ON ST. ELPIDIUS THE ABBOT, PATRON OF THE TOWN OF SANT'ELPIDIO IN PICENUM, IN PICENUM.
Fifth century, before CDXX.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Elpidius, abbot, patron of the town of Sant'Elpidio in Picenum. (S.)
BY J. S.
§ I. The town of Sant'Elpidio, where the Saint's body is preserved: his cult and memory in the sacred Calendars.
[ ] Picenum, now commonly called the March of Ancona, is a province of Italy extending to the Adriatic sea, The town of Sant'Elpidio in Picenum, where the body which among its cities has the city of Fermo, adorned with archiepiscopal dignity. In the diocese of Fermo, between Fermo and the House of B. Mary of Loreto, there is a place which from St. Elpidius is named the Town of St. Elpidius, or St. Elpidius, commonly Sant'Elpidio. In the collegiate church of this town the body of St. Elpidius is preserved with great veneration, and it was visited in the sixteenth century, and afterwards translated, as we shall narrate below. That body was seen there by Fr. Joachim Papebroch of our Society, while he was penitentiary at Loreto, and of it he wrote to his brother, our Papebroch, on the XXII of August of the year 1683, in this manner: Since in these days Fr. Germanus had to make an excursion to Fermo, I joined myself to him as companion. On that occasion, passing through the town of Sant'Elpidio, we were most kindly received by the most illustrious lord count Asclepi, who, having taken the priesthood, withdrew to that town, abstaining from secular society. He, while awaiting our return, dealt with the canons and the magistrate that on our return the body of St. Elpidius the abbot should be shown to us.
[2] It is honorably preserved beneath the high altar, and is locked with four different keys; of the Saint is honorably preserved in the collegiate church, of which two are kept by two of the magistrate, and two others by two canons. These, as soon as they understood that we had returned to the said most illustrious lord, betook themselves to the church, and there awaited us with the said lord. And when we arrived, the accustomed signal was given by the bell, which is wont to be given whenever those sacred relics are publicly shown. Then, eight torches of white wax being lighted, they unlocked the altar, and gave us opportunity of viewing all the bones at leisure. Then they showed us the particular lessons which they have in the Office of that Saint, and offered to have them transcribed. But the most illustrious lord answered that there was no need of haste, and that everything must first be diligently examined; and above all, how that Saint's body was translated into Picenum, of which there is no mention in the lessons, but rather that he closed his last day in Cappadocia. The said most illustrious lord took that care upon himself, and, if he shall find anything for certain, will send it to me at Loreto. Hence we can understand that it is unknown to the canons of Sant'Elpidio how or when they received the sacred body of their Patron.
[3] within the high altar, and with it two other bodies are said to be preserved, The men of Sant'Elpidio stood by their promises, certainly as far as they judged expedient: for not long afterwards Fr. Dominic Pierantonius of our Society sent a fairly ample collection concerning the Life, cult, and miracles of St. Elpidius, which Signor Natale Medaglia wrote in Italian, and named the Life of St. Elpidius, as it may indeed be called. Moreover that writer gathered the Saint's deeds not without errors, though otherwise he seems to have used no small diligence. But as regards the cult and miracles he was less liable to error, since he was nearer to them both in place and in time; and therefore all those things I shall render from Italian into Latin. Of the body he has it that it is preserved in a very large marble chest, that is, within the high altar of the collegiate church, which is of marble. In the same place he says there are also the bodies of Ænesius and Eustatius, of whom we shall treat when we examine the deeds of St. Elpidius. Moreover the said Medaglia does not explain how or when these bodies were translated into Picenum, but tries to prove that St. Elpidius with his companions died there. But if the Elpidius whose body they possess really died in Picenum, he is other than the Elpidius the abbot whose deeds Palladius touched upon, as I shall afterwards clearly show.
[4] Meanwhile let us hear what Medaglia narrates about the visitation of the body: [which was visited in the year 1512; a certain particle then given to the castle of Morico:] The aforesaid Mss. (which in his account of the deeds he calls ancient, but which are not very ancient, as is clear from what follows) thereafter testify in conformity that in the year MDXII the said chest was opened for the first time, and that the said three bodies were seen entire; but that with great piety of those who ran together they were separated and all placed in another very elegant casket, well secured with a key, which was set in the said marble chest: and that nothing was taken from the said body except one particle from a bone of the hand with a tiny fragment of the cloth left when the said Saint was buried: which, when the men of Sant'Elpidio had given it to Morico, a castle of the diocese of Fermo, they enclosed it in an arm of gilded brass with a silver hand, and it is held in great veneration by that people. The castle of Morico is likewise in the diocese of Fermo, and is commonly called Sant'Elpidio a Morico, as I find in a certain Ms. account formerly sent hither concerning the Saints of the diocese of Fermo. This account likewise makes mention of the relics of St. Elpidius preserved in the castle of Morico.
[5] The said compiler records the translation of the bodies in this manner: the same translated in the year 1676: Finally the translation of the body was made by the most illustrious and most reverend (Giannotto) Gualterio, archbishop and prince of Fermo, on the VIII day of May, in the year MDCLXXVI, this sacred body being arranged and fitted with the two others above mentioned in one wholly gilded casket, which is adorned with the clearest crystal on the upper and front part, and then inserted into that same marble chest, and afterwards carried in a long procession of suppliants through the whole town with the greatest piety. Before the chest a window has been set, and gilded gratings within. Outside, in the middle, is an iron door, closed with four locks in such a way that on the Saint's feast the said doors are opened in the sight of the people, who every year venerate the relics with great devotion.
[6] The feast of this holy Abbot is celebrated on the 2nd day of September, the Saint's feast on the 2nd of September: two others formerly celebrated, on which he died. By the supreme Pontiff Urban VIII, down to this day, two other feasts have been suspended which were celebrated in honor of the holy Protector. One of them was kept on the XXIV of November in memory of his coming to Cluellum; the other on the VIII of May on account of the prodigious apparition of the Saint in the form of a horseman, who, holding a banner in his hand, freed his own country from the invasion of the Lombards and Saracens, who in the province of the March of Ancona passed by no place without inflicting damage, as Ancona proved by its own destruction. All these things are found in the archive of the Land of Sant'Elpidio in ancient manuscripts. The priests, both secular and regular, and the nuns of the Land of Sant'Elpidio recite the proper Office of the Saint with an octave, which Pope Gregory XIII approved on the XXVIII of September, in the year MDLXXX, the VIII of his pontificate. Thus far Medaglia concerning the cult of St. Elpidius, adding that many other things were probably written which have perished through hostile devastations and the injury of the times.
[7] in the months of May and November, in which were made But what he said of two feasts of the Saint formerly wont to be celebrated in the months of May and November, besides the chief one which is kept on the 2nd of September, is confirmed from elsewhere. Fr. Antonio Maria Manfredi of our Society, penitentiary at Loreto, sent hither in the year 1699 certain extracts from the Statutes of Sant'Elpidio, printed at Macerata in the year 1571, in which, in bk. 1, p. 2, under the title, On the veneration of the feast of St. Elpidius, he testifies that it is read thus: We judge it worthy and just (especially for all the men of Sant'Elpidio) to show honor and every kind of reverence to the glorious and blessed Elpidius, our advocate, protector, and defender; who before all others has been wont by his piety and mercy and intercession with God the Father almighty to preserve our land of Sant'Elpidio, and its citizens, dwellers, and inhabitants from all dangers. Therefore, approving the customary and most ancient usage, we ordain and decree that the Magnificent Lords Priors, together with all the salaried officials, councilors, and the whole people, on the feasts of saint Elpidius in the month of May and of November, be held and bound to gather in the great hall of the palace of the commune of the said Land, and thence to carry and cause to be carried, at the expense of the commune , wax candles great and small, lighted, as is the custom, to the church of saint Elpidius, and to offer them at the altar into the hands of the priests.
[8] various offerings. Which offering ought to be made at Vespers before the aforesaid feast, and in the morning at the celebration of the Masses, the Magnificent Lords Podestà and Priors going before, however, under the silken canopy of the said commune, in memory of a most ancient observance. And the lord Podestà shall be bound at his own expense to buy and to carry, or cause to be carried, one taper of the weight of two pounds to the said church, and likewise the physician; but the chancellor and the other salaried officials one of a single pound, and to offer it as above, under a penalty for those acting contrariwise of five pounds of pence, to be withheld from their salary. And for the greater veneration of the said feast we ordain that, in all future times, in the month of May our commune shall be held and bound yearly to create one Constable, and captains of the quarters and of the herdsmen and of the other crafts and societies, and to hold a muster and review after the usual and accustomed manner, having however first obtained leave from the reverend Lord Rector for the time being in the province, and according to the quality of the times, as shall seem good and pleasing to the general council of the said Land; and his feast shall be and ought to be kept from the Vespers of the preceding day by each and all of the natives, dwellers, and inhabitants of the said Land and its district, under a penalty of forty shillings for each and on every occasion. Not only do we hence understand that the said feasts existed among the men of Sant'Elpidio, but also with how great zeal they strove to make them famous. The barbarous words by which the offices of the magistrates are designated will easily be understood, especially by Italians, such as Podestà, Priors, salaried Officials, Constable. The word Captains here designates lesser prefects, and Contratæ, in Italian contrada, the various quarters of the town and territory, over each of which someone from the people was to be set; just as others were to be elected as prefects of the several crafts. To hold a muster and review is to gather some men equipped with arms, to inspect and review them.
[9] I do not yet adduce the martyrologists, because they indeed announce St. Elpidius the abbot; The linen cloth in which the body had been wrapped, preserved separately. but some of them seem to doubt whether the Elpidius whose body is had in Picenum is the same as that holy Abbot whose deeds we shall afterwards report from Palladius. Before I examine this doubt, it is well to recount the very many miracles which are narrated to have been done among the men of Sant'Elpidio in Picenum, that all things may be joined together which certainly pertain to St. Elpidius venerated in Picenum. Medaglia, praised before, before he sets about reporting the miracles, observes beforehand that the sacred bones, when they were surveyed by the most illustrious Giannotto Gualterio, were found wrapped in a most ancient napkin or linen cloth, and that that linen was afterwards preserved separately outside the casket in which the bones are contained, that it might be applied to the sick. And that this linen was healthful to many is taught by the very many benefits which I shall set forth from the Italian in Latin, as Medaglia, contemporary with them and neighboring, recounted them.
Annotata*. i.e. to whom a stipend is given
*. i.e. of the community
§ II. Benefits and miracles obtained by the Saint's intercession and relics.
[ ] The Saint's relics being touched, a girl crippled in the arm is healed, In the very year and day of the translation, the VIII of May, glorious with the triumphs of the Saint of the devout, when the most illustrious prelate was taking from the said casket the larger bone * of one arm before the altar, there came to him a girl named Martha, daughter of Antonio Sianella of the Land of Sant'Elpidio, for many years crippled in her right arm, which she had borne heavy like a log without motion; and she besought the most illustrious lord that she might be allowed to kiss the relics which he held in his right hand, and that he would then apply them to her useless arm. After a brief prayer had been poured forth, he applied that sacred bone to the affected place of the girl; and immediately she felt her native vigor return to that part, and suddenly, all seeing it, she began to move that arm which for so many years she had carried dead; and at this time she is the mother of many children.
[11] On the same day on which the prodigious relics in the silver casket, a dead boy is raised by his intercession: with a procession of suppliants accompanying and the lord archbishop above mentioned himself, were being carried through the whole Land, God willed still to show forth openly their effect in Francesco, the only son of Nicola Sciavone and Margherita his mother, who was in his third year. He, brought by fevers and worms to the border of life and death, was with great faith commended to the Saint by his mother. The infant passed from this life to another, and the tomb was already prepared with the customary white garment; when Margherita, having conceived a greater confidence of receiving him alive, prostrated herself on the ground before the relics with sobs and tears. Scarcely had the woman finished her prayers full of feeling and tears, when the corpse-like limbs begin to be quickened, then Francesco is seen to move, and the bystanders are astounded at the prodigy. They see his eyes opened, and him saying with a stammer: I live, and I live by the Saint's grace. The sure report of this singular grace, obtained on a day of such great joy, is spread through the whole Land, and of many other singular benefits which the Saint daily bestowed on those devoted to him, which I pass over because they were not committed to writing.
[12] by the linen in which the bones had been wrapped, a boy is freed from a fever, On the VII day of August, Giovanni Maria, only son of Eleonora Sinibaldi, ten or eleven years old, in the said place, seemed about to die of a malignant fever. His mother, having applied all remedies to him, commended him to the Saint, and took care that the holy linen be brought to her; which, scarcely applied to her feverish son, restored him to entire health.
[13] a girl, In the year MDCLXXXI, Flora, daughter of Francesco Rossi of Sant'Elpidio, lay oppressed by a malignant fever. And when through the violence of the malady she was raving, her mother caused the linen to be given to her ruined daughter to kiss. And scarcely had it been held out to the feverish and raving girl, and then twice applied to her lips in token of true homage, when suddenly she recovered her former and entire health.
[14] a man, a woman, Signor Andrea Carlucci, likewise of Sant'Elpidio, on the same day and in the same year, when he was suffering from a continual and malignant fever and had been brought to the last extremity, his senses being already lost, they laid the holy linen upon his head, and all the bystanders offered their prayers. The prayer being finished, the dying man, to the astonishment of all, recovered his senses, and within a few days perfect health.
A similar grace befell Francesca Sinibaldi or Roberti on the IX of December of the same year. And here it is to be observed that so many times in this territory have malignant fevers been driven off by the mere touch of the holy linen that it now seems an ordinary matter and a continual grace which God for his sake grants to this people.
[15] as also two others. No less wonderful was what happened on the X day of July of the following year to Maddalena, wife of Giuseppe Ciminella of the same place. She was languishing with a like malady, and had been given up by the physician. At length, when Signor Francesco Fani had offered her the aforesaid linen to kiss, in a single moment she was restored to health. And since divine mercy never ceases to exalt its Saints, the aforesaid priest presently carried the same to Ippolita, his sick kinswoman, and obtained her health at once.
[16] A priest, having secretly cut off a particle of the linen, heals his two nieces; Moreover, when the aforesaid priest was greatly astounded at the marvels of this holy linen, the thought came to him of cutting off from it a piece the size of a palm; nor did the pious priest remember the prohibition made by the most illustrious prelate under penalty of excommunication. Not long after, Maria Rosa Elpidia, the younger niece of the aforesaid man, suffered from a malignant and deadly fever; and into the same malady fell Caterina Antonia, another niece of his, the elder. Both commended themselves to the Saint with a kiss of that particle of the linen, supplied to them by their aforesaid uncle; and both in turn recovered their health.
[17] [but he himself, seized by a deadly malady, restores the particle, and presently recovers.] But when in those days the said Signor Francesco himself had been seized with the same malady, and, the malignant disease growing worse and his strength diminishing, and with these the hope of life, he had received the last Sacraments of the Church, he diligently searched his conscience, and considering his theft, which perhaps had displeased the Saint, he resolved at once to restore it, and, wrapped in a thousand kisses, tears, and sighs, to give it back to his collegiate church through Signor Filippo Pelagalli the archpriest, with a full confession of his offense. And immediately, while that sacred pledge was being carried out of his house, the disease also departed from him. The miracle being made known, all ran together to marvel at a deed so singular. That sacred particle appears even now, joined again to the linen, for an eternal memory of the deed.
[18] Francesco Mallei of Sant'Elpidio in the aforesaid year, on the XX day of August, Another, the same linen being applied, is freed from a fever, fell into a malignant fever, and, given up by the physician, was brought to the last extremity. Hence on the 2nd day of September, on the Saint's feast, the holy linen was brought to him; and having kissed it, on the same day he was freed from that stubborn malady.
[19] In the same month and year, Adriano Flaminei, a smith of the same place, experienced the most effectual protection of the glorious saint Elpidius. another from retention of urine, He, tormented with most bitter pains from a retention of urine, was at once freed at the touch of the holy linen.
[20] Maria Elpidia Sinibaldi or Roberti was eight months pregnant in the town of Sant'Elpidio, a pregnant woman from a fever and other ills, when she was seized by a most burning fever, which in a few days turned malignant, and hastened the pains of childbirth. There came on a sudden flux of the bowels, and so increased the malady that, destitute of strength and given up by the physician and near to death, she received the last helps of the Church, to set out on the journey from earth to heaven. Nevertheless, the aid of her holy Patron being implored, the relics of the holy linen are brought to her, which she had scarcely kissed with the tenderest affection, when the fever abated, and without any other remedy she recovered. A few days after she bore a little daughter: and both today live as witnesses of the singular grace that was proved.
[21] In the year MDCLXXXIV, on the XII of June, sister Maria Caterina Palombi, a nun from a fever and a swelling of the body. a religious in the monastery of St. John of the aforesaid Land, suffered from a fever and with her whole body swollen, so that she had prepared herself for death. Meanwhile, however, the devout Sister, not despairing of recovering health through the favor of her patron St. Elpidius, commended herself to him with most effectual affection and asked for the said relics of the linen. Scarcely had she brought her lips to them, when from her mouth she gave out a vast quantity of pus, and was suddenly healed.
[22] The report of the Saint's feast, but still more of the notable miracles A pilgrim crippled in his limbs is healed in the Saint's church, which he daily worked in favor of those devoted to him, had drawn pilgrims and sick people from various parts. Among these was Francesco di Biagio of the territory of Ripatransone (it is a town in the March of Ancona), who appeared on the very feast day of the Saint with a sure confidence of obtaining the health he desired, of which year by year the lower half of his body was the more deprived, being of necessity supported by two crutches under his arms. He received the most sacred Sacraments, and prayed all the morning in the said church. But when the appointed procession, with the most illustrious prelate accompanying it, was returning into the church, and the aforesaid Biagio lay in supplication at its door, as soon as the most sacred urn appeared, he lifted up his voice from his prayer and cried out: A miracle! a miracle! The glorious saint Elpidius has given me back my health. And he who scarcely could drag his afflicted limbs by creeping, at once threw away one of the crutches, and walked freely: and on the following day, in testimony of the confirmed grace, he left the other. These two, as witnesses of the truth, hang fixed to the walls in the chapel of this Saint.
[23] I cannot pass over how, by the use of those crutches, another is healed, having received the crutches hung up in the church, other prodigies were wrought. Giovanni Straccino of Sant'Elpidio had suffered all his life from malignant and phlegmatic humors. In the year MDCLXXXI, when he had only his tongue free, he ordered the aforesaid crutches to be brought to him. At once, when he had touched them, he rises from the bed in which he had lain for more than eight months, and goes suddenly to the church, to give due thanks for the benefit obtained, all the people of Sant'Elpidio exulting. From that time until now he enjoys entire health, and performs his laborious exercises.
[24] in the same way another recovers health: Not otherwise did Carlo Roggieri of Fermo experience divine help, a tailor in the territory of Sant'Elpidio, who, deprived of the use of his whole body toward the end of the month of April of the year MDCLXXXII, could not leave his bed nor take even one step throughout the whole course of the year. And so, both patient in his disease and persevering in devotion toward the Saint, he asked with tears that the prodigious crutches be brought to him. Scarcely had he received them upon his bed when he feels healthful humors running through his body, and all vigor and strength returning to his limbs. Hence he rose from his bed, and after eight days went to lay down the instruments of his health in the church of the holy abbot Elpidius, renowned for prodigies.
[25] a canon healed of a spasm by the Saint's relics; Giuseppe Massi, canon of Sant'Elpidio, testifies with full faith that, being afflicted in his right arm for many days with the most intense pains of spasm, by which he could not rest even for a moment, and being persuaded that by no human help could he prolong his life or resist so great a pain, he had recourse to the aid of his holy patron Elpidius, and holding in his hand a fragment of that Saint's sacred body, which he kept by him with the highest veneration, said to God with voice and heart: Increase the pain, but increase also my patience; and to the Saint, having kissed his relics, while he applied them to the afflicted part: Pray for me, holy abbot Elpidius; and that he was suddenly freed on the XVI day of July of the year MDCLXXVII. He is still living today.
[26] a married couple freed from a fever, their daughters praying at his tomb, To these are added Ludovico Asclepy and Beatrice Salimbeni his wife, of Sant'Elpidio. One of them began to sicken on the XI of August, and the other on the XIX of the same month and year; both of a malignant fever. Then, the disease increasing, when they had been brought to the gates of death and had received the last Sacraments of the Church, they sent their daughters to the Saint's tomb to make supplication. Presently they were freed, and of a grace so prodigious gave testimony on silver tablets.
[27] a woman restored from various diseases by a vow and the relics, A like benefit Maria, wife of Marc'Antonio Laurenzi, always proclaims. She, grievously suffering from catarrhs, fluxions, and touched at repeated intervals by apoplexy, which had deprived her almost entirely of sight, made a vow to the Saint, promising that she would take care that some sacrifices of the Mass be offered in his chapel in his honor. Presently she also asked that something of the relics of her holy patron Elpidius be brought to her, as was done by a certain priest. When he had applied certain small fragments of the Saint to the eyes of the devout woman, she recovers free motion of her whole body, and perfect sight, on the XI day of May of the year MDCLXXVIII; and she is living even at this time.
[28] a canon by the mere invocation of the Saint. Pietro Medaglia, a canon in the Land of Sant'Elpidio, lay afflicted with the most burning heats of fever in the hottest season of that year, on the XVII day of July; and being besides suddenly oppressed with quinsy and difficulty of breathing, he already seemed to be drawing his last breaths; nor had he been able to swallow even the least liquid for several days. Hence, amid such gasps of death and a thousand melancholy thoughts, he had recourse to his holy Protector, and implored his aid for the health of soul and body: and by so much the greater a prodigy did he obtain help, by how much the more evident and near was the shipwreck of his life. Wherefore he betook himself to the Saint's church, and there in thanksgiving for so signal a favor celebrated Mass.
[29] In the same month, but not of that year, Domenico, brother of the said canon Medaglia, felt the effectual aid of the Saint. this man's brother, raving with a malignant fever, is healed by the relics: Brought by a malignant fever, he seemed to have been carried to the last periods of life, and he feared lest he pass to the article of death. So great had been from the beginning the violence of the malady that the sick man, from excessive raving, was not fit to receive the Sacraments of the Church; and hence his brother was tormented with a doubled grief. He, understanding that in such events human helps are vain, and mindful of what he himself had experienced in his own case, withdrew to his chamber, where, on bended knees before the image of his holy patron Elpidius, he commended to him his beloved brother. Then he took a particle of the Saint's body, and applied it to the sick man's forehead. The raving ceased, and the following night he slept sweetly; and when the morning came he found himself well. For which cause, rising from his bed, he went with his brother to the tomb, where with great piety without delay they gave due thanks to the Saint.
[30] Not without astonishment was heard the miracle which befell Natale Bernardino Lilla of Sant'Elpidio on the XIX of April of the year MDCLXXXIII. another is freed from difficulty of urine, He, for eight continuous days tormented with the gravest pains of retained urine, and brought to such a pass that his life was despaired of, was endeavoring to set his affairs in order with God and with the world. The urine had already spread through his veins, nor had the poor man passed even a single drop in all the aforesaid time. Meanwhile, when the powerful intercession of the holy abbot Elpidius came into his mind, he had recourse to him with great faith, and begs for aid. And at the same time in which something of the Saint's relics is brought to him by a priest Bonfigli, who was present there, a tooth of the same Saint is held out to him to kiss. Scarcely had the sick man kissed it when he felt its prodigious effect: for in that same moment he began to pass urine, and thereafter passed so great a quantity that within three days he was wholly restored, and gave due thanks at the Saint's tomb.
[31] It was also an illustrious miracle which befell Tecla Medaglia, wife of Ludovico Andreanelli of the said place. a woman from many diseases at once. For a long time she had been troubled with fevers and other ills throughout her whole body: her limbs were so weakened that she could no longer walk for the trembling by which she was cast down. There came on, on the IX of January of the year MDCLXXXIII, pains of the head so violent, and such signs of disease, that, being given up by the physician, she was thought to be about to die. Wherefore, finding none who could bring help, she had recourse to the one remedy that remained, namely to the mercy of the holy abbot Elpidius. She asked that the aforesaid sacred tooth be brought to her; and having kissed it, she suddenly recovered from her pains; and thereafter had her body so free and sound as though she had never been seized by any malady. She proclaims openly and to this day the grace obtained, and narrates the miracle to all, rendering a thousand thanksgivings to the holy physician Elpidius.
[32] Girolama Cifola of Sant'Elpidio for three continuous months had borne crutches under her arms for the support of her languishing body, A woman, having made a vow, is restored from a wasting sickness, because about the end of November of the year MDCLXXXIII she had been grievously afflicted with phlegmatic humors. The pious woman made a vow to the glorious Abbot, and resolved to take care that the sacrifice of the Mass should be offered at his altar. Thus commended to the Saint and bound to him, on the XV of February of the year MDCLXXXIV she obtained from him the grace: and being entirely healed, she went on the same day to the collegiate church, and, a Mass having been celebrated at her request, left the said crutches at the tomb of her Deliverer.
[33] a young man from a fever by the touch of the linen, A young man from the town of San Giusto (it is a place in the March), named Teodoro, a workman of the abbey of the Holy Cross in the territory of Sant'Elpidio, was drawing near to death from a long and stubborn fever, having received the most holy Sacraments of the Church on the XII of April of the aforesaid year. But by the mere touch of the linen he was freed from the danger; and therefore gave due thanks to the holy abbot Elpidius.
[34] this man's brother from colic gripes, by drinking the dust of the tomb: A few days after, Domenico, own brother of the aforesaid Teodoro, being suddenly seized with colic gripes, which for two days and as many nights left him no rest, and having obtained no relief by medicines, fled to the effectual aid of the Saint, admonished by his brother, who had a little before experienced it. He ordered that the sacred linen be asked for from the reverend priests; in place of which there was given to the sick man some dust from the Saint's tomb, that he might take it in drink. Scarcely had he taken it when he at once experienced its miraculous effect, being wholly freed from those bitter pains.
[35] many other miracles passed over. Countless are the graces and stupendous favors which day by day with a bounteous hand the glorious abbot Elpidius bestows on his servants, both through the application of the said linen, of his sacred bones, of the dust of his tomb, and also through the oil of his lamp, and by the mere invocation of his name. His prodigious intercession is clearly attested by the votive offerings fixed to the wall of his tomb, and by a part of the church covered with material both cheap and precious, namely garments, chains, trusses, and crutches. But because these benefits have not been entered in registers, they are only impressed on the memory of those who were worthy of such favors. For this cause I cannot set them forth in detail with a more prolix discussion, although otherwise thousands would have to be recorded who were freed from a malignant fever. And so let the pious reader be content with what has just been reported; and let these be to the greater glory of the Saint.
Annotata*. i.e. the bone of the forearm
§ III. The memory of St. Elpidius in the Martyrologies: it is inquired whether the St. Elpidius the abbot praised by Palladius is he who is venerated among the men of Sant'Elpidio: this man certainly did not come alive into Picenum, but his body, when dead, was probably carried thither.
[ ] The Roman Martyrology announces St. Elpidius in Picenum; The Roman Martyrology at the 2nd of September clearly announces the Elpidius of whose veneration and miracles we have thus far treated; but recording none of his deeds, it leaves it doubtful whether this Elpidius is that Cappadocian abbot in whose name he is now celebrated among the men of Sant'Elpidio. Take the words: In Picenum likewise, of saint Elpidius the abbot, by whose name a town is called, which rejoices that it possesses his sacred body. And Baronius in his notes observes the following: Of whom also Peter in the Catalogue, bk. VIII, ch. XXVIII, and since he writes that he was a Cappadocian by race, we think he is the man of whom Palladius narrates excellent things in ch. XXXVII. His memory is famous in Picenum: for he is chiefly venerated in the town which from his name is called Sant'Elpidio. There was besides another Elpidius, noble in learning and in excellent works, who in the times of the emperor Constantius discharged a legation in the East against the Arians, sent by Julius the Roman Pontiff, as is clear from his letters which are extant in Athanasius. Baronius here clearly suggests some doubt, yet in such a way that he is inclined to the opinion of the men of Sant'Elpidio.
[37] Nevertheless Peter de Natalibus, whom Baronius adduces, Peter de Natalibus [records Elpidius the abbot, a Cappadocian by race,] records in the clearest words the Abbot praised by Palladius, writing thus of him in bk. 8, ch. 28: Elpidius the abbot was by race a Cappadocian. Of whom Heraclides writes that he dwelt in a cave, surpassing all in the zeal of abstinence. For through the XXV years which he lived there, he took food only on the Lord's day and on Thursdays: on other days he tasted nothing at all: and through the whole night he sang psalms standing and praying: whom a countless multitude of Brethren followed. And when a scorpion had struck him on a certain night, he, having trodden on it, did not so much as change the space in which he had been standing: so far did he despise the pain. A dry shoot of a vine, planted by him out of the due season, so grew that, having become a great vine, within a year it covered the whole church. He for twenty-five years never turned himself toward the West, nor beheld the declining sun. By whose example his disciple Sisinnius, when he had been with him seven years, shut himself in a tomb, in which, standing for three years, he always prayed, never by day or night walking about, or sitting, or lying down. Elpidius, therefore, after the aforesaid years having returned to Cappadocia, and having been made a priest, gathered Brethren and Sisters into one, and, a monastery having been built, rested in peace. Whose feast is kept on the IV of the Nones of September. This writer errs in this, that he says Elpidius returned into Cappadocia, and the same error others to be presently cited have imitated. For it was not Elpidius, but Sisinnius his disciple, who returned into Cappadocia, as we shall see from Palladius, whom Peter cited under the name of Heraclides, because the Lausiac History of Palladius and the Paradise of Heraclides, as it is sometimes called, are the same Work of Palladius.
[38] Let the studious reader note that it is not asserted by Peter de Natalibus [neither certainly affirms whether the Cappadocian and the Elpidius of the men of Picenum are the same: yet others assert it,] that this St. Elpidius is venerated in Picenum, or that his body is preserved there. With him Maurolico agreed, who on the same day has thus briefly: Likewise in Cappadocia, of Elpidius the abbot, conspicuous for abstinence. But Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy at the same day hands down the opinion of the men of Sant'Elpidio. For he composed an elogium for the Saint such as I have just given from Peter, not even correcting the error about the return into Cappadocia; and at the end he subjoined this: Whose body is laid in Picenum, in the illustrious town named after him. But in his annotation he raises this doubt: Whether St. Elpidius died in Picenum in the town which is named Sant'Elpidio; or whether his body was translated thither from Cappadocia, is unascertained by me, since I have not yet seen the records of the church of Sant'Elpidio. I suspect that that doubt cannot be resolved from the records of Sant'Elpidio, since nothing about a translation of the body into Picenum has been communicated to us. Nay rather Medaglia, the collector of the records, strives to prove that Saint Elpidius came into Picenum and died there. But that clearly conflicts with Palladius, so that that writer by this attempt increases the doubt before mentioned, namely whether the Elpidius venerated in Picenum is the same as the Palladian Elpidius.
[39] Natale Medaglia strives to prove from ancient paintings, Let us hear, however, what the said Medaglia brings forward. First he cites Gregorio Lazzari, bk. 4 of a Work unknown to me, On holy Men, and from it adduces these words: Elpidius, a holy abbot and illustrious for holiness of life, was an Asiatic by nation, born of noble parents in the city of Cordyla in Cappadocia: who, coming to Rome, after visiting the holy places, sought Picenum, and being inspired by a divine light resolved to remain in the place where out of the ruins of the city of Cluana a town was made. This Medaglia calls Cluellum, who then strives to confirm Lazzari's statements from ancient paintings. Take his words in summary. The first painting exhibits an angel who, showing a skiff near the bank to Elpidius, carried him aboard the skiff to Rome. The second painting shows Elpidius departing from Rome into Picenum, while the people there were building the town of Cluellum. Praying before his entrance, he is taught by God that he will there find two fellow-workers, Ennesius and Eustatius, own brothers.
[40] that St. Elpidius came to the people of Picenum, and preached the faith there, The third has it that the three said Saints met, when on the following day the sun was scarcely appearing in the East; and that they began to preach against the idols, and were therefore summoned before the prefect of the town. The fourth teaches that St. Elpidius, after various disputations about religion, was shut in prison by the prefect's order. The fifth exhibits the Saint in prison. The sixth shows him freed from prison by the aid of three angels, the prefect marveling at that prodigy. From the seventh, the prefect, having seen that miracle, begs for baptism; but is first ordered to overthrow the idols, and does so. The eighth painting, finally, signifies baptism conferred on the prefect by St. Elpidius, with Ennesius and Eustatius assisting: All these eight paintings, says Medaglia, are of a most ancient hand, with descriptions in Gothic characters added beneath. He then observes that it is clear from these painted tablets that a singular veneration of St. Elpidius flourished among the ancients. In this indeed I readily agree with him; for the same is also gathered from the fact that the Saint's name was given to the town, and endures to this day.
[41] [alleging also Mss. and an epitaph: that opinion cannot suit the Cappadocian Elpidius.] From painted tablets Medaglia passes to ancient Mss. (as he certainly calls them, for how great their antiquity is he does not explain), and from them narrates that seven thousand men were baptized by St. Elpidius on the same day on which the prefect received baptism; and besides, on another day, six thousand: that various churches too were erected by the same Saint, and the people instructed in piety: and that Elpidius at last died on the 2nd of September, in the year 393, in the reign of Theodosius the elder, and that on that occasion the name of St. Elpidius was given to the town of Cluellum; and that not long after Elpidius Ennesius and Eustatius died. Most of these things he confirms by an epitaph which he asserts was carved on a stone in the church of St. Elpidius, which utterly collapsed in the year 1629. He testifies that the words of the epitaph were these:
To the Apostle of Picenum and our most vigilant Father of the country, Whom, dying on earth on the IV of the Nones of September, The blessed hosts received in heaven; And whose precepts they embraced unto salvation, And whose holiness they venerated unto obedience, They raised this stone unto eternity. Mu. Clu. In the year from the birth of Christ CCCXCIII.
Thus Natale Medaglia concerning the deeds and death of St. Elpidius among the people of Picenum; for his deeds in the East he had before reported from Palladius. And from all these things, which I have thought should be faithfully reported, I form this conclusion. Since it is established that St. Elpidius died in his own cave in Asia, it must be either that all those things are fabulous, or that another Elpidius flourished in Picenum. Which of the two is the more likely I shall now examine.
[42] First I observe that the proofs sought from the paintings are of very small moment, [But since the Office is repugnant to it, either the paintings are not rightly explained,] since we do not know at what time those tablets were painted, and painters commonly claim too great a license in painting popular traditions, nay even fables. Secondly, the men of Sant'Elpidio themselves do not seem to believe, or at any rate to have long believed, that St. Elpidius died in Picenum. This is clear from the letter recited above at n. 2, where the most illustrious count Asclepi said that it must first be examined how that Saint's body was translated into Picenum, of which in the lessons no mention is made, but rather that in Cappadocia he closed his last day. The men of Sant'Elpidio, therefore, when that Office was composed, did not yet think that the Saint had died among them, but believed the body had been brought from elsewhere, and they seem still to have believed the same when in the year 1683 the said letter was written. Hence I cannot believe that those things are rightly gathered from the paintings which Medaglia gathered, or that what he brought forward about seven thousand men baptized in one day and six thousand on another by Elpidius was found in any ancient writings of any authority. Certainly all those things are wholly devoid of likelihood, as I shall show: and since they are contrary to the Office of the men of Sant'Elpidio, and in the Offices of particular churches their tradition is commonly expressed, I strongly suspect that they cannot rightly be gathered even from the said paintings.
[43] But whether such things are expressed in the painted tablets as Medaglia has given us, or they contain fables, or they represent the deeds of another Saint. or whether he thought he saw in those paintings what is by no means signified there, they are to be held for fables if they must be understood of St. Elpidius the abbot. For, since he ties the Saint's death to the year 393, Elpidius would not have come into Picenum except in the reign of Valentinian, Gratian, or Theodosius himself, under whom he places his death. With what show of truth, then, is he said to have been shut in prison for preaching the faith? Nay, it is not likely that at that time there were many idolaters in Picenum, since the men of Fermo, Ascoli, and Ancona already had their own prelates in Picenum. For this cause some suspicion arises in me whether perhaps those tablets exhibit the deeds of some other Saint, as also the epitaph recited above, which certainly is not very ancient, since it counts the years from the birth of Christ: for the things suggested in them, if they are true, suit not an abbot but a bishop. If the ancient monuments which they have had been sent to us together with the Office and a delineation of the tablets, it would be permitted to pronounce a more certain judgment on all these things.
[44] Now, these being set aside, I shall allege certain reasons for which I judge [Reasons which suggest that the body of St. Elpidius the Cappadocian was carried from Palestine into Picenum.] that the body of St. Elpidius, the Cappadocian abbot, was translated into Picenum, and that thence arose his famous veneration and the town's name. Besides the tradition of the men of Sant'Elpidio, who think that they possess the body of St. Elpidius the Cappadocian, of whom Palladius treats, the chief reason is one of the three feasts, which was formerly instituted and celebrated on account of St. Elpidius's coming. For indeed I can scarcely doubt that we ought to understand the coming of his body, that is, the day of translation, not the coming of the living Elpidius, as Medaglia would have it. For the first is most usual, the other wholly unheard of. Since, therefore, the Saint's body was translated into Picenum from elsewhere, as is gathered from the feast of translation, nothing hinders our being able to judge that it is the body of St. Elpidius the Cappadocian, who died in Palestine, since many relics of the Saints were translated thence into other provinces, and this is the tradition of the men of Sant'Elpidio. And this tradition is confirmed by the bodies of Ennesius and Eustatius, which they affirm to be joined with the body of St. Elpidius: for these two Saints Palladius joins with St. Elpidius in these words: With this holy athlete of God (Elpidius) there was also consummated together the renowned servant of God Ænesius *, a man of great esteem, … and his brother Eustathius, his equal in honor, etc. With these agree the words which Medaglia brings forward from ancient writings, as he says: And there was with this Athlete of Christ Ennesius, a great and honorable man, and his brother Eustasius, whose life of continence was one, and the same their consummation in Christ. And so, provided it be certain that the bodies of Ænesius or Ennesius and Eustathius are also preserved in Picenum, it can scarcely be doubted that they are the bodies of the same men of whom Palladius writes. But it is to be lamented that the Acts of the translation have perished, or at any rate are not to our hand: for from these all things could be more clearly set forth, so that no doubt would remain.
Annotata*. otherwise, Ennesius
§ IV. The deeds of Elpidius described by Palladius are discussed; and it is inquired whether he is the same as the Elpidius praised in the Life of St. Chariton, and as the deacon of St. Basil.
[ ] [The Saint's deeds faithfully written by Palladius, but the editions of him less consonant with one another;] Although the Lausiac History of Palladius, in which the deeds of St. Elpidius the abbot are reported, was written with the greatest fidelity, and its author narrates those things which he himself saw or received from eyewitnesses, yet the deeds of St. Elpidius suffer some difficulty on account of the different editions of the said History, which do not agree with one another. Three are to my hand, or, if I would enumerate them all, four editions of the Lausiac History, one Greek, the rest Latin. The Greek one John Meursius gave in the year 1616 from a very ancient parchment codex of the Palatine library, as he warns in the preface, presently adding this: I am the first to publish it in Greek; though a learned man, Gentian Hervet, gave a Latin version sixty years ago. But certainly either he indulged himself too much, or the codex he used was much different from the Palatine one. For how much his version differs from the Greek text of Palladius anyone may easily observe, if he will but compare them.
[46] [and the Latin translations not sufficiently exact: hence the Greek Acts to be given below:] Truly Hervet's Latin Translation has its chapters arranged in a different order from the Greek text published by Meursius. Not a few faults also occur in that same translation, which Rosweyde reprinted in the Lives of the Fathers, some faults being corrected here and there. The said Rosweyde published also the ancient translation of Palladius, which is commonly called the Paradise of Heraclides, even though it is nothing else than the Lausiac History rendered into Latin. But this ancient translation agrees more rightly with the Greek text, certainly as to the order of the chapters. But not even that translation seems altogether exact, though it appears better than Hervet's. For this cause I shall give the Greek Acts of St. Elpidius from Meursius's edition and shall add a new translation with more prolix annotations.
[47] Moreover from these Acts we have that the native land of St. Elpidius was Cappadocia, the Saint's country, monastic life, and the place of his death; which is an ample and well enough known province of Asia Minor. Palladius names no city, nor the noble or ignoble birth of his parents. They divine, therefore, without foundation who have said that he was born of noble parents at Cordula or Cordyla: for I do not even find Cordyla in Cappadocia; but Cellarius, vol. 2 of the ancient Geography, p. 197, attributes the port of Cordyla to Pontus, not to Cappadocia. Besides, from the Acts it is clear that St. Elpidius was a monk, and then leader or abbot of anchorites, and a priest in Palestine, where also he ended his life. Again, therefore, all those have wandered from the truth who have written that St. Elpidius returned into Cappadocia and died there: for Palladius asserts that of his disciple Sisinnius; but of Elpidius he says below at n. 2: This great Athlete of patience, from the time when he entered the cave (near Jericho), did not come down from the mountain until he was buried. And these words leave no doubt that he died in Palestine, so that whatever things are more obscure must necessarily be reconciled with these words of Palladius.
[48] Hervet's edition has made it seem more obscure where St. Elpidius first embraced the monastic Life, it is inquired where he was first a monk, and of what monastery he was priest. Tillemont discussed these matters in vol. XI of the Monuments, note 1 on Palladius of Helenopolis, and sufficiently shows that Elpidius was first a monk in a monastery of Cappadocia, which Timothy, chorepiscopus of St. Basil, had built. He confesses, however, that this is not consonant with Hervet's Latin translation, since that seems to have it that he was first an anchorite in Palestine, then abbot in Cappadocia, and he tries to correct the text in various ways. Hear the words which bring in the difficulty. Hervet's edition, ch. 106, thus begins to speak of Elpidius: In the caves of the Amorites, which are at Jericho, which those fleeing Joshua the son of Nun * had once built, who was then laying waste the foreigners, on mount Luca, there was a certain Elpidius, a Cappadocian by race, but afterwards honored with the priesthood of a monastery, being made so by Timothy, chorepiscopus of Cappadocia, a most competent man. He dwelt in a certain cave. Here first is described the place in which Elpidius led the anchoretic life, and presently it is said, but afterwards honored with the priesthood of a monastery, and that monastery is set in Cappadocia. It seems, therefore, that from these words it must be concluded that the Saint was at first an anchorite in Palestine, then a priest of a monastery in Cappadocia, as Tillemont rightly noted, who, however, did not sufficiently remove the difficulty.
[49] And so it must be observed that the whole description of the place and where he was afterwards priest and abbot; which Hervet gave among the deeds of St. Elpidius does not belong to his Life, but to the preceding chapter, as is clear from Meursius's Greek edition, which we shall reprint. But the Life of Elpidius was begun by Palladius in these words: A certain Elpidius, or, as Hervet has it, There was a certain Elpidius, etc. What precedes for the description of the place is in the Greek text referred to the preceding chapter, and to that it seems must necessarily be referred, not indeed to the chapter which precedes in Hervet, but to that which precedes in the Greek edition, and in the ancient Latin translation in Rosweyde, p. 975. The description of the place being cut off, Palladius's words will be able to be rightly understood, and the earlier ones will not conflict with the later. For first he is said to be a Cappadocian by race. Secondly, afterwards adorned with the dignity of the priesthood; and that afterwards can be referred to his coming into Palestine, so that he was made a priest after he had lived there for some time. Tillemont refers that afterwards to Palladius's coming, and thinks that he was made a priest after Palladius had been there. Thirdly he is called of the monastery, that is, from the monastery, of Timothy the Cappadocian, not abbot of that monastery, as I think more likely, but a monk before his coming into Palestine. Fourthly it is said: He, having come (or coming), dwelt in one of the caves, namely of the place described before in the preceding chapter or narrative. Hence the ancient translation has thus: This Elpidius made himself a dwelling in one of the aforesaid caves. The rest will be able to be elucidated in the annotations. But before I subjoin the Acts, two things still occur to be discussed.
[50] whether he is the same as the Elpidius praised in the Life of St. Chariton, First, in the Life of St. Chariton in Surius at the XXVIII of September, mention is made of a certain Elpidius, whom the place, the time, and other circumstances seem altogether to indicate to be the same as this our man. For the writer of that Life, when he had narrated that a sacred laura (so the Greeks called a dwelling of anchorites distinguished by many cells) was built by Chariton, reports the construction of another laura thus: And when (Chariton) had accomplished a day's journey, he comes to another cave, which was indeed situated toward the parts of Jericho; and it was deserted, and was most fit for affording silence and quiet… When therefore many had obtained healing from him, and had resolved to imitate his life, here too he builds another dwelling of the virtues, which Elpidius indeed afterwards enlarged, a man renowned for right deeds in ascetic exercise. Now that there were anchorites near Jericho when Elpidius came thither Palladius suggests in these words below at n. 1, He, having come, dwelt in one of the caves. And that their number was wonderfully increased by that Saint's example he teaches in the same place, when he says: He made that mountain populous like a city. Since therefore these things rightly agree, and it is certain that Chariton flourished before Elpidius, and finally the place is set in both Lives near the city of Jericho, it does not seem to be doubted that the same Elpidius is recorded in both Acts.
[51] whether he is the same as Elpidius, deacon of St. Basil. St. Basil in letter 138 of the new edition praises a certain Elpidius, a deacon, writing thus of him: For I was passing this fiftieth day in infirmity, when there came to us our beloved and excellent brother, our fellow-deacon Elpidius. Of the same again, in letter 265 to Eulogius of Alexandria, he writes this: Wherefore we have also sent our most longed-for son, Elpidius our fellow-deacon, who will both carry the letter and can himself announce to you whatever proofs have escaped the writing. Meursius in his Annotations, p. 200, thinks him the same as our abbot Elpidius. Truly, since the latter letter of Basil is marked as written in the year 377, the time does not hinder Elpidius, St. Basil's deacon, from having afterwards been able to embrace the monastic and anchoretic life, and from being the same as St. Elpidius the abbot, who ended his life in Palestine. Nevertheless the mere agreement of time and country does not afford a sufficiently certain foundation for us to affirm as certain that it is the same Elpidius, as Meursius did. The name Elpidius was not so rare in the East that from the name of each a solid reason could be had, without which nothing should be asserted as certain. These things being dispatched, I subjoin the Greek Acts from Meursius with a Latin translation and our annotations, in which I shall discuss the doubts which still occur in the Acts.
Annotata*. i.e. Joshua
THE GREEK ACTS
From the edition of Meursius, J. S. translating.
Elpidius, abbot, patron of the town of Sant'Elpidio in Picenum. (S.)
Ελπίδιός τις, Καππαδόκης τῷ γένει, εἰς ὕστερον πρεσβυτερίου ἠξιωμένος, τοῦ μοναστηρίου γενομένου τοῦ χωρεπισκόπου Τιμοθέου τῆς Καππαδοκίας, ἀνδρὸς ἱκανωτάτου· οὗτος ἐλθὼν παρῴκησεν ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν σπηλαίων, ὃς τοσαύτην ἐγκράτειαν ἀσκήσεως ἐνεδείξατο, ὡς καλύψαι τοῦς πάντας. Ζήσας γὰρ εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε ἔτη τὰ σάββατα καὶ τὰς κυριακὰς μετελάμβανεν μόνον· τὰς δὲ νύκτας πάσας ἑστὼς ἔψαλλεν καθάπερ βασιλίσκῳ τῶν μελισσῶν ἐσομένῳ, ἐν μέσῳ τῆς ἀδελφότητος συνοικήσας τὸ ὄρος ἐκεῖνο ἐπόλισεν. Καὶ ἧν ἰδεῖν ἐκεῖ παρ᾽ ἐκάστῳ διαφόρους τῆς ἀσκήσεως πολιτείας. Τοῦτον ποτὲ τὸν Ἐλπίδιον, τὸν ὄντως τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντα, καὶ διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντα, ψάλλοντα ἐν νυκτὶ, συμψαλλόντων ἡμῶν αὐτῷ, σκορπίος ἔπληξεν· ὃς πατήσας αὔτον οὐδὲ μετέστη τῆς τοῦ σχήματος στάσεως, τοσοῦτον τῇ ὑπομονῇ ἀλογήσας τῆς κατὰ τὸν σκορπίον ὀδύνης. Μιᾶς τοίνυν τῶν ἡμερῶν ἀδελφοῦ, τινὸς κόμμα κατέχοντος κλήματος, τοῦτο λαβὼν ὁ Μακάριος ἐν τῷ καθῆσθαι παρὰ τὴν ὄχθαν τοῦ ὄρους ἔχωσεν ὡς φυτεύων, καίπερ ἐν οὐ καιρῷ θείς, τοσοῦτον ηὐξήθη καὶ γέγονεν ἄμπελος, ὤστε σκεπάζειν πᾶσαν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν.
[2] Τούτῳ τῷ ἁγίῳ ἀθλητῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ συνετελειώθη καὶ ὁ ἀοίδιμος δοῦλος τοῦ θεοῦ Αἰνέσιος, ἀνήρ τις ἀξιόλογος, καὶ τῇ ασκήσει διαπρέψας, καὶ Εὐστάθιος ἀδελφὸς τούτου ὁμότιμος, καὶ τοῦς ἄθλους τῆς κατὰ Χριστὸν πολιτείας ἐξανύσας προθύμως. Ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον δὲ ὁ μακάριος Ἐλπίδιος ἤλασεν ἀπαθείας, ταριχεύσας τὸ σῶμα, ὡς ἥλιον διαφαίνειν αὐτοῦ τῶν ὀστέων τὸ πῆγμα. Φέρεται, δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς τῆς ἀρετῆς αὐτοῦ διηγήμασιν παρὰ τῶν σπουδαίων αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν, ὅτι ἐν ὅλοις εἴκοσι πέντε ἔτεσιν οὐδεποτε ἐπὶ δύσιν ἔστράφη. Καὶ τοιγε τοῦ σπηλαίου τῆς θύρας εἰς τὸ ὕψος τοῦ ὄρους ἐπικειμένης· οὐδὲ μετὰ ἑξαωρίαν τὸν ἥλιον ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς τούτου γενόμενον ἴδεν ποτὲ κατὰ δύσιν κλίναντα, οὐδὲ τοῦς κατὰ δυσμὰς ἀνατέλλοντας ἀστέρας ποτὲ ἐθεάσατο ἐν τοῖς εἰκοσιπέντε ἔτεσιν. Οὗτος ὁ μέγας ἀθλητὴς τῆς ὑπομονῆς ἀφ᾽ οὗ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ σπήλαιον, οὐ κατῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους μέχρις ὅτου ἐτάφη. Ταῦτα τὰ οὐράνια ἐγχειρήματα τοῦ στεφανίτου καὶ ἀηττήτου παλαιστοῦ Ἐλπιδίου, τοῦ νῦν ἐν παραδείσῳ διαιτωμένου μετὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ ὁμοίων.
[3] Τούτου τοῦ ἀθανάτου Ἐλπιδίου μαθητής γέγονεν Σισίννιος ὀνόματι, ἐξ οἰκετικῆς μὲν ὁρμώμενος τυχης, ἐλεύθερος δὲ κατὰ τὴν πίστιν, τῷ γένει Καππαδοκης. Δεῖ γὰρ καὶ τὰ γένη σημάινειν πρὸς δόξαν τοῦ ἐξευγενίζοντος ἡμὰς Χριστοῦ, καὶ εἰς τὴν μακαρίαν καὶ ἀληθινὴν ἀπάγοντος ἡμᾶς εὐγένειαν εἰς τὴν τῶν οὐράνων βασιλείαν· χρονίσας τοίνυν παρὰ τῷ μακαρίῳ Ἐλπιδίῳ ὁ διάπυρος ἐραστὴς τῶν τῆς ἀσκήσεως ἀρετῶν Σισίννιος ἕκτον, ἢ καὶ ἕβδομον ἔτος, καὶ ἐκμέμαθηκὼς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὰς ἀρετὰς, καὶ τὸ καρτερὸν τῶν τῆς ἀσκήσεως πόνων, εἰς ὕστερον οὗτος μνήματι ἑαυτὸν ἐγκαθεῖρξεν, ἐπὶ τρία ἔτη σταθεὶς ἐν τῷ μνεήματι ἐν προσευχαῖς διετέλει. Μὴ νύκτωρ, μὴ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν, μὴ καθίσας, μὴ ἀναπεσὼν, μὴ βαδίσας, ἔξω. Οὗτος κατηξιώθη χαρίσματος κατὰ δαιμόνων. Νυνὶ δὲ ἐπανελθὼν ἐπὶ τὴν πατρίδα ἠξιώθη πρεσβυτερίου, συναγαγὼν ἀδελφότητα ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ γυναικῶν, τῇ μαρτυρίᾳ τῆς ἀπαθείας διὰ τῆς σεμνῆς πολιτείας, καὶ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἄῤῥεν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἐλάσας, καὶ τὸ τῶν γυναικῶν θῆλυ τῇ ἐγκρατείᾳ φιμώσας, ὡς πληροῦσθαι τὸ γεγραμμένον· Ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄρσεν καί θῆλυ. Ἐστὶν δὲ καὶ φιλόξενος καθ᾽ ὑπερβολὴν, καίπερ ὣν ἀκτήμων, εἰς ἔλεγχον τῶν ἀμεταδότων πλουσίων.
The Saint's country, his anchoretic life, A certain Elpidius a was a Cappadocian by race, afterwards adorned with the dignity of the priesthood, from the monastery of Timothy c the chorepiscopus b of Cappadocia, a most worthy man d. He, having come, dwelt in one of the caves e: who displayed in the ascetic life so great an abstinence that he outshone them all. For he lived twenty-five years eating only on Saturdays and Sundays. And whole nights he sang psalms standing. And having become like f a king of bees, dwelling in the midst of the Brethren, he made that mountain populous like a city: and one might there see in each man various institutes of the ascetic life. This Elpidius, truly rejoicing in hope g, and enduring tribulation for Christ's sake, while he was singing psalms by night, we singing together with him, a scorpion once stung. He, having trodden on it, did not so much as change the posture in which he was standing. So greatly by his endurance did he despise the pain inflicted by the scorpion. And on a certain day, when a Brother was holding a piece of a vine-shoot h, the Blessed man, taking it, while he was sitting on the * mound of the mountain, dug it in as though planting. And indeed, though set there at an unseasonable time, it grew so much and turned into so great a vine that it overshadowed the whole church.
[2] With this holy Athlete of Christ there was at the same time consecrated i also the famous servant of God Ænesius, and that life exceedingly austere, his blessed death: a man memorable and excelling in the ascetic life; and Eustathius k, his brother, equal in honor, who also eagerly performed the contests of the life undertaken for Christ. And so great l a mastery over his affections did blessed Elpidius attain by macerating his body, until the sun showed through the frame of his bones. Moreover in the accounts of his virtue this too is said by his zealous disciples, that for twenty-five whole years he never turned himself toward the West (and indeed the door of his cave was set on the summit of the mountain m), nor after the sixth hour n did he ever see the sun, which had been overhead of him, declining to the West, nor did he ever behold the stars rising in the West in those twenty-five years. This great Athlete of patience, from the time when he entered the cave, did not come down from the mountain until he was buried. These are the heavenly deeds of the crowned and unconquered wrestler Elpidius, who now dwells in heaven o with those like himself.
[3] Of this immortal Elpidius there became a disciple a certain man Sisinnius, an imitator of his virtues. named Sisinnius [p], sprung indeed from a servile condition, but free by faith, a Cappadocian by race. For it behooves us to signify races too, to the glory of Christ, who makes us free-born, and leads us to the blessed and true nobility, namely to the kingdom of heaven. When therefore that fervent lover of the virtues of the ascetic life, Sisinnius, had remained with blessed Elpidius six or seven years, and had learned the Man's virtues and the endurance of the labors of the ascetic life, he afterwards shut himself in a tomb, and for three years, standing in the tomb, persevered in prayers, neither by night nor by day sitting or lying down or going outside. He obtained the grace of command over demons. And now, having returned to his own country, he was adorned with the priesthood, and gathered a congregation of men and women, giving testimony of freedom from passions by the honorableness of his life, and having driven from himself manly lust, and having bridled the women's desire by continence, so that what is written is fulfilled: In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female [q]. And he is also exceedingly hospitable, although he lacks possessions, to the condemnation of the rich who bestow nothing.
ANNOTATA.
p. In the passed-over entries at the 12th of March our Predecessors noted that this Sisinnius is recorded by Peter de Natalibus with the title of Saint, as also by Whitford in the English Martyrology. But sufficient arguments of a cult neither did they find, nor do I hitherto find.
q. These things can be understood in a sound sense of an exceptional purity and of affections notably subdued. For a perfect and complete apathy, or emptiness of affections, is a fiction of the Stoics, who falsely gloried in it, not a virtue of Christians, who indeed used that word, but in a less proper sense.
*. or beside