Life of St Severinus 1 part 4/4

When these were completed, prayer having been offered over them, he delivered them from the power of the demon and imparted to them not only health of body but also of mind. By this deed both an awe of reverence increased toward the holy man, and a greater fear of discipline took hold of the rest. (37) He had sent the monk Marcianus—who afterwards as a presbyter, before our time, presided over the monastery—to Noricum with brother Renatus. And when the third day was slipping by, he said to the brethren:

'Pray, dearly beloved, for at this hour a grievous tribulation presses upon Marcianus and Renatus, from which, however, they will be freed by Christ's help.' Then the monks, at once noting down what was said by him, when those men returned after very many months and indicated the day and hour of the danger by which they had escaped the barbarians, confirmed that it was just as he had marked. (38) Likewise the most blessed Severinus suddenly commanded one of the brethren, Ursus by name, to meet a coming calamity by a stricter fast of forty days, by abstinence from food and by lamentation, saying:

'A bodily danger threatens you, which by God's protection you will expiate with the remedies of a little bread and water.' On the fortieth day, therefore, a deadly pustule appeared on the arm of the one fasting, which presently, going in to Severinus, he humbly showed him. To him the holy servant of God said: 'Do not fear the peril foretold to you forty days before'; and at once, the sign of the cross having been drawn over it with his own hand, while those present marveled, the lethal pustule vanished. Let it suffice to have related this one of the household healings, avoiding the tedium of a prolix work. For often, foretelling the illnesses of his monks as Christ revealed them to him, he also healed them by those same gifts by which he foresaw them. (39)

The spiritual teacher dwelt not far from the cell of his disciples, continually persevering in prayers and abstinence; yet with them he solemnly fulfilled the morning prayers and his own psalmody at the beginning of night, but the remaining times of prayer he completed in the little oratory in which he abode. In these, often strengthened by heavenly oracles, he foretold many things to come by God's grace; knowing too the hidden things of many, as need required, he brought them forth into the open, and to each one he provided remedies according as the measure of the illness demanded. His bed was a single haircloth on the pavement of the oratory. At all times he used the very garment with which he was clothed, even while he rested.

Never before sunset did he break his fast, except on a fixed festival. In the seasons of Lent, indeed, content with one refection in the week, he shone with equal cheerfulness of countenance. Weeping over others' faults as if they were his own, he tempered them with such helps as he could. (40) Then, after many struggles and long-continued contests, when the same blessed Severinus had perceived, by God's revelation, that he was about to pass from this world, he admonished the aforesaid Feva, king of the Rugii, to come to him with his most cruel wife named Giso.

When he had exhorted him with wholesome words, that he should so deal with his subjects that he might continually consider that he would render an account to the Lord for the state of his kingdom, and had fearlessly admonished him with other words, stretching out his hand and pointing to the king's breast, he reproached the queen with these questions: 'This soul, Giso,' he said, 'or gold and silver—which do you love more?' And when she said that she preferred her husband to all riches, the man of God wisely added: 'Then,' he said, 'cease to oppress the innocent, lest their affliction rather destroy your power; for indeed you often shatter the king's gentleness.' But she: 'Why,' she said, 'do you so address us, servant of God?' To her he himself:

'I solemnly charge you,' he said, 'I who am most humble and now about to depart to God, that, refraining from wicked deeds, you devote yourselves to pious works. Up to this point your kingdom, by the Lord's authorship, has prospered: now from this you shall see for yourselves.' By these admonitions the king with his consort, sufficiently instructed, bidding him farewell, departed. Then the saint did not cease to address his own people, concerning the nearness of his departure, with the sweetness of love—which indeed he had not ceased to do before either. 'Know, brethren,' he said, 'just as it is established that the sons of Israel were rescued from the land of Egypt, so all the peoples of this land must be freed from the unjust dominion of the barbarians.

For indeed all, migrating with their possessions from these towns, shall come to the Roman province without any captivity of their own. But remember the charge of the holy patriarch Joseph, by whose testimony I, unworthy and lowliest, appeal to you: God will surely visit you; 'carry my bones away from here with you.' This shall profit not me, but you. For these places, now frequented by inhabitants, shall be reduced to so utterly vast a solitude that the enemies, supposing they will find some gold, shall dig up even the graves of the dead.' The outcome of present events proved the truth of this prophecy.

The most holy father, foreseeing in his piety, commanded that his little body be removed by this device, so that, when the general migration of the people should come about, the undivided congregation of the brethren whom he had acquired, setting out under the protection of his memory, might remain in one bond of holy fellowship. (41) Moreover, the day on which the same most blessed Severinus was to pass from the body he indicated, two years or more before, by this token. On the day of Epiphany, when the holy presbyter Lucillus had anxiously intimated that he would celebrate on the morrow, with annual solemnity, the day of the burial of his abbot, Saint Valentinus, formerly bishop of the Raetiae, the same servant of God answered thus:

'If blessed Valentinus has assigned these solemnities to you to celebrate, I too leave to you, on the same day, the duties of my vigil to be observed, since I am about to depart from the body.' He, alarmed by these words, when, as a decrepit man, he more earnestly commended himself, as one who would pass away first, Severinus added: 'This shall be, holy presbyter, as you have heard, nor shall the Lord's appointment be set aside by human will.' (42) Moreover, Ferderuchus had received from his brother Feva, king of the Rugii, one of the few towns which remained upon the bank of the Danube, namely Favianae, near which Saint Severinus, as I have related, was dwelling.

When this same Ferderuchus, according to custom, came to greet him, the soldier of Christ began earnestly to make known to him his journey, declaring these things under solemn attestation: 'Know,' he said, 'that I am very soon about to depart to the Lord, and therefore, being forewarned, take care that, after my departure, you do not attempt to lay hands on any of these things which have been entrusted to me, nor touch the substance of the poor and the captives—lest, which God forbid, you feel God's indignation by such rashness.' But Ferderuchus, struck by the unexpected admonition:

'Why,' he said, 'are we confounded by this charge, since we do not wish to be deprived of such great protections, and it befits us to contribute something to your holy bounty, which is known to all, not to take away—so that I may deserve, by your customary prayer, to be guarded as our father Flaccitheus was, who learned by experience that he had always been aided by the merits of your holiness?' To him Severinus said: 'On whatever occasion you may wish to harm my little cell, both here at once you shall prove it, and in the future you shall pay the penalty, which I do not wish.' Then Ferderuchus, promising that he would keep the admonitions of Christ's servant, returned to his own land. The truly most sweet teacher did not cease to address his disciples at every moment, saying:

'I trust in the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ that, while you endure in His work and are joined together in the peaceful fellowship of my memory, He will bestow upon you the good things of eternal life and will not deny the consolations of present things.' (43) And so, on the Nones of January, he began to be lightly afflicted with a pain in the side. While this lasted for three days, in the middle of the night he commanded the brethren to be present; admonishing them concerning his body and strengthening them with fatherly instruction, urgently and wonderfully he pursued such words, saying: Sons most beloved in Christ, you know that the blessed Jacob, about to depart from the world, with the condition of death pressing upon him, commanding his sons to be present, rewarding each one of them with the words of prophetic blessing, disclosed the secrets of mysteries to come.

But we, weak and lukewarm and unequal to so great a piety, do not dare to usurp this prerogative by our own strength; yet one thing, which befits humility, I will not pass over in silence, sending you to the examples of our forefathers, whose conduct's outcome considering, imitate their faith. For Abraham, called by the Lord, obeyed in faith, to go out to the place which he was to receive as a possession; and he went out, not knowing where he was to come. Imitate, therefore, the faith of this blessed patriarch, imitate his holiness; despise earthly things, ever seek the heavenly homeland. And I trust in the Lord that from you eternal gains shall come to me.

For I see that you have enlarged my joy by the fervor of the spirit, that you love righteousness, cherish the bonds of brotherly love, give your effort to chastity, keep the rule of humility: these things, so far as pertains to man's view, I confidently praise and approve. But pray that the things which are worthy in human eyes may be confirmed by the scrutiny of eternal discernment, because God does not see as man sees. For He indeed, as the divine word declares, searches the hearts of all and anticipates all the thoughts of minds.

By assiduous prayers, therefore, hope for this: that God may enlighten the eyes of your heart and open them, as blessed Elisha desired, that you may be able to recognize how many helps of the saints surround us, how many aids are prepared for the faithful. For our God draws near to the simple. Let unceasing prayer not be lacking to those who war for God; let him not be loath to do penance who was not ashamed to perpetrate the crime; do not hesitate to mourn for sinners, if perchance the offended Godhead may be appeased by the flood of your tears, because He has deigned to call a contrite spirit His sacrifice.

Let us therefore be humble in heart, tranquil in mind, guarding against all faults and ever mindful of the divine commandments, knowing that the humility of dress, the name of monk, the title of religion, the appearance of piety profit us nothing, if we are found degenerate and reprobate concerning the observance of the commandments. Let your conduct, then, my dearly beloved sons, agree with the calling you have undertaken: it is a great wickedness even for a secular man to pursue sins—how much more for monks, who, fleeing the allurements of the world as a savage beast, have preferred Christ to all affections, and whose gait and habit are believed to be a proof of virtue. But why do I detain you further, dearly beloved sons, with the address of a long discourse?

It remains that I attend you with the last prayer of the blessed apostle, who thus says: and now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, who is able to preserve you and to give an inheritance among all the sanctified. To Him be glory unto the ages of ages. After this address of edification, therefore, he commanded all in order to come to his kiss, and, the sacrament of communion having been received, he utterly forbade that he be wept for; and signing his whole body with the sign of the cross with outstretched hand, he commanded them to sing psalms. While they hesitated, suffused with grief, he himself put forth a psalm to be sung: 'Praise the Lord in His holy places ...

let everything that has breath praise the Lord.' And so, on the sixth day before the Ides of January, at this verse, while we could scarcely respond, he rested in the Lord. When he had been buried, our elders, believing in every way that the things he had foretold concerning the migration, as well as many other things, could not pass away, prepared a little wooden coffer, so that, when the foretold migration of the people should come about, they might fulfill the commands of the one who had foretold it. (44) But Ferderuchus, having learned of blessed Severinus's death—poor and impious, ever more savage in his barbaric greed—believed that the garments set apart for the poor and certain other things should be carried off. Joining sacrilege to this crime, he ordered a silver chalice and the other ministries of the altar to be carried away.

When these had been placed upon the sacred altars, and the steward who had been sent did not dare to stretch out his hands to such a crime, he compelled a certain soldier named Avitianus to plunder the aforesaid things. He, though unwilling, carrying out the commands, presently nevertheless, ceaselessly vexed with a trembling of all his members, was seized also by a demon. He therefore quickly corrected his errors by a better counsel. For, having taken up the calling of the holy profession in the solitude of an island, devoted to heavenly arms, he changed the office of his soldiering. But Ferderuchus, unmindful of the attestation and the prophecy of the holy man, having scraped away all the goods of the monastery, left only the walls, which he could not transfer across the Danube. But soon the vengeance that had been announced came upon him:

for within the space of a month he was slain by Fredericus, his brother's son, and lost both his plunder and his life alike. Wherefore King Odovacar made war upon the Rugii. When these too had been conquered and Fredericus put to flight, and the father Feva also captured and removed to Italy with his guilty wife, afterward the same Odovacar, hearing that Fredericus had returned to his own land, at once sent his brother Onoulfus with many armies; before whom Fredericus, fleeing again, set out to King Theoderic, who was then staying near the city of Novae in the province of Moesia. But Onoulfus, admonished by his brother's command, ordered all the Romans to migrate to Italy.

Then all the inhabitants, as if from the house of Egyptian servitude, thus led out from the daily, most frequent plundering of barbarism, recognized the oracles of Saint Severinus. Not unmindful of this command, our venerable presbyter Lucillus, then, while all were being compelled by Count Pierius to depart, having first sent forth psalmody with the monks in the evening, ordered the place of burial to be opened. When this had been laid open, a fragrance of such great sweetness took hold of all us standing around, that for excess of joy and wonder we were prostrated upon the ground. Then, expecting in human fashion to find the bones of the corpse disjoined—for the sixth year of his burial had flowed by—we found the whole framework of the body intact.

On account of this miracle we rendered boundless thanks to the Creator of all, because the body of the saint, on which had been placed no spices and which no embalmer's hand had touched, had remained unharmed up to that time, together with its beard and hair. With the linen wrappings therefore changed, the body was enclosed in a coffin that had been prepared long before, was placed upon a wagon drawn by horses, and was soon carried away, while all the provincials journeyed with us along the same road — those who, having abandoned the towns upon the bank of the Danube, were allotted their various dwelling-places of pilgrimage throughout the different regions of Italy. And so the precious little body of the saint, after many regions had been traversed, was brought to a fortress called Monte Feletre. (45)

During that same time many who were afflicted with various sicknesses, and not a few oppressed by unclean spirits, felt the healing of divine grace without any delay. Then too a certain mute man was brought to that fortress through the compassion of his own people. When he had come eagerly into the oratory, where the precious body of the holy man still remained placed upon the cart, and beneath it, with the door of his mouth shut, was making supplication in the chamber of his heart, at once his tongue was loosed in prayer and he spoke praise to the Most High. And when he had returned to the lodging where he was wont to be received, and was, as usual, prompted by the nod and gesture of one questioning him, he replied with a clear voice that he had both prayed and offered praise to God.

As he spoke, those who knew him, struck with awe, ran to the oratory with a shout and made known what had happened to the holy presbyter Lucillus and likewise to us who were with him, for we did not know what had occurred. Then all of us, exulting in the joy of the divine mercy, rendered an act of thanksgiving. (46) Now the illustrious lady Barbaria honored the blessed Severinus with religious devotion, for she had known him very well, together with her late husband, through his fame and his letters. After his death, hearing that the precious body of the saint had been brought into Italy with great labor and had up to that time in no way been committed to the earth, she invited our venerable presbyter Marcianus, and indeed the whole congregation, by frequent letters.

Then, by the authority of the holy Gelasius, pontiff of the Roman see, and with the people of Naples coming forth in reverent funeral rites, in the fortress of Lucullanum, by the hands of the holy bishop Victor, the body was placed in the mausoleum which the aforesaid lady had built. At this solemnity many who were afflicted with various sicknesses — whom it would be tedious to enumerate — straightway received their health. Among them a certain venerable handmaid of God named Processa, a citizen of Naples, when she was suffering the most grievous distress of illness, was drawn by the powers of the holy funeral procession and hastily met it on the way; and having entered beneath the vehicle on which the venerable body was being carried, she was at once freed from the sickness of all her limbs.

Then too a certain blind man named Laudicius, startled by the unexpected shout of the chanting people, anxiously asked his attendants what it was. When they answered that the body of a certain holy Severinus was passing by, pricked with compunction he begged to be led to a window, from which those with sound eyes could behold from afar the multitude of chanters and the vehicle bearing the holy body. And when, leaning upon the window, he was praying, he at once received his sight, pointing out one by one all his acquaintances and neighbors. When this was done, all who had heard rendered thanks to God with tears of joy.

Marinus also, the chief of the singers of the holy church of Naples, since after a most monstrous illness he could not recover his health on account of an unceasing pain of the head, in faith laid his head against the vehicle, and soon raised it free from the pain; and ever mindful of the benefit, on the day of the saint's burial he would come forth and render the sacrifice of his vow to God with thanksgiving. But, since many know more, let it suffice to have related three out of countless miracles of benefits and powers which were wrought at his arrival.

The monastery therefore built in that same place to the memory of the blessed man endures to this day; by whose merits many possessed by demons have been cured, and many bound by various sicknesses have received and do receive their health, by the working of God's grace — to whom be honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. You have, excellent minister of Christ, a memorial record, out of which you may by your mastery make a fruitful work.