8 January 482 A.D. Eugippius’ Life of Severinus (410-482): Severinus’ Heroic Evangelism in Austria
Eugippius, The Life of St. Severinus (1914) pp. 13- 113.
English translation.
THE LIFE OF SAINT SEVERINUS
To the holy and venerable Deacon Paschasius, Eugippius
sends his salutation in Christ.
About two years ago, in the consulship of Importunus,1 a
letter of a noble layman, directed to a priest, was offered me to read. It
contained the life of Bassus a monk, who formerly dwelt in the monastery of the
mountain called Titas, above Ariminum, and later died in the district of
Lucania: a man very well known to me and to many others. When I learned that
some were making copies of this letter, I began to reflect, and also to declare
to the clergy, that the great miracles which the divine power had wrought
through Saint Severinus ought not to be hidden.
When the author of the letter knew of this, he eagerly
requested me to send him some memoranda in regard to Saint Severinus, that he
might write a short account of the saint's life for the benefit of later
generations. In response to this offer, I prepared a memoir, filled full with
testimonies from the daily narrations of the elder brethren, with which I was
perfectly familiar. Yet I did this with great regret; for I deemed it
unreasonable, that, while thou wert alive, I should ask a layman to write a
life of Severinus. It |16 seemed
rash to impose upon a lay writer the arrangement and composition of the work.
Cultivated in profane literature alone, he would be likely to compose the
biography in a style difficult for many to understand; so that the remarkable
events, which had too long remained hidden in silence and night, might fail
through the obscurity of his eloquence to shine brightly forth for us,
untrained as we are in polite letters.
But I shall search no more for the feeble light of that
lamp now that thy sun-like radiance is here. Only veil not the rays of thy
knowledge by a cloud of excuse, accusing thine own ignorance. Lash me not, I
beseech thee, with harsh terms; say not, Why expect water from the flint?
Indeed I do not expect water from the flint of this world's highway, but from
thee, who, comparing spiritual things with spiritual,2 shalt
refresh us from the living rock by that honey of speech with which thou
overflowest; and already from that honey thou sendest a nectar-taste of
sweetest promise, while thou biddest me transmit a memoir or notes upon the
life of Saint Severinus.
Until these memoranda win admission to a book of thy
construction, let them not offend the mind of the critic. For he who seeks an
architect to build a house, carefully prepares the necessary materials; but if
the architect delays, and he puts together in the likeness of walls unfashioned
heaps from the rough stones, ought one to speak of his work as a building, |17 when no master has constructed,
and no proper foundation has been laid? So I, who have with difficulty prepared
and most miserably put together the precious material for thy genius, ought I
to be thought to have composed what I desire, when a liberal education has not
fashioned the work, nor literary training lent it elevation and elegance? My
work has, indeed, the sure foundation of faith alone; that foundation upon
which, as thou knowest, rose the saint's admirable, resplendent virtues; and
now I commit the materials to the architect, whose hands shall be thy
eloquence; and when the capstone is placed upon thy work, I shall return due
thanks to Christ.
I beg that thou have the goodness to mention also those
miraculous cures, which, either on the journey or here, were wrought by divine
virtue unto the memory of the blessed father Severinus. Since the trusty
bearer, thy son Deogratias, best knows these, I have entrusted to him to
communicate them to thee by word of mouth. And I hope that I may speedily be
able yet again to call him bearer on the completion of thy work; that so this
most faithful servant of God, rich in such great virtues, while he is carried
to the glory of the saints by his merits vouchsafed through Christ's grace may
by thy pen be immortalized to human memory.
It may perhaps be asked, and with justice, from what
country Severinus sprang; since with this particular it is the custom to begin
the story of any life. I |18
confess I have no clear evidence. For many priests and clerics, and lords
temporal and spiritual, natives of the country or drawn together to him from
afar, often debated the nationality of this man of such great and resplendent
virtue. And they were at a loss, but no one ventured to question him directly.
There was, however, a certain Primenius, a noble priest of Italy, and a man of
the highest standing, who had fled to him for refuge at the time when the
patrician Orestes 3 was
unjustly slain. This man, it was said, had been like a father to Orestes, and
therefore feared his murderers. He, then, having won the saint's friendship,
and enjoyed it for many days, served as spokesman for the rest, and burst out
with the question. "Reverend master," he said, "from what
province hath the great light come,4 which
God hath seen fit to bestow upon these lands? " The man of God first
answered him with a cheerful jest, "If thou thinkest me a fugitive slave,5
prepare a ransom which thou canst offer for me when I am claimed."
Presently he added, more seriously, "What profiteth it the servant of God
to name his country or race, when by keeping |19
them silent he can more easily avoid vainglory? 6 For
vainglory is like the left hand, without whose knowledge 7 he
desireth through the gift of Christ to accomplish every good work; that so he
may deserve to be among those on Christ's right hand,8 and
to be enrolled as a citizen of the celestial country. And if thou knowest that
I, though unworthy, truly desire that celestial country, what need that thou
learn the earthly country of which thou askest? But know that the same God who
called thee to the priesthood, commanded me also to minister unto these
perilled folk." The answer silenced Primenius, nor did any one before or
after presume to question the saint upon this matter.
Yet his speech revealed a man of purest Latin stock; and it
is understood that he first departed into some desert place of the East because
of his fervid desire for a more perfect life, and that thence, constrained by
divine revelation, he later came to the towns of Riverside Noricum, near Upper
Pannonia, which were harassed by frequent incursions of the barbarians. So he
himself was wont to hint, in obscure language as if speaking of another, naming
some cities of the East, and indicating that he had passed by miracle through
the dangers of an immense journey.9 |20
Even in the lifetime of Saint Severinus, I never heard
other particulars in regard to his native place than those I have related. The
testimonies concerning his marvellous life accompany this letter, arranged as a
memoir, with a table of chapters prefixed. Grant my request, and let them gain
greater fame through thy editorial care.10 It
remains to ask that thou cease not to associate thy prayers with his for the
pardon of my sins. |21
I. How in the beginning Saint Severinus won
fame in the town which is called Asturis,11 by
wholesome exhortation to good works and by most veracious prophecy.
II. Of the town Comagenis, which he
miraculously freed from the enemy.
III. How through his prayer God came to the aid
of the inhabitants of the little city Favianis, who had long suffered from
famine.
IV. Of the barbarian robbers, who lost their
booty which they had taken without the walls of Favianis, and all their weapons
too; or, Of his mode of life and surpassing humility.
V. In how great reverence he was held by the
king of the Rugii, Flaccitheus; or, How Flaccitheus was delivered from the
ambushes of the foe by the oracle.
VI. Of the Rugian widow's only son, who
suffered tortures of pain for twelve years, and was healed through the prayer
of the man of God.
VII. How the youth Odoacer, clad in wretched
hides, was told by him of his kingship that was to come. |22
VIII. That Feletheus, sometimes called Feva,
king of the Rugii, son of Flaccitheus, mentioned above, for fear of Saint
Severinus forbade his wicked wife to rebaptize Catholics; or, What danger she
ran of losing her little son Fredericus one day when she had spurned the
saint's intercession for certain persons.
IX. Of the bearer of the remains of Saint Gervasius
and Saint Protasius the martyrs, made known by the marvellous revelation of the
man of God; or, With what reply he refused the honorable office of bishop when
he was asked to accept it.
X. Of a janitor who was one day forbidden to go
out anywhere, then was taken by the barbarians, and humbly restored by them.
XI. Of the miracle which was wrought in the
castle of Cucullis, where the tapers were lighted by divine power, and the
sacrilegious, who had at first concealed themselves, were manifested and
amended.
XII. How the locusts were expelled from the
territory of the castle of Cucullis, after God had been propitiated by fasting
and prayer and almsgivings; while the patch of corn of a certain poor man, an
unbelieving scorner, was swept bare.
XIII. How the taper was lighted in the hand of
the man of God as he prayed, when the fire required by custom for the evening
service of praise was not found.
XIV. Of the wondrous healing of the woman whose
life was despaired of; who, after a terrible and long continued sickness, was
so fully restored to health |23 by the
prayer of the man of God that on the third day she sturdily betook herself to
labor in the fields.
XV. How upon the posts sustaining the river
side of the church, which the water at flood often more than covered, the
servant of God, praying, cut with an axe the sign of the cross; and how
thereafter the water never rose above the cross.
XVI. Of Silvinus the priest who died; and how,
after they had watched through the night at his bier, the corpse, being
addressed, immediately opened his eyes, and asked the servant of God, at whose
voice he had come to life, that he be not further deprived of the rest which he
had tasted.
XVII. How he ministered unto the poor with
anxious care; or, That the Norici also were wont to send tithes to him for
distribution; and that when these were brought to him according to custom, he
foretold that danger threatened those who had delayed to send.
XVIII. How the rust, which had appeared and was
about to ruin the harvests, was driven away by the man of God through fasting
and prayer.
XIX. That Gibuldus, king of the Alamanni, was
smitten with great trembling in the presence of the servant of God, and
restored a multitude of captives.
XX. How the murder of the soldiers was revealed
to him, and how he sent his people, who did not know of it, to the river to
bury the bodies.
XXI. As the priest Paulinus, who had come to
him some time before, was returning to his own country, |24 he foretold that he was to be ordained
bishop of Noricum.
XXII. That when relics were being sought for a
new church, he foretold of his own accord that he should bring to the church
the blessing of Saint John the Baptist, and that in that town while he was away
there was to be a massacre; in which massacre the gabbling priest was killed in
the baptistery.
XXIII. How he received the relics of Saint John
the Baptist.
XXIV. Of the inhabitants of another town, who
scorned his prophetic commands and directly were slain by the Heruli, because
though forewarned they would not leave the place.
XXV. How he sent letters to Noricum and
fortified the castles with fastings and almsgivings; and how the incursion of
the enemy which he foretold was not able to harm the castles.
XXVI. Of the cleansed leper, who begged not to
be sent back home, lest he might fall into the leprosy of sin.
XXVII. Of the victory which the Romans won at
Batavis over the Alamanni through the prayer of Saint Severinus; and how after
the triumph those who scorned to follow his warning prophecy were slain.
XXVIII. How as the servant of God was
ministering unto the poor, the oil appeared to increase.
XXIX. Of the men of Noricum who carried on
their shoulders loads of clothing to be given to the |25 poor; how in midwinter the bear guided
them through the snows of the desert to human habitations; and how the man of
God, with his wonted gift of revelation, knew what had led them.
XXX. How he divined that the foe would come the
next night against the city of Lauriacum, and with difficulty persuaded the
citizens, who dwelt in false security, to keep watch; and how in the morning
they declared that he had done well, and thanked him, and asked pardon for
their unbelief.
XXXI. How he met Feva, king of the Rugii, who
was coming up against Lauriacum with his army, and received the peoples in his
guardian care, to conduct them to the lower towns, i. e, those nearer the
Rugii.
XXXII. How King Odoacer requested that he
should ask him some favor, and at the word of the servant of God recalled one
Ambrosius from exile; and how the servant of God foretold to the king's
flatterers how many years he was to reign.
XXXIII. Of the son of one of the nobles of the
king of the Rugii, who in the town Comagenis was made whole by the prayer of
the man of God.
XXXIV. How a leper, Tejo by name, was cleansed.
XXXV. Of Bonosus the monk, who, when he
complained of weak eyes, was told by the saint, "Pray rather that thou may
see more with the heart": and thereupon he earned a wonderful power of endurance
in prayer.
XXXVI. Of the three proud monks, whom he
delivered to Satan, that their spirits might be saved. |26 As to this matter he rendered a most
faithful account in its own place, quoting the examples of two of the Fathers.
XXXVII. How he signified the hour of
tribulation of Marcianus and Renatus, his monks, which they underwent while in
another province; and enjoined prayer upon the other brothers, who were with
him.
XXXVIII. Of the dangers of the deadly pustule,
which by revelation he foretold forty days in advance was to come to Ursus the
monk, and which he healed by prayer.
XXXIX. Of the saint's habitation, his bed also
and diet, a few things are briefly mentioned.
XL. How, when through the revelation of God he perceived
that his departure was near, he spoke to King Feva and the wicked queen, and
ceased not to forewarn his own followers of his death: foretelling that a
general removal of the people was at hand, and commanding that his body should
be carried away at the same time.
XLI. How he expressly announced even the day of his death
to Saint Lucillus the priest.
XLII. How he adjured Ferderuchus, brother of King Feva; and
advised his own followers.
XLIII. Of his death; or, What advice he gave his followers
in his long final exhortation.
XLIV. What Ferderuchus wrought against the monastery after
his decease; how Ferderuchus was punished; how the saint's oracle was fulfilled
by the |27 prosperous
migration of the people; how his body was disinterred and removed in a wagon.
XLV. Of the healing at that time of many infirm persons. A
recital of individual cases is omitted; only the story of one dumb man is told,
who was made whole by praying under the wagon, while the body yet remained on
it.
XLVI. Of the faith of Barbaria, a lady of rank, who built a
mausoleum for the body; and of the reception by the people of Naples. Although
many were then healed of divers diseases, the particulars are related in three
instances only. |28
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THE LIFE OF SAINT SEVERINUS
At the time of the death of Attila, king of the Huns,12 confusion
reigned in the two Pannonias and the other borderlands of the Danube. Then
Severinus, most holy servant of God, came from the parts of the East to the
marches of Riverside Noricum 13 and
the Pannonias, and tarried in a little town which is called Asturis.14 There
he lived in accordance with the evangelical and apostolic doctrine, in all
piety and chastity, in the confession of the Catholic faith, and fulfilled his
reverend purpose by holy works. By such exercises strengthened, he innocently
sought the crown of the celestial calling; and one day, as was his wont, went
forth to the church. Then the priests, the clergy, and the citizens were
fetched, and he began in all humility of mind to prophesy, how they ought to |30 ward off the threatening snares
of the enemy by prayers, and by fastings, and by the fruits of compassion. But
their stubborn hearts, defiled by fleshly lusts, proved the oracles of the
prophet by the decision of their unbelief. Yet the servant of God returned to
the lodging where the sacristan 15 of
the church had received him, and made known the day and hour of imminent
destruction. "I go in haste," he said, "from a stubborn town
that shall swiftly perish."
Then he went away to the next town, which is called
Comagenis.16 This
was very strictly guarded by the barbarians established within, who had entered
into a league 17 with
the Romans, and it was not easy for any one to secure permission to go in or to
leave. Yet, though they knew him not, they neither questioned the servant of
God, nor turned him back. So anon he went into the church; and when he found
all in despair |31 of their
safety, he exhorted them to be armed with fasting and prayers and almsgivings,
and set forth examples of salvation from of old, in which the protection of God
had freed his people in unforeseen and wondrous ways. And when they hesitated
to believe one who at the very crisis of peril promised the safety of all, the
old man came who at Asturis had long been the host of Severinus (how great a
guest!). When the guards at the gates anxiously questioned the old man, his
deportment and words revealed the destruction of his town. He added that it was
destroyed on the same day that a certain man of God had foretold. When they
heard this, they eagerly replied, "Thinkest thou he is the same, who in
our despair promises us the assistance of God?" Then straightway the old
man recognized the servant of God within the church, and cast himself at his
feet, saying that through his kindness he had been spared the destruction which
had overtaken his townsmen.
When they had heard these things, the inhabitants of
Comagenis begged forgiveness for their unbelief, and obeyed with holy works the
admonitions of the man of God. They made a fast, and assembled in the church
for the space of three days, reproaching their past sins with groans and
lamentations. But on the third day, during the celebration of the evening
sacrifice, there |32 was a
sudden earthquake;18 and
the barbarians who dwelt within the city were so terrorsmitten that they
compelled the Romans to open the gates for them in haste. Then they rushed out
tumultuously, and scattered, supposing themselves besieged and surrounded by
near foes; and their terror was augmented by divine influence, so that, in the
wanderings and confusion of the night, they slew one another with the sword.
Thus utter destruction consumed the enemy; and the people, saved by the divine
aid, learned through the saint to fight with heavenly arms. |33
At the same time a cruel famine had prostrated a city named
Favianis,19 and
the inhabitants believed that their only remedy would be by devout prayers to
invite the man of God from the town of Comagenis. He foreknew that they would
come to him, and was moved by the Lord to go with them. When he had come
thither, he began to exhort the people of the city, saying, "By the fruits
of repentance ye shall be able to be freed from so great a calamity of
hunger." While they were profiting by such instructions, most blessed
Severinus learned by divine revelation that a certain widow, Procula by name,
had concealed much produce of the fields. He called her before the people, and
vehemently rebuked her. "Daughter of most noble parents," he said,
"why dost thou make thyself the handmaid of avarice and stand forth the
slave of covetousness, which is, as the apostle teaches, idolatry?20 Lo,
the Lord in his compassion hath regard for his servants; and thou shalt not
have any use for thine ill-gotten wealth, except to cast into the stream of the
Danube the corn too long withheld, and so to exhibit to fishes the humanity
which thou hast |34 denied
to men! Wherefore aid thyself rather than the poor from those things which thou
yet thinkest to keep, while Christ hungers." 21 When
she heard these sayings, the woman was filled with great fear and trembling;
and began willingly to expend her hoards for the poor.
Not long after, there unexpectedly appeared at the bank of
the Danube a vast number of boats from the Raetias, laden with great quantities
of merchandise, which had been hindered for many days by the thick ice of the
river Aenus.22 When
at last God's command had loosed the ice, they brought down an abundance of
food to the famine-stricken. Then all began to praise God with uninterrupted
devotion, as the bestower of unhoped relief; for they had expected to perish,
wasted by the long famine, and they acknowledged that manifestly the boats had
come out of due season, loosed from the ice and frost by the prayers of the
servant of God.23 |35
At the same time barbarian robbers made an unexpected
plundering incursion, and led away captive all the men and cattle they found
without the walls. Then many of the citizens flocked weeping to the man of God,
recounted to him the destructive calamity that had come upon them, and showed
him evidences of the recent rapine.
But he straitly questioned Mamertinus, then a tribune, who
afterwards was ordained bishop, whether he had with him any armed men with whom
to institute an energetic pursuit of the robbers. Mamertinus replied, "I
have soldiers, a very few. But I dare not contend with such a host of enemies.
However, if thou commandest it, venerable father, though we lack the aid of
weapons yet we believe that through thy prayers we shall be victorious."
And the servant of God said, " Even if thy soldiers are unarmed, they
shall now be armed from the enemy. For neither numbers nor fleshly courage is
required, when everything proves that God is our champion. Only in the name of
the Lord advance swiftly, advance confidently. For when God in his compassion
goes before, the weakest shall seem the bravest. The Lord shall fight for you,24 and
ye shall be silent. Then make haste; and this one thing observe above
everything, to conduct unharmed into my presence those of the barbarians whom
thou shalt take." |36
Then they went forth. At the second milestone, by a brook
which is called Tiguntia, they came upon the foe. Some of the robbers escaped
by hasty flight, abandoning their weapons. The soldiers bound the rest and
brought them captive to the servant of God, as he had commanded. He freed them
from chains, refreshed them with food and drink, and briefly addressed them.
"Go," he said, "and command your confederates not to dare to
approach this place again in their lust for booty. For the judgment and
retribution of heaven shall straightway punish them, since God rights for his
servants, whom his supernal power is wont so to protect that hostile missiles do
not inflict wounds upon them, but rather furnish them with arms." Then the
barbarians were sent away; and he rejoiced over the miracles of Christ, and
promised that through Christ's compassion Favianis should have no further
experience of hostile pillage; only let neither prosperity nor adversity
withdraw the citizens from the work of God.
Then Saint Severinus withdrew into a more remote spot,
which was called Ad Vineas, where a small cell contented him.25 But
he was compelled by a divine revelation to return to Favianis;26 so
that, though the |37 quiet
of his cell was dear to him, he yet obeyed the commands of God and built a
monastery not far from the city.27 There
he began to instruct great numbers in the sacred way of life, training the
souls of his hearers rather by deeds than by words.28 He
often |38 withdrew,
indeed, to a solitary habitation, called by the neighbors Burgum, a mile from
Favianis, that he might avoid the throngs of men that kept coming to him, and
cleave to God in uninterrupted prayer. But the more he desired to inhabit
solitude, the more was he warned by frequent revelations not to deny his
presence to the afflicted peoples.
And so day by day his merit grew, and the fame of his
virtues increased, and this spread far and wide, and was extended by the marks
of celestial favor conferred upon him. For good things cannot be concealed,
since, according to the words of the Saviour, neither can a candle be concealed
under a bushel, nor a city that is set on a hill be hid.29
Among the other great gifts which the Saviour had bestowed
upon him stood out the gift of abstinence. He subdued his flesh by innumerable
fasts, teaching that the body, if nourished with too abundant food, will
straightway bring destruction upon the soul. He wore no shoes whatever. So at
midwinter, which in those regions is a time of cruel, numbing cold, he gave a
remarkable proof of endurance by being always willing to walk barefoot. A
well-known proof of the terrible cold is afforded by the Danube, which is often
so solidly frozen by the fierce frost that it affords a secure crossing even
for carts.30 Yet
he whom the |39 grace of God
had elevated by such virtues was wont to make acknowledgment with utmost
humility, and to say, "Think not that what ye see is of my merit. It is
rather an example for your salvation. Let the foolhardiness of man cease. Let
the pride of exaltation be restrained. That we can do anything good, we are
chosen; as the apostle 31
saith, 'He hath chosen us before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before him.'32 Pray
rather in my behalf that the gifts of the Saviour to me may serve not for
greater condemnation, but for increase of |40
justification." This and the like he was wont to declare, weeping. Thus he
taught men humility by his wondrous example. Standing on the secure foundation
of this virtue, he shone with so great a splendor of the divine gift that even
the very enemies of the church, the heretics, honored him with most reverent
courtesy.
The king of the Rugii, Flaccitheus,33 began
to feel himself unsteady on the throne at the very commencement of his reign.
The Goths in Lower Pannonia were violently hostile to him, and he was alarmed
by their innumerable multitude. Therefore in his perils he asked counsel of
most blessed Severinus as of a heavenly oracle. Once he came to him in
exceeding confusion, and declared with tears that he had asked of the princes
of the Goths a passage to Italy, and |41
that, as they had denied this request, he did not doubt that they would put him
to death. Then Flaccitheus received this reply from the man of God: "If
the one Catholic faith united us, thou oughtest rather to consult me concerning
eternal life;34 but
since thou art |42 anxious only
over present safety, which is of common concern to us both, hear my
instruction. Be not troubled by the multitude of the Goths or by their enmity.
They shall soon depart and leave thee secure, and thou shalt reign in the
prosperity which thou hast desired. Only do not neglect the warnings of my
humility. Let it not irk thee to seek peace even with the least; never lean
upon thine own strength. 'Cursed be the man,' saith the Scripture, 'that
trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the
Lord.'35 Learn
therefore to beware of snares, not to lay them: and thou shalt die in thy bed 36 with
a peaceful end." |43
As Flaccitheus, encouraged by this oracle, was joyfully
departing, a message was brought to him that a band of plundering barbarians
had taken captive some of the Rugii. Straightway he sent to the man of God to
ask his counsel. Severinus, by revelation of the Lord, forewarned Flaccitheus
with holy exhortations not to follow the robbers. "If thou follow
them," he said, "thou wilt be slain. Take heed; cross not the stream;
be not taken unawares and overcome by the triple ambush which has been prepared
for thee! For speedily a trusty messenger will come, who shall inform thee
concerning all these matters." Then two of the captives, fleeing from the
camp of the enemy, related in order those things which the most blessed man had
foretold by revelation of Christ. So the hostile ambush came to naught, and
Flaccitheus was prospered more and more, and ended his days in peace and
tranquillity.
Now after this one of the Rugii suffered incredible pain
from gout for twelve years, and lost all use of his limbs. His intolerable
torments were so long continued that they became well known to the neighbors on
every side. So at last, when divers remedies availed nothing, his mother, a
widow, put her son in a cart, and having brought him to the saint, laid him
down in his desperate sickness at the door of the |44
monastery, and prayed with many tears that her only son might be restored to
her whole.
But the man of God, perceiving that great things were
demanded of him, and moved by her weeping, said: "Why am I oppressed by a
deceitful fancy? Why am I thought to be able to do what I cannot? I have no
power to accomplish such great things. Yet I give my judgment as one that hath
obtained mercy of God." 37 Then
he charged the woman that she should bestow something upon the poor, according
to her power. Without delay she quickly took off the clothing which she wore,
and was hastening to divide it among the needy. When the man of God heard this,
he marvelled at her ardor, and again charged her that she should clothe herself
with her garments. "When thy son," he said, "has been healed by
the Lord and goes with thee, then shalt thou fulfill thy vows."
So he set a fast of a few days, as was his wont, and poured
forth prayers to God; and straightway healed the sick man, and sent him home
whole, walking without aid.
Afterwards, when the man was present at the crowded weekly
market, he exhibited the miracle, and astounded all who saw him. For some said,
"Look, it is he, whose whole body was dissolved in corruption"; while
as others absolutely denied that it was he, a friendly contention arose. |45
Now from that time when health was restored to the man who
had been thought incurable, the whole nation of the Rugii resorted to the
servant of God, and began to render grateful obedience, and to ask help for
their diseases. Likewise many of other races, to which the fame of so great a
miracle had come, desired to see the soldier of Christ.38 With
the same reverence, even before this event, some barbarians, on their way to
Italy, turned aside with a view to gaining his benediction.
Among such visitants was Odoacer, later king of Italy, then
a tall youth, meanly clad. While he stood, stooping that his head might not
touch the roof of the lowly cell, he learned from the man of God that he was to
win renown. For as the young man bade him |46
farewell, "Go forth!" said Severinus, "Go forth to Italy! Now
clad in wretched hides, thou shalt soon distribute rich gifts to many."
King Feletheus, sometimes called Feva, son of Flaccitheus,
mentioned above, imitated his father's diligence, and before the commencement
of his reign began to make frequent visits to the saint. His wife, Giso by
name, a dangerous and wicked woman,39
always drew him back from the healing works of mercy. Among the other
pollutions of her iniquity, she even attempted to rebaptize certain Catholics.40 But
when her husband, out of his reverence for Saint Severinus, did not consent,
she incontinently abandoned her sacrilegious purpose. Yet she oppressed the
Romans with a heavy hand, and even ordered some to be removed beyond the
Danube. For one day she came to a village near Favianis, and commanded that certain
ones should be brought to her across the Danube to be condemned to the most
degrading offices of slavery. The man of God sent to her and asked that she let
them go. But she, her woman's anger kindled to a white heat, replied with a
message of the greatest |47
rudeness. "Pray for thyself," she said, "servant of God, lurking
in thy cell! Leave me to issue concerning my servants such orders as I
please."
When the man of God received this answer, he said, "I
put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. She shall be compelled by necessity to
do that which her perverse inclination has despised."
Even so the swift stroke followed which cast down her
haughty spirit. For there were certain goldsmiths, barbarians, shut up and
straitly guarded that they might fashion ornaments for the king and queen. On
the same day on which the queen had spurned the servant of God, the little son
of King Feletheus, Fredericus by name, moved by childish curiosity, went in
among them. Then the goldsmiths put a sword at the child's breast, saying that
if any one should attempt to approach them without the safeguard of an oath,
they would first run through the little prince, and afterwards slay themselves;
since, worn out by toil and confinement, they were utterly desperate. When this
came to the ears of the cruel and ungodly queen, she rent her garments for
grief, and cried aloud, "O Severinus, servant of the Lord, thus are the
insults I have offered avenged by thy God! With profuse prayers thou hast
called down vengeance upon my scorn, that thou might be avenged in my
offspring!" So, running to and fro, with manifold contrition and pitiable
lamentation, she acknowledged that she was smitten by this blow in recompense
for the crime of scorn which she had committed |48
against the servant of God. And she instantly dispatched horsemen to seek his
pardon; and sent back the Romans whom that very day she had removed, and
interceding for whom Severinus had been visited with her scorn. The goldsmiths
received the surety of an oath, released the child, and were at the same time
themselves released.
When he heard these things, the most reverent servant of
Christ returned unbounded thanks to the Creator: who doth sometimes postpone
answering prayer, in order that with the increase of faith, hope, and love he
may grant greater blessings than are asked. For the omnipotence of the Saviour
brought it to pass that when the cruel woman subjected the free to slavery, she
was compelled to restore the slaves to liberty.
When these wonders had been accomplished, the queen
forthwith hastened with her husband to the servant of God, and showed him her
son, who, she acknowledged, had been rescued by his prayers from the brink of
death. And she promised that she would never again resist his commands.
Not only was the servant of God endowed with the gift of
prophecy, but also his diligence in redeeming captives was great. For he
applied himself with eagerness to the task of restoring to their native liberty
those oppressed by the sway of the barbarians. |49
Meanwhile he instructed a certain man, whom with wife and
children he had redeemed, to cross the Danube, and seek out an unknown man at
the weekly market of the barbarians. Divine revelation had shown him the man so
clearly that he told even his stature and the color of his hair, his features,
and the fashion of his clothing, and showed in what part of the market the
messenger was to find him. He added that whatever the person, when found,
should say to the messenger, the latter, returning in all haste, should report
to him.
So the messenger departed, and to his astonishment found
everything even as the man of God had foretold. He was amazed to find the man
Severinus had described; who then questioned him, saying, "Thinkest thou
that I can find someone to conduct me to the man of God, whose fame is
everywhere spread abroad? I will pay what price he wishes. For long have I
importuned the holy martyrs, whose relics I bear, that sometime my unworthiness
may be freed from this service, which hitherto I have maintained not out of
rash presumption but by pious necessity." Then the messenger of the man of
God made himself known to him. Severinus received with due honor the relics of
Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius the martyrs,41
placed them in the church which he had built within the monastery, and
committed them to |50 the
care of the priests. In that place he assembled the relics of vast numbers of
martyrs; but he always acquired them on the strength of a previous revelation,
for he knew that the adversary often creeps in 42 under
the guise of sanctity.43
He was asked to accept the honorable office of bishop. But
he closed the matter with a determined refusal. It was enough for him, he said,
that, withdrawn from his beloved solitude, he had come by divine direction to
that province to live among the pressing, crowding throngs. Nevertheless he
wished to give a pattern to the monks, and urged them to follow earnestly in
the steps of the sainted fathers, and thence to gain instruction in holy
conduct. They must strive, he admonished them, that he who hath forsaken
parents and the world look not back and desire the allurements of worldly
display which he had sought to escape. On this point he referred to the |51 terrible example of Lot's wife.44 He
admonished likewise that the incentives to lusts must be mortified in the fear
of the Lord; and declared that the fires of sensual delights cannot be
conquered, except through the grace of God they be quenched in the fountain of
tears.
There was a janitor45 at
the monastery church, Maurus by name, whom Saint Severinus had redeemed from
the hands of the barbarians. One day the man of God warned him, saying,
"Take heed to-day not to go away anywhere: otherwise thou shalt be in
imminent peril." But the janitor, contrary to the warning of the great
father, and persuaded by a |52
layman, went out at midday to gather fruit 46 at
the second milestone from Favianis. Presently he and the layman were made
captives by barbarians and carried across the Danube. In that hour the man of
God, reading in his cell, suddenly closed the book, and said, "Seek Maurus
speedily!" When the janitor was nowhere found, Severinus crossed the
streams of the Danube in all haste, and hurried after the robbers, whom the
people called Scamarae.47
Stricken with awe by his reverend presence, they humbly restored the captives
whom they had taken.
While the upper towns of Riverside Noricum yet stood, and
hardly a castle48
escaped the attacks of the barbarians, the fame and reputation of Saint
Severinus shone so brightly that the castles vied with each other |53 in inviting his company and protection;
believing that no misfortune would happen to them in his presence. This came to
pass not without the aid of divine grace, that all might stand in awe of his
commands, as of heavenly oracles, and be armed for good works through his
example.
Moreover the holy man, summoned by the prayers of the
vicinage, came to a castle named Cucullis,49 and
there a mighty miracle was wrought, which I cannot pass by in silence. We heard
the amazing story from Marcianus, a citizen of the same town, later our priest.
A part of the populace of Cucullis continued to practise abominable sacrifices
at a certain spot.50 When
he learned of this sacrilege, the |54
man of God addressed the people in many discourses. He persuaded the priests of
the place to enjoin a three' days' fast; and he instructed that waxen tapers
should be brought from each house, and that everyone should fasten his taper with
his own hand to the wall of the church. Then, when the customary psalm-singing
was completed, and the hour of the sacrifice arrived, the man of God exhorted
the priests and deacons that with all alacrity of heart they should join him in
prayer to their common Lord; that the Lord might show the light of his
knowledge to distinguish those guilty of sacrilege. So while he was praying
with them at great length, weeping much, and on his knees, the greater part of
the tapers, those namely which the faithful had brought, were suddenly kindled
by divine agency. The rest remained unlighled, being the tapers of those who
had been polluted by the aforesaid sacrilege, but, wishing to remain hidden,
had denied it. Thus those who had placed them were revealed by the divine test;
and straightway they cried out, and by their behavior sufficiently betrayed the
secrets of their hearts. Convicted by the witness of their tapers, and by open
confession, they bore witness to their own sacrilegious acts.
O merciful power of the Creator, enkindling tapers and
souls! The fire was lighted in the tapers, and shone with reflected light in
the emotions! The visible light melted into flames the substance of the wax,
but the invisible light dissolved the hearts of the |55
penitents into tears! Who would believe, that afterward those whom the error of
sacrilege had ensnared were more distinguished for good works than those whose
tapers had been divinely lighted?
At another time, in the territory of the same castle,
swarms of locusts had settled, consuming the crops, and destroying everything
with their noxious bite.51 Therefore,
being smitten by this pest, the priests and the other inhabitants promptly
betook themselves with urgent prayers to Saint Severinus, saying: "That
this great and horrible plague may be removed, we ask the tried suffrage of thy
prayers, which by the recent great miracle of the tapers lighted from heaven we
have seen to avail much before the Lord." He answered them with great
piety. "Have ye not read," he said, "what the divine authority
commanded a sinful people through the prophet: 'Turn ye to me with all your
heart, and with fasting, and with weeping,' 52 and a
little after, 'sanctify a fast,' he saith, |56
'call a solemn assembly, gather the congregation,' 53 and the
rest which follows? Therefore fulfill by meet works what ye teach, that ye may
readily escape the evil of the present time. Let no one go out to his field, as
if concerned to oppose the locusts by human effort; lest the divine wrath be
yet more provoked." Without delay all gathered together in the church, and
each in order sang psalms as was their custom. Every age and sex, even such as
could not form the words, offered prayer to God in tears, alms were continually
given, whatever good works the present necessity demanded were fulfilled, as
the servant of God had instructed.
While all were occupied with exertions of this sort, a
certain very poor man forsook the work of God that was begun, to look after his
own field of standing corn, a little plot which stood among the sowings of the
others. And having gone out, and all day anxiously and diligently driven away,
so far as he could, the threatening cloud of locusts, he then went to the
church to partake of the holy communion. But his little patch of corn, surrounded
by his neighbors' many crops, was devoured by the dense swarm of locusts.
The locusts were that night by divine command removed from
those territories: a proof of the great power of faithful prayer. So when at
dawn the violator and scorner of the holy work again went forth |57 anxiously to his field, he found it
swept perfectly bare by the baleful work of the locusts, while all the sowings
round about were untouched. Utterly amazed, he returned with doleful outcries
to the castle. When he had published what had happened, all went out to see the
miracle; where the ravages of the locusts had marked out as if by a ruled line
the corn plot of this contumacious fellow. Then he cast himself at their feet
and with lamentations begged for the pardon of his sin by the aid of their
intercession. Wherefore the man of God took occasion to give a warning, and
taught all that they should learn to obey the Lord omnipotent, whose commands
even the locusts observe.
But the poor man, weeping, declared that, for the rest, he
could obey the commands, if but a hope of wherewithal he might live had been
left him. Then the man of God addressed the others. "It is just," he
said, " that he who through his own punishment hath given you an example
of humility and obedience should of your liberality receive sustenance for the
present year." So the poor man, both rebuked and enriched by a collection
from the faithful, learned what loss unbelief inflicts, and what benefit God's
bounty bestows upon his worshippers. |58
Near a town called Juvao,54 they
went into the church one summer day to celebrate the evening service, but found
no fire for lighting the lamps. Unable to elicit a blaze in the usual way, by
striking stones together, they were so long delayed in striking iron and stone 55 that
the time of the evening service was passing. But the man of God kneeled on the
ground and prayed earnestly; and soon, in full view of three clerics who were
present at the time, the taper which Saint Severinus held in his hand was
lighted.56 By its
light the sacrifice of eventide was completed in the customary manner, and they
returned thanks to God in all things. Although he wished those who were present
at this miracle to keep the fact secret, as in the case of |59 many mighty works which were performed
through him by God's doing, yet the splendor of so great virtue could not be
hid, but surpassingly kindled others to a great faith.
It happened that a certain woman of Juvao was vexed by long
continued sickness and lay half-dead, and the burial was already prepared. Her
relatives, in mournful silence, repressed funereal lamentations at the voice of
faith, and laid the sick woman's now almost lifeless body at the door of the
saint's cell. When the man of God saw the entrance closed by the bed set
against it, he said to them, "Why have ye done this? " They answered,
"That by thy prayer the dead may be restored to life." Then he said,
bursting into tears, "Why do ye demand the great from the little? I know
myself utterly unworthy. O that I may deserve to find pardon for my sins!
" They said, "We believe that if thou pray, she will live
again." Then Saint Severinus straightway wept, and cast himself down in
prayer; and when the woman forthwith arose, he addressed them: "Do not
attribute to my works any of these things; for the vehemence of your faith hath
merited this grace, and this cometh to pass in many places and nations, that it
may be known that there is one God, who doeth wonders in heaven and on earth,
calling forth the lost unto salvation, and bringing back the dead to life.''
The woman, her |60 health
restored, on the third day began to labor with her own hands in the fields,
after the custom of the province.
Quintanis 57 was a
municipality of Raetia Secunda,58 situated
on the bank of the Danube. Near by on the other side ran a small river named
Businca. Often the Businca, when swollen in time of flood by the overflow of
the Danube, covered some spaces of the castle, because the latter stood on the
plain. Moreover the inhabitants of this place had built outside the walls a
wooden church which overhung the water, and was supported by posts driven into
the riverbed and by forked props. In place of a flooring it had a slippery
platform of boards, which were covered by the overflowing water whenever it
rose above the banks. |61 Now
through the faith of the people of Quintanis Saint Severinus had been invited
thither. Coming at a time of drought, he asked why the boards were seen bare
and uncovered. The neighbors answered that the frequent inundations of the
river always washed away anything that was spread on the boards. But he said,
"In Christ's name, let a pavement be now laid upon the boards; from
henceforth ye shall see the river restrained by the command of heaven." So
when the pavement was finished, he went down into a boat, took an axe, and,
after offering prayer, struck the posts; and, having cut the sign of the
venerable cross, said to the water of the river, "My Lord Jesus Christ
doth not permit thee to overpass this sign of the cross." From that time,
therefore, when the river after its wont rose mountain high in floods and
encompassed the neighboring country as of yore, it was lower than the site of
the church, in such wise that it never actually overpassed the sign of the holy
cross which the man of God had marked.
Moreover it happened that there died a highly venerable
priest of Quintanis, Silvinus by name. The bier was placed in the church, and,
according to the custom, they passed the night watching and singing psalms.
When the dawn was already breaking, the man of God asked all the weary priests
and deacons |62 to go away
for a little while, that after the toil of watching they might refresh
themselves somewhat by sleep. When they had gone out, the man of God asked the
doorkeeper, Maternus by name, whether all had departed as he had bidden. When Maternus
answered that all had gone out, "Not so," he said, "but there is
a woman hiding here." Then the janitor of the church explored the walls a
second time, and assured him that no one remained within them. But the soldier
of Christ, the Lord revealing it to him, said, "Some one is lurking
here." So the doorkeeper searched more diligently for the third time, and
found that a certain consecrated virgin had concealed herself in a very obscure
place. Therefore the doorkeeper reproved her: "Why didst thou think that
thy presence could be hid when the servant of God was here?" She answered,
"Love of piety persuaded me to do it: for when I saw all driven out, I
thought within myself that the servant of Christ would invoke the divine
majesty, and raise up this dead man." Then the virgin departed, and the
man of God, bowing in prayer together with a priest, a deacon, and two
janitors, prayed with many tears that the supernal power might reveal a work of
its wonted majesty. Then, as the priest ended the prayer, the saint thus
addressed the corpse: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, holy priest
Silvinus, speak with thy brothers!" But when the dead man opened his eyes,
the man of God with difficulty persuaded those present to restrain their joy
and keep silent. And again he |63
speaketh unto him, "Shall we ask the Lord that he deign to grant thee
still in this life to us, his servants?" But he saith, "By the Lord I
adjure thee, let me not be held here longer, and cheated of the everlasting
rest in the possession of which I have seen myself." And immediately, when
he had spoken, the dead man was at rest.59
Now this event was so concealed at the earnest request of
Saint Severinus, that no one knew of it until after his death. Yet I learned
what I have reported from the account of Marcus the subdeacon and Maternus the
janitor. For the priest and the deacon, witnesses of this great miracle, are
known to have died before the saint, to whom they had sworn to reveal to no one
that which they had seen.
Not only did the grace of Christ make Saint Severinus rich
in such gifts, but also from his innate goodness he took so great care of
captives and the needy that almost all the poor through all the towns and
castles |64 were fed by
his activity. To these he ministered with such cheerful concern, that he
believed himself to be filled or to abound in all good things only when he saw
that the needy had their bodily wants supplied.
Though he himself was not in the least enfeebled by
repeated week-long fasts, yet he felt himself afflicted by the hunger of the
unfortunate. When they saw his pious largess to the poor, great numbers,
although they were straitened with hunger under the harsh sway of the
barbarians, faithfully gave the poor the tithes of their crops. Though this
commandment is familiar to all from the law,60 yet
these observed it with |65
grateful devotion, as though they were hearing it given by the lips of an angel
present among them. The cold, too, was felt by the man of God only in the
nakedness of the poor. Indeed, he had received from God the special gift of
remaining vigorous and active, hardened by his wonderful abstinence, in a land
of bitter cold.
We spoke of tithes for the support of the poor. He was wont
to send letters, urging the communities of Noricum 61 also
to give them. This became their custom, and once, when they had sent to him a
quantity of clothing to be distributed, he asked the attendants whether the
town of Tiburnia62 was sending
a like contribution. They answered that men from that place also would soon
arrive. But the man of God signified that they should not come, and foretold
that the offering which they had delayed must be made to the barbarians.
Accordingly, not long after the citizens of Tiburnia were beleaguered by the
Goths, and fought them with varying fortune; and under the |66 terms of peace, which they obtained
with difficulty, they presented to the enemy, among other things, the largess,
already collected, which they had delayed to send to the servant of God.63
Likewise the citizens of the town of Lauriacum,64 in
spite of many warning exhortations from Saint Severinus, had delayed offering
to the poor the tithes of their crops. They were pinched with hunger, and the
yellow of the ripening harvest showed that relief was at hand. But when a destructive
rust unexpectedly appeared, and was on the point of damaging the crops, they
immediately came and cast themselves down before Saint Severinus, and
acknowledged the punishment of their stubbornness. But the soldier of |67 Christ comforted the feeble ones
with spiritual words, saying, "Had ye offered tithes for the poor, not
only would ye enjoy an everlasting reward, but ye would also be able to abound
in present comforts. But since ye rebuke your sin by your own confession, I
promise you, by the goodness of the Lord, that this mighty rust shall cause no
damage whatever; only let not your faith waver any more." This promise
rendered the citizens from that time on more ready to pay the tithes. Then, as
was his wont, he urged that a fast be proclaimed. When this had ended, a gentle
rain relieved from danger the harvest of which they had despaired.65
Batavis 66 is a
town lying between two rivers, the Aenus and the Danube. There Saint Severinus
had established after his wonted fashion a cell for a few monks, because he
himself not infrequently came thither at the request of the citizens;
particularly on |68
account of the constant incursions of the Alamanni, whose king, Gibuldus,
greatly honored and loved him.
Now on a certain occasion Gibuldus came eagerly to see him.
That the king might not encumber Ba-tavis by his visit, the saint went out to
meet him, and addressed the king with so great firmness, that Gibuldus began to
tremble violently before him, and declared to his armies, as he withdrew, that
never, in war or in any peril, had he been smitten with such trembling. And
when he gave to the servant of God his choice, to give what command he would,
the most pious teacher asked that the king should pay attention rather to his
own best interests, restrain his nation from laying waste the Roman territory,
and set free without ransom the captives his followers had made.
Then the king appointed that Severinus should direct some
one from his own followers to bring this work more speedily to completion.
Forthwith Deacon Amantius was dispatched, and followed in the king's path; but,
though he watched before his gates many days, he could not secure an audience.
As he was turning back, very sorrowful because his appointed task had not been
accomplished, a man appeared in the form of Saint Severinus, who accosted him
menacingly, and, as he stood in utter terror, bade him follow. As he followed
in fear and excitement, he came to the king's door; and immediately the guide
that had gone before him vanished from his wondering eyes. But the king's
messenger asked the deacon whence he came and what he wished. He told his |69 errand briefly, gave letters to
the king, and received others from him, and returned home. He conveyed back
about seventy captives, and moreover brought the pleasing promise of the king,
that when he had diligently searched through the province, he would send back
all the captives that were to be found there. Later Saint Lucillus the priest
was selected to attend to this matter, and recovered from captivity a great
number of unfortunates.
So long as the Roman dominion lasted, soldiers were
maintained in many towns at the public expense to guard the boundary wall.67 When
this custom ceased, the squadrons of soldiers and the boundary wall were blotted
out together. The troop at Batavis, however, held out.68 Some
soldiers of this troop had gone to Italy to fetch the final pay to their
comrades, and no one knew that the barbarians had slain them on the way. One
day, as Saint Severinus was reading in his cell, he suddenly closed the book
and began to sigh greatly and to weep. He ordered the bystanders to |70 run out with haste to the river,
which he declared was in that hour besprinkled with human blood; and
straightway word was brought that the bodies of the soldiers mentioned above
had been brought to land by the current of the river.
One Paulinus, a priest, had come to Saint Severinus, whose
fame was extending.69 He
tarried some days in the company of the saint. When he wished to return home,
Severinus said to him, "Hasten, venerable priest; for, beloved, the
episcopal dignity shall speedily adorn thee, even if, as we believe, thou
opposest the desire of the peoples." And presently, when he returned to
his own country, the word of the prophet was fulfilled unto him. For the
citizens of Tiburnia, which is the metropolis of Noricum, compelled him to
assume the preeminence of the highest priesthood. |71
For a church beyond the walls of Batavis, in a place named
Bojotro,70
across the Aenus, where Severinus had built a cell for a few monks, relics of
martyrs were sought. When the priests were accordingly pushing themselves
forward that they might be sent to fetch relics,71 Saint
Severinus uttered this warning: "Though all wrought by mortals' toil
passeth away, yet most swiftly must these buildings above others be
abandoned." And he said that they ought to make no effort for relics of
the saints, because the blessing of Saint John would be brought to them without
their asking.
Meantime the citizens of Batavis approached the saint, and
besought him to go to Feba, prince of the Rugii, to ask permission for them to
trade. He said to them, "The time of this town is at hand, that it remain
deserted like the rest of the upper castles and uninhabited. Why, then, is it
necessary to provide merchandise for places where in future no merchant can
appear?" They replied that he ought not to |72
mock them, but to aid them with his wonted direction. A certain priest, filled
with the spirit of Satan, added, "Go, saint, I beg, go quickly, that for a
little space thy departure may give us rest from fastings and vigils." At
this saying the man of God was oppressed with great weeping, because a priest,
in public, had burst forth in ridiculous gabbling. For open scurrility is a
witness of hidden sins. When the saint was asked by the brethren why he was
weeping thus, "I see," he said, "a heavy blow that in my absence
shall straightway befall this place; and, with groaning I must say it, the
shrine of Christ shall so overflow with human blood, that even this place must
be desecrated." For he was speaking in the baptistery. Therefore he went
down the Danube by ship a hundred miles and more to his old monastery, larger
than the others, near the walls of Favianis. As he was going down the river,
Hunimund,72
accompanied by a |73 few
barbarians, attacked the town of Batavis, as the saint had foretold, and, while
almost all the inhabitants were occupied in the harvest, put to death forty men
of the town who had remained for a guard. The priest who had spoken
sacrilegious words in the baptistery against the servant of Christ fled for
refuge to the same place, and was slain by the pursuing barbarians. For in vain
did the offender against God and enemy of truth seek protection in the place
where he had so impudently transgressed.
Once while Saint Severinus was reading the Gospel in the
monastery at Favianis, after offering prayer he arose, ordered a skiff to be
instantly prepared for him, and said to the astonished bystanders,
"Blessed be the name of the Lord; we must go to meet the relics of the
sainted martyrs." They crossed the Danube without delay, and found a man
sitting on the farther bank of the river, who besought them with many prayers
to conduct him to the servant of God, whose fame was widespread, and to whom he
had long wished to come. The servant of Christ was pointed out to |74 him; and immediately and as a suppliant
he offered him the relics of Saint John the Baptist, which he had kept by him
for a long time. The servant of God received the relics with the veneration
they deserved; and so the blessing of Saint John was bestowed unasked upon the
church, as he had foretold, and Severinus consecrated the relics by the hands
of the priests.
There was a town called Joviaco,73
twenty miles and more distant from Batavis. Thither the man of God, impressed
as usual by a revelation, sent a singer of the church, Moderatus by name;
admonishing that all the inhabitants should quit that place without delay. For
imminent destruction threatened them if they despised his commands.74 Some
were in doubt over so great a presage, while others did not believe it at all.
Therefore yet again he sent one unto them, a certain |75 man of Quintanis, to whom he said,
weeping, "Make haste! Declare unto them that if they stay there this
night, they shall without delay be made captives!" He bade that Saint
Maximianus too, a priest of spiritual life, should be urgently warned; that he
at least, leaving the scorners behind, through the compassion of heaven might
escape. The servant of God said that he was in great sorrow over him, lest
haply he might postpone obedience to the saving command, and so be exposed to
the threatening destruction. Accordingly the messenger of the man of God went
and fulfilled his orders; and when the others in their unbelief hesitated, he
did not tarry a moment, though the priest strove to keep him and wished to
extend to him the courtesy of his hospitality. That night the Heruli made a
sudden, unexpected onslaught, sacked the town, and led most of the people into
captivity. They hanged the priest Maximianus on a cross. When the news came,
the servant of God grieved sorely that his warnings had been disregarded.
Later a man from Noricum, Maximus by name, came to visit
the servant of God, as was his frequent custom. Pursuant to their established
friendship, he tarried some days in the monastery of the saint. Then Severinus
informed him by his oracles that his country was about to experience a sudden
and heavy disaster. Maximus took a letter addressed to Saint |76 Paulinus the bishop, and in all haste
returned home. Accordingly Paulinus, prepared by the contents of the letter,
wrote to all the castles of his diocese, and strongly admonished them to meet
the coming mischief and disaster by a three days' fast, as the letter of the
man of God had indicated. They obeyed these commands, and the fast was ended,
when lo, a vast multitude of the Alamanni, minions of Death, laid everything
waste. But the castles felt no danger. The trusty cuirass of fasting, and
praiseworthy humility of heart, with the aid of the prophet, had armed them
boldly against the fierceness of the enemy.
Later, a leper from the territory of Milan came to Saint
Severinus, attracted by his fame. When he prayed and begged to be made whole,
Severinus decreed a fast, and commended the leper to his monks; and through the
work of God's grace he was forthwith cleansed. When he had been made whole and
was advised to return to his country, he threw himself at the feet of the
saint, imploring that he be not compelled to go home again; desiring that he
might escape from the leprosy of sin as he had from that of the flesh, and
might close his life in the same place with a praiseworthy end. The man of God
greatly admired his pious purpose, and with fatherly command instructed a few
monks to practise frequent |77 fasts
with him and to continue in uninterrupted prayer, in order that the Lord might
grant to him those things which were meet. Fortified by so great remedies,
within the space of two months the man was freed from the fetters of mortal
life.
At the same time the inhabitants of the town of Quintanis,
exhausted by the incessant incursions of the Alamanni, left their own abodes
and removed to the town of Batavis. But their place of refuge did not remain
hidden from the Alamanni: wherefore the barbarians were the more inflamed,
believing that they might pillage the peoples of two towns in one attack. But
Saint Severinus applied himself vigorously to prayer, and encouraged the Romans
in manifold ways by examples of salvation. He foretold that the present foes
should indeed by God's aid be overcome; but that after the victory those who
despised his admonitions should perish. Therefore the Romans in a body,
strengthened by the prediction of the saint, and in the hope of the promised
victory, drew up against the Alamanni in order of battle, fortified less with
material arms than by the prayers of the saint. The Alamanni were overthrown in
the conflict and fled. The man of God addressed the victors as follows.
"Children, do not attribute the glory of the |78
present conflict to your own strength.75 Know
that ye are now set free through the protection of God to the end that ye may
depart hence within a little space of time, granted you as a kind of armistice.
So gather together and go down with me to the town of Lauriacum." The man
of God impressed these things upon them from the fullness of his piety. But
when the people of Batavis hesitated to leave their native soil, he added,
"Although that town also, whither we go, must be abandoned as speedily as
possible before the inrushing barbarism, yet let us now in like manner depart
from this place."
As he impressed such things upon their minds, most of the
people followed him. A few indeed proved stubborn, nor did the scorners escape
the hostile sword. For that same week the Thuringi stormed the town; and of
those who notwithstanding the prohibition of the man of God remained there, a
part were butchered, the rest led off into captivity and made to pay the
penalty for their scorn.76 |79
After the destruction of the towns on the upper course of
the Danube, all the people who had obeyed the warnings of Saint Severinus
removed into the town of Lauriacum. He warned them with incessant exhortations
not to put trust in their own strength, but to apply themselves to prayers and
fastings and almsgivings, and to be defended rather by the weapons of the
spirit.
Moreover one day the man of God appointed that all the poor
be gathered together in one church, that he might, as custom demanded, dispense
oil to them: a commodity which in those places was brought to market only after
a most difficult transport by traders. Accordingly a great throng of the needy
assembled, as if for the sake of receiving the benediction. No doubt the
presence of this fluid, a costly food, swelled |80
the throng and the number of applicants. When the saint had finished the
prayer, and made the sign of the cross, he uttered as usual, while all
listened, the word of Holy Writ, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."
Then he began with his own hand to fill the measures of oil for the attendants
who conveyed it, copying as a faithful servant his Lord, who came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister.77 And,
following in the way of the Saviour, he rejoiced that the substance was
increased, which he poured out with his right hand, his left hand knowing not.78 When
the oil-vessels of the poor were filled, the oil in the hands of the attendants
was not diminished. Now while the bystanders silently wondered at so great a
blessing of God, one of them, whose name was Pientissimus, in amazement and
great fear cried out, "My Lord! This pot of oil increases, and overflows
like a fountain!" So, its miraculous powers having been betrayed, the
welcome fluid was withdrawn. Straightway the servant of Christ cried out and
said, "Brother, what hast thou done? Thou hast hindered the advantage of
many: may the Lord Jesus Christ pardon thee!" So once the widow woman
burdened with debts was bidden by Elisha the prophet from the small quantity of
oil which she had to fill vessels not a few. After she had done this, and asked
for yet more vessels from her sons, when she heard that there was not a vessel
more, straightway the oil stayed.79 |81
At the same time Maximus of Noricum, of whom we have made
mention above, kindled by the warmth of his faith, at midwinter, when the roads
of that region are closed by the numbing cold, hastened to come to Saint
Severinus. It was an enterprise of rash temerity, or rather, as was afterwards
manifest, of fearless devotion. He had hired many companions, to carry on their
backs, for the benefit of the captives and the poor, a collection of clothing
which the people of Noricum had piously given.80 So
they set out, and attained the highest peaks of the Alps, where all night long
the snow fell so thickly that it shut them in beneath the protecting shelter of
a great tree, as a huge pit would inclose those who had fallen into it. And
when they despaired utterly of their lives, since no aid (as they thought) was
at hand, the leader of the companions saw in his sleep a vision of the man of
God standing and saying unto him, "Fear not; complete your journey."
They were instantly heartened by this revelation, and resumed their course,
trusting in God rather than in the strength of their limbs; when suddenly by
divine command a bear of monstrous size appeared at their side to show the way:81
though in |82 the winter
time he usually hid in caves. He immediately disclosed the desired road, and
for about two hundred miles, turning aside neither to the left nor to the
right, showed a passable way. For he went just far enough ahead of them so that
his fresh track broke out a path. So, leading through the desert wilderness,
the beast did not forsake the men who were bringing relief to the needy, but
with the utmost possible friendliness conducted them as far as human
habitations. Then, having fulfilled his duty, he turned aside and departed:
showing by the great service of his guidance what men ought to do for men, and
how much love they ought to display, since here a savage beast showed the road
to the despairing.
When the arrivals were announced to the servant of God, he
said, "Blessed be the name of the Lord! Let them enter, to whom a bear
hath opened a way for their coming." When they heard this they marvelled
with exceeding great amazement that the man of God should tell that which had
happened in his absence.
The citizens of the town of Lauriacum and the fugitives
from the upper castles appointed scouts to explore the suspected places, and
guarded against the enemy, so far as by human care they could. The servant of
God, instructed by divine inspiration, arranged beforehand with prophetic mind
that they should bring inside the city wall all their meagre property, in order
|83 that the foemen in their deadly
foray, meeting with no human life, might be promptly forced by hunger to
abandon their frightful and cruel designs. This he earnestly entreated for four
days. When the fourth day already verged toward evening, he sent a monk, Valens
by name, to Saint Constantius, bishop of the town,82 and
said to the others who remained, "Set the customary guards at the walls
tonight, and keep a stricter watch; and beware of a sudden and treacherous
assault by the foe." They declared to him that the scouts saw absolutely
nothing of the enemy. But the servant of Christ did not cease to forewarn the
hesitant, and cried out with a loud voice, affirming that they would be taken
captive that same night unless they faithfully obeyed his commands. He often
repeated the words, "If I shall be proved a liar, stone me." So at
last they were compelled to guard the walls.
At the beginning of the night they sang psalms, as they
were wont, and afterwards the men gathered in great numbers and commenced their
watch. Then a nearby haystack, accidentally fired by a porter's torch,
illuminated, but did not burn the city. When this happened, every one howled
and shouted, and the enemy concealed in the woods and forests were |84 terrified by the sudden brightness and
the shouting, and, thinking themselves detected, remained quiet. Next morning
they surrounded the city, and ran to and fro everywhere; but when they found no
food, they seized the herd of cattle of a certain man who in the face of the
prophecies of the servant of God had stubbornly scorned to secure his
possessions, and withdrew.
Now when they were gone the citizens sallied forth from the
gates, and found ladders lying not far from the walls. These the barbarians had
made ready for the destruction of the city, and had thrown away when they were
disturbed in the night by the shouting. Therefore the citizens of Lauriacum
humbly besought pardon from the servant of Christ, confessing that their hearts
were harder than stones. They recognized from these events that the loveliness
of prophecy bloomed in the saint. Assuredly the disobedient populace would all
have gone into captivity, had not the accustomed prayer of the man of God kept
them free; for as James the apostle bears witness, "The continual prayer
of a righteous man availeth much." 83
Feletheus, sometimes called Feva, king of the Rugii, hearing
that from all the towns by the advice of the servant of God the remnants that
had escaped the barbarian sword had gathered at Lauriacum, took an |85 army and came, purposing to bring them
quickly into his own power and to lead them away and settle them in the towns,
of which Favianis was one, that were tributary to him and near him, and were
separated from the Rugii only by the Danube. Wherefore all were deeply
disturbed, and with prayers went to Saint Severinus, that he might go forth to
meet the king and moderate his purpose. All night Severinus hastened, and in
the morning met him at the twentieth milestone from the city. The king, much
alarmed by his arrival, averred that he was vastly distressed by the saint's
fatiguing journey, and inquired the causes of his sudden visit. To whom thus
answered the servant of God: "Peace be unto thee, most excellent king. I
come to thee as ambassador of Christ, to beg compassion for the conquered.
Reflect upon the grace, recall to mind the divine favors, of whose repeated aid
thy father was sensible. Throughout the whole time of his reign he never
ventured to take any step without my advice. He did not withstand my salutary
admonitions; and from frequent successes he learned to recognize the great
value of an obedient mind, and how greatly it profiteth victors not to be
puffed up by their triumphs." And the king saith, "I will not suffer
this people, for whom thou comest as a friendly intercessor, to be ruined by
the cruel plundering of the Alamanni and Thuringi, or slaughtered by the sword,
or reduced to slavery, when I have neighboring and tributary towns in which
they ought to be established." The servant of Christ firmly answered him |86 as follows: "Was it thy bow
or sword that delivered these men from the continual ravages of robbers? Were
they not rather reserved by the favor of God, that they might be able for a
short while to obey thee? Therefore, most excellent king, do not now reject my
counsel. Commit these subjects to my guardian care, lest by the constraint of
so great an army they be ruined rather than removed. For I trust in my Lord,
that he, who hath made me a witness of their calamities, shall make me a
suitable leader to conduct them to safety."
The king was appeased by these moderate representations,
and forthwith went back with his army. Therefore the Romans whom Saint
Severinus had received in his guardian care left Lauriacum, were amicably
established in the towns, and lived in friendly alliance with the Rugii.84 But
Severinus dwelt at Favianis in his old monastery, and ceased not to admonish
the peoples and to foretell the future, declaring that all were to remove into
a Roman province without any loss of liberty.
At about the same time King Odoacer addressed a friendly
letter to Saint Severinus, and, mindful of that prophecy, by which of yore he
had foretold that |87 he
should become king, entreated him to choose whatsoever gift he might desire. In
response to this august invitation, the saint asked that one Ambrose, who was
living in exile, be pardoned. Odoacer joyfully obeyed his command.
Also, once when in the saint's presence many nobles were
praising Odoacer with the adulation usual among men, Severinus asked on what
king they were conferring such great commendations. They replied,
"Odoacer." "Odoacer," he said, "safe between thirteen
and fourteen"; meaning of course the years of his unchallenged
sovereignty: and he added that they should live to see the speedy fulfillment
of his prophecy.
At the entreaty of the townspeople, among whom he had first
won fame, Saint Severinus came to Comagenis. One of the nobles of King
Feletheus had a son, a youth, who was wasted away by inveterate sickness and
for whose burial preparations were already in progress. When the nobleman
learned that Severinus was at Comagenis, he crossed the Danube and cast himself
at his feet. Weeping, he said, "I believe, man of God, that thy entreaty
can procure from heaven a swift recovery for my son." Then Severinus
offered prayer. The boy, who had been brought to him half-dead, straightway
arose whole, to the amazement of his father, and forthwith returned home in
perfect health. |88
Likewise a certain leper, Tejo by name, attracted by the
virtues of Saint Severinus, came from a far country, asking to be cleansed
through his prayer. So he was given the customary command, and bidden
ceaselessly and with tears to implore God, the giver of all grace. Why say
more? Through the prayers of the saint the leper was cleansed by the divine
aid; as he altered his character for the better, he gained a change of color
also; and he, and many others who knew of him, proclaimed far and wide the
mighty works of the Eternal King.
Bonosus, by birth a barbarian, was a monk of Saint
Severinus, and hung upon his words. He was much afflicted by weakness of the
eyes, and desired that cure be afforded him through the prayers of the saint.
He bore it ill that strangers and foreigners experienced the aid of healing
grace, while no cure or help was tendered to him. The servant of God said unto
him, "Son, it is not expedient for thee to have clear sight in the bodily
eyes, and to prefer distinct vision by the eye of the flesh. Pray rather that
thy inner sight may be quickened." Bonosus was instructed by these
admonitions, and was eager to see with the heart rather than with the flesh. He
gained a wonderful power of unwavering continuance in prayer. After |89 he had remained steadfastly for
about forty years in the service of the monastery, he passed away in the same
ardent faith in which he was converted.
In Bojotro, a place mentioned above, the humble teacher
perceived that three monks of his monastery were stained with horrid pride.
When he had ascertained that each of them upon being visited with reproach was
hardened in his sin, he prayed that the Lord should receive them into the
adoption of sons, and deign to reprove them with the paternal lash. Before he
had ended his tearful prayer, the three monks were in one and the same instant
seized violently by the devil and tormented, and with cries confessed the
stubbornness of their hearts.
Let it not seem to any one cruel or wrong, that men of this
sort are delivered "unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh," as
the blessed apostle teacheth, "that the spirit may be saved in the day of
the Lord Jesus." 86 For
Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan, said that the slave of Stilicho, who was found
to be the |90 author of
forged letters, ought to be delivered unto Satan, that he might not dare to
commit such crimes in the future; and at the same moment, while the word was
yet in the bishop's mouth, the unclean spirit seized the slave and began to
rend him.87
Sulpicius Severus, too, relates,88 on
the authority of Postumianus, that a certain man, admirable for his great
virtues and miracles, aiming to drive out from his heart the vanity of
ostentation into which he had fallen, procured by entreaty "that power
over him might be given the devil for five months, and he be made like those
whom he himself had healed." And Sulpicius says, a little further on, that
accordingly "he was seized by the devil, held in chains, and endured
everything which those possessed by devils are wont to suffer; until, finally,
in the fifth month he was cured, not merely from the devil, but (what he needed
and desired more) from the fault."
So the man of God turned over the three monks to the
brethren, and subjected them for forty days to the bitter remedy of fasting.
When the days were fulfilled, he spake a prayer over them, and plucked them
forth from the power of the devil, and bestowed upon them soundness not only of
body but of mind. As a result of this event, the saint was held in enhanced awe
and terror, and a greater fear of discipline possessed the rest.89 |91
Marcianus the monk, who was afterward priest, and who
preceded me in the headship of the monastery, was sent by Severinus to Noricum
in company with Brother Renatus. As the third day was passing, the saint said
to the brethren, "Pray, dearly beloved, for at this hour grievous
tribulation is upon Marcianus and Renatus, from which nevertheless they shall
be freed by Christ's aid." Then the monks straightway wrote down what he
had said; and when many months later Marcianus and Renatus returned, and made
known the day and hour of their peril, at which they had escaped the
barbarians, these were found to be just as had been written down. |92
Also most blessed Severinus suddenly commanded one of the
brethren, by name Ursus, to meet in advance a coming calamity by a strict fast
of forty days, with abstinence from food, and lamentations, saying, "A
bodily peril threatens thee, which through God's protection thou shalt avert by
the remedy of a scanty diet of bread and water." So on the fortieth day a
deadly pustule appeared on the arm of the fasting man, which he immediately
showed to Severinus, approaching him as a suppliant. The holy servant of God
said unto him, "Do not fear the crisis which was foretold thee forty days
ago"; and straightway with his own hand made the sign of the cross over
it; whereupon the fatal pustule vanished, to the amazement of the bystanders.
Let it suffice to have told of this one of his cures in his
own household, that Ï may avoid the tediousness of a lengthy task. For often
through the revelation of Christ he foretold the illnesses of his monks, and
healed them through the same gifts by which he foresaw them.
The spiritual teacher, continuing instant in prayer and
fasting, dwelt not far from the cell of his disciples. With them he regularly
completed the morning prayers, and the proper psalm-singing in the evening. |93 The remaining times of prayer he
fulfilled in the little oratory in which he lived. In his seasons of prayer he
was often strengthened by celestial oracles, and through the grace of God
foretold many things that were to come. He knew the secrets of many things,
and, when there was need, made them known, and provided remedies for each
patient, according as the kind of sickness demanded. His bed was a single mohair
rug on the floor of the oratory.90
Always, even while he slept, he wore the same garment.91 He
never broke his fast before sunset except on an appointed festival.92 In
Lent he was satisfied with one meal a |94
week, yet his countenance shone with the same cheerfulness. He wept over the
sins of others as if they were his own, and helped to overcome them by such aid
as he could give.
At last, after many struggles and long contests, Saint
Severinus, through the revelation of God, perceived that he was about to pass
from this world. He bade Feva, king of the Rugii, mentioned above, to come to
him with his cruel wife Giso. He exhorted Feva, with salutary words, that in
dealing with his subjects he should constantly bear in mind that he must render
account to the Lord for the condition of his kingdom; and fearlessly added
other admonitions. Then he stretched forth his hand, pointing to the king's
breast, and reproachfully asked the queen, "Giso, which lovest thou the
more, this soul, or gold and silver?" And when she answered that she
prized her husband above all riches, the man of God in his wisdom continued,
"Therefore cease to oppress the innocent, lest their affliction result in
the |95 destruction
of your power. For thou often bringest to naught the clemency of the
king." But she answered, "Why dost thou receive us so, servant of
God?" He replied, "I adjure you, I the lowly, who shall shortly stand
in the presence of God, that ye restrain yourselves from unjust deeds, and
apply yourselves to works of piety. Hitherto by God's help your kingdom hath
been prospered. Henceforth look to it." The king and queen, much
instructed by these admonitions, bade him farewell, and went away.93
Then the saint ceased not to address his people in the
sweetness of love concerning the nearness of his departure. Indeed, he had done
so ceaselessly before. "Know ye, brethren," he said, "that as
the children of Israel were delivered out of the land of Egypt, so all the
peoples of this land are destined to be freed from the unrighteous sway of the
barbarians. For all shall depart from these towns with their possessions, |96 and shall reach the Roman
province without any loss by capture. But remember the command of the holy
patriarch Joseph, in the words of whose testimony I, though unworthy and most
lowly, make my request to you: 'God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry
up my bones from hence.' 94 This
shall profit, not me, but you. For these places, now thronged with inhabitants,
shall be rendered a solitude so utterly waste that the enemy, thinking to find
gold, shall dig up even the graves of the dead." The present issue in fact
has proved the truth of his prophecy. But the most holy father, with pious
forethought, ordered his body to be removed as a token; in order that when the
general transmigration of the people should take place, the company of brethren
which he had gathered might depart undivided, and, held together by the common
bond of his memory, might endure as one holy society.
Moreover most blessed Severinus revealed two years or more
in advance the day on which he was to pass from the body.95 This
he did in the following manner. |97
On the day of Epiphany, when Saint Lucillus the priest had announced in
agitation that on the morrow he was to perform the annual rites of commemoration
for the burial day of his abbot, Saint Valentine,96 formerly
bishop of the Raetias, the servant of God replied, "If Saint Valentine
hath committed these rites to thee to be performed, I too, being about to
depart from the body, bequeath to thee the care of my funeral festival, which
shall be observed upon the same day." Lucillus, an old and broken man, was
greatly shaken at this saying, and rather commended himself earnestly to the
protection of Severinus, on the ground that he was likely to pass away first.
But Severinus answered, "Holy priest, this thing which thou hast heard
shall come to pass, nor shall the Lord's ordinance be brought to naught by the
will of man." |98
Feva, king of the Rugii, had given Favianis, one of the few
towns which remained on the bank of the Danube, to his brother Ferderuchus.
Near this town, as I have related, Saint Severinus dwelt. When Ferderuchus
came, as was his wont, to pay his respects to Severinus, the soldier of Christ
began to tell him eagerly of his approaching journey, and adjured him, saying:
"Know that I am to depart quickly to the Lord. Therefore be warned, and
beware of attempting, when I am gone, to lay hands on any of these things which
have been committed to me. Seize not the substance of the poor and the
captives. If thou art guilty of such foolhardiness, which may Heaven forfend,
thou shalt feel the wrath of God! "Ferderuchus, perturbed by the unexpected
admonition, said, "Why dost thou adjure me and confound me? I do not wish
to be deprived of thy mighty protection. Indeed, it is seemly that I should add
something to thy sacred bounty, which all men know, not take away from it; that
I may deserve to be protected by thy wonted prayer, as was our father
Flaccitheus. He learned by experience that he was ever aided by the merits of
thy holiness." And Severinus said, "On the very first opportunity
thou wilt wish to violate my cell. Then straightway thou shalt learn the truth
of my words, and be punished in a manner which I do not desire." Then
Ferderuchus promised that |99 he
would observe the admonitions of the servant of Christ, and returned to his
home.
But the kindly teacher did not cease to speak continually
to his disciples, saying, "I trust in the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ
that if ye persevere in his work, and in memory of me remain united in friendly
association, he will give you the riches of eternal life, nor in this world
will he deny you his consolation."
On the fifth of January he began to be slightly disquieted
by a pain in the side.97 When
this persisted for three days, at midnight he commanded the brethren to be with
him. He gave them instructions as to the disposal of his body, strengthened
them with fatherly counsel, and bestowed upon them the following earnest and
admirable discourse.
"Most beloved sons in Christ," he said, "ye
know that blessed Jacob, when he was about to leave the world, and the time
drew nigh that he must die, called unto his sons, and said, 'Gather yourselves
together'; that he might tell them that which should befall them in the last
days, and bless them every one according to his blessing.98 But I
am lowly and of lukewarm faith. I am inferior to such piety. I dare not assume
the burden of this privilege. Yet there is one thing which is accordant with my
humility, and which |100 I
will say. I will refer you to the examples of the elders, whose faith follow,
considering the end of their conversation.99 For
Abraham, when called of the Lord, obeyed in faith. He went forth into a place
which he was to receive into his possession; and he went forth not knowing
whither he was to go. Therefore imitate the faith of this blessed patriarch,
copy after his holiness, despise the things of earth, seek ever the heavenly
home. Moreover I trust in the Lord, that eternal gain shall come to me from
you. For I perceive that ye have enlarged my joy by the fervor of your spirit,
that ye love justice, that ye cherish the bonds of brotherly love, that ye
neglect not chastity, that ye guard the rule of humility. These things, so far
as the eye of man hath power to see, I confidently praise and approve. But pray
that those things which to human view are worthy, may be confirmed by the test
of the eternal judgment; for God seeth not as man seeth. Indeed, as the divine
word declareth, he searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations
of the thoughts.100
Therefore constantly hope and pray for this, that God may enlighten the eyes of
your understanding,101 and
open them, as blessed Elisha prayed, that ye may see 102 what
hosts of saints surround and support you, what mighty aids are prepared for the
faithful. For our God draws nigh to them that are without guile. Let the
soldiers of God fail |101 not
to pray without ceasing. Let him not be reluctant to repent, who was not
ashamed to sin. Sinners, hesitate not to lament, if but by the overflowing of
your tears the wrath of God may be appeased; for he hath seen fit to call a
contrite spirit his sacrifice.103 Therefore
let us be humble in heart, tranquil in mind; guarding against all sins and ever
mindful of the divine commands; knowing that meanness of garb, the name monk,
the word religion, the outward form of piety, profiteth us not, if touching the
observance of God's commands we be found degenerate and false. Therefore let
your characters, my most beloved sons, accord with the vow which ye have
assumed. It is a great crime to lead a sinful life, even for a man of this
world;104 how
much more then for monks, who have fled from the enticements of the world as
from a hideous wild beast, and have preferred Christ to all desires; whose gait
and garb are held to be evidence of virtue? But why, dearest sons, delay you
further with a long address? It remains to bestow upon you the last prayer of
the blessed apostle, who saith, 'And now I commend you to God, and to the word
of his grace, who is able to preserve you, and to give you an |102 inheritance among all them which are
sanctified.' 105 To
him be the glory for ever and ever."
After this edifying address, he bade all in succession
approach for his kiss. He received the sacrament of the communion; and
altogether forbade that they should weep for him. Having stretched out his
hand, and made the sign of the cross over his whole body, he commanded that
they should sing a psalm. When the grief that overspread them kept them silent,
he himself started the psalm, "Praise ye the Lord in his sanctuary; let
everything that hath breath praise the Lord."106 And
so, on the eighth of January, repeating this verse, while we could hardly make
the responses, he fell asleep in the Lord.
When he was buried, our elders, implicitly believing that,
like his many other prophecies, what he had foretold in regard to our removal
could not fail to come to pass, prepared a wooden casket;107 that
when the predicted migration of the people should take place, the commands of
the prophet might be fulfilled. |103
Ferderuchus was poor and ungodly, a greedy barbarian, and
more greedy than the barbarians. When he learned of the death of Saint
Severinus, he determined to carry off the clothing allotted to the poor, and
some other things. Joining sacrilege to this crime, he ordered that the silver
goblet and the rest of the altar service be carried off. Since the service was
on the holy altars, the bailiff who was sent dared not stretch out his hands to
such a villainy, but compelled a certain soldier, Avitianus by name, to commit
the robbery. Although Avitianus executed the order unwillingly, he was from
that moment plagued by an incessant trembling in all his limbs, and furthermore
was possessed by a devil. Therefore he quickly set right his sins by adopting a
better purpose. For he assumed the vow of the sacred profession, exchanged the
weapons of earth for those of heaven, and withdrew to a lonely isle.108 |104
Ferderuchus, unmindful of the adjuration and prophecy of
the holy man, seized all the possessions of the monastery, and left only the
walls, which he could not carry across the Danube. But presently the threatened
vengeance came upon him. For within the space of a month he was slain by
Fredericus, his brother's son, and lost booty and life together.
Therefore King Odoacer waged war upon the Rugii. They were
defeated, Fredericus was compelled to flee. His father Feva was taken prisoner,
and removed to Italy with his wicked wife.109
Later, Odoacer heard that Fredericus had returned to his
home. At once he dispatched a great army, under his brother Onoulfus; before
whom Fredericus fled again, and went to King Theodoric, who was then at Novae,110 a
city of the province of Moesia.
Onoulfus, however, at his brother's command ordered all the
Romans to migrate to Italy. Then all the inhabitants, led forth from the daily
depredations of |105 the
barbarians as from the house of Egyptian bondage, recognized the oracles of
Saint Severinus.111
When Count Pierius compelled all to depart, the venerable
Lucillus, then our priest, was not unmindful of the command of Severinus. After
he had ended singing with the monks the vesper psalms, he bade the place of
burial to be opened. When it was uncovered, a fragrance of such sweetness
surrounded us who stood by, that we fell on the earth for joy and wonder. Then
whereas we reckoned in all human expectation to find the bones of his corpse
disjoined, for the sixth year of his burial had already passed, we found the
bodily structure intact. For this miracle we returned unmeasured thanks to the
Author of all, because the corpse of the saint, on which were no spices, which
no embalmer's hand had touched, had staid unharmed, with beard and hair, even
to that time. Accordingly the linen cloths were changed; the corpse was
inclosed in the casket that had been prepared for it long before, placed in a
wagon drawn by horses, and presently carried forth. All the provincials made
the journey in our company. They abandoned the towns on the banks of the Danube
and were allotted the various |106
abodes of their exile through the different districts of Italy. So the body of
the saint passed through many lands and was borne to a castle named Mount
Feleter.112
During this time many that were attacked by divers
diseases, and some who were oppressed by unclean spirits, experienced the
instant healing of divine grace. A certain dumb man also was brought to this
castle through the compassion of his kinsmen. He eagerly entered the oratory,
where the body of the holy man still lay upon the wagon, and when he offered
supplication behind the closed door of his mouth, in the chamber of his heart,
immediately his tongue was loosed in prayer, and he spoke praise unto the Most
High. And when he returned to the inn where he was wont to lodge, and was
questioned as usual by nod and sign, he answered in a clear voice, that he had
prayed and had offered praise to God. When he spoke, they who knew him were
terrified and ran shouting to the oratory and told Saint Lucillus the priest,
and us, who were with him and knew nothing of the event. Then we all rejoiced
exceedingly, and returned thanks to the divine mercy. |107
Barbaria, a lady of rank,113
venerated Saint Severinus with pious devotion. She and her late husband had
known him well by reputation and through correspondence. When, after the death
of the saint, she heard that his body had with great labor been brought into
Italy, and up to that time had not been committed to earth, she invited by
frequent letters our venerable priest Marcianus, and also the whole
brotherhood. Then with the authorization of Saint Gelasius, pontiff of the
Roman see, and received by the people of Naples with reverent obsequies, the
body was laid to rest by the hands of Saint Victor the bishop in the Lucullan
castle,114 in a
mausoleum which Barbaria had built.115 |108
At this solemnity many afflicted by divers diseases, whom
it would be tedious to enumerate, were instantly healed. Among them was a
venerable handmaid of |109 God,
Processa by name, a citizen of Naples, who suffered from a severe and
troublesome sickness. Invited by the virtues of the holy corpse, she hastened
to meet it on the way; and when she approached the vehicle in which the
venerable body was borne, immediately she was free from sickness in all her
members.
Also at that time a blind man, Laudicius, was startled when
he heard the unexpected clamor of the people singing psalms, and anxiously
asked his household what it was. When they replied that the body of a certain
Saint Severinus was passing, he was moved by the spirit, and asked that he be
led to the window; from which one possessed of sight could behold afar |110 off the multitude singing
psalms and the carriage bearing the sacred body. And when he leaned forth from
the window and prayed, straightway he saw, and pointed out his acquaintances
and neighbors one by one. Thereupon all who heard him wept for joy and returned
thanks to God.
Marinus too, precentor of the holy church at Naples, could
not recover his health after a terrible sickness, and suffered from a constant
headache. In faith he leaned his head against the carriage, and immediately
lifted it up free from pain. In memory of this benefit, he always came on the
anniversary of the saint's burial and rendered to God thanks and the sacrifice
of a vow.
I have related three of the numberless miracles which were
wrought on the arrival of the saint through his mediation and virtues. Let it
suffice; though many know of more.
A monastery, built at the same place to the memory of the
blessed man, still endures. By his merits many possessed with devils have
received and do receive healing through the effective grace of God; to whom is
honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Illustrious minister of Christ, thou hast the memoir. From
it make by thy editorial care a profitable work. |111
Paschasius the deacon to the holy and ever most beloved
priest Eugippius.
Dearest brother in Christ, thou measurest me by the measure
of thy skill, eloquence, and happy leisure, and disdainest to consider my
vexatious employments and manifold imperfections. Yet through the contemplation
of thy love I sustain the injury to my modesty.116
Thou hast sent me a memoir to which the eloquence of the
trained writer can add nothing, and in a short compendium hast produced a work
which the whole church can read. The life and character of Saint Severinus, who
dwelt in the provinces bordering on the Pannonias, thou hast portrayed with
much faithfulness; and thou hast handed down to the memory of future
generations, to remain through long ages, the miracles which divine virtue hath
wrought through him. The deeds of the good cannot perish with time. All persons
to whom thy narrative shall bring Saint Severinus shall have him before them,
and shall perceive that in a certain sense he dwells with them. And |112 so as thou hast told very
simply, and explained very clearly, these particulars which thou didst ask me
to narrate, I have thought it best not to try to make any addition to thy work.
Indeed, it is one thing to relate what we have been told, quite another thing,
to draw from the stores of our own experience. The virtues of teachers are
particularly visible in their daily life, and consequently are more easily
depicted by their pupils. By God's gift inspired, thou understandest the value
of the deeds of the saints for the improvement of the minds of the good: their
profitableness, the fervor they impart, their cleansing power. On this point we
have the authority of the well-known words of the apostle, "being
ensamples to the flock;" 117 and
Saint Paul commanded Timothy, "be thou an example of the believers." 118 For
this reason Saint Paul compiles a concise catalogue of the just, and, beginning
from Abel, recounts the virtues of distinguished men.119 So
also that most faithful Mattathias, as the days drew near that he should die a
glorious death, distributed to his sons as an inheritance the examples of the
saints;120 that
fired with sacred zeal by the wonderful battles of the saints, they might hold
their lives as naught in the defense of the eternal laws. Nor did the sons find
the father's teaching false. For so greatly did the deeds of the elders profit
them, that with most manifest faith they terrified armed princes, overcame the
camps of the wicked, overthrew far and |113
wide the worship and altars of demons,121 and
decorated with perennial garlands they provided a civic crown for their
glorious country.
For this reason also I rejoice that through a brother's
service something is provided for the ornaments of the bride of Christ;122 not
that at any time, as I believe, have there been lacking illustrious examples of
the elders, but because it is fitting that the palace of the Great King should
have the standards of many victories. For true virtue is not obscured by the
multitude of virtues, but yearns for their increase, and is enlarged thereby.123 |114
[Footnotes moved to the end and renumbered]
2. 1 I Corinthians, ii,
13.
3. 1 Orestes was by
birth a Roman provincial of Pannonia. Priscus (Bonnae, 1829), pp. 146, 185;
Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis, 45; Anonymus Valesianus, 38.
4. 2 J. H. von
Falckenstein neatly expands the metaphor in his appreciation of Severinus. Geschichten
des grossen Herzogthums und ehemaligen Königreichs Bayern (Munich, etc.,
1763), i, p. 78.
5. 3 Fugitivus. For
the Roman law in regard to fugitive slaves and their recovery, one may consult
W. W. Buckland, The Roman Law of Slavery (Cambridge, England, 1908), pp.
267-274, and the Codex Theodosianus, x, 12, Si vagum petatur
mancipium.
6. 1 "Quo ipso
non obscure indicabat, magno se ortu, et cujus indicium jactantiae
serviret." Marcus Mansitz, Germania Sacra (Augustae Vindelicorum,
etc., 1727-55), i, p. 80.
9. 4 The detailed account
of the early life of Severinus, given in Theo Sommerlad's Die
Lebensbeschreibung Severins als kulturgeschichtliche Quelle, pp. 62-68,
needs mention only by way of caution. Sommerlad carries ingenuity to a great
excess.
10. 1 "It is
exceedingly doubtful whether the request was seriously meant. Similar
expressions are very common, which are no more than polite phrases."
Wilhelm Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter (6th
ed., Berlin, 1893-94), i, p. 49.
11. 1 The place names in
the ablative form, Asturis, Comagenis, Favianis, etc., mark the tendency of the
provincial Latin to develop into Romance dialects.
13. 2 Noricum
Ripense. Rodenberg renders by the German equivalent, Ufernoricum. In
the translation of Professor Hayes, Ufernoricum, both here and in
Chapter XI, becomes ' Upper Noricum,' which is not a happy guess.
14. 3 Probably on
the site of the present Klosterneuburg, a little above Vienna.
15. 1 Custos. The
office is not to be confounded with that of janitor or doorkeeper (ostiarius)
mentioned in Chapters X and XVI, below. Isidorus Hispalensis, De
Ecclesiasticis Officiis, ii, 9, says: "Custodes sacrarii, Levitae
sunt. Ipsis enim jussum est custodire tabernaculum, et omnia vasa templi . . .
praeferentes speciem gravitatis." In his Regula Monachorum, 20, he
describes somewhat more fully the duties of the position in a monastery church:
" Ad custodem sacrarii pertinet cura vel custodia templi, signum quoque
dandi in vespertinis nocturnisque officiis; vela, vestesque sacrae, ac vasa
sacrorum, codices quoque instrumentaque cuncta, oleum in usum sanctuarii, cera
et luminaria."
17. 3 A euphemism.
Marcus Velserus justly remarks, " Quam misera et deplorata illis
temporibus harum provinciarum fuerit conditio, ex uno isto foedere satis
superque colligi poterat, nisi reliqua omnis in id argumentum
conspiraret." Opera (Norimbergae, 1682), p. 667.
18. 1 I think it probable
that this is the earthquake mentioned in Anonymus Cuspiniani, Chronicon (in
Thomas Roncallius, Vetustiora Chronica, Patavii, 1787, ii, col. 124)
under the year 455: "eversa est Sabaria a Terraemotu VII. idus septemb.
die Veneris "; and in the same words, and under the same year, in the Excerptum
Sangallense (in Karl Frick, Chronka Minora, vol. 1, 1892, p. 422).
Sabaria was in Upper Pannonia, about seventy miles southeast of Comagenis in a
straight line, or ninety-two Roman miles by road. Antonini Augusti
Itinerarium, pp. 233 f. Wesseling.
The date of this earthquake as given in the chronicles
clearly cannot be correct. The Friday before the Ides fell, in September 455,
on the 9th, not on the 7th. I suggest accordingly that, following C. F. Roesler
(Chronica Medii Aevi, Tubingae, 1798, i, p. 341), we make the obvious
emendation, and read "V. idus Septembres die Veneris." Theodor
Mommsen (Chronica Minora, Berlin, 1892-98, i, p. 304; in Monumenta
Germaniae Historica) suggests the reading "IV.," "nisi in
anno erratum est"; but he cannot be right. One might, it is true, reach
his result by using inadvertently a table like that in Sir Harris Nicolas's The,
Chronology of History (London, 1835), p. 49, which contains the dominical
letters for 4000 years after the Christian era, according to the New Style. The
New Style, however, does not apply to the fifth century.
19. 1 On the Danube
between Tulln and Lorch; perhaps near the site of the present town of Mautern.
20. 2 Colossians,
iii, 5; Ephesians, v, 5. Of these passages the former is of course the one to
which direct reference is made. Bolland, Sauppe, Rodenberg, Knoell, and
Mommsen, all have followed Surius in giving only the reference to Ephesians,
which is purely secondary.
21. 1 Matthew, xxv,
35-42; Salvian, Adversus Avaritiam, iv, 4: "Christus . . . cum
esurientibus esurit . . . quid ais, o homo, qui Christianum te esse dicis, . .
. Christus esurit, et tu delitias affluentibus paras? "
23. 3 "Calidis
Severini precibus solutae." Andreas Erunner, Annalium Boicorum Partes
III (ed. nova, Francofurti ad Moenum, 1710), col. 118.
25. 1 Georg Kaufmann
says, "Seine Wohnung war eine Zelle, oft auch eine Höhle." Deutsche
Geschichte bis auf Karl den Grossen (Leipsic, 1880-81), ii, p. 25. I find
this cavern only in Kaufmann's work.
26. 2 Favianis was
long identified with Vienna by an erroneous tradition. Joannes Cuspinianus, the
great sixteenth century scholar, believed that his estate in the suburbs of
Vienna comprised Ad Vineas and the cell of Severinus. Austria (Francofurti,
1601), pp. 55, 69:
"Villam enim S. Severini, ubi cellam habuit pius pater
S. Severinus, jam ego possideo, ubi nobilissima crescunt vineta, arboribus
illic desectis ac purgatis. ... a sancto Severino patria lingua Severin
appellatur."
Cuspinianus calls Severinus "second apostle of
Austria" (secundarius Austriae apostolus, alter Australium apostolus),
the first being Quirinus, and reckons him among the six patron saints of that
country: the martyrs Quirinus, Maximilian, Florian; Severinus; Colman the Irish
pilgrim; Margrave Leopold III the Pious. On p. 70 of his Austria is
printed a poem by Joannes Stabius, "In Sanctos Austriae Patronos
Precatio," in forty-six hexameter verses. The poem contains, however,
nothing which seems to have individual reference to Severinus, unless it be in
vv. 32-38:
"Praesidio semper secura sit Austria vestro.
Morborum omne genus, quae corpora nostra fatigant,
Infandumque malum, crudelem avertite pestem.
Sit flavae Cereris, laeti sit copia Bacchi:
Tartareo sonitu reboent nec classica Martern,
Sed Pax alma ferens ramum felicis olivae
Illustret terras, soror et Concordia mitis."
27. 1 It will be noted
that the monasteries founded by Saint Severinus were in the immediate
neighborhood of cities. F. W. Rettberg calls attention to this fact, and to its
accordance with the monastic rule of Saint Basil the Great: with which, he
suggests, Severinus may have become familiar during his wanderings in the
Orient. Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands (Göttingen, 1846-48), i, p. 231.
Compare E. C. Butler's article "Basilian Monks," in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica (11th ed.).
28. 3 Wolfgang Lazius,
using a singular figure, says that "from this monastery, as if from the
Trojan horse, went forth almost all the bishops of Noricum." Vienna
Austriae. (Basileae, 1546), p. 54. Lazius gives a list of these bishops,
which Marcus Hansitz handles very roughly. Germania Sacra, i, pp. 74, 85
ff. [Note to online edition: there is no note 2 on the page in the
printed text].
29. 1 Matthew, v,
14, 15.
30. 2 Jordanes (De
Rebus Geticis, 55) says that the Danube " freezes so hard that it will
support like a solid rock an army of infantry, and carts and sleds, or
whatsoever vehicles there may be."
It is probable that modern regulation of the current of the
Danube by engineering works has had a tendency to prevent the formation of
extensive ice fields. Yet even now the stream is frozen annually in Lower
Hungary throughout several long stretches, which at the height of the frost can
occasionally be crossed with carts or sleds. In Bavaria, Austria, and Rumania,
field ice docs not form every winter. Yet it sometimes happens even at Vienna
---- most recently in January, 1901 ---- that the ice is strong enough to allow
foot travellers a safe passage across the river.
I am indebted to the Imperial-Royal Central Bureau of
Hydrography at Vienna for the information contained in the above paragraph. One
may consult also Anton Swarowsky's essay Die Eisver-hältnisse der Donau in
Bayern und Osterreich von 1850-90, in Geographische Abhandlungen, edited
by Albrecht Penck, Band v, Heft 1 (Vienna and Olmülz, 1801); and, for notices
of the great frosts of 821 and 1076-77, Fritz Curschmann's Hungersnöte im
Mittelalter (Leipsic, 1900), pp. 94, 121.
31. 1 It may be
noted that in Eugippius the expression 'the apostle' always refers to Saint
Paul. Eugippius never bestows upon Severinus the appellation 'apostle of
Noricum' (apostolus Norici or apostolus Noricorum), later so
common.
33. 1 A genealogical table
of the Rugian royal house may be of service. Numerals in parentheses refer to
the chapters in which the individuals are mentioned.
Flaccitheus (5, 8, 42).
|
-------------------------------------
|
|
Feletheus, or Feva (8, 22?, 31,
Ferderuchus (42, 44)
33, 40, 42, 44)
married Giso (8, 40, 44)
|
Fredericus (8, 44)
Feba, named in Chapter XXII, is probably the same as
Feletheus, or Feva.
34. 1 A comparison of this
passage with the reference, in Chapter VIII, to Queen Giso's attempt "to
rebaptize certain Catholics," makes it evident that the Rugii, or at least
their sovereigns, were, like most of the converted Germans of the fifth century
and even later, Christians of the Arian sect. The fact that the Rugii were
Arians while the provincials were Catholics cooperated with the difference of
race to produce a lack of complete sympathy and understanding between them. On
the other hand, it was entirely natural that the Rugii, as Christians, should
assume the position towards the provincials that we find them occupying more
and more, of protectors against the depredations of the German tribes that
remained heathen: Alamanni and Thuringi (Chapter XXXI, below, etc.); Heruli
(Chapter XXIV); no doubt also the Franks and Saxons, whom Ennodius (De Vita
Beati Antoni, 12-14) names in connection with the Heruli as devastators of
the Pannonias during the ninth decade of the fifth century ---- cruel as wild
beasts; turning a populous land into a desert; worshipping gods who, they
believed, could be propitiated only by human victims; slaughtering clerics by
preference, as the sacrifices most acceptable to their divinities.
Dr. Julius von Pflugk-Harttung's vividly worded description
of life in Noricum in the time of Severinus (Allgemeine Weltgeschickte, iv,
p. 231) is somewhat confusing, because of his failure to point out clearly this
distinctive position of the Rugii. He says, " They and their
neighbor-tribes, Thuringi, Heruli, Alamanni, and Goths, came from beyond the
Danube in uninterrupted forays." There is no mention in the Life of
'forays' on the part of the Rugii, except in the strictly technical sectarian
sense of the confiscation of the monastery plate and furniture (Chapter XLIV);
on the contrary, they themselves suffered from plundering raids, as the next
paragraph shows. Dr. Pflugk-Harttung's reference to the Goths (Ostrogoths) is
also not to the point. They lived, not beyond the Danube but in Pannonia, on the
Roman side of the river (Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis, 50). Further, they
were Christians, partially civilized, and usually in alliance with the Romans
against their barbarian enemies. After the death of Attila there appears to
have been only one period, comprising a few months of the year 473, in which
the Ostrogoths were hostile to the Western Empire (ibid., 56). It is to
that time that we may very reasonably assign their attack upon Tiburnia in
Noricum Mediterraneum (Chapter XVII).
It is regrettable that The Cambridge Medieval History, i
(1911) repeats the false view of the position of the Rugii. Mr. Ernest Barker,
the writer of chapter xiv therein, "Italy and the West, 410-476,"
says (p. 420) " The Rugii . . . appear in the history of the time . . . as
vexing with their inroads the parts of Noricum which lay immediately south of
the river. The Life of Saint Severinus . . . describes their depredations
"; and again (p. 425), " Parallel in some ways to the position of
Marcellinus and Aegidius is the beneficent theocracy which Saint Severinus
established about the same time in Noricum, a masterless province unprotected
by Rome, and harassed by the raids of the Rugii from the north of the
river."
36. 2 In lectulo
tuo. Rodenberg renders auf deinem Lager: Professor Hayes has
"in thine own camp."
37. 1 I Corinthians, vii,
25.
38. 1 Adolf Harnack
discusses the early conceptions of the Christian religion as a warfare, and of
the Church as a military organization, in the first part of his essay Militia
Christi (Tübingen, 1905). An illustration of the length to which these
conceptions might be carried is afforded by the biography of a disciple of
Severinus, Ennodius's De Vita Beati Antoni. Antonius, 'warrior of
Christ,' decides to forsake his Alpine hermitage and to join the 'regiment of
the isle Lerina' (see note to Chapter XLIV, below) of 'the army of the saints.'
"That veteran battle-line is ever watchful, and repulses the enemy, after
transfixing him with many blows. They number their triumphs by the wars which
the devil wages against them. They are not afraid, when the shrill
battle-trumpet announces Satan's onset, and urges to the fight. Daily combat
ever makes soldiers skilled and brave, while a long peace relaxes them."
39. 1 Max Büdinger
offers some excellent remarks on Giso's strongly marked character. Oesterreichische
Geschichte (Leipsic, 1858), i, p. 49.
40. 2 "Ausa
etiam Catholico ritu ablutos, sacrilego Arianorum fonte denuo lustrare."
Johann Adlzreitter, Annalium Boicae Gentis Partes III (ed. nova,
Francofurti ad Moenum, 1710), col. 120.
41. 1 There is an account
of Gervasius and Protasius, the martyrs of Milan, in Tillemont's Ecclesiastical
Memoirs (English translation by Thomas Deacon, London, 1731-35, ii, pp.
61-67).
42. 1 Adopting
Velserus's reading subrepere.
43. 2 Severinus was
not the first to adopt this laudable attitude of caution in dealing with
supposed relics. Sulpicius Severus, De Beati Martini Vita, II, tells
that Saint Martin, finding no clear evidence as to the contents of a tomb
supposed to be hallowed by the remains of martyrs, prayed for a divine
revelation. " Then he turned to the left, and saw close at hand a foul and
savage ghost. He commanded the spectre to tell his name and desert. The spectre
made known his name, he confessed his crime; he had been a robber, put to death
for his wicked deeds, honored by the blunder of the mob; he had nothing in
common with martyrs; they were in glory, he was in torment. The bystanders
heard the spectre's voice, but did not see his form. Then Martin related what
he had seen, and ordered that the altar which was there should be removed from
the place. So he set free the people from the error of that superstition."
44. 1 Genesis, xix,
26; Luke, xvii, 32.
45. 2 That this is here
the meaning of aedituus is shown by the Table of Chapters, where it is
represented by ostiarius. The office of aedituus in the pagan
temple, however, corresponds rather to that of custos in the Christian
church (see Chapter I, above), being a position of some dignity. Ausonius, Commemoratio
Professorum Burdigalensium, x, 22-30, speaks of Phoebicius, a professor who
had been Beleni aedituus. DuCange gives the definition "Aedituus,
Ostiarius, gradus ecclesiasticus; cui aedis sacrae custodia incumbit, custos
": an impossible one, since ostiarius and custos are
quite different officials. The word never really became naturalized in
Christian literature. Paulinus of Nola uses it, it is true (Epistolae, i,
10; in Migne's Patrologia Latina, vol. lxi, col. 158); but he was a
friend and correspondent of Ausonius.
Theo Sommerlad, Die Lebensbeschreibung Severins als
kulturgeschichtliche Quelle (Leipsic, 1903), p. 33, fails to notice
that Eugippius uses aedituus and ostiarius interchangeably both
at this place and in Chapter XVI, below, and accordingly wrongly considers aedituus
equivalent to the ecclesiae custos of Chapter I.
46. 1 The country
along the Danube was probably then, as now, rich in orchards. Exposilio
totius Mundi et Gentium, 57; A. A. Muchar, Das römische Norikum (Grätz,
1825-26), ii, p. 186.
47. 2 These
organized bands of robbers appear again early in the sixth century, beyond the
Danube (Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis, 58; Amédée Thierry, Histoire
d'Attila et de ses Successeurs, Paris, 1856, i, pp. 288 f.); and, about
570, in Pannonia, under the name of Skama&reij (Menander Protector, Bonnae,
1829, p. 313).
48. 3 Castellum. Knoell
considers that the word is equivalent to 'town' (oppidum). But in
Chapter XVII Eugippius contrasts the terms, saying 'towns or castles' (oppida
vel castella).
Not forgetting that in the Vulgate castellum is the
regular rendering for the Greek kw&mh, 'village', I am inclined to think
that the proper meaning in the Life is 'fortified town', or perhaps one might
say 'fort' in the frontier sense of a fortified settlement. See Du Cange, Glossarium
Mediae el Infimae Latinitatis, s. v.; and compare Salvian, De
Gubernatione Dei, v, 44.
50. 2 Amédée Thierry
interprets these as " sacrifices humains, pour apaiser la destinée." Récits
de l'Histoire Romaine au Ve Siècle (Paris, i860), p. 148. It is
doubtful if we are justified in pushing specification so far. Any heathen rites
would have appeared 'abominable' both to Severinus and to Eugippius. A
Christian writer who wishes to accuse pagans of human sacrifices is likely to
make the charge in so many words. Ennodius does so (De Vita Beati Antoni, 13)
in speaking of the heathen barbarian tribes ---- Franks, Heruli, Saxons ----
who were ravaging the Pannonias at this time or a little later.
Mention was made above (Chapter V, note) of this passage in
the Life of Antonius. Though Ennodius speaks of 'the Pannonias,' the connection
makes it clear that his account is intended to apply also to Noricum,
particularly the territory about Lauriacum. Antonius was nephew of Constantius,
bishop of Lauriacum, who is named below (Chapter XXX), and after the death of
Severinus remained at Lauriacum under the protection of his uncle until the
latter's decease.
51. 1 According to
Marcellinus Comes, Chronicon, "numberless battalions of locusts
wasted the harvest of Phrygia " in 456. Accounts of the devastations of
these insects in 873 (throughout Europe) and in 1195 and 1242 (in the Austrian
lands) may be found in Curschmann's Hungersnöte im Mittelalter, pp. 100
f., 157, 175. In 1242, if we may believe the chronicler, " Locusts of huge
size invaded Austria in such numbers, that they consumed most of the vineyards
and orchards, and moreover gnawed to pieces horses and cattle feeding in the
fields."
54. 1 Juvao or
Juvavum, now Salzburg.
55. 2 "
Rarissimus praeter exspectationem hic usus erat, si scriptorum auctoritas in
hac re omnino quidquam valet." M. H. Morgan, "De Ignis eliciendi
Modi's apud Antiquos," in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, i
(1890), p. 38.
56. 3 A similar
miracle is related of Alveus, or Alneus, a Gallic saint of the sixth century.
" One night he arose for the early morning vigils, and entered the church
with the rest of the brethren. They found that the lights which usually burned
there were out. Saint Alveus kneeled in prayer. The disciples searched for a
light; but they could find no fire. The hour was already late, and the
disciples reminded the saint of the lateness of the hour. Presently he rose
from prayer, and made the sign of the cross above the waxen taper. The taper
was kindled instantly through the excellence of God and the merits of the
saint, and gave a splendid light for all who were in the building." Acta
Sanctorum, September, iii (1750), p. 808.
57. 1 In the Notitia
Dignitatum Quintanis appears as a garrison town, commanded by the praefectus
alae primae Flavii Raetorum. It is now represented by Osterhofen.
58. 2 Eugippius,
whose earlier years were spent in the Danubian lands, tells of conditions there
as he remembers them many years before the close of the fifth century. Raetia
Secunda then included, nominally at least, the plain country between the Alps,
the Inn, and the Danube; Raetia Prima, the whole central Alpine region. It
seems clear that at the time of his writing (511) Raetia Secunda lay entirely
in the Alps, and comprised the eastern part of the old Raetia Prima; while from
the level country to the north, subject though it might be to the more or less
shadowy overlordship of Theodoric the Ostrogoth as successor of Old Rome, all
vestiges of the provincial name and administration had vanished. E. A.
Quitzmann. Die älteste Geschichte der Baiern (Brunswick, 1873), p.123.
59. 1 The gratitude of the
catechumen recalled to life by Saint Martin was greater in proportion as his
reception in the other world had been different. Sulpicius Severus, De Beati
Martini Vita, vii, 4-6.
An engraving which represents this scene is mentioned in
the Preface. There is another in J. H. von Falckenstein's Antiquitates et
Memorabilia Nordgaviae Veteris (Schwabach, 1734-43), i, tab. vii, opposite
p. 202. The latter is of especial interest in that it portrays the two
doorkeepers or janitors in military costume one of them leaning upon a huge
battle-axe.
60. 1 Paul Viard, Histoire
de la Dîme Ecclésiastique (Dijon, 1909), gives an excellent account of the
origin of tithing in the early church, and also (pp. 44 f., 49) discusses this
passage at length. Some of his conclusions may be briefly stated as follows.
The only references to tithes in the Gospels (Matthew, xxiii, 23; Luke, xi, 42;
xviii, 12) are in rebuke of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The Christians of
the first four centuries did not recognize the Jewish tithe. They did in some instances
acknowledge the tax of the first fruits. Insistence upon the tithe begins to
appear about the end of the fourth century. In the East, its champion was Saint
John Chrysostom (In Matthaeum Homilia lxiv (lxv), in Migne's Patrologia
Graeca, lviii, col. 615). In the West, it was advocated in two forms.
Jerome (Explanatio in Malackiam, iii, 7, in Migne's Patrologia
Latina, xxv, coll. 1568-1571; and Epistola ad Nepotianum de Vita
Clericorum et Sacerdotum, in Migne, xxii, col. 531) considers that the
ancient law is still in force, and that the proceeds of the tithe should be for
the support of the clergy. Augustine likewise (Sermones, lxxxv, 4, in
Migne, xxxviii, col. 522) holds to the obligation of the tithe, at least upon
the conscience, using the text Matthew, v, 20, " except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees "; but he
directs it to the support of the poor. The later development of church polity,
finally crystallized into definite enactments at the second council of Mâcon in
585, was a compromise between these two views. Severinus, on the other hand,
follows Saint Augustine. "Probably," says M. Viard, "he did not
speak of the tithe in the exact sense of the word; he wished merely to call
forth the charitable gifts of the communities that he evangelized. It is very
probable that the saint thought, in doing this, to revive the ancient tithe,
modifying it, however, according to the needs of the moment and his personal
disinterestedness. The biographer has exaggerated this thought of his hero in
order to make it appear an actuality."
61. 1 Here, as
elsewhere when he uses the word without a modifier, Eugippius means Noricum
Mediterraneum, the interior or southern province, of which Tiburnia was the
chief town.
62. 2 Teurnia in
inscriptions. Now Sanct Peter im Holz, near Spital.
63. 1 The siege of
Tiburnia may well be assigned to the year 473. See Chapter V, note. It is then
probable that the surrender of the collection of clothing was an important,
though hardly a decisive factor in restoring peace between the citizens and the
ragged Goths; who, according to Jordanes (De Rebus Geticis, 56), entered
upon the campaign because food and clothing were beginning to fail them.
"Minuentibus se deinde hinc inde vicinarum gentium spoliis, coepit et
Gothis victus vestitusque deesse: et hominibus, quibus dudum bella alimoniam
praestitissent, pax coepit esse contraria; omnesque cum clamore magno ad regem
Theodemir accedentes Gothi orant, quacumque parte vellet ductaret exercitum."
64. 2 The chief town
of Riverside Noricum. Now Ens, or the small place Lorch, near Ens; authorities
differ. At the time of the Notitia Dignitatum Lauriacum was defended by
a strong garrison of soldiers, under the praefectus legionis secundae, and
by a squadron of the Danube flotilla.
65. 1 Caesar Baronius
supposes that this chapter and passages in Sidonius Apollinaris (Epistolae, vi,
12) and Gregory of Tours (Historia Francorum, ii, 24) relate to a
general famine, which, he believes, afflicted the northern provinces in 475.
"Quae Gallias vexa vit dira fames, aeque afflixit Raetios, Noricos, et
alios Boreales populos his finitimos." Annales Ecclesiastici, a. 475,
sects. 30-35. There seems, however, no sufficient reason for linking the dearth
at Lauriacum with that in Gaul, in the winter of 474-75, of which Sidonius and
Gregory speak. The latter was caused, not by the fault of the season, but by
the depredations of the Visigoths.
67. 1 Saint
Augustine (De Civitate Dei, xviii, 18) tells of the corn, called Retica
annona, sent from Italy for the supply of the soldiers in Raetia:
"dicebat . . . narrasse quae passus est, caballum se scilicet factum
annonam inter alia jumenta bajulasse militibus, quae dicitur Retica, quoniam ad
Retias deportatur."
68. 2 The cohors
nova Batavorum, according to the Notitia Dignitatum. The town, that
is, was a military station, and took its name from the garrison.
69. 1 It would indeed be
an evidence of an extensive fame, were we able to accept Mr. Hodgkin's
ingenious conjecture as to the source of the penultimate name of the celebrated
philosopher and poet Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, who was born at Rome
probably during the eighth decade of the fifth century. Italy and her
Invaders, iii (1885), p. 523 (or 2d ed., 1896, p. 471): " Severinus
was no doubt given to him in honour of one of the holiest names of the fifth
century, the saintly hermit of Noricum."
71. 2 Sanctuaria.
Reliquiae is also used with the same meaning; as, for example, three lines
above. The relics need not be of any great extent. Gregory the Great gave
orders on at least three occasions that sanctuaria or reliquiae of
Severinus himself should be furnished for the consecration of churches or
oratories. Epistolae, iii, 19; ix, 181; xi, 19. This was a hundred years
after the saint had been securely buried.
72. 1 Probably Hunimund,
king of the Suevi, whose raid into Dalmatia and hostilities with the Ostrogoths
are described by Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis, 53-55. Eduard von Wietersheim,
indeed, in his Geschichte der Völkerwanderung (2d ed., Leipsic,
1880-81), ii, p. 324, expresses the belief that the coincidence in name is
purely accidental. But if the Hunimund of Eugippius was not Hunimund the
Suevian king, who was he? Eugippius through his whole work is perfectly
definite in his identification of persons. He names in all some fifty
characters, aside from those mentioned in the Bible or in the church fathers.
Each is carefully labelled with the appropriate word or phrase, except two,
Stilicho (Chapter XXXVI) and Hunimund. It is a fair inference that Eugippius
left these names unqualified ----just as, for example, one would now in similar
references that of Napoleon or of Blücher ---- because no label seemed needed,
either for Stilicho, the great general of the Western Empire, or for Hunimund,
king of the Suevi, a principal leader in a war, not yet remote in time, that
had devastated Central Europe for years.
We may infer from the smallness of the force under the
command of Hunimund that the attack on Bojotro was made after the destructive
overthrows of the Suevi by the Ostrogoths; perhaps in 474 or 475. The sequence
of Eugippius's narrative points to the same date.
74. 2 F. W. Rettberg
believes that Severinus may have owed his foreknowledge of barbarian raids to
secret information received from his friends among the Germans. Kirchengeschichte
Deutschlands, i, pp. 232 f. This view is held also by Felix Dahn. Gelehrte
Anzeigen (Munich), 21 Sept. 1859, coll. 270 f. Reinhold Pallmann declines
to accept it. Die Geschichte der Völkerwanderung (Gotha, etc., 1863-64),
ii, p. 400, n. 1.
George Thomas Stokes remarks that Severinus "seems to
have been gifted with some kind of second-sight, similar to that which
Adamnan's Life of St. Columba claims for the Celtic saint of the following
century." Smith and Wace's Dictionary of Christian Biography, iv
(London, 1887), p. 627.
75. 1 With the view
of Severinus may be contrasted that of Saint Ambrose, Epistolae, xviii,
30: " deam esse victoriam crediderunt [pagani], quae utique munus est, non
potestas: donatur, non dominatur, legionum gratia, non religionum potentia
"; "they have believed Victory to be a goddess, which is in truth a
gift, not a power; is bestowed, and does not rule; comes by the aid of legions,
not by the power of religion."
76. 2 There is some
measure of justice in the comment which Pallmann makes upon the conduct of
Severinus in this instance. "With his words of discouragement Severinus
divided the strength of the citizens. Through his disheartening view of things,
he brought a part of them to despair, without helping in the least the others
who did not join him; rather, weakening them. So was the strength of the brave
citizens of Passau paralyzed." Die Geschichte der Völkerwanderung, ii,
p. 307. It would not, however, be fair to make this citation from Pallmann
without quoting also the passage (ibid., pp. 400 f.) in which he sums up
his opinion of the saint and his public activities. "It is a strange,
noble, powerful figure, this monk. ... A political head would certainly have
acted wholly otherwise than Severinus. We do not know whether he would have had
better success. Yet it was a piece of good fortune, that in the disastrous time
after the death of Aëtius, when on every side the dissolution of the Empire,
like the death of a human body, was beginning at the extremities, and the
provinces one by one were renouncing their connection with Italy; when we see
Gaul independent under Aegidius, Dalmatia under Marcellinus, that in Noricum,
if no general arose, yet at least a pure and lofty spirit sought to do the
works of righteousness."
80. 1 At an earlier
date Noricum was celebrated for its export trade in clothing. Expositio
totius Mundi et Gentium, 57.
81. 2 The
friendliness to the righteous of beasts usually wild and savage is a common
feature in early Christian narratives. See the index to Heribert Rosweyde's Vitae
Patrum (2d ed., Antverpiae, 1628). There are instances of lions
serving as guides in Rosweyde, pp. 231 a, 816 a; and of a wild ass in the same
capacity, p. 229 a.
82. 1 The best life of
Constantius is by Marcus Hansitz (Germania Sacra, i, pp. 82-87). Hansitz
believes that much of the success of Severinus in his work must have been due
to the cooperation of Constantius.
The 'archbishopric of Lauriacum' is a mediaeval forgery,
long since wholly discredited.
84. 1 That this exodus was
a partial one only, is indicated both by the laws of probability and by
Ennodius's Life of Antonius, 10-14. Antonius remained under the protection of
his uncle, Constantius, bishop of Lauriacum, for some time after the death of
Severinus.
85. 1 This chapter
is apparently out of the regular chronological sequence. Chapter XXVIII
presupposes the abandonment or destruction of all the towns on the Danube above
Lauriacum, including Bojotro. It is, however, the opinion of Fallmann (Geschichte
der Völkerwanderung, ii, pp. 393 f.) and of Julius Jung (Römer und
Romanen in den Donauländern, Innsbruck, 1877, p. 214) that there really was
no break of the sort indicated by Eugippius in the continuity of occupation.
86. 2 I Corinthians,
v, 5.
87. 1 Faulinus
Mediolanensis, Vita Ambrosii, 43.
89. 3 We shall not be far
astray if we suppose that the 'horrid pride' of which the three monks were
guilty was some form of insubordination. The relation between humility and
obedience in the monk is discussed by H. B. Workman in his essay, The
Evolution of the Monastic Ideal (London, 1913), pp. 68-74. "The third
fundamental idea of Monasticism," he says, "first specifically
introduced by Pachomius, was the renunciation of the will. This is sometimes
called obedience, sometimes humility; in reality, from the Monastic standpoint
the two tend to become one. The two are related as cause and effect; they are
different aspects of that complete self-renunciation which is higher than any
mere outer surrender. The man who has nailed his inner self to the cross cannot
be otherwise than humble; while the humble man will show his humility by a
perfect obedience."
90. 1 The couch of
Saint Anthony, the great Egyptian monk, was likewise a mohair rug; to which, in
his case, a rush mat was added. Athanasius, Vita Beati Antonii Abbatis (Evagrius's
translation), p. 38 a Rosweyde.
91. 2 Palladius (Heraclidis
Paradisus, 35) tells a like story in praise of the Egyptian monk Paphnutius
Cephala: "De quo tale refertur praeconium, quod per octoginta annos
numquam habuerit duas simul tunicas."
92. 3 Eusebius (Ecclesiastica
Historia, ii, 17; Crusé's translation, London, 1851, pp. 56 f.,
corrected) quotes Philo Judaeus, De Vita Contemplativa, in regard to the
asceticism of the Therapeutae of Egypt. " None of them " (he says)
" takes food or drink before the setting of the sun, since they judge that
the search for wisdom should be prosecuted in the light, while it is
appropriate that the necessities of the body should be attended to in the dark.
Whence they assign to the one the day, and to the other a small portion of the
night. But some of them do not remember their food for three days, when
influenced by an uncommon desire for knowledge. And some are so delighted, and
feast so luxuriously on the doctrines so richly and profusely furnished by
wisdom, that they forbear even twice this time, and are scarcely induced to
take necessary food even for six days." Eusebius considers that under the
name of Therapeutae Philo describes the early Christians. Valesius (notes to Eusebii
Ecclesiastica Historia, edition of 1672, p. 34) believes the contrary. The
matter is yet under discussion. H. B. Workman, The Evolution of the Monastic
Ideal, p. 90, especially note 1.
The association of eating by night with asceticism appears
to have survived, in a singularly altered form, in the religious body organized
by George Rapp in Wurtemberg on the model of the primitive church, and later
established at Harmony, Pennsylvania. See The Atlantic Monthly, May,
1866, p. 535.
93. 1 The learned Bavarian
historian, Johann Adlzreitter, floridly enlarges this conversation to three
times its length in Eugippius, and makes it the most prominent feature in his
long and curious summary of the Life. Annalium Boicae Gentis Partes III (1710),
coll. 124 f.
The comment of A. F. Ozanam upon this interview, though
quoted with approval by Montalembert (Les Moines d'Occident, i, p. 261)
and Charles Kingsley (The Hermits, p. 238), is more rhetorically
effective than just. "The history of invasions has many a pathetic scene:
but I know none more instructive than the dying agony of that old Roman
expiring between two barbarians, and less touched with the ruin of the empire
than with the peril of their souls." La Civilisation Chrétienne chez
les Francs (3d ed., Paris, 1861), pp. 41 f. It requires a certain amount of
naïveté not to see that the saint's prime concern in his warnings is rather the
tranquillity of the provincials than the souls' welfare of the royal couple.
95. 2 Instances
where saints are said to have predicted the day or even the hour of their
decease are not rare in the mediaeval narratives; but, as compared with the
present account, they are usually vague and perfunctory. A casual examination
of a volume of the Acta Sanctorum taken at random ---- September, iii
---- reveals three cases, on pages 58, 293, and 806.
96. 1 There is a life of
Valentine in Matthaeus Rader's Bavaria Sancta (Monad, 1615-27), i, ff.
24b, 25, 26a, with a fine engraving representing the saint in his arboreal
retreat.
" Rura Valentinum tutantur, et oppida pellunt.
Fas regnat ruri, regnat in urbe nefas."
Valentine is also mentioned by Venantius Fortunatus (Vita
Sancti Martini, iv, 644-648):
" Si vacat ire viam neque te Bajovarius obstat,
Qua vicina sedent Breonum loca, perge per Alpem,
Ingrediens rapido qua gurgite volvitur Aenus.
Inde Valentini benedicti templa require,
Norica rura petens, ubi Byrrus vertitur undis."
98. 2 Genesis, xlix, 1-33.
100. 2 I Chronicles,
xxviii, 9; Romans, viii, 27.
104. 2 Homo
saecularis. The same contrast of saecularis and monachus is
made by Saint Jerome, Epistola ad Paulinum de Institutione Monachi: "Saecularium,
et maxime potentium consortia devita. Quid tibi necesse est ea videre crebrius,
quorum contemtu Monachus esse coepisti? " Opera (Paris, 1693-1706),
iv, 2, col. 566. Homo saecularis cannot here be rendered 'layman'; the
monks themselves were reckoned laymen (laici) until the seventh
century.
107. 3 Locellum: in
the next chapter, loculum. André Baudrillart, in his biography, Saint
Severin, Apôtre du Norique (Paris, 1908), p. 192, speaks of this coffin as
"une sorte de chapelle portative ou d'oratoire," and represents the
monks, throughout the removal to Italy, as 'praying and singing in it day and
night.' This monstrous misconception may serve as a sufficient sample of the
insouciance with which M. Baudrillart has performed his task.
108. 1 Islands play an
exceedingly large part in the history of monasticism in the Occident. The
islands of the Mediterranean, the isles of Dalmatia and of the Tyrrhenian Sea,
swarmed with monks: not to mention other well-known examples. Lucas Holstenius,
Codex Regularum Monasticarum (Augustae Vindelicorum, 1759), i, p. ix;
Sulpicius Severus, De Beati Martini Vita, vi, 5; Rutilius Namatianus, De
Reditu suo, i, 439-452 (Capraria: "Squalet lucifugis insula plena
viris "); Hilarius Arelatensis, De Vita Sancti Honorati, iii, 16,
17, in Migne's Patrologia Latina, vol. 1, coll. 1257 f. (Lerina).
The encircling watery barrier answered a threefold purpose.
It served as protection alike against the enticements of the world, the sword
of the barbarian, and (according to the popular belief) the assaults of demons.
109. 1 A long and
entertaining account of a triumph celebrated by Odoacer at Rome after his
victory, given by A. Thierry in his Récits de l'Histoire Romaine au V° Siècle,
iii (Paris, i860), pp. 352 ff., is purely a product of Thierry's luxuriant
imagination. His invention is, however, unsuspectingly accepted as historical
fact by Leopold von Ranke (Weltgeschichte, iv, 1, Leipsic, 1883, p. 377)
and J. B. Bury (The Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, London,
1889, i, p. 289).
Paulus Diaconus (De Gestis Langobardorum, i, 19)
says that Odoacer put Feletheus to death. As to Giso's fate we know nothing
beyond what is declared by Eugippius. Thierry's statement (Récits, p.
352) followed by Bury (Later Roman Empire, i, p. 289), that she was
"thrown into a dungeon," rests on no authority.
110. 2 Perhaps now
Sistova, in Bulgaria.
111. 1 Julius Jung (Römer
und Romaner in den Donaidandern, p. 205) believes that the exodus was less
general than the words of Eugippius would seem to imply. Whatever may have been
the case with respect to the Roman population of Riverside Noricum, it is
obvious that there was no general withdrawal from Noricum Mediterrancum, where
the provincial organization was still in operation in the time of Theodoric.
Cassiodorus, Variae, iii, 50; Quitzmann, Die älteste Geschichte der
Baiern, p. 123.
112. 1 Probably the
present Macerata di Monte Feltre, south of San Marino.
113. 1 Thomas
Hodgkin (Italy and her Invaders, in, Oxford, 1885, pp. 190 f.; or 2d
ed., 1896, pp. 172 f.) seeks to identify Barbaria with the widow of Orestes and
mother of Romulus Augustulus. On this point see Jung's Römer und Romaner in
den Donauländer, p. 134; and Max Büdinger's Eugipius, eine Untersuchung,
in Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Vienna),
philosophisch-historische Classe, xci, 1 (1878), pp. 802 f.
115. 3 Two more
translations still awaited the body. October 14, 903, the Lucullan castle was
abandoned through fear of the marauding Saracens. The remains of the saint were
borne in solemn procession to the great Benedictine monastery of Saint
Severinus, within the walls of Naples. Joannes Diaconus Neapolitanus, Martyrium
Sancti Procopii, in Octavius Cajetanus's Vitae Sanctorum Siculorum (Panormi,
1657), ii, p. 62, reprinted in L. A. Muratori's Rerum Italicarum Scriptores (Mediolani,
1723-51), i, 2, pp. 271 f.; and the same, printed from another manuscript,
under the title of Translatio Sancti Severini or Historia
Translationis, in Acta Sanctorum, January, i (1643), pp. 1100-1103,
and reprinted thence in Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores Rerum
Langobardicarum et Italicarum Saec. VI-IX (Hannoverae, 1878), pp. 452-459.
----It should be noted, however, that Luigi Parascandolo, in his Memorie
Storiche-Critiche-Diplomatiche della Chiesa di Napoli (Naples, 1847-51),
ii, pp. 253 f., doubts the authenticity of this narrative, which, he thinks,
owes at least its present form to the labor of some Benedictine monk living in
the monastery of Saint Severinus at the time of the revival of learning.----
Descriptions of the monastery, now for the most part secularized and occupied
by the Royal Neapolitan State Archives, and of the church of Saints Severinus
and Sosius connected with it, may be found in Napoli e i Luoghi Celebri
delle sue Vicinanze (Naples, 1845), i, pp. 233-243, and in the current
guidebooks.
Here the remains of Severinus reposed for many centuries,
not in the large church, but beneath the great altar of the smaller primitive
church, or chapel, connected with it. The inscription on the great altar is
given in Acta Sanctorum, January, i, p. 499:
"Hic duo sancta simul divinaque corpora Patres Sosius
unanimes et Severinus habent."
According to Sebastian Brunner (Leben des St. Severin, Vienna,
1879, p. 170), the following inscription was found in the crypt when it was
opened in 1807: "Divis Severino Noricorum in Oriente Apostolo et Sosio
Levitae B. Januarii Episcopi in Passione socio Templum ubi eorum SS. Corpora
sub Altare majori requiescunt et Apostolico indultu cum oblatione sacra
purgantes animae liberantur."
The fourth removal was on May 30, 1807, after the
dissolution of the monastery under the French domination, to the town of Fratta
Maggiore, a few miles north of Naples. Stanislao d'Aloe, in Napoli e i
Luoghi Celebri dette sue Vicinanze, i, p. 240 (d'Aloe errs as to the date);
G. A. Galante, Memorie dell' Antico Cenobio Lucullano di S. Severino Abate (Naples,
1869), p. 41; Brunner, St. Severin, pp. 167-172. There was, it would
appear from Brunner's account, some ecclesiastical as well as civil authority
for the removal of the remains. Nevertheless Dr. Galante considers that they
were " fraudolentemente rapitoci " (p. 41), and in his dissertation
(pp. 41 f.) strongly urges their return to Naples. "Cives
Fractenses," he writes me under date of March 20, 1914, " non S.
Severini, sed S. Sosii corpus repetebant, et occasionem nacti expulsionis
Monachorum e coenobio et templo Severinianio, prope Archivium Magnum, corpora
utriusque simul quiescentia rapuerunt, et ad oppidum suum transtulerunt, ubi
nunc in majori templo Fractensi quiescunt. Quamvis Monachi postea redierint,
haud curae fuit, sacra lipsana repetere. Superioribus annis ego null uni non
movi lapidem ut corpus S. Severini Neapoli restitueretur, sed frustra;
praecordia tantum sanguine intincta, et quatuor ossa restituta sunt, quae nunc
in templo S. Severini asservantur."
From 1807 to 1874 the bodies of Severinus and Sosius lay in
a small chapel near the parish church of Fratta Maggiore. They were then
removed into the church, to a new chapel, where the coffins, placed on either
side the altar, were covered with red velvet, and distinguished by the gilt
letters S. S. M. (Sanctus Sosius Martyr) and S. S. A. (Sanctus Severinus
Abbas). Brunner, St. Severin, pp. 179 f.
116. 1 Paschasius here
imitates Sulpicius Severus, De Beati Martini Vita, Praef., i: "Quid
enim esset, quod non amori tuo vel cum detrimento mei pudoris inpenderem?"
118. 2 I Timothy,
iv, 12.
120. 4 I Maccabees,
ii, 49 seq.
121. 1 I Maccabees, iii,
8; v, 44, 68; x, 83 f.
122. 2 Revelation,
xxi, 2, 9.
123. 3 "As one lamp
lights another nor grows less, So nobleness enkindles nobleness."
This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, Ipswich, UK,
2004. All material on this page is in
the public domain - copy freely.
Greek text is rendered using the Scholars Press SPIonic
font, free from here.
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