Life of St Severinus 1 part 3/4

The citizens too from the town of Lauriacum, formerly admonished by the frequent exhortation of holy Severinus, had delayed to offer the tithes of their crops to the poor. When these were constrained by famine, now as the ripeness of the harvests was growing golden, neighbouring supplies were being shown to them. But when the corruption of an unforeseen blight, about to harm the crops, appeared, they soon came together to him, prostrate, confessing the penalties of their obstinacy. And the soldier of Christ relieved the weary ones with spiritual words, saying: 'If you had offered the tithes to the poor, not only would you enjoy an eternal reward, but you could also abound in present advantages. But because you chasten your fault by your own confession, of the Lord's mercy I promise that the present blight, though so strong, will not harm at all:'

only let your faith not waver henceforth.' Indeed this promise rendered the citizens more ready to pay the tithes from that time. Then, as was his custom, he exhorted them to proclaim a fast; and when this was completed, a gentle rain cut off the harms of the despaired-of harvest. XIX. Batavis is the name of a town situated between two rivers, namely the Inn and the Danube, where blessed Severinus had founded, in his usual manner, a cell for a few monks, because he himself, being often invited, used to come thither—especially on account of the constant incursions of the Alamanni, whose king Gibuldus regarded him with the highest reverence. He also at a certain time eagerly hastened to see him.

The holy man went out to meet him, lest by his arrival he should burden that same city, and addressed the king with such firmness that he began to tremble exceedingly before him; and withdrawing, he declared to his own armies that never, either in matter of war or in any dread, had he been shaken with so great a trembling. And when he gave the servant of God the choice of commanding what he wished, the most pious teacher asked rather that, as a favour to himself, he should restrain his people from the devastation of the Romans, and graciously release the captives whom his men held.

Then the king appointed that he should direct one of his men to carry out that work more speedily; and Amantius the deacon, being immediately sent, follows the king close on his track; but, keeping watch before his doors for many days, he could not be announced. To him, returning most sorrowful with the matter for which he had been sent not accomplished, there appeared a certain one bearing the likeness of holy Severinus, who, with a threatening summons, ordered the terrified man to follow him. And when, frightened and agitated, he followed, he came to the gate of the king, and straightway that leading guide vanished from the eyes of the astonished man. Now the king's messenger asks the deacon whence he was and what he hoped for. He, briefly explaining the matter, the letters being offered to the king and received back, returned home.

Being dismissed therefore, he brought back nearly seventy captives, and moreover delivered the king's welcome promise, by which he pledged that, when he had carefully traversed the province, he would send back as many captives as he should find in it. For which matter holy Lucillus the presbyter, sent afterwards, recalled a great multitude of the wretched from captivity. XX. During the same period in which the Roman empire still stood firm, the soldiers of many towns were maintained by the public pay for the guarding of the frontier. When this custom ceased, the military companies were destroyed together with the frontier, the garrison of Batavis somehow enduring still.

From there certain men had set out for Italy to bring the last pay to their fellow-soldiers; but no one knew that they had been slain on the journey by the barbarians. On a certain day therefore, while holy Severinus was reading in his cell, suddenly, closing the book, he began to weep with a great sigh. He orders those standing by to run quickly to the river, which at that hour he affirmed to be sprinkled with human blood; and straightway it was announced that the bodies of the aforesaid soldiers had been carried to the shore by the rush of the river. XXI. A certain presbyter named Paulinus had come to holy Severinus, his fame spreading more widely. He, lingering some days in the company of the blessed man, when he wished to return, heard from him:

'Hasten, venerable presbyter, because soon the dignity of the episcopate will adorn your beloved self, struggling against it, as we believe, by the desires of the peoples.' And soon, as he was returning to his homeland, the word of the one who foretold it was fulfilled in him. For the citizens of Tiburnia, which is the metropolis of Noricum, compelled the aforesaid man to take up the leadership of the highest priesthood. XXII. In the basilica outside the walls of the town of Batavis, in a place named Boiotro, situated across the river Inn, where he himself had built a cell for a few monks, relics of the martyrs were being sought. When therefore the presbyters were urging themselves forward to be sent to bring back the holy things, blessed Severinus brought forth these admonitions:

'Although all things constructed by the work of mortals pass away, yet these buildings, before the rest, must very speedily be abandoned.' And therefore one ought to undertake no labour for the relics of the saints, because of its own accord the blessing of holy John would be brought to them. Meanwhile the citizens of the said town came suppliantly to the blessed man, that, going to Feba, the prince of the Rugi, he might ask for them licence to trade. To whom he said: 'The time of this town has drawn near, that it should remain deserted like the other forts higher up, destitute of an inhabitant.'

'What need therefore is there to provide merchandise for places where a merchant will no longer be able to appear?' When they replied that they ought not to be despised, but to be relieved by the accustomed governance, a certain presbyter, filled with a diabolical spirit, added these words: 'Go, I pray, holy one, go quickly, that by your departure we may rest a little while from fastings and vigils.' At which saying the man of God was pressed by great tears, because, in the hearing of all, the priest had burst out into ridiculous folly. For open buffoonery is the testimony of hidden faults. And so the holy man, being asked by the brethren why he wept thus, said:

'I see,' he said, 'a most grievous plague about forthwith to befall this place when we are absent, and the sanctuaries of Christ—which not without groaning am I compelled to utter—will overflow with human blood, to such a degree that even this place will have to be profaned.' For he was speaking in the baptistery. And so he descended by boat upon the Danube to his ancient and, of all, greatest monastery near the walls of the town of Favianis, which was distant a hundred and more miles. Soon therefore, when he had departed, Hunumund, accompanied by a few barbarians, invaded the town of Batavis, as the holy man had foretold, and, nearly all the inhabitants being detained at the harvest, slew forty men of the town who had remained for its guarding.

That presbyter too, who had spoken so sacrilegiously against the servant of Christ in the baptistery, the pursuing barbarians slew as he fled to that same place. For in vain did the enemy of truth, having offended God, come there where he had so shamelessly transgressed. XXIII. So then the most holy Severinus, while he was reading the Gospel in the monastery at Favianis, the prayer being completed, rising up orders a skiff to be prepared for him at once, and to those who wondered he said: 'Blessed be the name of the Lord: it behoves us to go to meet the sanctuaries of the blessed martyrs.' Without delay, the Danube being crossed, they find a man sitting on the farther bank of the river and asking them with many entreaties that he might be led to the servant of God, to whom—the report spreading abroad—he had long desired to come.

And so soon, the servant of Christ being shown to him, he suppliantly offered the relics of holy John the Baptist, which had been preserved by him for many times. And the servant of God, receiving them with due veneration, consecrated the basilica of holy John, as he had foretold, by the ministry of the priests, with the blessing freely conferred. XXIV. Moreover, to the inhabitants of the town which was called Ioviacum, separated more than twenty miles from Batavis, the man of God, admonished by his usual revelation, sent Moderatus by name, a cantor of the church, charging that all should without hesitation leave the dwelling of that place: for soon they would perish if they despised what was commanded.

While some therefore doubted concerning so great a prophecy, and others utterly disbelieved, he again sent a certain man of Quintanis, to whom, weeping, he said: 'Go more quickly, announcing to them: if they remain there this same night, they will be taken without delay.' He also commands that holy Maximianus, a presbyter of spiritual life, be more urgently admonished, that he at least, leaving the despisers behind, should hasten to be delivered by heavenly mercy; concerning whom the servant of God said that great sadness was within him, lest perchance, by deferring the salutary command, he should be subjected to the imminent destruction.

And so the aforesaid man, going, fulfilled the commands; and while the rest wavered in unbelief, the messenger of the man of God in no way assented to the presbyter, who held him back and desired to offer him the grace of hospitality. On which night the Heruli, suddenly and unexpectedly rushing in and laying waste the town, led very many away captive, hanging the said presbyter on a gallows. On hearing which, the servant of God grieved heavily that those forewarned had taken no care. XXV. Then a certain man from Noricum, Maximus by name, accustomed to frequent the servant of God, when he had come and, on account of the familiarity which he had earned, was lingering some days in the holy man's monastery, is informed by his oracles that his homeland would suddenly undergo a grave destruction.

He, having received letters directed to holy bishop Paulinus, returned more urgently. So then the said bishop, instructed beforehand by the tenor of the letters, vehemently admonished by his own writings all the forts of his diocese, that by a three-day fast, which the letters of the man of God had indicated, they should meet the destruction of the coming disaster. When these fulfilled the commands, the fast being ended, behold, a most copious multitude of the Alamanni savagely laid all things waste, but the forts felt no danger, which the breastplate of faithful fasting and the praiseworthy humility of heart, through the prophetic man, had confidently armed against the ferocity of the enemies. XXVI. After these things a certain leper of the territory of Milan had gone to holy Severinus, his fame inviting him:

this man, suppliantly imploring the remedies of health, he commended to his monks, a fast being enjoined; and immediately, by the grace of God working, he was cleansed. And when, his health recovered, he was being urged to return to his homeland, he prostrated himself at the feet of the holy man, asking that he might not be compelled to return any further to his own, desiring indeed that he might escape the leprosy of sins as well as that of the flesh, and end his life in that same place with a praiseworthy end. The man of God, greatly admiring his religious mind, by paternal injunction charged a few monks, fasts being frequented with him, to persevere in continual prayer, that the Lord might grant him the things which were fitting.

And so, fortified by such remedies, within the space of two months he was loosed from the fetters of mortal life. XXVII. At the same time the inhabitants of the town of Quintanis, now worn out by the very frequent incursions of the Alamanni, leaving their own seats, migrated into the town of Batavis. But the refuge of the aforesaid men did not lie hidden from those same barbarians: for which cause they were the more inflamed, believing that they were plundering the peoples of two towns in one assault. But blessed Severinus, lying more strongly upon prayer, in manifold ways exhorted the Romans with salutary examples, foretelling that the present enemies would indeed be overcome by the help of God, but that after the victory those who despised his admonitions would perish.

Therefore all the Romans, confirmed by the prediction of the holy man, in the hope of the promised victory drew up their battle-line against the Alamanni, fortified not so much by material arms as by the prayers of the holy man. In this engagement, the Alamanni being conquered and put to flight, the man of God thus addresses the victors: 'Sons, do not impute to your own strength the palm of the present struggle, knowing that you have now been delivered by the protection of God for this reason: that hence, after a short interval of time, as if by certain granted truces, you may depart. Therefore gather together and go down with me to the town of Lauriacum.' These things the man of God, full of piety, admonished. But when the people of Batavis hesitated to leave their native soil, he added thus:

'Although that town too, to which we are going, must with all speed be abandoned at the onset of the barbarians, yet let us now depart from here together.' Very many followed him as he thus admonished, but certain ones were found obstinate, nor was the enemy's sword lacking to the despisers. For whoever remained there against the prohibitions of the man of God, when the Thuringians rushed in during that same week, some indeed were slaughtered, others led off into captivity, and so paid the penalties for their contempt. XXVII.

Therefore, after the destruction of the towns in the upper part of the Danube, he prepared by assiduous exhortations the whole people who, migrating into the town of Lauriacum, had obeyed the admonitions of holy Severinus, that they should not trust in their own strength, but, persisting in prayers and fastings and almsgivings, should rather fortify themselves with spiritual arms. Moreover, on a certain day the man of God appointed all the poor to be gathered in one basilica, intending to distribute oil as reason demanded: which commodity only a most difficult conveyance of merchants used to bring to those places. So, as if for the grace of receiving a blessing, a larger throng of the needy flowed together: for, being more precious in that place, the nourishment of this liquid increased the crowd and the number of those asking.

Then the blessed man, the prayer completed and the sign of the cross impressed, uttering before all the hearers the word of Holy Scripture customary to him, said: 'Blessed be the name of the Lord.' Then he began with his own hand to fill the oil for the ministers who carried it, imitating, as a faithful servant, his Lord, who had come not to be ministered to but rather to minister, and, following the footsteps of the Saviour, he rejoiced that the substance was increased which, by the office of his right hand, his left hand not knowing, he poured out. Indeed, the vessels of the poor being filled, nothing was diminished in the hands of those ministering. While therefore those standing around silently marvelled at so great a benefit of God, one of them, whose name was Plentissimus, terrified with exceeding amazement, cried out:

'My lord, this pot of oil is growing and overflows in the manner of a fountain.' Thus that most welcome liquid, its power betrayed, was withdrawn. Straightway the servant of Christ, crying out, said: 'What have you done, brother? You have blocked the advantages of very many: may the Lord Jesus Christ forgive you.' So once a widow woman, burdened with debts, was instructed by the commands of the prophet Elisha to fill very many vessels from the drop of oil which she had. And when she had done so and was still asking vessels from her sons, when she heard that the number of vessels had failed, the oil too straightway stood still. XXIX.

During the same period Maximus of Noricum, of whom we made mention above, kindled with the heat of faith, in the middle of winter—when the roads of that region are closed by stiffening frost—strove to come to blessed Severinus with bold rashness, or rather, as afterwards became clear, with intrepid devotion, having hired very many companions to carry on their necks the garments that would profit the captives and the poor, which the religious contribution of the Noricans had provided abundantly. And so, having set out, they came to the highest summits of the Alps, where throughout the whole night so much snow gathered together that it enclosed them, walled around by the shelter of a great tree, as though sunk into a vast pit.

And when they had utterly despaired of their lives, since no remedy came to aid them, the leader of the company saw in his sleep a certain man standing in the likeness of the man of God and saying to him: 'Do not be afraid; go on as you have begun.' Heartened at once, therefore, by this revelation, when they had begun to journey more by faith than by their steps, suddenly, by divine prompting, a bear of enormous size came forth from the side and appeared as if to show them the way—a beast that is accustomed in the winter season to hide itself in caves. Straightway it opened up the desired road and for nearly two hundred miles, turning neither to the left nor to the right, it showed them the longed-for path. For it went before them at just such a distance as would prepare a trail by a fresh track.

And so the beast, advancing through the vastness of the wilderness, did not abandon the men who were bringing relief to the needy, but led them with what kindness it could right up to the dwellings of men, and presently, its task fulfilled, it turned aside into one direction—showing by so great a service of guidance what men ought to render to their fellow men, how much love they ought to expend, since a savage beast had shown the way to those who despaired of it. When, therefore, those who had come were announced to the servant of God, he said: 'Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Let them enter, for whom the bear opened the road by which they came.' Hearing this, they marveled with exceeding astonishment that the man of God should relate what had happened in his absence. (30)

Likewise the citizens of the town of Lauriacum and the refugees from the higher fortresses, by sending out scouts to suspect places, were guarding against the enemy with all the human vigilance they could. These men the servant of God, admonished by a divine prompting and foreseeing with prophetic mind, instructed beforehand to enclose within the walls all the sustenance of their poverty, so that the deadly incursion of the foes, finding nothing of human provision, might at once, driven by hunger, abandon the monstrous undertakings of their cruelty. Having attested these things for four days, when the day was now drawing toward evening, he sent a monk named Valens to Saint Constantius, bishop of that place, and to the others dwelling there:

'This night,' he said, 'with watches set along the walls as is customary, keep guard more strictly, taking care against the ambushes of an enemy who is coming upon you.' But they kept asserting that they perceived nothing hostile at all through their scouts. Yet the servant of Christ, not ceasing to forewarn, cried out with a loud voice to those who doubted, declaring that on that very night they would be captured unless they faithfully obeyed his commands, repeating again and again: 'If I have lied,' he said, 'stone me.' And so, at length compelled to keep watch upon the walls, when the customary psalmody had been completed at the beginning of night, and they had begun to keep vigil with a very great gathering, a heap of hay placed nearby, kindled by the torch of an unwilling bearer, gave light, not a conflagration, to the city.

On this occasion, while all were shouting, the enemy, hidden in the groves of the forests, terrified by the sudden brightness and clamor, supposing themselves to have been detected beforehand, kept quiet; and when morning had come, surrounding the city and running about everywhere, when they had found nothing of provisions, they withdrew, having plundered the herd of animals belonging to a certain man who, despite the servant of God foretelling it, had stubbornly scorned to protect his own. But as these were departing, the citizens, going out of the gates, found not far from the walls ladders lying about, which the barbarians, while preparing them for the destruction of the city, had thrown down in the night, thrown into confusion by the shout of the watchmen.

Wherefore the aforesaid citizens begged pardon of the servant of Christ, humbly confessing that their hearts had been harder than stones, in that they recognized by present events that prophetic grace had been vigorous in the holy man: for surely the whole disobedient people would then have gone into captivity, had not the customary prayer of the man of God preserved them free—as the apostle James testifies: 'The constant prayer of a righteous man,' he says, 'avails much.' (31)

Feletheus, king of the Rugii, who was also called Feva, hearing that the remnants of all the towns which had escaped the barbaric swords had betaken themselves to Lauriacum through the servant of God, came with an army he had assembled, intending suddenly to carry off those who were detained and to settle them in the towns tributary and near to himself, of which one was Favianae, which was separated from the Rugii only by the Danube. For which reason all, gravely disturbed, came to Saint Severinus as suppliants, that going out to meet the king he might soften his mind. Hastening to meet him all night long, he met him in the morning at the twentieth milestone from the city. The king, therefore, immediately dreading his coming, declared himself greatly burdened by his weariness; and so he inquired the reasons for this sudden encounter.

To him the servant of God said: 'Peace be to you, most excellent king. I come as Christ's ambassador, to beg mercy for your subjects. Recall the grace, remember the divine benefits, by which your father often felt himself aided. For in all the times of his reign he presumed to do nothing without consulting me. He, not resisting wholesome admonitions, recognized by frequent prosperities how much an obedient spirit is worth, and how greatly it profits conquerors not to be puffed up by their victories.' And the king:

'This people,' he said, 'for whom you come as a benevolent intercessor, I will not suffer to be laid waste by the savage plundering of the Alamanni and the Thuringians, nor to be slaughtered by the sword, nor reduced to servitude, since the towns near and tributary to us are those in which they ought to be settled.' To him the servant of Christ steadfastly answered thus: 'Were these men rescued from the all-too-frequent ravaging of robbers by your bow or your sword, and not rather reserved by the gift of God, that they might be able for a little while to serve you? Now therefore, most excellent king, do not reject my counsel; entrust these who are subject to my faith, lest they be laid waste rather than removed by the constraint of so great an army.

For I trust in my Lord that He who made me share in the calamities of these men will make me a fit guarantor for bringing them through.' Hearing these things, the king, mollified by the modest pleadings, immediately returned with his army. And so the Romans, whom Saint Severinus had received into his protection, departing from Lauriacum, were settled in the towns by peaceful arrangements, and lived in friendly fellowship with the Rugii. He himself, however, dwelling at Favianae in his old monastery, did not cease either to admonish the peoples or to foretell things to come, asserting that all would migrate into the province of Roman soil without any loss of their liberty. (33)

In those same times King Odovacar, sending a friendly letter to Saint Severinus, humbly offered him the choice, if there were anything he thought worth hoping for—mindful of that prophecy by which Severinus had once foretold that he would reign. Invited, therefore, by such great addresses from him, the saint asked that a certain Ambrosius who was in exile be released. To this Odovacar gladly complied with the commands. At a certain time, too, while many nobles in the presence of the holy man were praising the aforesaid king with human flattery, as is wont to happen, he asked whom they had so extolled with such great praises. When they answered, 'Odovacar,' he said, 'Odovacar—between thirteen and fourteen,' signifying the years, namely, of his complete reign:

and having said this he added that they would soon prove what he himself had foretold. (23) Being humbly entreated by the townsmen of Comagenae, among whom he had once first become known, the blessed Severinus came. When his presence was learned, one of the nobles of King Feletheus, his young son afflicted with a long-lasting illness, for whom he was already preparing the funeral rites, having crossed the Danube on foot, cast him down before Severinus and weeping said: 'I believe, man of God, that you will obtain swift healing for my son by divine power.' Then, prayer having been offered, he who had been brought half-dead at once rose up whole, to his father's amazement, and in perfect health straightway returned. (34)

A certain man too, suffering from elephantiasis, Teio by name, came from distant regions, drawn by the powers of Saint Severinus, asking to be cleansed by his prayer. Having received, then, the customary precept, he is bidden to entreat God, the bestower of all grace, without ceasing and with tears. What more? By the prayers of the blessed man that same leper, cleansed by divine aid, while he changes his ways for the better, deserved also to change his color, proclaiming far and wide the great deeds of the Eternal King with his own voice and that of very many. (35)

Bonosus also, a monk of blessed Severinus, a barbarian by birth, who clung to his counsels, greatly weighed down by weakness of his eyes, kept begging that a remedy be granted him by Severinus's prayer, bearing it ill that newcomers and strangers should experience the supports of saving grace, while to himself no help of remedies was in any way afforded. To him the servant of God said: 'It is not expedient for you, my son, to have sharp vision in your bodily eyes and to display clear sight with your outward eyes:

rather pray that your inner sight may be quickened.' Instructed therefore by such admonitions, he gave his effort to seeing more with the heart than with the body, and deserved without any weariness to become wonderfully constant in the perpetuity of prayer; and persevering for nearly forty years in the watches of the monastery, he passed away with that same warmth of faith with which he had been converted. (36)

At the place Boiotrum, mentioned above, the humble teacher, when he had ascertained that three monks of his monastery, defiled with the foulness of pride, having each been rebuked for their excesses, persisted in their ruin, prayed that the Lord, receiving them into the adoption of sons, might deign to correct them with a fatherly scourge. Before, therefore, he ended his prayer with poured-out tears, in one moment those same monks, vexed by a seizing demon, confessed the stubbornness of their breast with their voices.

Far be it that this should seem cruel or harmful to anyone, because such men were delivered 'to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,' as the blessed apostle teaches, 'that the spirit may be saved in the Lord God Jesus,' since the blessed Ambrose, bishop of Milan, said that a servant of Stilicho, caught as the author of forged letters, ought to be handed over to Satan, lest he should dare to commit such things in the future: and that man, in the same moment, while the word was still in the priest's mouth, an unclean spirit seized and began to tear apart.

Severus Sulpicius also relates, from the account of Postumianus, that a certain man, wonderful for his great powers and signs, prayed that he might expel from his heart the vanity of boastfulness into which he had fallen, 'so that, the devil's power being permitted over him for five months, he might become like those whom he himself had cured.' And the same author after a little: and so, 'seized by a demon, held in chains, having suffered all those things which the possessed are wont to endure, he was at last cured in the fifth month, not only of the demon, but—what was more useful and more desired for him—of his vanity.' And so the man of God consigned the aforesaid monks, handed over to the brethren, for forty days to the harsh remedies of abstinence.