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The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints

A >> Alban Butler >> The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints




CADOC was son to Gundleus, a prince of South Wales, by his wife Gladusa,
daughter of Braghan, whose name wax given to the province now called
Brecknockshire. His parents were not less ennobled by their virtues than
by their blood, and his father, who some years before his death
renouncing the world, led an eremitical life near a country church which
he had built, was honored in Wales among the saints. Cadoc, who was his
eldest son, succeeded in the government, but not long after followed his
father's example; and embracing a religious life, put himself under the
direction of St. Tathai, an Irish monk, who had opened a famous school
at Gwen{t}, the ancient Venta Silurum of the Romans, afterwards a
bishop's see, now in ruins in Monmouthshire. Our saint made such
progress both in learning and virtue, that when he returned into
Glamorganshire, his own country, he spread on every side the rays of his
wisdom and sanctity. Here, three miles from Cowbridge, he built a church
and a monastery, which was called Llan-carvan, or the Church of Stags,
and sometimes Nancarvan, that is, the Vale of Stags. The school which he
established in this place became most illustrious, and fruitful in great
and holy men. By our saint's persuasion St. Iltut renounced the court
and the world, and learned at Llan-carvan that science which he
preferred to all worldly treasures. He afterwards founded the great
monastery of Llan-Iltut. These two monasteries and that of St. Docuinus,
all situated in the diocese of Landaff, were very famous for many ages,
and were often governed by abbots of great eminence. St. Gildas, after
his return from Ireland, entered the monastery of St. Cadoc, where he
taught for one year, and copied a book of the gospels, which was long
preserved with great care in the church of St. Cadoc, and highly
reverenced by the Welsh, who used it in their most solemn oaths and
covenants. After spending there one year, St. Gildas and St. Cadoc left
Llan-carvan, being desirous to live in closer retirement. They hid
themselves first in the islands of Ronech and Echni. An ancient life of
St. Cadoc tells us, that he died at Benevenna, which is the {216} Roman
name of a place now called Wedon, in Northamptonshire. Some moderns take
it for Benevento, in Italy, where they suppose him to have died.
Chatelain imagines this St. Cadoc to be the same who is honored at
Rennes, under the name of Cadoc, or Caduad, and from whom a small island
on the coast of Vennes is called Enes-Caduad. St. Cadoc flourished in
the beginning of the sixth century, and was succeeded in the abbacy of
Llan-carvan, by Ellenius, "an excellent disciple of an excellent
master," says Leland. See the Acts of St. Cadoc, in Capgrave; Usher's
Antiquities, c. 13, p. 252. Chatelain's Notes on the. Martyr. p. 399.


JANUARY XXV.

THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

See Tillemont, t. 1, p. 192.

THIS great apostle was a Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin. At his
circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, he received the name of
Saul. His father was by sect a Pharisee, and a denizen of Tarsus, the
capital of Cilicia: which city had shown a particular regard for the
cause of the Caesars; on which account Cassius deprived it of its
privileges and lands; but Augustus, when conqueror, made it ample amends
by honoring it with many new privileges, and with the freedom of Rome,
as we read in the two Dions and Appian. Hence St. Paul, being born at
Tarsus, was by privilege a Roman citizen, to which quality a great
distinction and several exemptions were granted by the laws of the
empire.[1] His parents sent him young to Jerusalem, where he was
educated and instructed in the strictest observance of the law of Moses,
by Gamaliel,[2] a learned and noble Jew, and probably a member of the
Sanhedrim; and was a most scrupulous observer of it in every point. He
appeals even to his enemies to bear evidence how conformable to it his
life had been in every respect.[3] He embraced the sect of the
Pharisees, which was of all others the most severe, though by its pride
the most opposite to the humility of the gospel.[4] It was a rule among
the Jews that all their children were to learn some trade with their
studies, were it but to avoid idleness, and to exercise the body, as
well as the mind, in something serious.[5] It is therefore probable that
Saul learned in his youth the trade which he exercised even after his
apostleship, of making tents.[6]

Saul, surpassing all his equals in zeal for the Jewish law and their
traditions, which he thought the cause of God, became thereby a,
blasphemer, a persecutor, and the most outrageous enemy of Christ.[7] He
was one of those who combined to murder St. Stephen, and by keeping the
garments of all who stoned that holy martyr, he is said by St. Austin to
have stoned him by the hands of all the rest;[8] to whose prayers for
his enemies he ascribes {217} the conversion of St. Paul:[9] "If
Stephen," said he, "had not prayed, the church would never have had St.
Paul."

After the martyrdom of the holy deacon, the priests and magistrates of
the Jews raised a violent persecution against the church at Jerusalem,
in which Saul signalized himself above others. By virtue of the power he
had received from the high priest, he dragged the Christians out of
their houses, loaded them with chains, and thrust them into prison.[10]
He procured them to be scourged in the synagogues, and endeavored by
torments to compel them to blaspheme the name of Christ. And as our
Saviour had always been represented by the leading men of the Jews as an
enemy to their law, it was no wonder that this rigorous Pharisee fully
persuaded himself that _he ought to do many things contrary to the name
of Jesus of Nazareth_.[11] By the violences he committed, his name
became everywhere a terror to the faithful. The persecutors not only
raged against their persons, but also seized their estates and what they
possessed in common,[12] and left them in such extreme necessity, that
the remotest churches afterwards thought it incumbent on them to join in
charitable contributions to their relief. All this could not satisfy the
fury of Saul; he breathed nothing but threats and the slaughter of the
other disciples.[13] Wherefore, in the fury of his zeal, he applied to
the high priest and Sanhedrim for a commission to take up all Jews at
Damascus who confessed Jesus Christ, and bring them bound to Jerusalem,
that they might serve as public examples for the terror of others. But
God was pleased to show forth in him his patience and mercy; and, moved
by the prayers of St. Stephen and his other persecuted servants, for
their enemies, changed him, in the very heat of his fury, into a vessel
of election, and made him a greater man in his church by the grace of
the apostleship, than St. Stephen had ever been, and a more illustrious
instrument of his glory. He was almost at the end of his journey to
Damascus, when about noon, he and his company were on a sudden
surrounded by a great light from heaven, brighter than the sun.[14] They
all saw the light, and being struck with amazement, fell to the ground.
Then Saul heard a voice, which to him was articulate and distinct; but
not understood, though heard by the rest:[15] _Saul, Saul, why dost thou
persecute me?_ Christ said not: Why dost thou persecute my disciples?
but me: for it is he, their head, who is chiefly persecuted in his
servants. Saul answered: _Who art thou, Lord?_ Christ said: _Jesus of
Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the
goad:_ "to contend with one so much mightier than thyself. By
persecuting my church you make it flourish, and only prick and hurt
yourself." This mild expostulation of our Redeemer, accompanied with a
powerful interior grace, strongly affecting his soul, cured his pride,
assuaged his rage, and wrought at once a total change in him. Wherefore,
trembling and astonished, he cried out: _Lord, what wilt thou have me to
do?_ What to repair the past? What to promote your glory? I make a
joyful oblation of myself to execute your will in every thing, and to
suffer for your sake afflictions, disgraces, persecutions, torments, and
every sort of death. The true convert expressed this, not in a bare form
of words, nor with faint languid desires, nor with any exception lurking
in the secret recesses of his heart; but with an entire sacrifice of
himself, and an heroic victory over the world with its frowns and
charms, over the devils with their snares and threats, and over himself
and all inclinations of self-love; devoting himself totally to God. A
{218} perfect model of a true conversion, the greatest work of almighty
grace! Christ ordered him to arise and proceed on his journey to the
city, where he should be informed of what he expected from him. Christ
would not instruct him immediately by himself, but, St. Austin
observes,[16] sent him to the ministry[17] which he had established in
the church, to be directed in the way of salvation by those whom he had
appointed for that purpose. He would not finish the conversion and
instruction of this great apostle, whom he was pleased to call in so
wonderful a manner, but by remitting him to the guidance of his
ministers; showing us thereby that his holy providence has so ordered
it, that all who desire to serve him, should seek his will by listening
to those whom he has commanded us to hear, and whom he has sent in his
own name and appointed to be our guides. So perfectly would he abolish
in his servants all self-confidence and presumption, the source of error
and illusion. The convert, rising from the ground, found that, though
his eyes were open, he saw nothing. Providence sent this corporal
blindness to be an emblem of the spiritual blindness in which he had
lived, and to signify to him that he was henceforward to die to the
world, and learn to apply his mind totally to the contemplation of
heavenly things. He was led by the hand into Damascus, whither Christ
seemed to conduct him in triumph. He was lodged in the house of a Jew
named Judas, where he remained three days blind, and without eating or
drinking. He doubtless spent his time in great bitterness of soul, not
yet knowing what God required of him. With what anguish he bewailed his
past blindness and false zeal against the church, we may conjecture both
from his taking no nourishment during those three days, and from the
manner in which he ever after remembered and spoke of his having been a
blasphemer and a persecutor. Though the entire reformation of his heart
was not gradual, as in ordinary conversions, but miraculous in the order
of grace, and perfect in a moment; yet a time of probation and a severe
interior trial (for such we cannot doubt but he went through on this
occasion) was necessary to crucify the old man and all other earthly
sentiments in his heart, and to prepare it to receive the extraordinary
graces which God designed him. There was a Christian of distinction in
Damascus, much respected by the Jews for his irreproachable life and
great virtue; his name was Ananias. Christ appeared to this holy
disciple; and commanded him to go to Saul, who was then in the house of
Judas at prayer: Ananias trembled at the name of Saul, being no stranger
to the mischief he had done in Jerusalem, or to the errand on which he
was set out to Damascus. But our Redeemer overruled his fears, and
charged him a second time to go to him, saying: _Go, for he is a vessel
of election to carry my name before Gentiles and kings, and the children
of Israel: and I will show him how much he has to suffer for my name_.
For tribulation is the test and portion of all the true servants of
Christ. Saul in the mean time saw in a vision a man entering, and laying
his hands upon him, to restore his sight. Ananias, obeying the divine
order, arose, went to Saul, and laying his hands upon him, said:
_Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to thee on thy journey, hath
sent me that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy
Ghost._ Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he
recovered his eyesight. Ananias added: _The God of our fathers hath
chosen thee that thou shouldst know his will and see the just one, and
shouldst hear the voice from his mouth: and thou shalt be his witness
unto all men to publish what thou hast seen and heard. Arise, therefore,
be baptized and washed from thy sins, invoking the name of the Lord._
Saul then arose, was baptized,{219} and took some refreshment. He stayed
some few days with the disciples at Damascus, and began immediately to
preach in the synagogues, that Jesus was the Son of God, to the great
astonishment of all that heard him, who said: _Is not this he who
persecuted at Jerusalem those who invoked the name of Jesus, and who is
come hither to carry them away prisoners?_ Thus a blasphemer and a
persecutor was made an apostle, and chosen to be one of the principal
instruments of God in the conversion of the world.

* * * * *

St. Paul never recalled to mind this his wonderful conversion, without
raptures of gratitude and praise to the divine mercy. The church, in
thanksgiving to God for such a miracle of his grace, from which it has
derived such great blessings, and to commemorate so miraculous an
instance of his almighty power, and to propose to penitents a perfect
model of a true conversion, has instituted this festival, which we find
mentioned in several calendars and missals of the eighth and ninth
centuries, and which pope Innocent III. commanded to be observed with
great solemnity. It was for some time kept a holy day of obligation in
most churches in the West; and we read it mentioned as such in England
in the council of Oxford in 1222, in the reign of king Henry III.[18]

Footnotes:
1. Acts, xxi. 29, xxii. 3.
2. Ibid. xxii. 3.
3. Ibid. xxvi. 4.
4. Ibid. xxvi. 5.
5. Rabbi Juda says, "That a parent, who neglects his duty, is as
criminal as if he taught his son to steal." See Grotius and Sanctius
on Acts xviii. 3.
6. These tents were for the use of soldiers and mariners, and were made
of skins sewn together. {} think that his business was that of
making tapestry and hangings for theatres.
7. Gal. i. 14.
8. Serm. 301.
9. Ibid. l. 16, c. 4. Acts, vi.
10. Acts, viii. 3, xxii. 4, xxvi. 10.
11. Acts, xxvi. 9.
12. Heb. x. 32.
13. Acts, x. 1.
14. Acts, ix. xiii. xxvi.
15. So the Greek word [Greek: akoein] is often used in scripture, as in
J{} xiv. 2. And thus the text is very reconcilable with Acts. xxii.
9.
16. Qu. Evang. l. 2, c. 40, et praef. 1, de doctr. Christ. p. 32.
17. St. Austin doubts not but Ananias was a bishop, or at least a
priest. The Greeks give him a place in their calendar on the 1st of
October, and style him bishop of Damascus and martyr.
18. Conc. Labbe, t. xi. p. 274.

SS. JUVENTINUS AND MAXIMINUS, MARTYRS.

From the elegant panegyric of St. Chrysostom, t. 2, p. 578, ed. Montf.,
and from Theodoret, Hist. l. 3, c. 11.

A.D. 363.

THESE martyrs were two officers of distinction in the foot-guards of
Julian the Apostate.[1] When that tyrant was on his march against the
Persians, they let fall at table certain free reflections on his impious
laws against the Christians, wishing rather for death than to see the
profanation {220} of holy things. The emperor, being informed of this,
sent for them, and finding that they could not be prevailed upon by any
means to retract what they had said, nor to sacrifice to idols, he
confiscated their estates, caused them to be cruelly scourged, and, some
days after, to be beheaded in prison at Antioch, January the 25th, 363.
The Christians, with the hazard of their lives, stole away their bodies,
and after the death of Julian, who was slain in Persia on the 26th of
June following, erected for them a magnificent tomb. On their festival
St. Chrysostom pronounced their panegyric, in which he says of these
martyrs: "They support the church as pillars, defend it as towers, and
repel all assaults as rocks. Let us visit them frequently, let us touch
their shrine, and embrace their relics with confidence, that we may
obtain from thence some benediction. For as soldiers, showing to the
king the wounds which they have received in his battles, speak with
confidence, so they, by an humble representation of their past
sufferings for Christ, obtain whatever they ask of the King of
heaven."[2]

Footnotes:
1. Julian, surnamed the Apostate, rebelled against Constantius, his
cousin-german, in the spring, in 360, and by his death, in November,
361, obtained the empire. He was one of the most infamous
dissemblers that ever lived. Craft, levity, inconstancy, falsehood,
want of judgment, and an excessive vanity, discovered themselves in
all his actions, and appear in his writings, namely, his epistles,
his satire called Misopogon, and his lives of the Caesars. He wrote
the last work to censure all the former emperors, that he might
appear the only great prince: for a censorious turn is an effect of
vanity and pride. He was most foolishly superstitious, and
exceedingly fond of soothsayers and magicians. After the death of
Constantius, he openly professed idolatry, and by besmearing himself
with the blood of impious victims, pretended to efface the character
of baptism. He was deceived in almost every step by ridiculous
omens, oracles, and augurs, as may be seen in his heathen historian,
Ammianus Marcellinus, (b. 22.) Maximus, the magician, and others of
that character, were his chief confidants. He endeavored, by the
black art, to rival the miracles of Christ, though he effected
nothing. He disqualified Christians from bearing offices in the
state; he forbade them to teach either rhetoric of philosophy, that
he might deprive them of the advantages of human literature, a thing
condemned by Ammianus himself. He commanded, by an edict, that they
should be no longer called Christians, but Galileans, and though he
pretended to toleration, he destroyed more souls by recompenses,
caresses, and strategems, than he could have done by cruelties. He
levied heavy fines and seized the estates of Christians, saying, in
raillery, that he did it to oblige them to follow the gospel, which
recommends poverty. He often put them to death, but secretly, and on
other pretences, that he might deprive them of the honor of
martyrdom: which artifice might have its influence on philosophers,
the lovers of vanity; but not on the servants of God, who desired to
be known to him alone, and to suffer, regardless of the applause of
men, as St. Gregory Nazianzen observes. (Or. 3, in Julian.) That
father, when he knew him a student at Athens, in 355, prognosticated
(Or. 4, in Julian, p. 122) from his light carriage, wandering eye,
haughty look, impertinent questions, and foolish answers, what a
monster the Roman empire was fostering and breeding up. In his march
to his Persian expedition, he was made a subject of mockery and
ridicule at Antioch, on account of his low stature, gigantic gait,
great goat's beard, and bloody sacrifices. In answer to which, he
wrote his Misopogon, or Beardhater, a low and insipid satire. He
everywhere threatened the Christians upon his return from the
Persian war. The oracles of Delos, Delphos, Dodona, and others,
promised him victories, as Theodoret, St. Gregory Nazianzen,
Philostorgius, and Libanius himself, (Libanius, Or. 12,) a heath,
and the chief favorite of Julian, testify: all the pagan deities
wherever he passed, gave him the like assurances, as he himself
writes (Julian, ep. 2.) But in Persia he rashly ventured into wilds
and deserts, with an army of sixty-five thousand men, where he was
defeated and slain in June, 363. Ammianus, who was then in the army,
only says that he was mortally wounded in the battle, and died in
his tent the same day, before noon. Theodoret, Sozomen, and the acts
of St. Theodoret the martyr, say, that finding himself wounded, he
threw up a handful of blood towards heaven, crying out: "Thou hast
conquered, O Galilean, thou hast conquered." It was revealed to many
holy hermits, that God cut him off to give peace to his church.
2. Hom. in SS. Juv. et Max. t. 2, p. 583.

ST. PROJECTUS, BISHOP OF CLERMONT, M.

CALLED AT LYONS ST. PRIEST, AT SENS ST. PREST, IN SAINT-ONGE ST. PREILS,
AT PARIS AND IN PICARDY ST. PRIX.

THE episcopal see of Auvergne, which was founded by St. Austremonius, in
the middle of the third century, has been honored with many holy
bishops, of whom twenty-six are ranked among the saints. Of these the
most eminent are St. Alidius, called in French Allyre, the fourth
bishop, in 380, St. Sidonius Apollinaris in 482, St. Gallus in 656, St.
Prix in 674, and St. Bont in 710. About the year 1160, the title of
bishops of Auvergne was changed into that of Clermont, from the city of
this name. St. Prix was a native of Auvergne, and trained up in the
service of the church, under the care of St. Genesius, first archdeacon,
afterwards bishop of Auvergne, and was well skilled in plain song,
(which was esteemed in that age the first part of the science of a
clergyman,) and in holy scriptures and church history. The parish of
Issoire, and afterwards the nunnery, of Candedin, (now probably
Chantoen, a convent of barefooted Carms,) were the chief theatres of his
zeal, till about the year 666 he was called by the voice of the people,
seconded by Childeric II., king of Austrasia, to the episcopal dignity,
upon the death of Felix, bishop of Auvergne. Partly by his own ample
patrimony, and partly by the great liberalities of Genesius, the holy
count of Auvergne, he was enabled to found several monasteries,
churches, and hospitals; so that all distressed persons in his extensive
diocese were provided for, and a spirit of fervor in the exercises of
religion, and all Christian virtues, reigned in all parts. This was the
fruit of the unwearied and undaunted zeal, assiduous sermons and
exhortations, and the admirable example and sanctity of the holy
prelate; whose learning, eloquence, and piety, are exceedingly extolled
by the two historians of his life. The saint, on his road to the court
of king Childeric, whither he was going for the affairs of his diocese,
restored to health St. Damarin, or Amarin, a holy abbot of a monastery
in the mountains of Voge, who was afterwards martyred with him. This
king caused Hector, the patrician of Marseilles, whom the saint had
severely rebuked for having ravished a young lady of Auvergne, a rich
heiress, and having unjustly usurped considerable estates belonging to
his church, to be put to death for this rape and other crimes. One
Agritius, imputing his death to the complaints carried to the king by
St. Prix, in revenge {221} stirred up many persons against the holy
prelate, and with twenty armed men met the bishop as he returned from
court, at Volvic, two leagues from Clermont, and first slew the abbot
St. Damarin, whom the ruffians mistook for the bishop. St. Prix,
perceiving their design, courageously presented himself to them, and was
stabbed in the body by a Saxon named Radbert. The saint, receiving this
wound, said, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, for they know not
what they do." Another of the assassins clove his head with a
back-sword, and scattered his brains. This happened in 674, on the 25th
of January. The veneration which the Gallican churches paid to the
memory of this martyr began from the time of his death. His name was
added to the calendar in the copies of the Sacramentary of St. Gregory,
which were transcribed in France, and churches were erected under his
invocation in almost every province of that kingdom. The principal part
of his relics remain in the abbey of Flavigny, whither they were carried
about the year 760. Some portions are kept in the abbey of St. Prix at
St. Quintin's, of the congregation of Cluni; another in the priory of
St. Prix near Bethune, and in certain other places. See the two lives of
St. Prix, the first written by one who was acquainted with him, the
other by one of the same age, both extant in Bollandus, pp. 628, 636,
and in Mabillon Act. Ben. t. 1, pp. 642, 650.

ST. POPPO, ABBOT OF STAVELO

ST. POPPO was born in Flanders in 978, and received a pious education,
under the care of a most virtuous mother, who died a nun at Verdun. In
his youth he served for some time in the army, but even while he lived
in the world, he found the spiritual food of heavenly meditation and
prayer, with which the affections of the soul are nourished,[St. Aug.
Tr. 26. in Joan.] to be incomparably sweeter than all the delights of
the senses, and to give himself up entirely to these holy exercises, he
renounced his profession and the world. In a visit which he made by a
penitential pilgrimage to the holy places at Jerusalem, he brought
thence many precious relics, with which he enriched the church of our
Lady at Deisne, now a marquisate between Ghent and Courtray. He made
also a pilgrimage to the shrines of the apostles at Rome, and, some time
after his return, took the monastic habit at St. Thierry's, near Rheims.
Richard, abbot of Verdun, becoming acquainted with his eminent virtue,
obtained with great difficulty his abbot's consent to remove him
thither; and being made abbot of St. Vedast's, at Arras, upon the
deposition of Folrad, who had filled that house with scandalous
disorders, he appointed Poppo procurator. In a journey which our saint
was obliged to make to the court of St. Henry, he prevailed with that
religious prince to abolish the combats of men and bears. St. Poppo was
chosen successively prior of St. Vedast's, provost of St. Vennes, and
abbot of Beaulieu, which last he rebuilt. He was afterwards chosen abbot
of St. Vedast's, and some time later of the two united abbeys of Stavelo
and Malmedy, about a league asunder, in the diocese of Liege; also, two
years after this, of St. Maximin's at Triers. Those of Arms and
Marchiennes were also committed to his care: in all which houses he
settled the most exact discipline. He died at Marchiennes, on the 25th
of January, in 1048, being seventy years of age. St. Poppo received
extreme unction at the hands of Everhelm, abbot of Hautmont, afterwards
of Blandinberg at Ghent, who afterwards wrote his life, in which he
gives a particular account of his great {222} virtues. The body of St.
Poppo was carried to Stavelo, and there interred: his remains were taken
up and enshrined in 1624, after Baronius had inserted his name in the
Roman Martyrology; for Molanus, in his Indiculus, and Miraeus observe
that he was never canonized. Chatelain denies against Trithemius that
any commemoration was ever made of him in the public office in any of
the abbeys which he governed. But Martenne assures us that he was
honored among the saints at Stavelo, in the year 1624. See his life
written by the monk Onulf, and abridged by Everhelm, abbot of Hautmont,
in Bollandus, p. 673, and Martenne, Amplis. Collectio, t. 2, Praef. p.
17.

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