Agricius

ON SAINT AGRICIUS, BISHOP OF SENS IN GAUL.

From the letters of S. Sidonius Apollinaris, & others.

Agricius, Bishop of Sens in Gaul (S.)

G. H.

Cult 13 June. After various Bishops of the Metropolitan Church of Sens, ascribed to the Saints, whom in the preceding months we have given, a third in this month of June we give S. Agricius, by some Agroecius, of whom the ancient Calendar of the same Church of Sens: On the Ides of June, of Agricius, Bishop of Sens. At which Ides in the Breviary of Sens, which we have printed in the year MDCXXV, is prescribed concerning the same an Ecclesiastical Office to be recited of three Lections, with the Hymn Te Deum laudamus: but all things are taken from the Common of Confessor Bishops. To that same day S. Agricius, Bishop & Confessor at Sens, was referred by Galesinius, Time of his See. & at more length by Ghinius in the Natales of Canons in this way: At Sens of S. Agricius the fourteenth Bishop, who presided there for thirty-two years: & when he had best fed his people with word & deed, he migrated to heaven: whose body was buried in the church of SS. Gervasius & Protasius, in the year of the Lord CCCCLXXXVII. From this calculation he must be said to have undertaken the Episcopate in the year CCCCLV. Saussay this day XIII June of the Gallican Martyrology thus opens: At Sens S. Agricius Bishop & Confessor, who incomparably flourishing as much by examples of virtues as by abundance of doctrines, especially in charity excelled: so much that S. Sidonius Apollinaris the Bishop wrote about him to him, Elogium from Saussay, that a boundary could indeed be set for his region (namely Metropolitan jurisdiction) but not for his charity. Who at length, the Church administered to the prescript of the divine law, ennobled by the merits of sanctity, departed to the reward.

[2] These things there. The already-mentioned Sidonius Apollinaris was Bishop of the Arverni or of Clermont, dead in the year CCCCLXXXVI on the day XXI August, is not venerated. But that we may understand, what was the cause for S. Sidonius to ask for the help of S. Agricius , we propose it from book 2 of the History of the Franks of Gregory of Tours, who chap. 25 writes these things: In the time of Sidonius Euric King of the Goths, going beyond the Spanish border, brought into Gaul a grave persecution against the Christians. He cut down everywhere those not consenting to his perversity, Clerics he placed under prisons, & Priests some he gave to exile, others he slaughtered with the sword. For he ordered the very entrances of the sacred temples to be barred with thorns, because of the grave persecution of the Goths, namely that the rareness of entering should make oblivion of the faith. Especially then the cities of Novempopulania, & double Aquitaine were depopulated by this storm : & there exists today on account of this matter to Basilius the Bishop a noble epistle of the same Sidonius. So far there. That this Basilius was Bishop of Aix-en-Provence, Sirmond judges in the said Epistle of Sidonius, which is the sixth of the seventh book. This is immediately preceded by the fifth, in which Sidonius wishes Lord Pope Agroecius salutation; & writes these things.

[3] Having been requested by decree of the citizens I came to Bourges. The cause of the summons was, & the perilous state of the church of Bourges, the tottering state of the Church; which lately widowed of its chief Bishop, struck up a kind of trumpet-call of seeking the Priesthood for the orders of both Professions. The people roars divided by enthusiasms: few offer others, many do not offer themselves. If anything according to a man's share according to God thou shouldst consult & the truth, all things occur as light, varied, painted: & what shall I say? alone is there simple impudence. And unless thou shouldst judge me to complain undeservedly, I would dare to say, that most are of such headlong mind, & such perilous, that they do not fear to affect the sacrosanct Seat and dignity by offered price: & the matter could long ago have been sent to market and auction, if as one buyer ready is found, a seller so desperate were found. Therefore I beg, that the newness, shame, & necessity of my office thou wouldst adorn by the comradeship of thy most distinguished arrival, defend by thy help. Nor wouldst thou, though thou art head of Senonia, S. Sidonius requests the arrival of S. Agricius, amid these doubts withdraw thyself from the intentions of healing of the Aquitanians: because it matters very little that our province is divided in dwelling, when in religion the cause is conjoined. To this is added, that of the cities of First Aquitaine, only the town of the Arverni, remaining to the Roman parties, the wars have made. Wherefore in constituting the chief Priest of the aforesaid city, we are deficient in the number of Provincial colleagues, offering him the choice of Archbishop, unless we are restored by the assent of Metropolitans. For the rest as concerns the prerogative of thy honor, no one by me hitherto has been named, no one introduced, no one elected: all things to thy censure are kept safe, untouched, solid. Only this I deem mine, to invite thy persons, though outside the limits of his province. to expect your wishes, to praise your opinions. And when into the place & state of the Bishop someone is chosen, that as commanded by you , by me may proceed compliance. But if (which however I judge will not at all be) to my prayers before you a misadvising interpreter resist; you shall be able rather to excuse your presence than your fault; just as on the contrary, if you come, you show, that a boundary could be set to your region, but not to charity. Deign to be mindful of us, Lord Pope.

[4] So far the epistle of S. Sidonius, by which how greatly he esteemed S. Agricius, is excellently shown. Now the See of Bourges was vacant by the death of S. Palladius the second, deceased in the year CCCCLXI, as on his Life X May we have shown: but then was elected Elodius the fourteenth Archbishop of the Bourgeois. Among the Bishops of Sens fiftieth is reckoned Ansegisus, created in the year DCCCLXXI, dead in the year DCCCLXXXIII. Ansegisus in cent. 9 transfers. This one enriched with various Relics of Saints the sacristy of S. Petrus-Vivus, in whose Chronicle of Ansegisus among other things is indicated, that he translated also the bodies of the holy Bishops, Leo, Ursianus, Agricius, & Ambrosius, into the church of S. Peter, from the basilica of S. Leo, where they had first been buried; which was first dedicated in honor of SS. Gervasius & Protasius. These things there, & the same are read in the Chronicle of Robert the Monk of Auxerre. About S. Leo we have treated XXII April; we shall treat of S. Ursicinus XXIV July, & of S. Ambrosius III Sept. on which days their solemnity, as that of S. Agricius on this XIII June, is celebrated in the said monastery of S. Peter Vivus. There is also some memory of S. Agricius on the third day of January in the Ms. Florarium, but for what cause is not adduced.

ON S. CETHEUS, otherwise PEREGRINUS, BISHOP OF AMITERNUM AND MARTYR,

IN APRUTIUM A PROVINCE OF ITALY.

ABOUT THE YEAR DC.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On the place of the Episcopate & death: likewise of first & second burial, & also of the Acts & cult.

Cetheus, Bishop of Amiternum & Martyr, called Peregrinus at Atri (S.)

D. P.

The present-day Martyrology of the Roman Church, on this XIII June day, makes memory of the prefixed-titled Saint, with such a formula. Among the Peligni, S. Peregrinus, Drowned in the river Aternus; Bishop & Martyr, who by the Lombards for the Catholic faith was drowned in the Aternus river . The Acts, which we have found double in Mss., the more prolix at the Camaldulensian Hermits in Etruria; the others more contracted, at the Canons Regular of the monastery of Bodecke in Westphalia, call Cetheus by his own name: but the former more distinctly are entitled thus, Passion of S. Cetheus, Bishop & Martyr, called Peregrinus, XIII June. Both agree in this, that in the river Piscaria (in antiquity it was called Aternus) drowned with a stone at his neck, in a single night he was carried to the shore of the city of the Jaternensians.

[2] Here if thou wouldst recognize the scribe's error & read of the Aternensians, & at its mouth, thou wilt have a town placed at the mouth of the river Aternus, which with the same with name changed is called Piscaria today, on the Adriatic sea: about which Strabo Book 5 of Geography; Aternum at the very sea bordering on Picenum, of the same name as the river; which divides the Vestini from the Marrucini, & is crossed by a bridge : but thou wilt not have an Episcopal city. For the ancient Catalogues of Provinces, in Carolus a S. Paulo in Sacred Geography, do not have this name; nor in the Dialogues of S. Gregory is he found named here, or rather Jadera, cast across the sea; whom Carolus says, Bishop Peregrinus: so that the lapse of memory was here, alleging the Dialogues of Gregory. If thou shouldst take Jadera, an Episcopal city in Dalmatia, across the Adriatic sea, opposite the mouth of Aternus, the miracle would be more evident; & less wonderful would be, that brought so far & unknown to all, yet from his garments recognized as Bishop, there he received the name of Peregrinus: which he retained, even when now his proper name was known, & the body brought to Atri.

[3] not of Aternum, but of Amiternum, he was Bishop, If thou holdest Jadera, it makes no difference, whether with the Camaldulensian Acts a Bishop of the Aternensians, or with the Bodecensian a Bishop of the Amiternensians thou shouldst say Cetheus was: for both lie on the same river, these at the head, those at the mouth. But to prefer Amiternum the neighborhood of the cities of Spoleto & Ortis persuades, of which the first was under a Prefect, S. Cetheus's Episcopal seat, & the second's Prefect invited by the traitor Alahi, at night had come to occupy his city. For Spoleto & Ortis are about XXII Roman miles distant, & both are distant from Amiternum almost equally by an interval of L miles, is proved from the very situation of places; but from Aternum at the sea twice as far. Let it remain therefore that the body of the Bishop suffocated in the river Aternus, was carried from Amiternum with a stone either to Aternum or Jadera, not from Aternum to Adria, a place not at all maritime, & so close to Aternum, that the ignorance of his name could not have produced for him there the name of Peregrinus.

[4] These things had to be set out thus, to correct the errors of some Martyrologists about this Saint. & the errors of Martyrologies are noted: For the Martyrology of Franciscus Maurolicus, four years after the first edition, in the year of Christ MDLXVIII at Venice reprinted, which Molanus in the Additions to Usuard of the year MDLXXIII transcribed, has thus: Likewise of S. Peregrinus or Cetheus, Aternensian Bishop & Martyr, in the city of Hadria, drowned in the river Piscaria. Greven in his Additions erred less; he also erred, however, when he wrote, In the city Aternensian of B. Cetheus the Bishop, surnamed Peregrinus: for not at Aternum but at Adria he rests & is venerated. Galesinius avoided the error, by naming no place; but he invented another cause & occasion of the martyrdom than the true one, in this way: Among the Peligni S. Peregrinus Bishop & Martyr, who by the Lombards, the fire of the Arian heresy having been excited, for the Catholic faith more injuriously treated, finally is drowned in the Aternus river: yet, as we have seen, he had as followers the Gregorian correctors of the Roman Martyrology, inasmuch as they wrote him to have suffered for the Catholic faith, him to whom according to the Acts the cause of death was the betrayal of the city, imputed to him innocent through calumny, by a man, impious indeed, but yet nominally Christian.

[5] The old extent of Amiternum: There is moreover, or rather there was, Amiternum, a city of the Vestini according to Ptolemy, but of the Sabines according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus inasmuch as both are often mixed together; called the Emporium of the Frentani by Strabo; which (as Leander Albertus writes among the Vestini) sits on the perpetual back of a mountain: where unto this day the foundations of great works, especially of the theater, & of several huge temples & towers remain, from which the old extent of the city is not difficult to gather. Is understood also from such a description, how its two gates were; an Eastern one, the Western another, & next to the Eastern the Cathedral church, sacred to S. Andrew the Apostle; at which discovered enemy ladders, gave occasion of calumny to be charged on the Saint. But nearby is a village from S. Victorinus having its name, whom as Bishop of Amiternum, suffering under Trajan, the Church venerates V September. Who destroyed Amiternum Leander asserts is unknown, but the neighboring Forconium he says was destroyed by the Lombards : but from the things said above on the Life of B. Placidus, it appears it still survived in the XIII century: but from the ruins of both on the fifth milestone arose Aquila, now the head of the whole region, See of the Bishop, & repository of the sacred Relics brought from both sides.

[6] where Bishop Cetheus under S. Gregory. The Episcopal See of him about whom we treat being known in this manner; I pass to his age. Lest the notice of this be difficult, are signed at the beginning the times of S. Gregory the Pope & Phocas the Emperor, under whom the Episcopate he held; Faroaldus the Lombard ruling the Duchy of Spoleto, to whom also those were subject, who from the same nation held Amiternum, Alahis & Humblus, all Christians, but Arians: whose cruelty & inhumanity the Bishop not bearing, to S. Gregory at Rome fled; & from him understood, that soon it would come to pass, that that people would come over to the Roman faith and Church, as through Theodelinda their Queen, in the second or third year of S. Gregory, of Christ DXCI or II, was done: Then truly Cetheus returned to his See, & held it for some more years: of which the number while it is not expressed, we can say nothing more congruent than that his martyrdom pertains to the confines of the VI and VII century.

[7] The Acts and whence received. As regards the Acts, granted that to Jadera his body landed , there also they may have first been composed, & that when the Aternus river had now changed name, & was called Piscaria; & the same Acts to Italy he brought who brought the Body, perhaps for fear of the barbarians depopulating Dalmatia, & threatening Jadera (which is now called Zara). At Atri certainly they are not composed, which not even once name it. But of the double which I have noted, I have judged to be preferred the Bodecensian, as more sincere; since the Camaldulensian, by interpolation alone, & that sometimes not enough fitting, I find to be more prolix; as will appear from the Notes. But this interpolation I would have believed to have been made; when Atri was already Episcopal: whence it was easier, for those thinking nothing about the more remote Amiternum, to creep in Aternum; & the more easily; because the corrupted name would be found the body had flowed to the Jaternensian city; which they would have thought their own Atriensian, of which the territory extends to the sea shore.

[8] Compendia in Petrus de Natalibus & Ferrarius. Such Acts Petrus de Natalibus had, & these contracted into an epitome he inserted in his Catalogue, book 5 chap. 130; where he makes Cetheus Aternensian Bishop; & the city, to which the body landed, he calls Jardenensian . Philippus also Ferrarius, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, relating another Epitome, even a little shorter, says he has it from the Ms. Acts of the Atriensian Church: from which also Peter. He notes however that the Life related by Peter needs some censure , especially about the place wrongly named by him: & he himself calls Atrianensian city & Bishop. If he so found this in his Ms., it was a new & more recent corruption; just as also that, that he & Peter say the Saint was buried at the milestone from the city, cult at Atri, when the Acts have at the ninth milestone: It remains meanwhile, as Philippus says in conclusion, that, the festivity of the Saint is celebrated with highest honor at Atri on the Ides of June: which day I would rather believe to be of Translation, than of death; though the Camaldulensian Acts, just as also Peter & Philippus, say that afterwards, from the place where he had suffered, the day was discovered, as thence was discovered the proper name of Cetheus.

[9] Atri those who wish to be believed most ancient, also make the homeland of Hadrian the Emperor, & the namesake of the Adriatic Sea. But it is more verisimilar that this praise is owed to Hadria or Atria of Venice, just as generally such gulfs are wont to be named from some innermost place of their recess, as now the same sea from the same cause is called the Venetian Gulf. Nor would I dare to assert that Callionistus, τῆς Ἁδριανῆς, Bishop of Hadrianopolis , subscribing in the Lateran Council in the year DCXLIX, made Episcopal in the year 1252: pertains here. It is difficult meanwhile to find any certain Bishop of this Atriensian See in Aprutium distinct from the Pennensian; nor perhaps was anyone ever so called before the year MCCLII, in which Peter Bishop of Albano, the Church of S. Mary of Hadria, which formerly was wont to be of the Pennensian diocese, into a Cathedral so erected, that united to the Pennensian, it should be equally with it a Cathedral, & should be preferred to the Pennensian itself in writing, which see in Ughelli vol. 1 Col. * 59. There was then no doubt great renown of this place, by which it merited such prerogative: & perhaps then for the first time the body was brought from Dalmatia, & in those transcribing the Acts, Aternum, neighbor of Atri, crept in for Amiternum. A part of the same body must have come to the neighbor Bishop of Chieti, when perhaps he was present at that solemnity: & from that to those of Chieti also venerable began to be S. Peregrinus the Martyr Bishop. Certainly Doctor Hieronymus Nicolinus in the History of Chieti, published at Naples in the year 1657 page 221, among the Relics of that church , in the first place places the body of S. Peregrinus the Bishop. Not content with that, from the fact that Aternum could never have been distinguished by Episcopal dignity, also Chieti where part of the body. as it was always a small town, he thinks he has made out, that S. Peregrinus was the Bishop of Chieti, not Aternum: which is nothing other than to turn the whole Acts upside down.

ACTS

From the Bodecensian Ms., collated with the Camaldulensian Ms.

Cetheus, Bishop of Amiternum & Martyr, called Peregrinus at Atri (S.)

BHL Number: 1730

FROM MSS.

CHAPTER I.

Flight of the saint to Pope Gregory, & honorable return to his See.

[1] In the time of the most blessed Pope Gregory, when at Constantinople Phocas held the Roman Empire , The Lombards going through the regions near Rome, when at Spoleto also was bearing the care of the Duchy Faroaldus; the nation of the Lombards, who from Pannonia long since gone out, had pervaded certain bounds of Italy , thereafter spreading itself hither and thither invaded the bounds of the Romans & Samnites & Spoletans . From this nation two most evil & ignoble men, namely sons of concubines, coming to the city of the Amiternensians a, of whom one Alais b, the other Umbolus by name, descended there with weapons of war , plundering & barbarously devastating . Of this city the Bishop, Venerable, Cetheus by name, not bearing such cruelty of theirs, snatched flight, & to the See of the most blessed Pope Gregory came: standing before whose sight, with knees placed on the ground & the feet of the blessed Pontiff kissed, with tears he said: Lord, Venerable Father & Most Holy Pontiff, the city of the Amiternensians has perished, & I therefore have fled to this holy See & come to thy footsteps. Cetheus the Bishop flees from Amiternum to S. Gregory, The Pontiff wondering & struck with fear, began to ask, what adversity had happened to that city. And when the man of the Lord Cetheus the Bishop had indicated, how by the people of the Lombards that city had perished, the blessed Pope subjoined: Be consoled in the Lord, son, be consoled; for it shall come to pass after a little time that that people of the Lombards, who forced thee to flee, compunct in heart will approach this Apostolic See c, & seek to receive a blessing from here.

[2] Hearing this the venerable man Cetheus the Bishop was silent, & from that hour by day and night was praying the Lord, saying: Look from thy heavenly virtues upon the city of the Amiternensians, & breathe into the hearts of the Lombards thy Holy Spirit, that doing penance for those things which they have brought on my people & me, they may lead me back to the See, & understands that he will soon be called back: where I unworthy was discharging the honor of the Episcopate: that all may know, that thou art God alone, & there is no other God besides thee. So when for a long time at his nightly divine prayers he was sweating, the Lord heard his prayers, which tearfully he had poured forth: & the fear of the Lord came upon that people, & one said to another: We do badly that we do not go to the venerable city Rome, to bring back our holy Bishop Cetheus, by whose blessing we were well protected & all d our families: & if in anything we have harmed or offended him, let us humble ourselves before him, & he will pray for us, & we shall be saved. For we more quickly shall all receive just vengeance from the Lord, unless we bring him back to us. And when these discourses, through the whole city Amiternensis daily resounded, at last all came together, that they might go & bring back the holy Bishop Cetheus from the Roman city with honor e.

[3] which was done, Having gone out therefore they came to the city of Rome, & entering the church of the most blessed Peter the Apostle, they were striking their heads, saying; Make for us, blessed Peter the Apostle, thy servant Gregory the Pontiff placated, that with thy blessing we may be able into our city sound & unharmed together with our Bishop to return. Meanwhile it was announced to the most blessed Pope Gregory, that the Lombards had come, to receive a blessing from him: & at the same hour he commanded them to come to his presence. Then all prostrated at his feet, were crying out saying: Holy Father, we beseech that thou wouldst deign to restore to us our Bishop. But he, congratulated from his whole heart, replied: If truly it repents you of your error, by which both the citizens of Amiternum ye have oppressed, & a holy man from there ye have compelled to depart, especially since you have the profession of the Christian name f as they have, I will bless both you & your house, & all that you possess. To this they replying said: Truly it repents us of whatever we have iniquitously done in that city, or to its inhabitants, & therefore with pure & simple heart we come, that we may receive a blessing from thee, Most Holy Father, together with indulgence.

[4] The blessed Pontiff said: The blessing of the Lord be upon you: to which they replying, Amen; the blessed Pope subjoining said, the Pontiff assenting; I will go first & inquire of your Bishop, if it be his will that he return with you, as you desire. And taking some of them with himself, he took aside the Blessed Cetheus, & asked him saying: Wilt thou return, son, to thy fatherland, where thou wast discharging the honor of the Episcopate? If it shall please, said he, your Holiness, I shall do what you say. The holy Pontiff said: May it please omnipotent God, for to me it is well-pleasing . Cetheus the Bishop replied: If to God & you it pleases, that thither I return, beyond doubt your command I shall fulfill, especially for this cause, lest the things of the Churches be dissipated, or sold off. To these things those men, who had been sent, when they were present, said: Be it far from us that the estates of the holy Churches we should presume to dissipate or sell: nay rather we shall augment them all the days of our life, both we, & our posterity. The blessed Gregory said: If it seem right to you, confirm this same with an oath, that Ecclesiastical estates be not squandered. Who replied: As it pleases thee, Most Holy Father, so we shall do. And immediately having gone out with B. Gregory & Bishop Cetheus to the body of B. Peter the Apostle, they swore saying: Through this venerable body, Holy Father, we swear & to thy authority firmly promise, that the things of the Churches we will in no way sell off; but we will augment & preserve; & our Father Cetheus the Bishop with honor to his See we will lead back; & all things, which thy Paternity shall commit to us to be observed , receiving with humble mind, with highest diligence we shall guard.

[5] Hearing the blessed Gregory their devotion, he rejoiced in the Lord; with whose blessing Cetheus returned, & blessing them said: Peace be with you sons. Replying the blessed Cetheus said to the Apostolic; And with thy Spirit. Saint Gregory when he had poured forth over them a prayer, & had given indulgence & blessing, concluded thus: Go, said he, sons, & receive your Bishop, & with honor lead him to his See, & in all things obey him g. They taking their Bishop, honorably is received. with joy & great gladness led him back to his See, singing in his praise; Glory to God in the highest, etc. But when they approached the city of Amiternum h, the Priests went out to meet him, with all the Clergy: & received holy Cetheus the Bishop with joy & great gladness, with hymns & canticles, with all glory as was fitting. Entering therefore through the Eastern gate, he was led to the church, & was there for some time.

NOTES BY D. P.

CHAPTER II.

The Bishop falsely accused of consciousness of betraying the city, is condemned to the mountain.

[6] Meanwhile the aforesaid Chiefs a Alais & Umbolus, who had usurped to themselves the Dukedom of the city, The two Chiefs disagreeing, the enemies are called in by one of them; of whom Alais namely held the Eastern gate; Umbolus the Western gate; certain rivalries having arisen they began to disagree among themselves so much, that one sought to kill the other, & great sadness was made to all the Christians in that city. Alais therefore took counsel with his own that the city itself should be destroyed, & sent an embassy to Verilianus the Count of the city of Hortanum b, praying that at midnight coming he should invade the city of the Amiternensians, & utterly dissipate it. But the blessed Cetheus the Bishop was in his cell & did not know the counsel of Alais, how he was seeking to betray the city to the enemies. There was moreover in the same city a certain very Christian man, by name Fredo, & his wife by name Bona, a religious woman & fearing God: who at the evening hour having entered the church, prayed; but the prayer fulfilled they received the blessing from the Bishop, & returned to their own. But at the hour of sleep, when both had reclined on the bed according to custom, Fredo did not wish to put off his garment; but thus he placed himself. But his wife said to him: Why hast thou reclined with thy clothes on? who, the Bishop spending the night in the church, To whom he answered: I am struck with great trembling, & I almost fear, that this city this night is going to be sought. His wife says to him: God will not make it so, that this city be sought. But he said: Bring me weapons of war, & place at my head & then we shall lie secure. Yet Fredo did not know the counsel of Alais; but admonished by the Holy Spirit he did these things. His wife did, as she had been ordered: & then they reclined.

[7] At midnight a cry of such kind was made in the middle of the city: Rise, rise, a hostile people invades this city. Therefore arose Fredo the very Christian from the side of his wife; & seizing weapons of war he ran crying & saying: Rise up, Most holy father Cetheus, the enemy is bravely repelled, & pray for us since this city is perishing, & we are losing all our things, & today we ourselves shall be killed by swords. But he quickly rising, & leaping from the bed, outside in the square prayed to the Lord, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, who didst free David from the hand of Goliath, & the three children from the furnace of burning fire, & Daniel from the lions' den, Susanna also from false crime, & Tecla from the beasts, have mercy on us, & free this city & its people from the enemies. And saying these things he struck his forehead on the ground with tears: & when he had prayed a little c immediately all the enemies who had come, by divine power terrified, were humbled, & many of them the same night were killed.

[8] & in the morning the betrayer is taken: In the morning of the following day, the inhabitants of the city coming together in one to see in what manner the enemy had been able to enter that city d; they found ladders erected behind the church of B. Thomas, by which the enemies had entered & returned; & there from certain ones reporting they learned, that by the counsel of Alais all these things had been done. Who when he had been brought bound into the midst of the people, all with one voice cried out saying: Let us kill this most evil man, who has wished to destroy so many souls of Christians by the sword , & all things which we possess to deliver to the enemies to be plundered. And again they cried out: Let him be killed as soon as possible, since he is worthy to perish by many tortures. for whose life the Bishop intervening. And when they were debating longer, with what tortures they might destroy him; said the blessed Bishop Cetheus to him: Son, why hast thou done such a crime in this city, that so bitter a death thou art now compelled to undergo? And turned to the surrounding people, he said: Hear me, sons, & do not extend your hands on this man, lest perhaps God reckon this to you as sin. But if it pleases you to hear my counsel, send him into prison, & let him do much time there: then let an assembly be made in this city from the least to the greatest, & leading him from the prison, cause penance to be enjoined upon him for many days, only that his spirit be saved in the day of the Lord.

[9] When the blessed Bishop Cetheus had said these things, approaching him with great violence the most impious Umbolus said: And thou certainly, Cetheus, is accused as accomplice of the crime, wert part of this counsel, by which this city has been delivered to the enemies, for & that ladder, which we found at the church of Blessed Thomas, by thy magical works was placed there, & therefore thou art not worthy further to have the honor of the Episcopate. The blessed Bishop Cetheus replied, & said: God forbid, son, that ever in such a worst matter I should be contaminated: nevertheless, on account of the people standing by, & is condemned to death; I swear by the crucified Son of God, & the inseparable Trinity, the holy Gospels of Christ, & also that holy Episcopal blessing , which I received though unworthy, that I am alien & innocent from that counsel: nor ever this city did I wish to sell or to deliver to enemies, or did so, or permitted; but always day and night I humbly was praying, that peace & concord God would deign to grant us. And when S. Cetheus with these & similar words was asserting truth by excusing himself, the aforesaid Umbolus, not wishing to hear him longer, ordered both him e & the aforesaid Alais, bound with chains, into the middle of the city to be led, & there before all the people to be beheaded.

[10] Then cried out with a great voice S. Cetheus, when he had already been brought to the place of beheading, & when he could not be beheaded, & said: My heart & my flesh have rejoiced in the living God: & again: Have mercy on me God, have mercy on me, for in thee trusts my soul; & in the shadow of thy wings I shall hope, until iniquity pass away f. And again; God my praise be not silent, for the mouth of the sinner against me is opened. When that Psalm was completed unto the end, the executioner terrified by fear, beheaded Alais indeed, but on the blessed Cetheus dared not extend his hand at all. Hearing this the most impious Umbolus, filled with fury, ordered B. Cetheus to come to his presence, in the assembly of the people, & said to him: Cetheus Bishop, a little time ago thou wast a preacher, & what now has happened, that in the sight of the people thou now bound goest forth? The holy Bishop replied: I could never, most iniquitous of men, separate thee from the devil, because with him thou hast & eternally shalt have dwelling; hence also now I say to thee in the word of Christ, that a wanderer & fugitive thou shalt be on earth, as Cain who killed his brother Abel the just; & so by the devil seized thou shalt fail. he rebukes the tyrant. But I unworthy servant of the servants of God, shall be saved by the power of him, at whose voice the dead rise. And lifting his eyes to heaven he said: God creator of all visible & invisible things, who searchest the reins & hearts, who knowest the faith or mind of all men; search & see the mind of thy servant, if true are what is said against me, that lying men have surrounded me, & without cause bound have constrained with scourges, & there is none to help except thee God; whom I pray to judge my cause.

NOTES BY D. P.

CHAPTER III.

The Saint immersed in the river with a stone, is borne to Aternum; & there as a pilgrim buried, with a blind man illuminated is translated to Atri.

[11] When therefore he was sweating in both prayers and psalms, & was being constrained by chains; he in no wise feared to speak with the most impious Umbolus, or with his ministers, because the Spirit of God had filled him. Meanwhile a voice from heaven came to him : Bishop Cetheus, do not fear, behold thou hast a precious crown before the throne of the Lord thy God; because for the punishment which thou hast undertaken, the holy Archangels intercede for thee, Refreshed by an Angelic voice, Michael, Gabriel & Raphael. And because thou wert a fit preacher among the people, therefore the Lord heard thy prayers, by which humbly thou didst not cease to entreat him day & night a. This voice having been made, great Constancy was given to the Athlete of Christ , & much more he was speaking to the enemies, on account of the calling, by which to the kingdom of heaven he had been called; where also with ineffable desire wishing to tend, he daily expected the palm of martyrdom

.

[12] He said therefore to the ministers who held him bound : For what reason, sons of iniquity & ministers of darkness, do you hold me in chains? Or, because you recognize me to be a servant of God, do you do these things? But I in his name not only chains, but even death itself I shall willingly receive; you indeed Arians & perfidious, with Judas Iscariot you shall have dwelling, in unextinguishable Tartarus: & among wanderers & fugitives shall be your portion, & cursed shall you be in eternity, because my preaching you often rejected, & the corrections of truth you did not wish to hear. To thee moreover, Umbolus, he is ordered to be led to the river to be drowned: most wicked of all, may there be no one to offer the kiss of peace; & he who blesses thee, may he be cursed: for he shall curse thee, who cursed & expelled Satan from the congregation of the just. Then with too great fury filled Umbolus, ordered him bound to be led to the river which is called Piscaria, & there to be cast down by the bridge which is called Marmoreus. The blessed Cetheus moreover, with joy proceeding to death, began to sing psalms, saying: Cast me not, Lord; away from thy face, & thy holy Spirit do not take from me; render to me the gladness of thy salvation, & with the principal Spirit confirm me. And when he had been cast into the river, with God's help protecting, healthy & unhurt to the shore he was brought. Then again and again the raging people, but also this tried in vain twice, by the order of the tyrant taking him, cast him into the river: & as before the holy Bishop, protected by God's help; healthy & unhurt to dry land was led.

[13] Which when the most impious Umbolus had seen, he ordered him to be brought to his presence. Where when the man of the Lord had been set, he commanded the iniquitous ministers to bind to him a millstone, of weight about five hundred pounds, & thus to be sunk in the deep. But he again with eyes lifted to heaven sang psalms, saying: Lord God of my salvation, by day I have cried & night before thee: let my prayer enter into thy sight, & make me safe from those descending into the pit. With these things said therefore, at last with the millstone tied, it is accomplished: he was cast into the river, & immediately rendered up his spirit: & the holy body walked upon the waters, & the stone at his neck. But indeed by the Lord governing, by the hands of his Angels, the body of the blessed martyr through the depth of the water, as through dry land, in a single night was cast into b the Jaternensian city.

[14] There was moreover there a certain fisherman, by name Valerianus: who when at night through the same water with a boat was walking, to repair his nets according to custom, immediately an immense light shone around that shore, where the blessed body upon the heaps of sand was lying. Whence astonished he went out from the ship quickly, to see who it was. Diligently therefore the body being contemplated, the body with him borne across the sea, when that he did not at all recognize, hastily he returned; & announced to the Bishop & Consul of the city, how he had seen a body, with a stone bound at the neck, lying upon the sand c. Hearing which the Bishop, gathering soon into one the Priests of the city, hastily departed together with them to the shore; & they found the holy body lying upon the sand, as had been said to them, & a stone bound at his neck. Recognizing moreover in his Angelic face, that for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in the water he had been suffocated; honorably is buried: with all veneration & diligence they decreed to take it up, & with worthy honor to bury. But because his name was unknown, they called him Peregrinus, because in a pilgrim & unknown manner his body had been found. They buried therefore it in a place close to the shore, where it had been found beside the sea, with the odor d of sweetness.

[15] Then indeed when the fishermen at night near the shore were sailing in their custom, they often saw at his head a lamp e shining; which God omnipotent by the merits of his servant deigned to show. then illustrated by nocturnal splendor There was in those days in the city of the Jaternensians a certain man, blind from birth: who said to certain of the elders of the city; I will go to that body buried in the shore, & if the Lord there shall grant me light, know surely that it is holy. To this they replied; Go as thou sayest: if perhaps God in thee shall deign to show the work of his mercy. The hand of the blind man being seized, he was led by a certain f to the sepulcher of the blessed Martyr, & with knees placed on the ground, he prayed with tears, saying: God who hast made heaven & earth, sea & all that are in them, who didst snatch Adam after five thousand five hundred fifty two g years from hell, & Jonah from the belly of the whale didst free, also a blind man being illuminated at him, also a blind man at the Pool of Siloam didst illuminate; illuminate me a sinner, by the merits of the pilgrim man here buried; if however he is of any merit before thee: & by this may all know, that his body is venerable & holy. Immediately as he ceased to speak, his eyes were opened, & he received sight. Rising therefore with great haste, he ran into the city, crying & saying; I give thee thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings & Lord of lords, who hast deigned to show such a miracle, through the body of thy servant the most blessed Peregrinus.

[16] Hearing these things all the inhabitants of the city came to the Bishop, is translated elsewhere as a saint. & also to the Consuls; & counsel being taken with them, they all came together, h taking up crosses singing psalms, & giving glory to God, to the place where the sacred body they had first handed over to burial: & taking it thence honorably, they placed it in another place, at the ninth milestone from the city. But indeed the most impious Umbolus, seized by a demon, as had been foretold to him by the blessed Cetheus the Bishop, died & all his ministers; moreover all his substance came to nothing. The blessed Bishop Cetheus suffered in the city of Amiternum, & (as we have said) was borne to the city of Aternum under the gulfs of the waters, & there Peregrinus was called; i reigning our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory & honor unto the ages of ages. Amen.

NOTES BY D. P.