Part 53 (1/2)
PRIMOLUS, RHENUS, AND DONATIAN, MARTYRS AT CARTHAGE.
From their original acts written, the first part by the martyrs themselves, the rest by an eye-witness. They are published more correctly by Ruinart than by Surius and Bollandus. See Tillemont, t. 4, p. 206.
A.D. 259.
THE persecution, raised by Valerian, had raged two years, during which many had received the crown of martyrdom, and, among others, St.
Cyprian, in September, 258. The proconsul Galerius Maximus, who had p.r.o.nounced sentence on that saint, dying himself soon after, the procurator, Solon, continued the persecution, waiting for the arrival of a new proconsul from Rome. After some days, a sedition was raised in Carthage against him, in which many were killed. The tyrannical man, instead of making search after the guilty, vented his fury upon the Christians, knowing this would be agreeable to the idolaters.
Accordingly he caused these eight Christians, all disciples of St.
Cyprian, and most of them of the clergy, to be apprehended. As soon as we were taken, say the authors of the acts, we were given in custody to the officers of the quarter:[1] when the governor's soldiers told us that we should be condemned to the flames, we prayed to G.o.d with great fervor to be delivered from that punishment: and he in {456} whose hands are the hearts of men, was pleased to grant our request. The governor altered his first intent, and ordered us into a very dark and incommodious prison, where we found the priest, Victor, and some others: but we were not dismayed at the filth and darkness of the place, our faith and joy in the Holy Ghost reconciled us to our sufferings in that place, though these were such as it is not easy for words to describe; but the greater our trials, the greater is he who overcomes them in us.
Our brother Rhenus, in the mean time, had a vision, in which he saw several of the prisoners going out of prison with a lighted lamp preceding each of them, while others, that had no such lamp, stayed behind. He discerned us in this vision, and a.s.sured us that we were of the number of those who went forth with lamps. This gave us great joy.
for we understood that the lamp represented Christ, the true light, and that we were to follow him by martyrdom.
The next day we were sent for by the governor, to be examined. It was a triumph to us to be conducted as a spectacle through the market-place and the streets, with our chains rattling. The soldiers, who knew not where the governor would hear its, dragged us from place to place, till, at length, he ordered us to be brought into his closet. He put several questions to us; our answers were modest, but firm: at length we were remanded to prison; here we prepared ourselves for new conflicts. The sharpest trial was that which we underwent by hunger and thirst, the governor having commanded that we should be kept without meat and drink for several days, insomuch that water was refused us after our work: yet Flavian, the deacon, added great voluntary austerities to these hards.h.i.+ps, often bestowing on others what little refreshment which was most sparingly allowed us at the public charge.
G.o.d was pleased himself to comfort us in this our extreme misery, by a vision which he vouchsafed to the priest Victor, who suffered martyrdom a few days after. ”I saw last night,” said he to us, ”an infant, whose countenance was of a wonderful brightness, enter the prison. He took us to all parts to make us go out, but there was no outlet; then he said to me, 'You have still some concern at your being retained here, but be not discouraged. I am with you: carry these tidings to your companions, and let them know that they shall have a more glorious crown.' I asked him where heaven was; the infant replied, 'Out of the world.' 'Show it me,'
says Victor. The infant answered, 'Where then would be your faith?'
Victor said, 'I cannot retain what you command me: tell me a sign that I may give them.' He answered, 'Give them the sign of Jacob, that is, his mystical ladder, reaching to the heavens.'” Soon after this vision, Victor was put to death. This vision filled us with joy.
G.o.d gave us, the night following, another a.s.surance of his mercy by a vision to our sister Quartillosia, a fellow-prisoner, whose husband and son had suffered death for Christ three days before, and who followed them by martyrdom a few days after. ”I saw,” says she, ”my son, who suffered; he was in the prison sitting on a vessel of water, and said to me: 'G.o.d has seen your sufferings.' Then entered a young man of a wonderful stature, and he said: 'Be of good courage, G.o.d hath remembered you.'” The martyrs had received no nourishment the preceding day, nor had they any on the day that followed this vision; but at length Lucian, then priest, and afterwards bishop of Carthage, surmounting all obstacles, got food to be carried to them in abundance by the subdeacon, Herermian, and by Januarius, a catechumen. The acts say they brought the never-failing food[2] {457} which Tillemont understands of the blessed eucharist, and the following words still more clearly determine it in favor of this sense. They go on: We have all one and the same spirit, which unites and cements us together in prayer, in mutual conversation, and in all our actions. These are those amiable bands which put the devil to flight, are most agreeable to G.o.d, and obtain of him, by joint prayer, whatever they ask. These are the ties which link hearts together, and which make men the children of G.o.d. To be heirs of his kingdom we must be his children, and to be his children we must love one another. It is impossible for us to attain to the inheritance of his heavenly glory, unless we keep that union and peace with all our brethren which our heavenly Father has established among us.
Nevertheless, this union suffered some prejudice in our troop, but the breach was soon repaired. It happened that Monta.n.u.s had some words with Julian, about a person who was not of our communion, and who was got among us, (probably admitted by Julian.) Monta.n.u.s on this account rebuked Julian, and they, for some time afterwards, behaved towards each other with coldness, which was, as it were, a seed of discord. Heaven had pity on them both, and, to reunite them, admonished Monta.n.u.s by a dream, which he related to us as follows: ”It appeared to me that the centurions were come to us, and that they conducted us through a long path into a s.p.a.cious field, where we were met by Cyprian and Lucius.
After this we came into a very luminous place, where our garments became white, and our flesh became whiter than our garments, and so wonderfully transparent, that there was nothing in our hearts but what was clearly exposed to view: but in looking into myself, I could discover some filth in my own bosom; and, meeting Lucian, I told him what I had seen, adding, that the filth I had observed within my breast denoted my coldness towards Julian. Wherefore, brethren, let us love, cherish, and promote, with all our might, peace and concord. Let us be here unanimous in imitation of what we shall be hereafter. As we hope to share in the rewards promised to the just, and to avoid the punishments wherewith the wicked are threatened: as, in fine, we desire to be and reign with Christ, let us do those things which will lead us to him and his heavenly kingdom.” Hitherto the martyrs wrote in prison what happened to them there: the rest was written by those persons who were present, to whom Flavian, one of the martyrs, had recommended it.
After suffering extreme hunger and thirst, with other hards.h.i.+ps, during an imprisonment of many months, the confessors were brought before the president, and made a glorious confession. The edict of Valerian condemned only bishops, priests, and deacons to death. The false friends of Flavian maintained before the judge that he was no deacon, and, consequently, was not comprehended within the emperor's decree; upon which, though he declared himself to be one, he was not then condemned; but the rest were adjudged to die. They walked cheerfully to the place of execution, and each of them gave exhortations to the people. Lucius, who was naturally mild and modest, was a little dejected on account of his distemper and the inconveniences of the prison; he therefore went before the rest, accompanied but by a few persons, lest he should be oppressed by the crowd, and so not have the honor to spill his blood.
Some cried out to him, ”Remember us.” ”Do you also,” says he, ”remember me.” Julian and Victoricus exhorted a long while the brethren to peace, and recommended to their care the whole body of the clergy, those especially who had undergone the hards.h.i.+ps of imprisonment. Monta.n.u.s, who was endued with great strength, both of body and mind, cried out, ”He that sacrificeth to any G.o.d but the true one, shall be utterly destroyed.” This he often repeated. He also checked the pride and wicked obstinacy of the heretics, telling them {458} that they might discern the true church by the mult.i.tude of its martyrs. Like a true disciple of Saint Cyprian, and a zealous lover of discipline, he exhorted those that had fallen not to be over hasty, but fully to accomplish their penance.
He exhorted the virgins to preserve their purity, and to honor the bishops, and all the bishops to abide to concord. When the executioner was ready to give the stroke, he prayed aloud to G.o.d that Flavian, who had been reprieved at the people's request, might follow them on the third day. And, to express his a.s.surance that his prayer was heard, he rent in pieces the handkerchief with which his eyes were to be covered, and ordered one half of it to be reserved for Flavian, and desired that a place might be kept for him where he was to be interred, that they might not be separated even in the grave. Flavian, seeing his crown delayed, made it the object of his ardent desires and prayers. And as his mother stuck close by his side with the constancy of the mother of the holy Maccabees, and with longing desires to see him glorify G.o.d by his sacrifice, he said to her ”You know, mother, how much I have longed to enjoy the happiness of dying by martyrdom.” In one of the two nights which he survived, he was favored with a vision, in which one said to him: ”Why do you grieve? You have been twice a confessor, and you shall suffer martyrdom by the sword.” On the third day he was ordered to be brought before the governor. Here it appeared how much he was beloved by the people, who endeavored by all means to save his life. They cried out to the judge that he was no deacon; but he affirmed that he was. A centurion presented a billet which set forth that he was not. The judge accused him of lying to procure his own death. He answered: ”Is that probable? and not rather that they are guilty of an untruth who say the contrary?” The people demanded that he might be tortured, in hopes he would recall his confession on the rack; but the judge condemned him to be beheaded. The sentence filled him with joy, and he was conducted to the place of execution, accompanied by a great mult.i.tude, and by many priests. A shower dispersed the infidels, and the martyr was lead into a house where he had an opportunity of taking his last leave of the faithful without one profane person being present. He told them that in a vision he had asked Cyprian whether the stroke of death is painful, and that the martyr answered: ”The body feels no pain when the soul gives herself entirely to G.o.d.” At the place of execution he prayed for the peace of the church and the union of the brethren; and seemed to foretell Lucian that he should be bishop of Carthage, as he was soon after. Having done speaking, he bound his eyes with that half of the handkerchief which Monta.n.u.s had ordered to be kept for him, and, kneeling in prayer, received the last stroke. These saints are joined together on his day in the present Roman and in ancient Martyrologies.
Footnotes: 1. Apud regionantes.
2. Alimentum indeficiens.
ST. LETHARD, BISHOP OF SENLIS, C.
CALLED BY VENERABLE BEDE, LUIDHARD.
BEDE, William of Malmesbury, and other historians relate, that when Bertha, daughter of Charibert, king of the French, was married to Ethelbert, king of Kent, about the year 566, this holy French prelate accompanied her into England, and resided at Canterbury in quality of almoner and chaplain to the queen. Though his name does not occur in the imperfect catalogue of the bishops of Senlis, which is found in the ancient copy of St. Gregory's sacramentary, which belonged to that church in 880, nor in the old edition of Gallia Christiana yet, upon the authority of the English historians, {459} is inserted in the new edition, the thirteenth, from St. Regulus, the founder of that see, one of the Roman missionaries in Gaul about the time of St. Dionysius. The relics of St. Regulus are venerated in the ancient collegiate church which bears his name in Senlis, and his princ.i.p.al festival is kept on the 23d of April. St. Lethard having resigned this see to St. Sanctinus, was only recorded in England. On the high altar of St. Augustine's monastery at Canterbury, originally called SS. Peter and Paul's, his relics were exposed in a shrine near those of the holy king Ethelbert, as appears from the Monasticon. St. Lethard died at Canterbury about the year 596. Several miracles are recorded to have been obtained by his intercession, particularly a ready supply of rain in time of drought.
See Bede, l. 1, c. 25. Will. of Malmesbury, de Pontif. l. 1. Monas.
Angl. t. 1, p. 24. Tho. Sprot, in his History of the Abbey of Canterbury, Thorn, Henschenius ad 24 Feb., Gallia Christ. Nova, t. 10, p. 1382.
B. ROBERT OF ARBRISSEL,
SO CALLED FROM THE PLACE OF HIS BIRTH.
HE was archpriest and grand vicar of the diocese of Rennes, and chancellor to the duke of Brittany; but divested himself of these employments, and led a most austere eremitical life, in the forest of Craon, in Anjou. He soon filled that desert with anch.o.r.ets, and built in it a monastery of regular canons. This is the abbey called De la Roe, in Latin De Rota, which was founded, according to d.u.c.h.esne, in 1093, and confirmed by pope Urban II., in 1096. This pope having heard him preach at Angers, gave him the powers of an apostolical missionary. The blessed man therefore preached in many places, and formed many disciples. In 1099 he founded the great monastery of Fontevraud, Fons Ebraldi, a league from the Loire, in Poitou. He appointed superioress Herlande of Champagne, a near kinswoman to the duke of Brittany; and Petronilla of Craon, baroness of Chemille, coadjutress. He settled it under the rule of St. Benedict, with perpetual abstinence from flesh, even in all sicknesses, and put his order under the special patronage of the blessed Virgin. By a singular inst.i.tution, he appointed the abbess superioress over the men, who live in a remote monastery, whose superiors she nominates. The holy founder prescribed so strict silence in his order, as to forbid any one to speak, even by signs, without necessity. The law of enclosure was not less rigorous, insomuch that no priest was allowed to enter even the infirmary of the nuns, to visit the sick, if it could possibly be avoided, and the sick, even in their agonies, were carried into the church, that they might there receive the sacraments. Among the great conversions of which St. Robert was the instrument, none was more famous than that of queen Bertrade, the daughter of Simon Montfort, and sister of Amauri Montfort, count of Evreux. She was married to Fulk, count of Anjou, in 1089, but quitted him in 1092, to marry Philip I., king of France, who was enamored of her. Pope Urban II. excommunicated that prince on this account in 1094, and again in 1100, because the king, after having put her away, had taken her again. These censures were taken off when she and the king had sworn upon the gospels, in the council of Poitiers, never to live together again. Bertrade, when she had retired to an estate which was her dower, in the diocese of Chartres, was so powerfully moved by the exhortations of St. Robert, that, renouncing the world, of which she had been long the idol, she took the religious veil at Fontevraud, and led there an exemplary life till her death. Many other princesses embraced the same state {460} under the direction of the holy founder: among others Hersande of Champagne, widow of William of Monsoreau; Agnes of Montroeil, of the same family; Ermengarde, wife of Alin Fergan, duke of Brittany; {}pa, countess of Thoulouse, wife of William IX., duke of Aquitaine, &c. After the death of St. Robert, several queens and princesses had taken sanctuary in this monastery, flying from the corruption of the world.
Among its abbesses are counted fourteen princesses, of which five were of the royal house of Bourbon. The abbot Suger, writing to pope Eugenius III., about fifty years after the death of the founder, says there were at that time in this order between five and six thousand religious persons. The order of Fontevraud, in France, is divided into four provinces. B. Robert lived to see above three thousand nuns in this one house. He died in 1116, on the 25th of February, St. Matthias's day, it being leap-year, in the seventieth of his age, at the monastery of Orsan, near Linieres, in Berry. His body was conveyed to Fontevraud, and there interred. The bishop of Poitiers, in 1644, took a juridical information of many miracles wrought by his intercession.[1] From the time of his death he has been honored with the t.i.tle of blessed, and is invoked in the litany of his order, which keeps his festival only with a ma.s.s of the Trinity on St. Matthias's day. See his life by Baldric, bishop of Dole, his contemporary; Helyot, Hist. des Ordres Relig. t. 6, p. 83, Dom Lobineau, Hist. de Bretagne, fol. 1707, p. 113, and, in the first place, Chatelain, Notes on the Martyrol. p. 736 to 758, who clearly confutes those who place his death in 1117.
Footnotes: 1. Some have raked up most groundless slanders to asperse the character of this holy man, as, that he admitted all to the religious habit that asked it, and was guilty of too familiar conversation with women. These slanders were spread in a letter of Roscelin, whose errors against faith were condemned in the council of Soissons in 1095. Such scandalous reports excited the zeal of some good men, and they are mentioned in a letter ascribed to Marbodius, bishop of Rennes, and in another of G.o.dfrey, abbot of Vendome, addressed to the holy man himself. This last letter seems genuine, though some have denied it. But the charge was only gathered from hearsay, and notoriously false, as the very authors of these letters were soon convinced. It is not surprising that a man who bade open defiance to all sinners, and whose reputation ran so high in the world, should excite the murmurs of some and envy of others, which zeal and merit never escape. But his boldness to declaim against the vices of great men, and the most hardened sinners; the high encomiums and favorable testimonies which all who knew him gave to his extraordinary sanct.i.ty, which forced even envy itself to respect him; and his most holy comportment and happy death, furnish most invincible proofs of his innocence and purity; which he preserved only by humility, and the most scrupulous flight of all dangerous occasions. G.o.dfrey of Vendome was afterwards perfectly satisfied of the sanct.i.ty of this great servant of G.o.d and became his warmest friend and patron; as is evident from several of his letters. See l. 1, ep. 24, and 26, l. 3, ep.2, l. 4, ep. 32. He entered into an a.s.sociation of prayers with the monastery of Fontevraud in 1114; and so much did he esteem his virtue that he made a considerable foundation at Fontevraud, often visited the church, and built himself a house near it, called Hotel de Vendome, that he might more frequently enjoy the converse of St.
Robert, and promote his holy endeavors. The letter of Marbodius is denied to be genuine by Mainferme and Natalis Alexander, and suspected by D. Beaugendre, who published the works of Marbodius at Paris, in 1708. But the continuator of the Hist. Litter. t. 10, p.
359, clearly shows this letter to have been written by Marbodius, who, in it, speaks of these rumors without giving credit to them, and with tenderness and charity exhorts Robert to reform his conduct if the reports were true; to dissipate them by justifying himself, if they were false. Marbodius was soon satisfied as to these calumnies, and was the saint's great protector, in 1101, in his missions in Brittany, particularly in his diocese of Rennes; whither he seems to have invited him. Ermengarde, countess of Brittany, was so moved by St. Robert's sermons, that she earnestly desired to renounce the world, and retire to Fontevraud. The saint exhorted her to continue in the world, and to sanctify her soul by her duties in her public station, especially by patience and prayer: yet, some years after, she took the veil at Fontevaud. See F. de la Mainferme, in his three apologetic volumes in vindication of this patriarch of his order, Natalis Alexander, saec. xii. diss. 6, and especially Sorin's Apologetique du Saint. in 1702, a polite and spirited work.
ST. PRETEXTATUS, OR PRIX, M.