustrious by his virtues. But although he was celebrated in the writings of St. John Cassian, and his cult seems most ancient, yet nothing about him is to be read in the Martyrologies of Ado, of Usuard, and in others of this kind of greater antiquity. Nevertheless some Usuardine supplements published by our Sollier have him and announce him on this day. Of these the Anchin codex, in the judgment of the same Sollier not later than the thirteenth century, makes mention of him thus: In the city of Apt, the birthday of blessed Castor, bishop and confessor. Very similar things have the codices of Monsieur le Marne and of Caudiacum, in the first of which is read there: In the city of Apt, the birthday of blessed Castor, bishop and confessor; in the other: In the city of Apt, the birthday of blessed Castor, bishop and confessor.

[2] But as it is beyond doubt that for Attensi and Actensi in the martyrologists reckoned we must read Aptensi, but, wrongly believed by Greven to be of Athens, is announced. so it is certain that Greven strayed too far when out of today's St. Castor, a bishop of Apt, he made one of Athens, saying thus: Of Castor, bishop of Athens and confessor. More rightly Ferrari in the general Catalogue says: At Apt in Gaul, of St. Castor the bishop. Castellan adds something about his cult in these words: At Apt in Provence, of St. Castor the bishop, whose body is honored in the cathedral church, which laid aside the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary to assume that of St. Castor. In the Supplement too he notes that the following should be added to these: To him we owe the excellent book on the Monastic Institutes, which the celebrated Cassian, disciple of St. Chrysostom, composed at his request for the monastery which that holy Bishop had founded on the land of his patrimony in the diocese of Nîmes. And the Paris Martyrology has it thus: At Apt, of St. Castor the bishop, at whose exhortation, and for the benefit of a monastery lately founded by him, John Cassian wrote the books on the Institutes of the monks. Saussay too in his Gallican Martyrology likewise announces him briefly on this day, saying: At Apt, of St. Castor, bishop of this see, who under the emperor Arcadius [] shone with the merits of apostolic virtue. But in the Supplement of the same Martyrology he wove him a long eulogy out of his deeds, which we shall examine in its place. To these finally I add the testimony of Denis de Sainte-Marthe, tom. 1 of the Gallia Christiana, col. 351, where it is read: In the very ancient Martyrology of the church of Apt he is commemorated on the XI of the Kalends of October.*

[3] His ancient cult To the ancient cult of St. Castor belongs what the aforesaid writer of the Gallia Christiana had premised in the same place in these words: Further, Castor so wisely and so happily governed the church committed to him by Christ, and shone in it with so many signs whether of virtues or of miracles, that before its other pastors it chose him as patron. For anciently the church of Apt was called that of St. Mary and St. Castor. He had likewise premised on the preceding page: The (cathedral) church (of Apt) has as its patroness the Virgin Mother of God. In the gift of the castle of Sagnon, in the Bull of Pope Paschal II, and in other charters, St. Castor is joined to the Blessed Mary. Now in this church the cult of St. Anne has prevailed, who by some is held as tutelary. He then exhibits that charter among the instruments pertaining to the same church, pag. 75 and the following, whence we shall reprint it below at num. 6 and following. And in it a certain George and his wife Deda give the aforesaid castle to God our Lord himself and to St. Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to St. Auspicius, martyr and bishop, and to the chief bishop Castor and most noble confessor. But although these things prove the ancient veneration of St. Castor (for that charter, from what is to be said, is not later than the X century, and perhaps is even older), yet they do not teach that St. Castor rather than St. Auspicius, whom the people of Apt venerate as their first bishop, was at that time the tutelary of that church, or that the same church was marked with the name of St. Castor rather than that of St. Auspicius.

[4] in the church of Apt George and Deda, namely, could have spoken thus because both Saints had been bishops of the same see and were venerated in the same church; and could call St. Castor the chief bishop because he perhaps enjoyed a particular cult there, and they followed him with a singular affection of piety, as is manifest from the charter itself. Clearer are the words of Pope Paschal II for asserting St. Castor, together with the most holy Mother of God, as patron of the church of Apt. For in the Bull mentioned above he confirms the canons of that place that in the mother church of Apt of the blessed Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, and of the blessed Castor, they may henceforth for perpetual times live clerically and regularly. That Bull is extant in the aforecited Gallia Christiana among the instruments of the church of Apt, pag. 77, where it is noted as given on the Ides of January of the year of Christ 1115; but from the added fifteenth year of the same man's Pontificate it belongs to the year of Christ 1114.

[5] is proved from the instruments; Further, that college of canons had been founded toward the end of the X century by Theuderic, bishop of Apt, as is plain from a charter reported by the same writer at pag. 74 and the following, in which he in the year 991 in the aforesaid see of Apt appointed and founded twelve canons for almighty God, and St. Mary the Virgin, and St. Peter the Apostle, and St. Castor [] the excellent confessor, for the honor and veneration of them all. Leodegar too, bishop of the same see, the II of that name, in the same place at pag. 77, by a charter noted in the year 1113, gave to God and St. Mary and St. Auspicius and St. Castor certain goods of his bishopric which, having been wrongfully lost, he had himself redeemed. Finally John Filleti, likewise bishop of Apt, in an instrument of the year 1407, which you have in the same place at pag. 81, after the most holy Mother of God Mary calls the Blessed Anne and the blessed Auspicius and Castor patrons of his church. Further, it will be useful to have observed here that in all the aforesaid instruments, as also in the Gallia Christiana* itself, where the cathedral church of Apt is treated, the name of St. Mary the Virgin is always set before the rest; and accordingly one may wonder whence Castellan, reported at num. 2, learned that the same church laid aside the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary to assume that of St. Castor.

[6] To these matters pertaining to the ancient cult of our St. Castor we subjoin what is read in the charter of the donation made by the married pair George and Deda,

of which we made mention above at num. 3, and from which we learn that the sepulchre of this holy Bishop was at that time in honor there, and that an altar was consecrated to God in his name. In the same charter too a certain benefit is set down as received from him. The preface therefore being cut away, as making nothing to our purpose, in the aforesaid Gallia Christiana, pag. 76, the following are read: And I George, an exceeding sinner, and my wife Deda, together, by the will of almighty God and of all his Saints, since I know him to be merciful and favorable, have determined to give something out of our estate to God our Lord himself, and to St. Mary the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to St. Auspicius, martyr and bishop, and to the chief bishop Castor and most noble confessor; and this which we offer in the county of the city of Apt is a certain notable and noble castle which is situated above the city to the East, by name Sagnone.

[7] That castle we give to the aforesaid see and to St. Castor, who, keeping vigil at the Saint's tomb and altar, had received back their son resting there, and to the innumerable relics of the Saints, whose names the mercy of God alone knows. And this, and its estate, with lands tilled and untilled, with vineyards and meadows and all the appurtenances, and beyond the Coulon, in the place which is called Sabloned, and in the olive-groves belonging to that castle, both now and for ever. We had once one heir of the male sex, by name Sisinnius; him we lost by the hands of the pagans, who was led away to the Spains and remained there for the space of seven years. But we his parents meanwhile ceased not to pray with fastings and alms for our son, and every week as it came round, on the Sabbath we kept vigil before the altar of St. Mary and St. Castor. And the power and mercy of the Lord appeared, for after the end of the aforesaid years we were keeping vigil before the altar of the Lord God the Savior and the sepulchre of St. Castor; and behold, suddenly in the first watch of the night their son came standing before them, and bearing [] wherewith he had been bound for the space of so many years, saying to them: Know, father, thy son, whom thou didst beget; and thou, mother, whom for three years thou didst suckle; behold I am here in soundness of mind and body.*

[8] Which being seen, there is great joy to the parents and to all the people and the citizens; from barbarian captivity. and all with one mind, being moved, gave thanks to God. Amen. And the castle, as it had been given, they vowed together with their son, and confirmed it by privilege and by the testimony of persons, in the time of Charles. Thus far they; but from the context itself it appears clearly enough that this is not a pure instrument of the donors, but was interpolated and dislocated by someone else. For the rest, this instrument has no chronological note attached except the time of Charles, by which name, whether Charles Martel, or Charlemagne, or Charles the Bald, or Charles the son of the emperor Lothar and king of Provence, or finally another is designated, is unexplored. And by pagans the writer of the instrument doubtless understands the Saracens of Spain, who in the centuries of the aforesaid princes infested Gaul with their inroads, and by whom Sisinnius could have been taken either in battle or otherwise. This one thing seems certain, that that donation is not later than the X century, since in the aforesaid Gallia Christiana, col. 354, Nortald I, bishop of Apt, is read to have granted that castle of Sagnone of his church to Robert and Warac in the year 967 by præstaria, as they then spoke. It is also uncertain whether that deliverance of Sisinnius from the Spanish captivity of the pagans, which in the given instrument seems to be ascribed to the merits of St. Castor, is really to be held for a miracle or benefit; for the manner in which it happened is not there set forth.

[9] His birthday feast and that of the Revelation in the same place, I proceed to relate the rest concerning St. Castor's cult. The often-praised writer of the Gallia Christiana at col. 358 reports that William, the first of that name among the bishops of Apt, whom he says to have sat from the Bull of Pope Hadrian IV in the year of Christ 1158, and to have died in the year 1160 or, as others hold, 1161, instituted the feast of the Blessed Castor; but whether this was the first institution of that feast, or a restoration or a greater solemnity, he does not further explain. On the testimony of the same writer, col. 361, Raymond III, who is said in the same place to have sat in the chair of Apt from the year 1275 until 1303, in which he died, instituted the feast of the Revelation of SS. Auspicius, Castor and Martian, to be celebrated on the 1st day of May. Of St. Auspicius the bishop, often mentioned above, treatment has been made in our Work at the 2nd day of August, and of St. Martian the abbot at the XXV of the same month; but neither there nor elsewhere have I found anything about this revelation, except in the Breviary of Apt published in print in the year 1532, in which however that Office is prescribed to be celebrated with a semidouble rite, not on the Kalends of May, but on the first Sunday of the same month, if not otherwise impeded. But neither from this can I learn what that revelation was, or at what time it took place.

[10] formerly celebrated: the head enclosed in a silver case. For everything is taken from the Common of many martyrs in Paschal time, except the Prayer, which I subjoin. God, who revealest hidden things, and blessest those whose deeds are covered, grant us, we beseech thee, that by the merits and prayers of thy Saints Auspicius, Castor and Martian, who rest in the church of Apt, and whose revelation we venerate today, we may be able to come to the heavenly country. Through our Lord, etc. Thus there; but in the more recent Breviary of the same church and diocese, or the proper Offices printed in the year 1664, that Office of the Revelation is entirely passed over. That in the year 1320 the head of St. Castor was enclosed in a precious silver case by Raymond IV, surnamed Botti, bishop of Apt, the same writer of the Gallia Christiana hands down at col. 362, whose words I transfer hither. Raymond Botti … as soon as he began to sit in the chair of St. Castor, being solicitous for his cult, enclosed his sacred head in a silver case of outstanding workmanship, namely in the year MCCCXX, as is established from a little parchment enclosed in this vessel, and from the family emblems of Raymond. Of the same head of the Saint and the gilded silver case J. Arnoux makes mention in the Catalogue of the holy bodies and relics which are preserved in Provence, which he inscribed to Louis XIII king of the Gauls in the year 1622 and published in print.

[11] Now let us come to his more recent ecclesiastical cult. He is venerated there with an ecclesiastical Office with an Octave, Besides the Office of the Revelation, now, as we have said, abolished, in the aforesaid Breviary of Apt of the year 1532 there is prescribed at this XXI day of September a feast and Office of him, with the rite of a greater double and with a solemn Octave, the Office of St. Matthew the apostle, with the rite of a lesser double, being transferred to the next day. In that Office of St. Castor nearly everything is proper, in which his deeds and miracles are celebrated, which for that reason we shall weigh in their places. In its stead, but nevertheless at the same day, there was afterward substituted another Office of St. Castor among the Propers of the diocese of Apt, drawn up by the order of the most illustrious lord Modeste de Villeneuve d'Arcs, bishop of the same see, according to the norm of the Roman Breviary, and printed at Aix in the year 1664. This too has generally everything proper, but is of the rite of a double of the first class, with an Octave and with proper lessons also assigned for each unimpeded day. These we shall discuss below together with the rest in the Commentary. Meanwhile, however, receive here two of his hymns with the Prayer.

[12] At both Vespers and at Lauds:

Castor is born at Nîmes from which two hymns / of a noble stock; / but more illustrious he appears / by his merits and his virtues.

Set over the monks as abbot, / by his living he becomes a rule to them, / and in the monastery there shines / his notable sanctity.

The more solemn funeral / of the prelate of Apt being performed, / he is here chosen against his will, / and is led away to be consecrated.

Be, O Christ, most loving king, / to thee and to the Father glory, / with the Paraclete Spirit, / both now and for ever. Amen.

[13] The hymn at Matins has it thus:

The name of blessed Castor and the Prayer are recited. / let us honor and his memory, / and let our confidence be / to be helped by his merits.

Him, who by his kindly prayers / broke the chains of captivity, / let us entreat that from the bonds / of our sins we may be freed.

These vows, O Prelate, receive; / remember, O Pastor, thy sheep; / make us by thy intercessions / to obtain the joys of heaven.

Praise and everlasting glory / be to the Father and to the Son, / and likewise to the holy Paraclete, / unto everlasting ages. Amen.

Prayer: God, who by the prayers of St. Castor, thy confessor and pontiff, didst break the chains of captives, make us thy suppliants so to be helped by his patronage that, loosed from the bonds of our sins, we may always serve thee with a free mind. Through our Lord, etc.

[14] The same holy Bishop the church of Nîmes in Occitania honors, or at least was wont to honor, with an annual Office with proper lessons of the second Nocturn, His cult elsewhere. and with a double rite, but on account of the feast of St. Matthew on the following day, that is, on the XXII day of September, as I learn from the proper Breviary of this diocese published in print, but in a year uncertain to me, because some pages are lacking at the beginning; and from the order of reciting the Office of the same church printed in the year 1679. This honor the people of Nîmes doubtless decreed should be shown him as to their fellow countryman: for St. Castor is believed to have been born at Nîmes. Tillemont, tom. 14 of the Monuments, pag. 176, writes that he is likewise venerated in the monastery of St. Victor of Marseilles together with the church of Apt on the XXI day; which I can neither prove nor confirm. Yet in the proper Offices of the same celebrated monastery, from which the year of printing has likewise been torn away, nothing about him occurs. On the contrary, in the Breviary of the diocese of Fréjus in the Province of Gaul, published in print in the year — as I read noted with a pen — 1529, at the XX day of this month an Office of him together with that of the Vigil of St. Matthew is prescribed; which perhaps the people of Fréjus judged should be done for the sake of his brother St. Leontius, their bishop. But this very thing too was abolished in the new edition of the same Offices, made in the year 1678. And let it suffice to have reckoned these things concerning the sacred cult of St. Castor, which from what we have hitherto produced is manifestly ancient and notable.

* rather Honorius

Castoris*

add catenam* (the chain)

§ II. Lives of insufficiently certain authority, of which one is to be published: the Saint's native place and his deeds in the secular state: the convent founded by him, and the Rule of the Eastern monks obtained from St. John Cassian.

[ ] His Lives are of slight authority, What has often happened in the case of many other men of notable holiness, this too we lament in his case: that he had no writer of his virtues, by which he made illustrious the Church of God, who was contemporary or nearly so, or at least such a one to whom credit could safely be given; or, if he had one, that his Work has not come down to us. Denis de Sainte-Marthe indeed writes

in tom. 1 of the Gallia Christiana, col. 361, that Raymond, the III of that name, bishop of Apt, who, as he says in the same place, in some ancient monuments is called most learned in the ecclesiastical Office, wrote the Lives of SS. Auspicius and Castor in a more elegant style: but that Raymond, who died at the beginning of the XIV century, was too far removed from the age of St. Castor, who died before the middle of the V century, to be able himself to bring his deeds first to light; and we do not know what monuments, or how ancient, he used. Then we may suspect that that Life, of which I have seen no copy either manuscript or printed under his name, contained the same things, or at least things not different from those which are recited in the Offices or proper lessons of the same Saint of ours; which lessons indeed are prefaced in the same place as taken from the monuments of the holy church of Apt.

[16] which are cited by various writers John Baptist Guesnay, a priest of our Society, in St. John Cassian illustrated, lib. 2 chap. 29 num. 3, reckons from the calendars, as he speaks, of the same church of Apt a brief Life of St. Castor, in which fewer of his deeds are recited than in the proper Offices. Nearly the same — if, that is, you except a few things near the end — Denis de Sainte-Marthe exhibits in the volume cited above, among the instruments, col. 73 and the following, where he notes that it is read in the very ancient Martyrology of the church of Apt, at the XI of the Kalends of October. Another Life, in which more of the Saint's deeds are related, Andreas Saussay recites in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology. Tillemont, tom. 14 of the Monuments, in Cassian, art. 8, judged both little certain; which censure I too think true, since neither savors of antiquity, nor is anything established about the monuments on which both rest. Finally the Benedictine writers of the History of Occitania, tom. 1 lib. 4 num. 22, likewise hold the aforesaid monuments of the church of Apt for more recent and little accurate, and say that another ancient Life of the same Saint was given them by Dom Fournier, a Religious of the monastery of St. Victor of Marseilles, which they prefer to the rest, and out of which they there weave his eulogy in French.

[17] Honoré Bouche had a Life like this, as is clear from a like eulogy or are recited: of these we shall give one. which he likewise inserted in tom. 1, book 2 of the History of Provence in the French tongue. Further, the things which are narrated in these are nearly the same — although now and then with other circumstances — as are also to be read in the proper Offices, nor can we hold them for certain any more than the rest. We do not know either whether it was the same or another Life of which it is said in the older Office of St. Castor of Apt, namely that published in print in the year 1532, at lesson 5: What manner of man and how great he was, his Life, which is extant full of outward virtues, makes plain. Since therefore better documents are not at my disposal, I shall reprint the brief Life or eulogy which I said was printed by de Sainte-Marthe, and which, though briefer than the lessons of the older Office, is nevertheless in great part most similar to them; but the lessons of the more recent Office, and the eulogy put together by the writers of the History of Occitania, and the other things of this kind, I shall reckon in this preliminary Commentary, and, where there shall be need, illustrate.

[18] Lesson I of the second Nocturn in the Office of the church of Apt The Saint, born at Nîmes in the Occitania of today, published in the year 1664 begins thus: Castor of Nîmes, sprung from a most illustrious birth and most learned in the liberal disciplines, first excelled with wonderful eloquence in pleading causes in the courts. Then in composing public and private discords, and in unraveling entangled heads of law, he showed himself notable to all; and at last with the highest praise of probity he fulfilled the part of a judge. For, having undertaken this judicial office, he came to the aid of the oppressed, judged for the orphan, and the widow's cause came in before him. Concerning his native place at Nîmes and his noble parents the Life to be published and all the rest agree, nor have I found any of the more recent writers dissenting about his native place. And as regards this, it is the more easily to be believed of the people of Apt inasmuch as it was less in their interest to ascribe their holy Bishop to Nîmes, if he had been a native of their own city. Further, the people of Nîmes venerate him with an annual Office most probably for that cause, as was said above. And Nemausus is an ancient city of Narbonese Gaul, now called by the natives Nismes, in Lower Occitania, and is an episcopal see under the archbishopric of Narbonne, seven French miles, on Baudrand's testimony, distant from Avignon to the East.

[19] That St. Castor had a brother Leontius, a bishop, we learn from St. John Cassian, he had as brother St. Leontius, bishop of Fréjus; who in the Preface to the first ten Conferences of the fathers, which he had promised to Castor and after his death dedicated to the aforesaid Leontius and to Helladius, giving the reason for this office, addressed them thus: But now, since the aforesaid Pontiff, leaving us, has passed to Christ, these ten Conferences meanwhile … which he, burning with an incomparable zeal for holiness, had ordered to be written in a like discourse … I have thought should be consecrated especially to you, O most blessed pope Leontius, and holy brother Helladius. For one of you is joined to the said Man both by the affection of brotherhood and by the dignity of the priesthood, and (what is greater than these) by the fervor of holy zeal, and by hereditary right claims a brother's due, etc. For the rest, that this Leontius was bishop of Fréjus seems certain. And he is venerated in the same diocese on the Kalends of December, at which day we shall have to treat of him. Concerning the labor happily bestowed by St. Castor upon the study of letters at Arles, the Life to be published and the older Office also agree. St. John Cassian too in the Preface to the twelve books on the Institutes of the monks, which he inscribed to him, commends not a little his knowledge and eloquence. His words we shall presently give.

[20] To his eloquence, praised by Cassian, On the contrary the writers of the History of Occitania, in their eulogy of St. Castor, put together from an ancient and, as they themselves say, better Life, do not indeed deny his eloquence and learning, but nevertheless assert that he, when he had begun to make progress in the study of letters, his father having meanwhile died, was compelled to return to his own house that he might be a solace and help to his widowed mother. And to Tillemont, tom. 14 of the Monuments, in Cassian art. 8, and after him to the writers of the Literary History of France, tom. 2, in St. Castor, the Saint himself seemed in his letter to St. Cassian to say that he had not been brought up in the sciences and letters; and Tillemont cites to this end these words of his in the same letter: We, poor in knowledge and unlettered. Then they observe that the style of the same letter, which is obscure and little Latin, is consonant with these words. Gazet and others exhibit it, whence we shall recite it below at num. 26 and 27. And indeed the speech of this letter is such that I do not sufficiently see by what reasoning St. Cassian could say to him among other things: Since thou thyself art perfect in all virtues and in knowledge, … thou askest me too, tongueless and poor in speech and knowledge, … and enjoinest that I set forth the institutes of the monks … though with an unskilled pen, not seeking elegance of discourse, in which thou thyself art exceedingly learned.

[21] the letter published by Gazet does not correspond. I do not sufficiently see, I say, how Cassian could seriously write these and other such things to him, if the letter of St. Castor is genuine and not faulty, which Gazet from an ancient manuscript codex of Elnone, as he says — although found nowhere else, and obscured by many faults and erasures, and at last with no small labor purged of them and restored to its integrity and brightness — prefixed to tom. 1 of the Works of John Cassian, and whence others too have reckoned it. If any other writings of St. Castor were extant, from their style it would be possible to judge of the aforesaid letter; but since one alone is said to survive, I cannot lay aside every scruple about it conceived from St. Cassian's words, and I fear that it is not so corrected as Gazet affirms. Yet Tillemont in vain asserts from St. Castor's own words that he says that he had not been brought up in the sciences and letters; since the holy Bishop could have spoken thus out of zeal for humility, although from his youth he had well bestowed labor on the more liberal letters and had been happily imbued with them. And that he excelled in Christian humility Cassian clearly teaches, when in the place cited he called him the one exemplar of religion and humility.

[22] It is uncertain whether he was a judge; he seems to have been married, Still more uncertain are the things which are read in the aforesaid Office about the office of judge administered by him. For about this matter nothing is recorded in the writers of the History of Occitania, nothing in the lessons of the older Office, nothing in the Life to be published. And in this the Saint is indeed said before his monastic life for the space of a few years … to have been occupied with worldly affairs and triumphs; but this can be understood of the forensic causes of orphans and of others unjustly oppressed, which he is related to have pleaded strenuously as their patron out of Christian charity, as we shall presently see. Nor perhaps was that dignity of judge ascribed to him from any other source than this, that he composed the causes of those at variance, having been asked by the parties as arbiter. I return to the more recent proper Office, whose lesson V has it thus: In the marriage which he had contracted with the noble daughter of a certain widow of Arles, he led as it were the life of a monk. And his mother-in-law having died, and his wife having undertaken the purpose of a stricter life in a certain place of solitude, he himself built above the town of Manosque, which had come to his wife's dowry chiefly by his own labor, a monastery of men, where, although he was greater than all, yet he gloried in no other title than that of least of all.

[23] Which abject esteem of himself he made plain by his example to those then, a convent being founded, he was made a monk. who beheld him in the monastery assigned to the baking of bread; in which exercise of humility, when once he could find no broom to sweep the floor of the oven burning with heat, into which the bread was then to be put, he swept it, to the wonder of all, with the woolen garment which he was wearing, without even the least hair in it being burned. Lesson VI follows. And the abbot of this monastery, when about to depart this life, chose Castor by the highest consent of all, that he should succeed him in the monastic government. Which, that he might not accept it, Castor, devoted to humility, refused so long until the dying abbot compelled him by his authority to undertake the office, asserting that this election had been revealed to him by God. This abbot therefore being dead, his successor gave to all unremitting proofs of the virtues, and the sanctity of his altogether singular life will easily be gathered from those things which in the following lessons that most ardent lover of the monastic life, John Cassian, will magnificently declare. Thus there; from which let us weigh anew what seems certain and what on the contrary doubtful.

[24] Of the Saint's marriage nothing is read in the Life to be published, and in the lessons of the older Office; Another compendious narration of these things but in the responsory of this to lesson IV mention is made of it in these words: The man of the Lord Castor, for a few years a married man, engaged in worldly affairs, at last with the dew

of divine discourse pouring [] upon her, both come to the practice of religion. ℣ The most blessed man therefore, burning with divine love, strove that she who had once been his wife should at last become his sister. The writers of the History of Occitania* from their manuscript Life relate the matter nearly thus. St. Castor, his father having died, was compelled to bid farewell to the study of letters, that he might be a support to his mother, and took care also to show himself a patron to orphans and others whom he saw unjustly harassed. This charity of his he displayed especially toward a certain widow of Arles, whom piety no less than nobility commended. For when a certain noble man, Auxentius by name, had unjustly seized upon this matron's estate situated in the place called Manosque, and she was destitute of all support and of a patron, Castor, moved by the unworthiness of the thing, took up her cause so successfully that he stripped the unjust possessor of the goods he had seized, and, having set out over the sea to the emperor, sought and obtained a confirmation of the sentence in favor of the same widow.

[25] from the writers of Occitania and from Bouche. The Saint, for his convent, Bound by this benefit, the matron offered him in marriage her daughter, whom she had as her only child, with a dowry of all those goods which she had recovered by his labor. The Saint accepted the terms; but not long after the pious spouses by mutual consent withdrew from each other, that they might serve God as solitaries; and Castor indeed founded in the same place of Manosque a monastery, in which he lived first as a monk and then as abbot. The same things Honoré Bouche has in the Chorography and History of Provence, where he also adds that St. Castor's wife, together with her only daughter, Perculatita by name, gave herself to the solitary life. What of all these things is true we cannot say, since we do not know how much that Life is worth which the aforesaid writers followed. This is certain, that St. Castor erected some convent, and wished to establish it according to the norm of the Eastern monks. So we learn from St. John Cassian, who in the Preface to the twelve books on the Institutes of the convents and the remedies of the eight principal vices expressly asserts that he wrote these at Castor's request for that end. The letter by which our Saint begged this of that celebrated master of monks and abbot of Marseilles, as I said above, Alard Gazet, a monk of Saint-Vaast, reckons before tom. 1 of the Works of the same St. John Cassian, whence I transfer it hither in the same words.

[26] asks by letter of St. John Cassian To the lord adorned with the special glory of sanctity and in all things to be remembered, but also excelling in the beauty of the sciences, namely to father Cassian, Castor, the offscouring of those who dwell in the world, offers what he can of most humble service. Reasonably, father, do a tutor's fostering aids come to the help of the unreasoning and the tongueless, because although a like moderation is not found to flourish in all men under a restrained humanity, yet it remains that to those in whom it is proved subdued it may subdue an advantage. For we cannot all do all things, since it is not for all to know how to contend. Deservedly does a man incur loss to himself who in no way hesitates to steal away the good things which he has learned, having learned to grasp better ones. For they are to be pressed by long exercise and fed by various works, to whom the discernment of others is committed. For sometimes the presumptuous man succumbs by his own rashness, while by his own unsuitable industry he distributes with uncertain moderation the things fitted for necessary uses. But to us unlettered men unsuitable things can easily be persuaded through carelessness. Thee therefore, dearest father, we anticipate with what charity we can, that with a pious and inexhaustible abundance thou wouldst help us who can bring forth nothing wisely, and wouldst not delay to rouse us — novices, and enticed by the elaborate cares of worldly pomp — by those exercises in which thou art preeminent, and under which thy mind and members grew mighty.

[27] the Institutes of the Eastern monks; We hold thee indeed as especially experienced in the teaching of the Eastern convents, and chiefly of the Egyptian ones and those founded in the Thebaid, especially since the places notable for the Lord's nativity have also been made illustrious by thy presence. Wherefore, since thou art filled with the discipline of all Catholic studies, it behooves thee not to pass over us who are poor in knowledge. For we beg thy paternity that thou wouldst not refuse to apply, in plain discourse and made smooth, to our rude monastery the institutes of the monasteries which thou hast seen flourishing and established throughout Egypt and Palestine, and which thou hast sanctioned as to be kept, and just as they were there handed down by the fathers; and, pouring forth abundant words with the honeyed sweetness of thy utterances, that thou wouldst not delay to water our long-parched hearts, whereby, barrenness being cast off, the fruits of justice may be able to spring up. Whence I think that, if it shall be possible for us to profit at all, thou too art to be rewarded with the greater merit, if obedience to a father's labor shall have rendered sluggish minds capable of some kind of service. Farewell, father of the servants of God, and remember us. Thus far the letter in Gazet; which nevertheless, whether it is genuinely St. Castor's and not corrupted by copyists, may be doubted from what was said above. Observe also in few words that it was written by the Saint when he was already bishop, as will presently appear.

[28] Complying with these wishes of the Saint, Cassian wrote the aforesaid little Work and transmitted it to him together with a Preface, who, obeying his requests, which, since it contains a notable eulogy of St. Castor, we shall here subjoin for the greatest part from the same Gazet. The history of the Old Instrument relates that the most wise Solomon, after receiving from God wisdom and prudence exceeding great, and breadth of heart like the innumerable sand of the sea, so that by the Lord's testimony none like him is said to have existed in times past nor to be about to arise after him, when he desired to build that magnificent temple to the Lord, sought the help of a foreign king. And when Hiram, the son of a widow woman, had been sent to him, whatever excellent thing he was contriving in the Lord's temple or in the sacred vessels at the prompting of divine wisdom, he accomplished by his ministry and disposal. If therefore that sovereignty, loftier than all the kingdoms of the earth, and that nobler and more excellent progeny of the Israelite race, and that wisdom divinely inspired, which surpassed the disciplines and institutes of all the Orientals and Egyptians, by no means disdained the counsel of a poor and foreign man; rightly also dost thou, taught by these examples, most blessed pope Castor, when thou art disposing to build a true and reasonable temple to God, not of insensible stones but of a congregation of holy men, and one not temporal and corruptible but eternal and impregnable, and desiring also to consecrate to the Lord most precious vessels — not cast of much metal of gold or silver, which afterward the king of Babylon, having captured them, assigns to the pleasure of his concubines and princes, but of holy souls, which, shining with the integrity of innocence, justice and chastity, carry about in themselves Christ the king abiding there — deignest to admit me, needy and in every part most poor, to a share in so great a work.

[29] For, in thy province, unacquainted with convents, wrote to him, and sent wishing the institutes of the Orientals, and chiefly of the Egyptians, to be founded, although thou thyself art perfect in all virtues and in knowledge, and so filled with all spiritual riches that for those seeking perfection not only thy discourse, but even thy life alone, suffices abundantly for an example; thou askest me too, tongueless and poor in speech and knowledge, to contribute something out of the poverty of my understanding toward the fulfillment of thy desire; and thou enjoinest that I set forth the institutes of the monasteries which we have beheld observed throughout Egypt and Palestine, just as they were there handed down to us by the fathers, though with an unskilled pen; not seeking elegance of discourse, in which thou thyself art exceedingly learned, but desiring that the simple life of the Saints be explained in simple discourse to the brethren in thy new monastery. And as much as the pious ardor of thy desire provokes me to obey in this matter, so much do the manifold masses of my agitations deter me, willing though I am to comply. After this he sets forth the reasons by which he was deterred from this Work, and among the rest alleges this, that outstanding men — namely the holy Basil and Jerome, and others — had already handled that subject.

[30] Then he continues, saying: After whose so overflowing rivers of eloquence I might not without cause be marked for presumption, if I had attempted to bring in any part of this trickle, twelve books on the Institutes of those who renounce the world unless the confidence of thy Holiness encouraged me to this, and the assurance that either these trifles would be acceptable to thee, such as they are, or thou wouldst assign them to the congregation of the brethren dwelling only in the new monastery; who, if anything perhaps has been uttered by us less carefully, may both read it piously and bear with it with a more indulgent pardon, seeking rather the fidelity of my discourse than the charm of eloquence. Wherefore, most blessed Pope, unique exemplar of religion and humility, encouraged by thy prayers, I shall according to the powers of my ability undertake the work which thou enjoinest, and shall communicate, as it were to a rude monastery and to those truly [] thirsting, those things which have been left wholly untouched by our predecessors, as men who attempted to describe things heard rather than experienced.* The rest, in which he proposes the argument of his little Work, I pass over, because it does not pertain to St. Castor; this one thing I observe, that he in his letter had also asked that, if anything had been introduced into the monasteries of Gaul foreign to the institutes of the ancients, he would deign to note that too.

[31] and on the eight principal vices; the Conferences also For Cassian says in the same place: In this too I shall study to satisfy thy precepts, that if perhaps I shall find in these regions anything founded not according to the pattern of our elders by most ancient constitution, but at the discretion of each one establishing a monastery, whether diminished or added, I shall in faithful discourse either add or cut away according to that Rule of the monasteries which we have seen founded of old throughout Egypt or Palestine; by no means believing that a new constitution in the western parts of the Gauls could have found anything more reasonable or more perfect than those institutes in which the monasteries founded from the beginning of the Apostolic preaching by holy and spiritual fathers endure even to us. Further, the same Cassian, in lib. 2 chap. 9 of the aforesaid little Work, had promised him something else, namely the Conferences of the fathers, which St. Castor also ardently desired by another letter — which, however, I have not yet seen — and which Cassian, having written them for his sake, in the meantime dedicated, upon Castor's death, to Leontius and Helladius. And since in this Preface too Cassian makes mention with great praise of the holy Bishop, then translated to a better life, it is fitting to reckon part of it here also. It is therefore of this kind.

[32] he had promised him; but St. Castor died meanwhile. The debt which was promised to the most blessed pope Castor in the Preface of those volumes which, on the Institutes of the convents and the remedies of the Eight principal vices, have been arranged, with the Lord's help, in twelve little books, has been discharged in some fashion, so far as the slenderness of our ability sufficed. Let others see what upon this matter has been weighed by the equity of his judgment or of ours: whether in things so profound and so sublime, and which, as I think, have not before come into the use of the pen, we have brought forth anything worthy of your knowledge and of the desire of all the holy brethren. But now, since the aforesaid Pontiff, leaving us, has passed to Christ, these ten Conferences meanwhile of the greatest fathers, that is, of the anchorites who dwelt in the Scythian desert (which he, burning with an incomparable zeal for holiness,

had ordered to be written in a like discourse, not weighing, out of the abundance of his charity, with how great a weight he was burdening my weak shoulders) I have thought should be consecrated especially to you, O most blessed pope Leontius, and holy brother Helladius. For one of you is joined to the said Man both by the affection of brotherhood and by the dignity of the priesthood, and (what is greater than these) by the fervor of holy zeal, and by hereditary right claims a brother's due; the other has undertaken to follow the sublime institutes of the anchorites, not, as some do, by his own presumption, but, laying hold of the lawful path of doctrine at the Holy Spirit's prompting almost before he learned it, has preferred to be instructed not so much by his own inventions as by their traditions, etc.

rather perfundente*

elsewhere, & veritatem*

elsewhere, in quantum*

§ III. It is shown that not two, but one only convent, and that in the diocese of Apt, was founded by St. Castor.

[ ] Some judge that a twofold convent, From the preceding § it is certain that some monastery was founded by St. Castor; nor does it seem doubtful that the Rule of the Eastern monks dwelling throughout Egypt and the Thebaid was established in it by him — tempered, however. Tempered, I say; for Cassian himself at the close of the first Preface to Castor speaks thus on this matter: That moderation indeed I shall presume to insert in this little Work, that whatever things I shall find, according to the Rule of the Egyptians, impossible in these regions, or hard or difficult, whether from the harshness of the air or from the difficulty and diversity of manners, I shall to some extent temper by the institutes of the monasteries which are held throughout Palestine or Mesopotamia; because, if a reasonable measure of what is possible be kept, the perfection of observance is the same even with unequal capacity. But as these things are certain, so the moderns do not agree where the Saint erected that monastery, and whether he is to be said to have founded two or only one.

[34] Guesnay in Cassian illustrated, lib. 1 chap. 49 the first near Nîmes, the other and lib. 2 chap. 17, attributes two to him, of which the first was built by him when not yet bishop, in his own native place near Nîmes, in a place of his own right whose name was Maunacus, under the title of St. Faustinus; the other by the same, when already raised to the mitre of Apt, in that diocese. Of the latter monastery, in the course of time turned into a hospital and thus surviving even in his own age, he observes besides at the end of lib. 1 chap. 49 this: For the form and as it were the face of the convent, turned and changed into a hospital, is even now to be seen. The writers of the Gallia Christiana also make mention of both among the ancient monasteries of the dioceses of Nîmes and Apt which no longer exist; not, however, with equal assurance in both places. For in tom. 1 of the enlarged Work, col. 376, among the ancient abbeys of Apt, Denis de Sainte-Marthe reckons only Manancha, an ancient convent built by Castor, afterward bishop of Apta Julia, from the papers of that most illustrious man Monsieur de Remerville de Saint-Quentin, who was then laboring at a History of the bishops of Apt; and he adds at the end: We think that no traces of this monastery survive; in whose place there is now the town of Ménerbes.

[35] But in tom. 6 of the same Work, col. 469, among the ancient monasteries of the diocese of Nîmes, the continuators of the same Work say more confidently: was founded near Apta Julia, The ancient abbey of St. Faustinus is founded by St. Castor, a native of Nîmes, who was the first abbot of that place, having received from Cassian, abbot of the monastery of Marseilles, a Rule which he himself called the Mirror of monks. Afterward he was bishop of Apt in the year CDXIX. And this convent had already ceased by the year DCCCXVII, inasmuch as no mention is made of it in the review of the monasteries of Septimania made in that year in the council of Aachen. Tillemont, tom. 14 of the Monuments, in Cassian art. 8, holds the monastery of Apt for certain; but of that of Nîmes he doubts, chiefly on this head, that in the Chronicle published under the name of Tiro Prosper he is praised among the abbots of that time in the Gauls who were not bishops. For since it is established from St. John Cassian's Preface that St. Castor was already bishop when he asked of him the Institutes of the monks for his new convent, and since the author of the aforesaid Chronicle speaks of Castor as an abbot, not a bishop, it seemed not improbable to Tillemont that in the same Chronicle there is question of the Saint's prelacy in the monastery of Nîmes, from which some monuments of Nîmes affirm that he was drawn to the bishopric of Apt. Further, the words of the Chronicle in Du Chesne, tom. 1 of the History of France, pag. 198, at the 28th year of the emperor Honorius, are these: Honoratus, Minervius, Castor, Jovianus, fathers of their several monasteries, flourish in the Gauls. With Tillemont agree the writers of the Literary History of France, tom. 2, in St. Castor.

[36] against whom On the contrary the writers of the History of Occitania, praised above, in Note 47 acknowledge only one monastery of St. Castor, and that in the diocese of Apt, over which he presided as abbot both before and after obtaining the bishopric; which opinion appears to me too to be true, for the reasons which I subjoin. In the first place, no Life of St. Castor, no ancient monument, is produced in which he is said to have founded two monasteries; but, as the writers just mentioned rightly observe, Guesnay seems to have gone over to that opinion because, when in the fragments of his Life which he reckoned there it was read that the Saint was a native of Nîmes and had built the convent of St. Faustinus on a certain small estate of his own right, he believed that this small estate was to be sought nowhere else than in the territory of Nîmes. Then, since it was established from St. Cassian that Castor, when already bishop of Apt, had the care of a certain monastery of his own in his own diocese, he judged that this was another than the one at Nîmes, and accordingly founded by him in his own diocese after he had been initiated into the bishopric. Indeed this argumentation would be probable enough, if other things did not stand in the way.

[37] it is shown by various reasons, For the same writers of Occitania rightly note that the opposite is plainly proved from the very fragments cited by Guesnay. To prove this, they exhibit in summary what he himself in lib. 1 chap. 49 num. 6 recited from the Supplement of the Gallican Martyrology in these words: And having been made abbot of that convent of which he was the founder, he so shone with conspicuous sanctity that, Quintinus having been taken from among men, … he was chosen in his stead (to the bishopric of Apt) by the wishes both of the clergy and of the people, etc. After this they subjoin what is likewise reckoned by the same Guesnay in lib. 2 chap. 29 from the calendars of Apt in this manner: They (the people of Apt) demand that Castor be set over them as pontiff … And when therefore he was striving to appoint a successor to himself in the government of the same monastery, … he was compelled to retain it, etc. And no one fails to see that, according to these, St. Castor was compelled to retain, together with the bishopric, the prelacy of a monastery over which he had presided when not yet a bishop; and accordingly that from the aforesaid monuments not two, but one only monastery of St. Castor is to be established. In the same way Bouche interpreted the monuments of Apt in the Chorography and History of Provence, in the place praised above, where he may be consulted. It remains therefore to inquire whether that monastery is to be said to have been situated in the territory or diocese of Nîmes or in that of Apt.

[38] that he built one only, For Apt stand altogether the weight of the reasons alleged by the writers of Occitania. Guesnay himself, namely, asserts that St. Castor's first monastery was founded by him in a place whose name was Maunacus. And that place is doubtless the same which in the Nîmes proper Office of the Saint is called Mannacus, but in the older Office of Apt, in the Responsory to lesson 5, and in lesson 5 of the more recent one, and by Bouche and the writers of the Gallia Christiana, is called Manancha, and which is said clearly enough to have been situated not far from Apt in the hymn at Lauds of the aforesaid Office, which I shall exhibit entire below at num. 49. And the aforesaid writers of the History of Occitania say that Manancha is believed to be the present Manancuegno, two miles distant from Apta Julia, in the diocese of Apt and in the territory of Ménerbes, where even now the ruined walls of an old chapel under the patronage of our Saint are to be seen. Nor did Denis de Sainte-Marthe place the monastery of Manancha anywhere but in the diocese of Apt, from the papers of Monsieur de Remerville de Saint-Quentin, tom. 1 col. 376, where, although he judges that no traces of it survive, yet, agreeing generally with the aforesaid, he affirms that in its place there is now the town of Ménerbes. But also in the geographical map of the ecclesiastical province of Aix, inserted in the same volume, in the diocese of Apt, where it adjoins that of Cavaillon, there occurs Manancha, now Ménerbes.

[39] Besides, the aforesaid authors of the History of Occitania observe in the diocese of Apt that it is not probable that the bodies of the clergy and people of Apt (as they assert is read in the manuscript Life) came seeking St. Castor at his monastery, to be substituted in the place of their deceased prelate St. Quintinus, if it had been situated near Nîmes. Nor do they think it more probable that St. Castor, after entering upon the bishopric of Apt, held the prelacy of the same monastery, situated so far from his see. Certainly these things cannot but seem strange on account of the distance of the two places; for between Nîmes and Apt a space of seventeen hours' journey is set down in the geographical map cited in the preceding number. Finally they are of opinion that the site of his one monastery in the diocese of Apt is certain from this, that Manancha or Maunacus, where it was founded, is said in the manuscript Life to have fallen to St. Castor from his wife's dowry — namely of the daughter of that widow of Arles whom the Saint had vindicated from the unjust invader of her goods. But although from this it indeed follows that it is not necessary, on account of St. Castor's Nîmes birthplace, for us to believe that that monastery was situated near Nîmes, yet I do not see why, on account of the domicile at Arles of his mother-in-law and wife, that same monastery should be ascribed to the diocese of Apt rather than to that of Nîmes; since a distance twice, or nearly twice, as great is noted in the geographical maps between Apta Julia and the city of Arles as between the latter and Nîmes.

[40] To the aforesaid I add another argument, passed over by others. near Apta Julia, In the antiphons at Lauds of the older Office of Apt, and in Saussay in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology, the Saint is said, when he was sought for the bishopric of Apt, to have fled and hidden himself on the mountain of Breson, until, as he vainly hoped, another bishop should be elected. In the Nîmes Office that mountain is likewise called Bresonius, but in the more recent one the mount of Lebredo or Lebredon. Bouche, often praised, in his eulogy of St. Castor calls the same in French the mount of Leberon; which in the geographical map of Provence prefixed to his Work he exhibits not far from Apt and Ménerbes, and which in lib. 1 chap. 4 §1 he affirms to extend in length from Cavaillon as far as Manosque over a space of about ten Provençal miles. Now how little consonant with reason is it to say that St. Castor, while he was being sought by the people of Apt for their bishopric, fled from his convent at Nîmes toward Apt for many miles, that in the mountains

nearest to that same city he might seek hiding-places for himself, lest he fall into their hands: as though this were not rather to run into them than to avoid them. But on the contrary both this and all the other things brought against the convent of Nîmes are plain in our opinion, and liable to no difficulty.

[41] over which before and after entering upon the bishopric For if it be held that only one convent was founded by St. Castor, and that not far from Apta Julia, it is easily understood that the bodies of the clergy and people of Apt came to it in order to substitute its holy Abbot in the episcopal chair, vacant by the death of St. Quintinus; and that he out of zeal for humility fled to the neighboring mount Leberon, that he might lie hid there until another bishop had been substituted. Nor will what is added seem more strange: namely that he, being now brought out of hiding and initiated into the bishopric, was piously compelled by his own people to retain, together with the bishopric, the prelacy of the monastery which he had governed as abbot. For since in this opinion the aforesaid monastery was situated in his own diocese, and not far from his see, he could without difficulty govern it partly in person and partly through his vicars. As regards the Chronicle of Tiro Prosper, that need not detain us; since according to what has been said St. Castor could have presided over the convent of Apt before his bishopric. Against these things, however, it could be objected that the writers of Occitania, when they recited in summary above at num. 37 the words produced by Guesnay from others, omitted a few things which cause some difficulty, and which therefore ought by no means to have been passed over.

[42] he could have presided. For Guesnay from the Saint's Life has it thus: And when therefore he was striving to appoint a successor to himself in the government of the same monastery, [the monks opposing, nay beseeching with tearful prayers, and the pontiff of the same place commanding, in a manner] he was compelled to retain it. These same things are read in the older proper Office of Apt. But those writers, in the number just cited, substituted mere dots for what I have here enclosed in brackets, no mention being made of the commanding pontiff. Hence, further, it may be argued thus: That pontiff or bishop of the same place, at whose command the Saint was in a manner compelled to retain his monastery, was certainly not the bishop of Apt (for Castor himself already presided over that church); and accordingly neither was the monastery which he was compelled at his command to retain situated in the diocese of Apt. Where then shall we place it more rightly than at Nîmes, St. Castor's native place? I answer that, if we take those words strictly, neither the bishop of Nîmes nor of any other place could have commanded this to the bishop of Apt; but if, interpreting them more mildly, we take the command for a vehement persuasion, then by "the bishop of the same place" the metropolitan seems here to be designated, who by the authority which he had in his own province, or in the dioceses suffragan to his see, induced the holy Bishop to consent to the wishes and prayers of his monks, and, being now a bishop, to continue to govern the monastery which he had until then ruled; which certainly the Saint could do far more easily if we believe that monastery to have been founded in his own diocese and not far from the see of the bishopric of Apt, than if in another's near Nîmes in Occitania.

[43] A variant reading of Cassian concerning this convent, Further, this is worthy of observation, that that convent was the only one which at that time existed in St. Castor's province, on Cassian's testimony; for he says to him in the often-praised Preface: For, in thy province, unacquainted with convents, wishing to found the institutes of the Orientals and chiefly of the Egyptians, etc. Nevertheless these words are not to be taken too strictly, for the monastery of Lérins was already flourishing at that time, which seems to have belonged, like Apta Julia, to the province of Narbonne the second; but, as Tillemont deservedly observes, tom. 14 of the Monuments, art. 9 in Cassian, it was off the mainland and situated in the opposite and outermost part of the same province. It is to be noted besides that the aforesaid observation proceeds according to the editions of Gazet and Chacón, and cannot hold if for experte we must read ex parte, as Noris in lib. 2 of the Pelagian History, chap. 1, and the author of the more recent proper Office read — namely in this manner: For, in thy province, wishing to found in part the institutes of the Eastern convents, and chiefly of the Egyptian. But which of these readings is the genuine one I have not explored, nor have I any edition at hand besides those praised.

[44] The time at which Castor erected and founded his monastery which more probably existed before the year 419 is uncertain; but if, as his Lives report, he accomplished this before entering upon the bishopric, it must have existed already before the year 419, since we shall say below that he was already a bishop in that year. I said, if, as his Lives report; for Cassian speaks in such a way that it may be doubted whether St. Castor really founded it before his bishopric. As regards the Life led by St. Castor in the aforesaid convent, as we do not doubt that this, at whatever time he lived in it, was passed most holily, so we do not know upon what certain monuments those few particular deeds rest which we recited above at num. 23 from the Breviary of Apt.

§ IV. The time of his bishopric and certain deeds: the year of his death uncertain, assigned approximately.

[ ] He is set over the church of Apt as bishop; Concerning his election to the bishopric of Apt, the Breviary praised above has the following in the fourth lesson of the fourth day within the Octave. The prelate of Apt, Quintinus, a man of outstanding virtue, being dead, by the common vote of all Castor is chosen as successor in the bishopric: and lest he be burdened with the pack of this pastoral dignity, he fled and hid himself in a cave of the mount of Lebredon; where, being discovered by hunters, he is led to Apt, and, initiated into the sacred rites, is set unwilling over the church, which he administered most holily. The writers of the History of Occitania, from the manuscript Life which they cite, say that he denied that he would accept that office unless he had first consulted the bishop to whom he had promised obedience; and that, leave being given to consult him, he fled to the aforesaid mountain for the sake of hiding, until another should be set over the church of Apt, but that he was miraculously discovered. Bouche in the History of Provence places the Saint's flight and hiding after he had already received from his bishop a command to accept the bishopric. In the Life to be published (perhaps more rightly) it is only said that the Saint, unwilling, was dragged by the clergy and people out of the cloister or convent and made bishop, all the other circumstances, and also the name of his predecessor, being passed over.

[46] Denis de Sainte-Marthe, tom. 1 of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, to him in the year 419 Pope Boniface I writes col. 350, likewise makes Quintinus, whom he adorns with the title of Saint, the immediate predecessor of St. Castor in the bishopric of Apt, citing an old manuscript codex of the Life of the same St. Castor, from which he subjoins the following: Therefore, blessed Quintinus, pontiff of the church of Apt, having passed to the heavenly places, they choose the blessed Castor for themselves as pastor. And he says that Quintinus sat at Apt about the four hundredth year, which however he confirms by no argument. In what year moreover St. Castor entered upon that see is held unexplored; this one thing seems able to be safely asserted, that he already presided over the aforesaid church in the year 419. For Pope Boniface I in his letter, given on the day of the Ides of June, in the consulship of the most illustrious Monaxius — that is, in the aforesaid year of Christ 419 — among the other bishops of Gaul and of the seven provinces to whom he inscribed it, records Castorius, whom the learned deservedly judge to be Castor of Apt. In this letter Boniface enjoins upon the bishops of the Gauls that before the Kalends of November of that year they hold a synod against Maximus, bishop of the church of Valence, who, long accused of various crimes and among the rest of Manichæism, had until then wickedly evaded ecclesiastical judgment; and that they transmit to him whatever they should decree in it about him, to be confirmed by his Apostolic authority. That letter may be seen in Jacques Sirmond in the Councils of Gaul, in Labbe in the general Collection of councils, and in Pierre Coustant among the letters of the Roman Pontiffs. What, however, in this cause either St. Castor or the other bishops did, is unknown.

[47] He is said to have brought captives out of prison by divine power, I return to the Breviary of Apt, in which the following may again be read about the Saint's virtues and miracles: He was always at hand for the needy with money, for the wretched with consolation, for orphans with counsel; and lest consolation be lacking to those detained in the prison of Apt, when the sacred day of Christ rising from the tomb was at hand, he asks of the judge that they might be refreshed by the adorable sacrament of the Lord's Body; and when the judge refused to grant him this, Castor, on his knees, begged it with pious supplication of him to whom God has given all judgment. The good Pastor therefore, prayers being poured forth to God, opened the door of the prison, and, the bonds of the captive sheep being loosed by divine power, leads them to the church dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God, as to the sheepfold of salvation, to be fed. And the judge, terrified by this miracle, asks and asks again of the Prelate that the prison house be by his labor turned into a chapel to be consecrated to the Lord Savior. Which being done, Castor often performed the Sacred rite in this little building, that where God by the force of prayer had burst iron chains, there by the efficacy of the Sacrifice he might loose the bonds of sins. Thus far the fifth and sixth lessons of the fourth day within the Octave. Then follow the lessons for the eighth day, which I likewise subjoin here.

[48] and by other miracles, During the Eucharistic Sacrifice Castor was seen to shine with heavenly light on every side, and many looked up and beheld angels ministering to him, as he often immolated Christ the Son to God the Father, in the likeness of youths of altogether wonderful dignity of face and body. And once, when the winds were raging with rain and he was making for the monastery by night, to perform the Divine rites, having with him only one companion, a deacon, carrying a burning taper in his hands, the stormy tempest raging on the way touched neither him nor his companion in any way; nay, not even did the blustering force of the wind put out the lighted taper. Which certainly created the greatest amazement among the monks who received them, and they showed the greatest reverence to him whom the very elements venerated. But as he returned to Apt, there met him on the way a boar of wonderful size, which, forgetting its own ferocity and become gentler than a lamb, cast itself humbly at his feet; and he covered it so with his cloak that he defended it from the hunting pack of dogs pursuing it. Wonderful are the things which he wrote, and the examples of sanctity which he left in his bishopric. For these and the other things premised, in the said Breviary of Apt the monuments of the church of Apt are cited, of which, as I have noted elsewhere, I do not know what antiquity they are.

[49] which are reckoned, in his bishopric In the Life to be published the Saint is indeed said to have shone with many virtues, and outward ones too, in his bishopric, but no particular deed of his is reckoned. In the older Breviary too nothing is read about that boar; but of the captives freed from prison mention is made in the Responsories. Of the taper too not extinguished amid the rains and winds, and of the angels ministering to him as he sacrificed, the hymn at Lauds has it thus:

Castor, prelate of the people of Apt, / ruled Apt in grace, / turning the throngs [*] of the unbelieving / from gluttony.

The weather was rainy, / while he was making his way to Manancha, / cloudy and windy,

so that scarcely anyone could know himself;

But the taper gave light, / nor is it here quenched by the wind, / which Largus carried / in his hand; nor does it die in the rain.

Castor was celebrating Mass / in the church of the Savior; / no one ministered to him / but the heavenly companies.

Largus thereupon, wishing / to spread abroad the Saint's praises: / the Saint says to him, Do not, dear one, / reveal heavenly things.

If thou shalt tell what thou hast seen, / thou shalt lose the solaces of life; / by the chance of death thou shalt fall / to the spaces of the threefold place.

The same thing befell Largus / which the Saint here had foretold, / for he fell by the chance of death, / because he had not concealed these things.

[50] Of the boar likewise Bouche and the writers of the History of Occitania are silent, to have shone, and the death, which he met most holily, of whom the latter say only that various miracles are ascribed to St. Castor, and among these the aforesaid deliverance of the captives from the prisons; but of the prison changed for that cause into a chapel they make no mention. Bouche on the contrary records both; and adds that one of his subdeacons, who had seen very many of his miracles, revealed them after the Saint's death, and presently, as had been foretold him by the same while he was among the living, was seized by death. This was perhaps that Largus who occurs in the hymn just recited: but any prudent reader will deservedly require more certain monuments before he admits all these things as certain. Let us proceed to reckon the rest from the Proper of Apt. In the place praised above it goes on thus: And when near to death he took care to have the neighboring prelates, abbots, presbyters and monks called together, and foretold to them the day of his death with great exultation of soul.

[51] And when death was at hand, and many proofs of wonderful humility had been given, foretold. These things not in the year 429, or 431, or about 440, he blessed for the last time the clergy called together, and, the Sacrament of the Eucharist being received, fortified himself with the sign of the Cross; then he looked up to heaven and, with hands lifted, rendered his spirit to God, on the eleventh of the Kalends of October, in the year of Salvation four hundred and twenty-nine, and his venerable body is honorably venerated in the holy church of Apt. Of these things what is affirmed about the abbots called together is little probable; since from St. Cassian's words, related at num. 43 (if however we must stand by the editions of Gazet and Chacón), we have it that St. Castor's convent, when he was already bishop, was the only one in that province while the same Cassian was writing to him the books on the Institutes of the monks; nor does it appear from elsewhere that in the space of so few years, which we shall presently see to have passed between these and St. Castor's blessed death, other neighboring monasteries were erected over which those abbots presided. On account of the same shortness of time the year of the Saint's death assigned in the aforesaid Proper of Apt can by no means be admitted, much less the year 431, or about 440, of which the first Castellan in the Universal Martyrology and the second Guesnay in lib. 2 of St. Cassian illustrated, chap. 29 num. 3, assigned to him as the year of his death; as I shall presently show.

[52] but between the years 419 We saw above at num. 31 and 32 that St. John Cassian inscribed to Leontius, the brother of St. Castor, and to Helladius, after his death, the first ten Conferences of the fathers dwelling in the Scythian desert, promised to St. Castor, then already bishop, in the books on the Institutes of the monks. The same holy abbot dedicated seven Conferences of the fathers dwelling in the Thebaid to Honoratus and Eucherius, in whose Preface he makes mention both of the twelve little books (on the Institutes of the monks) to the bishop Castor of blessed memory, and of the first ten Conferences sent to Helladius and Leontius. And that Honoratus, whom Cassian himself in the Preface to the last seven Conferences, which he afterward added to the other seventeen and transmitted to Jovinian, Minervius, Leontius and Theodorus, expressly calls a bishop, Tillemont, Pagi and others deservedly judge to have been St. Honoratus, archbishop of Arles, who, while he presided as abbot over the monks in the island of Lérins, was raised to that church in the year 426 after the slaying of Patroclus. Further, that he was not a bishop, but only an abbot, when Cassian dedicated to him the aforesaid earlier seven Conferences, is manifest from this, that by the same Cassian he is addressed in their Preface not as Papa, as the bishop Castor had been called, but by the familiar word brother, and, no mention being made of his bishopric, is said to be presiding over a vast convent of brethren.

[53] and 426, and indeed in one of the earlier of these From what has been said it follows that those same seven Conferences were written not later — nay perhaps even some years earlier — than the year 426, in which St. Honoratus was substituted in the see of the slain Patroclus. Then, since these very Conferences were preceded by ten others, given to Leontius and Helladius after St. Castor's death, it must be said that the same Castor died between the year of Christ 419, in which in the letter of Pope Boniface I, praised at num. 46, he is reckoned among the living, and the year 426, and indeed more probably in one of the earlier of these years; and accordingly, contrary to what is asserted in the Office of Apt, he by no means reached the year 429, and much less the year 431, as Castellan, or about 440, as Guesnay judged. I know indeed that it can be objected to me here that the very title of the Preface of which we treat, which in the twofold edition of Cassian's Works which I have in hand — namely the Lyons edition of Chacón and the Douai one of Gazet, and perhaps in others too — is inscribed to Honoratus the bishop and to Eucherius, as though he had already been bishop when Cassian drew it up. Hence Gazet in his Observations affirms that he presided at once over the archbishopric of Arles and over the convent of Lérins. But if that is true, why, I ask, did the abbot Cassian, who in the Preface to the twelve books on the Institutes of the monks had constantly called St. Castor, bishop of Apt and abbot, most blessed Papa — why, I say, did he name St. Honoratus, archbishop of Arles, only holy brother?

[54] to have happily befallen him Gazet, however, cites for this opinion of his also St. Eucherius, in the Preface of lib. 1 to Salonius, where he says: Thou wast brought up by father Honoratus, by him, I say, first master of the islands, afterward of the churches. He had also premised Cassian saying in the Preface to the last seven Conferences of all: Seven others (Conferences) I dedicated to the blessed bishop Honoratus and to the holy servant of Christ Eucherius. But from neither passage is anything proved. For from the first, namely Eucherius', it indeed follows that St. Honoratus was first abbot and then bishop, which no one will deny; but it does not follow that he continued in the government of the monastery after entering upon the bishopric. And that Cassian in the last Preface called Honoratus a bishop, whom in the preceding one he had called brother, could have come about because Honoratus had meanwhile been endowed with the mitre of Arles. In like manner the same Cassian in the Preface before the first ten Conferences to Leontius and Helladius plainly signified that the first of these had been marked with the episcopal dignity and the other lacked it, when he addressed them in these words: O most blessed pope Leontius, and holy brother Helladius (see num. 32); and yet in the Preface to the seven following Conferences he called both of them bishops, saying: At the bidding of the holy bishops Helladius and Leontius we have in some fashion set forth the preceding Conferences.

[55] And what cause shall we assign for this so different appellation, must be said. unless that Helladius too had in the intervening time been raised to some bishopric? I believe therefore that in the title of the Preface prefixed to the eleventh Conference the episcopal dignity was ascribed to St. Honoratus by a copyist, who, knowing that that celebrated man had presided over the church of Arles, confused the times and supposed that he was already a bishop at the time when Cassian dedicated the aforesaid little Work to him and to Eucherius. There is therefore no reason why we should defer St. Castor's blessed death beyond the aforesaid limits. More about this holy Bishop I have not, and therefore I subjoin the Life.

cœtus*

A BRIEF LIFE.

From the edition of Denis de Sainte-Marthe, tom. 1 of the Gallia Christiana.

ON ST. CASTOR, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,

AT APTA JULIA IN THE PROVINCE OF GAUL.

BHL Number: 1641

From the edition of Denis de Sainte-Marthe.

The Saint's native place, his life in the world and his monastic life, In the Gauls, in the city of Apt ^a, on this same day, of St. Castor, bishop and outstanding confessor, who, a native of the city of Nîmes ^b, sprung of noble parents and abounding in the plenty of present goods, was by his parents delivered over at Arles ^c to be imbued with the fullest zeal in the liberal studies of letters; where also he so fully drank in the studies of all noble men ^d that, while he abounded in worldly riches, yet afterward, having become a lover of heavenly discipline, he set heavenly things before contemptible ones. At length, being for the space of a few years engaged in worldly affairs and triumphs ^e, he built with the utmost zeal on a certain small estate of his own right the church of St. Faustinus, where, monks being appointed under regular discipline, he resolved more surely to engage himself in serving the Lord freely [f]; and there, composing an exhortatory letter, he sent it to the most illustrious abbot Cassian, father of the convent of Marseilles, in which he besought his aid to be at hand for him — namely to profit his untrained monks — which he also obtained ^g.

[2] Therefore the aforesaid most illustrious abbot, who was, The Rule received from St. Cassian, the bishopric, and death. as we truly find, father of nearly five thousand ^h monks, gladly assenting to his prayers, wrote him a Rule most fittingly and lucidly composed, which he called the Mirror of monks ⁱ, in which, expressing the norm and the whole rule of the heavenly life, he set it forth distinctly and transmitted it to him: which he, esteeming it at no small worth, subjected himself and his own to these disciplines. Thereupon, the prelate of the city of Apt having been carried off by the common lot, all the clergy, namely, and the country people with one mind demand Castor for themselves as pontiff ^k. Coming to him, unwilling and constrained, dragged from the cloister, they appoint him pastor for themselves; and what manner of man and how great he thereafter was, his life, which was full of outward virtues ^l, makes plain. But what were the inmost advantages of his heart and of the simplicity of his soul, I think our knowledge cannot perceive ^m; who offered himself as a mean between the care of the monks and of the canons; and would in no way suffer himself to be unguarded [*] as to the zeal of the former or the need of the latter — leading his life, as has been briefly drawn up with the pen, in such pursuits, he rested in peace with a blessed end in that same city ⁿ.

ANNOTATIONS.

f. There are those,

who would have two monasteries founded by him, one before entering upon the bishopric on his own small estate near Nîmes in Occitania, the other after obtaining the mitre in the diocese of Apt. We have acknowledged one only, namely the latter, which nevertheless he could have founded before his bishopric and afterward governed together with it. See the Commentary, §§2 and 3.

siverit*