1911
CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT
FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY
HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE
mmmi ~~ — ' m^^^^^
_ Cornell University Library
BR65.G8 D5 1911
Iliaogues of Saint Gregory, surnamed the
olfn
3 1924 029 222 076
\1
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Library
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Cf)e Dialogues of
%t (Stegotp tbe (©teat
ST. HKNKniC'l' DKI.IVERS HIS KULl-:
(After the illuuiinai'nm in Arundel MS. /fj, Jolio 133 : Utitis/i Museum)
j5Mi^l)e Dialogues of ^atnt
im (15regorp, surnamed tlje
VP V (^reat : 0ope of lElome ^
^m^ tl)e iftet of tl)at 515ame.
DitJiDcti into Jfout IBoofes, tof)erem be en=
treatetb of tijc JLiioes anD agitacles of t!)e
faints in 31talp anD of tf)e etetnitp of Owen's
^ouls. CransIateD into our Cnglisb Conffue
6p Ip. 333. anD printeD at l^aris in mDciaiii.
lRe=eDiteb toiti) an 31nttoDuction anD Ji3otcs
tjp OBDmunD (S. (SatDner, a^.a. mitf) 3IUus=
ttations after tf)e ©ID piasters annotateD bp
iLontion: 0l)tltp 3Lee SKIarner
tiii (Grafton ^t, TBonD ©t, ^. mDccccri
is
The binding of this volume
is reproduced from a fine
Italian example dating
from the XVIth Century
Contents
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
With Notes by G. F. Hill xiii
INTRODUCTION xix
Ci)c JFirst TBoofe
CHAPTER
6
9
13
IS
23
26
26
29
31
38
45
46
I. Of Honoratus, Abbot of the Monastery of Funda .
II. Of Libertinus, Prior of the same Abbey
III. Of a Monk, that was gardener to the same Abbey
IV. Of Equitius, Abbot in the Province of Valeria
V. Of Constantius, Clerk of St. Stephen's Church
VI. Of Marcellinus, Bishop of Ancona
VII, Of Nonnosus, Prior of the Abbey in Mount Soracte
VIII. Of Anastasius, Abbot of the Monastery called Suppen
tonia .......
IX. Of Bonifacius, Bishop of the City of Ferenti
X. Of Fortunatus, Bishop of the City of Tuderti
XI. Of Martirius, a Monk in the Province of Valeria
XII. Of Severus, a Priest in the same Province
SDf tU ILife anD e@itacles of %t TBennet
I. How a sieve was broken and made sound by St.
Bennet 52
II. How he overcame a great carnal temptation . . 55
III. How he brake a glass with the sign of the Cross . . 56
IV. How he cured a Monk that had an idle and
wandering mind ....... 61
V. How by prayer he made water to spring out of a
rock in the top of a mountain .... 62
VI. How he caused an iron bill to come again into
the handle from the bottom of the water . . 63
Contents
CHAPTER
PAGE
VIL How his scholar Maurus walked upon the water . 64
VIII. How he made a crow to carry a loaf far off that
was poisoned ...... 65
IX. How he removed an huge stone by his prayer . 69
X. Of the fantastical fire of the kitchen ... 69
XI. How a little boy, a Monk, was slain with the ruin
of a wall, and restored to life .... 7°
XII. Of certain Monks that ate meat contrary to their
rule 71
XIII. How the holy man knew by revelation that the
brother of Valentinian the Monk had eaten in
his journey ....... 7^
XIV. How the counterfeiting of king Totilas was
discovered ....... 73
XV. How the holy man did prophesy to the same king 74
XVI. How he dispossessed a clergyman of a devil . . 75
XVII. How he did prophesy of the destruction of his
own Abbey ....... 7^
XVIII. How by revelation he understood of the stolen
flagon of wine ...... 79
XIX. How by revelation he knew that a Monk had
received certain napkins .... 79
XX. How he likewise knew the proud thought of one
of his own Monks ...... 80
XXI. How in the time of a dearth two hundred bushels
of meal was found before his cell ... 81
XXII. How, by vision, he gave order for the building of
the Abbey of Terracina ..... 82
XXIII. How certain Nuns were absolved after their death 84
XXIV. How a certain Monk was cast out of his grave . 86
XXV. How a Monk, forsaking his Abbey, was encountered
by a dragon .... ... 86
XXVI. How he cured one of a leprosy .... 87
XXVII. How miraculously he provided money for one that
was in debt ..... . . 87
XXVIII. How a cruet of glass was thrown upon the stones
and not broken ...... 88
XXIX. How an empty barrel was miraculously filled with
oil 89
XXX. How a Monk was dispossessed of a devil . . 90
XXXI. How a country man pinioned was by his only sight
loosed ........ 01
XXXII. How a dead child was restored to life ... 92
VI
CHAPTER
XXXIII.
XXXIV.
XXXV.
XXXVI.
XXXVII.
XXXVIII.
Contents
Of a miracle wrought by his sister Scholastica
How and in what manner he saw his sister's soul
going out of her body .....
How in vision he saw the world represented before
his eyes ; and of the soul of Germanus, Bishop
of Capua .......
How he wrote the rule of his order .
How he foretold the time of his death
How a mad woman, lying in his cave, was cured .
PAGE
94
96
96
99
99
100
T.
II.
iir.
IV.
V.
VI,
VII,
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV,
XXV.
€i)t Ci)irD 'iBoofe
Of Paulinus, Bishop of the City of Nok
Of Pope John
Of Pope Agapitus ....
Of Datius, Bishop of Milan
Of Sabinus, Bishop of Camisina .
Of Cassius, Bishop of Narni
Of Andrew, Bishop of Funda
Of Constantius, Bishop of Aquinum
Of Frigidianus, Bishop of Lucca ,
Of Sabinus, Bishop of Placentia, who by his letters
made the river of Po to retire into his channel
Of Cerbonius, Bishop of Populonium .
Of Fulgentlus, Bishop of Otricoli ,
Of Herculanus, Bishop of Perusium ^
Of the servant of God, Isaac . .
Of the servants of God, Euthicius and Florentius
Of Marcius, the Monk of Mount Marsico .
Of a Monk dwelling in the mountain called
Argentario, who raised up- a dead man
Of Bennet the Monk .
Of the church of St, Zeno the martyr, into which
the swelling waters came not any farther than
to the door .......
Of Stephen, a Priest in the Province of Valeria .
Of a Nun, that with her only authority dis-
possessed a devil ......
Of a Priest in the Province of Valeria that held a
thief at his sepulchre ,,....
Of the Abbot of Mount Preneste, and his Priest 1,
Of Theodorus, Clerk of St, Peter's Church in Rome
Of Abundius, Clerk of the same Church
vii
105
109
109
no
III
113
113
116
117
118
119
120
121
12^
128
136
13;
140
141
142
143
14s
146
147
Contents
CHAPTER
XXVI. Of a solitary Monk 148
XXVII. Of forty country husbandmen, that were martyred
because they would not eat flesh sacrificed to
idols IS°
XXVIII. Of a great multitude of captives, that were slain
because they would not adore a goat's head . 15 1
XXIX. Of an Arian Bishop strooken blind . . -152
XXX. Of a church of the Arians consecrated catholickly
in the City of Rome ..... 153
XXXI. Of Hermigildus, the son of Leuigildus, King of
the Visegoths, put to death by his father for the
Catholic faith 155
XXXII. Of certain Bishops of Africk, that had (for the
defence of the Catholic faith) their tongues cut
out by the Arians ; and yet spake as perfectly
as they did before . . . . . -157
KXXIII. Of the servant of God, Eleutherius . . . 159
XXXIV. How many kinds of compunction there be . . 161
XXXV. Of Amantius, a Priest in the Country of Tuscania 163
XXXVI. Of Maximianus, Bishop of Syracusis . . .164
XXXVII. Of Sanctulus, a Priest in the Province of Nursia . 166
XXXVIII. Of a vision which appeared to Redcmptus, Bishop
of Ferenti ......
Cbe JFoutti) IBoofe
173
\J. That carnal men do the less believe eternal and
I spiritual things, because those of which they
\ hear, they know not by experience . . 177
II. That an infidel liveth not without faith . . 179
III. That there were three vital spirits created . . 179
IV. Of that question of Solomon wherein it is said :
That the death of a man and beasts is all one . 180
V. Of that question concerning the soul, which goeth
invisibly out of the body : to wit, whether
there be any such thing, when as it cannot be
seen ••......
VI. That as the life of the soul, whiles it remaineth in
the body, is known by the motion of the
members : so the life of the soul, after it is out
of the body in Saints, is gathered by the virtue
of miracles ...... igg
VII. Of the departure of souls jg-
viii
184
Contents
CHAPTER pjjOK
VIII. Of the departure of the soul of a monk called
Speciosus . . . . . . .188
IX. Of the soul of an Anchoret .... 188
X. Of the departure of the soul of an Abbot called
Hope r . . 189
XI. Of the departure of the soul of a Priest called
Ursinus ....... 190
XII. Of the soul of Probus, Bishop of the City of Reati 192
XIII. Of the departure of a Nun called Galla . . 192
XIV. Of the departure of Servulus, sick of the palsy . 194
XV. Of the departure of a Nun called Romula . . 195
XVI. Of the departure of the virgin Tarsilla . . 197
XVII. Of the departure of a young maid called Musa . 198
XVIII. How certain young children come not to heaven,
through the fault of their parents : because they
bring them up wickedly : as is shewed and
afterward declared by the example of a
blasphemous young boy ..... 199
XIX. Of the departure of one Stephen, the servant of
God ........ 201
XX. That sometime the merit of the soul is not seen at
the departure : but is after death the more truly
declared ....... 202
XXI. Of the two Monks of Abbot Valentinus . . 202
XXII. Of the departure of Abbot Suranus . . . 202
XXIII. Of the departure of a Deacon of the church of
the Marsori ....... 203
XXIV. Of the death of the man of God that was sent to
Bethel ........ 203
XXV. Whether the souls of just men be received into
heaven before the resurrection of the body . 204
XXVI. By what means some that are a dying do prophesy.
Of the death of a certain advocate : Of the
revelation of the two Monks Gerontius and
Mellitus : Of the death of a boy called Armen-
tarius, and of the diversity of tongues . . 206
XXVII. Of the death of the Earl Theophanius . , 210
XXVIII. That as the souls of just men be in heaven : so we
ought to believe, that, after the death of the
bodies, the souls of wicked men are in hell . 21 1
XXIX. What reason we have to believe that corporal fire
can hold spirits, they being without bodies . 212
XXX. Of the death of the Arian king Theodoricus . 213
ix
Contents
CHAPTER
XXXI. Of the death of Reparatus 214
XXXII. Of the death of a courtier, whose grave burned with
fire al6
XXXIII. Whether the good know the good in heaven : and
the bad those that be bad in hell . . . 217
XXXIV. Of a certain religious man, who at his death saw
the Prophets ...... 219
XXXV. How sometime souls ready to depart this world,
that know not one another, do know for all that
what torments for their sins, or like rewards for
their good deeds, they shall receive. And of the
death of John, Ursus, Eumorphius, and Stephen 219
XXXVI. Of those souls, which through error seem to be
carried out of their bodies. Of the vocation
and revocation of Peter the Monk ; and of the
death and resuscitation of Stephen. Of the
vision of a certain soldier : and of Deusdedit,
whose house was seen to be built upon the
Sabbath day : and of the punishment of the
men of Sodom ...... 223
XXXVII. That the souls of certain men, whiles they be yet in
their bodies, do see some spiritual punishment :
and of the boy Theodorus .... 229
XXXVIII. Of the death of Chrisorius : and of a certain Monk
oflconia .......
XXXIX. Whether there be any fire of Purgatory after
death ........
XL. Of the soul of Paschasius the Deacon . . . 234
XLI. Why in latter times so many things come to light
concerning men's souls, which before were not
known . . . . . . .235
XLII. In what place we ought to believe that hell is . 236
XLIII. Whether the fire of hell be one or many . . 237
XLIV. Whether they always burn that lie in hell . . 238
XLV. How the soul is said to be immortal, if it be
punished with the sentence of death . . 241
XLVI. Of a certain holy man, who was afraid at the time
of his death .......
XLVII. That some are by revelation strengthened not to
be afraid when they die : and of the monks
called Anthony, Merulus, and John
XL VIII. Whether we ought to observe dreams : and how
many sorts of dreams there be . . . 244
230
232
241
242
Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
XLIX. Of a certain man who in his dream had long life
promised : and yet died shortly after . . 245
L. Whether the souls receive any commodity, by the
burial of their bodies in the church . . 245
LI. Of a certain Nun that was buried in the Church of
St. Lawrence, which appeared half burnt . 246
LII. Of the burial of the noble man Valerianus . . 246
LIIL Of the body of Valentinus, which was thrown out
of the church, after it was buried . . . 247
LIV. Of the body of a dyer buried in the church, which
afterward could not be found . . . 248
LV. What thing that is which, after death, hath force
to help men's souls : and of a Priest of Centum-
cellis, who was by the soul of a certain man
desired, that he might, after his death, be holpen
by the holy sacrifice. And of the soul of a
Monk called Justus ..... 249
LVI. Of the life and death of Bishop Cassius . . 252
LVn, Of one that was taken by his enemies, whose irons
at the time of the sacrifice were loosed : and
of the mariner called Baraca, saved by the
sacred host from being drowned in the sea . 253
LVIII. Of the virtue and mystery of the healthful sacrifice 255
LIX. How we ought to procure contrition of heart at
the time of the holy mysteries : and of the
custody of our soul after we have been sorrow-
ful for our sins ...... 256
LX. How we ought to forgive the sins of others, that
we may obtain forgiveness of our own . .257
EDITORIAL NOTES 259
INDEX 277
XI
lUsit of 31llu0tratton0
mtA Notes by G. F. Hill
plates in QTolout
St. Benedict delivers his rule. British Museum (Arundel MS.
155, fol. 133) Frontispiece
The manuscript is a Latin Psalter, written and illuminated most
probably at Christ Church, Canterbury, between 1012 and 1023, in a
style which had its origin at Winchester. The miniature of St,
Benedict, which shows a combination of outline and full illumination,
comes between the Psalter and th« Canticles. The Saint, enthroned,
points to an open book inscribed " Ausculla, fili, precepta," which a
monk holds up to him. His brooch is inscribed " lustus," the fillet
on his head, "Timor Dei" ; the border of his nimbus, "Sanctus
Benedictus pater monachorum et dux.'* The girdle of the prostrate
monk who kisses his right foot bears the words "Zona humilitatis."
In the spandril between the two arches which form the background
is the hand of God, holding a stole, inscribed " Qui vos audit me
audit" and " Obedientes estote preposito vestro." The miniature
closely resembles another in the Benedictional of St. ^thelwold.
G. F. Warner, Illuminated Manuscrifts in the British Musewn (1903),
Pl. 7.
The Madonna in Glory, with St. Gregory and St.
Bernard {?). By Pintoricchio. San Gimignano, Palazzo
Pubblico ....... Facing page 1 6
This picture was painted in 151 1 for the church of S. Maria
Assunta at Monte Olivete in Barbiano, the final payment to the artist
being made on February 9, 1512. The original commisiion specified
that the two Saints should be Benedict and Bernard. The former
has been replaced by a Pope, probably Gregory the Great. Tile
Madonna is seated on white clouds in a mandorla of blue edged with
white, with cherubs' heads. St. Gregory is represented without any
particular attributes ; hit tiara rests on the grourid beside the mitre
of St. Bernard, who wears the white habit and holds his pastoral staff.
Landscape background of the kind typical of Pintoricchio.
C. Ricci, Pintoricchio, cransi. by F. Simmonds (1902), p. 229.
xiii
31Uustrations
Facing page
St. Scholastica. By Pemgino. San Pietro, Perugia . ■ 9^
This is one of a number of half-figures which decorated the frame
ot the altar-piece of San Pietro, commissioned on March 8, 1496. The
Saint holds a dove and a book. The altar-piece was broken up in the
eighteenth century ; the central panel, representing the Ascension, is
at Ly»n8 ; the lunette in St. Gerrais, Paris ; the predella at Rouen ;
St. Scholastica and tour other Saints at Perugia ; three ethers in the
Vatican.
The death of St. Benedict. By Spinello Aretino. San Miniato
al Monte, Florence . . . . . . .100
The sacristy of San Miniato was finished about 1387, and Spinello
was commissioned by Don Jacopo d' Arezzo to fresco its waLis with
scenes from the life «f St. Benedict. The frescees, which show the
Giottesque school of this period at its best, were still unfinished on
June II, 1387. The last and finest scene represents the death of the
Saint ; his body lies on a bier, surrounded by mourners, and a bishop
reads the office over him. As he breathed his last, two monks, one
far away, the other in his cell, saw the same vision of a ladder,
covered with a rich carpet and lit by innumerable lamps, leading from St.
Benedict's cell to the eastern heaven, by which way the Saint mounted
up into heaven. This vision is represented above the death-scene,
St, Frigidianus turning the course of the Serchio. By Fra
Filippo Lippi. Accademia, Florence (No. 42) . . u6
This panel, representing San Frediano, bishop oi Lucca, diverting
the course of the Serchio, is one of the three compartments of the
predella to a picture of the Madonna and Child with Angels and
Saints now in the Louvre. It is a good deal restored. It was
originally commissioned by the Company of Or San Michelein 1437,
and before its removal to France was in the sacristy of S. Spirito.
The other paneU represent the Virgin receiving the announcement of
her coming death, and St. Augustine in his study in meditation, with
the three arrows sticking in his breast.
King Totila and St, Benedict. By Neroccio di Bartolommeo
Landi, UfEzi, Florence (No. 1304) .... 134
One of three predella panels, attributed variousLy to Neroccio,
Francesco di Giorgio, and Vecchietta. Totila (Baouila), king of the
Ostrogoths, who had attempted to deceive St. Benedict by sending to
him a servant arrayed in royal garments, kneels in penitence before
the Saint. On the right is the entrance to the abbey of Monte
Cassino ; behind the king a brilliant retinue of pages and knights ■ on
the hills behind, the camp of the Ostrogoths ; and in the distance,
columns and a pyramid which indicate Rome.
PatES m l^alf-tone
Boethius. By Justus of Ghent. Barberini Palace, Rome . xviii
Of the twenty-eight ideal portraits of philosophers, heroes and
doctors, painted about 1476 by Justus (Jossc) of Ghent, for the library
xlv
31Uustrations
Facing page
of Federigo of Urbino, fourteen are now in the Louvre, the others in
the Palazzo Barberini. The distinction between his work and that of
Melozzo da Forli has been much disputed, and this particular figure is
claimed by Schmarsow, in his work on Melozzo, for that artist ; but
the general opinion seems now to be on the other side. Boethius
seems to be represented as the author of the de mstitutiotjt arilhmetica,
and traditional founder of mediaeval arithmetic, reckoning on his
fingers ; or possibly the action may be merely that of a philosopher
checking off the heads of an argument. The eulogy under the portrait
was " L. Boetio, ob cuius commentationes Latini M. Varronis scholas
non desiderant. Fed. Urb. princeps pos."
St. Gregory the Great. By Justus of Ghent. Barberini Palace,
Rome .......... 6
Another of the twenty-eight fancy portraits painted fat the library
at Urbino {sie above). The Pope, in tiara and cope, holds a book ;
Gothic architectural background. The eulogy reads : ** Gregorio in
coelum relato, «b morum sanctitatem, librorum quoque eleigantiam
testatam, gratitudo Christiana memor erexit. "
St, Benedict. By Perugino. Vatican Gallery, Rome . . 48
From the same altar-piece as the St. Scholastica (see above). The
Saint holds a bundle of rods, indicating the severity of his rule, and a
book.
St. Benedict leaving his father's house. By Spinello Aretino,
San Miniato al Monte, Florence ..... 52
A scene from the frescoes in th& sacristy of San Miniato, painted
about 1387 (tee above). The Saint, mounted on a horse, bids farewell
to his relations ; in the background, the town of Nursia ; on the right,
two travelleri,
St. Maurus. By Perugino. San Pietro, Perugia . . .60
Another relic of the great altar-piece of 1496 {see above).
Maurus saving Placidus from drowning. By Giov. Antonio
Bazzi. (Sodgma). . Monte OJiveto, Maggiore . . . .64
From the series of thirty-one frescoes executed by Bazzi between
August 1505 and August 1508. It was revealed to St. Benedict in his
study that a young monk named Placidus, who had gone to draw
water, had fallen into the river. On the left, the abbot is seen in his
study despatching Maurus to the rescue ; on the right, Maurus,
walking on the waters, brings Placidus to land.
The women sent by Florentius. By Giov. Antonio Bazzi.
Monte Oliveto Maggiore 68
From the same series of frescoes as the preceding. Florentius,
having failed to poison St.- Benedict, endeavoured to debauch his
disciples, aind " took seven maidens, all naked, and sent theia into the
garden to dance and carol for to move the monks to temptation." To
XV b
31Iiustrations
Facing page
the seven women correspond, on the other side, seven monks and an
ass ; St. Benedict looks on in horror from the balcony above. The
story goes that Bazzi in the first instance followed the legend exactly,
and painted the women nude, and that he was afterwards obliged, by
the indignation of his employers, to add clothes. This, however, is
refuted by the fact that there is no trace here, as elsewhere, of anything
being added in a second painting ; such additions are easily detected in
a fresco.
The meeting of St. Benedict and King Totlla. By Spinello
Aretino. San Miniato al Monte, Florence . . -74
From the series of frescoes in the sacristy of San Miniato mentioned
above. The scene is practically ,the same as that represented by
Neroccio {see above) ; but the composition is naturally simpler, and
the conception more dignified.
St. Placidus. By Perugino. Vatican Gallery, Rome . . 80
From the same altar-piece as the St. Scholastica [see above). St.
Placidus, with hands joined in prayer, and holding a palm, is a
characteristically sentimental Peruginesque type.
The translation of St. Herculanus. By Benedetto Bonfigli.
Accademia, Perugia 122
Benedetto Bonfigli's chief work was the decoration of the chapel or
the Palazzo del Comune at Perugia with frescoes representing scenes
from the life of St. Herculahus and St. Louis of Toulouse (begun in 1454
and continued at intervals until his death in 1496). The body of
St. Herculanus, having been found uncorrupted, after it had been
decapitated, flayed and exposed for forty days at the order of Totila, is
here being carried in procession by the clergy, accompanied by lay-folk ;
on the right, two women kneel as it passes. In the background, the
buildings of Pfrugia,
140
The Madonna and Child with St. Zeno (and St. Laurence
Justinian). By Girolamo dai Libri, San Giorgio,
Verona - . . .......
The Virgin, holding her Son, is enthroned beneath a lemon-tree.
On the left is St. Laurence Justinian, holding book and cross ; the Child
presents a girdle to him. On the right is S. Zeno, with book and
crozier, from which is suspended a fish, his symbol. Below are three
angels making music. Painted in 1526, and inscribed "XXVI. Men,
Mar, XXVIIII. Hieronimus a Libris pinxit." Oil on canvas.
Faith. By Giotto. Arena Chapel, Padua • . . . 186
" Painted ab6ut i3"o6. Faith, rfho wears a tall mitre and veil, rests
the shaft of her cross on the torso of a fallen idol, which she spurns
with her right foot, and holds a scroll inscribed with the creed. The
key of heaven hangs from her girdle, and her left foot tramples upon
cabalistic books. Above, two angels bend down to her,
xvi
3IUustrations
Facing page
St. Gregory appearing to the dying Santa Fina. By Domenico
Ghirlandaio-, San Gimignano 198
Painted by Ghirlandaio before 14.85 in the chapel of Santa Fina in
the Collegiate Church of S. Gimignano ; the chapel itself was
consecrated in 1488. One of Santa Fina's attendants raises her head
so that she may see the vision, which warns her of her approaching
death.
King Theodoric of the Ostrogoths. By Peter Vischer the
Elder. Franciscan Church, Innsbruck . . , .212
Of twenty-eight bronze statues round the cenotaph of the Emperor
Maximilian in the Franciscan ohurch at Innsbruck, two were supplied
by the foundry of Peter Vischer, and it is universally admitted that these
two were the statues of Theodoric and Arthur of Britain. The latter
is sometimes ascribed to Peter's son, of the same name, but there is
general agreement that the Theodoric is the elder artist's own work.
The payment for the statues was made in 1513. Theodoric rests in a
somewhat affected attitude on his battle-axe, supporting his shield with
his left hand ; a curious contrast to the sw^gering self-confidence of
the King Artliur.
The coronation of the Blessed Virgin. By Lorenzo Monaco.
Uffizi, Florence (No. 1309) 220
The picture was completed in February 1413 for the high altar of the
Church of the Monastery degli Angeli. Removed thence in the sixteenth
century, it was rediscovered at Cerreto in 1830, and has been in the
UfSzii since 1866. It was restored by Franchi.
In the centre is the coronation of the Virgin by her Son, among a
crowd of angels ; below kneel two angels, censing, and a third (mostly
destroyed) accompanies the choir on an organ. The wings contain
each ten saints. On the left, counting from the left, are in the first
row Benedict, Petsr, John Baptist ; in the second row, Stephen, Paul,
James, Matthew. On the right, counting from the right, in the first
row, Romuald, Andrew, John the Evangelist ; in the second row,
Laurence, Bartholomew, Augustine, Giovanni Gualberto. Above the
middle, in the pinnacle, is a half-figure of Christ blessing between two
cherubim ; over the wings is the Annunciation. (These are not
included in the illustration.) Of the six panels of the predella, the
two in the middle represent the Nativity and the Adoration of the
Magi. The other four, counting from the right, show (l) Benedict
reviving one of the brethren, killed by a falling wall during the building
of the Abbey of Monte Cassino j (2) Benedict forced to remain with his
sister Scholastica, whose prayer has induced a storm which prevents
him from leaving her ; and Benedict sending Maurus to rescue Placidus
from drowning ; (3) the death of Benedict ; (4) Benedict curing a
monk of his inability to continue in prayer ; and Benedict in his cave
in the wilderness, with Romanus letting down food to him by a
string.
O. Siren, Don Lorenzo Monaco (1905), pp. 77 fF.
xvii
31II«strations
Falkg page
The Mass of St. Gregory. By Andrea Sacchi (1600-1650).
Vatican GaJIery, Home . . . . . . • 240
The Pope, standing before the altar (on which is his tiara), pierces with
a knife the fragment of linen cloth from the shroud of St. John the
Evangelist, which exudes blood. Two deacons assist, one of them
opening a cup to cateh the blood as it falls. The ambassador of the
Empress Constance and two soldiers of his retinue kneel in astonish-
ment.' A dove hovers round the Pope's head.
[/» the title of the Plate facing p. i6, " St. Benedict " should be
printed " St. Bernard,"]
XVIU
yusdis of Ghent
BOETHIUS
{ Barherini Palace, Ro7iie)
3)ntrot)uctiott
C^{)0 four books of Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great,
" concerning the life and miracles of the Italian Fathers
and the eternity of souls," were written in 593, three
years after his elevation to the papacy, at the request of
certain monks of his household.
" My brethren who dwell familiarly with me," writes
Gregory to Maximianus, Bishop of Syracuse, " would
have me by all means write something in brief fashion
concerning the miracles of the Fathers, which we have
heard wrought in Italy. For this purpose I earnestly
need the help of your charity, that you should briefly
inform me of all those which come back to your memory,
or which you have happened yourself to know. For
I remember that you related certain things, which I
have forgotten, concerning the lord abbot Nonnosus,
who lived near the lord Anastasius de Pentumis. I be-
seech you, therefore, to put down this, and whatever
others there are, in your letters, and forward them to
me with speed, unless you yourself are coming to me
shortly."^
There is no other book that gives us so vivid a pic-
ture of religious life in Italy during the sixth century :
the century that witnessed the brief epoch of Gothic
* Gregorii I, Regtstrum, Epiit. iii. 5 (ed. Ewald and Hartmann,
I. p. 206). Cf. Dialog, i. 7, 8, iii. 36. The title " lord " {domnus) is'
given to an abbot in accordance with the Ruk of St. Benedict (cap. 63) :
" Abbas autem, quia vices Christi agere creditur, Domnus et Abbas
vocetur."
xix c
3lntroDuctiott
domination, the restoration of the imperial Byzantine
power, and finally the invasion of the Lombards, that
" barbarous and cruel nation," writes Gregory, which,
" drawn as a sword out of a sheath," wrought such
unutterable havoc and devastation in the peninsula that
many, with Bishop Redemptus, held verily that " the
end of all flesh was come." ^ It is the century that
closed the period of classical civilisation, and ushered
in that dreariest epoch in the history of mankind known
as the Dark Ages.
Inevitably, men turned from the spectacle of a world
" fraught with so many miseries and divers afflictions,"^
to prepare in the solitude of the cloister for the end
which they deemed fast approaching, if it were not
already come. They naturally sought eagerly to grasp
such phenomena as seemed to them miraculous, as
visible signs that God had not utterly abandoned His
creation, and to find proofs that the soul, at least, was
immortal, and might look forward to a better life here-
after by forgiveness of injuries, and by offering herself
up before death as a sacrifice to Him that had made
her.* It is this that gives pathos even to the apparent,
triviality of some of the miracles that Gregory records,
and deeper significance to the note on which the work
ends.
Three great figures illumine the general darkness of
the sixth century in Italy : Bofithius, the last philosopher
of the classical world ; Benedict, the organiser or
western monasticism ; and Gregory himself, the chief
agent in the building up of the mediaeval ideal of the
papacy.
The Roman senator, Anicius Manlius Severinus
Boethius, whom Gibbon calls " the last of the Romans
whom Cato or TuUy could have acknowledged for their
countryman," was tortured to death by the orders ot
1 Dialog, iii. 38. * Ibid, iii, 38. 3 Hid. iv. 60.
XX
3Introliuction
King Theodoric the Goth, in 524 or 525. Dante was
to meet him among the glowing spirits of great teachers
in the fourth sphere of Paradise : " In the vision of all
good there rejoiceth the holy soul, who unmasks the
world's deceit to whoso giveth good heed to it. The
body whence it was hunted lieth below in Cieldauro,
and it from martyrdom and from exile came unto this
peace." ^ Though a martyr for the liberty of Rome
rather than for the faith of Christ, BoSthius was (as we
now know for certain) an advocate of Christianity, albeit
from the philosophical rather than the religious stand-
point ; but his famous work, De Consolatione Philosophiae,
composed in his prison at Pavia under the shadow of
death, attempts to "assert eternal Providence and
justify the ways of God to men " from the standpoint
of human reason alone. It is somewhat curious that
his name, which rings through the literature of the
Middle Ages from Alfred to Dante, occurs nowhere in
the Dialogues, although his fellow-victims under the
tyranny of the last years of Theodoric's rule, John the
Pope and Symmachus the Senator, are mentioned more
than once, and the monkish legend of their persecutor's
terrible end is related in full.*
Some four or five years after the death of Bofithius,
Benedict of Nursia founded the great monastery of
Monte Cassino, about 529. Here in 543, fourteen
years later, he died. Even in the west, Benedict was
naturally not without precursors ; such as Martin of
Tours, Cassianus of Marseilles, Cesarius of Aries,
Equitius, who, " by reason of his great holiness of life,
was the father and governor of many abbeys in the
province of Valeria," * and some others ; but it was
more especially the work of the great Italian monk,
^ Par. X. 124-129. Cieldauro is the church of San Pietro in Ciel
d'Oro (the Golden Roof) at Pavia, where Boethius was buried.
* Dialog, iii. 2, iv. 30, ' IMd. i, 4.
xxi
3lnttoDuction
whose face Dante so ardently desired to behold unveiled
in Paradise, to elevate this western monastic life into a
system, with fixed laws and an ideal, like the object of
hope according to the scholastic definition, "arduous
but not impossible of attainment." The famous rule,
the Regula Sancti Benediai, which he wrote and promul-
gated from Monte Cassino (based, in part, upon the
eastern rule of St. Basil), for all its apparent simplicity,
is one of the few great constructive works of the sixth
century. Although, from the standpoint of the Divina
Commedia, Dante makes the Saint declare that his regola
remained on earth solely to waste the parchment on
which it was written, per danno delle carte, it became the
norm according to which generations of men and women
throughout the western world devoted themselves to
the highest spiritual life, and became " kindled by that
heat which gives birth to flowers and holy fruits."^
The second book of the Dialogues, De vita et miraculis
venerabilis Benedicti, is the earliest and most authoritative
account of St. Benedict that we possess. Indeed, it, to-
gether with his Rule, is our only source for the story ot
his life and the understanding of his character. As has
been well said, it is "the biography of the greatest Monk,'
vritten by the greatest Pope (himself also a Monk.)"*
Gregory was born probably a year or two before the
death of St. Benedict. The son of the Roman senator,
Gordianus, and a scion of the noble house of the
Anicii, he inherited vast possessions in the Roman
Campagna and in the territory of Tivoli, stretching
almost to the gates of Praeneste (Palestrina), and a
palace on the Caelian Hill. His childhood was passed
amidst the disastrous events of the struggle between
Justinian's generals and the Goths, when Rome was
taken and retaken again and again by the Goths and the
1 Par. xxii. 46-48, 73-75.
2 Hodgkin, lia/y and her Invaders, vol. iv., p. 41 1.
xxii
3Introtiuction
barbarian armies of the Empire. In his early manhood,
after the death of Justinian and the recall of Narses to
Constantinople, came the even more disastrous invasion
and partial conquest of Italy by the Lombards. " Late
and long," he writes, " I put off the grace of con-
version, and, after I had been inspired with celestial
desire, I thought it better to be clothed in the secular
habit." ^ In ^j^, when still a young man, he was
prefect of Rome. " A few years later, he became a monk,
turned his palace Into a monastery, made over his lands
to the monks, and disposed of his property to religious
and public uses. After serving as apocrisiariuSy or papal
legate, to the imperial court of Byzantium, for Pope
Pelagius II., he was, on the latter's death during the
terrible pestilence that devastated Rome at the begin-
ning of 590, elected Pope, and, in spite of his resistance,
was compelled to accept the choice of the Romans,
which (in accordance with the usage of the times) was
confirmed by the Emperor Mauritius.
This is not the place to tell again the story of
Gregory's pontificate. Physically a complete invalid,
suffering from almost incessant pain, he held the see
for fourteen years (dying on March 12, 604), with an
indefatigable vigour and an incessant activity, in times
of wellnigh unqualified difficulty and gloom. Con-
vinced in his own mind that the end of the world was
at hand (he had announced it to the people in his first
public homily as Pope in St. Peter's, and the conviction
abode with him until his death),* he nevertheless did not
neglect even the care of temporal things, when these
were forced upon him by the duties of his state and the
pressure of the times. His conception of the temporal
power of the papacy, and the relations of Church and
State, was poles asunder from that of the Popes of
1 Moralia, Eptstola missoria (to Leander of Seville), cap. i.
2 Homi/ia I. in EvangeSa (Migne, P.L., Ixxvi. coll. 1077- 1 081).
xxiii
3InttoDuction
Dante's century, and essentially the same as that of the
poet himself. Of the vast territorial possessions of
the Church, the administration of which he thoroughly
reformed, he regarded the Pope, "not as possessor,
but as dispenser of the fruits for the poor of Christ, on
behalf of the Church." ^ Compelled to act as a secular
ruler in defence of Rome against the Lombards, he
regarded himself, in the temporal field, as the subject
of the State. Like Dante, he conceives of the Church
and State as mutually co-operating, but ruling over
different spheres, and the Emperor is God's vicar and
representative on earth in all things temporal : " What
he does, if canonical, we follow ; if it is not canonical,
we bear it, as far as we can without sin."^ In the
ecclesiastical sphere, on the other hand, he is uncom-
promising in asserting the supremacy of Rome over all
other Christian churches. His work of converting the
English, and preparing the conversion of the Lombards,
need not be told here. Gregory was the creator of the
spiritual ideal of the mediaeval papacy, even as Benedict
had created that of western monasticism.
The Dialogues were translated into Greek by one of
St. Gregory's successors. Pope Zaccharias L (741-752):
" that so the Grecians might be instructed in the rules
of good living," as Platina's seventeenth-century trans-
lator puts it. With a similar desire for the edification
of the English, an Anglo-Saxon version was made,
about 890, by Bishop Werferth of Worcester, at the
instigation of Alfred the Great.* The Dialogues were
among the most popular reading of the Middle Ages,
and early translations exist in almost every European
language. In the fourth book, we find the first rudi-
^ De Monarchta, iii. 10,
2 Eftst. xi. 29 (Ewald and Hartmann, II. pp. 299-300).
3 Bischofs Waerferth von Worcester Ubmetzung der Dialoge Gregors
des Grossen. Ed. Hans Hecht. Leipzig, 1900.
xxiv
3Inttotiuction
ments of the mediaeval conception of the three states
of souls in the other world. The story of the vision
seen by a certain soldier i is practically the first in
the west of those more or less fictitious visions of
Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, which linspired so many
imitations throughout the Middle Ages, from Vener-
able Bede's legends of Fursaeus and Drythelm to the
visions of Tundal, Alberic of Monte Cassino, and the
monk Edmund of Eynsham — the long series which
(speaking superficially) may be said to culminate in the
Divina Commedia. Dante himself knew the Dialogues
well. His account of St. Benedict in the sphere of
Saturn, and his own vision of the nothingness of the
world in his ascent to the Stellar Heaven, were directly
suggested by St. Gregory's words.^ From Gregory,
too, came his doctrine of the " Mansions of Beatitude,"
albeit its significance had for him acquired a deeper and
intenser note by the passage through the mystical mind
of Bonaventura. Echoes of the Dialogues may likewise
be discerned in the De Monarchia and in the Letter to
Can Qrande. The influence of Gregory's earlier work,
the Moralia, or Exposition of the Book of Job, is also very
marked in many passages of the Divina Commedia.
The translation of the Dialogues, here offered to the
reader, was published at Paris in 1 608 — seventeen years,
that is, before the first English version of Boccaccio's
Decameron. It was dedicated " to the high and excellent
princess Anne : by God's singular providence. Queen
of great Britain, France, and Ireland " ; that is, to
Anne of Denmark, the consort of King James I. The
translator claims to be the first thus to present a book
to her : ^' For whereas divers, of divers professions,
have directed their works to our most dread Sovereign,
^ Dialog, iv. 36. See Notes.
2 Cf. Par. xxii. 37-45, Dialog, ii. 8 ; Par. xxii. I33-»S3. Dialcg.
ii- 3S.
XXV
3[ntroDuctiott
and one also to our young Prince (your dear son, and
the orient object of our country's joy), so none at all,
for aught that I can learn, much less that professeth
the religion of St. Gregory, hath hitherto presented any
book to your Princely person." His " epistle dedica-
tory" is dated "the first of January, 1608," and signed
"Your Majesty's most devoted servant, and daily orator,
P.W." This " P. W." has not been identified ; the
Jesuit father, Henry James Coleridge, who edited
his translation, in a somewhat modernised form, in
1874, suggested that he was "an English Catholic,
desirous to interest the Queen in favour of the ancient
religion." The Dialogues are further introduced by a
lengthy preface " to the courteous and virtuous Chris-
tian reader," and followed (with an independent title-
page) by " A short Relation of divers Miracles wrought
at the memories or shrines of certain martyrs, especially
St. Stephen, the Protomartyr of Christ's Church," the
contents of which are mainly taken from the City of
God of St. Augustine and the Life of St. Bernard. The
present re-issue of the translation, save for the spelling,
follows verbally the edition of 1608. The Latin text
cited is that given by Migne (P.L. Ixxvii.).
The Dialogues of St. Gregory have exercised a certain
influence upon Christian iconography. SpineUo Aretino
at San Miniato, Luca Signorelli and Giovanni Antonio
Bazzi at Mont' Oliveto Maggiore, Fra Filippo Lippi,
Neroccio of Siena, Benedetto Bonfigli, and many
other Italian masters found subjects ready to their hand
in its pages ; while the pilgrim to Subiaco and the
other sanctuaries of the Roman Campagna, hallowed by
the footsteps of these " fathers of the olden time," will
still find the words of the great pontifF of the sixth
century the most vivid of guides.
EDMUND G. GARDNER
August 15, 191 1
xxvi
Ci)e a)talogue2; of ^atnt d^regorp,
0urnameti tl)e (threat
Cfje JTtot &ooa
Cl)e ^Dialogues of ^atnt dBregorp
tl)e d^reat, 0ope of laome
C|)e first iSoofe
15Cin0 upon a certain day too much over-charged with
the troubles of worldly business, in which oftentimes men
are enforced to do more than of duty they are bound, I
retired myself into a solitary place, very fit for a sad and
melancholy disposition ; where each discontentment and
dislike concerning such secular affairs might plainly show
themselves, and all things that usually bring grief,
mustered together, might freely be presented before mine
eyes. In which place after that I had sat a long while, in
much silence and great sorrow of soul, at length Peter,
my dear son and deacon, came unto me ; a man whom,
from his younger years, I had always loved most entirely,
and used him for my companion in the study of sacred
scripture : who, seeing me drowned in such a dump of
sorrow, spake unto me in this manner : " "What is the
matter ? or what bad news have you heard ? for certain
I am, that some extraordinary sadness doth now afHict
your mind." To whom I returned this answer :
" O Peter, the grief which continually I endure is unto
me both old and new : old through common use, and
new by daily increasing. For mine unhappy soul,
wounded with worldly business, doth now call to mind
in what siate it was, when I lived in mine Abbey, and
3
Clie Dialogues of ^t. (25tcgotp
how then it was superior to all earthly matters, far above
all transitory and corruptible pelf, how it did usually
think upon nothing but heavenly things ; and though it
was enclosed in mortal body, yet did it by contemplation
pass far beyond earthly bounds, and penetrate to the very
height of heaven ; and as for death, the memory whereof
is almost to all men grievous, that it did love and desire,
as the end of all misery, the reward of her labours, and
the very entrance to an everlasting and blessed life. But
now, by reason of my pastoral charge, my poor soul is
enforced to endure the burden of secular men's business,
and after so excellent and sweet a kind of rest, defiled it
is with the dust of worldly conversation : and when it
doth, at the request of others, attend to outward affairs,
no question but it returneth back, far less fit to think
upon those that be inward, spiritual, and heavenly.
'^Wherefore, at this present, do I meditate what I suffer,
and consider what my soul hath lost : and the memory
of my former loss doth make that more grievous which
I do now endure. For do you not behold at this
present, how I am tossed with the waves of this wicked
world, and seethe ship of my soul beaten with the storms
of a terrible tempest .'' and therefore, when I remember
my former state of life, I cannot but sigh to look back,
and cast mine eyes upon the forsaken shore.
" And that which doth yet grieve me more is because
I see myself so carried away amain with the boisterous
blasts of this troublesome world, that I cannot now scarce
behold the port from whence I did first hoist sail ; for
such be the downfalls of our soul, that first it loseth that
goodness and virtue which before it possessed ; yet so
that it doth still remember what it hath lost ; but after-
wards, carried away more and more, and straying further
from the path of virtue, it cometh at length to that pass,
that it doth not so much as keep in mind what before it
did daily practise : and so in conclusion, it falleth out as
4
I said before, that sailing farther on, we go at length so
far, that we do not so much as once behold the sweet
harbour of quiet and peace from whence we first set forth.
Sometime also my sorrow is increased, by remembering
the lives of certain notable men, who with their whole
soul did utterly forsake and abandon this wicked world :
whose high perfection when I behold, I cannot also but
see mine own infirmities and imperfection : very many
of whom did, in a contemplative and retired kind of life,
much please God : and lest by dealing with transitory
business they might have decayed in virtue, God's good-
ness vouchsafed to free them from the troubles and affairs
of this wretched world. But that which I have now said
will be far more plain, and the better perceived, if the
residue of my speech be dialogue wise distinguished, by
setting down each of our names, you asking what you
shall think convenient, and I by answer, giving satis-
faction to such questions as you shall demand at my ;
hands." '" '
IPCtCt. I do not remember any in Italy, that have been
very famous for virtue ; and therefore ignorant I am
who they be, that, comparing your life to theirs, you
should be so much inflamed to imitate their steps ; for
although I make no doubt but that there have been many
good men, yet do I verily think that none of them
wrought any miracles, or at least they have been hitherto
so buried in silence that, whether any such thing hath
been done or no, not any one man can tell.
(5t00Otp. If I should, Peter, but report only those
things which myself alone have understood by the rela-
tion of virtuous and credible persons, or else learned by
myself, concerning the life and miracles of perfect and
holy men, I should sooner in mine opinion lack day to
talk in, than matter to speak of.
lP0t0t. Desirous I am that you would vouchsafe to
make me partaker of some of them : and not to think
5
C&e Dialogues of ©t (Sregorp
much, if, upon so good an occasion, you interrupt your
other study of interpreting the scripture, because no less
edification doth grow by the relation of miracles. For as
by the exposition of that, we learn how virtue is to be
found and kept : so by recounting the niiracles of holy
rnen, we know how that which is found ou^nd possessed,
is declared and" made manifest to'the world. And some
there are that be soonerjn^ed to the^loye pf.iGcod^by
virtuous examples than by gddly^ sermons-; and often-
tfrnes, by~the lives of holy fatKef s, the heart doth reap a
double commodity ; for if, by comparing of his own life
with theirs, he findeth himself inflamed with the love of
heaven, although before he had haply a good opinion
of himself, yet seeing now how far others do excel him,
he becometh also more humble, and is brought to have
a more lowly conceit of his own actions and virtue.
<©t00Otp. Such things as venerable and holy men have
told me, I will now, without any further delay, make
you partaker of, and that following the example of sacred
scripture : for sure I am that St. Luke and St. Mark
learned that gospel which they wrote, not by sight but
by the relation of others : yet lest any in reading should
have occasion to doubt whether such things as I write be
true or no, I will set down by what means and of whom
I have learned them : yet in some of them you have to
know that I remember not all the particulars, but only
the matter : in other some, both the matter and also the
words. And besides, if I should have been so curious as
to have kept in mind each man's particular words, many,
uttered after the country manner, would have made the
sryle of my discourse nothing handsome nor seemly.
Tnac story which I mean first to begin with, I had by
the report of passing reverent men and of great years.
Ct)apter Dne: of ^onoratus, atitiot of tfte
90OnaSterp of JfUnDa. ^ in times past one Ven.
antius, a noble man, had a living in the country of
6
Jjistus of Ghent
ST. GREGORY THE GREAT
{Barberini I'alace, Rome)
^onotatu0of JFunDa
Samnium ; the farmer whereof had a son called
Honoratus, who from his very childhood by the virtue
of abstinence did thirst after the joys of heaven : and
as in other things he led an holy life, and refrained from
all idle talk, so did he much, as I said before, subdue
his body by means of abstinence. His parents, upon a
certain day, had invited their neighbours to a banquet
which consisted altogether of flesh, whereof because
for the love of mortification he refused to eat, his father
and mother began to laugh at him, willing him to fall
to that which they had : " For can we," quoth they,
" S^^ y°^ ^"^y ^^^ i^^V^ in these mountains ? " (for in
that place they used sometimes to hear offish, but sel-
dom to see any.) But whiles they were thus jesting, and
mocking at their son, suddenly they lacked water :
whereupon a servant with a wooden bucket (as the
manner is there) went to the well to fetch some : into
which, as he was a drawing, a fish entered in, which upon
his return, together with the water, he poured forth
before them all. And the fish was so great, that it
served Honoratus very well for all that day. At this
strange chance all were stroken in admiration, and his
parents abstained now from further scoffing at his virtue,
and began to have him in reverence for his abstinence,
whom before for that^very cause they did mock and
scorn : and by this means, the fish, brought miracu-
lously from the well, "^ discharged God's servant from
that shame, which he had'"endured through their uncivil
jesting. Honoratus, proceeding forward in virtue, at
length was made free by the foresaid Lord Venantius :
and afterward, in that place which is called Funda, he
built an Abbey, wherein he was the father almost of
two hundred monks : and he lived in so great holiness
that he gave good example to all the country round
about. Upon a certain day, it fell so out, that a stone
of an huge greatness, which was digged out of the
7
€tt Dialogues of %t (©tegorp
mountain that hung over the top of his Abbey, tumbled
down by the side of the hill, threatening both the ruin
of the house and the death of all the monks within :
which danger the holy man seeing ready to come upon
them, called often upon the name of Christ, and, putting
forth his right hand, made against it the sign of the
cross, and by that means did he stay it, and pin it fast
to the side of that steep hill : which thing Lawrence, a
religious man, affirmed to be most true. And because
it found not there any place upon which it might rest,
it hangeth at this time in such sort, that all which now
look upon it do verily think that it would continually
fall.
IPetCt. I suppose so notable a man as he was, and who
afterward became master to so many scholars, had him-
self some excellent teacher of whom he was instructed.
0t00Otp. I never heard that he was scholar to any :
but the grace of the Holy Ghost is not tied to any law.
(The usual custom of virtuous men is, that none should
itake upon him to rule, who first hath not learned to obey :
nor to command that obedience to his subjects, which
before he hath not given to his own superiors. Yet
s'ome there be which are so inwardly taught by the
doctrine of God's holy spirit, that although they have
no man to instruct them outwardly, yet do they not
want the direction of an inward teacher : which liberty
of life notwithstanding is not to be taken for an example
by such as be weak and infirm, lest, whiles each one
doth in like manner presume to be full of the Holy
Ghost, and contemn to learn of any, they become thenP
selves erroneous masters. But that soul which is full of
God's holy spirit, hath for proof thereof most evident
signs, to wit, the other virtues, and especially humility,
both which if they do perfectly meet in one soul,
apparent it is that they be testimonies of the presence
of heavenly grace. And so we read not that John Baptist
libettinusof JTunDa
had any master, nor yet that Christ, who by his corporal
presence taught his Apostles, took him in amongst the
number of his other disciples, but vouchsafed to instruct
him inwardly, and left him, as it were, in the sight of the
world to his own liberty. So Moses, likewise, was taught
in the wilderness, and learned by the Angel what God
gave him in charge, which by means of any mortal man
he knew not : but these things, as before hath been said,
are of weaklings to be reverenced, and not by any means
to be followed.
IPCtCt. I like very well of your opinion : yet I beseech
you to tell me, whether so notable a father as he was, left
not some scholar behind him, that did imitate his master's
steps.
Cbaptet Ctoo : of libettinus, priot of t&e same
3tlt)Cp. fl (StegOtp. The rfeverent man, Libertinus,
who, in the time of Totilas, king of the Goths, was
Prior of the same Abbey of Funda, was brought up
and taught by him : of whom, albeit the certain re-
port of passing many hath made his sundry virtues
known to the world, yet the foresaid religious man,
Lawrence, who still liveth and that time had very
familiar acquaintance with him, hath often told me
many things, whereof some few, which now come to
my mind, I will here set down. In the same province
of Samnium, as Libertinus was in his journey about
business of the Abbey, it so fell out that Darida, captain
of the Goths, with his army, met him, by whose soldiers
the man of God was thrown from his horse ; which
injury he taking very patiently, offered them also his
whip, saying : " Take this, that you may make him the
better to go " ; and having said so, he betook himself
to his prayers. The army marched on very fast, and
quickly came to the river called Vulturnus, where they
began to beat their horses both with their lances and
also to spur them, till the blood came, and all this to
9
CFje Dialo8:ue0 of ^t <JDregotp
make them take the water ; but yet no beating nor
spurring could enforce them forward : for they were as
much afraid to enter the river as though it had been
some deep downfall. At length, when they were all
wearied with beating, one amongst the rest said, that
the reason why they were thus punished was for taking
away the horse from God's servant : whereupon
returning straightways back, they foimd Libertinus
prostrate at his prayers ; and calling upon him to rise
and take his horse, he bade them go on a God's name,
saying that he needed him not ; but for all that they
alighted and set him perforce upon his own beast, and
so in all haste departed, and returning back to the
river they passed over so quickly as though in the
channel there had been no water at all ; and so it fell
out that God's servant having restitution made him of
his one horse, that all the soldiers came likewise to
enjoy the use of their own.
At the same time one Buccellinus entered Campania
with an army of French men, and because it was com-
monly said that the Abbey in which the holy man lived
had great store of money, the French men, very greedy
of so good a booty, came thither, and with raging minds
went into his oratory (where he lay prostrate at his
prayers) seeking and crying out for Libertinus ; and a
strange thing it was, for though they came in, and
stumbled upon him, yet could they not see him, and
so, deceived through their own blindness, away they
departed as empty as they came.
At another time likewise upon business of the monas-
tery, at the commandment of the Abbot who succeeded
his master Honoratus, he took his journey to Ravenna.
And for the great love which he bare to venerable
Honoratus, always did he bear about him in his bosom
one of his stockings. Being in his way it fell so out
that a certain woman was carrying the corpse of her
lO
litjertinus of JFunDa
dead son ; who no sooner saw the servant of God, but,
for the love of her child, she laid hold upon his bridle,
protesting with a solemn oath that he should not
depart, before he had raised up her dead son. The
holy man, not acquainted with so strange a miracle, was
much afraid to hear her make such a request, and
willing to have got away, yet seeing no means how to
effect his desire, greatly did he doubt what was best to
be done. Here it is worth the noting to consider what
a conflict he had in his soul : humility and the mother's
piety striving together : fear to presume upon so un-
usual a miracle, and grief not to help the desolate
mother. At length, to the greater glory of God, piety
and compassion overcame that virtuous soul, which
therefore may truly be called invincible, because it did
yield and was conquered ; for a virtuous soul it had
not been, if piety and compassion had not overcome it :
wherefore, lighting from his horse, he fell upon his
knees, lift up his hands to "heaven, drew the stocking
out of his bosom, laid it upon the breast of the dead
corpse ; and behold, whiles he was at his prayers, the
soul of the child returned into the body, which he
perceiving, took it by the hand and delivered it alive
to his sorrowful mother, and so went on the rest of his
journey.
1^0t£t. What is to be said in this case ? For was it
the merit of Honoratus, or the prayers of Libertinus,
that wrought this miracle ?
®t0ffOtp. In the working of so notable a miracle, to-
gether with the faith of the woman, the virtue of both
did concur ; and therefore, in mine opinion, Libertinus
had power to raise up that dead child, because he had
learned to trust more upon the virtue of his master than
his own : for when he laid his stocking upon the child's
breast, no doubt but he thought that his soul did obtain
that for which he did then pray. For we read the like
II
Cfje Dialogues of ^t ©regotp
of Heliseus, who carrying his master's cloak, and coming
to the river of Jordan, stroke the waters once, and yet
divided them not ; but when straight after he said.
Where is now the God of Helias ? and then stroke the
river with the same cloak, he made a way open for him-
self to pass through.^ Whereby you perceive, Peter,
how much humility availeth for the working of miracles,
for then the merit of the master had force to do that
which he desired, when he called upon his name ; and
when with humility he did submit himself to his master,
he wrought the same miracle which his master had done
before him.
lj?0tet. I am well pleased with your answer : but is
there, I pray you, anything else of him yet remaining,
which may serve for our edification ?
0t00Otp, Surely there is, if there be yet any that list
to imitate so notable an example : for I make no doubt,
but that the patience of so worthy a man did far excel
all his signs and miracles, as you shall now hear. Upon
a certain day, the Abbot, who succeeded Honoratus, fell
so pitifully out with venerable Libertinus, that he stroke
him with his fists : and because he could find never a
staff, up he took a footstool, and with that did so strike
his head and his face, that they both swelled and became
black and blue. Being thus unreasonably beaten, with-
out giving any words, he went quietly to bed. The
next day, he was to go forth about business of the
Abbey, and therefore, when matins were ended, he came
to his Abbot's bedside, and humbly demanded of him
leave. The Abbot, knowing how greatly all did honour
and love him, supposed that he would for the former
injury have forsaken the Abbey : and therefore he asked
him, whither he meant to go : to whom he answered :
"Father," quoth he, "there is a certain matter con-
cerning the Abbey to be handled, where I must needs
'^ 4 Kings 2.
12
Ci)e e^onfe tbat teas (J5atDenet
be, for yesterday I promised to come, and therefore I
am determined to travel thither." Then the Abbot,
considering from the bottom of his heart his own
austerity and hard dealing, and the humility and meek-
ness of Libertinus, suddenly leapt out of his bed, gat
hold of his feet, confessed that he had sinned and done
wickedly, in presuming to offer unto so good and
worthy a man so cruel and contumelious an injury.
Libertinus, on the contrary, prostrate upon the earth,
fell down at his feet, attributing all that he had suffered,
not to any cruelty of his, but to his own sins and
demerits. And by this means, the Abbot was brought
to great meekness ; and the humility of the scholar
became a teacher to the master. Going afterward
abroad about the foresaid business of the Abbey, many
gentlemen of his acquaintance, that had him in great
reverence, much marvelled, and diligently enquired by
what means he came by such a swollen and black face :
to whom he answered: "Yesterday," quoth he, "at
evening, for punishment of my sins, I met with a foot-
stool, and gat this blow which ye see." And thus the
holy man, preserving both truth in his soul and the
honour of his master, did neither bewray the fault of
his father, nor yet incurred the sin of lying.
1^0t0t, Had not so venerable a man as this Libertinus
was, of whom you have told so many miracles and
strange things, in so great a convent, some that did
imitate his holy life and virtues ?
C&aptct Cbree: of a certain monk, tibat tuas^,
garDenet to t&e same atitiep. ^ (Stejorp. Felix,
called also Corvus, one whom you know very well,
and who not long since was Prior of the same Abbey,
told me divers very strange things, some of which I
will pass over with silence, because I hasten to other,
but one there is which by no means I can omit. This
it was.
13
C&e Dialogues of ^t (S^regotg
In the same Abbey there lived a certain monk, very-
virtuous, who was the gardener. A thief likewise there
was, that used to climb over the hedge, and so to steal
away the worts. The holy man, seeing that he did set
many which afterward he could not find, and perceiving
that some were trodden down, and other stolen away,
walked round about the garden to find the place where
the thief came in, which when he had found, by chance
also as he was there, he lighted upon a snake, which
he willed to follow him, and bringing him to the place
where the thief entered, gave him this charge : " In
the name of Jesus," quoth he, " I command thee to keep
this passage, and not to suffer any thief to come in,"
Whereupon the snake forthwith, obeying his command-
ment, laid itself across in the way, and the monk
returned to his cell. Afterward in the heat of the
day, when all the monks were at rest, the thief, accord-
ing to his custom, came thither, and as he was climbing
over the hedge and had put one leg on the other side,
suddenly he saw the snake, which stopped the way, and
for fear falling backward, he left his foot hanging there
by the shoe upon a stake, and so he hung with his head
downward, until the return of the gardener ; who,
coming at his usual hour, found the thief hanging there
in the hedge, whom when he saw, he spake thus to the
snake : " God be thanked, thou hast done what I bade
thee, and therefore now go thy way " : upon which
licence, the snake by and by departed. Then, coming
to the thief, he spake thus unto him : " What meaneth
this, good brother .'' God hath delivered you, as you
see, into mine hands : why have you been so bold as
so often to rob away the labour of the monks ? " and
speaking thus, he loosed his foot, without doing him
any harm, willing him also to follow him ; who brought
Tiim to the garden gate, and gave him those worts which
he desired to have stolen, speaking also to him in sweet
atJiJOt dBquitius
manner after this sort : " Go your way, and steal no
more ; but when you have need, come hither to me,
and what sinfully you would take, that will I willingly
bestow upon you for God's sake."
J^CtCt. 1 have hitherto, as I now perceive, lived in an
error : for never did I think that there had been any
holy men in Italy, which had wrought miracles.
Ct)apter Jf out : of OEquitius, abbot in tbe province
of Ualetia. fl (SregOtp. By the relation of vener^
able Fortunatus, Abbot of the Monastery which is
called Cicero's Bath, and also of other reverent men,
I have come to the knowledge of that which now I
mean to tell you. There was a passing holy man called
Equitius, dwelling in the province of Valeria, who, for
his virtuous life, was in great admiration with all men,
with whom Fortunatus was familiarly acquainted. This
Equitius, by reason of his great holiness of life, was the
father and governor of many Abbeys in that province.
In his younger years, many and sore carnal temptations
he endured, which made him more fervent and
diligent in prayers, and to persevere continually in that
holy exercise, which he did, craving most instantly of
God to afford him some remedy. Living in that manner,
it fell so out, that in vision, upon a certain night, he saw
an Angel come unto him, who made him an eunuch,
and so delivered him from all those carnal motions in
such sort that never after he felt any more, as though
he had not been any man at all. Trusting now upon
this great grace received by the special goodness of God,
as before he was a governor or men, so afterward he
took charge likewise of women, and yet, for all that,
did he continually admonish his scholars not easily to
credit themselves herein, nor to follow his example,
nor yet to trust upon that gift, which they had not
in themselves, lest it turned to their own ruin and
destruction.
15
€f}t Dialogues of ^t ©regotp
At such time as divers witches were here in this city
of Rome apprehended, one Basilius, that was a principal
man in that wicked art, put upon him the habit of a
monk, and so fled away to Valeria ; and coming to the
reverent Bishop of the city of Amirtin, he desired his [
help, that he would, for the good of his soul, commend
him to Abbot Equitius. The Bishop went with him to
the Abbey, where he made suit to the servant of God,
that he would vouchsafe to receive into his convent that
monk which he brought, whom so soon as the holy man
beheld, he said to the Bishop : "This man, good
brother," quoth he, " whom you commend unto me,
seemeth in mine eyes to be a devil, and not any monk" ;
whereunto the Bishop replied and said, that he sought
excuses not to grant his petition. " Not so," quoth
the servant of God, "but I do denounce him to be
such a one as I see him, and because you shall not
think that I will be disobedient, what you command I
will perform." Whereupon he was received into the
Abbey. Not many days after, God's servant travelled
far off to preach unto the people in the country ; after
whose departure it fell out that, in the monastery of
virgins which was under his charge, one of them, which
in respect of her corruptible carcase seemed beautiful,
fell into an ague, to be afflicted with sore fits, and not
so much to speak as pitifully to cry out in this manner :
" I shall die forthwith, unless Basilius come unto me,
and by his skill in physic restore me to my health."
But, in the absence of their father, none of the monks
durst presume to enter into the monastery of virgins,
much less was he permitted, that was yet but a novice,
and whose life and conversation was not known to the
rest of the brethren. A messenger, therefore, with all
speed was dispatched to the servant of God, Equitius,
to let him understand how such a Nun was fallen into
a terrible burning ague, and how she did earnestly
i6
Pintoricchio
THE MADONNA IN GLORY WITH ST. GREGORY AND ST. B& NEEnC T ^y
fSan Qimignano)
abbot aBi)uittu0
desire to be visited of Basilius : which news so soon as
the holy man did hear, in an anger he smiled, and said :
" Did I not say beforehand that this companion was a
devil and not a monk ? Go your ways, and turn him
out of the Abbey ; and as for the virgin that is so sick
of a fever, take no further care, for hereafter it shall not
trouble her any more, nor she make any further inquisi-
tion after Basilius." The monk that was the messenger
returning back, understood that the Nun was at that
very hour restored to her health, in which the servant of
God, Equitius, far distant, affirmed that she should : no
question but by special miracle, like to the example of
our Saviour, who, being desired to visit the son of a
lord, did by his only word restore him to his health, so
that the father at his return knew his son to be restored
to life at that very hour in which he heard so much from
the mouth of truth itself.^ The monks, putting their
father's commandment in execution, turned Basilius
out of the Abbey, who being so expulsed did often say,
that he had by his incantations hanged Equitius his cell
in the air, and yet that he could not hurt any of his
monks. This wretch not long after, in this city of
Rome, through the zeal of good people, for his wicked-
ness was burnt, and so ended his life.
Upon a certain day, one of the Nuns of the same
monastery, going into the garden, saw a lettice that
liked her, and forgetting to bless it before with the sign
of the cross, greedily did she eat it : whereupon she
was suddenly possessed with the devil, fell down to
the ground, and was pitifully tormented. Word in all
haste was carried to Equitius, desiring him quickly to visit
the afflicted woman, and to help her with his prayers : who
so soon as he came into the garden, the devil that was
entered began by her tongue, as it were, to excuse him-
self, saying : " What have I done .'' What have I done ?
1 John 4, S3,
17 B
C&e Dialogues of ^t. 0UQOt^
I was sitting there upon the lettice, and she^ came and
did eat me." But the man of God in great zeal com-
manded him to depart, and not to tarry, any longer in
the servant of almighty God, who straightways went out,
not presuming any more to touch her.
A certain noble man likewise called Felix, of the pro-
vince of Nvirsia, father to Castorius, who now dwelleth
here with us in Rome, understanding that Equitius had
not received holy orders, and yet that he did visit many
places and preach unto divers, upon a day very boldly
went and asked him, how he durst presume to preach,
not having received holy orders, nor yet licence of the
Bishop of Rome, under whom he did live ; upon which
demand, the holy man, being thus compelled, gave him
to understand by what means he had obtained licence to
preach : speaking thus unto him : " What you say unto
me, myself have seriously thought upon ; but, on a
certain night, a young man in vision stode by me, and
touched my tongue with such an instrument as they
use in letting of blood, saying : ' Behold, I have put
my word into thy mouth, go thy way and preach.'
And since that day, though I would, I can not but talk
of God."
J^CtCt. Desirous I am to know, what manner of life
he led, who is said to have received such gifts at God's
hand.
(St00Otp. The work, Peter, proceedeth of the gift,
and not the gift from the work, otherwise grace were
not grace : for God's gifts do go before all works of
ours, although the gifts by the works which follow do
increase ; but to the end that you may understand what
hte he led, which was known to the reverent man
Albinus, Bishop of Reatino ; and many there be yet
alive, which might very well remember the same. But
what do you seek for further works, when as his purity
of life was answerable to his diligence in preaching ? for
l8
Sbtot (Cguitiuis
such a zeal to save souls had inflamed his heart, that
albeit he had tlfe charge of many monasteries, yet did
he diligently travel up and down, and visit churches,
towns, villages, and particular men's houses, and all this
to stir up the hearts of his auditors to the love of heavenly
joys. The apparel which he ware was so base and con-
temptible, that such as knew him not would have thought
scorn so much as to have saluted him, though himself
had first oiFered that courtesy. And whithersoever he
went, his manner was to ride, but that upon the most
forlorn beast which could be found ; his bridle was but
an halter, his saddle no better than plain sheep's skins.
His books of divinity were put into leather bags, and
those he did carry himself, some hanging on the right
side of his horse, and some upon the left : and to what
place soever he came, he did so open the fountains of
sacred scripture, that he watered their souls with the
heavenly dew of his sermons. Whose grace in preaching
was so great, that the fame thereof cam^ even to Rome
itself: and as the tongues of flatterers do with their
glorious words kill the souls of such as give them the
hearing, at the same time some of the Roman clergy did
in flattering sort complain unto the Bishop of this Apos-
tolic see, saying : " What manner of rustical companion
is this, that hath taken upon him authority to preach,
and, being without learning, presumeth to usurp unto
himself the office of our Apostolical Lord .•' wherefore, if
it please you, let him be sent for before your presence,
that he may taste of the severity of ecclesiastical disci-
pline." And as it falleth out, that he which hath much
business is overcome sometime by flattery, if that pleasing
venom be not speedily dispatched from the soul^ at the
persuasion of his clergy the Pope gave his consent that he
should be sent for to Rome, to understand what talent
and gift he had received from God. And so one Ju'lianus,
who afterward was made Bishop of Sabinum, was sent,
19
C&e Dialogues of ©t (J^tegorp
having yet commandment given him to bring him up
with great honour, to the end that the servant of God
might not thereby sustain any injury or detriment in his
fame : who, to gratify the Pope's clergy, went in post to
the Abbey, and finding there in his absence certain anti-
quaries writing, demanded of them for the Abbot ; who
told him that he was in the valley at the bottom of the
Abbey, mowing of hay. Julianus had a man very proUd
and stubborn, and such a one that he could scarce rule
him. This man he sent in all haste for the Abbot ; who
in an angry mood went his way, and coming quickly into
the meadow where beholding all that were there cutting
of grass, he demanded which of them was Equitius ; and
when they shewed him where he was, being yet far off,
he fell into a great fear, and became therewith so faint,
that he could scarce go upon his legs : trembling in
that manner he came to the man of God, and humbly
bowing down his head, he embraced his knees and kissed
them, telling him that his master was desirous to speak
with him. After God's servant had saluted him again,
he willed him to take up some of the grass, and to carry
it home for their horse, " and I will," quoth he, " straight-
ways come, when I have dispatched this little work
which remaineth."
In this meantime, Julianus much marvelled what the
matter was, why his man tarried so long, and seeing him
at length to come laden with grass upon his neck, in great
rage he cried out to him, saying : " Sirrah, what meaneth
this ? I sent you to fetch me the Abbot, and not to
bring meat for mine horse." " Sir," quoth his man, " he
will come to you by and by": and forthwith the man
of God came in base apparel and a pair of shoes beaten
full of nails, carrying his scythe upon his neck ; and
being yet far off, his man told him that he was the Abbot.
So soon as Julianus beheld him attired in that base ^ort,
he contemned him, and devised with himself how to
20
St)t)ot €quitiu0
speak unto him in the most cross and crooked manner
he could. But when God's servant drew nigh, such an
intolerable fear came upon Julianus, that he fell a trem-
bling, and his tongue so faltered, that he could scarce
deliver the message for which he came : whereupon he
fell down at his feet, and desired that he would vouch-
safe to pray for him ; and withal gave him to understand,
that his Apostolical father the Pope was desirous to see
him. Upon the receipt of which news the venerable
man, Equitius, gave almighty God most hearty thanks,
saying that heavenly grace had visited him by means of
the highest Bishop ; and straightways he called for some
of his monks, commanding horse to be made ready in
all haste : but Julianus, weary of his journey, told him
that he could not travel so soon, but of necessity must
rest himself that night. " I am very sorry for that,"
quoth the holy man, " for if we go not to-day, to-morrow
we shall not " : and thus, by reason of the other's weari-
ness, he was enforced that night to remain in the Abbey.
The next morning, about the dawning of the day, came
a post with a tired horse, bringing letters to Julianus,
commanding him not to presume to molest or to draw
the servant of God out of his monastery. And when
he required the reason of this counter-command, the
messenger told him that, the next night after his depar-
ture, the Pope was terribly frighted in a vision, for pre-
suming to send for the man of God : whereupon Julianus,
rising suddenly out of his bed, and commending himself
to the venerable man's prayers, spake thus unto him :
" Our father desireth you not to trouble yourself any
further, but to stay in your monastery" : which when
God's servant heard, very sorry he was, and said : " Did
not I tell you, that if we did not set forward on our
»journey by and by, that afterward we should not ? "
Then upon charity he entertained his messenger a little
while with him in his Cloister, and though by all means
21
Ctje Dialogues of ^t. (Sregotp
he refused, yet he enforced upon him a reward for the
pains he had taken. See therefore, Peter, how God doth
preserve and keep them, who in this life do contemn
themselves/ and how they are secretly honoured of the
citizens in heaven, who are not ashamed outwardly to
be little esteemed in this world'; and on the contrary,
in the sight of God they be of no account, who in the
eyes of their own friends and neighbours do swell through
desire of vain glory. And therefore our Saviour Christ,
who was truth itself, said to certain : Tou are they that
justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts, for
that which is high to men is abominable in the sight of God.'^
lP0t0t. I marvel very much how so great a Bishop could
be deceived in so worthy a man.
(S^tegOtp. Why do you marvel, Peter .'' for the reason
why we are deceived is, because we be men. What .'' have
you forgotten how David, who usually had the spirit of
prophecy, pronounced sentence against innocent Mephi-
bosheth, the son of Jonathan, when he gave credit to the
lying words of his servant Siba .'' * which thing notwith-
standing because it was done by David, we both believe
to be just in the secret judgment of God, and yet by
human reason how it was just we cannot perceiveT) Whal;
marvel then is it, if we, that be not prophets, be sometimes
by lying tongues abused, and otherwise transported than
charity and justice would : for it is much to be considered,
that every Bishop hath his mind troubled with a world
of business, and it cannot be, when the mind is distracted
about many things, but that it is the less able sufficiently
to examine those that be particular, and so much the
sooner is he deceived in some special case, by how much
he is busied with the multitude of many.7
l^etCt. It is most true that you say.
©tegOtp. But I must not pass over with silence that
which the reverent man Valentinus, some time mine
^ Luke l6, 15. * 2 Kings, 16 and 19.
22
Con0tantius ttjc Clerfe
Abbot, told me concerning Equitius. For he said, that
his body being buried in the oratory of St. Lawrence the
martyr, a certain country man set upon his grave a chest
full of wheat, little considering or respecting how worthy
and notable a man lay there buried. Whereupon
suddenly a miraculous whirlwind came, and overthrew
that chest and cast it far off, all other things remaining
still in their former places ; by which all did plainly per-
ceive of what worth and merit that man was, whose body
lay there buried.
To this must I also add another thing, which I heard
of venerable Fortunatus, a man that doth much please
me for his years, life, and simplicity. At such time as
the Lombards came into the province of Valeria, the
monks of the monastery of the reverent man Equitius
fled from thence into the oratory, to the holy man's
sepulchre, into which place the cruel men entering, they
began by violence to pull the monks forth, either to
torment them, or else with their swords to kill them.
Amongst whom one sighed, and for very bitter grief
cried out : " Alas, alas, holy Equitius, is it thy pleasure,
and art thou content, that we should be thus miserably
haled and violently drawn forth, and dost not thou
vouchsafe to defend us ? " Which words were no sooner
spoken, but a wicked spirit possessed those savage
soldiers in such sort that, falling down upon the ground,
they were there so long tormented, until all the rest of
the Lombards which were without understood of the
matter, to the end that none should be so hardy as to
presume to violate that holy place. And thus, as the
holy man at that time defended his own monks, so did
he likewise afterward succour and preserve many more
that fled unto the same place.
Chapter JFtoe : of Constantius, Clerfe of tbe
C6utC|j of ^t ^tep5en. ^ That which I intend
now to tell you, I learned by the relation of one of my
23
Cf)e Dialogue!? of ©t. (£>reg:orp
fellow Bishops, who lived in a monk's weed many years
in the city of Ancona, and led there a good and religious
life. Many also of mine own friends, who be now of
good years and live in the same parts, affirm it to be
most true. Near to the foresaid city of Ancona there
is a church of the blessed martyr St. Stephen, in which
one called Constantius, a man of venerable life, did serve
there for clerk, who for his virtue and holiness was
famous far and near, being one that utterly despised all
worldly things, and with the whole power of his soul
thirsted after the joys of heaven. Upon a certain day,
it fell so out that there wanted oil in the church, by
reason whereof the foresaid servant of God had not
wherewith to light the lamps : whereupon he filled them
all with water, and, as the manner is, put a piece of
paper in the midst, and then set them on fire, and the
water did so burn in the lamps as though it had been
very oil ; by which you may gather, Peter, of what merit
this man was, who, enforced by necessity, did change the
nature of the element.
IPCtCt. Very strange it is that you say, but desirous I
am to know what humility he had inwardly in his soul,
who outwardly was so wonderful in the eyes of the
world.
©tCffOtp. Among miracles very fitly do you enquire
the inward state of the mind ; for it is almost incredible
how miracles, wrought in the sight of men, do with their
temptation inwardly assault the soul. But after you have
heard only one thing, which this venerable Constantius
did, you will quickly perceive what an humble man he
was.
PCtCt. Having now told me one of his miracles, it
remaineth that you do edify me also with the humility of
his soul.
(^t00Otp. Because the report of his holy life was very
much spread abroad, many from divers countries travelled
24
Constantius tU Cletft
to Ancona, being very desirous to see him ; and amongst
others a certain country fellow was come far off, for that
very purpose : at which time it so chanced that the holy
man was standing upon a pair of wooden stairs, busying
himself there in mending of lamps. A very little person
he was of stature, with a thin face, and to the outward
view contemptible. This fellow that came to see him
enquired earnestly which was the man for whose sake he
had travelled so long a journey. Those that knew him
forthwith told him, pointing to Constantius. But as
foolish souls do measure the merits of men by the quality
of their bodies, so he, beholding him so little and con-
temptible, by no means could be persuaded that they
told him truth ; for in the country fellow's mind there
fell out, as it were, a great contention betwixt that which
he had heard, and that which he saw ; and he verily per-
suaded himself that he could not be so little in his eyes,
who was so great in his former conceit ; and therefore,
when very many did constantly affirm that he was the
man, the simple soul despised him, and in scoffing manner
said : " I verily believed that he had been a goodly great
man, but this fellow hath not any thing at all in him
that is like a man." Which words of his the servant of
God, Constantius, hearing, forthwith left his lamps which
he was in hand with, and in great haste came merrily
down the stairs, embraced the country clown, and of
exceeding love held him fast in his arms, kissed him,
gave him great thanks for having that opinion, and spake
thus unto him : "Thou only," quoth he, "hast thine
eyes open, and dost truly behold what 1 am." By which
fact we may easily gather what an humble man he was,
that loved the country fellow the more for contemning
him ; for injurious words and contumelious usage try
what a man is inwardly in his soul :J_for as proud men
are glad of honour, so those that be humble for the most
part rejoice in contempt and disgrace, and when they
25
€tt Dialogues of @t (Sregorp
behold themselves to be of no account in the opinion of
others, glad they are, because they see that to be con-
firmed by the judgment of others which inwardly in
their own souls they had of themselves. ,~
l^CtCt. This man, as I perceive, was outwardly great
in miracles, but yet greater by his inward humility of
soul.
Cf)aptct ^ir : of a^arcellinus, TBis&op of ancona.
i^ (^XtQOX^, Marcellinus, also a man of holy life, was
Bishop of the same city of Ancona ; who was so sore
troubled with the gout, that being not able to go, his
servants were enforced to carry him in their hands.
Upon a day, by negligence, the city was set on fire, and
though many laboured by throwing on of water to quench
it, yet did it so increase and go forward that the whole
city was in great danger ; for it had laid hold of all
the houses that were next it, and consumed already a
great part of the town, none being able to help or with-
stand it. In so pitiful a necessity and great danger, the
Bishop, carried by his servants, came thither, and com-
manded himself to be set down right against those furious
flames, and in that very place whither the force of the
fire did seem most to bend : which being done, the fire
marvellous strangely turned back into itself, and as it
were cried out, that it could not pass the Bishop ; and
by this means was it stopped from going forward, [and]
went out of itself, not being able to touch any other
buildings. By which, Peter, you see what an argument
of great holiness it was, for a sick man to sit still, and
by his prayers to quench those raging flames.
l^Ctet. 1 do both see it and much wonder at so notable
a miracle.
Chapter ^etien : of Jl3onnosu0, priot of tfje 9bfjep
in amount ^OtaCte. f (SregOtp. Now I intend to let
you understand somewhat of a place not far distant,
which I heard of the reverent Bishop Maximianus, and
26
il3onnosu0 of amount ^oracte
of the old monk Laurio, one whom you know : both
which are yet living ; and as for Laurio, he was brought
up under that holy man Anastasius, in the Abbey which
is hard by the city of Nepi ; and Anastasius, both by
reason of the nearness of the place, equal love of virtue,
and like profession of life, was daily in the company of
holy Nonnosus, Prior of the Abbey which is in mount
Soracte. This Nonnosus had for his Abbot a very sharp
man, whose rough conditions notwithstanding he did
always bear with wonderful patience, and did in such
sweet sort govern the monks, that oftentimes by his
humility he appeased the Abbot's anger. The Abbey,
standing in the top of an hill, had never an even and
plain place fit for a garden ; one only little plot of ground
there was, in the side of the mountain, but that was taken
up of a great stone which did naturally grow there, so
that by no means it could serve for a garden. Yet
venerable Nonnosus, upon a day, began to think with
himself that at least that piece of ground would serve
very well to set worts, if by any means that huge stone
could be taken away ; but then he likewise thought that
five hundred yoke of oxen would not be able to stir it ;
whereupon, despairing of all human help, he betook him-
self to God's goodness, and in that very place gave
himself to prayer in the quiet time of the night, and
behold, on the morning, when the monks came thither,
they found that huge stone removed far off, and a very
fit plot of ground left to make them a garden.
At another time, the same holy man being washing
of lamps made of glass, one of them by chance fell out
of his hands, and brake into many pieces ; who, fearing
the great fury of the Abbot, did forthwith gather up all
the fragments, laid them before the altar, and there with
great sighing fell to his prayers ; and afterward, lifting
up his head, he found the lamp entire and whole. And
thus, in these two miracles, did he imitate two notable
27
Cf)e Dialoffues of ^t (Sregotp
fathers, to wit, Gregory and Donatus ; the first of which
removed' a mountain, and the other made a broken
chalice safe and sound.
--IP^tCt. We have, as I perceive now, miracles after the
imitation of old saints.
©tCffOtp. How say you ? are you content also in the
conversation of Nonnosus, to hear how he did imitate
the fact of the prophet Heliseus ?
^ttZt^ Content I am, and most earnestly desire it.
®tC0Otp. Upon a certain day, when the old oil was
spent, and the time to gather olives was now at hand,
the Abbot, because their own trees took not, thought
it best to send the monks abroad to help strangers in
the gathering of theirs, that for the recompense of their
labour they might bring home some oil for the necessities
of their own house. This determination the man of
God, Nonnosus, in great humility did hinder, lest the
monks, going abroad from their cloister to get oil, might
lose somewhat in the devotion of their souls. And there-
fore, because he saw that their own trees had yet a few
olives, he willed those to be gathered and put into the
press, and that oil which came forth to be brought unto
him, though it were never so little ; which being done,
he set the little vessel before the altar, and after their
departure he offered his prayers to God, which being
ended, he called for the monks, commanding them to
take away the oil which they brought, and to pour a
little thereof into all the vessels which they had, that
each of them might have some of the benediction of
that oil : which being done, he caused the vessels, empty
as they were, to be close stopped, and the next day they
found them all full.
l^CtEt. We find daily the words of our Saviour to be
verified, who saith : My Father even to this time doth work,
and I do work?-
1 John 5, 17.
28
Snastasius of ^uppentonia
Chapter (BisU : of anastasius, abbot of tfje
^ona0tetp caUeD ^uppentonia. ^ ©tegotp* At
the same time the reverent man Anastasius, of whom I
spake before, was notary to the church of Rome, whereof
by God's providence I have now the charge ; who desi-
rous only to serve God, gave over his office, and made
choice or a monastical life : and in that Abbey which is
called Suppentonia, he lived many years virtuously, and
governed that place with great care and diligence. Over
the Abbey there hangeth an huge rock, and beneath it
there is a steep downfall. Upon a certain night, when
God had determined to reward the labours of venerable
Anastasius, a voice was heard from the top of that rock,
which very leisurely did cry out : " Come away, Anas-
tasius" ; who being so called, straight after, seven other
monks were severally called by their names. And then
the voice stayed for a little time, and then called again
the eighth monk. "Which strange voice the Convent
hearing very plainly, made no doubt but that the death of
them that were so called was not far off ; wherefore not
many days after, before the rest, Anastasius himself, and
then the others in order, departed this mortal life, as they
were before called from the top of the rock. And that
monk who was called after some pausing did a little while
survive the rest, and then he also ended his life : whereby
it was plain that the staying of the voice did signify that
he should live a little longer than the other. But a
strange thing happened, for when holy Anastasius lay
upon his death-bed, a certain monk there was in the
Abbey, that would needs die with him, and therefore fell
down at his feet, and there began with tears to beg ot
him in this manner : " For his love to whom you are
now going, I beseech and adjure you, that 1 may not
remain in this world seven days after your departure";
and indeed it so fell out, that before the seventh day was
comCj that he left this mortal life, and yet was not he
29
Cfje Dialogues of ^t (Sregorp
that night named by that voice amongst the rest, so that
it appeareth plainly that it was only the intercession of
Anastasius which obtained that his departure.
JP0tet» Seeing that monk was not called amongst the
other, and yet by the intercession of that holy man was
taken out of this life : what other thing can we gather
hereof, but that such as be of great merit, and in favour
with God, can sometime obtain those things which be
not predestinate ?
(^t00Otp. Such things as be not predestinate by God,
cannot by any means be obtained at his hands ; but those
things which holy men do by their prayers effect, were
from all eternity predestinate to be obtained by prayers.
For very predestination itself to life everlasting, is so
by almighty God disposed, that God's elect servants do
through their labour come unto it, in that by their prayers
they do merit to receive that which almighty God
determined before all worlds to bestow upon them.
J^etCt. Desirous I am to have this point more plainly
proved : to wit, that predestination may by prayers be
holpen.
(S)tC0Ot5. That which I inferred, Peter, may quickly be
proved ; for ignorant you are not that our Lord said to
Abraham : In Isaac shall seed be called to thee ;^ to whom
also he said : / have appointed thee to be a father of many
nations ;^ and again he promised him, saying : I will bless
thee, and multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as
the sand of the sea? Out of which place it is plain that
almighty God had predestinate to multiply the seed of
Abraham by Isaac, and yet the scripture saith : Isaac did
pray unto our Lord for his wife because she was barren, who
did hear him, and Rebecca conceived} If, then, the increase
of Abraham's posterity was predestinate by Isaac, how
came it to pass that his wife was barren ? by which most
^ Gen. 21, 12. a Gen. 27, 29.
» Gen. 22, 17. 4 Gen. 25,21,
30
TBonifaciusof jFcrenti
certain it is, that predestination is fulfilled by prayers,
when as we see that he by whom God had predestinate
to increase Abraham's seed obtained by prayer to have
children.
l^CtEt, Seeing reason hath made that plain, which before
I knew not, I have not herein any further doubt.
(S)tCgOtp, Shall I now tell you somewhat of such holy
men as have been in Tuscania ; that you may be in-
formed what notable persons have flourished in those
parts, and how greatly they were in the favour of
almighty God ?
PetCt. Willing I am to give you the hearing; and
therefore beseech you to proceed forward.
C&apter Bint: of TBonifacius, TBisbop of St-
renti. ^ (dregOtp, a man of holy life there was, called
Bonifacius, Bishop of the city of Ferenti, one that with
his virtuous conversation did well discharge his duty.
Many miracles he did, which Gaudentius the Priest, who
yet liveth, doth still report : and seeing he was brought
up under him, no question but by reason of that his
presence he is able to tell all things the more truly.
His Bis hopric was passing poor (a thing which to good
merTiTthepreserver pf humility)^ for he had nothing else
for his revenues, but only one vineyard, which was also
at one time so spoiled with a tempest of hail, that very
few grapes did remain. Bonifacius coming in, and seeing
what was happened, gave God great thanks, for that he
had sent him further poverty to his former necessity.
And when the time came that those few grapes which
remained were ripe, he appointed one, according to the
custom, to keep his vineyard, commanding him carefully
to look well unto it. And upon a certain day, he willed
Constantius, who both was a Priest and his nephew, to
make ready, as before they were wont to do, all the
barrels and wine-vessels they had : which thing when
his nephew the Priest understood, he marvelled much
31
Cf)e Dialogues of ^t ©rcgorp
to hear him command so mad a thing, as to make ready
the vessels for wine, himself having no wine at all to put
in : yet durst he not enquire the reason why he gave that
charge, but did as he commanded, and made all the ■
vessels and other things ready, as before they had always
used to do. Then the man of God caused the poor
remnant of grapes to be gathered and carried to the
wine-press, and dispatching all others away, himself
tarried there still with a little boy whom he commanded,
to tread those grapes, and when he perceived that a little
wine began to run forth, the man of God took it, and put
it into a little vessel, and poured somewhat thereof into
all the other barrels and vessels which were made ready,
as it were to bless them with that little quantity : when
he had so done, he called straightways for the Priest,
commanding him to send for the poor, upon whose
coming the wine in the press began to increase and run
out so plentifully, that it did fill all the pots and other
vessels which they brought. When they were all served,
he bade the boy to leave treading, and come down ; then,
locking up the storehouse, into which he had put his own
vessels, and setting his own seal upon the door, to the
church he went, and three days after he called for Con-
stantius, and having said a few prayers, he opened the
door, where he found all the vessels into which he had
before poured but a very little liquor working so plenti-
fully, that, if he had not then come, they had all run over
into the floor. Then he straightly commanded the Priest
his kinsman, not to reveal this miracle to any, so long as he
lived, fearing lest, by means thereof, the outward opinion
of men might through vain glory inwardly have hurt his
soul : following therein the example of our master Christ,
who, to teach us to walk in the path of humility, com-
manded his disciples concerning himself, not to tell any
what they had seen, until the Son of Man was risen
again from death,
32
TBonifaciusof JFetenti
IPCtCt* Because fit occasion is now offered, desirous I am
to know what the reason was, that when our Saviour re-
stored sight unto two blind men, and commanded them
to tell nobody ; yet they, after their departure, mad«:
him known throughout all that country. For had the
only-begotten Son of God, iwho is co-eternal to his
Father and the Holy Ghost, a desire herein to do that
which he could not perform : to wit, that the miracle
which he would have kept secret, could not yet be
concealed ?
(©t00Otp. AH that which our blessed Saviour wrought
in his mortal body, he did it for our example and in-
struction, to the end that, following his steps, according
to our poor ability, we might without offence pass over
this present life : and therefore, when he did that
miracle, he both commanded them to conceal it, and
yet it could not be kept in, and ^11 this to teach his
elect servants to follow his doctrine-; to wit, that when
they do any notable thing whereof glory may arise to
themselves, that they should Ihave a desire not to be
spoken of, and yet for the good of others, contrary to
their own mind, they should be laid open and known :
so that it proceed of their great humility to desire that
their works may be buried with silence, and yet, for the
profit of others, it should fall so out, that they can not
be concealed. Wherefore our Lord would not have
anything done which he could not effect : but what his
servants ought to desire, and what also, contrary to their
minds, was convenient to be done, like a good master
he taught us by his own example.
]P0t0t« I am very well satisfied with this your answer.
(SJt00Oip» For as much as we have now made mention
of Bonifacius, let us prosecute a few more of his acts,
not yet spoken of. At another time, upon the feast-day
of St. Proculus the martyr, one Fortunatus, a noble man
that dwelt in that town, did heartily entreat the Bishop
33 c
€U Dialogues of ^t. ©regorp
that, after he had done the solemnity of mass, he would
vouchsafe to come unto his house, to bless his meat and
dine with him. The man of God was content to satisfy
his request, so charitably was he invited : and therefore,
when mass was done, he went thither : but before the
table was yet blessed, suddenly (as some men by such
means get their living) one came to the gate with ' !&/
ape, who began to play upon an instrument, which the
holy man hearing, was discontented, and said : " Alas,
alas, this wretched man is dead, this wretched man is
dead. Behold, I am come hither to dinner, and have
not yet opened my lips to praise God, and he is here
with his ape, playing upon his instrument." Then he
desired them to give him some meat and drink : " Yet
I would have you know," quoth he, " that he is a dead
man." When the unhappy wretch had filled himself
and was going out at the gate, a great stone fell from
the house, and brake his head. Of which blow he fell
down, and was taken up half dead, and being carried
away the next day, as the man of God had before said,
he departed this life ; wherein, Peter, we have to con-
sider how holy men are with fear to be reverenced : for
they no question be the temples of God, and when an
holy man is enforced to anger, who is then moved but
he that dwelleth in that temple .'' wherefore we have so
much the more cause to fear how we provoke such kind
of persons to wrath, seeing we know that he is present
in their souls, who hath power and might sufficient to
inflict what punishment himself best pleaseth.
At another time, the aforesaid Priest Constantius, his
nephew, had sold his horse for twelve crowns, which
money he laid up in his chest ; and being abroad about
other business, it so happened, that certain poor people
pitifully begged of the holy Bishop, that he would vouch-
safe to bestow something upon them for the relief of
their necessity. The man of God, not having anything
34
iBonifaciusof jTcrenti
to give them, was much grieved to send them away
empty : whiles he was thus troubled, suddenly it came
to his mind how his nephew had sold his horse, and that
the money was in his chest ; whereupon, in his absence,
by virtuous violence, he brake open the lock, took away
the twelve crowns, and bestowed them as best pleased
himself upon the poor people. Constantius, returning
home and finding his chest open, looked for his money,
and finding it not, he began to exclaim, and with great
noise and fury to cry out against his uncle, saying :
" All other can live here in quiet, only I can not." The
Bishop, hearing him crying out in that manner, came
unto him, as also the rest of his family ; and when he
began with sweet speech to mitigate his fury, in great
anger he replied, saying : " All other can live with you,
only I can not be suffered to be in quiet : give me my
money, which you have taken out or my chest." The
Bishop, moved at his words, departed away, and went
into the church of the blessed virgin Mary, where, lifting
up his hands with his vestment upon them, he began
standing to pray, that she would help him to so much
money, that he might quiet the fury of the mad Priest :
and casting suddenly his eyes upon the garment that lay
between his arms stretched out, he found twelve crowns
lying there, so fair and bright, as though they had then
newly come from the mint ; who forthwith going out
of the church, cast them to the raging Priest with these
words : " Lo, there is your money which you have
kept such a stir for ; but know you that after my death
you shall never be Bishop of this place, and that for
your covetous mind." "By which true censure of his we
gather that the Priest provided that money for the getting
of the Bishopric.7 But the words of the man of God did
prevail : for the same Constantius ended his life without
any further promotion than to the dignity of Priesthood.
At another time, two Goths c^me unto him for
25
Cfje Dialoffues of ^t ©regorp
hospitality, saying that they were travelling to Ravenna ;
unto whom he gave with his own hands a little
wooden bottle full of wine, enough, haply, for their
dinner ; of which, notwithstanding, they drank until
they came to Ravenna, and though they stayed some
days in that city, yet they had no other wine than that
which the holy man bestowed upon them : and so like-
wise they continued until they returned back again to
the same venerable Bishop, drinking daily of the same,
and yet never lacking wine to serve their necessity : as
though, in that wooden bottle which he gave them, wine
had grown, and not there increased.
Not long sithence, there came from the same country
a certain old man that is a clerk, who reporteth divers
notable things of him, which must not be passed over
with silence. For he saith that going upon a day into
his garden, he found it all full of caterpillars, and seeing
all his worts spoiled, turning himself to them, he spake
thus : "I adjure you, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to depart from hence, and not to eat any more
of these worts " : after which words, those worms did
forthwith so vanish away, that there was not one to be
found in all the whole garden. But what great marvel
is it, to hear such things reported of him that was now
a Bishop, being then, both by reason of his orders, and
also holy conversation of life, grown into favour with
almighty God, seeing those are more to be admired
which this old clergyman said that he did, being yet but
a little boy .'' For he affirmeth, that at such time as
Bonifacius dwelt with his mother, and went abroad, that
sometime he came home without his shirt, and often-
times without his coat : for no sooner did he see a
naked man, but he gave away his clothes, and put them
upon him, to the end that himself might be clothed with
a reward in the sight of God. His mother rebuked him
often for doing so, and told him that it was no reason
36
'Bonifaciu0of Jfetentr
that, being poor himself, he should give away his apparel
to other. Upon another day, going into the barn, she
found almost all her wheat, which she had provided for
the whole year, given away by her son to the poor : and
as she was, for very grief thereof, beating and tearing of
herself, the child of God, Bonifacius, came, and with the
best words he could began to comfort his afflicted
mother ; but when by no means she would be quieted,
he entreated her to go out of the barn where the little
wheat that remained was. When she was departed, the
virtuous youth fell straightway to his prayers ; and
after a little while, going out, he brought his mother
back again, where she found it as full of wheat as before
it was : at the sight of which miracle, she, being touched
in soul, exhorted him to give as he pleased, seeing he
could so soon obtain at God's hands what he asked.
His mother also kept hens before her door, which a fox,
that had his berry not far ofF, used to carry away : and
upon a certain day, as the youth Bonifacius was standing
in the entry, the fox, after his old manner, came and
took away one of the hens ; whereupon in all haste he
ran to the church, and prostrate there in prayer, with
loud voice he spake thus : " Is it thy pleasure, O Lord,
that I shall not eat of my mother's hens ? for behold,
the fox doth devour them up " : and rising from his
prayers, he went out of the church, and straightways
the fox came back again with the hen in his mouth,
leaving it where he found it, and forthwith fell down
dead in the presence of Bonifacius.
IPCtCt. It seemeth strange unto me, that God vouch-
safeth in sudLsmaU-things to hear the prayers of them
that put their trust in him,
(5t00Otp, This falleth out, Peter, by the great provi-
dence of our Creator, to the end that by little things\
which we receive at his hands, we should hope for
greater : for the holy and simple lad was heard in
37
Cte Dialogues of @t (Stegotp
praying for small matters, that by them he should learn
how much he ought to trust in God, when he prayed
for things of greater importance.
PCt0t. What you say pleaseth me very well.
Chapter Cen : of JFortunatus, TBis&op of tH €it^
of CuDCtti. ^ (St0ffOtp. Another man also there was
in the same parts, called Fortunatus, Bishop of Tuderti,
who had a most singular grace in casting out of devils,,
in so much that sometime he did cast out of possessed-
bodies whole legions ; and by the continual exercise of
prayer, he overcame all their temptations. Julianus,-
who had an office here in our church, and not long-
since died in this city, was familiarly acquainted with
him, by whose relation I learned that which I will now
tell you : for by reason of his great and inward famili-
arity, often was he present at such miracles as he wrought,
and did divers times talk of him to our instruction and .
his own comfort.
A certain noble matron there was, dwelling in the
hither parts of Tuscania, that had a daughter-in-law, ^
which, not long after the marriage of her son, was,
together with her mother-in-law, invited to the dedica- '
tion of the oratory of the blessed martyr, St. Sebastian :
and the night before this solemnity, overcome with carnal ,
pleasure, she could not abstain from her husband ; and
though in the morning her former delight troubled her'
conscience, yet shame drave her forth to the procession, ,
being more ashamed of men than fearing the judgment ,
of God, and therefore thither she went together with
her mother-in-law. And behold, straight upon the
bringing of the relics of St. Sebastian the martyr into
the oratory, a wicked spirit possessed the foresaid matron's ,
daughter-in-law, and pitifully tormented her before all,
the people. The Priest of the oratory, beholding her >
so terribly vexed and lifted up, took a white linen cloth
and cast upon her ; and forthwith the devil also entered
38
jFortunatus of CuDerti
into him, and because he presumed above his strength, -
enforced also he was by his own vexation, to know what i
himself was. Those that were present took up the young ,
gentlewoman in their hands, and carried her home to
her own house. And for as much as she was by the
enemy continually and cruelly tormented, her kinsfolk
that carnally loved her, and with their love did persecute '
her, cause her to be carried for help to cer tain witch es ;i
so utterly to cast away her soul, whose body they wenti
about by sorcery^ for a time to relieve. Coming into
their hands, she was by them brought to a river, and
there washed in the water, the sorcerers labouring a
long time by their enchantments to cast out the devil,
that had possessed her body : but by the wonderful
judgment of almighty God, it fell out that whiles
one by unlawful art was expelled, suddenly a whole
legion did enter in. And from that time forward, she
began to be tossed with so many varieties of motions,
to shriek out in so many sundry tunes, as there were
devils in her body. Then her parents, consulting to-
gether, and confessing their own wickedness, carried her
to the venerable Bishop Fortunatus, and with him they
left her : who, having taken her to his charge, fell to
his prayers many days and nights, and he prayed so
much the more earnestly, because he had against him,
in one body, an whole army of devils : and many days
passed not, before he made her so safe and sound, as
though the devil had never had any power or interest/
in her body.
At another time, the same servant of almighty God
cast forth a devil out of one that was possessed : which
wicked spirit, when it was now night and saw few men
stirring in the streets, taking upon him the shape of a
stranger, began to go up and down the city, crying out :
"" O holy Bishop Fortunatus, behold what he hath done ;
he hath turned a stranger out of his lodging, and now
39
Cije DiaIoffue0 of ^t (Steptg
I seek for a place to rest in, and in his whole city can
find none." A certain man, sitting in his house by the
fire, with his wife and his little son, hearing one to cry
out in that manner, went forth, and enquired what the
Bishop had done, and withal invited him to his house,
where he caused him to sit with them by the fire : and
as they were among themselves discoursing of divers
matters, the same wicked spirit on a sudden entered
into his little child, cast him into the fire, and forthwith
killed him : then the wretched father, by the loss of his
son in this manner, knew full well whom he had enter-
tained, and the Bishop turned out of his lodging.
Pet0t. What was the cause, that the old enemy pre-
sumed to kill his son in his own house : who, thinking
him to be a stranger, vouchsafed him of lodging and
entertainment .''
/ (St00Otp, Many things, Peter, seem to be good and yet
are not, because they be not done with a good mind and
intention ; and therefore our Saviour saith in the gospel :
If thy eye be naught, all thy body shall be dar^} For when ,
the intention is wicked, all the work that foUoweth is ,
naught, although it seem to be never so good ; and
therefore this man who lost his child, though he seemed
to give hospitality, yet I think that he took not any
' pleasure in that work of mercy, but rather in the de-
traction and infamy of the Bishop : for the punishment
which followed did declare that his entertainment going
before, was not void of sin. For some there be, which
are careful to do good works, to the end they may ob-
scure the virtue of another man's life ; neither take they
pleasure in the good thing whiph they do, but in the
conceit of that hurt which thereby they imagine re-
doundeth to others ; and therefore I verily suppose that
this man, which gave entertainment to the devil, was
more desirous to seem to do a good work than to do
1 Matt. 6, 23.
40
JTottunatus of CuDerti
it indeed ; to the end that he might seem more charit- -'
able than the Bishop, in that he entertained him whom
the man of God, Fortunatus, had thrust out of his
house.
PCtCt, It is verily so, as you say : for the end of the /
work declared that the intent of the doer was not good.
(StCffOtp. At another time, likewise, one that had lost
his eyesight was brought unto him, who craved hts
intercession and obtained it : for so soon as the man of
God had prayed for him, and made the sign of the cross
upon his eyes, straightways he received his sight. Beside
this, a certain soldier's horse became so mad, that he
could scant be holden by many, and so cruel he was,
that he rent and tare the flesh of all such as he could
reach with his teeth. At length, as well as they could,
they tied him with ropes, and so brought him to the
man of God ; who putting forth his hand, made upon
his head the sign of the cross, and forthwith all his
madness departed, in such sort that he became more
gentle than ever he was before. Then the soldier,
seeing his horse so miraculously cured, determined to
bestow him upon the Bishop : which because he refused,
and yet the other instantly entreated that he would not
reject his poor gift, the holy man took the middle way,
and yielded so to the soldier's request, that yet he would
not take any reward for the doing of that miracle ; for
he gave him first so much money as the horse was worth,
and then received him ; for perceiving that the soldier
would have been grieved, if he had refused his courteous
oflFer, upon charity he bought that whereof he had then
no need.
Neither must I pass over with silence that which I
heard almost twelve days since : for a certain poor old
man was brought unto me (because I loved always to
talk with such kind of men), of whom I enquired his
country ; and understanding that he was of the city of
41
Cbe DiaIoffue0 of ^t ©regorg
Tuderti, I asked him whether he knew the good old
father, Bishop Fortunatus ; to which he answered that
, he knevy him, and that very well. " Then I beseech you,"
quoth I, " tell me whether you know of any miracles
which he did, and because I am very desirous, let me
understand what manner of man he was." " This man,"
quoth he, " was far different from all those which live
in our days ; for he obtained at God's hands whatsoever
he requested. One of his miracles which cometh to my
mind, I will now tell you.
" Certain Goths, upon a day, travelling not far from
the city of Tuderti, as they were in their journey to
Ravenna, carried away with them two little boys from
a place which belonged to the said city. News hereof
being brought to the holy Bishop Fortunatus, he sent
straightways, desiring those Goths to come unto him :
to whom he spake very courteously, being willing by
fair speech to pacify their fierce and cruel natures ; and
afterward told them that they should have what money
they desired, so they would make restitution of the
children : ' and therefore, I beseech you,' quoth he,
' gratify my request in this one thing.' Then he which
seemed to be the chief of them two told him, that what-
soever else he commanded they were ready to perform,
but as for the boys, by no means they would let them
go. To whom the venerable man (threatening in sweet
sort) spake unto him in this manner : ' You grieve me, -
good son, to see that you will not be ruled by your
father ; but give me not any such cause of grief, for it
is not good that you do.' But for all this the Goth,
continuing still hard-hearted, denied his request, and so
went his way, yet coming again the next day, the holy
man renewed his former suit concerning the children ;
but when he saw that by no means he could persuade
him, in sorrowful manner he spake thus : 'Well I
know that it is not good for you to depart in this
42
JFottunatus of €ntimi
manner, and leave me thus afflicted.' But the Goth,
kpt esteeming his words, returned to his inn, set those
children on horseback, and sent them before with his
servants, and straightways himself took horse and fol-
lowed after ; and as he was riding in the same city by
the church of St, Peter the Apostle, his horse stumbling,
fell down, and brake his thigh in such sort that the
bone was quite asunder : up was he taken, and carried
back again to his inn ; who in all haste sent after his
servants, and caused the boys to be brought back again.
Then he sent one to venerable Fortunatus with this
message : ' I beseech you, father, to send unto me your
deacon ' ; who when he was come unto him lying in his
bed, he made those boys, which before upon no entreaty
he would restore, to be brought forth, and delivered
them to him, saying : ' Go and tell my Lord the Bishop :
Behold you have cursed me, and I am punished, but I
have now sent you those children which before you re-
quired, take them, and I beseech you to pray for me.'
The deacon received the children, and carried them to
the Bishop ; whereupon the holy man forthwith gave
his deacon some holy water, saying : ' Go quickly and
cast it upon him where he lieth ' ; who went his way,
and coming to the Goth, he sprinkled all his body with v
holy water : and O strange and admirable thing ! the
holy water no sooner touched his thigh but all the
rupture was so healed, and himself so perfectly restored
to his former health, that he forsook his bed that very
hour, took his horse, and went on his journey, as thought
he had never been hurt at all : and thus it fell out, that
he which refused for money and upon obedience to re-
store the children, was by punishment enforced to do -it
for nothing." When the old man had told me this
strange story, ready he was to proceed unto other ; but
because I was at that time to make an exhortation to
some that expected me, and the day was well spent, I
43
Cf)c Dialogues of @t. (Srcgorg
could not at that time hear any more of the notable acts
of venerable Fortunatus ; and yet if I might, never would
I do any thing else, than give ear to such excellent
stories.
The next day, the same old man reported a thing far
more wonderful : for he said that in the same city of
Tuderti, there dwelt a good virtuous man called Mar-
cellus, together with two of his sisters, who, falling sick,
somewhat late upon Easter even departed this life : and
because he was to be carried far off, he could not be
buried that day. His sisters having now longer respite
for his burial, with heavy hearts ran weeping unto the
Bishop ; where they began to cry out aloud in this
manner : " We know that thou leadest an Apostolical
life, that thou dost heal lepers, restore sight to the blind :
come, therefore, we beseech you, and raise up our dead
brother." The venerable man, hearing of their brother's
death, began himself likewise to weep, desired them to
depart, and not to make any such petition unto him :
"for it is our Lord's pleasure," quoth he, "which no
man can resist." When they were gone, the Bishop
continued still sad and sorrowful for the good man's
death ; and the next day being the solemn feast of Easter,
very early in the morning he went with two of his deacons
to Marcellus' house, and coming to the place where his
dead body lay, he fell to his prayers ; and when he had
made an end, he rose up and sat down by the corpse, and
with a low voice called the dead man by his name, say-
ing : "Brother Marcellus " ; whereat, as though he had
been lightly asleep, and awaked with that voice, he rose
up, opened his eyes, and looking upon the Bishop, said' :
" O what have you done .'' O what have you done ? "
To whom the Bishop answered, saying : " What have
I done ?" " Marry," quoth he, " yesterday there came
two unto me, and discharged my soul out of my body, and
carried me away to a good place, and this day one was
44
sent, who bade them carry me back again, because Bishop
Fortunatus was gone to mine house." And when he
had spoken these words, straightways he recovered of
his sickness, and lived long after. And yet for all this
we must not think that he lost that place which he had,
because there is no doubt, but that he might, by the
prayers of his intercessor, live yet more virtuously after
his death, who had a care before he died to please al-
mighty God.
But why do I spend so many words in discoursing of
his wonderful life, when as we have so many miracles,
even at these days, wrought at his body ? for, as he was
wont to do when he lived upon earth, so doth he now
continually at his dead bones dispossess devils, and heal
such as be sick, so often as men pray for such graces with
faith and devotion. But I mean now to return to the
province of Valeria, of which I have heard most notable
miracles from the mouth of venerable Fortunatus, of
whom long before I have made mention, who, coming
often to visit me, whiles he reporteth old stories, con-
tinually he bringeth me new delight.
Cftaptet <&\tnzn : of Q^artirius, a a^onfe in tbe
JptOtJince of Ualetia. ^ a certain man lived in that
province, called Martirius, who was a very devout servant
of almighty God, and gave this testimony of his virtuous
life. For, upon a certain day, the other monks, his
brethren, made a hearth-cake, forgetting to make upon
it the sign of the cross : for in that country they use to
make a cross upon their loaves, dividing them so into
four parts : when the servant of God came, they told
him that it was not marked : who, seeing it covered with
ashes and coals, asked why they did not sign it, and
speaking so, he made the sign of the cross with his
hand against the coals : which thing whiles he was in
doing, the cake gave a great crack, as though the pan
had been broken with the fire : after it was ba^k^d and
45
C&e Dialogues of ^t (Sregotp
taken out, they found it marked with the sign of the
cross, which yet not any corporal touching, but the faith
of Martirius had imprinted.
Chapter Ctocltic : of ^etierus, a IPriest in t&e
Mtnt l^tOt)inC0. fl in the same country there is a
valley, which is called of the plain people Interocrina ;
in which there lived a certain man of a rare life, called
Severus, who was a parish priest of the church of our
blessed Lady the mother of God and perpetual virgin.
One that lay at the point of death sent for him in great
haste, desiring him to come with all speed, and by his
prayers to make intercession for him, that doing penance
for his wickedness, and loosed from his sins, he might
depart this life. So it chanced, that the Priest at that
time was busy in pruning of his vines ; and therefore he
bade them that came for him to go on before : " and I
will," quoth he, " come after by and by." For seeing he
had but a little to do, he stayed a pretty while to make
an end of that, and when it was dispatched, away he went
to visit the sick man ; but as he was going, the former
messengers met with him, saying : " Father, why have
you stayed so long .'' go not now any further, for the
man is dead." At which news the good man fell a
trembling, and cried out aloud that he had killed him ;
whereupon he fell a weeping, and in that manner came
to the dead corpse, where before the bed he fell prostrate
upon the earth, pouring out of tears. Lying there weep-
ing very pitifully, beating his head against the ground,
and crying out that he was guilty of his death, suddenly
the dead man returned to life : which many that were
present beholding cried out, and began to weep more
plentifully for joy, demanding of him where he had
been, and by what means he came back again ; to whom
he said : " Certain cruel men," quoth he, " did carry me
away ; out of whose mouth and nostrils fire came forth^
which I could not endure ; and as they were leading me
46
^et)erus t&e ]§>tim
through dark places, suddenly a beautiful young man
with others met us, who said unto them that were draw-
ing me forward : ' Carry him back again ; for Severus
the Priest lamenteth his death, and our Lord, for his
tears, hath given him longer life.' " Then Severus rose
up from the earth, and by his intercession did assist him
in doing of penance. And when the sick man that re-
vived had done penance for his sins by the space of
seven days, upon the eighth with a cheerful countenance
he departed this life. Consider, Peter, I pray you, how
dearly our Lord loved this Severus, that would not
suffer him to be grieved for a little time.
l^CtCt. They be marvellous strange things which you
report, and which before this time I never heard of: but
what is the reason that in these days there be not any /
such men now living ?
<S)t00OtP» I make no doubt, Peter, but that there be ,
many such holy men now living ; for though they work
not the like miracles, yet for all that, may they be as
virtuous and as holy. For true judgment of one's life
is to be taken from his virtuous conversation, and not
from the working of miracles, for many there be who,
although they do not any such strange things, yet are
they not in virtue inferior to them that do them.
IPCtEt. How, I beseech you, can it be maintained for
true, that there be some that work not any miracles, and
yet be as virtuous as they which work them ?
(©t00Otp. Sure I am that you know very well that the
Apostle St. Paul is brother to St. Peter, chief of the
Apostles in Apostolical principality.
lP0t0t. I know that indeed, for no doubt can be made
thereof : for though he were the least of the Apostles,
yet did he labour more than all they.
(©t00Otp. Peter, as you well remember, walked with J
his reet upon the sea ; Paul in the sea suiFered ship-
wrack. And in one and the same element, where Paul
47
C&e Dialogues of^t ig^tegotp
could not pass with a ship, Peter went upon his feet ; by
which apparent it is, that though their virtue in working
of miracles was not alike, yet their merit is alike in the
kingdom of heaven.
J^etet. I confess that I am well pleased with that you
say, for I know most assuredly that the life, and not
the miracles, are to be considered ; but yet, seeing such
miracles as be wrought do give testimony of a good life,
I beseech you, if any more be yet remaining, that you
would, with the examples and virtuous lives of holy men,
feed mine hungry soul.
(©tCgOtp. Desirous I am, to the honour of our blessed
Saviour, to tell you some things now concerning the
miracles of the man of God, venerable St. Behnet : but
to do it as it ought, this day is not sufficient ; wherefore
we will here make a pause, and to handle this matter
more plentifully, take another beginning.
Cf)e CnD of t&e mm IBoofe
48
ST. BENEDICT
{Vatican Gallery ^ Rofiic)
€>f t!)e Htfe anU piracies of
^t Mmtt
€>f tl)e ILift anti £@tracle0 of
^t Idennet
CfjCtC was a man of venerable life, blessed by grace, and
blessed in name, for he was caHcd Ben-e^iaus or Bennet :
who, from his younger years, carried always the mind of
an old man ; for his age was inferior to his virtue : all
vain pleasure he contemned, and though he were in the
world, and might freely have enjoyed such commodities
as it yieldeth, yet did he nothing esteem it, nor the
vanities thereof. He was born in the province of Nursia,
of honourable parentage, and brought up at Rome in the
study of humanity. But for as much as he saw many by
reason of such learning to fall to dissolute and lewd life,
he drew back his foot, which he had as it were now set
forth into the world, lest, entering too far in acquaintance
therewith, he likewise might have fallen into that dan-
gerous and godless gulf: wherefore, giving over his
book, and forsaking his father's house and wealth, with
a resolute mind only to serve God, he sought for some
place, where he might attain to the desire of his holy
purpose : and in this sort he departed, ijnstructed .with
Jearnedignorance, and furnished with unleaxjied wisdom.
AH the notable things and acts of his life I could not
learn ; but those few, which I mind now to report, I
had by the relation of four of his disciples : to wit, of
51
Cbe Dialogues of ^t. (Stcgorp
Constantinus, a most rare and reverent man, who was
next Abbot after him ; of Valentinianus, who many years
had the charge of the Lateran Abbey; of Simplicius,
who was the third General of his order ; and lastly of
Honoratus, who is now Abbot of that monastery in •
which he first began his- holy life.
Chapter ©ne : Soto fjc maoe a broken sietietD&ole
anD SOUnD. ^ Bennet having now given over the
school, with a resolute mind to lead his life in the wilder-
ness : his nurse alone, which did tenderly love him,
would not by any means give him over. Coming, there- ,
fore, to a place called Enside and remaining there in the
church of St. Peter, in the company of other virtuous
men, which for charity lived in that place, it fell so out
that his nurse borrowed of the neighbours a sieve to
make clean wheat, which being left negligently upon the
table, by chance it was broken in two pieces : whereupon
she fell pitifully a weeping, because she had borrowed
it. The devout and religious youth Bennet, seeing his
nurse so lamenting, moved with compassion, took away
with him both the pieces of the sieve, and with tears fell
to his prayers ; and after he had done, rising up he found
it so whole, that the place could not be seen where before
it was broken ; and coming straight to his nurse, and com-
forting her with good words, he delivered her the sieve
safe and sound : which miracle was known to all the
inhabitants thereabout, and so much admired, that the
townsmen, for a perpetual memory, did hang it up at the
church door, to the end that not only men then living,
but also their posterity might understand, how greatly
God's grace did work with him upon his first renouncing
of the world. The sieve continued there many years
after, even to these very troubles of the Lombards, where
it did hang over the church door.
But Bennet, desiring rather the miseries of the world
than the praises of men : rather to be wearied with labour
52
Cbe life anD Spiracles of ^t TBennet
for God's sake, than to be exalted with transitory com-
mendation : fled privily from his nurse, and went into a
desert place called Sublacum, distant almost forty miles
from Rome : in which there was a fountain springing forth
cool and clear water ; the abundance whereof doth first
in a broad place make a lake, and afterward running
forward, cometh to be a river. As he was travelling to[
this place, a certain monk called Romanus met him, and
demanded whither he went, and understanding his pur-
pose, he both kept it close, furthered him what he might,
vested him with the habit of holy conversation, and as
he could, did minister and serve him.
The man of God, Bennet, coming to this foresaid
place, lived there in a strait cave, where he continued
three years unknown to all men, except to Romanus, who
lived not far off, under the rule of Abbot Theodacus,
and very virtuously did steal certain hours, and likewise
sometime a loaf given for his own provision, which he
did carry to Bennet. And because from Romanus' cell
to that cave there was not any way, by reason of an high
rock which did hang over it, Romanus, from the top
thereof, upon a long rope, did let down the loaf, upon
which also with a band he tied a little bell, that by the
ringing thereof the man of God might know when he
came with his bread, and so be ready to take it. But the
old enemy of mankind, envying at the charity of the one
and the refection of the other, seeing a loaf upon a cer-
tain day let down, threw a stone and brake the bell ; but
yet, for all that, Romanus gave not over to serve him
by all the possible means he could.
At length when almighty God was determined to ease
Romanus of his pains, and to have Bennet's life for an
example known to the world, that such a candle, set upon
a candlestick, might shine and give light to the Church of
God, our Lord vouchsafed to appear unto a certain Priest
dwelling a good way off, who had made ready his dinner
S3
Cfje Dialogues of ^t (Srefforp
for Easter day, and spake thus unto him : " Thou hast
provided good cheer for thyself, and my servant in such
a place is afflicted with hunger " : who hearing this forth-
with rose up, and upon Easter day itself, with such
meat as he had prepared, went to the place, where he
sought for the man of God amongst the steep hills, the
low valleys and hollow pits, and at length found him in
his cave : where, after they had prayed together, and sit-
ting down had given God thanks, and had much spiritual
talk, then the Priest said unto him : " Rise up, brother,
and let us dine, because to-day is the feast of Easter."
To whom the man of God answered, and said : " 1 know
that it is Easter with me and a great feast, having found
so much favour at God's hands as this day to enjoy your
company " (for by reason of his long absence from men,
he knew not that it was the great solemnity of Easter);
But the reverent Priest again did assure him, saying :
" Verily, to-day is the feast of our Lord's Resurrection,
and therefore meet it is not that you should keep
abstinence, and besides I am sent to that end, that
we might eat together of such provision as God's
goodness hath sent us." Whereupon they said grace,
and fell to their meat, and after they had dined, and
bestowed some time in talking, the Priest returned to his
church.
About the same time likewise, certain shepherds found
him in that same cave : and at the first, when they espied
him through the bushes, and saw his apparel made of
skins, they verily thought that it had been some beast :
but after they were acquainted with the servant of God,
many of them were by his means converted from their
beastly life to grace, piety, and devotion. And thus his-,
name in the country there about became famous, and
many after this went to visit him, and for corporal meat
which they brought him, they carried away spiritual food
for their souls. v
54
C^e life anD Oiiracles of ^t TBennet
Cf)aptet CtDo : i)otD i)e ouetcame a great tempta=
tiOn of tf)e fle0f)> ^ upon a certain day being alone,
the tempter was at hand : for a little black bird, com-
monly called a merle or an ousel, began to fly about his
face, and that so near as the holy man, if he would, might
have taken it with his hand : but after he had blessed
himself with the sign of the cross, the bird flew away :
and forthwith the holy man was assaulted with such a
terrible temptation of the flesh, as he never felt the like
in all his life. A certain woman there was which some
time he had seen, the memory of which the wicked spirit
put into his mind, and by the representation of her did
so mightily inflame with concupiscence the soul of God's
servant, which did so increase that, almost overcome with
pleasure, he was of mind to have forsaken the wilder-
ness. But, suddenly assisted with God's grace, he came
to himself; and seeing many thick briers and nettle-
bushes to grow hard by, oflFhe cast his apparel, and threw
himself into the midst of them, and there wallowed so
long that, when he rose up, all his flesh was pitifully
torn : and so by the wounds of his body, he cured the
wounds of his soul, in that he turned pleasure into
pain, and by the outward burning of extreme smart,
quenched that fire which, being nourished before with
the fuel of carnal cogitations, did inwardly burn in his
soul : and by this means he overcame the sin, because
he made a change of the fire. From which time forward,
as himself did afterward report unto his disciples, he
found all temptation of pleasure so subdued, that he
never felt any such thing. Many after this began to
abandon the world, and to become his scholars. For
being now freed from the vice of temptation, worthily
and with great reason is he made a master of virtue :
for which cause, in Exodus, commandment is given
by Moses, that the Levites from five-and-twenty years
and upward should serve, but, after they came to fifty,
55
Cfje Dialogues of %t (©regorp
that they should be ordained keepers of the holy
vessels.^
J^Ctet. Somewhat I understand of this testimony
alleged : but yet I beseech you to tell me the meaning
thereof more fully.
(St00Otp. It is plain, Peter, that in youth the tempta-
tion of the flesh is hot : but after fifty years the heat of
the body waxeth cold, and the souls of faithful people
become holy vessels. Wherefore necessary it is that
God's elect servants, whiles they are yet in the heat of
temptation, should live in obedience, serve, and be
wearied with labour and pains. But when, by reason of
age, the heat of temptation is past, they become keepers
of holy vessels ; because they then are made the doctors
of men's souls.
l^CtCt, I cannot deny, but that your words have given
me full satisfaction : wherefore, seeing you have now
expounded the meaning of the former text alleged, pro-
secute, I pray, as you have begun, the rest of the holy
man's life.
C&aptet C&ree: &oto IBennet, tip tbe sisn of
tU mv cross, brake a Drinfeing^glass in pieces,
^ (5re0Orp, when this great temptation was thus
overcome, the man of God, like unto a piece of ground
well tilled and weeded, of the seed of virtue brought
forth plentiful store of fruit : and by reason of the great
report of his wonderful holy life, his name became very
famous. Not far from the place where he remained
there was a monastery, the Abbot whereof was dead :
whereupon the whole Convent came unto the venerable
man Bennet, entreating him very earnestly that he
would vouchsafe to take upon him the charge and
government of their Abbey : long time he denied them,
saying that their manners were divers from his, and
therefore that they should never agree together : yet
^ Numbers 8, 24-26.
Cbe Life anti Qgitades of %t. TBennet
at length, overcome with their entreaty, he gave his
consent. Having now taken upon hira the charge of
the Abbey, he took order that regular life should be
observed, so that none of them could, as before they
used, through unlawful acts decline from the path of
holy conversation, either on the one side or on the
other : which the monks perceiving, they fell into a
great rage, accusing themselves that ever they desired
him to be their Abbot, seeing their crooked conditions
could not endure his virtuous kind of government : and
therefore when they saw that under him they could not
live in unlawful sort, and were loath to leave their former
conversation, and found it hard to be enforced with old
minds to meditate and think upon new things : and
because the life of virtuous men is always grievous to
those that be of wicked conditions, some of them began
to devise, how they might rid him out of the way : and
therefore, taking counsel together, they agreed to poison
his wine : which being done, and the glass wherein that
wine was, according to the custom, offered to the Abbot
to bless, he, putting forth his hand, made the sign of
the cross, and straightway the glass, that was holden far
off, brake in pieces, as though the sign of the cross had
been a stone thrown against it : upon which accident
the man of God by and by perceived that the glass had
in it the drink of death, which could not endure the
sign of life : and therefore rising up, with a mild
countenance and quiet mind, he called the monks to-
gether, and spake thus unto them : " Almighty God
have mercy upon you, and forgive you : why have you
used me in this manner ? Did not I tell you before
hand, that our manner of living could never agree
together ? Go your ways, and seek ye out some other
father suitable to your own conditions, for I intend not
now to stay any longer amongst you." When he had
thus discharged himself, he returned back to the
57
C&e Dialogues of ^t. (Stegorp
wilderness which so much he loved, and dwelt alone
with himself, in the sight of his Creator, who beholdeth
the hearts of all men.
JPCtCt, I understand not very well what you mean,
when you say that he dwelt with himself.
(St0gOtp, If the holy man had longer, contrary to his
own mind, continued his government over those monks,
who had all conspired against him, and were far unlike
to him in life and conversation : perhaps he should have
diminished his own devotion, and somewhat withdrawn
the eyes of his soul from the light of contemplation ;
and being wearied daily with correcting of their faults, he
should have had the less care of himself, and so haply
it might have fallen out, that he should both have lost
himself, and yet not found them : for so often as by
infectious motion we are carried too far from ourselves,
we remain the same men that we were before, and yet
be not with ourselves as we were before : because we
are wandering about other men's affairs, little con-
sidering and looking into the state of our own soul.
For shall we say that he was with himself, who went
into a far country, and after he had, as we read in the
Gospel,^ prodigally spent that portion which he received
of his father, was glad to serve a citizen, to keep his
hogs, and would willingly have filled his hungry belly
with the husks which they did eat : who notwithstand-
ing afterward, when he thought with himself of those
goods which he had lost, it is written of him that, re-
tuming_intoJii mself, he said : How many hired men in
my father's home do alounJUith bread? If then, before
he were with himself, from whence did he return home
unto himself.? and therefore I said that this venerable
man did dwell with himself, because carrying himself
circumspectly and carefully in the sight of his Creator,
always considering his own actions, always examining
^ Luke 15.
58
Ci)e life anD a^itacles of %t TBennet
himself, never did he turn the eyes of his soul from
himself, to behold aught else whatsoever.
Peter, why, then, is it written of the Apostle, St.
Peter, after he was by the Angel delivered out of
prison, that, returning to himself, he said : Now I know
verily, that our Lord hath sent his Angel, and hath delivered
me from the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the
people of the Jews}
(©tegOtp. We are two manner of ways, Peter, carried
out of ourselves : for either we fall under ourselves by
sinful cogitation, or else we are, by the grace of con-
templation, lifted above ourselves : for he that kept
hogs, through wandering of his mind and unclean
thoughts, fell under himself: but he whom the Angel
delivered out of prison, being also rapt by the Angel
into an ecstasy, was in truth out of himself, but yet
above himself. Both of them, therefore, did return
unto themselves ; the one when he recollected himself,
and forsook his lewd kind of life ; and the other from
the top of contemplation, to have that usual judgment
and understanding, which before he had : wherefore
venerable Bennet in that solitary wilderness dwelt with
himself, because he kept himself, and retired his cogita-
tions within the closet of his own soul : for when the
greatness of contemplation rapt him up aloft, out of all
question he did then leave himself under himself.
peter. Your discourse doth very well content me : yet
I beseech you to answer me this question, whether he
could in conscience give over those monks, whose
government he had now taken upon him ^
(SJre0Orp» in mine opinion, Peter, evil men may with
good conscience be tolerated in that community, where
there be some good that may be holpen and reap com-
modity. But where there be none good at all, that may
receive spiritual profit, often times all labour is lost, that
^ Acts 12, I I.
59
Cbe Dialogues of ^t ©tegotp
is bestowed in bringing of such to good order, especially
if other occasions be offered of doing God presently
better service elsewhere : for whose good, then, should
the holy man have expected, seeing them all to perse-
cute him with one consent ? and (that which is not to
be passed over with silence) those that be perfect carry
always this mind, that when they perceive their labour
to be fruitless in one place, to remove straight to another,
where more good may be done. And for this cause,
that notable preacher of the world, who was desirous to
be dissolved, and to be with Christ, unto whom to live
is Christ, and to die is gain : ^ and who not only desired
himself to suffer persecution, but did also animate and
encourage others to suffer the same ; yet being himself
in persecution at Damascus, got a rope and a basket to
pass over the wall, and was privily let down. What
then } shall we say that Paul was afraid of death, when
as himself said, that he desired it for Christ's sake ? not
so : but when he perceived that in that place little good
was to be done by great labour, he reserved himself to
further labour, where more fruit and better success
might be expected : and therefore the valiant soldier ot
Christ Would not be kept within walls, but sought for
a larger field where he might more freely labour for his
master. And so, in like manner, you shall quickly
perceive, if you mark well, that venerable Bennet for-
sook not so many in one place, that were unwilling to
be taught, as he did in sundry other places raise up from
the death of soul many more, that were willing to be
instructed.
l^Ctet. It is so as you say, and plain reason teacheth
it, and the example of St. Paul alleged doth confirm it.
But I beseech you to return unto your former purpose,
and to prosecute the life of the holy man.
(StegOtp. When as God's servant daily increased in
1 Phil. 1,21.,
60
ST. MAURUS
(Sa}t Pietro, PeJ~ugia)
C!)e Life anD Qlitaclcist of ^t TBennct
virtue, and became continually more famous for miracles,
many were by him in the same place drawn to the ser- ~,
vice of almighty God, so that by Christ's assistance he j
built there twelve Abbeys ; over which he appointed -
governors, and in each of them placed twelve monks,
and a few he kept with himself, namely, such as he
thought would more profit, and be better instructed by
his own presence. At that time also many noble and
religious men of Rome came unto him, and committed
their children to be brought up under him, for the ser-
vice of God. Then also Evitius delivered him Maurus,
and TertuUius the Senator brought Placidus, being their
sons of great hope and towardness : of which two,
Maurus, growing to great virtue, began to be his master's
co-adjutor ; but Placidus, as yet, was but a boy of tender
years.
Cbaptet JFout : &oto TBennet refotmeD a monfe
t&at tooulD not stag at Us prapers. ^ in one of the
monasteries which he had built in those parts, a monk
there was, which could not continue at prayers ; for when
the other monks knelt down to serve God, his mannei*
was to go forth, and there with wandering mind to busy
himself about some earthly and transitory things. And
when he had been often by his Abbot admonished of this
fault without any amendment, at length he was sent to
the man of God, who did likewise very much rebuke him
for his folly ; yet notwithstanding, returning back again,
he did scarce two days follow the holy man's admonition ;
for, upon the third day, he fell again to his old custom,
and would not abide within at the time of prayer : word
whereof being once more sent to the man of God, by
the father of the Abbey whom he had there appointed,
he returned him answer that he would come himself, and
reform what was amiss, which he did accordingly : and
it fell so out, that when the singingof psalms was ended,
and the hour come in which the monks betook themselves
6i
Ci)e Dialogues of %t (Srefforp
to prayer, the holy man perceived that the monk, which
used at that time to go forth, was by a little black boy
drawn out by the skirt of his garment ; upon which sight,
he spake secretly to Pompeianus, father of the Abbey,
and also to Maurus, saying : " Do you not see who it
is, that draweth this monk from his prayers ? " and they
answered him, that they did not. "Then let us pray,"
quoth he, " unto God, that you also may behold whom
this monk doth follow " : and after two days Maurus
did see him, but Pompeianus could not. Upon another
day, when the man of God had ended his devotions, he
went out of the oratory, where he found the foresaid
monk standing idle, whom for the blindness of his heart
he strake with a little wand, and from that day forward
he was so freed from all allurement of the little black
boy, that he remained quietly at his prayers, as other of
the monks did : for the old enemy was so terrified, that
he durst not any more suggest any such cogitations : as~
though by that blow, not the monk, but himself had "
been strooken.
C&aptet Siot : of a fountain tbat sprung fortf) in
tf)c top of a mountain, bp t&e ptapers of tbe man
of <©0D« ^ Amongst the monasteries which he had built
in those parts, three of them were situated upon the rocks
of a mountain, so that very painful it was for the monks
to go down and fetch water, especially because the side
of the hill was so steep that there was great fear of danger :
and therefore the monks of those Abbeys with one con-
sent came unto the Servant of God, Bennet, giving him
to understand, how laborious it was for them daily to go
down unto the lake for water : and therefore they added,
that it was very necessary to have them removed to some
other places. The man of God, comforting them with
sweet words, caused them to return back again ; and the
next night, having with him only the little boy Placidus
(of whom we spake before), he ascended up to the rock
62
Cf)c iLife anD 9@itacles of %t iBennct
of that mountain, and continued there a long time in ■
prayer ; and when he had done, he took three stones, and
laid them in the same place for a mark, and so, none of
them being privy to that he had done, he returned back
to his own Abbey. And the next day, when the foresaid
monks came again about their former business, he said
thus unto them : " Go your way to the rock, and in the
place where you find three stones laid one upon another,
dig a little hole, for almighty God is able to bring
forth water in the top of that mountain, and so to ease
you of that great labour which you take in fetching it
so far." Away they went, and came to the rock of
the mountain according to his direction, which they
found as it were sweating drops of water, and after
they had with a spade made an hollow place, it was
straightways filled, and water flowed out so abundantly,
that it doth plentifully, even to this day, spring out
and run down from the top to the very bottom of that
, hill.
I Chapter %ix: f)oto tfjc iton f)eati of a tiiU, ftom ,
Ittit bottom of tbe toatet, returneD to tbe 6anDle
a0ain« ^ At another time, a certain Goth, poor of
spirit, that gave over the world, was received by the man
of God ; whom on a day he commanded to take a bill,
and to cleanse a certain plot of ground from briers, for
the making of a garden, which ground was by the side
of a lake. The Goth as he was there labouring, by
chance the head of the bill slipped off, and fell into the
water, which was so deep, that there was no hope ever
to get it again. The poor Goth, in great fear, ran unto
Maurus and told him what he had lost, confessing his
own fault and negligence : Maurus forthwith went to
the servant of God, giving him to understand thereof,
who came straightways to the lake : and took the handle
out of the Goth's hand, and put it into the water, and
. the iron head by and by ascended from the bottom, and
63
J .J
Cfje Dialogues of %t (^tegorp
entered again into the handle of the bill, which he de-
livered to the Goth, saying : "Behold here is thy bill
again, work on, and be sad no more."
C&apter ^eticn : i)otD Qiautus tnalfeeD upon tU
toatet* ^ On a certain day, as venerable Bennet was in
his cell, the foresaid young Placidus, -the holy man's
monk, went out to take up water at the lake, and putting
down his pail carelessly, fell in himself after it, whom
the water forthwith carried away from the land so far
as one may shoot an arrow. The man of God, being.in
his cell, by and by knew this, and called in haste for
Maurus, saying : "Brother Maurus, run as fast as you
can, for Placidus, that went to the lake to fetch water,
is fallen in, and is carried a good way oiF." A strange
thing, and since the time of Peter the Apostle never
heard of ! Maurus, craving his father's blessing, and
departing in all haste at his commandment, ran to that
place upon the water, to which the young lad was carried
by force thereof, thinking that he had all that while gone
upon the land : and taking fast hold of him by the hair
of his head, in all haste he returned back again : and so
soon as he was at land, coming to himself he looked
behind him, and then knew very well that he had before
run upon the water : and that which before he durst
not have presumed, being now done and past, he both
marvelled, and was afraid at that which he had done.
Coming back to the father, and telling him what had
happened, the venerable man did not attribute this to
his own merits, but to the obedience of Maurus : but
Maurus on the contrary, said that it was done only upoti
his commandment, and that he had nothing to do in
that miracle, not knowing at that time what he did.
But the friendly contention proceeding of mutual humi-
lity, the young youth himself that was saved from drown-
ing did determine : for he said that he saw when he was
drawn out of the water, the Abbot's garment upon his
64
€fit life anD piracies of ^t OBennet
head, affirming that it was he that had delivered him
from that great danger.
l^CtCt. Certainly they be wonderful things which you
report, and such as may serve for the edification of
many : for mine own part, the more that I hear of his
miracles, the more do I still desire.
Cfjaptct eiffbt : f)oto a loaf tnas poisoneD, anD
cattieD far off fig a croto. ^ (Stegorg. when as the
foresaid monasteries were zealous in the love of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and their fame dispersed far and near, and
many gave over the secular life, and subdued the passions
of their soul under the light yoke of our Saviour : then
(as the manner of wicked people is, to envy at that
virtue which themselves desire not to follow) one
Florentius, Priest of a church hard by, and grandfather
to Florentius our sub-deacon, possessed with diabolical
malice, began to envy the holy man's virtues, to back-
bite his manner of living, and to withdraw as many as
he could from going to visit him : and when he saw
that he could not hinder his virtuous proceedings, but
that, on the contrary, the fame of his holy life increased,
and many daily, upon the very report of his sanctity,
did betake themselves to a better state of life : burning
more and more with the coals of envy, he became far
worse ; and though he desired not to imitate his com-
mendable life, yet fain he would have had the reputation
of his virtuous conversation. In conclusion so much
did malicious envy blind him, and so far did he wade
in that sin, that he poisoned a loaf, and sent it to the
servant of almighty God, as it were for an holy present.
The man of God received it with great thanks, yet not
ignorant of that which was hidden within. At dinner
time, a crow daily used to come unto him from the next
wood, which took bread at his hands ; coming that day
after his manner, the man of God threw him the loaf
which the Priest had sent him, giving him this charge :
65 E
C&e Dialogues of ^t (Sreprg
" In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, take up that
loaf, and leave it in some such place where no man may-
find it." Then the crow, opening his mouth, and
lifting up his wings, began to hop up and down about
the loaf, and after his manner to cry out, as though he
would have said that he was willing to obey, and yet
could not do what he was commanded. The man of
God again and again bade him, saying : " Take it up
without fear, and throw it where no man may find it."
At length, with much ado, the crow took it up, and
flew away, and after three hours, having dispatched the
loaf, he returned back again, and received his usual
allowance from the man of God.
But the venerable father, perceiving the Priest so wick-
edly bent against his life, was far more sorry for him than
grieved for himself. And Florentius, seeing that he could
not kill the body of the master, laboureth now what he
can, to destroy the souls of his disciples ; and for that pur-
pose he sent into the yard of the Abbey before their eyes
seven naked young women, which did there take hands
together, play and dance a long time before them, to the
end that, by this means, they might inflame their minds
to sinful lust : which damnable sight the holy man behold-
ing out of his cell, and fearing the danger which thereby
might ensue to his younger monks, and considering that
all this was done only for the persecuting of himself, he
gave place to envy ; and therefore, after he had for those
abbeys and oratories which he had there built appointed
govern ors, and left some under their charge, himself, in the
company of a few monks, removed to another place. And
thus the man of God, upon humility, gave place to the
other's malice; but yet almighty God of justice did
severely punish his wickedness. For when the foresaid
Priest, being in his chamber, understood of the departure
of holy Bennet, and was very glad of that news, behold
(the whole house besides continuing safe and sound) that
66
Cfje Hife anD 90itacle0 of ®t IBcnnet
chamber alone in which he was, fell down, and so killed
him : which strange accident the holy man's disciple
Maurus understanding, straightways sent him word, he
being as yet scarce ten miles off, desiring him to return
again, because the Priest that did persecute him was slain ;
which thing when Bennet heard, he was passing sorrow-
ful, and lamented much : both because his enemy died in
such sort, and also for that one of his monks rejoiced
thereat ; and therefore he gave him penance, for that,
sending such news, he presumed to rejoice at his enemy's
death.
l^^tSt* The things you report be strange, and much to
be wondered at : for in making the rock to yield forth
water, I see Moses ; and in the iron, which came from the
bottom of the lake, I behold Heliseus ; in the walking ot
Maurus upon the water, I perceive Peter ; in the obedi-
ence of the crow, I contemplate Helias ; and in lamenting
the death of his enemy, I acknowledge David : and there-
" fore, in mine opinion, this one man was full of the spirit
of all good men.
(StCffOtg* The man of God, Bennet, had the spirit of
the one true God, who, by the grace of our redemption,
hath filled the hearts of his elect servants ; of whom St.
John saith : He was the true light, which doth lighten every
man coming into this world} Of whom, again, we find it
written : Of his fulness we have all received? For God's
holy servants might receive virtues of our Lord, but to
bestow them upon others they could not ; and therefore
it was he that gave the signs of miracles to his servants,
who promised to give the sign of Jonas to his enemies :*
so that he vouchsafed to die in the sight of the proud,
and to rise again before the eyes of the humble : to the
end, that they might behold what they contemned, and
those see that which they ought to worship and love : by
reason of which mystery it cometh to pass that, whereas
1 John I, 9. " Ibid, i, 16. * Matt. 12, 40.
67
C&e Dialogues of ^t (©regorg
the proud cast their eyes upon the contempt of his death,
vthe humble contrariwise, against death, lay hold of the
glory of his power and might.
i^0t0t» To what places, I pray you, after this, did the
holy man go : and whether did he afterward in them work
any miracles, or no ?
(5t00Otp. The holy man, changing his place, did not
for all that change his enemy. For afterward he endured
so much the more grievous battles, by how much he had
now the master of all wickedness fighting openly against
him. For the town, which is called Cassino, standeth
upon the side of an high mountain, which containeth, as
it were in the lap thereof, the foresaid town, and after-
ward so riseth in height the space of three miles, that the
top thereof seemeth to touch the very heavens : in this
place there was an ancient chapel in which the foolish and
simple country people, according to the custom of the old
gentiles, worshipped the god Apollo. Round about it
likewise upon all sides, there were woods for the service
of the devils, in which, even to that very time, the mad
multitude of infidels did offer most wicked sacrifice. The
man of God coming thither, beat in pieces the idol, over-
threw the altar, set fire on the woods, and in the temple
of Apollo, he built the oratory of St. Martin, and where
the altar of the same Apollo was, he made an oratory ot
St. John : and by his continual preaching, he brought the
people dwelling in those parts to embrace the faith of
Christ. The old enemy of mankind, not taking this in
good part, did not now privily or in a dream, but in open
sight present himself to the eyes of that holy father, and
with great outcries complained that he had offered him
violence. The noise which he made, the monks did hear,
but himself they could not see : but, as the venerable
father told them, he appeared visibly unto him most fell
and cruel, and as though, with his fierymouth and flamipg
eyes, he would have torn him in pieces : what the devil
68
En
?fl
Cije life anD spiracles of ^t iBennet
said unto him, all the monks did hear ; for first he would
call him by his name, and because the man of God vouch-
safed him not any answer, then would he fall a reviling
and railing at him : for when he cried out, calling him
" Blessed Bennet," and yet found that he gave him no
answer, straightways he would turn his tune, and say :
" Cursed Bennet, and not blessed : what hast thou to do
with me ? and why dost thou thus persecute me ? "
Wherefore new battles of the old enemy against the ser-
vant of God are to be looked for, against whom willingly
did he make war, but, against his will, did he give him
occasion of many notable victories.
C&apter Bine : !)oto tienetatile TBennet, 6p Us
prapet, remotieti an fjuge stone, ^ Upon a certain
day, when the monks were building up the cells of the
same Abbey, there lay a stone which they meant to em-
ploy about that business : and when two or three were
not able to remove it, they called for more company, but
all in vain, for it remained so immovable as though it
had grown to the very earth : whereby they plainly per-
ceived that the devil himself did sit upon it, seeing so
many men's hands could not so much as once move
it : wherefore, finding that their own labours could do
nothing, they sent for the man of God, to help them
with his prayers against the devil, who hindered the re-
moving of that stone. The holy man came, and after
some praying, he gave it his blessing, and then they
carried it away so quickly, as though it had been of no
weight at all.
Ci)apter Cen : of tbe fantastical fire, iDi)icf) tjurnt
tf)e Kitchen. ^ Then the man of God thought good
that they should presently before his departure dig up
the ground in the same place ; which being done, and a
deep hole made, the monks found there an idol of brass,
which being for a little while by chance cast into the
kitchen, they beheld fire suddenly to come from it, which
69
Cfje Dialogues of ^t (J5re0otp
to all their sight seemed to set the whole kitchen on fire ;
for the quenching whereof, the monks by casting on of
water made such a noise, that the man of God, hearing
it, came to see what the matter was : and himself behold-
ing not any fire at all, which they said that they did, he
bowed down his head forthwith to his prayers, and then
he perceived that they were deluded with fantastical fire,
and therefore bad them bless their eyes, that they might
behold the kitchen safe and sound, and not those fantas-
tical flames, which the devil had falsely devised.
C&aptet Cletien : f)otD tienerable TBennet retiiijeD
a bop, cru0f)eD to DeatS toitb tpt ruin of a ttiail.
^ Again, as the monks were making of a certain wall
somewhat higher, because that was requsite, the man of
God in the meantime was in his cell at his prayers. To
whom the old enemy appeared in an insulting manner,
telling him, that he was now going to his monks, that
were a working : whereof the man of God, in all haste,
gave them warning, wishing them to look unto them-
selves, because the devil was at that time coming amongst
them. The message was scarce delivered, when as the
wicked spirit overthrew the new wall which they were
a building, and with the fall slew a little young child, a
monk, who was the son of a certain courtier. At which
pitiful chance all were passing sorry and exceedingly
grieved, not so much for the loss of the wall, as for the
death of their brother : and in all haste they sent this
heavy news to the venerable man Bennet ; who com-
manded them to bring unto him the young boy,
mangled and maimed as he was, which they did, but
yet they could not carry him any otherwise than in a
sack : for the stones of the wall had not only broken
his limbs, but also his very bones. Being in that
manner brought unto the man of God, he bad them
to lay him in his cell, and in that place upon which he
used to pray ; and then, putting them all forth, he shut
70
Cfje life anD o^itacles of ^t TBennct
the door, and fell more instantly to his prayers than he
used at other times. And O strange miracle ! for the
very same hour he made him sound, and as lively as
ever he was before ; and sent him again to his former
work, that he also might help the monks to make
an end of that wall, of whose death the old serpent
thought he should have insulted over Bennet, and
greatly triumphed.
Chapter CiucltJe; ftoto bp rctielation tjcneratile
TBennet feneto t&at his Q^onfes i)aD eaten out of
tf)e a^OnaSterp. ff Among other miracles which the
man of God did, he began also to be famous for the
spirit of prophecy : as to foretell what was to happen,
and to relate unto them that were present, such things
as were done in absence. The order of his Abbey was,
that when the monks went abroad (to deliver any mes-
sage) never to eat or drink anything out of their cloister :
and this being diligently observed, according to the
prescription of their rule, upon a certain day some of
the monks went forth upon such business : and being
enforced about the dispatch thereof to tarry somewhat
long abroad, it fell so out that they stayed at the house
of a religious woman, where they did eat and refresh
themselves. And being late before they came back to
the Abbey, they went as the manner was, and asked
their father's blessing : of whom he demanded where
they had eaten : and they said nowhere. "Why do
you," quoth he, "tell an untruth ? for did you not go
into such a woman's house .'' and eat such and such kind
of meat, and drink so many cups ? " When they heard
him recount so In particular, both where they had stayed,
what kind of meat they had eaten, and how often they
had drunk, and perceived well that he knew all whatso-
ever they had done, they fell down trembling at his feet,
and confessed that they had done wickedly : who straight-
ways pardoned them for that fault, persuading himself
71
Ci)e Dialogues of ©t (^regotp
that they would not any more in his absence presume
to do any such thing, seeing they now perceived that
he was present with them in spirit.
Cfjaptet C!)irteen : of tfje orotfjer of IfcTalentinian
t&e ^onfe, to&om tbe man of (SoD tilameD for eating
in fjiS jiOUinep. fl A brother also of Valentinian the
monk, of whom I made mention before, was a layman,
but devout and religious : who used every year, as well
to desire the prayers of God's servant, as also to visit
his' natural brother, to travel from his own house to the
Abbey : and his manner was, not to eat anything all that
day before he came thither. Being therefore upon a time
in his journey, he lighted into the company of another,
that carried meat about him to eat by the way : who,
after the day was well spent, spake unto him in this
manner: "Come, brother," quoth he, "let us refresh
ourselves, that we faint not in our journey" : to whom
he answered : " God forbid : for eat I will not by any
means, seeing I am now going to the venerable father
Bennet, and my custom is to fast until I see him." The
other, upon this answer, said no more for the space of
an hour. But afterward, having travelled a little further,
again he was in hand with him to eat something : yet
then likewise he utterly refused, because he meant to go
through fasting as he was. His companion was content,
and so went forward with him, without taking anything
himself. But when they had now gone very far, and
were well wearied with long travelling, at length they
came unto a meadow, where there was a fountain, and all
such other pleasant things as use to refresh men's bodies.
Then his companion said to him again : " Behold here is
water, a green meadow, and a very sweet place, in which
we may refresh ourselves and rest a little, that we may
be the better able to dispatch the rest of our journey."
Which kind words bewitching his ears, and the pleasant
place flattering his eyes, content he was to yield unto
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Cfje life anD agiracles of %t iBennet
the motion, and so they fell to their meat together : and
coming afterward in the evening to the Abbey, they
brought him to the venerable father Bennet, of whom
he desired his blessing. Then the holy man objected
against him what he had done in the way, speaking to
him in this manner: "How fell it out, brother,"
quoth he, "that the devil talking to you, by means
of your companion, could not at the first nor second
time persuade you : but yet he did at the third, and
made you do what best pleased him ? " The good man,
hearing these words, fell down at his feet, confessing the
fault of his frailty ; was grieved, and so much the more
ashamed of his sin, because he perceived that though he
were absent, that yet he did offend in the sight of that
venerable father.
lP0t0t, I see well that the holy man had in his soul the
spirit of Heliseus, who was present with his servant
Giezi, being then absent from him.
Chapter jFoutteen: i)oto tbe Dissimulation of king
Cotilas teas DiscotieteD anD founD out tip t)enet=
able IBennet f (SteffOtp, You must, good Peter, for
a little while be silent, that you may know matters yet
far more important. For in the time of the Goths, when
Totilas, their king, understood that the holy man had
the spirit of prophecy, as he was going towards his
monastery, he remained in a place somewhat far off, and
beforehand sent the father word of his coming : to whom
answer was returned, that he might come at his pleasure.
The king, as he was a man wickedly disposed, thought
he would try whether the man of God were a prophet,
as it was reported, or no. A certain man of his guard he
had, called Riggo, upon whom he caused his own shoes
to be put, and to be apparelled with his other princely
robes, commanding him to go as it were himself to the
man of God ; and to give the better colour to this device,
he sent three to attend upon him, who especially were
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Cfje Dialogues of ^t ©regorp
always about the king : to wit, Vultericus, Rudericus, and
Blindinus ; charging them that in the presence of the ser-
vant of God, they should be next about hitn, and behave
themselves in such sort as though he had been king
Totilas indeed : and that diligently they should do unto
him all other services, to the end that both by such duti-
ful kind of behaviour, as also by his purpk robes, he
might verily be taken for the king himself. Riggo, fur-
nished with that braye apparel, and accompanied^ with
many courtiers, came unto the Abbey : at which time the
man of God sat a little way off, and when Riggo was come
so near that he might well understand what the man 6i
God said, then, in the hearing of them all, he spake thus :
" Put off, niy good son, put off that apparel, for that
which thou hast on, is none of thine." Riggo, hearing
this, fell straightways down to the ground, and was very
much afraid, for presuming to go about to mock so
worthy a man, and all his attendants and servitors fell
down likewise to the earth, and after they were up again,
they durst not approach any nearer to his presence : but
returned back to their king, telling him with fear, how
quickly they were discovered.
Cftaptet jfifteen : boto tienerable TBcnnct prop&e^
SieD to feing Cotilas, anD also to tfje TBisftop of
Camisina, sucb. tbings as toere aftettoatD to fall
out. ^ Then Totilas himself in person went unto the
man of God ; and seeing him sitting afar off, he durst not
come near, but fell down to the ground : whom the holy
man (speaking to him twice or thrice) desired to rise up,
and at length came unto him, and with his own hands
lifted him up from the earth, where he lay prostrate :
and then, entering into talk, he reprehended him for his
wicked deeds, and in few words told him all that which
should befall him, saying: '^Much wickedness do you
daily commit, and many great sins have you done : now
at length give over your sinful life. Into the city of
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Cbe life anD Qiiracles of ^t TBennet
Rome shall you enter, and over the sea shall you pass :
nine years shall you reign, and in the tenth shall you
leave this niortal life." The king, hearing these things,
was wonderfully afraid, and desiring the holy man to
commend him to God in his prayers, he departed : and
from that time forward he was nothing so cruel as before
he had been. Not long after he went to Rome, sailed
over into Sicily, and, in the tenth year of his reign, he lost
his kingdom together with his life. ]
The Bishop also of Camisina used to visit the servant
of God, whom the holy man dearly loved for his virtuous
life. The Bishop, therefore, talking with him of king
Totilas, of his taking of Rome, and the destruction of
that city, said : " This city will be so spoiled and ruined
by him, that it will never be more inhabited." To whom
the man of God answered :[" Rome," quoth he,. " shall
not be utterly destroyed byltrangers : but shall be so
shaken with tempests, lightnings, whirlwinds, and earth-
quakes, that it will fall to decay of itself." The mysteries
of which prophecy we now behold as clear as the day :
for we see before our eyes in this very city, by a strange
whirlwind the world shaken, houses ruined, and churches
overthrown, and buildings rotten with old age we behold
daily to fall down^True it is that Honoratus, by whose
relation I had this, saith not that he received it from his
own mouth, but that he had it of other monks, which did
< hear it themselves.
Chapter ^irteen : of a certain clerggman, toftom
iieneratile IBennet for a time DelitiereD from a DetJii,
^ At the same time a certain clergyman, that served in
the church of Aquinum, was possessed : whom the vener-
able man Constantius, Bishop of the same city, sent unto
many places of holy martyrs for help : but God's holy
martyrs would not deliver him, to the end that the world
might know what great grace was in the servant of God,
Bennet : wherefore at length he was brought unto him,
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€U Dialogues of ^t (Stegorp
■who, praying for help to Jesus Christ our Lord, did
forthwith cast the old enemy out of the possessed man's
body, giving him this charge : " Go your way, and here-
after abstain from eating of flesh, and presume not to enter
into holy orders, for whensoever you shall attempt any
such thing, the devil again will have power over you."
The man departed safe and sound, and because punish-
ment fresh in memory useth to terrify the mind, he
observed for a time what the man of God had given
him in commandment. But after many years, when all
his seniors were dead, and he saw his juniors preferred
before him to holy orders, he neglected the words of the
man of God, as though forgotten through length of time,
and took upon him holy orders : whereupon straight-
ways the devil that before had left him entered again, and
never gave over to torment him, until he had separated
his soul from his body.
l^EtCt. This holy man, as I perceive, did know the secret
counsel of God : for he saw that this clergyman was
delivered to the power of the devil, to the end he should
not presume to enter into holy orders.
(StCgOtp* Why should he not know the secrets of God,
who kept the commandments of God : when as the
scripture saith : He that deaveth unto our Lord, is one
spirit with him ? ^
jPCtet. If he that cleaveth unto our Lord, be one spirit
with our Lord, what is the meaning of that which the
Apostle saith : Who knoweth the sense of our Lord, or who
hath been his counsellor ? ^ for it seemeth very incon-
venient to be ignorant of his sense, to whom being so
united he is made one thing.
(S tegOtp. Holy men, in that they be one with our Lord,
are not ignorant of his sense : for the same Apostle
saith * : For what man knoweth those things which belong to
man, but the spirit of man which is in him ? Even so, the
^ Cor. 6. ^ Rom. ii, 34. * i Cor. 2, 9-1 1.
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Cl)e life anD d^imtits of ^t iBennet
things which belong to God, no man knoweth, but the spirit
of God. And to show also that he knew such things as
belong to God, he addeth straight after : But we have
not received the spirit of this world, but the spirit which is of
God. And for this cause, again he saith : that eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, nor it hath ascended into the heart of man,
those things which God hath prepared for them that love him,
but God hath revealed to us by his spirit''
Petet. If, then, the mysteries of God were revealed to
the same Apostle by the spirit of God, why did he then,
entreating of this question, set down these words before-
hand, saying : O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and
knowledge of God : how incomprehensible be his judgments,
and his ways investigable ? And again, whiles I am thus
speaking of this matter, another question cometh to my
mind : for the prophet David said to our Lord : With my
lips have I uttered all the judgments of thy mouth. Where-
fore, seeing it is less to know, than to utter : what is the
reason that St. Paul affirmeth the judgments of God to be
incomprehensible ; and yet David saith that he did not
know only them, but also with his lips pronounce them ?
(StCgOtp. To both these questions I have already briefly
answered, when I said that holy men, in that they be
one with our Lord, are not ignorant of the sense of our
Lord. For all such, as do devoutly follow our Lord,
be also by devotion one with our Lord ; and yet for all
this, in that they are laden with the burthen of their
corruptible flesh, they be not with God : and so in that
they be joined with him, they know the secret judgments
of God, and in that they be separated from God, they
know them not : for seeing they do not as yet perfectly
penetrate his secret mysteries, they give testimony that
his judgments be incomprehensible. But those that do
with their soul adhere unto him, and cleaving unto the
sayings of the holy scripture, or to secret revelations,
acknowledge what they receive : such persons both know
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Cf)C Dialogues of @)t (J^regorp
these things and do utter them : for those judgments
which God doth conceal they know not, and those which
he doth utter they know : and therefore the prophet
David, when he had said : I have with my lips uttered all the
judgments;'^ headdeth immediately, of thy mouth: as though
he should plainly say : Those judgments I may both know
and utter, which I knew thou didst speak, for those
things which thou dost not speak, without all question,
thou dost conceal from our knowledge. Wherefore the
saying of David and St. Paul agree together : for the
judgments of God are incomprehensible ; and yet those
which himself with his own mouth vouchsafeth to
speak, are uttered with men's tongues : because men
may come to the knowledge of them, and being revealed,
they may be uttered, and by no means can be kept secret.
1^0tet. Now I see the answer to my question. But I
pray you to proceed, if anything yet remaineth to be
told of his virtue and miracles.
Chapter ^etJenteen: ftotti tfte man of <J5oD,
TBennet, DiQ foretell tJje supptesston of one of W
Otnn 3:66ep0. ^ (^regorp. a certain noble man called
Theoprobus was by the good counsel of holy Bennet
converted : who, for his virtue and merit of life, was very
intrinsical and familiar with him. This man upon a day,
coming into his cell, found him weeping very bitterly.
And having expected a good while, and yet not seeing
him to make an end (for the man of God used not in his
prayers to weep, but rather to be sad), he demanded the
cause of that his so great heaviness, to whom he answered
straightway, saying : "All this Abbey which 1 have built,
and all such things as I have made ready for my brethren,
are by the judgment of almighty God delivered to the
gentiles, to be spoiled and overthrown : and scarce could
I obtain of God to have their lives spared, that should
then live in it." His words Theoprobus then heard,
» Ps. 119, 13.
78
ST. PLACIDUS
(h'attcan GallcTy, Rome)
C6e life anD a^itacles of ®t. TBennet
but we /see them to be proved most true, who know that
very Abbey to be now suppressed by the Lombards.
For not long since, in the night time, when the monks
were asleep, they entered in, and spoiled all things, but
yet not one man could they retain there, and so almighty
God fulfilled what he promised to his faithful servant :
for though he gave them the house and all the goods,
yet did he preserve their lives. In which thing I see
that Bennet imitated St. Paul : whose ship ^ though it
lost aU the goods, yet, for his comfort, he had the lives
of all that were in his company bestowed upon him, so
that no one man was cast away.
Cbaptet €igf)teen: &oto filesseD IBennet fenetti
tfje mine atnap of a flagon of toine, f Upon a
certain time, Exhilaratus our monk, a lay-brother, whom
you know, was sent by his master to the monastery of the
man of God, to carry him two wooden bottles, commonly
called <|[agons, full of wine : who in the way, as he was
going, hid one of them in a bush for himself, and pre-
sented the other to venerable Bennet : who took it very
thankfully, and, when the man was going away, he gave
him this warning : " Take heed, my son," quoth he,
" that thou drinkest not of that flagon which thou hast
hidden in the bush : but first be careful to bow it down,
and thou shalt find what is within it." The poor man,
thus pitifully confounded by the man of God, went his
way, and coming back to the place where the flagon was
hidden, and desirous to try the truth of that was told
him, as he was bowing it down, a snake straightways
leaped forth. Then Exhilaratus perceiving what was
gotten into the wine, began to be afraid of that wicked-
ness which he had committed.
r Chapter Ji3meteen: fjoto tije man of <^oD feneto ■'
tbat one of Us Q^onfes i)aD teceiueo certain &anD=
feetCf)ief0. fl Not far from his Abbey, there was a,
^ Acts 27, 22-44.
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€i)t Dialogues of ^t (Sregorp
village, in which very many men had, by the sermons
of Bennet, been converted from idolatry to the true
faith of Christ. Certain Nuns also there were in the
same town, to whom he did often send some of his
monks to preach unto them, for the good of their souls.
Upon a day, one that was sent, after he had made an
end of his exhortation, by the entreaty of the Nuns took
certain small napkins, and hid them for his own use in
his bosom : whom, upon his return to the Abbey, the
man of God very sharply rebuked, saying : "How
Cometh it to pass, brother, that sin is entered into your
bosom ? " At which words the monk was much amazed :
for he had quite forgotten what he had put there ; and
therefore knew not any cause why he should deserve
that reprehension : whereupon the holy man spake to
him in plain terms, and said : " Was not I present when
you took the handkerchiefs of the Nuns, and put them
up in your bosom for your own private use .'' " The
monk, hearing this, fell down at his feet, and was sorry
that he had behaved himself so indiscreetly : forth he
drew those napkins from his bosom, and threw them all
away.
Cfiaptet Ctoentp : ijoto Ibolp TBennet knfm tU
prouD tf)ougi)t of one of Us Qionfeg, fl Upon a
time, whiles the venerable Father was at supper, one of
his monks, who was the son of a great man, held the
candle : and as he was standing there, and the other at
his meat, he began to entertain a proud cogitation in his
mind, and to speak thus within himself : " Who is he,
that I thus wait upon at supper, and hold him the
candle ? and who am I, that 1 should do him any such
service .'' " Upon which thought straightways the holy
man turned himself, and with severe reprehension spake
thus unto him : " Sign your heart, brother, for what is
it that you say ? Sign your heart " : and forthwith he
called another of the monks, and bad him take the
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Cbe life anD a^iracles of ^t 'Bennet
candle out of his hands, and commanded him to give
over his waiting, and to repose himself: who being
demanded of the monks, what it was that he thought,
told them, how inwardly he swelled with pride, and what
he spake against the man of God, secretly in his own
heart. Then they all saw very well that nothing could
be hidden from venerable Bennet, seeing the very sound
of men's inward thoughts came unto his ears.
Cbaptet Ctoentp^one ; of ttno ^unDreD bmMs of
meal, founo before tibe man of (©oQ's cell: ^ At
another time, there was a great dearth in the same
country of Campania : so that all kind of people tasted
of the misery : and all the wheat of Bennet's monastery
was spent, and likewise all the bread, so that there re-
mained no more than five loaves for dinner. The
venerable man, beholding the monks sad, both rebuked
them modestly for their pusillanimity, and again did
comfort them with this promise : " Why," quoth he,
" are you so grieved in your minds for lack of bread ?
Indeed, to-day some want there is, but to-morrow you
shall have plenty " : and so it fell out, for the next day
two hundred bushels of meal was found in sacks before
his cell door, which almighty God sent them : but by
whom, or what means, that is unknown to this very
day : which miracle when the monks saw, they gave
God thanks, and by this learned in want, not to make
any doubt of plenty.^ '^
l^etet. Tell me, I pray you, whether this servant of
God had always the spirit of prophecy, when himself
pleased, or only at certain times .''
0re0Otg. The spirit of prophecy doth not always
illuminate the minds of the prophets ; because, as it is
written of the Holy Ghost that he hreatheth where he
willy so we are also to know that he doth breathe
likewise for what cause, and when he pleaseth. And
1 John 3, 8.
8i F
€tc Dialogues of ©t (Stegorp
hereof it cometh, that when king David demanded of
Nathan^ whether he might build a temple for the honour
of God, the prophet Nathan gave his consent ; and yet
afterward utterly forbad it. From hence likewise it
proceedeth that, when Heliseus saw the woman weep-
ing, and knew not the cause, he said to his servant that
did trouble her : Let her alone, for her soul is in grief, and
God hath concealed it from me, and hath not told me? Which
thing almighty God of great piety so disposeth : for
giving at some times the spirit of prophecy, and at other
times withdrawing it, he doth both lift up the prophets
minds on high, and yet doth preserve them in humility :
that by the gift of the Spirit, they may know what they are
by God's grace : and at other times, destitute of the same
Spirit, may understand what they are of themselves.
iPCtet. There is very great reason for that you say.
But, I pray you, let me hear more of the venerable man
Bennet, if there be anything else that cometh to your
remembrance. ""
Chapter Ctoentg^ttoo : l)otD, tig tiision, vienetalJle
IBennet DisposeD t&e tJUilDing: of tbe aMep of
CataCina, ^ ©tegOtp. At another time he was de-
sired by a certain virtuous man, to build an Abbey for
his monks upon his ground, not far from the city of
Taracina. The holy man was content, and appointed
an Abbot and Prior, with divers monks under them : and
when they were departing, he promised that, upon such
a day, he would come and shew them in what place the
oratory should be made, and where the refectory should
stand, and all the other necessary rooms : and so they,
taking his blessing, went their way ; and against the day
appointed, which they greatly expected, they made all
such things ready as were necessary to entertain him,
and those that should come in his company. But the
very night before, the man of God in sleep appeared to
^ I Chr. 17, 2-4. 2 4 Kings 4, 27.
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Cbe life anD Q^iracles of ^t TBennet
the Abbot and the Prior, and particularly described unto
them where each place and office was to be builded.
And when they were both risen, they conferred together
what either of them had seen in their sleep : but yet
not giving full credit to that vision, they expected the
man of God himself in person, according to his promise.
But when they saw that he came not, they returned
back unto him very sorrowfully, saying: "We expected,
father, that you should have come according to promise,
and told us where each place should have been built,
which yet you did not." To whom he answered:
" Why say you so, good brethren ? Did not I, come
as I promised you ?" And when they asked at what
time it was : "Why," quoth he, "did not I appear to
either of you in your sleep, and appointed how and where
every place was to be builded ? Go your way, and ac-
cording to that platform which you then saw, build up
the abbey." At which word they much marvelled, and
returning back, they caused it to be builded in such sort
as they had been taught of him by revelation.
PttCT, Gladly would I learn, by what means that could
be done : to wit, that he should go so far to tell them
that thing in their sleep, which they should both hear
and know by vision.
©t00Otp» Why do you, Peter, seek out and doubt, in
what manner this thing was done ? For certain it is, that
the soul is of a more noble nature than the body. And
by authority of scripture we know that the prophet
Abacuck was carried from Judea with that dinner which
he ha-d, and was suddenly set in Chaldea ; ^ by which
meat the prophet Daniel was relieved : and presently
after was brought back again to Judea. If, then, Abacuck
could in a moment with his body go so far, and carry
provision for another man's dinner : what marvel is it,
if the holy father Bennet obtained grace to go in spirit
^ Daniel 14, 32-38 (Vulgate).
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Cfje Dialogues of ^t ^tegorp
and to inform the souls of his brethren that were asleep,
concerning such things as were necessary : and that as
Abacuck about corporal meat went corporally, so Bennet
should go spiritually about the dispatch of spiritual
business ?
^tttt, I confess that your words have satisfied my
doubtful mind. But I would know what manner of man
he was in his ordinary talk and conversation.
CtaptetCtoentp^oree : of certain Buns absoItieD
after t&eir Deatf). fl (g|re0orp. His common talk,
Peter, was usually full of virtue : for his heart conversed
so above in heaven, that no words could in vain proceed
from his mouth. And if at any time he spake aught,
yet not as one that determined what was best to be done,
but only in a threatening manner, his speech in that
case was so eifectual and forcible, as though he had not
doubtfully or uncertainly, but assuredly pronounced and
given sentence. For not far from his Abbey, there lived
two Nuns in a place by themselves, born of worshipful
parentage : whom a religious good man did serve for
the dispatch of their outward business. But as nobility
of family doth in some breed ignobility of mind, and
maketh them in conversation to show less humility,
because they remember still what superiority they had
above others : even so was it with these Nuns : for they
had not yet learned to temper their tongues, and keep
them under with the bridle of their habit : for often did
they by their indiscreet speech provoke the Foresaid
religious man to anger ; who having borne with them a
long time, at length he complained to the man of God,
and told him with what reproachful words they entreated
him : whereupon he sent them by and by this message,
saying : " Amend your tongues, otherwise I do excom-
municate you"; which sentence of excommunication
notwithstanding, he did not then presently pronounce
against them, but only threatened if they amended not
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Cfte life anD a^iracles of §)t TBennet
themselves. But they, for all this, changed their con-
ditions nothing at all : both which not long after de-
parted this life, and were buried in the church : and when
solemn mass was celebrated in the same church, and the
Deacon, according to custom, said with loud voice : " If
any there be that do not communicate, let them depart " :
the nurse, which used to give unto our Lord an offering
for them, beheld them at that time to rise out of their
graves, and to depart the church. Having often times,
at those words of the Deacon, seen them leave the
church, and that they could not tarry within, she remem-
bered what message the man of God sent them whiles
they were yet alive. For he told them that he did de-
prive them of the communion, unless they did amend
their tongues and conditions. Then with great sorrow,
the whole matter was signified to the man of God, who
straightways with his own hands gave an oblation, say-
ing : " Go your ways, and cause this to be offered unto
our Lord for them, and they shall not remain any longer
excommunicate" : which oblation being offered for
them, and the Deacon, as he used, crying out, that such
as did not communicate should depart, they were not
seen any more to go out of the church : whereby it was
certain that, seeing they did not depart with them which
did not communicate, that they had received the com-
munion of our Lord by the hands of his servant.
lP0t0t. It is very strange that you report : for how could
he, though a venerable and most holy man, yet living
in mortal body, loose those souls which stood now before
the invisible judgment of God ?
(StejOtp. Was he not yet, Peter, mortal, that heard
from our Saviour : Whatsoever thou shall bind upon earth,
it shall be bound also in the heavens : and whatsoever thou
shalt loose in earth, shall be loosed also in the heavens ? ^ whose
place of binding and loosing those have at this time,
^ Matt. i6, 19.
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C&e Dialogues of @t (Sregorp
which by faith and virtuous life possess the place of holy
government : and to bestow such power upon earthly
men, the Creator of heaven and earth descended from
heaven to earth : and that flesh might judge of spiritual
things, God, who for man's sake was made flesh, vouch-
safed to bestow upon him : for from thence our weak-
ness did rise up above itself, from whence the strength
of God was weakened under itself.
Jp)0t0t» For the virtue of his miracles, your words do
yield a very good reason.
rcfjaptet Ctocntp^four : of a 6op t&at aftet fjis
tjunaltoas cast out of 6is gravic. ^ ©regorg. Upon
a certain day, a young boy that was a monk, loving his
parents more than reason would, went from the Abbey
to their house, not craving the father's blessing before-
hand : and the same day that he came home unto them,
he departed this life. And being buried, his body, the
next day after, was found cast out of the grave ; which
they caused again to be put in, and again, the day follow-
ing, they found it as before. Then in great haste they
went to the man of God, fell down at his feet, and with
many tears beseeched him that he would vouchsafe him
that was dead of his favour. To whom the man of God
with his own hands delivered the holy communion of our
Lord's body, saying : " Go, and lay with great reverence
this our Lord's body upon his breast, and so bury him ":
which when they had done, the dead corpse after that
remained quietly in the grave. By which you perceive,
Peter, of what merit he was with our Lord Jesus Christ,
seeing the earth would not give entertainment to his
body, who departed this world out of Bennet's favour.
Petet. I perceive it very well, and do wonderfully
admire it.
Ct)aptet Ctoentp=fii)e : i)otD a 9@onfe, forsaking t&e
a&tiep, met initf) a Dtagon in tbe toap. f ©regorp.
A certain monk there was so inconstant and fickle of mind,
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Ci)e Life anD e^itacles of ^t TBennet
that he would needs give over the Abbey ; for which
fault of his, the man of God did daily rebuke him, and
often times gave him good admonitions : but yet, for all
this, by no means would he tarry amongst them, and
therefore continual suit he made that he might be dis-
charged. The venerable man upon a time, wearied with
his importunity, in anger bad him depart ; who was no
sooner out of the Abbey gate, but he found a dragon in
the way expecting him with open mouth, which being
about to devour him, he began in great fear and trem-
bling to cry out aloud, saying : " Help, help ! for this
dragon will eat me up." At which noise the monks run-
ning out, dragon they saw none, but finding him there
shaking and trembling, they brought him back again to
the Abbey, who forthwith promised that he would
never more forsake the monastery, and so ever after he
continued in his profession : for by the prayers of the
holy man, he saw the dragon coming against him, whom
before, when he saw not, he did willingly follow.
Cfjapter Ctnentp^sir : f)oto fjolp 'Rennet cureD a
tJOP of tfft l0ptO0p. fl But I must not here pass over
with silence that which I had by relation of the honour-
able man, Anthony, who said that his father's boy was so
pitifully punished with a leprosy, that all his hair fell ofF,
his body swelled, and filthy corruption did openly come
forth. Who being sent by his father to the man of God,
he was by him quickly restored to his former health, f
Cfjapter Ctoentp=set)cn : fjoto IBennet founD
monep miraculously to relietie a poor man.
^ Neither is that to be omitted, which one of his dis-
ciples called Peregrinus used to tell : for he said that, upon
a certain day, an honest man, who was in debt, found no
other means to help himself, but thought it his best way
to acquaint the man of God with his necessity : where-
upon he came to the Abbey, and finding the servant of
almighty God, gave him to understand, how he was
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Cf)e Dialogues of ^t (©regorg
troubled by his creditor for twelve shillings which he did
owe him. To whom the venerable man said that himself
had not so much money, yet giving him comfortable
words, he said : " Go your ways, and after two days come
to me again, for I can not presently help you " : in which
two days, after his manner, he bestowed himself in prayer :
and when upon the third day the poor man came back,
there were found suddenly upon the chest of the Abbey,
which was full of corn, thirteen shillings : which the man
of God caused to be given to him that required but twelve,
both to discharge his debt, and also to defray his own
charges. But now will I return to speak of such things
as I had from the mouth of his own scholars, mentioned
before in the beginning of this book. A certain man
there was who had an enemy that did notably spite and
malign him, whose damnable hatred proceeded so far,
that he poisoned his drink, which, although it killed him
not, yet did it change his skin in such sort that it was
of many colours, as though he had been infected with a
leprosy : but the man of God restored him to his former
health : for so soon as he touched him, forthwith all that
variety of colours departed from his body. *^
Chapter Ctoentp=eigf)t: f)oto a cruet of glass teas
tproton upon tbe stones, anD not tirofeen. ^ At such
time as there was a great dearth in Campania, the man
of God had given away all the wealth of the Abbey to
poor people, so that in the cellar there was nothing
left but a little oil in a glass. A certain sub-deacon
called Agapitus came unto him, instantly craving that
he would bestow a little oil upon him. Our Lord's
servant, that was resolved to give away all upon earth,
that he might find all in heaven, commanded that oil to
be given him : but the monk that kept the cellar heard
what the father commanded, yet did he not perform it :
who inquiring not long after whether he had given that
which he willed, the monk told him that he had not,
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Cfte life anD 9@itacles of ^t IBennet
adding that if he had given it away, that there was
not any left for the Convent. Then in an anger he
commanded others to take that glass with the oil, and
to_ throw it out at the window, to the end that nothing
might remain in the Abbey contrary to obedience. The
monks did so, and threw it out at a window, under which
there was an huge downfall, full of rough and craggy
stones upon which the glass did light, but yet continued
for all that so sound as though it had never been thrown
out at all, for neither the glass was broken nor any of
the oil shed. Then the man of God did command it
to be taken up again, and, whole as it was, to be given
unto him that desired it, and in the presence of the
other brethren he reprehended the disobedient monk,
both for his infidelity, and also for his proud mind.
Clbaptet Ctoentpmine : boto an cmptp tiarrel teas
fiU0D toitib oil, ^ After which reprehension, with the
rest of his brethren he fell to praying, and in the place
where they were, there stood an empty barrel with a
cover upon it : and as the holy man continued in his
prayers, the oil within did so increase, that the cover
began to be lifted up, and at length fell down, and the
oil, that was now higher than the mouth of the barrel,
began to run over upon the pavement, which so soon as
the servant of God, Bennet, beheld, forthwith he gave
over his prayers, and the oil likewise ceased to overflow
the barrel. Then he did more at large admonish that
mistrusting and disobedient monk, that he would learn
to have faith and humility, who upon so wholesome an
admonition was ashamed, because the venerable father
had by miracle shown the power of almighty God, as
before he told him when he did first rebuke him : and
so no cause there was why any should afterward doubt
of his promise, seeing at one and the same time, for a
small glass almost empty which he gave away, he bestowed
upon them an whole barrel full of oil.
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Cf)e Dialogues of ^t ©regorg
Chapter C&irtp : iboto TBennet DelitiereD a Q^onfe
flOm a Detiil ^ Upon a certain time, as he was going
to the oratory of St. John, which is in the top of the
mountain, the old enemy of mankind upon a mule, like
a physician, met him, carrying in his hand an horn and
a mortar. And when he demanded whither he was going :
"To your monks," quoth he, "to give them a drench."
The venerable father went forward to his prayers, and
when he had done, he returned in all haste, but the wicked
spirit found an old monk drawing of water, into whom
he entered, and straightways cast him upon the ground,
and grievously tormented him. The man of God coming
from his prayers, and seeing him in such pitiful case,
gave him only a little blow with his hand, and at the
same instant he cast out that cruel devil, so that he durst
not any more presume to enter in.^
J^gtet, I would gladly know, whether he obtained always
by prayer, to work such notable miracles ; or else some-
times did them only at his will and pleasure.
<St00Otp. Such as be the devout servants of God, when
necessity requireth, use to work miracles both manner
of ways : so that sometime they effect wonderful things
by their prayers, and sometime only by their power and
authority : for St. John saith : So many as received him, he
gave them power to be made the sons ofGod.^ They, then,
that by power be the sons of God, what marvel is it, if
by power they be able to do wonderful things ^ And
that both ways they work miracles, we learn of St. Peter :
who by his prayers did raise up Tabitha ; and by his
sharp reprehension did sentence Ananias and Sapphira to
death for their lying.^ For we read not, that in the death
of them he prayed at all, but only rebuked them for that
sin which they had committed. Certain therefore it is,
that sometimes they do these things by power, and some-
times by prayer : for Ananias and Sapphira by a severe
' John I, 12. 2 ^jfg g gjjj ^_
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Ctje life anD agiracles of ^t iBcnnet
rebuke, St. Peter deprived of life : and by prayer restored
Tabitha to life./.And for proof of this, I will now tell
you of two miracles, which the faithful servant of God,
Bennet, did, in which it shall appear most plainly that
he wrought the one by that power which God gave him,
and obtained the other by virtue of his prayers.
Cbaptet Ct)irtp=onc : of a countrp felloto, t&at,
toitf) t&e onlp sigbt of tbe man of (DoD, teas looseQ
ftOm Us banDS. ^ a certain Goth there was called
Galla, an Arian heretic, who, in the time of King Totilas,
did with such monstrous cruelty persecute religious men
of the Catholic church, that what priest or monk soever
came in his presence, he never departed alive. This man
on a certain day, set upon rapine and pillage, pitifully
tormented a pooi: country man, to make him confess
where his money and wealth was : who, overcome with
extremity of pain, said that he had committed all his
substance to the custody of Bennet, the servant of
God : and this he did, to the end that his tormentor,
giving credit to his words, might at least for a while
surcease from his horrible cruelty. Galla hearing this
tormented him no longer : but binding his arms fast
with strong cords, drave him before his horse, to bring
him unto this Bennet, who, as he said, had his wealth
in keeping. The country fellow, thus pinioned and
running before him, carried him to the holy man's
Abbey, where he found him sitting before the gate,
reading upon a book. Then turning back to Galla that
came raging after, he said : " This is father Bennet, of
whom I told you " : who looking upon him, in a great
fury, thinking to deal as terribly with him as he had with
others, cried out aloud to him, saying : " Rise up,
sirrah, rise up, and deliver me quickly such wealth as
thou hast of this man's in keeping." The man of God,
hearing such a noise, straightways lifted up his eyes
from reading, and beheld both him and the country
91
v^
C&e DialO0ue0 of ^t (Sregotp
fellow ; and turning his eyes to his bands, very strangely
they fell from his arms, and that so quickly as no man
with any haste could have undone them. Galla, seeing
him so wonderfully and quickly loosed, fell straight a
trembling, and prostrating himself upon the earth,
bowed down his cruel and stiff neck to the holy man's
feet, and with humility did commend himself to his
prayers. But the venerable man for all this rose not
up from his reading, but calling for some of his monks,
commanded them to have him in, and to give him some
meat. And when he was brought back again, he gave
him a good lesson, admonishing him not to use any
more such rigour and cruel dealing. His proud mind
thus taken down, away he went, but durst not demand
after that anything of the country fellow, whom the man
of God, not with hands, but only with his eyes, had
loosed from his bands. And this is that, Peter, which
I told you, that those which in a more familiar sort serve
God, do sometime, by certain power and authority be-
stowed upon them, work miracles. For he that sitting
still did appease the fury of that cruel Goth, and un-
loose with his eyes those knots and cords which did
pinion the innocent man's arms, did plainly shew by
the quickness of the miracle, that he had received power
to work all that which he did. And now will I likewise
tell you of another miracle, which by prayer he obtained
at God's hands.
Cfiaptet C6irtp=ttoo : f)oto fjp prapet tienerable
TBennetraiseD up a DeaD cfjilD. fl Being upon a day
gone out with his monks to work in the field, a country
man carrying the corpse of his dead son, came to the
gate of the Abbey, lamenting the loss of his child : and
inquiring for holy Bennet, they told him that he was
abroad with his monks in the field. Down at the gate
he laid the dead body, and with great sorrow of soul
ran in haste to seek out the venerable father. At the
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Cfje life and 8@iracles of %t iBennet
same time, the man of God was returning homeward
from work with his monks : whom so soon as he saw,
he began to cry out : " Give me my son, give me my
son ! " The man of God, amazed at these words, stood
still, and said : "What, have 1 taken away your son?"
" No, no," quoth the sorrowful father, "but he is dead :
come for Christ Jesus' sake and restore him to life."
The servant of God, hearing him speak in that manner,
and seeing his monks upon compassion to solicit the
poor man's suit, with great sorrow of mind he said :
" Away, my good brethren, away : such miracles are not
for us to work, but for the blessed Apostles : why will
you lay such a burthen upon me, as my weakness can-
not bear ? " But the poor man, whom excessive grief
enforced, wovdd not give over his petition, but swore
that he would never depart, except he did raise up his
son. " Where is he, then .'' " quoth God's servant.
He answered that his body lay at the gate of the Abbey :
to which place when the man of God came with his
monks, he kneeled down and lay upon the body of the
little child, and rising, he held up his hands towards
heaven, and said : " Behold not, O Lord, my sins, but
the faith of this man, that desireth to have his son raised
to life, and restore that soul to the body, which thou
hast taken away." He had scarce spoken these words,
and behold the soul returned back again, and therewith
the child's body began to tremble in such sort that all
which were present did behold it in strange manner to
pant and shake. Then he took it by the hand and gave
it to his father, but alive and in health. Certain it is,
Peter, that this miracle was not in his own power,
for which prostrate upon the ground he prayed so
earnestly.
PetCt, All is most true that before you said, for what you
affirmed in words, you have now verified by examples
and works. But tell me, I beseech you, whether holy
93
€f)t DiaIO0ue0 of ^t (©tegorp
men can do all such things as they please, and obtain
at God's hands whatsoever they desire.
Chapter Ci)ittp=tf)ree : of a miracle toroufff)t tip fjis
sister ^CbOlaStica. ^ (SrejOrp. Whatman is there,
Peter, in this world, that is in greater favour with God
than St. Paul was : who yet three times desired our
Lord to be delivered from the prick of the flesh, and
obtained not his petition ? ^ Concerning which point
also I must needs tell you, how there was one thing
which the venerable father Bennet would have done,
and yet he could not. For his sister called Scholastica,
dedicated from her infancy to our Lord, used once a
year to come and visit her brother. To whom the man
of God went not far from the gate, to a place that did
belong to the Abbey, there to give her entertainment.
And she coming thither on a time according to her
custom, her venerable brother with his monks went to
meet her, where they spent the whole day in the praises
of God and spiritual talk : and when it was almost night
they supped together, and as they were yet sitting at
the table, talking of devout matters, and darkness came
on, the holy Nun his sister entreated him to stay there
all night, that they might spend it in discoursing of the
joys of heaven. But by no persuasion would he agree
unto that, saying that he might not by any means tarry
all night out of his Abbey. At that time, the sky was
so clear that no cloud was to be seen. The Nun, re-
ceiving this denial of her brother, joining her hands
together, laid them upon the table : and so, bowing
down her head upon them, she made her prayers to
almighty God : and lifting her head from the table,
there fell suddenly such a tempest of lightning and
thundering, and such abundance of rain, that neither
venerable Bennet, nor his monks that were with him,
could put their head out of door : for the holy Nun,
^ 2 Cor. 12, 8.
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Cbe life ano a^tracles of %t TBennet
resting her head upon her hands, poured forth such a
flood of tears upon the table, that she drew the clear
air to a watery sky, so that after the end of her devo-
tions, that storm of rain followed : and her prayer and
the rain did so meet together, that as she lifted up her
head from the table, the thunder began, so that in one
and the very same instant, she lifted up her head and
brought down the rain. The man of God, seeing that
he could not by reason of such thunder and lightning
and great abundance of rain, return back to his Abbey,
began to be heavy and to complain of his sister, saying :
" God forgive you, what have you done ? " to whom
she answered : " I desired you to stay, and you would
not hear me, I have desired our good Lord, and he
hath vouchsafed to grant my petition : wherefore if you
can now depart, a God's name return to your monastery,
and leave me here alone." But the good father, being
not able to go forth, tarried there against his will, where
willingly before he would not stay. And so by that
means they watched all night, and with spiritual and
heavenly talk did mutually comfort one another : and
therefore by this we see, as I said before, that he would
have had that thing, which yet he could not : for if we
respect the venerable man's mind, no question but he
would have had the same fair weather to have continued
as it was, when he set forth, but he found that a miracle
did prevent his desire, which, by the power of almighty
God, a woman's prayers had wrought. And it is not
a thing to be marvelled at, that a woman which of long
time had not seen her brother, might do more at that
time than he could, seeing, according to the saying of
St. John, God is charity,'^ and therefore of right she did
more which loved more.
PCtet. I confess that I am wonderfully pleased with
that which you tell me.
^ I Joha 4, 8.
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Cfje Dialogues of ®t. (^regorg
C|)apter C&irtp=four : iboto IBennet sato t&e soul
of &is lister asccnD into ^eatien. q ©regorp.
The next day the venerable woman returned to her
Nunnery, and the man of God to his Abbey : who three
days after, standing in his cell, and lifting up his eyes
to heaven, beheld the soul of his sister (which was
departed from her body), in the likeness of a dove to
ascend into heaven : who rejoicing much to see her
great glory, with hymns and lauds gave thanks to
almighty God, and did impart the news of this her
death to his monks, whom also he sent presently to
bring her corpse to his Abbey, to have it buried in that
grave which he had provided for himself: by means
whereof it fell out that, as their souls were always one
in God whiles they lived, so their bodies continued
together after their death!]
Chapter Ci)ittp=fii)e : t)oio fje sato t&e io&ole
toorlD representeD tieforc Us epes : anD also tU
soul of ©ermanus, TBis&op of Capua, ascenDing
to tjCatJen* fl At another time, Servandus, the Deacon,
and Abbot of that monastery, which in times past was
founded by the noble man Liberius in the country of
Campania, used ordinarily to come and visit the man
of God : and the reason why he came so often was,
because himself also was a man full of heavenly doc-
trine : and so they two had often together spiritual
conference, to the end that, albeit they could not per-
fectly feed upon the celestial food of heaven, yet, by
means of such sweet discourses, they might at least,
with longing and fervent desire, taste of those joys and
divine delights. When it was time to go to rest, the
venerable father Bennet reposed himself in the top of a
tower, at the foot whereof Servandus the Deacon was
lodged, so that one pair of stairs went to them both :
before the tower there was a certain large room in which
both their disciples did lie. The man of God, Bennet,
96
Terugin
ST. SCHOLASTICA
fSan Pietroj Perugia)
Cte life anD spiracles of %t TBennet
being diligent in watching, rose early up before the time
of matins (his monks being yet at rest) and came to the
window of his chamber, where he offered up his prayers
to almighty God. Standing there, all on a sudden in
the dead of the night, as he looked forth, he saw a
light, which banished away the darkness of the night,
and glittered with such brightness, that the light which
did shine in the midst of darkness was far more clear
than the light of the day. U pon this_sigkLa-maryellaua
strange^ thing foll owe d, for, as him s elf did afterward
repo rt, the w holgjworld,^[athgred_aslit were tngpther.
undgr one beam oFlihe s,an^jw as pre sented before his
eyesj aniLwhiles— the venerable~fathpr~sfT)nH ' attentively
beholding the brigh tness of that glittering lightj he saw
the3}u1 of Germ anus, Bis hop of Capua, in a fiery globe
to_be_carriedjip by AngHs into heaven. Then, desirous
to have some witness of this so notable a miracle, he
called with a very loud voice Servandus the Deacon
twice or thrice by his name, who, troubled at such an
unusual crying out of the man of God, went up in all
haste, and looking forth saw not anything else, but a
little remnant of the light, but wondering at so great a
miracle, the man of God told him all in order what
he had seen, and sending by and by to the town of
Cassino, he commanded the religious man Theoprobus
to dispatch one that night to the city of Capua, to learn
what was become of Germanus their Bishop : which
being done, the messenger found that reverent Prelate
departed this life, and enquiring curiously the time, he
understood that he died at that very instant, in which
the man of God beheld him ascending up to heaven.
]^etet. A strange thing and very much to be admired.
But whereas you say that the whole world, as it were
under one sunbeam, was presented before his eyes, as
I must needs confess that in myself I never had
experience of any such thing, so neither can 1 conceive
97 G
C^e Dialogues of @)t (Sregorp
by what means the whole world can be seen of any one
man.
(©tCffOtg. Assure yourself, Peter, of that which I
speak : to wit, that all creatures be as it were nothing
to that soul which beholdeth the Creator : for though
it see but a glimpse of that light which is in the Creator,
yet very small do all things seem that be created : for
by means of that supernatural light, the capacity of the
inward soul is enlarged, and is in God so extended, that
it is far above the world : yea and the soul of him that
seeth in this manner, is also above itself; for being rapt
up in the light of God, it is inwardly in itself enlarged
above itself, and when it is so exalted and looketh
downward, then doth it comprehend how little all
that is, which before in former baseness it could not
comprehend. The man of God, therefore, who saw
the fiery globe, and the Angels returning to heaven,
out of all doubt could not see those things but in the
light of God : what marvel, then, is it, if he saw the
world gathered together before him, who, rapt up in
the light of his soul, was at that time out of the world .''
But albeit we say that the world was gathered together
before his eyes, yet were not heaven and earth drawn
into any lesser room than they be of themselves, but the
^soul of the beholder was more enlarged, which, rapt in
God, might without difficulty see that which is under
God, and therefore in that light which appeared to his
outward eyes, the inward light which was in his soul
ravished the mind of the beholder to supernal things,
and shewed him how small all earthly things were.
PetCt* I perceive now that it was to my more profit
that I understood you not before : seeing, by reason
of my slow capacity, you have delivered so notable an
exposition. But now, because you have made me
thrughly to understand these things, I beseech you
to continue on your former narration.
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Cf)e life anD apitacles of %t iBzmtt
Cbaptet Cbittp^sir : f)oto fjolp TBennet torote a
tUle for bi0 monfeS. q ® tegOrp. Desirous I am, Peter,
to tell you many things of this venerable father, but some
of purpose I let pass, because I make haste to entreat also
oi the acts of other holy men : yet I would not have you
to be ignorant, but that the man of God amongst so
many miracles, for which he was so famous in the world,
was also sufficiently learned in divinity : for he wrote a
rule for his monks, both excellent for discretion and also
eloquent for the style. Of whose life and conversation,
if any be curious to know further, he may in the institu-
tion of that rule understand all his manner of life and
discipline : for the holy man could not otherwise teach,
than himself lived.
Cbapter CtJittp^setien : f)oto vicnetafjle TBennet
DiD ptop&e0p to W monfes, tte time of f)is oton
DeatUt ^ The same year in which he departed this life,
he told the .day of his holy death to his monks, some of
which did live daily with him, and some dwelt far off,
willing those that were present to keep it secret, and telling
them that were absent by what token they should know
that he was dead. Six days before he left this world, he
gave order to have his sepulchre opened, and forthwith
falling into an ague, he began with burning heat to wax
faint, and when as the* sickness daily increased, upon the
sixth day he commanded his monks to carry him into the
oratory, where he did arm himself with receiving the
body and blood of our Saviour Christ ; and having his
weak body holden up betwixt the hands of his disciples,
he stood with his own lifted up to heaven, and as he was
in that manner praying, he gave up the ghost. Upon
which day two monks, one being in his cell, and the other
far distant, had concerning him one and the self-same
vision : for they saw all the way from the holy man's
cell, towards the east even up to heaven, hung and
adorned with tapestry, and shining with an infinite
99
Ct)e Dialo0:ue0 of %t ©tegorp
number of lamps, at the top whereof a man, reverently
attired, stood and demanded if they knew who passed that
way, to whom they answered saying, that they knew not.
Then he spake thus unto them : "This is the way," quoth
he, " by which the beloved servant of God, Bennet, is
ascended up to heaven." And by this means, as his
monks that were present knew of the death of the holy
man, so likewise they which were absent, by the token
which he foretold them, had intelligence of the same
thing. Buried he was in the oratory of St. John Baptist
which himself built, when he overthrew the altar of
Apollo ; who also in that cave in which he first dwelled,
even to this very time, worketh miracles, if the faith of
them that pray requireth the same.
Chapter Cf)ittp=eiffi)t : Soto a maD tooman toas
CUtCD in t)iS Catie. €I For the thing which I mean now
to rehearse fell out lately. A certain woman falling mad,
lost the use of reason so far, that she walked up and down,
day and night, in mountains and valleys, in woods and
fields, and rested only in that place where extreme
weariness enforced her to stay. Upon a day it so fell
out, that albeit she wandered at random, yet she missed
not the right way : for she came to the cave of the
blessed man Bennet : and not knowing anything, in she
went, and reposed herself there that night, and rising up
in the morning, she departed as sound in sense and well
in her wits, as though she had never been distracted in
her whole life, and so continued always after, even to her
_ dying day.
^ l^Ctft* What is the reason that in the patronage of
'"martyrs we often times find, that they do not afford so
great benefits by their bodies, as they do by other of
their relics : and do there work greater miracles, where
themselves be not present .?
®t£0Otp. Where the holy martyrs lie in their bodies,
there is no doubt, Peter, but that they are able to work
lOO
Ci)c life anD a^iracles of ®t. TBennet
many miracles, yea and also do work infinite, to such as
seek them with a pure mind. But for as much as simple
people might have some doubt whether they be present,
and do in those places hear their prayers where their
bodies be not, necessary it is that they should in those
places shew greater miracles, where weak souls may most
doubt of their presence. But he whose mind is fixed in
God, hath so much the greater merit of his faith, in that
he both knoweth that they rest not there in body, and yet
be there present to hear our prayers. And therefore our
Saviour himself, to increase the faith of his disciples,
said \ If I do not depart^ the Comforter will not come unto
you : ^ for, seeing certain it is that the comforting Spirit
doth always proceed from the Father and the Son, why
doth the Son say that he will depart that the Comforter
may come, who never is absent from the Son .'' But be-
cause the disciples, beholding our Lord in flesh, did always
desire to see him with their corporal eyes, very well did
he say unto them : Unless I do go away, the Comfortet
will not come : as though he had plainly told them : If I
do not withdraw my body, I cannot let you understand
what the love of the spirit is : and except you give over
to love my carnal presence, never will you learn to affect
me with true spiritual love.
Jp)Ct0t. That you say pleaseth me very well.
(^tCffOtp. Let us now for a while give over our dis-
course, to the end that if we mean to prosecute the
miracles of other Saints, we may through silence be the
more able to perform it. J
^ John 1 6, 7.
Ct)e enD of t6e %econD TBoolt
lOI
Ci)e Dialogues of ^t dBregot?
CI)e C{)irtJ iSoofe
TBCing careful to entreat of such fathers as Jived not
]ong: since, I passed over the worthy acts of those that
were in former times : so that I had almost forgot the
miracle of Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, who both for time
was more ancient, and for virtue more notable, than many
of those which I have spoken of : wherefore I will now
speak of him, but as briefly as I can. For as the life and
actions of good men are soonest known to such as be like
them, so the famous name of venetable Paulinus became
known to mine holy elders, and his admirable fact served
for their instruction : who,for their gravity and old years,
are as well to be credited, as if that which they reported
they had seen with their own eyes.
Cfjaptet ©ne : of %t Paulinus, TBis|)op of tfje
Citp of jQOla, fl When as in the time of the cruel
Vandals, that part of Italy which is called Campania was
overrun and sacked, and many were from thence carried
captive into Africk : then the servant of God, Paulinus,
bestowed all the wealth of his Bishopric upon prisoners
and poor people. And not having now anything more
left, a certain widow came unto him, lamenting how her
son was taken prisoner by one that was son-in-law to the
king of the Vandals, and by him carried away to be his
slave : and therefore she besought him, that he would
vouchsafe to help her with a ransom for the redeeming
of her son. But the man of God, seeking what he had
105
C&e Dialogues of ^t. <^teffotp
to give the poor woman, found nothing left but himself
alone, and therefore he answered her in this manner :
" Good woman, nothing have I to help thee withal but
myself, and therefore take me, and a God's name say that
I am your servant, and see whether he will receive me
for his slave, and so set your son at liberty " : which words
she hearing from the mouth of so notable a man, took
them rather for a mock, than to proceed indeed from true
compassion. But as he was an eloquent man, and passing
well learned in humanity, so did he quickly persuade the
doubtful woman to give credit to his words, and not to
be afraid to offer a Bishop for the ransom of her son ;
whereupon away they travelled both into Africk. And
when the king's son-in-law came abroad, the widow put
up her petition concerning her son, humbly beseeching
him that he would vouchsafe to set him now at liberty,
and bestow him upon his mother. But the barbarous
man, swelling with pride and puffed up with the joy
of transitory prosperity, refused not only to do it, but
disdained also to give any ear to her petition. This way
therefore taking no success, the desolate widow tried the
next, and said unto him : " Behold, I give you here this
man instead of him, only take compassion on me, and
restore to me mine only son." At which words he, casting
his eyes upon Paulinus, and seeing him to have an honest
and good face, asked him of what occupation he was : to
whom the man of God answered : " Trade or occupation
I can none, but some skill I have in keeping of a garden."
This pleased the Pagan very well, whereupon he admitted
him for his servant, and restored the widow her son, with
whom she departed out of Africk, and Paulinus took
charge of the garden. The king's son-in-law coming
often into the garden, demanded certain questions of his
new man, and perceiving him to be very wise and of good
judgment, he began to give over the company of his old
familiar friends, and conversed much with his gardener,
1 06
Paulinus of i3ola
taking great pleasure in his talk. Every day Paulinus
brought him to his table divers sorts of green herbs, and
after dinner returned to his garden. After he had used
this a long time, upon a day, as his master and he were
in secret talk together, Paulinus spake unto him in this
manner : " Consider, my Lord, what is your best course,
and how the kingdom of the Vandals shall be disposed
of, for the king is to die shortly " : which news, because
he was in special grace with the king, he gave him to
understand, adding that his gardener, who was a passing
wise man, had told him so much. The king, hearing this,
was desirous to see the man he spake of : " Your Maj esty,"
quoth he, " shall see him, for his manner is to bring me
in daily fresh herbs for my dinner, and I will give orders
that he shall do it in your presence " : which direction
being given, as the king sat at dinner, Paulinus came in,
bringing with him divers sallettes and fresh herbs : whom
so soon as the king beheld, he fell a trembling, and send-
ing for Paulinus' master (who by the marriage of his
daughter was so near allied unto him), acquainted him
with that secret which before he had concealed, saying :
" It is very true that which you have heard, for the last
night, in a dream, I saw certain judges in their seats sit-
ting upon me, amongst whom this man also sat for one :
and by their sentence that whip was taken from me, which
for the punishment of others some time I had. But in-
quire, I pray you, what he is, for I do not think one of
so great merit to be an ordinary man, as he outwardly
seemeth." Then the king's son-in-law took Paulinus in
secret, and asked him what he was : to whom the man
of God answered : " Your servant I am," quoth he,
" whom you took for the ransom pf the widow's son " ;
but when he would not be satisfied with that answer, but
did instantly press him to tell, not what he was now, but
what he had been in his own country, and did urge him
very often to answer to this point : the man of God,
107
Cfje Dialogues of ^t (£)reffot5
adjured so strictly, not being able any longer to deny his
request, told him that he was a Bishop ; which his master
and lord hearing became wonderfully afraid, and humbly
oiFered him, saying : " Demand what you will, that you
may be well rewarded of me, and so return home to your
country." To whom the man of God, Paulinus, said:
" One thing there is wherein you may much pleasure
me, and that is, to set at liberty all those that be of
my city": which suit he obtained, for straightways
throughout Africk all were sought out, their ships laden
with wheat, and to give venerable Paulinus satisfaction,
they were all discharged, and in his company sent home :
fand not long after the king of the Vandals died, and so
he lost that whip and severe government, which to his
own destruction and the punishment of Christians by
God's providence he had before receivedTJ And thus it
came to pass that Paulinus, the servant oralmighty God,
told truth, and he that voluntarily alone made himself a
bondman, returned not back alone, but with many from
captivity : imitating him who took upon him the form
of a servant, that we should not be servants to sin : for
Paulinus, following his example, became himself for a
time a servant alone, that afterward he might be made
free with many.
Jp)0t0t. When I hear that which I cannot imitate, I
desire rather to weep than to say anything.
(StC0Otp, Concerning this holyman's death,it remaineth
yet in the records of his own church, how that he was
with a pain of his side brought to the last cast : and that,
whiles all the rest of the house stood sound, the chamber
only in which he lay sick was shaken with an earthquake,
and so his soul was loosed from his body : and by this
means it fell out, that they were all strooken with a great
fear that might have seen Paulinus departing this life.
But because his virtue by that which I spoke of before
is sufficiently handled, now, if you please, we will come
io8
%t 31of)n, tbe Pope
to other miracles, which are both known to many, and
which I have heard by the relation of such persons, that
I can make no doubt but that they be most true.
Cbaptct Ctoo : of ^t. 3Io6n, tf)e Pope, fl in the
time of the Goths, when the most blessed man John,
Bishop of this church of Rome, travelled to the Emperor
Justinian the elder, he came into the country of Corinth,
where he lacked an horse to ride upon : which a certain
noble man understanding, lent him that horse which,
because he was gentle, his wife used for her own saddle,
with order that when he came where he could provide
himself of another, his wife's horse should be sent back
again. And so the Bishop rode upon him, until he came
to a certain place where he got another, and then he
returned that which he had borrowed. But afterward,
when his wife came to take his back, as before she used,
by no means could she do it, because the horse, having
carried so great a Bishop, would not suiFer a woman to
come any more upon his back, and therefore he began
with monstrous snorting, neighing, and continual stirring,
as it were in scorn, to shew that he could not bear any
woman, upon whom the Pope himself had ridden : which
thing her husband wisely considering, straightways sent
him again to the holy man, beseeching him to accept of
that horse, which by riding he had dedicated to his own
service. Of the same man, another miracle is also reported
by our ancestors : to wit, that in Constantinople, when
he came to the gate called Aurea, where he was met with
great numbers of people, in the presence of them all, he
restored sight to a blind man that did instantly crave it :
for laying his hand upon him, he banished away that
darkness which possessed his eyes.
Chapter Ctree : of ^t. %apitu0, tbe pope, fl Not
long after, about_bu^jiess_concerjaing the Goth the
most blessedTmanAgapitus, Bishop of this holy church
of Rome (in which by God's providence I do now serve),
109
C!)e Dialogues of ^t (Dtegotp
went to the Emperor Justinian. And, as he was travelling
through Greece, a dumb and lame man was brought
unto him for help. The holy man carefully demanded
of his kinsfolk, that brought him thither and stood there
weeping, whether they did believe that it was in his power
to cure him : who answered, that they did firmly hope
that he might help him in the virtue of God by the
authority of St. Peter : upon which words forthwith the
venerable man fell to his prayers, and beginning solemn
mass, he offered sacrifice in the sight of almighty God :
which being ended, he came from the altar, took the lame
man by the hand, and straightways, in the presence and
sight of all the people, he restored him to the use of his
legs : and after he had put our Lord's body into his
mouth, that tongue, which long time before had not
spoken, was loosed. At which miracle all did wonder,
and began to weep for j oy : and forthwith both fear and
reverence possessed their minds, beholding what Agapitus
could do in the power of our Lord, by the help of St. Peter.
Cbaptetjfout: ofDatius,TBisf)opof9@iIan, <iin
the time of the same Emperor, Datius, Bishop of Milan,
./'about_mattersofj;eligion, travelled to Constantinople.
AndconiTing^o Corinth, he sought for a large house to
receive him and his company, and could scarce find any :
at length he saw afar off a fair great house, which he
commanded to be provided for him : and when the
inhabitants of that place told him that it was for many
years haunted by the devil, and therefore stood empty :
" so much the sooner," quoth the venerable man, " ought
we to lodge in it, if the wicked spirit hath taken possession
thereof, and will not suffer men to dwell in it." Where-
upon he gave order to have it made ready : which being
done, he went without all fear to combat with the old
enemy. In the dead of the night, when the man of God
was asleep, the devil began, with an huge noise and great
outcry, to imitate the roaring of lions, the bleating of
no
^abinus of Camisina
sheep, the braying of asses, the hissing of serpents, the
grunting of hogs, and the screeching of rats. Datius,
suddenly awaked with the noise of so many beasts, rose
up, and in great anger spake aloud to the old serpent,
and said : " Thou art served well, thou wretched creature :
thou art he that diddest say : / will place my seat in the
northy and I will he like to the highest:^ and now through
thy pride, see how thou art become like unto hogs and
rats ; and thou that wouldest needs unworthily be like
unto God, behold how thou dost now, according to thy
deserts, imitate brute beasts." At these words the wicked
serpent was, as I may well term it, ashamed, that he was
so disgraciously and basely put down, for well may I say
that he was ashamed, who never after troubled that
house with any such terrible and monstrous shapes as
before he did : for ever after that time. Christian men
did inhabit the same ; for so soon as one man that was
a true and faithful Christian took possession thereof, the
lying and faithless spirit straightways did forsake it.
But I will now surcease from speaking of things done in
former times, and come to such miracles as have happened
in our own days.
Cfjaptet JFitJe : of ^atJinus, TBisbop of Camisina.
^ Certain religious men, well known in the province of
Apulia, do report that which many both far and near
know to be most true, and that is of Sabinus, Bishop of
Camisina : who, by reason of his great age, was become
so blind that he saw nothing at all. And for as much
as Totilas, King of the Goths, hearing that he had the
gift of prophecy, and would not believe it, but was
desirous to prove whether it were so or no, it fell so
out, that coming into those parts, the man of God did
invite him to dinner. And when the meat was brought
in, the King would not sit at the table, but sat beside
at the right hand of venerable Sabinus : and when
1 Isai. 14, 13, 14.
I II
€ht Dialogues of ®t. <25te0Otp
the Bishop's man brought him, as he used to do, a cup
of wine, the King softly put forth his hand, took the
cup, and gave it himself to the Bishop, to try whether
he could tell who he was that gave him the wine. Then
the man of God taking the cup, but not seeing him that
did deliver it, said : "Blessed be that hand." At which
words the King very merrily blushed, because, albeit
he was taken, yet did he find that gift in the man
of God which before he desired to know. The same
reverent man, to give good example of life to others,
lived until he was passing old : which nothing pleased
his Archdeacon, that desired his Bishopric : and there-
fore upon ambition he "sought how to dispatch him with
poison, and for that purpose corrupted his cup-bearer,
who, overcome with money, offered the Bishop at dinner
that poison in his wine which he had received of the
Archdeacon. The holy man, knowing what he brought,
willed himself to drink that which he offered him. The
wretch trembled at those words, and perceiving his
villany to be detected, thought better to drink it, and
so quickly dispatch himself, than with shame to suffer
torments for the sin of so horrible a murder : but as
he was putting the cup to his mouth, the man of God
hindered him, saying : " Do not take it, but give it
me, and I will drink it myself, but go thy way, and tell
him that gave it thee, that I will drink the poison, but
yet shall he never live to be Bishop " : and so blessing
the cup with the sign of the cross, he drunk it without
any harm at all ; at which very time the Archdeacon,
being in another place, departed this life ; as though
that poison had by the Bishop's mouth passed to his
Archdeacon's bowels : for although he had no corporal
poison to kill him, yet the venom of his own malice did
destroy him in the sight of the everlasting Judge.
Petet, These be strange things, and much in our days
to be wondered at : yet the life of the man is such, that
112
anorctD of jFunDa
he which knoweth his holy conversation hath no such
cause to marvel at the miracle.
Chapter %ix : of Cassius, TBis&op of Butnu^^^^
^ ©t00;Otp, Neither can I, Peter, pass over with
silence that thing, which many of the city of Narni,
which be here present, affirm to be most true. For in
the time of the same Goths, the foresaid King Totilas
coming to Narni, Cassius, a man of venerable life,
Bishop of the same city, went forth to meet him, whom
the king utterly contemned, because his face was high-
coloured, thinking that it proceeded not from any other
cause than drinking. But almighty God, to show how
worthy a man was despised, permitted a wicked spirit
before his whole army, in the fields of Narni, where the
king also himself was, to possess one of his guard, and
cruelly to torment him. Straightways was he brought
to the venerable man Cassius, in the presence of the
king : who praying to God for him, and making the
sign of the cross, forthwith he cast out the devil, so
that never after he durst presume any more to enter
into his body. And by this means it fell out that the
barbarous king, from that day forward, did with his
heart much reverence the servant of God, whom before
by his face he judged to be a man of no account : for
seeing him now to be one of such power and virtue, he
gave over those proud thoughts which before he had
conceived.
C&apter ^etJen : of anDretn, 1Bisf)op of Jf unDa.
^ But as I am thus busied in telling the acts of holy
men, there cometh to my mind what God of his great
mercy did for Andrew, Bishop of the city of Funda :
which notable story I wish all so to read, that they
which have dedicated themselves to continency, pre-
sume not in any wise to dwell amongst women : lest
in time of temptation their soul perish the sooner,
by having that at hand which is unlawfully desired.
113 H
Cfje Dialo0ue0 of ^t ©tegotp
Neither is the story which I report either doubtful or
uncertain : for so many witnesses to justify the truth
thereof may be produced, as there be almost inhabitants
in that city. When, therefore, this venerable man
Andrew lived virtuously, and with diligent care, answer-
able to his priestly function, led a continent and chaste
life : he kept in his house a certain Nun, which also had
remained with him before he was preferred to that
dignity ; for assuring himself of his own continency,
and nothing doubting of hers, content he was to let her
remain still in his house : which thing the devil took as
an occasion to assault him with temptation : and so he
began to present before the eyes of his mind the form
of that woman, that by such allurements he might have
his heart wholly possessed with ungodly thoughts. In
the meantime it so fell out, that a Jew was travelling
from Campania to Rome, who drawing nigh to the city
of Funda, was so overtaken with night, that he knew
not where to lodge, and therefore, not finding any
better commodity, he retired himself into a temple of
the god Apollo, which was not far off, meaning there
to repose himself : but much afraid he was, to lie in so
wicked and sacrilegious a place : for which cause, though
he believed not what we teach of the cross, yet he
thought good to arm himself with that sign. About
midnight, as he lay waking for very fear of that forlorn
and desert temple, and looked suddenly about him, he
espied a troop of wicked spirits walking before another
or greater authority : who coming in took up his place,
and sat down in the body of the temple : where he
began diligently to inquire of those his servants, how
they had bestowed their time, and what villany they had
done in the world. And when each one told what he
had done against God's servants, out stepped a com-
panion, and made solemn relation, with a notable
temptation of carnality he had put into the mind of
114
anDtetDof jFunDa
Bishop Andrew, concerning that Nun which he kept
in his palace : whereunto whiles the master devil gave
attentive ear, considering with himself what a notable
gain it would be, to undo the soul of so holy a man ;
the former devil went on with his tale, and said that the
very evening before he assaulted him so mightily, that
he drew him so far forth, that he did merrily strike the
said Nun upon the back. The wicked serpent and old
enemy of mankind hearing this joyful news, exhorted
his agent with very fair words, diligently to labour
about the effecting of that thing which he had already so
well begun, that for so notable a piece of service, as the
contriving the spiritual ruin of that virtuous Prelate, he
might have a singular reward above all his fellows. The
Jew who all this while lay waking, and heard all that
which they said, was wonderfully afraid : at length the
master devil sent some of his followers to see who he
was, and how he durst presume to lodge in their temple.
When they were come, and had narrowly viewed him,
they found that he was marked with the mystical sign
of the cross : whereat they marvelled and said : " Alas,
alas, here is an empty vessel, but yet it is signed" :
which news the rest of those hell-hounds hearing,
suddenly vanished away. The Jew, who had seen all
that which then passed among them, presently rose up,
and in aU haste sped himself to the Bishop, whom he
found in the church : and taking him aside^ he demanded
with what temptation he was troubled : but shame so
prevailed, that by no means he would confess the truth.
Then the Jew replied and told him, that he had cast his
eyes wickedly upon such a one of God's servants ; but
the Bishop would not acknowledge that there was any
such thing. " Why do you deny it,' ' quoth the Jew, " for
is it not so true that yesternight you were brought
so far by sinful temptation, that you did strike her on
the back.'"' When the Bishop, by these particulars,
Cf)e Dialogues of @t. (Sregorg
perceived that the matter was broken forth, he humbly
confessed what before he obstinately denied. Then the
Jew, moved with compassion to his soul, and tendering
his credit, told him by what means he came to the
knowledge thereof, and what he heard of him in that
assembly of wicked spirits. The Bishop, hearing this,
fell prostrate upon the earth, and betook himself to his
prayers : and straight after he discharged out of his
house, not only that Nun, but all other women that
attended upon her. And not long after, he converted
the temple of Apollo into an oratory of the blessed
Apostle, St. Andrew : and never after was he troubled
with that carnal temptation : and the Jew, by whose
means he was so mercifully preserved, he brought to
everlasting salvation : for he baptized him, and made
him a member of holy Church. And thus, by God's
providence, the Jew having care of the spiritual health
of another, attained also himself the singular benefit of
the same : and almighty God by the same means
brought one td embrace piety and virtue, by which he
preserved another in an holy and godly life.
l^Ctet, This history which I have heard worketh in me
fear, and yet withal giveth me cause of hope.
<St00Otp. That is not amiss, Peter, for necessary it is
that we should both trust upon the mercy of God, and
yet, considering our own frailty, be afraid : for we have
now heard how one of the cedars of Paradise was shaken,
and yet not blown down, to the end that, knowing our
own infirmity, we should both tremble at his shaking,
and yet conceive hope, in that he was not overthrown,
but kept his standing still.
C&apter dti^U : of Cqngtantfus, 'Bishop of
^QUtnUm* fl Constantius, likewise a man of holy life,
was Bishop of Aquinum, who not long since died, in
the time of Pope John of blessed memory, my prede-
cessor ; many that knew him familiarly, say that he had
ii6
s
JFtiffiDianus of lucca
the gift of prophecy. And amongst divers other things
which he did, religious and honest men then present
report that, lying upon his deathbed, the citizens that
stood about him wept bitterly, and asked him with tears,
who should be their father and Bishop after him. To
whom by the spirit of prophecy he answered, saying :
" After Constantius, you shall have a muleteer, and
after a muleteer, a fuller of cloth : and these men,"
quoth he, " be now in the city of Aquinum " : and
having spoken these prophetical words, he gave up the
ghost. After whose departure one Andrew, his Deacon,
was made Bishop : who in times past had kept mules
and post horses. And when he died, one Jovinus was
preferred to that dignity, who in former times had been
a fuller in the same city : in whose days all the citizens
were so wasted, some by the sword of barbarous people,
and some by a terrible plague, that after his death neither
could any be found to be made Bishop, nor yet any
people for whose sake he should be created. And so
the saying of the man of God was fulfilled, in that his
church, after the death of two that followed him, had
no Bishop at all.
€t)apta: mm : of JTrigiDianu0, IBis&op of Lucca,
^ But I must not forget to tell you what 1 heard of the
reverent man Venantius, Bishop of Luna, some two days
ago : who said that there was, nigh unto him, a man of
rare virtue called Frigidianus, Bishop of Lucca, who
wrought a strange miracle, which, as he saith, all the
inhabitants of that place do speak of, and it was this.
Hard by the walls of the city, there runneth a river
called Anser, which divers times doth so swell and
overflow the banks, that it drowneth many acres of
ground, and spoileth much corn and fruit. The in-
habitants, enforced by necessity, seeing that this did
often happen, went about by all means possible to turn
the stream another way : but when they had bestowed
"7
Cf)e Dialo8:ue0 of ^t ©tegorp
much labour, yet could they not cause it to leave the
old channel. Whereupon the man of God, Frigidianus,
made a little rake, and came to the river, where all alone
he bestowed some time in prayer ; and then he com-
manded the river to follow him, and going before, he
drew his rake over such places as he thought good, and
the whole river, forsaking the old channel, did follow
him, and kept possession of that which the holy man by
that sign of his rake had appointed : and so never after-
ward did it hurt any more either corn or other things
planted for the maintenance' of men.
Cf)apter*Cen : of ^abinus, TBis&op of piacentia,
fl The same Venantius told me likewise another miracle,
done as he said in the city of Placentia, which one John,
the servant of God, and a man of credit living now here
amongst us, and who was born and brought up in that
city, affirmeth also to be most true. For in that town
of Placentia, they say that there was a Bishop of won-
derful virtue, called Sabinus : who understanding by
one of his Deacons, that the great river of Po was broken
forth, and had overflowed the land which belonged to
the church, and done much harm, he bad him go unto
the river, and deliver it this message from him : " The
Bishop commandeth you to retire, and keep yourself
within your own bounds." His Deacon, hearing these
words, scornfully contemned to be employed in any such
business. Then the man of God, Sabinus, sent for a
notary, and willed him to write these words : " Sabinus,
the servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, sendeth admoni-
tion to Po. I command thee, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that thou come not out of thy channel,
nor presume any more to hurt the lands of the church."
This short letter he bad the notary write, and when he
had so done, to go and cast it into the river. The
notary did as he bad him, and the river obeyed the
precept of the holy man, for straightways it withdrew
ii8
Cetfiomu0 of Populonium
itself from the church-lands, returned to his own chan-
nel, and never presumed any more to overflow those
grounds. By which fact, Peter, the pride of disobedient
men is confounded, seeing that the very senseless ele-
ment, in the name of Jesus, obeyed the holy man's
commandment.
Cbaptet eietien : of Ccttionius, IBistjop of Popu=
Ionium. ^ Cerbonius, also a man of holy life. Bishop of
Populonium, hath made great proof in our time of his
rare virtue. For being much given to hospitality, upon
a certain day he gave entertainment to divers soldiers,
which, for fear of the Goths (that passed likewise by his
house), he conveyed out of the way, and so saved their
lives from those wicked men. Totilas, their impious
king, having intelligence thereof, in great rage and
cruelty commanded him to be brought unto a place
called Merulis (eight miles from Populonium), where
he remained with his whole army, and in the sight of
the people to be cast unto wild bears to be devoured.
And because the wicked king would needs be present
himself, to behold the Bishop torn in pieces, great store
of people were likewise assembled, to see that pitiful
pageant. The Bishop was brought forth, and a terrible
bear provided, that might in cruel manner tear his body
in pieces, so to satisfy the mind of that bloody king.
Out of his den was the beast let loose, who in great
fury and haste set upon the Bishop : but suddenly, for-
getting all cruelty, with bowed neck and humbled head,
he began to lick his feet : to give them all to understand
that men carried towards the man of God the hearts of
beasts, and the beasts as it were the heart of a man. At
this sight the people, with great shouting and outcries,
declared how highly they did admire the holy man : and
the king himself was moved to have him in great rever-
ence : and so by God's providence it fell out, that he
which before refused to obey and follow God by saving
119
Cije Dialogues of ^t (Stegotp
the Bishop's life, was brought to do it by the miraculous
meekness of a cruel bear. TVIany of them which were
then present, and saw it, be yet living, who do all affirm
this to be most true.-
Another miracle c7)ncerning the same man I heard of
Venantius, Bishop of Luna, and it was this. Cerbonius
had in the church of Populonium a tomb provided for
himself; but when the Lombards invaded Italy, and
spoiled all that country, he retired himself into the island
of Helba. Where falling sore sick, before his death he
commanded his chaplains to bury his body in the foresaid
tomb at Populonium : and when they told him how hard
a thing it was by reason of the Lombards, which were
lords of the country, and did range up and down in all
places : " Carry me thither," quoth he, " securely, and
fear nothing, but bury me in all haste, and that being
done, come away as fast as you can." For performing of
this his will they provided a ship, and away they went
with his body towards Populonium : in which journey
there fell great store of rain, but that the world might
know whose body was transported in that ship, in that
twelve miles' space which is betwixt the island and Popu-
lonium, a great storm of rain fell upon both sides of the
ship, but not one drop within. When they were come
to the place, they buried his body, and, according to his
commandment, returned to their ship with all speed :
and they were no sooner aboard, than there entered into
the church, where the Bishop was buried, a most cruel
captain of the Lombards called Gunmar. By whose sud-
den coming to that place, it appeared plainly that the man
of God had the spirit of prophecy, when he willed them
in all haste to depart from the place of his burial.
Chapter Ctocltie : of JTulffentius, TBis&op of
©ttiCOli, ^ The very same miracle, which I told you
concerning the division of the rain, happened likewise to
the great veneration of another Bishop. For a certain
1 20
^etculanus of l^erusium
old Priest, who yet liveth, was then present when it
happened, and saith that Fulgentius, Bishop of Otricoli,
was in disgrace with that cruel tyrant Totilas : and there-
fore, as he was passing that way with his army, the Bishop
did carefully beforehand by his chaplains send him certain
presents, by that means, if it were possible, to mitigate
his furious mind. But the tyrant contemned them, and
in great rage commanded his soldiers hardly to bind the
Bishop, and to keep him safe until he had heard his ex-
amination. The merciless Goths executed his cruel com-
mandment : and setting him upon a piece of ground,
they made a circle round about him, out of which they
commanded him not to stir his foot. Whiles the man of
God stood there in great extremity of heat, environed
round about with those Goths, suddenly there fell such
thunder and lightning, and such plenty of rain, that his
keepers could not endure that terrible storm : and yet for
all that, not one drop fell within the circle, where the
man of God, Fulgentius, stood. Which strange news
being told to that tyrannical king, his barbarous mind was
brought to have him in great reverence, whose torment
before he desired and so cruelly thirsted after his blood.
Thus almighty God, to bring down the lofty minds of
carnal men, doth work miracles by such as they most con-
temn : that truth, proceeding from the mouths of his^.
humble servants, may subdue those, which of pride do
extols and advance themselves against the doctrine of
truth.l
C&aptet Ct)itteen: of !|)erculanus, TBis&op of
lp0tU0iUin, fl Not long since, the virtuous Bishop
Floridus told me a notable miracle, which was this. " The
great holy man," quoth he, " Herculanus, who brought
me up, was Bishop of Perusium, exalted to that dignity
from the state of a monk : in whose time the perfidious
king Totilas besieged it for seven years together, and the
famine within was so great that many of the townsmen
121
C!)e Dialogues of @)t ©teffotp
forsook the place : and before the seventh year was ended,
the army of the Goths took the city. The commander of
his camp dispatched messengers to Totilas, to know his
pleasure what he should do with the Bishop, and the rest
of the citizens : to whom he returned answer, that he
should, from the top of the Bishop's head to his very foot,
cut off a thong of his skin, and that done, to strike off
his head : and as for the rest of the people, to put them
all to the sword. When he had received this order, he
commanded the reverent Bishop Herculanus to be
carried to the walls, and there to have his head strooken
off, and when he was dead, that his skin should be cut
from the very crown down to the very foot, as though
indeed a thong had been taken from his body ; after
which barbarous fact they threw his dead corpse over the
wall. Then some upon pity, joining the head to the
body, did bury him, together with an infant that was
there found dead. Forty days after, Totilas making pro-
clamation that the inhabitants, which were gone, should
without all fear come back again : those, which upon
extremity of hunger departed, returned home to their
houses, and calling to mind the holy life of their Bishop,
they sought for his body, that it might, as he deserved,
be buried in the church of St. Peter. And whe^ they
came to the place where it lay, they digged, and found
the body of the infant that was buried together with him,
putrefied and full of worms : but the Bishop's body was
so sound as though it had been newly put into the earth,
and that which is more to be admired, and deserveth
greater reverence, his head was so fast joined to his body
as though it had never been cut off, neither did any sign
of his beheading appear at all. Then they viewed like-
wise his back, whether that were also whole and sound,
and they found it so perfect and well, as though never
any knife had touched the same."
l^etCt. Who would not wonder at such miracles of them
122
Benedetto Bojijigh
THE TRANSLATION OF ST. HERCOI.ANUS
(Accademia^ Perugia)
3!saac of @>poleto
that be dead : wrought, no question, for the spiritual
good of the living ?
Chapter jToutteen : of tbe stvomt of (SoD, 31saac
^ (©tC0Otp» At such time as the Goths first invaded
Italy, there was, near to the city of Spoleto, a virtuous
and holy man called Isaac : who lived almost to the last
days of the Goths, whom many did know, and especially
the holy virgin Gregoria, which now dwelleth in this city,
hard by the church of the blessed and perpetual Virgin
Mary : which woman, in her younger years, desiring to
live a nun's life, fled to the church from marriage, already
agreed upon by her friends, and was by this man de-
fended : and so, through God's providence, obtained to
have that habit which so much she desired, and so, leaving
her spouse upon earth, she merited a spouse in heaven.
Many things also I had by the relation of the reverent man
Eleutherius,who was familiarly acquainted with him ; and
his virtuous life doth give credit to his words. This holy
man Isaac was not born in Italy ; and therefore I will
only speak of such miracles as he did living here in our
country. At his first coming out of Syria to the city of
Spoleto, he went to the church, and desired the keepers
that he might have free leave to pray there, and not to be
enforced to depart when night came. And so he began
his devotions, and spent all that day in prayer, and like-
wise the night following. The second day and night he
bestowed in the same manner, and remained there also
the third day : which when one of the keepers of the
church perceived, who was a man of a proud spirit, he
took scandal by that, whereof he ought to have reaped
great profit. For he began to say that he was an hypo-
crite and cozening companion, who in the sight of the
world remained at his prayers three days and three nights
together : and forthwith running upon the man of God,
he strook him, to make him by that means with shame
to depart the church as an hypocrite, and one that desired
123
Cf)e Dialogues of %t (Sregotg
to be reputed an holy man. But to revenge this injury,
a wicked spirit did presently possess his body, who cast
him down at the feet of the man of God, and began by
his mouth to cry out : " Isaac doth cast me forth, Isaac
doth cast me forth." For what name the strange man
had, none at that time did know, but the wicked spirit
told it, when he cried out that he had power to cast him
out. Straightways the man of God laid himself upon his
body, and the cursed devil that was entered in, departed
in all haste. News of this was by and by Mown over the
whole city, and men and women, rich and poor, came run-
ning, every one striving to bring him home to their own
house : some for the building of an Abbey, did humbly
offer him lands, others money, and some such other helps
as they could. But the servant of almighty God, refusing
to accept any of their offers, departed out of the city,
and not far off he found a desert place, where he built a
little cottage for himself : to whom many repairing began
by his example to be inflamed with the love of everlasting
life, and so, under his discipline and government, gave
themselves to the service of almighty God. And when
his disciples would often humbly insinuate, that it were
good for the necessity of the Abbey to take such livings
as were offered, he, very careful to keep poverty, told
them constantly, saying : " A monk that seeketh for
livings upon earth is no monk" : for so fearful he was
to lose the secure state of his poverty, as covetous rich
men are careful to preserve their corruptible wealth.
In that place, therefore, he became famous for the spirit
of prophecy : and his life was renowned far and near, for
the notable miracles which he wrought. For upon a day,
towards evening, he caused his monks to lay a certain
number of spades in the garden. The night following,
when according to custom they rose up to their prayers,
he commanded them, saying : " Go your ways, and make
pottage for our workmen, that it may be ready very early
124
3!saac of ^poleto
in the morning." And when it was day, he bad them
bring the pottage which they had provided ; and going
with his monks into the garden, he found there so many
men working as he had commanded them to lay spades :
for it fell so out, that certain thieves were entered in to
spoil and rob it ; but God changing their minds, they took
the spades which they found there, and so wrought from
the time of their first entrance, until the man of God
came unto them : and all such parts of the ground as
before were not manured, they had digged up and made
ready. When the man of God was come, he saluted them
in this wise : " God save you, good brethren : you have
laboured long, wherefore now rest yourselves " : then he
caused such provision as he had brought to be set before
them, and so after their labour and pains refreshed them.
When they had eaten that was sufficient, he spake thus
unto them : "Do not hereafter any more harm : but when
you desire anything that is in the garden, come to the
gate, quietly ask it, and take it a God's blessing, but steal
no more": and so bestowing upon them good store of
worts, he sent them away. And by this means it fell
out that they which came into the garden to do harm, de-
parted thence not doing any damage at all, and besides
had the reward of their pains, and somewhat also of
charity bestowed upon them.
At another time, there came unto him certain strange
men a begging, so torn and tattered, that they had scant
any rags to cover them, humbly beseeching him to help
them with some clothes. The man of God, hearing their
demand, gave them no answer : but secretly calling for
one of his monks, bad him go into such a wood, and in
such a place of the wood to seek for an hollow tree, and
to bring unto him that apparel which he found there.
The monk went his way, and brought closely to his master
that which he had found. Then the man of God called
for those poor naked men, and gave them that apparel,
125
€f)t Dialogue0 of ^t. (Stegotp
saying : " Put on these clothes to cover your naked
bodies withal." They, seeing their own garments, were
wonderfully confounded : for thinking by cunning to
have gotten other men's apparel, with shame they re-
ceived only their own.
Again, at another time, one there was that commended
himself to his prayers, and sent him by his servant two
baskets full of meat : one of the which, as he was in his
journey, he took away, and hid in a bush till his return
back again ; and the other he presented to the man of
God, telling him how his master had sent him that, heartily
commending himself to his prayers. The holy man took
that which was sent very kindly, giving the messenger
this good lesson : " 1 pray thee, my friend, to thank thy
master, and take heed how thou dost lay hand upon the
basket, for a snake is crept in, and therefore be careful,
lest otherwise it doth sting thee." At these words the
messenger was pitifully confounded, and though glad he
was that by this means he escaped death, yet somewhat
grieved that he was put to that shame. Coming back to
the basket, very diligent and careful he was in touching
it ; for as the man of God had told him, a snake in very
deed was got in. This holy man, therefore, albeit he
were incomparably adorned with the virtue of abstinence,
contempt of worldly wealth, the spirit of prophecy, and
perseverance in prayer : yet one thing there was in him
which seemed reprehensible, to wit, that sometime he
would so exceed in mirth, that if men had not known
him to have been so full of virtue, none would ever have
thought it.
1^0tCt. What,! beseech you, shall we say to that ? for did
he willingly give himself sometime to such recreation :
or else excelling in virtue, was he, contrary to his own
mind, drawn sometime to present mirth .''
(StCffOtp. God's providence, Peter, in bestowing of his
gifts, is wonderful : for often it falleth out, that upon
126
3lsaac of ^poleto
whom he vouchsafeth the greater, he giveth not the less :
to the end that always they may have somewhat to mis-
like in themselves : so that desiring to arrive unto perfec-
tion and yet can not : and labouring about that which they
have not obtained, and can not prevail : by this means
they become not proud of those gifts which they have
received, but do thereby learn that they have not those
greater graces of themselves, who of themselves cannot
overcome small faults. And this was the cause that, when
God had brought his people into the land of promise, and
destroyed all their mighty and potent enemies, yet did
he long time after reserve the Philisteans and Chananites,
that, as it is written. He might in them try Israel} For
sometime as hath been said, upon whom he bestoweth
great gifts, he leaveth some small things that be blame-
worthy, that always they may have somewhat to fight
against, and not to be proud, though their great enemies
be vanquished, seeing other adversaries in very small
things do put them to great trouble : and therefore it
falleth out strangely, that one and the self same man is
excellent for virtue, and yet of infirmity sometime doth
oiFend, so that he may behold himself on the one side
strong and well furnished, and on another open and not
defended : that by the good thing which he seeketh for,
and is not able to procure, he may with humility preserve
that virtue which already he hath in possession.! But
what wonder is it that we speak this concerning man,
when as heaven itself lost some of his citizens, and other
some continued sound in God's grace : that the elect
Angels of God, seeing others through pride to fall from
heaven, might stand so much the more steadfast, by how
much with humility they preserved God's grace received ?
They, therefore, took profit by that loss which heaven
then had, and were thereby made to persevere more con-
stantly in God's service for all eternity. In like manner
1 Judges 3, I.
127
Cf)e Dialogues of ^t (Srcgorp
it fareth with each man's soul, which sometime for pre-
serving of humility, by a little loss it attaineth to great
spiritual perfection.
J^etet. I am very well pleased with that you say.
C&aptet jFifteen : of t&e settiants of <SoD
OButoicius anD jFIorcntius. f ©regorp. Neither win
I pass over that with silence, which I heard from the
mouth of that reverent Priest, Sanctulus, one of the same
country : and of whose report I am sure you make no
doubt, for you know very well his life and fidelity.
At the same time, in the province of Nursia there
dwelt two men, observing the life and habit of holy con-
versation : the one was called Euthicius and the other
Florentius ; of which Euthicius bestowed his time in
spiritual zeal and fervour of virtue, and laboured much
by his exhortations, to gain souls to God ; but Florentius
led his life in simplicity and devotion. Not far from
the place where they remained, there was an Abbey, the
governor whereof was dead, and therefore the monks
made choice of Euthicius, to take the charge thereof:
who, condescending to their petition, governed the Abbey
many years. And not to have his former oratory utterly
destitute, he left the reverent man Florentius to keep the
same ; who dwelt there all alone, and upon a day, being
at his prayers, he besought almighty God to vouchsafe
him of some comfort in that place ; and having ended
his devotions, he went forth, where he found a bear
standing before the door, which by the bowing down of
his head to the ground, and shewing in the gesture of his
body no sign of cruelty, gave the man of God to under-
stand that he was come thither to do him service, and
himself likewise did forthwith perceive it. And because
he had in the house four or five sheep which had no
keeper, he commanded the bear to take charge of them,
saying : " Go and lead these sheep to the field, and at
twelve of the clock come back again " : which charge he
128
JFIorentius anD CutWcius
took upon him, and did daily come home at that hour :
and so he performed the office of a good shepherd, and
those sheep, which before time he used to devour, now
fasting himself, he took care to have them safely kept.
And when God's servant determined to fast until three
of the clock, then he commanded the bear to return with
his sheep at the same hour; but when he would not
fast so long, to come at twelve. And whatsoever he com-^
manded his bear, that he did, so that bidden to return
at three of the clock, he would not come at twelve ; and
commanded to return at twelve, he would not tarry till
three. And when this had continued a good while, he
began to be famous far and near for his virtue and holy
life. But the old enemy of mankind by that means which
he seeth the good to come unto glory, by the same doth
he draw the wicked through hatred to procure their own
misery ; for four of Euthicius' monks, swelling with envy
that their master wrought not any miracles, and that he
who was left alone by him was famous for so notable
a one, upon very spite went and killed his bear. And
therefore, when the poor beast came not at his appointed
hour, Florentius began to suspect the matter : but expect-
ing yet until the evening, very much grieved he was that
the bear, whom in great simplicity he called his brother,
came not home. The next day, he went to the field, to
seek for his sheep and his shepherd, whom he found there
slain ; and making diligent inquisition, he learned quickly
who they were that had committed that uncharitable fact.
Thea was he very sorry, bewailing yet more the malice
of the monks than" the death of his bear ; whom the
reverent man Euthicius sent for, and did comfort him
what he might : but the holy man Florentius, wonder-
fully grieved in mind, did in his presence curse them,
saying : " 1 trust in almighty God, that they shall in this
life, and in the sight of the world, receive the reward of
their malice, that have thus killed my bear which did
Ci)e Dialogues of %t ©tegorg
them no harm"; whose words God's vengeance did
straight follow, for the four monks that killed the poor
beast were straight so strooken with a leprosy, that their
limbs did rot away, and so they died miserably : whereat
the man of God, Florentius, was greatly afraid, and much
grieved, that he had so cursed the monks ; and all his
life after he wept, for that his prayer was heard, crying
out that himself was cruel, and that he had murdered
those men. Which thing I suppose almighty God did,
to the end that he should not, being a man of great sim-
plicity, upon any grief whatsoever, afterward presume
to curse any. ^
1^0t0t. What ? is it any great^sm, if in our anger we
curse others ?
(StCgOtp, Why do you ask me whether it be a great
sin, when as St. Paul saith : Neither cursers shall possess
the kingdom of God?^ Think, then, how great the sin is,
which doth exclude a man out of heaven.
]pCt0t» What if a man, haply not of malice, but of
negligence in keeping his tongue, doth curse his neigh-
bour 1
<St0ffOtp« If before the severe judge idle speech is
reprehended, how much more that which is hurtful.
Consider, then, how damnable those words be, which
proceed of malice, when that talk shall be pvmished
which proceedeth only from idleness.
l^CtCt* I grant it be most true.
(St00Otp. The same man of God did another thing
which I must not forget. For, the report of his virtue
reaching far and near, a certain Deacon, that dwelt many
miles oiF, travelled unto him, to commend himself to
his prayers. And coming to his cell, he found it round
about full of innumerable snakes ; at which sight being
wonderfully afraid, he cried out, desiring Florentius to
pray : who came forth, the sky being then very clear,
^ I Cor. 6, 10.
I3<?
JFlorentius anD (!Butf)irius
and lifted up his eyes and his hands to heaven, desiring
God to take them away in such sort as he best knew.
Upon whose prayers, suddenly it thundered, and that
thunder killed all those snakes. Florentius, seeing
them all dead, said unto God : " Behold, O Lord, thou
hast destroyed them all, but who shall now carry them
away } " And straight as he had thus spoken, so many
birds came as there were snakes killed, which took them
all up, and carried them far off, discharging his habita-
tion from those venomous creatures.
Ip0t0t. Certainly he was a man of great virtue and merit,
whose prayers God did so quickly hear.
(S)t0ffOtp. Purity of heart and simplicity, Peter, is of
great force with almighty God, who is in purity most
singular, and of nature most simple. For those servants
of his, which do retire themselves from worldly affairs,
avoid idle words, labour not to lose their devotion, nor
to defile their soul with talking, do especially obtain to
be heard of him, to whom, after a certain manner, and
as they may, they be like in purity and simplicity of
heart. But we that live in the world, and speak often-
times idle words, and that which is worse, sometime
those that be hurtful : our words and prayers are so
much the farther off from God, as they be near unto
the world : for we are drawn too much down towards
the earth, by continual talking of secular business : which
thing the prophet Esaye did very well reprehend in
himself, after he had beheld the King and Lord of
armies, and was penitent, crying out : Woe be to me for
being silent, because I am a man that have defiled lips : and
he sheweth straight after the reason why his lips were
defiled, when he saith : / dwell in the midst of a people
that hath defiled lips} For sorry he was that his lips were
defiled, yet concealeth not from whence he had them,
when he saith, that he dwelt in the midst of a people
1 Isai. 6, 5.
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C&e Dialogues of ^t (25tefforp
that had defiled lips. For very hard it is that the
tongues of secular men should not defile their souls,
with whom they talk ; for when we do sometime con-
descend to speak with them of certain things, by little
and little we get such a custom, that we hear that spoken
with pleasure which is not meet to be heard at all, so
that afterward we are loath to give that over, to which
at the first, to gratify others, we were brought against
our wills. And by this means we fall from idle words
to hurtful speeches, and from talk of small moment to
words of great importance : and So it cometh to pass
that our tongue is so much the less respected of God
when we pray, by how much we are more defiled with
foolish speech, because, as it is written : He that turneth
away his ear that he hear not the law^ his prayer shall be
execrable} What marvel, then, is it, if, when we pray,
God doth slowly hear us, when as we hear God's com-
mandments, either slowly or not at all ? And what
marvel if Florentius, when he prayed, was quickly
heard, who obeyed God in observing his command-
ments ?
lP0t0t« The reason alleged is so plain, that nothing
with reason can be said against it.
^t00Otp. But Euthicius, who was companion to
Florentius in serving of God, was famous also for
miracles after his death. For the inhabitants of that
city do speak of many : but the principal is that which,
even to these times of the Lombards, almighty God
hath vouchsafed to work by his coat : for when they
had any great drougth the citizens, gathering themselves
together, did carry that, and together with their prayers
oifer it in the sight of our Lord. And when they went
with that through the fields, praying to God, forthwith
they had such plenty of rain as the dryness of the
ground required : whereby it was apparent, what virtue
» Prov, 28, 9.
132
a^atcius of amount 0@at0ico
and merits were in his soul, whose garment shewed
outwardly did pacify the anger of almighty God.
Chapter ^irteen: of Q^arcius, tbe 8@onfe of
Q^OUnt Q^atSiCO, ^ Not long since, there was a
reverent man in Campania, called Marcius, who lived
.a solitary life in the mountain of Marsico : and many
years together did he continue in a narrow and straight
cave : whom many of our acquaintance knew very well,
and were present at such miracles as he did, and many
things concerning him have I heard from the mouth of
Pope Pelagius of blessed memory, my predecessor, and
also of others, who be very religious men. His first
miracle was that, so soon as he made choice of that cave
for his habitation, there sprung water out of the hollow
rock, which was neither more nor less than served for
his necessity : by which almighty God did shew what
great care he had of his servant, seeing miraculously,
as in ancient time he had before done to the children
of Israel, he caused the hard rock to yield forth water.
But the old enemy of mankind, envying at his virtues,
went about by his ancient slight to drive him from that
place : for he entered into a serpent, his old friend, and
so thought to have terrified him from thence. For the
serpent alone would come into the cave where he lived
also alone, and when he was at his prayers, it would
cast itself before him, and when he took his rest, it
would lie down by his side. The holy man was nothing
at all dismayed at this : for sometime he would put his
hand or leg to his mouth, saying : " If thou hast leave
to sting me, I hinder thee not " : and when he had lived
thus continually the space of three years, upon a day
the old enemy, overcome with his heavenly courage,
made a great hissing, and tumbling himself down by
the side of the mountain, he consumed all the bushes
and shrubs with fire : in which fact by the power of
God he was enforced to shew of what force he was, that
^33
C!)e Dialogue0 of ^t. (Stegotg
departed with loss of the victory. Consider, I pray you
then, in the top of what mountain this man of God stood,
that continued three years together with a serpent,
without taking any harm at all.
lP0t0t. I do consider it, and do tremble at the very
hearing of the story.
(StC0Otp. This reverent man, when he first shut him-
self up, was determined never to behold women any
more : not because he contemned them, but for that he
feared lest their sight might be the occasion of sinful
temptation : which resolution of his a certain woman
understanding, up she went boldly to the mountain, and
forgetting all modesty, impudently approached to his
cave. He seeing her a good way off, and perceiving by
the apparel that it was a woman, he fell straight to his
prayers, with his face upon the earth, and there he lay
prostrate, until the shameless creature, wearied with stay-
ing at his window, departed : and that very day after she
was descended the mountain, she ended her life ; to give
all the world to understand how highly she displeased
almighty God, in offending his servant with that her bold
enterprise.
At another time, many of devotion going to visit him,
a young boy, taking little heed to his feet, and by reason
the path was so straight upon the side of the mountain, fell
down, and tumbled until he came to the bottom of the
valley, which was very deep : for the mountain is so high,
that huge trees growing beneath seem to them that
be above nothing else but little shrubs. The people
present were at this chance much dismayed, and very
diligently did they seek, to see where they could find his
dead body : for who would have thought any otherwise
but that he was slain, or once imagined that his body
could ever have come safe to the ground, so many rocks
being in the way to tear it in pieces ? yet for all this, he
was found in the valley, not only alive, but also without
134
6|^atciu0 of 00ount apatstco
any harm at all. Then they perceived very well, that the
reason why he was not hurt was because Marcius' prayers
did preserve him in his falling.
Over his cave there was a great rock, which seemed to
hang but by a little piece unto the mountain, and there-
fore daily was it feared that it would fall, and so kill the
servant of God. For preventing of which mischief, the
honourable man Mascatus, nephew to Armentarius, came
thither with a great number of country people, desiring
him to leave his cave so long until they had removed
that rock, to the end he might afterward continue there
without any danger : but the man of God could not by
any means be persuaded to come forth, bidding them not-
withstanding do what they thought convenient, only he
retired himself to the farthest part of his cell : yet none
made any doubt, but that if so huge a rock as that was
did fall, but that it would both Spoil his cave and kill
himself. Wherefore they laboured what they might, to
see if they could remove that mighty stone without any
danger to the man of God, and forthwith, in the sight of
them all, a strange thing happened : for that rock, severed
by their labour from the rest of the mountain, not
touching Marcius' cave, did skip clean over, and avoiding,
as it were, to hurt God's servant, it fell far off : which
thing no man can doubt but that it was done by the
hands of Angels, at the commandment of almighty God.
At such time as this holy man came first to inhabit that
mountain, and had not yet made any door for his cave,
he fastened the one end of an iron chain to the stony
wall, and the other he tied to his leg, to the end he might
go no farther than the length of that chain did give him
leave : which thing the reverent man Bennet hearing of,
sent him this word by one of his monks : " If thou be
God's servant, let the chain of Christ, and not any chain
of iron, hold thee " : upon this message Marcius forth-
with loosed his chain, yet did he keep still the same
135
Cbe Dialogues of^t. (Stcfforp
compass, and go no farther than he did before. Living
afterward in the same cave, he began to entertain certain
disciples, which dwelt apart from his cell, who, having
no other water but that which with a rope and a bucket
they drew out of a well, great trouble they had, because
their rope did often break : and therefore they came unto
him, craving that chain which he had loosed from his leg,
that they might tie the rope to that, and fasten the bucket
upon it : ind from that time forward, though the rope was
daily wet with water, yet did it break no more ; for having
touched the holy man's chain, it became strong like unto
iron, so that the water did not wear it, nor do it any harm.
l^CtCt. These worthy acts of his do please me, seeing
they are strange, and that very much, because they were
so lately done, and be yet fresh in memory.
Cfjapter ©etienteen : {joto a Q^onfe of amount
argentario taiseD up a DeaD man, ^ (^tegor?.
Not long since in our time, a certain man called Quadra-
gesimus was subdeacon in the church of Buxentin, who
in times past kept a flock of sheep in the same country
of Aurelia : by whose faithful report I understood a mar-
vellous strange thing, which is this. At such time as be ,
led a shepherd's life, there was an holy man that dwelt
in the mountain of Argentario : whose religious conver-
sation and inward virtue was answerable to the habit of
a monk, which outwardly he did wear. Every year he
travelled from his mountain to the church of St. Peter,
Prince of the Apostles : and in the way took this Quadra-
gesimus' house for his lodging, as himself did tell me.
Coming upon a day to his house, which was hard by the
church, a poor woman's husband died not far ofF, whom
when they had, as the manner is, washed, put on his
garments, and made him ready to be buried, yet it was
so late, that it could not be done that day : wherefore the
desolate widow sat by the dead corpse, weeping all night
long, and to satisfy her grief she did continually lament
136
€\it Q^onfe of amount argentario
and cry out. The man of God, seeing her so pitifully to
weep and never to give over, was much grieved, and said
to Quadragesimus the subdeacon : " My soul talceth
compassion of this woman's sorrow, arise, I beseech you,
and let us pray " : and thereupon they went to the church,
which, as I said, was hard by, and fell to their devotions.
And when they had prayed a good while, the servant of
God desired Quadragesimus to conclude their prayer;
which being done, he took a little dust from the side of
the altar : and so came with Quadragesimus to the dead
body ; and there he began again to pray, and when he
continued so a long time, he desired him not, as he did
before, to conclude their prayers, but himself gave the
blessing, and so rose up : and because he had the dust in
his right hand, with his left he took away the cloth that
covered the dead man's face ; which the woman seeing,
earnestly withstood him, and marvelled much what he
meant to do : when the cloth was gone, he rubbed the
dead man's face a good while with the dust, which he had
taken up ; and at length, he that was dead received his
soul again, began to open his mouth and his eyes, and to
sit up, and as though he had awakened from a deep sleep,
marvelled what they did about him ; which when the
woman, that had wearied herself with crying, beheld, she
began then afresh to weep for joy, and cry out far louder
than she did before : but the man of God modestly for-
bad her, saying : " Peace, good woman, and say nothing,
and if any demand how this happened, say only, that our
Lord Jesus Christ hath vouchsafed to work his pleasure."
Thus he spake, and forthwith he departed from Quadra-
gesimus, and never came to his house again. For, de-
sirous to avoid all temporal honour, he so handled the
matter, that they which saw him work that miracle, did
never see him more so long as he lived.
PCtCt. What others think I know not : but mine
opinion is, that it is a miracle above all miracles, to raise
137
Cf)e Dialogues of %t ©tegotp
up dead men, and secretly to call back their souls, to give
life unto their bodies again.
©tC0Otp» If we respect outward and visible things, of
necessity we must so believe ; but if we turn our eyes
to invisible things, then certain it is that it is a greater
miracle, by preaching of the word and virtue of prayer,
to convert a sinner than to raise up a dead man : for in
the one, that flesh is. raised up which again shall die : but
in the other, he is brought from death which shall live for
ever. For I will name you two, and tell me in which of
them, as you think, the greater miracle was wrought.
The first is Lazarus, a true believer, whom our Lord raised
up in flesh ; the other is Saul, whom our Lord raised in
soul. For of Lazarus' virtues after his resurrection we
read nothing : but after the raising up of the other's soul,
we are not able to conceive what wonderful things be in
holy scripture spoken of his virtues : as that his most
cruel thoughts and designments were turned into the
bowels of piety and compassion ; that he desired to die
for his brethren, in whose death before he took much
pleasure ; that knowing the holy scriptures perfectly, yet
professed that he knew nothing else but Jesus Christ and
him crucified ; that he did willingly endure the beating of
rods for Christ, whom before with sword he did perse-
cute ; that he was exalted to the dignity of an Apostle,
and yet willingly became a little one in the midst of
other disciples ; that he was rapt to the secrets of the
third heaven, and yet did turn his eye of compassion to
dispose of the duty of married folks, saying : Let the hus-
band render debt to the wife, and likewise the wife to the
husband ;^ that he was busied in contemplating the quires
of Angels, and yet contemned not to think and dispose
of the facts of carnal men ; that he rejoiced in his infir-
mities, and took pleasure in his reproaches ; that for him
to live is Christ, and gain to die ; that although he lived
1 I Cor. 7, 3.
138
'Bennet tfje 0@onk
in flesh, yet was he wholly out of the flesh. Behold how
this blessed Apostle lived, who from hell returned in his
soul to the life of virtue : wherefore less it is for one to
be raised up in body, except perchance, by the reviving
thereof, he be also brought to the life of his soul, and
that the outward miracle do serve for the giving of life
to the inward spirit.
Peter. I thought that far inferior, which I perceive now
to be incomparably superior : but prosecute, I beseech
you, your former discourse, that we spend no time
without some spiritual profit to our souls.
C&aptet mshtttn : of TBennet tbe agonfe. q
(SrejOtp. A certain monk lived with me in mine Abbey,
passing cunning in holy scripture, who was elder than I,
and of whom I learned many things which before I knew
not. By his report I understood that there was in Cam-
pania, some forty miles from Rome, a man called Bennet,
young in years, but old for gravity : one that observed
the rule of holy conversation very strictly. When the
Goths in the time of King Totilas found him, they went
about to burn him, together with his cell ; and fire for
that end was put to, which consumed all things round
about, but no hold would the fire take upon his cell :
which when the Goths saw, they became more mad, and
with great cruelty drew him out of that place, and espying
not far off an oven made hot to bake bread, into those
flames they threw him, and so stopped the mouth. But
the next day he was found so free from all harm, that not
only his flesh, but his very apparel also, was not by the
fire anything touched at all.
IPetett I hear now the old miracle of the three children,
which were thrown into the fire, and yet were preserved
from those furious flames.^
(StejOtp. That miracle, in mine opinion, was in some
thing unHke to this : for then the three children were
'^ Daniel 3.
Cfje Dialogues of ^t (Sregorp
bound hand and foot, and so thrown into the fire, for
whom the King looking the next day, found them walk-
ing in the furnace, their garments being nothing hurt by
those flames : whereby we gather that the fire into which
they were cast, and touched not their apparel, did yet
consume their bands, so that at one and the same time,
for the service of the just, the fire had force to bring them
comfort, and yet had none to procure them torment.
Cbaptet Nineteen : of tU cfjurct) of tilesscD ^eno
tit #artpt : in tofjicS tht tnater ascenDeD fjig&et
t&an tftc Doot, anD tijoug&ittoerc open, pet entereD
not in. ^ Like unto this ancient miracle we had in our
days another, but yet in a divers element : for not long
since John the Tribune told me that, when the Earl Pro-
nulphus was there, and himself also with Antharicus the
king, how there happened at that time a strange miracle,
and he afHrmeth that himself doth know it to be true.
For he said that, almost five years since, when the river of
Tiber became so great that it ran over the walls of Rome,
and overflowed many countries : at the same time in the
city of Verona, the river Athesis did so swell, that it came
to the very church of the holy martyr and Bishop Zeno ;
and though the church doors were open, yet did it not
enter in. At last it grew so high, that it came to the church
windows, not far from the very roof itself, and the water
standing in that manner, did close up the entrance into
the church, yet without running in : as though that thin
and liquid element had been turned into a sound wall.
And it fell so out, that many at that time were surprised
in the church, who not finding any way how to escape
out, and fearing lest they might perish for want of meat
and drink, at length they came to the church door, and
took of the water to quench their thirst, which, as I said,
came up to the windows, and yet entered not in ; and so
for their necessity they took water, which yet, according
to the nature of water, ran not in : and in that manner it
140
Oirolamo dai Lxb^t
THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH ST. ZENO (AND ST. LAURENCE JUSTINIAN)
{San Giorgio^ Verona)
Priest ^tepben ofUaleria
stood there before the door, being water to them for their
comfort, and yet not water to invade the place : and all
this to declare the great merit of Christ's martyr. Which
miracle I said truly, that it was not unlike to' that ancient
one of the fire : which burnt the three children's bands,
and yet touched not their garments.
IPetEt. Marvellous strange are these acts of God's saints
which you tell ; and much to be admired of us weak
men, that live in these days. But because I understand
now, by your relation, what a number of excellent and
virtuous men have been in Italy, desirous I am to know
whether they endured any assaults of the devil, and did
thereby more profit in the service of God.
®tC0Otp. Without labour and fighting, none can obtain
the crown of victory : whence, then, come so many con-
querors but from this, that they fought valiantly, and
resisted the assaults of the old enemy .'' For the wicked
spirit doth continually watch our thoughts, words, and
works : to find something whereof to accuse us before
the eternal Judge. For proof whereof I will now let
you understand, how ready he is always to entrap and
deceive us.
Ct)aptet Ctoentp : of a ]§>tim callcD ^tepften, in
tf)e protJince of Valeria : toftose stockings tbe Detiil
toOUlD ftatie DratOn off. ^ Some that are yet living
with me, affirm this to be true which 1 will now speak
of. A man of holy life there was, called Stephen, who was
a Priest in the province of Valeria, nigh of kindred to
my deacon Bonifacius : who, coming home uppn a time
from travel, spake somewhat negligently to his servant,
saying : " Come, sir devil, and pull off my hose " : at
which words, straightways his garters began to loose in
great haste, so that he plainly perceived that the devil
indeed, whom he named, was pulling off his stocking :
whereat being much terrified, he cried out aloud, and
said : " Away, wretched caitiff, away : I spake not to thee,
14.1
€U Dialogues of ^t ©reptg
but to my servant." Then the devil gave over, leaving
his garters almost quite off. By which we may learn,
that if the devil be so officious in things concerning our
body, how ready and diligent he is to observe and note
the cogitations of our soiil.
PCtW. A very painful thing it is and terrible, always to
strive against the temptations of the devil, and, as it were,
to stand continually armed ready to fight.
(^tCffOtp, Not painful at all, if we attribute our pre-
servation not to ourselves, but to God's grace ; yet so
notwithstanding, that we be careful what we may for
our parts, and always vigilant under God's protection.
And it falleth out sometime by God's goodness, that
when the devil is expelled from our soul, that he is so
little of us to be feared, that contrariwise he is rather
terrified by the virtuous and devout life of good people.
Ci)apter Ctocntp^one : of a I3un tfjat, bp t)ct onip
commanDment, Dispossessep a Detiil ^ For the
holy man, old father Eleutherius, of whom I spake
before, told me that which I will now tell you. : and he
was himself a witness of the truth thereof : this it was.
In the city of Spoleto, there was a certain worshipful
man's daughter, for years marriageable, which had a
great desire to lead another kind of life : whose purpose
her father endeavoured to hinder : but she, not respect-
ing her father's pleasure, took upon her the habit of holy
conversation : for which cause her father did disinherit
her, and left her nothing else but six little pieces of
ground. By her example many noble young maids
began under her to be converted, to dedicate their
virginity to almighty God, and to serve him. Upon
a time, the virtuous Abbot Eleutherius went to bestow
upon her some good exhortation : and as he was sitting
with her, discoursing of spiritual matters, a country man
came from that piece of ground which her father had
left her, bringing a certain present : and as he was
142
Cfje CtJief at tfje ©ratie
standing before them, suddenly a wicked spirit pos-
sessed his body ; so that straightways he fell down before
them, and began pitifully to cry and roar out. At this
the Nun rose up, and with angry countenance and loud
voice, commanded him to go forth, saying : " Depart from
him, thou vile wretch, depart." " If I depart," quoth the
devil, speaking by the mouth of the possessed man, " into
whom shall I go .^ " By chance there was at that time
a little hog hard by : into which she gave him leave to
enter, which he did, and so, killing it, went his way.
IP^tCt. I would gladly be informed, whether she might
bestow so much as that hog upon the devil.
(^tZQOtJf, The actions of our Saviour be a rule for us,
according to which we may direct our life : and we read
in the scripture, how the legion of devils that possessed
a man said unto our Saviour : If thou dost cast us forth,
send us into the herd of swine : ^ who cast them out, and
permitted them to enter in as they desired, and to drown
that herd in the sea. By which fact of our Saviour we
learn also this lesson, that, except almighty God giveth
leave, the devil cannot have any power against man,
seeing he cannot so much as enter into hogs, without
oiir Saviour's permission. Wherefore, necessary it is
that we be obedient to him, unto whom all our enemies
be subject, that we may so much the more be stronger
than our enemies, by how much through humility we
become one with the author of all things. And what
marvel is it, if God's chosen servants, living yet upon
earth, can do many strange things, when as their very
bones, after they be dead, do oftentimes work miracles .?
Chapter Ctoentp^ttaio : of a ptiest in tbe protimce
of ixalena, tobo DetaineD a tSief at bis gratie.
^ For, in the province of Valeria, this strange thing
happened : which I had from the mouth of Valentius,
mine Abbot, who was a blessed man. In that country
1 Matt. 8, 31.
H3
Cbe Dialogues of ©t (25reffotp
there was a Priest, who in the company of divers other
clerks served God, and led a virtuous and holy life :
who, when his time was come, departed this life, and
was buried before the church. Not far off, there
belonged to the church certain sheep-cotes : and the
place where he lay buried was the way to go unto the
sheep. Upon a night, as the Priests were singing
within the church, a thief came to the said place,
took up a wether, and so departed in all haste : but
as he passed where the man of God was buried, there
he stayed, and could go no farther. Then he took the
wether from his shoulders, and would fain have let it
go, but by no means could he open his hand : and
therefore, poor wretch, there he stood fast bound, with
his prey before him ; willingly would he have let the
wether go, and could not ; willingly also have carried
it away, and was not able. And so very strangely the
thief, that was afraid to be espied of living men, was
held there against his will by one that was dead ; for his
hands and reet were bound in such sort, that away he
could not go. When morning was come, and the Priests
had ended their service, out they came : where they
found a stranger, with a wether in his hand. And at
the first they were in doubt, whether he had taken
away one of theirs, or else camq. to give them one of
his own : but he that was guilty of the theft told them
in what manner he was punished : whereat they all
wondered, to see a thief, with his prey before him, to
stand there bound by the merits of the man of God.
And straightways they offered their prayers for his
delivery, and scarce could they obtain that he, which
came to steal away their goods, might at least find so
much favour as to depart empty as he came : yet in
conclusion, the thief that had long stood there with his
stolen wether, was suffered to go away free, leaving
his carriage behind him,
144
Cf)e atJbot of amount preneste
]P)Ct0t. By such facts almighty God doth declare, in
what sweet manner he doth tender us, when he
vouchsafeth to work such pleasant miracles.
C&aptet Ctoent]P=tt)tee : of thz 3t)bot of amount
Preneste, anD msl^ticst ^ (^tcgorp. Above the
city of Preneste there is a mountain, upon which standeth
an Abbey of the blessed Apostle, St. Peter : of the monks
of which place, whiles I lived in an Abbey myself, I heard
this miracle : which, those religious men said, they knew
to be very true. In that monastery they had an Abbot
of holy life, who brought up a certain monk, that became
very virtuous, whom he perceiving to increase in the
fear of God, he caused him in the same monastery to be
made Priest : who, after his taking of orders, understood
by revelation that his death was not far off ; and there-
fore desired leave of the Abbot to make ready his
sepulchre, who told him that himself should die before
him : " but yet for all that," quoth he, " go your way, and
make your grave at your pleasure." Away he went, and
did so. Not many days after, the old Abbot fell sick of
an ague, and drawing near to his end, he bad the fore-
said Priest that stood by him, to bury his body in that
grave which he had made for himself: and when the
other told him that he was shortly to follow after, and
that the grave was not big enough for both, the Abbot
answered him in this wise : "Do as I have said, for that
one grave shall contain both our bodies." So he died, and
according to his desire, was buried in that grave which
the Priest had provided for himself Straight after, the
Priest fell sick, and lay not long before he departed this
life; and when his body was by the monks brought
to the grave, which he had provided for himself, they
opened it, and saw that there was not any room,
because the Abbot's corpse filled the whole place :
then one of them, with a loud voice, said : "O father,
where is your promise, that this grave should hold you
145 K
C&e Dialogues of ^t <!5re0orp
both ? " No sooner had he spoken those words, than
the Abbot's body, which lay with the face upward, did,
in all their sight, turn itself upon one side, and so left
place enough for the burial of the Priest : and so after
his death he performed what he promised alive, con-
cerning the lying of both their bodies in that one grave.
But because we have now made mention of St. Peter's
Abbey in the city of Preneste, where this miracle hap-
pened, are you content to hear something of the keepers
of his church which is in this city where his most holy
body remaineth ?
}§}tttt. Most willing I am, and beseech you that it
may be so.
Chapter Ctoentp^fout: of CbeoDorus, ffilecper
of ^t lpeter'0 Cf)urct), in tU Citp of Kome.
^ <©t00Otp. There be yet some alive that knew Theo-
dorus, keeper of that church : by whose report a notable
thing that befell him came to my knowledge. For rising
somewhat early one night to mend the lights that hung by
the door, and was upon the ladder (as he used) to pour oil
into the lamps, suddenly St. Peter the Apostle in a white
stole, standing beneath upon the pavement, appeared unto
him, and spake to him in this manner : " Theodorus, why
hast thou risen so early?" and when he had said so, he
vanished out of his sight : but such a fear came upon
him, that all the strength of his body did forsake him,
so that he was not able to rise up from his bed for many
days after. By which apparition what meant the blessed
Apostle else, but to give those which serve him to under-
stand by that his presence, that whatsoever they do for his
honour, himself for their reward doth always behold it ?
IP'EtCt. I marvel not so much at his apparition : as that
being before very well, he fell sick upon that sight.
(S)tC0Otp. What reason have you, Peter, to marvel at
that ? for have you forgotten how the prophet Daniel,
when he beheld that great and terrible vision at which
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atJunDius of ^t IPetet's Cl)utct)
he trembled, speaketh thus of himself: / became weak,
and was sick for very many days;^ for the flesh cannot
conceive such things as pertain to the spirit, and there-
fore sometimes when a man's mind is carried to see
somewhat beyond itself, no remedy but this earthly and
frail vessel of ours, not able to bear such a burthen, must
fall into weakness and infirmity.
PCtCt. Your reason hath taken away that scruple which
troubled my mind.
Chapter Ctoentp^fitJe: of at)unDiu0, Eecpct of t&c
same C&UtCft of %t Petet. ^ ©tegOtp. Not very
many years since (as old men say) there was another
keeper of the same church, called Abundius, a grave man,
and of great humility : who served God so faithfully, that
the blessed Apostle St. Peter did by miracle declare what
opinion he had of his virtue. For a certain young maid,
that frequented his church, was so pitifully sick of the
palsy, that she crept upon her hands, and, for very weak-
ness, drew her body upon the ground. Long time had
she prayed to St. Peter for help of this her infirmity :
who upon a night in a vision, stood by her and spake
thus : " Go unto Abundius, and desire his help, and he
shall restore thee to thine health." The maid, as she made
no doubt of the vision, so not knowing this Abundius, up
and down she crept through the church, enquiring for the
man, and suddenly met with him whom she sought for ;
and asking for him of himself, he told her that he was
Abundius. Then quoth she : " Our pastor and patron,
blessed St. Peter the Apostle, hath sent me, that you
should help me of this my disease." " If you be sent by
him," quoth Abundius, " then rise up" : and taking her
by the hand, he forthwith lifted her up upon her feet :
and from that very hour, all the sinews and parts of her
body became so strong, that no sign of her former malady
remained. But if I should recount all the miracles in
1 Daniel 8, 27.
H7
Ci)e Dialogues of ^t. mtmv
particular, which are known to have been done in his
church, questionless no time would be left for the relation
of any other ; wherefore 1 will speak no more of them,
but come to such holy men as have been famous in divers
other places of Italy.
Chapter Ctoentp=sir: of a solitarg ^onfe called
Q^enaS. fl Not long since, in the province of Samnium,
there was a reverent man called Menas, who some ten
years since led a solitary life, and was known to many
of our friends : and for the truth of such his notable
acts as I shall report, I will not name any one author,
because I have so many witnesses as there be men that
know that province of Samnium. This holy man had
no other wealth to live upon, but a few hives of bees,
which a certain Lombard would needs have taken away :
for which cause the holy man reprehended him, and by
and by he fell down before him, and was tormented of
a devil : upon which accident his name became famous,
both to his neighbours and also to that barbarous nation :
so that none durst after that but in humility come into
his cell. Oftentimes also there came certain bears out
of the wood which was hard by, to devour up his honey,
whom he strook with a little stick which he carried in
his hand ; and the bears so feared his stripes, that they
would roar out and run away, and they which little feared
naked swords were now afraid to be beaten by him with
a small wand. He desired not to possess aught in this
world, nor to seek for any thing ; and his manner was,
by heavenly talk to inflame all such as of charity came
to visit him, with the desire and love of eternal life. And
if at any time he understood that others had committed
any great sin, he would never spare them, but with
true love to their souls reprehend them for their faults.
His neighbours, and others also that dwelt farther oiF,
used upon a custom, every one upon certain days in the
week, to send him their presents and offerings, to the end
148
arenas tfje %oUtatp
he might have somewhat to bestow upon such as came
to visit him. A certain man there was, called Carterius,
who, overcome of filthy concupiscence, violently took
away a Nun, and by unlawful matrimony made her his
wife : which thing so soon as the man of God understood,
he sent him by such as he could that message which his
fact deserved. The man, guilty in his conscience of that
wickedness which he had committed, durst not himself
go unto God's servant, fearing lest, as his manner was,
he would sharply have rebuked him : and therefore he
sent his offerings among others, that at least through
ignorance he might receive what he sent him. But when
all the offerings were brought before him, he sat still,
viewing them all in particular, and laying the rest aside,
he took those which Carterius sent, and cast them away,
saying : " Go and tell him : Thou hast taken away God's
offering, and dost thou send me thine ? I will none of
thy offering, because thou hast taken from God that
which was his." By which fact all that were present
fell into a great fear, perceiving that he could certainly
tell what they did which were absent.
l^CtCt. Many such men as he was might, in mine
opinion, have been martyrs, if they had lived in times
of persecution.
(©tC0Otp. There be, Peter, two kinds of martyrdoms,
the one secret, the other open : for if a man hath a
burning zeal in his mind to suffer death for Christ,
although he endureth not any external persecution, yet
hath he in secret the merit of martyrdom. For that one
may be a martyr without suffering death openly, our
Lord doth teach us in the Gospel : who said unto the
sons of Zebedeus, desiring as then, through infirmity of
soul, the principal places to sit upon in his kingdom :
Can you drink the chalice which I shall drink ? and when
they answered that they could, he said to them both :
My chalice verily shall you drink, but to sit at my right hand
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Cbe Dialogues of ^t. (Stegotp
or left, is not mine to give you : ^ in which words what is
signified else, by the name of chalice, but the cup of
passion and death ? And seeing we know that James
was put to death for Christ, and that John died when
the Church enjoyed peace : undoubtedly we do gather
that one may be a martyr without open suflFering : for
as much as he is said to have drunk our Lord's chalice,
who yet in persecution was not put to death. But con-
cerning those notable and excellent men of whom 1 have
made mention before, why may we not truly say, that if
they had fallen into a time of persecution, they might have
been martyrs, when as by enduring the secret assaults of
the devil, and by loving their enemies in this world, by
resisting all carnal desires, and in that they did in their
heart sacrifice themselves to almighty God, they were
also martyrs in the time of peace ? seeing that now in
our days we see that mean men and of secular life, yea,
and even those of whom one would have supposed that
they did little think of heaven, have by occasion of
persecution obtained the glorious crown of martyrdom.
C&aptet Ctoentp=set)en : of fottp counttp hm-
fianDmen tijat toere slain 6p tbe lombatDs, fyt-
cause tbep toouID not cat flesb sacrificcD to iDoIs.''
^ For about fifteen years since, as they report who
might very well have been present, forty husbandmen
of the country were taken prisoners by the Lombards,
whom they would needs have enforced to eat of that
which was sacrificed to idols : but when they utterly
refused so to do, or so much as once to touch that
wicked meat, then they threatened to kill them, unless
they would eat it : but they, loving more eternal than
transitory life, continued constant, and so they were all
slain. What then were these men .'' what else but true
martyrs, that made choice rather to die than, by eating
of that which was unlawful, to offend their Creator ?
■^ Matt. 20, 22-23.
150
Cf)e lomtiatD Persecution
Cftaptet Ctoentp=ei8:f)t : of a gteat numbet of
prisoners tbat toere slain, because tfjep tooulD
not aDore a goat's feeaD. ^ At the same time, the
Lombards, having almost four hundred prisoners in
their hands, did, after their manner, sacrifice a goat's
head to the devil : running round about with it in a
circle, and by singing a most blasphemous song did
dedicate it to his service. And when they had them-
selves with bowed heads adored it, then would they also
have enforced their prisoners to do the like. But a very
great number of them choosing rather by death to pass
unto immortal life, than by such abominable adoration to
preserve their mortal bodies, refused utterly to do what
they commanded them ; and so would not by any means
bow down their heads to a creature, having always done
that service to their Creator : whereat their enemies, in
whose hands they were, fell into such an extreme rage,
that they slew all them with their swords, which would
not join with them in that sacrilegious /act. What
marvel then is it, that those notable men ''^before men-
tioned might have come to martyrdom, had they lived
in the days of persecution, who in the time of peace,
by continual mortification, walked the straight way of
martyrdom : when as we see that, in the storm of
persecution, they merited to obtain the crown of martyr-
dom, who, the Church being quiet, seemed to walk the
broad way of this world ? Yet that which we say con-
cerning the elect servants of God, is not to be holden
for a general rule in all. For when open persecution
afilicteth the Church, as most true it is that many may
arrive to martyrdom, who, when no such tempest did
blow, seemed contemptible, and of no account : so like-
wise sometimes they fall away for fear, who before
persecution, and when all was quiet, seemed to stand
very constant : but such holy men as before have been
mentioned, I dare boldly say that they might have been
151
C&e Dialo0uc0 of @t (^tegorg
martyrs, because we gather so much by their happy
deaths : for they could not have fallen in open perse-
cution, of whom it is certain that, to the very end of
their lives, they did continue in the profession of piety
and virtue.
Ip>0t0t, It is as you say : but I much wonder at the
singular providence of God's mercy, which he sheweth
to us unworthy wretches, in that he doth so moderate
and temper the cruelty of the Lombards, that he
sufFereth not their wicked priests to persecute the faith
of Christians : when as they see themselves, as it were,
the conquerors and rulers of Christian people.
Chapter Ctoentgrnine : of an arian IBisfjOp tftat
toas mitaculouglp stroofeen blinD. ^ (Sregorp, .
Many, Peter, have attempted that, but miracles from
heaven have stayed the course of their cruelty : and one
will I now tell you, which I heard three days since of
Bonifacius, a monk of my Abbey, who, until these four
years last past, remained amongst the Lombards. An
Arian Bishop of theirs coming to the city of Spoleto,
and not having any place where to exercise his religion,
demanded a church of the Bishop of that town : which
when he constantly denied him, the Arian prelate told
him, that the next day he would by force take posses-
sion of St. Paul's church, which was hard by his lodging.
The keeper of the church, understanding this news, in
all haste ran thither, shut the doors, and with locks and
bolts made them as fast as he could : and when it was
night he put out all the lamps, and hid himself within.
The next morning, very early, the Arian Bishop came
thither with many in his company : meaning by force
to break open the doors. But suddenly by miracle the
locks were cast far off, and the doors of themselves,
making a great noise, flew open : and all the lamps,
before put out, were lightened again by fire descend-
ing from heaven : and the Arian Bishop that came to
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Ci)C !DaUotom0 of ^t a^atija's
enter the church by violence, was suddenly strooken
blind, so that other men were fain to lead him back
again to his own lodging. Which strange accident when
the Lombards there about understood, they durst not
any more presume to violate Catholic places : and so it
fell out wonderfully, by God's providence, that for as
much as the lamps in St. Paul's church were by reason
of him put out : that at one and the self same time,
both he lost the light of his eyes, and the church re-
ceived her former light again.
Cbaptet Cf)irtp : f)oto a cburcb of tht atians in
iaome toas ballotoeo accotDing to tht Catbolici
Uiann^t. ^ Neither is that to be passed over in silence
which God of his mercy vouchsafed, two years since, to
shew in this city, to the great condemnation of the Arian
heresy : for part of that which I intend now to speak of,
many of the people know to be true : part the Priest and
keepers of the church affirm that they saw and heard. A
church of the Arians, in that part of the city which is called
Subura, remained until two years since with the doors
shut up ; at which time, being desirous thatiit should be
hallowed in the Catholic faith, we brought with us thither
the relics of the blessed martyrs St. Stephen and St.
Agatha : and so with great multitudes of people, singing
of praises to almighty God, we entered the church : and
when the solemnity of mass was in celebrating, and the
people, by reason of the straight place, thrust one another,
some of them that stood without the chancel heard an
hog running up and down through their legs, and each
one perceiving it told it to his next fellow : but the hog
made towards the cTiurch door to go forth, striking all
those into great admiration by whom he passed ; but
though they heard him, yet none there was that saw him :
which strange thing God of piety vouchsafed to shew, to
the end we should understand how that the unclean spirit,
which before possessed that place, was now departed and
153
€U Dialogues of ^t ®reg;otp
gone. When mass was done we went away, but the night
following such a noise was heard in the top of the church,
as though somebody had there run up and down ; and the
next night after that a far greater, and withal, of a sudden,
such a terrible crack there was, as though the whole
church had been quite falling down : which forthwith
vanished away, and never after was the church troubled
any more by the old enemy : but by the great stir which
he kept before his departure, he made it apparent that he
went very unwillingly from that place, which so long time
he had possessed.
Not many days after, in a passing fair and clear day, a
cloud miraculously descended upon the altar of the same
church : covering it as it had been with a canopy : and
filled the church with such a kind of terror and sweetness,
that though the doors were wide open, yet none durst
presume to enter in. The Priest also and the keepers of
the church, and those which were come thither to say
mass, beheld the selfsame thing, yet could they not go in,
although they felt the sweetness of that strange permme.
Likewise upon another day, the lamps hanging with-
out light, fire came from heaven and set them a burning :
and a few days after, when mass was ended, and the
keeper of the church had put out the lamps, and was de-
parted, yet returning back again, he found them burning
which before he had put forth ; but thinking that he had
done it negligently, he did it now more carefully the
second time, and so departed the church and shut the
door ; but returning three hours after, he found them
again burning as before : to the end that by the very
light the world might manifestly know, how that place
was from darkness translated to light.
l^CtCt. Although we be in great miseries and tribula-
tions, yet these strange miracles, which God vouchsafeth
to work, do plainly declare that he hath not utterly for-
saken and given us over.
154
l^ing J0etmig:ilDus
® tC0Otp. Albeit I was determined to recount unto you
only such strange things as were done in Italy, are you
for all that content, to the further condemnation of the
said Arian heresy, that I turn a little my speech to Spain,
and so by Africk return back again to Italy ?
l^CtCt. Go whither you will, willingly will I travel with
you, and joyfully return home again,
Cf)aptct Cf)irtp=one : of ffiiing: l^crmigHDus, son
to leuigilDus, mns of tbe Vmsotbs : tof)o toas,
for ti)e Catholic faitt), put to Dcatf) tip i)is fati)er»
^ ©t00Otp» Not long since, as I have learned of many
which came from Spain, king Hermigildus, son of Leui-
gildus, king of the Visegoths, was from Arian heresy
lately converted to the Catholic faith by the most reverent
man Leander, Bishop of Seville, with whom I was not
long since familiarly acquainted ; which young Prince,
upon his conversion, his father, being an Arian, laboured
both by large promises and terrible threats to draw again
to his former error : but when most constantly his son
answered, that he would never forsake the true faith
which he had once embraced, his father in great anger
took away his kingdom, and beside deprived him of all
wealth and riches ; and perceiving that, with all this, his
mind was nothing moved, he committed him to straight
prison, laying irons both upon his neck and hands. Upon
this, the young king Hermigildus began now to contemn
his earthly kingdom, and to seek with great desire after
the kingdom of heaven : and lying in prison fast bound,
he prayed to almighty God in hair-cloth to send him
heavenly comfort : and so much the more did he despise
the glory of this transitory world, by how much he knew
himself in that case that he had now nothing that could
be taken from him.
When the solemn feast of Easter was come, his wicked
father sent unto him in the dead of the night an Arian
Bishop, to give him the communion of a sacrilegious con-
^55
C6e Dialogues of %t (Stegotp
secration, that he might thereby again recover his father's
grace and favour : but the man of God, as he ought,
sharply reprehended that Arian Bishop which came unto
him, and giving him such entertainment as his deserts
required, utterly rejected him ; for albeit outwardly he
lay there in bands, yet inwardly to himself he stood
secure in the height of his own soul. The father, at the
return of the Arian prelate, understanding these news, fell
into such a rage that forthwith he sent his officers of exe-
cution to put to death that most constant confessor, in the
very prison where he lay : which unnatural and bloody
commandment was performed accordingly : for so soon
as they came into the prison, they clave his brains with an
hatchet, and so bereaved him of mortal life, having only
power to take that from him which the holy martyr made
small account of. Afterward, for the publishing of his
true glory to the world, there wanted not miracles from
heaven : for in the night time singing was heard at his
body : some also report that, in the night, burning lamps
were seen in that place : by reason whereof his body, as
of him that was a martyr, was worthily worshipped of all
Christian people. But the wicked father and murtherer
of his own son, albeit he was sorry that he had put him to
death, yet was not his grief of that quality that it brought
him to the state of salvation. For although he knew
very well that the Catholic faith was the truth, yet, for
fear of his people, he never deserved to be a professor
thereof.
•At length, falling sick, a little before his death, he
commended his son Recharedus, who was to succeed
him in the kingdom, and was yet an heretic, unto Bishop
Leander, whom before he had greatly persecuted : that
by his counsel and exhortation, he might likewise make
him a member of the Catholic Church, as he had before
made his brother Hermigildus ; and when he had thus
done, he departed this life. After whose death, Rec-
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C|)e 'Bi0f)op0 of afticfe
haredus the king, not following the steps of his wicked
father, but his brother the martyr, utterly renounced
Arianism : and laboured so earnestly for the restoring
of religion, that he brought the whole nation of the
Visegoths to the true faith of Christ, and would not
suffer any that was an heretic in his country to bear
arms and serve in the wars. And it is not to be ad-
mired that he became thus to be a preacher of the true *
faith, seeing he was the brother of a martyr, whose
merits did help him to bring so many into the lap of
God's Church : wherein we have to consider that he
could never have effected all this, if king Hermigildus
had not died for the testimony of true religion ; for, as
it is written : Unless the grain of wheat falling into the earth
doth die, itself remaineth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit} This we see to prove true in the members,
which before was verified in the head : for one died
amongst the Visegoths that many might live, and of one
grain that was sown for the faith, a great crop of faithful
people sprung up. .
IPrtCt, A wonderful thing, and much to be admired in
these our days.
Cbaptet Cf)irtp=ttDO : of certain TBisbops of africfe,
to&o 6aD tfteit tongues cut out bp tf)e T:7anDals,
ttjat toere atian getetics, for tbe Defence of tf)e
Catholic faitf); anD get spafee still as perfectip as
tf)ep DiD before. ^ ©regOrp. Likewise, in the time
of Justinian the Emperor, when as the Vandals, that were
Arian heretics, did grievously persecute the Catholic
faith, certain Bishops, continuing constant, were openly
examined : whom when the king of the Vandals saw
that he could neither by any words or rewards draw to
embrace his heretical religion, yet he thought that by
torments he might do it : and therefore, when he com-
manded them not to speak in defence of truth, and they
1 John 12, 24.
Cfje Dialogues of ^t (^tegorg
refused to obey his precept, lest by silence they might
seem to give consent unto wicked heresy, in a great
fury he commanded their tongues to be cut out by the
roots. A miraculous thing, and yet known to many
old men : they did as perfectly afterward speak in de-
fence of true religion, as they did before, when they had
their tongues safe and sound.
IPetet. You tell me of a marvellous strange thing, and
greatly to be admired.
©t00Otp. It is written, Peter, of the only Son of the
eternal Father : In the beginning was the Word^ and the
Word was with Qod} Of whose virtue and power it
straightways foUoweth : All things were made by him.
Why then should we marvel, if that eternal Word could
speak without a tongue, which made the tongue .''
J^etCt. What you say pleaseth me very well.
(©t00Otp. These Bishops, therefore, flying at that time
from the persecution, came unto the city of Constanti-
nople : and at &udi_tijtne j,s myself, about the affairs of
the Church, was sent thitherjuntcrtheEmpergr, I found
there a Bishop of good years, who toId~me that he saw
them himself speak without tongues : for they opened
their mouths, and said : " Behold and see how we have
no tongues, and yet do speak " ; for, as he said, their
tongues being cut off by the roots, there seemed as it
were a deep hole in their throat : and yet, though their
mouths were empty, they pronounced their words very
plain and distinctly. One of which, falling afterward in
that place into carnal sin, was forthwith deprived of that
supernatural gift : and that by the just judgment of al-
mighty God, seeing reason requireth that he which was
careless to preserve the continency of his body which
he had, should not any longer utter the words of truth
without the tongue of his body which he had not. But
because I have now spoken sufficient for the condemna-
^ John I, I.
158
OEleutfierius of ^poleto
tion of Arianism, therefore I will return to entreat of
such other miracles as have lately fallen out here in
Italy.
Cbaptet C6ittp4f)tee : of tbe sertiant of (Sod,
dCUtbCttUg. ^ Eleutherius, of whom I made men-
tion before, father of the Abbey of the Evangelist St.
Mark, which is in the suburbs of the city of Spoleto,
lived long time together with me in this city in my
monastery, and there ended his days. Of whom his
monks do report that by his tears he raised up one that
was dead : for he was a man of such simplicity and
compunction, that no doubt but those tears, coming
from his humble and simple soul, were of force to
obtain many things of almighty God. One miracle of
his I will now tell you, which himself, being demanded
by me, did with great simplicity confess. As he was
travelling upon a certain day, and not finding at night
any other place to lodge in, he went to a Nunnery,
wherein there was a little boy which the wicked spirit
did usually every night torment. The Nuns, giving
entertainment to the man of God, desired him that the
said little boy might remain with him all night : where-
with he was well content. In the morning, the Nuns
diligently enquired of the father, if the child had not
been sore troubled and tormented that night : who,
marvelling why they asked that question, answered that
he perceived not any such thing. Then they told him
how a wicked spirit did every night pitifully afflict the
child, and earnestly desired him that he would take
him home to his own Abbey, because their hearts could
not endure to behold any such misery. The old man
yielded to their request, and so carried away the boy
home to his own monastery : where he remained long
time safe and sound, the devil not presuming to touch
him. Whereupon the old man, seeing him to continue
so well, was immoderately glad thereof, and therefore, in
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Cl)e Dialogues of ^t (J^tegorp
the presence of the monks, he spake thus : " The devil
did dally with those sisters : but now he hath to do with
the servants of God, he dare not come near this boy."
He had scarce uttered these words, when as in that
very instant the poor child was, in the presence of them
all, possessed, and pitifully tormented : which the old
man beholding, straightways lamented and fell a weep-
ing, and persevering so a long time, the monks came
to comfort him ; but he answered them, saying : "Be-
lieve me," quoth he, " none of you shall this day eat any
bread, unless this boy be dispossessed." Then, with
the rest of the brethren, he fell prostrate to his prayers,
and there they continued so long, until the boy was
delivered from his former torments, and besides so
perfectly cured, that the wicked spirit never after pre-
' sumed to molest him any more.
JP0t0t» I verily suppose that he sinned a little in vain
glory : and that God's pleasure was, that the other
monks should co-operate to the dispossessing of the
devil.
(St00Otp. It is even so as you say : for seeing he
could not alone bear the burthen of that miracle, it was
divided amongst the rest of his brethren. Of what force
and efRcacy this man's prayers were, I have found by
experience in myself : for being upon a time, when I
lived in the Abbey, so sick that I often swooned : and
was by means thereof, with often pangs, continually at
death's door, and in such case that, unless I did con-
tinually eat something, my vital spirit was going away :
Easter day was at hand, and therefore when I saw that
upon so sacred a vigil I could not refrain from often
eating, in which not only old persons, but even children
use to fast, I was more afflicted with grief, than grieved
with mine infirmity : yet at length my sorrownal soul
quickly found out a device, and that was, to carry the
man of God secretly into the oratory, and there to
i6o
DitJers EinDs of Compunction
entreat him that he would by his prayer obtain for me
of God so much strength and ability as to fast that day :
which fell out accordingly : for so soon as we came into
the oratory, with humility and tears he fell to his
prayers, and after a while (having made an end) he
came forth, and upon the words of his blessed prayers,
my stomach grew so strong, that I did not so much
as think of any meat, nor feel any grief at all. Then I
began to marvel at myself, and to think in what case
1 was before, and how I felt myself now : and when I
thought upon my former sickness, I found none of
those pangs with which before I was troubled : and
when my mind was busied about the affairs of the
Abbey, my sickness was quite out of my memory ; yea,
and as I saidj if I did think thereof, yet feeling myself
so well and strong, I began to doubt whether I had
eaten or no. When evening was come, I found myself
so lusty that I could very well have fasted until the
next day. And by this means, having experience of his
prayers in myself, I made no doubt but those things
also were true which in other places he did, though
myself was not then present.
l^Ct0t. Seeing you told me that he was a man of
great compunction, desirous I am to be better informed
touching the efficacy of compunction and tears : and
therefore I pray you, let me understand how many
kinds of cornpunction there be.
Chapter Cmttg^four: of tfje mzts feinDs of com^
pUnCtiOn. ^ (StCgOtp. Compunction is divided into
many kinds : to wit, when every sin is of penitent men
in particular bewailed : whereof the prophet Jeremy, in
the person of penitent sinners, speaketh thus : Mine eye
hath brought forth divisions of waters} But speaking more
properly, there be especially two kinds of compunction :
for the soul that thirsteth after God is first sorrowful in
1 Lamentations 3, 48.
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heart for fear, and afterward upon love. For first it is
grieved and weepeth, because, calling to mind former
sins committed, it feareth to endure for punishment of
them everlasting torments : but when long anxiety and
sorrow hath banished away that fear, then a certain
security of the hope of pardon doth follow : and so the
soul is inflamed with the love of heavenly delights, and
whereas before it did weep for fear of eternal pain, after-
ward it poureth out tears, that it is kept from everlasting
j oys. For the soul doth then contemplate those glittering
quires of Angels, that heavenly company of those blessed
spirits, that great majesty of the eternal beholding the
face of God ; and doth lament so much more now,
because it wanteth that everlasting felicity, than it wept
before at the fear of eternal punishment. Which thing
in scripture is mystically set down, in an holy and true
history : for there we read how Axa, the daughter of
Caleb, riding upon an ass^ did sigh : and when her
father demanded what the matter was, she answered
him thus : Qive me your blessings a southern and dry land
you have given me, join also a watery : and he gave her a
■watery ground above and beneath.^ For Axa then rideth
upon the ass, when our soul doth subdue and govern
the sensual motions of the flesh : which sighing doth
crave wet ground of her father, when it doth with con-
trition and sorrow of heart desire of our Creator the
grace of tears and weeping. For some there be, upon
whom God hath bestowed such a gift, that they will
speak freely in defence of justice, help them that be
oppressed, give alms to the poor, and be zealous in
religion, but yet have they not obtained the grace of
tears : these be they, that have ground towards the
south, and that which is dry : but yet do they want
that which is moist and wet : because, albeit they be
diligent and fervent in good works, yet requisite it is
^ Joshua 15, 19.
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amantius of Cuscania
that they should also, either for fear of hell or the
love of heaven, bewail the sins of their life past. But
because, as I said, there be two kinds of compunction,
therefore her father gave her that which was wet above
and also wet beneath : for our soul doth then receive
that which is wet above, when it is grieved, and doth
weep for the desire of heaven ; and it doth then possess
that which is wet beneath, when it is afraid, and poureth
forth tears for the fear of hell fire : and albeit that which
is wet beneath is bestowed upon our soul, before that
which is wet above, yet because the compunction of love
is the more excellent, convenient it was that the ground
which was wet above should be first named, and after-
ward that which was wet beneath.
}^0tSt» Your discourse pleaseth me very well : but
seeing you have now told me of that reverent man
Eleutherius, and his great grace of compunction,
desirous I am to know whether there be now any
such men living in the world.
Chapter Cl)ittp*fit)e : of amantius, a l^tiest in ttt
PtOtJince of CU0Cama. ^ <JDreffOtp. Floridus, Bishop
of Tivoli, a man (as yourself knoweth very well) of holy
life, and worthy to be credited, told me that he had
dwelling with him a certain Priest called Amantius, of
marvellous simplicity : who, like unto the Apostles, had
such a grace given him of God, that, laying his hand upon
them that were sick, he restored them to their former
health ; and although the disease were very great and
dangerous, yet upon his touching did it forthwith depart.
Moreover he said that he had also this miraculous gift,
that wheresoever he found any serpents or snakes, though
never so cruel, yet did he with the sign of the cross dis-
patch and kill them : for by virtue of the cross, which the
man of God made with his hand, their bowels did break,
and they suddenly die : and if by chance the snake gat
into any hole, then did he with the sign of the cross bless
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the mouth thereof, and it wrought the same effect ; for
any might straightways find it there dead. Myself having
understanding of this great grace bestowed upon him, was
desirous to see him : and when he was brought unto me,
I caused him to be lodged in a chamber amongst the
sick men : thereby to try what his gift was in curing of
diseases. At that time, there was one amongst them be-
side himself, being fallen into a phrensy : who one night
did so cry out like a mad man, that with his noise he dis-
quieted all the rest that were sick, so that they could not
sleep or take any rest : and so it fell out very strangely
that, one being ill, all the rest fared the worse. But as
I had before learned of the reverent Bishop Floridus,
who was at that time there present with the said Priest,
and afterward also plainly understood of him that at-
tended that night upon the sick persons, the foresaid
venerable Priest, rising out of his bed, went softly to the
place where the mad man lay, and there prayed, laying his
hands upon him ; whereupon the man became somewhat
better. Then he carried him away unto the higher part
of the house, into the oratory : where more plentifully
he prayed unto God for his recovery : and straight after
he brought him back again to his own bed safe and sound,
so that he cried out no more, neither troubled any of
the other sick persons. By which one fact of his, I had
sufficient reason to give credit to all the rest that before
had been told me.
J^0t0t. A great edification it is, to see men working such
notable miracles : and to behold, as it were upon earth,
heavenly Jerusalem in her citizens.
Chapter Ct)irt5=0ir: of ^arimianus, TBisf)op of
^praCUSiS. ^ (SregOtg* Neither is that miracle to be
passed over with silence, which almighty God vouchsafed
to work by his servant Maximianus, now Bishop of
Syracusis, but then the father and governor of mine
Abbey. For at such time as I was, upon the command-
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a^arimianus of ^gtacusiiief
ment of my Bishop^ sent to Constantinople to the Em-
peror, about afiuirs of the Church, the same reverent man,
Maximianus upon charity, with other of his monks, came
thither unto me : who in his return homeward to Rome,
fell into a great tempest upon the Adriake sea : in which
both himself and all those that were in his company, after
a most strange and miraculous manner, tasted both of
the indignation and favour of almighty God. For the
sea did so rage with the fury of the winds, that they had
spent their mast : the sails floated upon the waves : and
the ship, beaten and torn with boisterous billows, did leak
water so fast, that it was now come to the upper deck, in
such sort that the ship seemed not so much to be in the
waters, as the waters in the ship.
The mariners and passengers, troubled with the fear of
death, not as a thing far off, but even present before their
eyes, void of all hope of this life, prepared themselves for
the next : and so, mutually giving the pax or kiss of
peace one to another, they received the body and blood
of our Saviour : commending themselves to almighty God,
that he would vouchsafe mercifully to receive their souls,
who had delivered their bodies to so fearful a death : but
God, who had wonderfully terrified their minds, did
more wonderfully preserve their lives. For the same ship
although full of water, yet did it hold on her course for
eight days together, and upon the ninth, it arrived at the
port of Cothronum : and when all the rest were safely
gone out, then last of all the reverent man Maximianus
went also forth : and no sooner was he upon land, than
the ship sunk in the haven : as though, by their departure,
it had wanted that which did preserve it : and whereas
before, being at sea, it was full of men, and carried also
abundance of water, and yet sailed onward : now when
Maximianus with his monks were landed, it could not in
the haven carry the waters alone : whereby God gave
them to understand, that, when it was laden, himself
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with his divine hand did govern and preserve it : seeing
when it was empty it could not for a small time continue
above the water.
Cftaptet Cbirtg^setien : of ^anctulus, a priest in
tJ)e Province of iSUtSia. fl About forty days since, you
saw with me one called Sanctulus, a reverent Priest, who
every year came unto me out of Nursia : but three days
ago, a certain monk, coming from those parts, brought me
very heavy news of his death. The holy life and virtue
of which man was such, that although I can not but fetch
sweet sighs when I remember it, yet now I may without
all fear report and publish to the world such miracles as
I have learned by the relation of very virtuous and holy
Priests, that were his neighbours : and as amongst dear
friends familiarity causeth one to presume much in
charity, oftentimes myself did so courteously urge him,
that he was enforced to tell me some small miracles which
himself had done.
Certain Lombards being upon a time pressing of olives
to make oil, Sanctulus, as he was both merry in coun-
tenance and heart, came unto them, and saluted them
pleasantly : and shewing them his bottle which he
brought, rather willed than desired them to fill it with
oil. But they being infidels, and having laboured all day
in vain, and not pressed out any oil at all, took his words
in ill part, and gave him very bad speech : but the man
of God, notwithstanding this, spake unto them yet with
a more merry countenance, and said : " If you desire to
do me a good turn, you will fill this bottle for Sanctulus,
and so he will depart from you very well contented." But
they, seeing no oil to run forth, and hearing him yet for
all that so earnest to have his bottle filled, fell into a great
rage, and railed mightily upon him. Then the man of
God, seeing that no oil came from the press, called for
water, which he blessed before them all, and with his own
hands cast it upon the press : and forthwith, by virtue
i66
^anctulusof Ji3ut0ta
of that benediction, such plenty of oil ran forth, that the
Lombards, who before had long laboured in vain, did not
only fill their own vessels, but also his bottle : giving him
thanks for that, coming to beg oil, by his blessing he be-
stowed that upon them which himself had demanded.
At another time, when a great dearth was in the
country, the man of God being desirous to repair the
church of St. Lawrence, burnt before by the Lombards,
he hired for that end many cunning workmen and divers
other labourers, who of necessity were daily to be main-
tained : but so great was the scarcity, that he wanted
bread to relieve them ; whereupon his workmen cried out
for meat, because they were faint and could not labour.
The man of God, hearing this, gave them comfortable
words, promising to supply their want ; yet inwardly very
much was he grieved, being not able to perform what he
had said. Going therefore up and down in great anxiety,
he came to an oven, wherein the neighbours that dwelt
by had the day before baked bread : and stooping down,
he looked in, to see whether they had by chance left any
bread behind them, where he found a loaf both greater
and whiter than commonly they used : which he took
away, but yet would he not by and by give it to his
workmen, lest perhaps it belonged to some other body,
and so might as it were, of compassion to other, have
committed a sin himself : and therefore he did first shew
it to all the women there about, enquiring whether it
were any of theirs : but all denied it, saying that they had
all received their just number of loaves. Then the man
of God in great joy went with that one loaf to many
workmen, wishing them to give thanks to almighty God,
telling them how his goodness had provided them of
necessary food ; and forthwith he set that loaf before
them, whereof, when they had satisfied themselves, he
gathered up more pieces of bread which remained, than
the whole loaf itself was before in quantity. The day
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following, again he set it before them, and again the
pieces remaining were far more than the former frag-
ments : and so, for the space of ten days together, all
those artificers and workmen lived upon that one loaf,
and were very well satisfied : some thing remaining every
day for the next, as though the fragments had by eating
increased.
Jp)0tCt. A strange thing, and not unlike to that notable
miracle of our Saviour ; and therefore worthy to be
admired of all.
(©t00Otp, Our Saviour at this time, Peter, vouchsafed
by his servant to feed many with one loaf, who in times
past, by himself, fed five thousand with five loaves : and
doth daily of a few grains of corn produce innumerable
ears of wheat : who also out of the earth brought forth
those very grains ; and more than all this, created all
things of nothing. But to the end you should not marvel
any longer, what by God's assistance the venerable man
Sanctulus wrought outwardly : I will now tell you what,
by our Lord's grace, he was inwardly in his soul. Upon
a certain day, the Lombards had taken a Deacon, whom
they kept in prison, with a purpose to put him to death.
When evening was come, the man of God, Sanctulus,
entreated them to set him at liberty, and to grant him
his life : but when he saw that he could not obtain that
favour at their hands, but that they were fully resolved
to have his life : then he beseeched them, that they would
at least commit him to his keeping : wherewith they
were content, but with this condition, that if he scaped
away, that then himself should die for him. The man
of God was very well content, and so he received the
Deacon into his own charge and custody.
The midnight following, when he saw all the Lombards
fast asleep, he called up the Deacon, willing him quickly
to rise up and to run away as fast as he could : " and
almighty God," quoth he, " deliver thee out of their
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©anctulug of Ji3utsia
hands." To whom the Deacon (knowing what he had pro-
mised) said : " Father, I can not run away, for if I do, out
of all doubt they will put you to death." Yet for all this,
Sanctulus enforced him to be gone with all speed, saying :
" Up, and away : and God of his goodness defend and
protect you : for I am in his hands, and they can do no
more unto me than his divine Majesty shall give them
leave." Upon these words away went the Deacon ; and
he that had undertaken his safe keeping, as one that had
been deceived, remained behind.
In the morning the Lombards demanded of Sanctulus
for their prisoner : who told them that he was run away.
" Then," quoth they, " you best know what is convenient
for you to have." "Yea, marry, that do I," answered
the servant of God, with great constancy. " Well," quoth
they, " thou art a good man, and therefore we will not by
divers torments take away thy life ; but make choice of
what death thou wilt." To whom the man of God
answered in this manner: "Here I am, at God's dis-
position and pleasure, kill me in such sort, as he shall
vouchsafe to give you leave." Then all the Lombards
that were present agreed to have him beheaded : to the
end an easy and quick death might soon dispatch him.
When it was given out abroad that Sanctulus was to die,
whom for his virtue and holiness they greatly honoured,
all the Lombards that were in those parts repaired thither,
being glad (such cruel minds they have) to behold him put
to death : and when all the army was gathered together,
they brought him forth to execution, and the strongest
man amongst them was chosen out, to cut off his head
at one blow.
The venerable man, beset with armed soldiers, betook
himself to his usual weapons : for he desired them to give
him a little leave to pray : which when he had obtained,
he cast himself prostrate upon the earth, and fell to his
devotions : in which after he had continued for a good
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space, the executioner spurned him up with his foot,
bidding him rise, kneel down, and to prepare himself
for death. The man of God rose up, bowed down his
knee, and held forth his head, and beholding the drawn
sword ready to dispatch him, these only words they said
that he spake aloud : "O Saint John, hold that sword."
Then the foresaid executioner, having the naked weapon
in his hand, did with all his force lift up his arm to strike
off his head ; but by no means could he bring it down
again, for it became suddenly so stiff that it remained
still above, the man being not able once to bend it down-
ward. Then all the Lombards who came to feed their
eyes with the lamentable sight of his death, began with
admiration to praise God's name, and with fear to reve-
rence the man of God : for they now saw apparently of
what great holiness he was, that did so miraculously stay
the arm of his executioner above in the air.
Then they desired him to rise up, which he did ; but
when they required him to restore his executioner's arm
to his former state, he utterly refused, saying : " By no
means will I once pray for him, unless beforehand he
swear unto me, that he will never with that arm offer to
kill any Christian more." The poor Lombard, who, as
v/e may truly say, had stretched out his arm against God,
enforced with this necessity, took an oath never more
to put any Christian to death. Then the man of God
commanded him to put down his arm, which forthwith
he did ; he commanded him also to put up his sword,
which in like manner he performed. All the Lombards,
by this perceiving him to be a man of rare virtue, began
in all haste to present him with the gifts of such oxen
and other cattle as before they had taken from others :
but the man of God utterly refused all such kind of
presents, desiring them rather, if they meant to bestow
anything upon him worth the giving, that they would
deliver unto him all such prisoners as they had in their
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^anctuIu»of3l3utsia
keeping : that he might have some cause in his prayers
to commend them to almighty God. To which request
of his they condescended, and so all the poor captives
were discharged : and thus, by God's sweet providence,
one offering himself to die for another, many were
delivered from death.
Ip)0t0t« A strange thing it was : and although I have
heard the same story by the relation of others, yet I cannot
deny, but so often as I hear it repeated, it seemeth still
unto me as though it were fresh news.
(StEffOtp. There is no cause why you should admire
Sanctulus for this thing : but ponder with yourself, if you
can, what manner of spirit that was, which possessed his
simple soul, and did advance it to so high a perfection of
virtue. For where was his mind, when he offered himself
with such constancy to die for his neighbour ; and to save
the temporal life of his brother, contemned his own, and
put his head under the executioner's sword ? What
force of true love did then harbour in that heart, when
he nothing feared death to preserve the life of another .''
Ignorant I am not, that this venerable man Sanctulus
could scant read well, and that he knew not the precepts
of the law : yet because charity is the fulfilling of the law,
by loving God and his neighbour, he kept the whole
law : and that which outwardly lacked in knowledge, did
inwardly by charity live in his soul. And he, perhaps,
who never read that which St. John the Apostle said of
our Saviour, to wit, that as he yielded his life for us, so we
likewise should yield our lives for our brethren :^ yet that great
and high precept of the Apostle he knew more by action
than by speculation. Let us here, if you please, compare
his learned ignorance with our unlearned knowledge :
where our kind of learning is nothing worth, his is of
great price and estimation : we, destitute of virtue, do
speak thereof, and, as it were in the midst of plentiful
1 I John 3, i6.
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trees smell of the fruit, but do not eat thereof. He knew
full well how to gather and taste of the fruit itself,
although he lacked the smell of words and vain speech.
l^etet. What, I pray, do you think, is the cause that
good men are still taken away ; and such as for the bene-
fit and edification of many, might live still in this world,
either are not to be found at all, or at least very few can
be heard of.'
<3tZS0t^, The malice and wickedness of them that re-
main behind in the world deserveth that those should
quickly be taken away, who by their life might much help
us : and for as much as the world draweth towards an
end, God's chosen servants are taken out of it, that they
fall not into more wicked times : and therefore from
hence it cometh that the prophet saith : The just man doth
perish, and there is none that doth ponder it in his heart : and
men of mercy are gathered together, because there is none that
hath understanding} And from hence also it proceedeth
that the scripture saith : Open ye, that they may go forth
which do tread it under foot? Hence, likewise, it is that
Solomon saith : There is a time of casting stones abroad, and
a time of gathering them together? And therefore the nearer
that the world draweth to an end, so much the more
necessary it is that the living stones should be gathered
together, for the heavenly building : that our celestial
Jerusalem may arrive to the full measure of his whole
perfection. And yet do I not think that all God's elect
servants are so taken out of the world, that none but the
wicked remain behind : for sinners would never be con-
verted to the sorrow of true penance, if they had not
the examples of some good people to provoke them
forward.
l^etet. Without cause do I complain of the death of
good men, when as daily I see them also that be wicked
in great numbers to depart this life.
^ Isai. 57, I. 2 jereni. 50, 26. ^ gccles. 3, 5.
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EcDemptus of Jfercnti
Cf)aptet CiJittg^eigfjt : of tf)e Dision of KcDemptuiff,
TBispopof t|)e Citg of JTerenti. fl (Stejorg. Wonder
nothing at this, Peter, for you knew verywell Redemptus,
Bishop of the city of Ferenti, a man of venerable life,
who died almost seven years since : with whom I had
familiar acquaintance, by reason that he dwelt not far from
the Abbey in which I lived. This man, when I asked him
(for the matter was very well known far and near), told
me that which by divine revelation he had learned con-
cerning the end of the world, in the time of John the
younger, who was my predecessor. For he said that upon
a certain day, as he was, according to his manner, visit-
ing of his diocese, he came to the church of the blessed
martyr Euthicius : and when it was night he would needs
be lodged nigh to the sepulchre of the martyr, where
after his travel he reposed himself. About midnight,
being, as he said himself, neither perfectly waking, nor
yet sleeping, but rather heavy of sleep, he felt his waking
soul oppressed with great sorrow : and being in that case,
he saw the same blessed martyr Euthicius standing before
him, who spake thus : " Art thou waking, Redemptus ? "
to whom he answered, that he was. Then the martyr
said : " The end of all flesh is come : the end of all flesh
is come" : which words after he had repeated thus three
times, he vanished out of his sight.
,rThen the man of God rose up, and fell to his prayers
with many tears : and straight after, those fearful sights
in heaven followed ; to wit, fiery lances, and armies
appearing from the north. Straight after likewise the
barbarous and cruel nation of the Lombards, drawn as a
sword out of a sheath, left their own country, and invaded
ours : by reason whereof the people, which before for the
huge multitude were like to thick corn-fields, remain
now withered and overthrown : for cities be wasted, towns
and villages spoiled, churches burnt, monasteries of men
and women destroyed, farms left desolate, and the country
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Cf)C Dialogues of ©t <?5tefforp
remaineth solitary and void of men to till the ground,
and destitute of all inhabitants : beasts possessing those
places, where before great plenty of men did dwell. And
how it goeth in other parts of the world I know not, but
here in this place where we live, the world doth not fore-
tell any end, but rather sheweth that which is present and
already come. Wherefore so much the more zealously
ought we to seek after eternal things, by how much we
find all temporal so quickly to be fled and gone. Surely
this world were to be contemned, although it did flatter
us, and with pleasant prosperity contented our mind :
but now, seeing it is fraught with so many miseries and
divers afflictions, and that our sorrows and crosses do
daily increase and be doubled, whatdoth it else but cry
unto us that we should not love it .'' ,
Many more things yet remaiti of the worthy acts of
God's servants, but because I have resolved now upon
another course, I will now pass them over with silence.
1^0tCt. For as much as I perceive that many Christians
do doubt of the immortality of the soul, after the disso-
lution of the body : I beseech you for the spiritual good
of many, to set down some reasons for proof thereof: or
the examples of some souls which have testified the same,
if you remember any : to the end that those which be
troubled with any such temptations, may learn that the
soul doth not die together with the body.
(^tC0Otp, This is a work of great labour, especially for
one that is busied with other affairs, and hath other things
to attend unto : yet if any profit by my means may
redound to others, willingly do I prefer that before mine
own will and pleasure : and therefore, God's grace assist-
ing me, in this fourth book following, I will clearly show
that the soul doth live after the death of the body.
Cf)e enD of tbe CbitD TBoofe
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Cfje JTourtl) iSoofe
^t (lBregorp'0 ^Dialogues
C{)e fouxti) iSoofe
Cibaptet Dne : i)Oto catnal men gitie tbe less creDit
to ti)Ose t&inffs to^ic!) be eternal anD spititual;
because tbep fenoto not bg erpetience, topat tbep
bear OtberS to Speaft of. ^ After that the first Parent
of mankind was for his sin banished from the joys of
Paradise, he fell into the misery of this ignorance and
banishment, which to this very day we do all endure :
for his sin was the cause that he could not any longer
see those joys of heaven, which before by contemplation
he possessed : for during the time of his residence in
Paradise, he usually heard God talking with him, and by
purity of heart and heavenly vision, was present with the
quires of the blessed Angels. But after his fall he lost
that light of soul, which before abundantly he enjoyed.
From whom we being by carnal propagation derived, that
live now in this dark ignorance of banishment, do hear
indeed of an heavenly country, and how it is inhabited
by the Angels of God; and that the souls of just and
perfect men do there keep them company. But yet
such as be carnal, because they can not by experience
know those invisible creatures, doubt whether there be
any such, seeing with their corporal eyes they cannot
behold them : from which doubt our first Parent was
altogether free : for although he was exiled from the joys
of Paradise, yet did he still keep in memory what he had
lost, because he had before beheld the same : but these
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Cl)e DialogueiB! of %t. ©tegotp
men can not by any means call to mind such things as
they hear others speak of, because they never had of
them any former experience as our first father Adam had.
For it is in this case as if a woman big with child should
be put in prison, and be there delivered of a son, which
never went forth, but were there continually brought up :
for if his mother should tell him of the sun, moon, stars,
mountains : and speak of the fields, the flying of birds,
and running of horses ; her child, that had continually been
brought up in the prison, and acquainted with nothing
else but black darkness, might well hear what she said,
but with a doubt whether it were true or no, because
experience taught him not any such thing. Even so,
men that are born in this dark world, the place of their
banishment, do hear that there be wonderful, strange,
and invisible things ; but because they are not acquainted
with any else but terrestrial creatures, which only be
visible, they doubt whether there be any such invisible
things as are reported of, or no : for which cause the
Creator himself of all things both visible and invisible,
and the only begotten Son of the eternal Father, came
into this world, for the redemption of mankind : and sent
the holy Ghost unto our hearts, that quickened by him
and his grace, we should believe those things which as
yet by sense or experience we cannot possibly under-
stand: and therefore so many of us as have received
this spirit, the heavenly pledge of our inheritance, make
no doubt of God's invisible and immortal creatures : and
whosoever as yet is not settled in this belief, out of all
question, he ought of reason to give credit to the words
of them that be more learned and holy, and believe
them that, through the grace of God's holy Spirit, have
experience of those things that be invisible : for he were
a very foolish child, that thought his mother lied, when
she spake of light in other places, because himself, where
he was, beheld nothing else but the darkness of the prison.
^78
Oman's ®oul anD TBoDp
l^CtCt. That you say doth wonderfully content me : yet
he who believeth not that there be any invisible things,
out of question in mine opinion is an infidel : and he
that is an infidel, in that thing whereof he doubteth
seeketh not for faith, but for reason.
Ct)aptct Ctoo : tbat an infiDel litiett) not toitbout v
faitl). ^ (StegOtp. I speak boldly yet truly, that an
infidel liveth not without faith : for if I demand of him,
who is his father or mother, straightways he will tell me,
such a man and such a woman : and if I press him
further, whether he doth remember the time when he
was first conceived, or the hour when he was born into
this world, he will answer me, that he never knew or saw
any such thing ; and yet for all this doth he believe that
which he never beheld, seeing he believeth, without all
doubt, that such a man was his father, and such a woman
his mother.
PCtCt. I must needs confess, that I never knew before
this time that an infidel had any faith.
<^t0ffOtp. Infidels have faith, but not in God, for then
they were not infidels : but worthily are they by the
former reason to be blamed, and thereby also to be pro-
voked to embrace true faith : for if concerning their
visible body, they believe that which they never saw, why
do they not also believe some things which with their cor-
poral eyes they cannot behold ?
Chapter C&tee : tfjat <^oD cteateD t^tee feinDs of ^
SpititS toitt) life. ^ For that our soul doth live after j
the death of the body, reason doth teach us, assisted and '
holpen with faith : for almighty God created three kinds ;
of spirits having life. One altogether spiritual without :
body : another with a body, but j^et which dieth not with
^the body : the third that which is both joined with the!
body, and also together with the body doth die. The|
spirits that have no bodies be the Angels : they that have |
bodies but die not with them, be the souls of men : those
179
Cl)c Dialogues of @t. (j^regorp
that have bodies and die together with them, be the souls
of cattle and brute beasts. Man, therefore, as he is
created in the middle state,inferior to Angels and superior
to beasts, so doth he participate of both : having immor-
tality of soul with the Angels, and mortality of body with
beasts, until the day of doom : for then the glory of the
resurrection shall take away and consume the mortality
of the body : for being then reunited to the soul, it shall
be preserved for ever : as the soul joined to the body
is preserved for God. Neither shall the bodies of the
damned, lying in torments, ever perfectly perish : for
though they always decay, yet for ever shall they con-
tinue : and as they sinned both with soul and body, so
living always in body and soul, they shall always die
without end.
JPCtCt, AH your discourse is consonant to that reason
which Christian religion teacheth : but I beseech you, if
there be so great difference betwixt the souls of men and
beasts as you affirm, why doth Solomon speak in this
manner ? / have said in mine heart of the sons of men, that
God would prove them, and shew them to be like unto beasts :
therefore there is one death of men and beasts, and their state
is both alike : and prosecuting afterward more exactly that
opinion of his, thus he writeth : j^s a man dieth, so do
beasts die: all things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more
than beasts. After which words, he addeth also this
general conclusion : All things are subject to vanity, and all
things go to one place : of the earth they were made, and into
the earth they return again}
Chapter JFour : of Solomon's question, to toit :
Cbe Deatf) of men anD beasts is all one. ^ <Stefforp.
Solomon's book, in which these sayings are found, is
called Ecclesiastes : as much to say properly as The
Preacher. And in a sermon the manner is to have an
opinion set down, by means whereof the tumultuous
^ Eccles. 3, 17-20.
180
Solomon's IXuestion
sedition of common people may be appeased : and where-
as divers have divers opinions, yet are they all, by the
Preacher's arguments and reasons, brought to unity and
agreement : and therefore this book is called The Preacher:
because in it Solomon doth as it were take upon him the
person and words of the unruly vulgar sort, and by way
of inquisition speaketh those things, which haply ignorant
men through temptation do verily think : and therefore
so many questions as he doth by way of enquiry pro-
pound, so many divers persons doth he in a manner take
upon himself : but the true Preacher doth, as it were
with his hand, compound all their doubts and disagree-
ments, and bring them all to concord and unity of
opinion, when as in the end of his book he saith : Let us
all together hear an end of speaking : Fear Qod, keep his com-
mandments, for this is every man} For if in that book he
had not by his discourse taken upon him the person of
divers, why did he admonish all to make an end of
speaking, together with him, and to hear ?
He, therefore, that in the conclusion of the book saith :
Let us all together hear : doth give evident testimony of
himself, that he took many persons upon him, and that
he spake not at all as of himself: and therefore some
things there be in that book, which are moved by way of
disputation, and other some which by reason give satis-
faction : some things which he uttereth in the person of
one that is tempted, and who as yet foUoweth the
pleasures of the world : and some other things, in which
he disputeth them according to the rule of reason, and
to draw the mind from vain pleasure and delight : for
as there he saith : This, therefore, seemeth unto me good, that a
man should eat and drink, and take joy of his labour'^: so after-
ward he addeth : It is better to go unto the house of mourning,
than to the house of feasting.^ For if it be good to eat and
drink, it seemeth better to go unto the house of feasting
1 Eccles. 12, 13. " Ibid. 5, 18. « Ibid. 7, 2.
181
Ctje Dialogues of ^t. (Sregotp
than to the house of mourning : and therefore by this
it is evident, that he uttered that former saying in the
person of frail men, and pronounced this latter accord-
ing to the rule of reason : and therefore doth he straight-
ways set down the grounds of his reason, and sheweth
what commodity is gotten by going to the house of
mourning, saying thus : For in that we are put in mind of
the end of all men, and the living man thinketh what he shall
he} Again there we find it written : O young man, rejoice
in thy youth : "^ and yet a little after is added : for youth
and pleasure be vain things.
Seeing, therefore, he doth afterward reprove that for
vain, which before he seemed to allow : plainly doth he
declare that he spake those words as it were of carnal con-
cupiscence, and the other of a right and true judgment.
Therefore as he doth, in the first place, express the delight
of carnal things, and pronounceth it to be good to cast
away all care, and to eat and drink : so afterward, with
reason and judgment doth he reprove that, when he saith
that it is better to go unto the house of mourning, than
to the house of feasting : and though he saith that a
young man ought to rejoice in his youth, yet doth he
utter that as proceeding from the resolution of a carnal
mind ; seeing afterward, by definitive sentence, he re-
proveth both youth and pleasure, as vain things. Even
so and in like manner, doth our Preacher set down the
opinion of man's suspicion, as it were in the person of
those that be weak, and subject to temptation, when he
saith : The death of man and beasts is one, and their condition
both alike : as man dieth, so they also die : all things do breathe
alike, and a man hath not any more than beasts : who, not-
withstanding, afterward putteth down his own opinion,
proceeding from judgment and reason, in these words :
What hath a wise man more than a fool, and what a poor
man, but that he may go thither where life is .?* He there-
1 Eccles. 7, 2. « Ibid. II, 9. 3 Ibid. 6, 8.
182
^olomon^s Ciuestion
fore that said : A man hath no more than beasts : said
also with mature deliberation, that a wise man hath not
only more than a beast, but also more than a foolish man,
to wit, that he goeth to that place where life is : in which
words he doth also teach us, that man's life is not in this
world, seeing he affirmeth it to be elsewhere : wherefore
man hath this more than beasts, because they after death
do not live : but he doth then begin truly to live, when
by mort-al death he maketh an end of this transitory life :
and therefore long after he saith : Whatsoever thy hand can
do ^instantly work: because with them in hellwhither thou goest,
there shall be neither work, nor reason, nor knowledge, nor wis-
dom : ^ how then is the death of man and beasts all one,
and how is their condition and state alike ? or how hath
not a man more than beasts, when as they after death live
not, and the souls of men, after the death of their bodies,
be for their wicked deeds carried to hell, and do not die
when they depart this life ? But in both these sayings,
which seem contrary each to other, it is made manifest
that the Preacher speaketh the truth : uttering the one
of carnal temptation, and yet afterward, upon delibera-
tion and according to truth, resolutely setteth down and
defineth the contrary.
IP^tEt. Glad I am, that ignorant I was of that question
which I demanded : seeing I have, by means thereof,
come to so exact an understanding of that which before
I knew not. But I beseech you to take it patiently, if I
also, like to this our Preacher, take upon me the person
of weak and frail men : that I may the better, as it were
by their demanding of questions, be profitable to them
in their weakness and infirmities.
(StCffOtg. Why should I not bear with you, condescend-
ing to the infirmities of your neighbours .? when as Paul
saith : To all men I became all things, that I might save
all:* and surely you are the more to be reverenced, for
1 Eccles. 9, 10. ' I Cor. 9, «.
183
Cfje Dialogues of @t. (Stcgotp
condescending to their weakness upon charity, and
therein do you imitate the steps of an excellent preacher.
Chapter Jfitie : of a question concerning tbe soul,
to6ic1) 0oetf) intiisiblp out of tfje boDp : to toit,
to^etber t6ere be anp sucb tbing;, seeing it can not
be seen* ^ Petet, it chanced so, that I was present
when one departed this life. Who suddenly, as he was a
speaking, gave up the ghost ; and whom before I heard
talking with me, in an instant I saw dead : but whether
his soul went out of the body or no, that I did not see :
and it seemeth very hard to believe that thing, which no
man can behold.
0te0Otp. What marvel is it, Peter, that you saw not
the soul departing out of the body, seeing you behold it
not when it remaineth in the body ? What .'' do you
believe me to have no soul, because, whiles you now talk
with me, you can not see it ? The nature of the soul is
invisible, and therefore invisibly doth it depart out of the
body, as it doth invisibly remain in the body.
l^etet* That the soul hath life, so long as it remaineth
in the body, easily do I perceive by the motion thereof :
for if the body were destitute of the soul, the members
could not possibly move at all : but that the soul liveth
when it is out of the body, by what motions or actions 1
should gather, desirous I am to be informed by you : to
the end that by such things as I do see, I may know that
thing which I can not see.
(^tegOtp, Though not with any great subtlety of dis-
course, yet confidently do I affirm it to be most true, that
as the power of the soul doth quicken and move the
body, so the power of God doth fill all things which he
hath created ; and to some things doth he give life by
breathing it into them ; to other things he vouchsafeth
life in another manner : and upon some other things he
bestoweth only a being, without any life at all. Seeing,
therefore, you doubt not but that God is the creator and
184
Cf)e Ji3ature of tf)e ^oul
preserver of all things, that he doth fill and embrace all
things, that he doth excel all things, and also maintaineth
them, that he is incircumscriptible and invisible : so
neither ought you to doubt, but that he is served with
invisible creatures, seeing they that serve ought to be
somewhat like unto him upon whom they attend, and
so, consequently, that we ought not to doubt, but for as
much as he is invisible in himself, that they also be of
the same nature : and what creatures can these be else but
his holy Angels, and the souls of just men ? Wherefore,
as you know, when you see the body move, that the soul
remaineth in the body, and you gather this from the body
which is lowest : so ought you to think of the life of the
soul that departeth from the body, deducing a reason
from God who is the highest : to wit, that the soul
liveth invisibly, seeing it is to remain in the service of
the invisible Creator.
l^EtCt. AH this is very well said : yet our mind can
hardly be brought to believe that, which with our corporal
eyes we can not behold.
(©tC0Otp. Seeing St. Paul saith, thTit faith is the substance
of things to be hoped for, the argument of things not appearing :'^
truly are we said to believe that which can not be seen,
and by no means to believe that which with our eyes we
do behold : yet in few words to bring you home again
to yourself, I say, that no visible things be seen but by
the means of invisible : for although your bodily eye
beholdeth all sensible creatures, yet could it not behold
any such thing, did it not receive force from that which
is invisible : for take away the soul, which none doth see,
and in vain be the eyes opened to look upon anything.
Take away the soul from the body, and the eyes, out of
all question, may remain still open as before. If, then,
our eyes did see of themselves, how cometh it to pass,
that now the soul is gone, they see nothing at all .? Learn
1 Hebr. II, I.
185
€fiz Dialogues of ^t (Stcgorp
then by this, that visible things themselves are not seen,
but by means of them that be invisible. Let us also
imagine that we saw before us the building of houses,
huge timber and stones to be lifted up, great pillars to
hang upon engines : what, I pray you, effecteth all this ?
the visible body that with hands draweth and moveth
those huge and massy things, or the invisible soul that
giveth life to the body ? for take away that which is not
seen in the body, and straightways all those things, which
before did move, will remain without any motion at all.
By which we may easily gather, that nothing can be dis-
posed of in this visible world, but by another creature
which is invisible : for as almighty God either by inspi-
ration, or by replenishing those creatures which have
reason, doth both quicken and move those things which
be invisible, so, in like manner, those things which be
invisible do give motion and sense to carnal bodies which
are visible.
J^CtCt. Willingly overcome with these reasons alleged,
I confess that I am enforced almost to think that these
visible things are nothing : whereas before, taking upon
me the person of weak and unlearned men, I doubted
whether there were any invisible creatures or no ; where-
fore your whole discourse doth very well please me : yet,
as 1 am assured of the life of the soul by the motion of
the body, so desirous I am to know by some sure and
certain demonstrations, that the soul doth also live, after
it is departed from the body.
Cljapter ^ix: tbat as m lift of tbe soul temaiit-
ins in tU ftoDp, is gatfjcteD tip tf)e motion of ti)e
memtiets : so tU life of tbc soul, after Deatf) in ibolp
men, is to tie founD out ftp t|)e tiittue of mitacles.
^ (©teffOtp. Herein most ready I am to satisfy your
request ; and for proof of this point, no difficulty do I
find: for think you that the holy Apostles and martyrs
of Christ would have contemned tliis present life, and
i86
FAITH
(Madonna delt Arena, Padua)
Departure of 0@en'0 ^oulg
offered their bodies to death, had they not known that
their souls did most assuredly live for ever ? You confess
that you know the life of the soul remaining in the body
by the motion thereof: behold, then, how these that lost
their lives for Christ, and believed that souls lived after
death, be renowned for their daily miracles. For sick
persons come unto their dead bodies, and be cured : per-
j ured persons repair thither, and be possessed with devils :
possessed with devils visit them, and are delivered : lepers
come, and be cleansed : dead folk are brought, and they
be raised up again. Consider then in what sort their
souls do live in those places where they live, whose dead
bodies live also in this world by so many miracles. If
then you gather the life of the soul remaining in the
body by the motion of the members : why do you not
likewise, by the dead bones which work miracles, infer
that the soul doth live after the death of the body ?
IPeter. No solution, as I think, can overthrow the force
of this reason alleged : by which we are constrained
through visible things to believe those which we see not
and be invisible.
Chapter ^etien : of tbe Departure of men's souls.
^ <S>tZQOtp, A little before, you complained for that
you could not see the soul of one when it departed
out of his body : but that was your fault, who desired
with corporal eyes to behold an invisible thing, for many
of us, that by sincere faith and plentiful prayer, have had
the eye of our soul purified, have often seen souls going
out of their bodies : and therefore now I think it necessary
to set down both how, and in what sort, men's souls
departing out of their bodies have been seen : and also
what wonderful things have been revealed unto them,
at the time of their departure : that by this means
examples may satisfy our wavering and doubtful minds,
which reason can not so fully persuade. Wherefore to
begin. I remember that, in the second book of this work,
187
5'
Cf)e Dialogues of ^t. ©regorp
I told you how venerable Bennet (as by relation of his
own monks I learned) being far distant from the city of
Capua, beheld the soul of Germanus (Bishop of the same
place) at midnight to be carried to heaven in a fiery globe :
who, seeing the soul as it was ascending up, beheld also,
in the largeness of his own soul, within the compass of
one sunbeam, the whole world as it were gathered
together.
Chapter €ifff)t : of tf)e Departure of t&e 0oul of
^peCiOSUS, a ^Onfe. ^ By the relation also of the
same monks, his disciples, I understood how two
noble men that were brethren, and very well learned in
humanity, the one called Speciosus, the other Gregory,
entered into religion, there to live virtuously under the
direction of his rule : whom the venerable father placed
in a Monastery of his, hard by the city of Teracina.
These men, whiles they remained in the world, were
very rich, but for the redemption of their own souls,
they had given all to the poor, and led their life in the
same Monastery. One of these twain, to wit Speciosus,
being sent upon business of the Monastery to the city
of Capua : his natural brother Gregory in the meantime,
sitting at table at dinner amongst the other monks, rapt
in spirit, beheld his brother's soul, though so far distant,
departing out of his body : which forthwith he told unto
the other monks, and straight after in all haste took his
journey to Capua, where he found his brother newly
buried ; and there understood how he died at that very
hour, in which he saw his soul going out of his body.
Cljapter Bintiot tbe soul of a certain anc&oret
^ A certain religious man, and one of great credit (at
such time as I lived in the Monastery), told me that
certain sailing from Sicily to Rome, as they were in the
midst of the sea, beheld the soul of a certain servant
of God carried to heaven, who had been an Anchoret in
the land of Samnium. Landing afterward in the same
Cf)e Depatture of abbot !^ope
place, and making enquiry of that thing, they understood
that holy man to have departed this life upon that very
day in which they saw his soul ascending to heaven.
Chapter Cm : of tht Departure of abbot l^ope's
soul. ^ Whiles I lived as yet in my Monastery, I
understood, by the relation of a very reverent man, a
certain thing which I will now tell you. A venerable
father there was, caUed Hope, who had built an Abbey
in a place called Cample, distant almost six miles from
the old city of Nursia. This man almighty and merciful
God, by temporal affliction, preserved from everlasting
misery, and gave him great grace and quiet of mind :
for how dearly he loved him, yea, at that very time
when he sent him affliction, was afterward made
apparent to the world, when he vouchsafed perfectly to
restore him to his former health. This man therefore
was, for the space of forty years, punished with such a
continual blindness of his eyes, that he could not so
much as behold any light at all. But because none in
adversity can without the help of God's grace stand :
and unless the same merciful father, who sendeth
punishment, giveth also patience : straightways his
chastising of our sins doth by impatience more increase
them : and so it pitifully falleth out, that our sin is by
that very thing made greater, by which an end of all sin
might very well have been expected. God therefore
seeing our infirmity, together with affliction, by his
sweet providence keepeth and preserveth us ; and is in
his correction which he sendeth his chosen children in
this world, so just with mercy, that they may become
such to whom afterward he may justly shew mercy :
and therefore, though he did lay his cross of blindness
upon this venerable man, yet did he not leave him
destitute of inward light : for as his body was wearied
with pain,- so, by the providence of God's holy Spirit,
his soul was refreshed with heavenly comfort.
189
€f)z Dialogues of @)t (^tegorp
At length when he had continued forty years in this
kind of blindness, our good Lord restored him to his
former sight, giving him also to understand that he was
shortly to leave this world : and therefore admonished
him to preach the word of life unto all such Abbeys as
were about him ; and that for as much as himself had
received the light of his body, he would go and open
unto them the spiritual light of the soul : who forth-
with obeying God's commandment, visited the foresaid
Abbeys, and preached unto them such precepts of good
life as himself before had in conversation practised.
Returning after fifteen days to his own Abbey, he called
his monks together, and in their presence received the
Sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord, and
straightways began, together with them, the mystical
hymns of the Psalms : afterward, falling with attention
to his prayers, whiles they continued on their singing,
he gave up the ghost : at which very time all the monks
saw a dove coming out of his mouth, which in their
sight flying forth through the top of the oratory being
then opened, ascended up into heaven. And surely it is
to be thought, that his soul, by divine providence, did
in that manner appear in the likeness of a dove, that
almighty God might thereby shew with what a true and
simple heart that holy man had always served him.
Cfjaptcr Cletien ; of ti)e Departure of a IPriest's
soul, CalleD QrSmUS. fl Neither must I forget that
which the reverent Abbot Stephen (who not long since
died in this city, and whom you knew very well) told me
to have happened in the same province of Nursia. For
he said that a Priest dwelt in that country, who in the
fear of God governed the church committed to his
charge : and although, after he had taken orders, he did
still love his old wife as his sister, yet did he avoid her
as his enemy : and never would he permit her to come
near him upon any occasion, abstaining wholly from all
190
€tt Departure of Orsinus
intercourse of familiarity. For this is a thing proper to
holy men, oftentimes to deprive themselves of those
thmgs which be lawful, to the end they may remain the
more free from such as be unlawful : and therefore this
man, not to fall into any sin, utterly refused all necessary
and requisite service at her hands.
When this reverent man had long lived in this world,
the fortieth year after he was made priest, by a great and
vehement ague [he] was brought to the last cast : his
old wife, beholding him so far spent, and to lie as though
he had been dead, put her head near unto him, to see
whether he did breathe or no : which he perceiving,
having yet a little life left, enforced himself to speak as
well as he could, and in great fervour of spirit brake out
into these words : " Get thee away, woman : a little fire
is yet left, away with the straw." After she was gone,
his strength somewhat increasing, he began with great joy
to cry out : " Welcome, my Lords, welcome, my Lords :
why have you vouchsafed to visit me, your unworthy
servant .'' I come, I come : 1 thank you, I thank you" :
and when he did often repeat these and the like words,
his friends that were present asked him to whom he
spake, to whom with a kind of admiration he answered :
" What ? do you not here behold the holy Apostles ?
Do you not see the chief of them, St. Peter and St. Paul ? "
And so, turning himself again towards them, he said :
" Behold I come, behold I come " : and in speaking
those words, he gave up his happy ghost. And that he
did indeed verily behold the holy Apostles, he testified-
by that his departure with them. And thus it doth
often fall out, by the sweet providence of God, that good
men at their death do behold his Saints going before them,
and leading as it were the way, to the end they should
not be afraid at the pangs thereof; and that whiles their
souls do see the Saints in heaven, they may be discharged
from the prison of this body, without all fe^ and grief.
191
Cf)e Dialogues of ®t. ©refforp
C&apter Ctoeltie : of t&e 0oul of lProt)U0, IBisbop
of m dLitj^ of Eeati. f Concerning which thing I
must also tell you that which the servant of God, Probus
(who now in this city liveth in an Abbey), gave me to
understand of an uncle of his, called also Probus, who
was Bishop of the city of Reati. For he said that, being
grievously sick and in great extremity of death, his father,
whose name was Maximus, caused many physicians to
be sent for, to see whether by their skill he could any
ways be holpen ; who all upon the feeling of his pulse,
gave sentence of speedy death. "When dinner time was
come, and the day somewhat far spent, the venerable
Bishop, more careful of their health than of his own,
desired them that they would go up with his old father
into the higher part of his palace ; and after their great
pains, to refresh themselves with a poor dinner. Where-
upon all went up, and none remained with him, but a
little young boy, who, as Probus saith, is yet living.
The little boy, standing by his bedside, suddenly saw
certain men coming in to the man of God, apparelled
in white stoles, whose faces were far more beautiful and
bright than the whiteness of their garments : whereat
being amazed and afraid, he began to cry out, and ask
who they were : at which noise the Bishop also looking
up, beheld them coming in and knew them, and there-
upon comforted the little boy, bidding him not to cry,
or be afraid, saying that they were the holy martyrs
St. Juvenal and St. Eleutherius that came to visit him :
but he, not acquainted with any such strange visions,
ran out at the doors as fast as he could, carrying news
hereof both to his father arid the physicians ; who, going
down in all haste, found the Bishop departed : for those
Saints, whose sight the child could not endure, had
carried his soul away in their company.
Cf)aptet C&itteen: of tfiz DeatI) of a Bun
CalleD ©alia, ^ Neither will I conceal that which I
192
Cf)e Departure of <J5aUa
received by the relation of those that are grave and of
good credit. In the time of the Goths, an honourable
young maid called Galla, daughter to Symmachus the
Consul, was bestowed in marriage : whose husband,
before the year came about, departed this life : and
though both plenty of wealth and her young years were
great allurements to a second marriage, yet she made
choice rather to be married spiritually to God, in which
after mourning everlasting joy doth follow :Lth^n to
become again subject to carnal matrimony, which always
beginneth with joy, and in conclusion endeth with sor-
row._j But because she had a passing high colour, the
physicians told her that, unless she did marry again, that
she would through abundance of heat, contrary to nature,
have a beard like unto men : which afterward fell so out
indeed : but the holy woman little regarded outward
deformity, which inwardly in her soul was enamoured
with the beauty of the heavenly spouse ; and feared not
if that in her became foul, which she knew that her
celestial spouse did nothing love. Wherefore straight
upon the death of her husband, casting off her secular
habit and attire, she rendered herself for the service of
God to that Nunnery which is by the church of the
blessed Apostle St. Peter ; where she lived for the space
of many years in prayer and simplicity of heart, and
bestowed alms plentifully upon needy and poor people.
At length, when almighty God determined to bestow
upon her an everlasting reward, he sent her a cancer in
one of her breasts. Two candles she had usually in the
night time burning before her bed ; for loving light, she
did not only hate spiritual darkness, but also corporal.
One night, lying sore afflicted with this her infirmity,
she saw St. Peter standing before her bed, betwixt the
two candlesticks, and being nothing afraid, but glad,
love giving her courage, thus she spake unto him :
" How is it, my Lord ? what ? are my sins forgiven
193 N
€bt Dialogues of ^t (J^regotp
me ? " To whom (as he hath a most gracious coun-
tenance) he bowed down a little his head, and said :
"Thy sins are forgiven thee; come and follow me."
But because there was another Nun in the Monastery
which Galla loved more than the rest, she straightways
beseeched him that sister Benedicta might go with her :
to whom he answered that she could not then come, but
another should : "and as for her," quoth he, "whom
you now request, thirty days hence shall she follow
you " : and when he had thus said, he vanished out of
her sight. After whose departure, she straightways
called for the mother of the Convent, and told her what
she had seen and heard : and the third day following,
both she and the other before mentioned departed this
life : and she also, whose company Galla desired, the
thirtieth day after did follow them. The memory of
which thing continueth still fresh in that Monastery, so
that the Nuns which now live there (receiving it by
tradition from their predecessors) can tell every little
point thereof, as though they had been present at that
time when the miracle happened.
C&apter jFourteen : of ttt Departure of a poor
man, sick of tfje paisp, calleD ^ertjulus. fl Here
also we have to know that oftentimes, at the death of
God's servants, heavenly musick is heard, to the end that
whiles they give willing ear to that melody, the soul may
have no leisure to feel, when it departeth from the body.
For I remember that, in my Homilies i upon the Gospel, I
told how in that porch which is in the way to St. Clement's
Church, there lay a certain man called Servulus, whom
I doubt not but you also do remember : who, as he was
poor in wealth, so rich in merits. This man had long
Deen afflicted with sickness : for from the first time that
I knew him, to the very last hour of his life, never can
I remember but that he was sick of the palsy, and that
^ Homelia 15.
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Ci)c Departure of IRomuIa
so pitifully, that he could not stand, nor sit up in his
bed : neither was he ever able to put his hand unto his
mouth, or to turn from one side to the other. His
mother and brethren did serve and attend him, and
what he got in alms, that by their hands he bestowed
upon other poor people. Read he could not, yet did
he buy the holy scriptures, which very carefully he
caused such religious men as he entertained to read unto
him : by means whereof, according to his capacity, though,
as 1 said, he knew not a letter of the book, yet did he
fully learn the holy scripture. Very careful he was in
his sickness always to give God thanks, and day and
night to praise his holy name.
When the time was come, in which God determined
to reward this his great patience : the pain of his body
strook inwardly to his heart, which he feeling, and know-
ing as his last hour was not far off, called for all such
strangers as lodged in his house, desiring them to sing
hymns with him, for his last farewell and departure out
of this life : and as he was himself singing with them, all
on a sudden he cried out aloud, and bad them be silent,
saying : " Do ye not hear the great and wonderful
musick which is in heaven ? " and so whiles he lay giving
of ear within himself to that divine harmony, his holy
soul departed this mortal life : at which time, all that
were there present felt a most pleasant and fragrant
smell, whereby they perceived how true it was that Ser-
vulus said. A monk of mine, who yet liveth, was then
present, and with many tears useth to tell us, that the
sweetness of that smell never went away, but that they
felt it continually until the time of his burial.
Chapter jFifteen: of tte Departure of a Bun
CatleS iSomuia. ^ in the same Homilies, I remember
likewise, how I told a certain thing, which Speciosus, my
fellow-Priest, doth also verify to be most true. At such
time as I. entered into religion, there dwelt in this city,
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Cfje Dialogues of %t (J5regotg
near to the church of our blessed Lady, a certain old
woman, called Redempta, living in the habit of a Nun,
a disciple of that Hirundina, which was famous for
virtue, and led an eremitical life (as they say) in the
mountains by the city of Preneste. This foresaid Re-
dempta had two scholars, which wore the same habit
that she did : the one called Romula, and the name of the
other, which yet liveth, 1 can not tell, though by sight
I know her very well. These three together in one little
house lived a poor life, yet rich for piety and virtue :
and of these twain Romula far excelled the other in merit
of life : for she was a woman of marvellous patience,
passing obedient, a great observer of silence, and one
that with great zeal bestowed her time in continual
prayer.
But because it often falleth out, that they whom the
world think to be perfect, have yet in the eyes of al-
mighty God some imperfection (as many times unskilful
men do commend seals of arms as excellently well en-
graven, which yet the cunning workman doth better con-
sider, and laboureth to make more perfect), this foresaid
Romula fell into such a pitiful palsy, that she was fain to
keep her bed : where she lay, deprived almost of all the
use of her members : which great cross, notwithstanding,
drew her not to any impatience, but rather the sickness
of her body was the health of her soul, and the cause of
her greater increase in virtue : for the less she could do
in other things, the more she did in prayer and devotion.
Upon a certain night she called for Redempta (who, as
I said, brought them both up as her daughters), saying :
" Come, mother, come, mother " : who straightways with
.her other disciple rose up, and (as myself and many more
have heard it from their own mouths) when they were
about midnight by her bedside, suddenly there came a
light from heaven, which filled all that cell : and such
a brightness there appeared, that it put them both into a
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Cf)e Departure of Carsilla
wonderful fear, and, as themselves did afterward report,
all their body became cold, in such sort, that there they
stood amazed : for they heard a noise, as it were of many
that came in, and the cell door shaken and thrust open,
as though there had been a great press of people : and
as they said, they heard a great company come in, yet
they saw nobody, and that by reason of great fear and
much light : for both fear did make them to hold their
eyes downward, and the brightness of such plenty of light
did so dazzle them, that they could not behold anything.
Straight after that light followed a wonderful pleasant
smell, which did greatly comfort their fearful hearts.
Romula, perceiving that they could not endure that
abundance of light, with sweet words comforted Re-
dempta, that stood trembling by her bedside, saying :
" Be not affeard, mother ; for I shall not die at this
time " : and when she had often repeated those words, by
little and little the light vanished away, but yet the sweet
smell remained still, and so continued both the next and
the third day after. Upon the fourth night, again she
called for that her mother, and when she was come, she
desired to receive the Sacrament, and so she did ; and
behold, before Redempta or her other disciple departed
from her bedside, suddenly they heard two quires sing-
ing before the door without : and as they said, they per-
ceived by their voices that the one was of men, that
began the psalms, and the other of women that answered :
and whiles these heavenly funerals were in celebrating
before the cell door, that holy soul departed this life, and
was carried in that manner up into heaven : and the
higher those two quires did ascend, the less did they hear
that celestial musick, until at length they heard no more :
and beside that sweet and odoriferous smell, which before
they felt, vanished quite away.
Cfjapter ^irteen : of tfje Departure of t&e fjolp
tJirgin Car0iUa. ^ Sometime also for the comfort of
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Cije Dialogues of @)t (Stegotp
the soul that departeth, there appeareth unto it the author
himself of life, and rewarder of all virtue : for proof
whereof I will here report that which I remember also
to have spoken of in mine Homilies, concerning mine
aunt Tarsilla : who, in the company of two others of her
sisters, had for continuance in prayer, gravity of life,
singularity in abstinence, arrived to the top of perfection.
To this woman, Felix, my great-grandfather, sometime
Bishop of this see of Rome, appeared in vision, and
shewed her the habitation of everlasting light, speaking
thus : " Come with me, and I will entertain you in this
dwelling place of light." Shortly after, taken with an
ague, she was brought to the last cast : and as when
noble men and women lie a dying, many do visit them
for the comfort of their friends : so divers both men
and women, at the time of her departure, were come,
which stood round about her bed : at what time she,
suddenly casting her eyes upward, beheld our Saviour
coming : whereupon, looking earnestly upon him, she
cried out to them that were present : " Away, away :
my Saviour Jesus is come " : and so, fixing her eyes
upon him, whom she beheld, her holy soul departed
this life : and such a wonderful fragrant smell ensued,
that the sweetness thereof gave evident testimony that
the author of all sweetness was there present. After-
ward, when her dead body, according to the manner,
was made ready to be washed, they found that, with long
custom of prayer, the skin of her arms and knees was,
like a camel's, become hard : and so her dead body
gave sufficient testimony, what her living spirit had con-
tinually practised.
Chapter %ei)enteen : of ti)e Departure of a poung
maiD CalleD a^USa. f Neither must that be forgotten,
which the servant of God before mentioned, called
Probus, used to tell of a little sister which he had, called
Musa : for he said that one night our blessed Lady
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Ct)e Depattute of 0@usa
appeared unto her in vision, shewing her sundry young
maids of her own years, clothed all in white : whose
company she much desiring, but yet not presuming to
go amongst them, the Blessed Virgin asked her whether
she had any mind to remain with them, and to live in
her service : to whom she answered that willingly she
would. Then our blessed Lady gave her in charge,
not to behave herself lightly, nor to live any more like
a girl, to abstain also from laughing and pastime, telling
her that after thirty days she should, amongst those
virgins which she then saw, be admitted to her service.
After this vision, the young maid forsook all her
former behaviour : and with great gravity reformed the
levity of her childish years : which thing her parents
perceiving, and demanding from whence that change
proceeded, she told them what the blessed Mother of
God had given her in commandment, and upon what
day she was to go unto her service. Five and twenty
days after, she fell sick of an ague ; and upon the
thirtieth day, when the hour of her departure was come,
she beheld our blessed Lady, accompanied with those
virgins which before in vision she saw to come unto her,
and being called to come away, she answered with her
eyes modestly cast downward, and very distinctly spake
in this manner : " Behold, blessed Lady, I come, behold,
blessed Lady, I come " : In speaking of which words
she gave up the ghost, and her soul departed her virgin's
body, to dwell for ever with the holy virgins In heaven.
lP0t0t, Seeing mankind is subject to many and in-
numerable vices, I think that the greatest part of heaven
is replenished with little children and infants.
Cbaptet (JEigfjtcen: botn certain poung c&ilDren
are ginDereD from beatien bp tbeir parents' tnicfeeD
eDucation : as is sbetoeD 6p ttje erample of a
blasphemous pounfftiop. fl ®regorp. Although we
ought not to doubt, but believe that all infants which be
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Cf)e Dialogues of %t (J^rcgorp
baptized, and die in their infancy, go to heaven ; yet no
point of our belief it is, that all little ones which can
speak do come unto that holy place : because some little
children are kept from heaven by their parents, which
bring them up wickedly and in lewd life. For a certain
man in this city, well known to all, some three years
since had a child, as I think five years old, which upon
too much carnal affection he brought up very carelessly :
in such sort that the little one (a lamentable case to
speak of) so soon as anything went contrary to his mind,
straightways used to blaspheme the name of God.
This child, in that great mortality which happened
three years since, fell sick, and came to the point of
death : and his father holding him at that time in his
arms, the child (as they say, which were then present)
beheld with trembling eyes certain wicked spirits coming
towards him : at which sight he began to cry out in this
manner : " Keep them away, father, keep them away " :
and crying so out, he turned away his face, and would
have hid himself in his father's bosom : who demanding
why he was so afraid, and what he saw : " O father,"
quoth he, " there be blackamoors come to carry me
away " : after which words straightways he blasphemed
God, and so gave up the ghost. For to the end God
might make it known to the world for what sin he was
delivered to such terrible executioners, he permitted
him at his very death to iterate that sin, for which his
father, whiles he lived, would not correct him : so that
he which through God's patience had long lived a
blasphemer, did at length, by his just judgment, blas-
pheming end his life, that the father might both know
his own sin, and also how, by neglecting the soul of his
little son, he nourished and brought up npt a little sinner
for hell fire. But now to surcease from further speech
of this sad and melancholy matter, let us prosecute, as
we have begun, our former joyful narration.
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Cfte Depattute of ^tepljen
Chapter Nineteen : of tf)e Depattute of tbe man
of ©OD called ^tepften* fl By the relation of the
same Probus, and other religious men, I came to the
knowledge of such things as in my Homilies I told to
mine auditors, concerning the venerable father Stephen.
For he was a man, as Probus and many more affirm, who
had no wealth in this world, nor cared for any, loving
only poverty for God's sake : in adversity always did he
keep patience : secular men's company did he avoid :
and his desire was always to pray and serve God : of
whom I will here report one excellent virtuous act, that
by one, many other which he likewise did, each man
may ponder with himself. This man, therefore, having
upon a time carried his corn, which he reaped with his
own hands, into the barn, being the only substance upon
which he and his disciples were to live all the year : a
certain wicked wretch, pricked forward by the devil, set
it all on fire : which another perceiving, ran in all haste
and told it to the servant of God : and after he had done
his message, he added these words, saying : " Alas and
woe, father Stephen, what an ill chance hath befallen
you." To whom straightway s, with a pleasant counte-
nance and quiet mind, he answered : " Nay, what an ill
chance and misery is befallen him that hath done this :
for to me what hath happened .'' " By which words of
his it appeareth, to what great perfection he was arrived,
that took so quietly the loss of all his worldly wealth,
and was more sorry for the other's sin than grieved for
his own loss ; and more thought what his neighbour had
inwardly lost in his soul, than what himself had out-
wardly lost in his substance. When this man lay a dying,
many came to visit him, and to commend their souls to
his, that was now leaving this world : and standing about
his bed, some of them beheld Angels coming in, but yet
were not able to tell it unto others then present : others
there were that saw nothing, but yet such a great fear fell
20I
Cfje Dialogues of @t (©tegorp
upon them all, that none could endure to remain in that
place, when his soul departed the body : and therefore
all of them, terrified and wholly possessed with fear, fled
away : by which they perceived of what power he was,
that received his soul going out of this world : seeing at
that time no mortal creature could endure to be there
present.
Cbaptet Ctoentp: i)oto sometime tU metit of
tht soul is not so ttulp DedateD at tfje time of tbe
Departure as aftertOarO. fl But here we have to under-
stand, that sometime the merit of the soul is not so truly
known at the time of the departure, as it is afterward :
and therefore divers holy martyrs have suffered many
great torments at the hands of infidels : who afterwards,
at their dead bones, were famous for signs and miracles,
as before hath been noted.
Chapter Ctoentp^one : of tU ttoo e^onfes of
3t)60t "fc^alentinUS. ^ For the virtuous man Valen-
tinus, who afterward, as you know, was in this city
Abbot of my Monastery, having had before in the pro-
vince of Valeria the government of another Abbey : into
which, as he told me, the cruel Lombards entered in, and
hung up two of his monks upon a tree, who in that
manner ended their life. When evening was come,
both their souls began in that place to sing so plainly
and distinctly, that they also who had killed them, hear-
ing that kind of musick, became wonderfully afraid. All
the prisoners likewise that were there present heard it,
and afterward witnessed the same : which strange melody
God's providence would have known, to the end that
mortal men living yet upon earth might thereby learn
how that, if they serve him truly in this world, that
they shall after death verily live with him in the world
to come.
Chapter Ctaaentp^ttoo : of tibe Departure of atiliot
^UranUS, ^ At such time as I yet lived in the Monas-
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Cruel^ of tl)e lomljatD0
tery, I understood by the relation of certain religious men,
that in the time of the Lombards, in this very province
called Sura and not far off, there was an holy Abbot
called Suranus, who bestowed upon certain prisoners,
which had escaped their hands, all such things as he
had in his Monastery : and when he had given away in
alms all his own apparel, and whatsoever he could find
either in the monks' cells or in the yards, and nothing
was left : suddenly the Lombards came thither, took him
prisoner, and demanded where his gold was : and when
he told them that he had nothing, they carried him to
an hill hard by, where there was a mighty great wood in
which a certain prisoner that ran away from them had
hid himself in an hollow tree. There one of the Lom-
bards, drawing out his sword, slew the foresaid venerable
Abbot, whose body as it fell to the ground, suddenly
all the hill together with the wood did shake, as though
the earth by that trembling had said, that it could not
bear the weight of his holiness and virtue.
Cftaptet Ctoentp=ti)ree : of tt)c Departure of a
Deacon ftelonging to tije cfjurcf) of t&e ogarsori.
^ Another Deacon also there was in the province of the
Marsori, a man of holy life, whom the Lombards had
taken, and one with his sword had cut off his head. But
as his body fell to the ground, he that slew him was
possessed by a devil, and so he fell down at the holy
man's feet, shewing thereby that he was delivered to the
enemy of God, because he had so cruelly slain the friend
of God.
Peter, what is the reason, I beseech you, that almighty
God suffereth them to be put to death : whom after-
ward he doth make known to the world, that they were
holy men and his dear servants ?
Chapter Ctoentp'four : of tlje Deatf) of tlie man
of (5oD, t&at toa0 sent to IBetfjel, ^ (Sregorp. Seeing
we find it written, that what death soever the just man
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Cije Dialogues of ^t. <£)teffotp
dieth, that his justice shall not be taken from him : what
hurt Cometh to God's elect servants (walking no ques-
tion the way to everlasting life), if for a little while
they have some pitiful end ? and perhaps it proceedeth
from some small sin of theirs, which by such kind of
death God's pleasure is that it should be purged. And
hereof it cometh that reprobates receive superiority and
power over others, who at their death be so much the
more punished, for that they used their cruel authority
against God's servants : as the foresaid wicked and
wretched man, whom God suffered not to triumph over
that venerable Deacon, though he permitted him to kill
his body : which thing to be true we learn also out of
holy scriptures. For that man of God which was sent
against Samaria, because contrary to God's command-
ment he did eat in his journey, was slain by a lion ; and
yet in the same place we read, that the lion stood by the
man's ass, and did not touch his dead body.^ By which
we perceive that his sin of disobedience was by that his
death pardoned : because the same lion that feared not
to kill him, presumed not yet to touch his dead carcass :
for licence he had for the one, but no leave was granted
for the other, because he that was culpable in his life,
having his sin of disobedience now punished, was just
by his death ; and therefore the lion that before slew
the body of a sinner, preserved afterward the corpse of
a just man.
1^0t0t. Your discourse pleaseth me very well: yet
willing I am to know whether, before the resurrection,
the souls of just men do enter into the kingdom of
heaven.
€t)aptet CtDcntp=fitie : toi)ett)et tfje souls of mst
men tie receitieD into i)eatjen, tiefote ttje general r
tesuttection of out boDies. ^ (^tegotp* This thing,
speaking generally of all just men, can neither be
* 3 Kings 13, 24-28.
204
Cbe Ke0uttection of t&e TBoDp
affirmed nor denied : for the souls of some just men,
remaining as yet in certain mansions, be deferred from
heaven ; by \vhich stay of theirs, what else do we learn,
but that they lacked somewhat of perfect justice ? And
yet is it more clear than day that the souls of them that
be perfect, do, straight after death, possess the joys of
heaven : the truth whereof Christ himself assureth us,
when he saith : Wheresoever the body shall be, thither will
the eagles be gathered together ; ^ for where our Saviour is
present in body, thither, without all question, do the
souls of just men assemble themselves ; and St. Paul
saith : / desire to be dissolved and to be with Chris tJ' He,
therefore, that doubteth not Christ to be in heaven, how /
can he doubt that St. Paul's soul is in the same place .'' \
which Apostle speaketh also of the dissolution of his \
body, and his dwelling in heaven in these words : We I
know that if our terrestrial house of this habitation be dis- \
solved, that we have a building of God ; an house not made {
with hands, but everlasting in heaven? \
lP0t0t. If just men's souls be already in heaven : what
then shall they receive for a reward of their virtuous and
just life at the day of judgment ?
(©t00Otp. Whereas now their souls be only in heaven,
at the day of judgment this further increase of joy shall
they have, that their bodies also shall be partakers of
eternal bliss, and they shall in their flesh receive joy: in
which, for Christ's sake, they suffered grief and torments.
In respect of this their double glory, the scripture saith :
In their land, they shall possess double things;^ and it is
written of the souls of the just, that, before the day of
resurrection : To every one of them white stoles were given ;
and it was said to them : that they should rest yet a little
time, until the number of their fellow-servants and brethren
were complete? They, therefore, that now receive but
1 Luke, 17, 37. ^ Philipp. i, 23. * 2 Cor. 5, i.
* Isai. 61,7. * Rev. 6, 11.
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€f)t Dialogues of ^t (Ste^otp
one stole, in the day of judgment shall every one have
two : because now they rejoice only for the felicity of
their souls, but then shall they enjoy the endless glory
of body and soul together.
PCtCt. I grant it to be as you say : but what, I beseech
you, is the reason that oftentimes those which lie a dying
do prophesy and tell of many things to come ?
C!)aptet Ctoentp^sir : TBp tofjat means it falletb
out, tibat t&ose tofjlcf) lie a Dping Do prop&esp of
things to come : anD of tbe Deatf) of a certain
aDtiocate : of tbat also tofjicft toag tetiealeD to tH
mon&s (Serontius anD Q^ellitus : of tf)e Deatf) of
a t)op calleD armentarius, anD of tU Diioersitp of
tongues. ^ (StegOtp. Sometime the soul itself, by
reason of the spiritual nature which it hath, doth foresee
some thing which will so fall out ; and sometime souls,
before their departure, come to the knowledge of future
things by revelation ; sometime also, when they are
straightways to leave the body, by heavenly inspiration
they penetrate with their spiritual eyes the secrets of
heaven. For that the soul, by reason of the spiritual
nature which it hath, doth know things to come, certain
it is, by that which happened to a certain advocate in
this city, who died two days ago of a pain in his side.
For a little before his death, he called for his boy, to give
him his apparel, that he might rise up and walk : who,
supposing him not to know what he said, refused to do
what he willed him. Whereupon he rose up, put on
his clothes, and said that he would go to the church of
St. Sixtus, which is in the way called Appia : and when
not long after, his sickness increasing, he departed this
life, determined it was, that his body should be buried in
the church of St. Januarius the martyr, which standeth
upon the way called Prenestina. But because they which
had the care of his burial thought it too far oiF, suddenly
they resolved upon a new course : and so, going forth
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IPtopijeciesoftfjcDping
with his corpse by the way called Appia, not knowing
what he had said, they buried him in that church which
before he had mentioned : and seeing it is well known
that he was a man given to the world, and one that
sought after earthly gain, how could he know that which
fell out, but that the force and spiritual nature of his
soul did foresee what should become of his body ?
That those also, which lie a dying, do oftentimes by
divine revelation foretell what shall happen afterward,
we may learn by such things as have fallen out amongst
us in divers Abbeys. For ten years since, there was a
monk in my Monastery, called Gerontius, who, lying
sore sick, saw by vision in the night time, certain white
men beautifully apparelled to descend from above into
the Monastery, and standing by his bed-side, one of them
said : "The cause of our coming hither is to choose out
certain of Gregory's monks, to send them abroad unto
the wars ' : and forthwith he commanded another to
write in a bill the names of Marcellus, Valentinian,
Agnellus, and divers others, whose names I have now
forgotten : that being done, he said further : "Put down
also the name of him that now beholdeth us." By
which vision he being assured of that which would come
to pass, the next morning he told the monks, who they
were that should shortly die out of the Monastery,
adding also that himself was to follow them. The next
day the foresaid monks fell more dangerously sick, and
so died all in that very order which they were named in
the bill. Last of all, himself also departed this life,
who had foretold the departure of the other monks
before him.
Likewise in that mortality which, three years since,
lamentably aiBicted this town, there was in the Monastery
of the city of Portua, a young monk called Mellitus, a
man of wonderful simplicity and humility, whose last
day being come, he fell desperately sick of the common
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disease : which when venerable Felix, Bishop of the
same place, understood (by whose relation myself have
learned this story), very careful he was to visit him, and
with sweet words to comfort him against death : adding,
notwithstanding, that by God's grace he might live long
in this world. To whom the sick man answered that
his time was at hand, saying that there came unto him a
young man with letters, willing him to open and read
them : which when he had done, he said that he found
both his own name, and all the rest of them which, the
Easter before, had been baptized by that Bishop, written
in letters of gold : and first of all he said that he found
his own name, and afterward the rest of them that were
christened at that time : by which he made no doubt
but that both himself and the rest should shortly depart
this life, and so it fell out, for he died that very day :
and after him followed all those which had before been
baptized, so that, within the space of a few days, no one
of them was left alive. Of whom no question can be
made, but that the reason why the foresaid servant of
God saw them written in gold, was because their names
were written in heaven in the everlasting sight of God.
And as these men, by divine revelation, knew and
foretold such things as were to come : so sometimes
souls, before their departure, not in a dream but waking,
may have some taste of heavenly mysteries. For you
were well acquainted with Ammonius, a monk of my
Monastery, who whiles he lived in a secular weed and
was married to the daughter of Valerianus, a lawyer in
this city, continually and with all diligence he followed
his business : by reason whereof he knew whatsoever was
done in his father-in-law's house. This man told me,
how, in that great mortality which happened in this city,
in the time of that noble man Narsus, there was a boy in
the house of the foresaid Valerianus, called Armentarius,
who was very simple and passing humble : when, there-
208
IPtopfjecies of tt)e K)vinQ
fore, that mortal disease entered that lawyer's house, the
foresaid boy fell sick thereof, and was brought to the
point of death : who suddenly falling into a trance, and
afterward coming to himself again, caused his master to
be sent for, to whom he told that he had been in heaven,
and did know who they were that should die out of his
house. " Such and such," quoth he, " shall die, but as for
yourself, fear nothing, for at this time die you shall not.
And that you may be assured that I have verily been in
heaven, behold I have there received the gift to speak
with all tongues : you know well enough that ignorant
I am of the Greek tongue, and yet will I speak Greek,
that you may see whether it be true that I say or no."
Then his master spake Greek, and he so answered him
in that tongue, that all which were present did much
marvel. In the same house there was a Bulgar, servant
to the foresaid Narsus, who in all haste, being brought to
the sick person, spake unto him in the Bulgarian tongue ;
and the boy that was born and brought up in Italy,
answered him so in that barbarous language, as though
he had been born and bred in that country. All that
heard him thus talking wondered much, and by experi-
ence of two tongues which they knew very well that
before he knew not, they made no doubt of the rest,
though they could make no trial thereof. After this he
lived two days, and upon the third, by what secret judg-
ment of God none can tell, he tare and rent with his
teeth his own hands and arms, and so departed this life.
When he was dead, all those whom before he mentioned
did quickly follow after ; and besides them, none in that
house died at that time.
PCtCt. A very terrible thing it is, that he which merited
so great a grace, should be punished with so pitiful a
death.
(Sl0gOtP. Who is able to enter into the secret judg-
ments of God ? Wherefore those things which in divine
209 o
Cfte Dialogues of ^t (25reffotp
examination we cannot comprehend, we ought rather to
fear than curiously to discuss.
C&aptet Ctoentp^setien : of tbe DeatI) of tbe CatI
C6eopibaniUS. ^ And to prosecute what we have
already begun, concerning the prophetical knowledge of
those that die, I will now tell you that which, when I
was in the city of Centumcellis, I understood by the
relation of many, touching [Theophanius, Earl of that
place. For he was a man of great mercy and compassion,
and one that did many good works, but especially he
was given to good housekeeping and hospitality. True
it is that, following the affairs of his earldom, he spent
much time about earthly and worldly business, but that
rather of necessity and duty than according to his own
mind and desire, as his virtuous end afterward declared.i
For when the time of his death was come, there arose^a
great tempest, which was likely to hinder the funerals ;
whereat his wife, pitifully weeping, asked him in this
manner : "What shall I do .'' or how shall we carry you
to be buried, seeing the tempest is so terrible, that none
can stir out of doors ?" To whom he answered thus :
" Weep not, good wife, for so soon as I am dead you
shall have fair weather " : and when he had so said, he
gave up the ghost : and straightways the air became
clear, and the tempest ceased. After this miracle one or
two more followed. For whereas his hands and feet were
with the gout before swollen and festered, and by reason
of much corrupt matter, did savour and smell : yet when
he was dead, and his body after the manner came to be
washed, they found his hands and feet so sound and
whole, as though they had never been troubled with any
such sores at all. Four days after his burial, his wife
was desirous to have the marble stone that lay upon him
changed : which being done, such a fragrant and pleasant
smell came from his body, as though, instead of worms,
spices had sprung out of that corrupt carcass :!" of which
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CJ)e Deat!) of Ct)eopt)amus
strange thing when I did in my Homilies make public
mention, and certain incredulous persons doubted there-
of : upon a day, as I was sitting in the company of divers
noble men, those very workmen, which had changed the
tombstone, came unto me about business of their own ':
whom in the presence of the clergy, nobility, and common
people, I examined, touching that miracle : and they all
affirmed it to be most true, saying that they were in a
strange manner replenished with that sweet smell : and
they added also certain other things concerning his
sepulchre, that made the miracle greater, which, not to
be over long, I mean to pass over with silence.
IPCtEl. I perceive now that my former question is suffi-
ciently satisfied : yet another remaineth which troubleth
my mind, and that is, seeing you affirmed before that
holy men's souls which depart this life be now in heaven,
it foUoweth consequently that the souls of the wicked be
also in hell : and yet ignorant I am whether it be so or
no, for man's imagination cannot conceive how the souls
of sinners can be tormented before the day of judgment.
Chapter Ctoentp=cigf)t : tftat, as toe ficlietie tbe
souls of just anD perfect men to fie in bcatien :
so toe ougf)t also to Mifot tbat tf)e souls of tbe
toicfeeD, aftet tfteir Departure from tfyt tioDp, tie in
Ibell. fl (S^regOrp. if, by the testimony of holy scrip-
ture, you believe that the souls of holy and perfect men
be in heaven : by the same reason ought you also to
believe that the souls of the wicked be in hell : for as
just men do rejoice and be glad at the retribution of
eternal justice, so necessary it is that the wicked at the
same justice should be grieved and tormented : for as \
heavenly felicity doth glad the elect, so we ought to
believe that, from the day of their departure, fire doth
afflict and burn the reprobate.
l^eter. with what reason can we believe, that corporal
fire can hold and torment an incorporal thing ?
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Cfje DialOffues of ^t, ©reffotp
C&aptet Ctoentp-nine : ti)e reason tobp toe ougljt
to fielietJe, tbat cotporal fire can |)oID anD torment
t&e spirits tkt be toitftout fioDies. ^ (Sregorp. if
a spirit without a body can be holden and kept in the
body of a living man : why, likewise, after death, may
not an incorporal spirit be holden and kept in corporal
fire?
JPeter, The reason why an incorporal spirit in every
living man is kept in the body, is, because it doth quicken
and give life to the body.
(^regOrp. if an incorporal spirit, Peter, may be kept in
that to which it giveth life : why also, for punishment,
may it not be kept there, where it continually dieth ? And
we say that a spirit is holden by fire, to the end that, in
the torment thereof, it may both by seeing and feeling be
punished : for the soul by seeing of the fire is afflicted,
and burned it is, in that it seeth itself to be burned : and
so it falleth out, that a corporal thing may burn that
which hath no body, whiles that an invisible burning
and sorrow is drawn from visible fire, and the incorporal
soul by means of corporal fire may be tormented with
a spiritual and incorporal flame : although out of the
Gospel we also learn that the soul is not only tormented
by seeing the fire, but also by the feeling thereof : for
the rich glutton, as our Saviour saith, was buried in hell.
And he giveth us to understand that his soul was kept
in fire, in that he telleth us how he did beseech Abra-
ham, speaking to him in this manner : Send Lazarus, that
he may dip the top of his finger into the water and may refresh
my tongue : because I am tormented in this flame} Seeing,
then, truth itself assureth us that the sinful rich man was
condemned into fire, what wise man can deny that the
souls of the reprobate be detained in fire ?
IPeter, Both reason and testimony of scripture draweth
my mind to believe what you say : but yet, when I think
* Luke i6, 24.
212
Peier Fischer
KING THEODORICUS THE OSTROGOTH
{Franciscan Church, Innsbruck)
Ci)c Deatt) of I^ing CbcoDoticus
not of them, it returneth again to his former opinion :
for I neither see, nor can perceive, how a corporal thing
can hold and torment that which is incorporal and with-
out body.
(StCffOtp. Tell me, I pray you, whether do you think
that those Angels which fell from heaven have bodies
or no ?
l^etCt, What man that hath his wits will say that they
have any bodies ?
(StfgOtp. And whether do you think that the fire of
hell is corporal or spiritual ?
JP0t0t, I make no doubt but that it is corporal, seeing
most certain it is that bodies be burned therewith.
®t00Otp. And as certain it is that, at the day of judg-
ment, our Saviour shall say to the reprobate : Qo into
everlasting fire., which is prepared for the devil and his
angels.^ If, then, the devil and his angels, though with-
out bodies, shall be tormented with corporal fire, what
marvel is it that the souls after their departure, and
before they be united again to their bodies, may in like
manner suffer corporal torments .''
l^CtCt. The reason you give is very plain, and there-
fore now there is not any further doubt touching this
question, that doth trouble my mind.
C&aptet Cfjittp : of tt)e Deatf) of filing: CbeoDori^
cus,toftotoasan arian betetic. ^ (Steptg. Seeing
with such difficulty you are brought to believe, I think
it worth my labour to let you understand such things
concerning this very point, as I have received from them
that be of good credit. Julian, who died almost seven
years since, and had a worshipful office in this church of
Rome, in which now by God's providence I serve, used
often to visit me (living as yet in my Monastery) and to
talk with me of spiritual things for the good of both
our souls. This man, upon a day, told me this story.
* Matt. 25, 41.
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Cf)e Dialogues of ^t (Sregorp
" In the time of king Theodoricus," quoth he, " my wife's
father, being then in Sicily, was to return into Italy. The
ship in which he came arrived at the island of Liparis :
where he understood that there dwelt a certain solitary
man of great virtue, whom he thought good, whiles the
mariners were occupied about mending of their ship and
tackling, to visit, to talk with him, and to commend him-
self to his prayers : and so he did in the company of others.
When they were come to the man of God, amongst other
talk which they had, he asked them this question : ' Do
you,' quoth he, 'hear that king Theodoricus is dead .'' '
to whom they quickly answered : ' God forbid : we left
him alive at our departure from Rome ; and before this
present we never heard of any such thing.' Then the
servant of God told them that certainly he was dead :
'for yesterday,' quoth he, 'at nine of the clock, he was
without shoes and girdle, and his hands fast bound,
brought betwixt John the Pope and Symmachus the
Senator, and thrown into Vulcan's gulph, which is not far
from this place.' When they heard this news, care-
fully they wrote down the time, and at their return into
Italy, they understood that king Theodoricus died upon
that very day, in which his unhappy passage out of this
world and punishment was revealed to the servant of
God." And for as much as he had, by miserable im-
prisonment, been the death of Pope John, and also killed
Symmachus, justly did he appear to be thrown of them
into fire, whom before in this life he had unjustly
condemned.
Chapter Cf)ittp=one : of tbe Deatf) of Eepatatus.
^ At the same time, when I first desired to lead a solitary
life, a certain old man called Deusdedit, passing well
beloved of the whole city, and one also that was my
friend and familiar acquaintance, told me that, in the
time of the Goths, a certain worshipful man, called
Reparatus, came to die ; who lying a long while with
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Ct)e Deatf) of iaeparatu0
his countenance changed, and his body stifF, many
thought in very deed that he had been dead : and when
divers of his friends and family wept for his departure, all
on a sudden he came to himself, to the great admiration
of his mourning household. Being returned thus to
life, he bad them in all haste to send a boy to the
church of St. Lawrence in Damaso (so called of him
that built it) and quickly to bring word what was be-
come of Tiburtius the Priest. This Tiburtius, as the
speech went, was much given to a dissolute and wanton
life ; and Florentius, who at that time was a Priest in
the same church, remembereth full well his conversa-
tion and manner of life. When the messenger was
gone, Reparatus, that was returned to life, told them
that in the place where he was, he saw a great wood-pile
made ready, and Tiburtius brought forth and laid upon
it, and there to have been burnt with fire. " Then another
fire," quoth he, " was prepared, which was so high that it
reached from earth to heaven " : but although they de-
manded for whom it was, yet did he not tell them : for
when he had spoken these words straightways he died :
and the boy, which was sent to see what was become of
Tiburtius, returned with news, that he found him, a
little before his coming, departed this life. By which
we may learn that, seeing this Reparatus was carried to
the places of torments to see them, returned afterward
to life to tell what he had there beheld, and straight
after left this world : that he saw not all these things
for himself, but for us that yet live, and have time
granted to amend our wicked lives. And the reason
why Reparatus saw that great wood-pile burning, was
not that we should think that the fire of hell is nourished
with any wood : but because he was to make relation
of these things to them that remained still in this world,
he saw that fire prepared for the wicked, to be made of
the same matter of which ovir fire is, to .the end that, by
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Cfje Dialogues of @t (Steptp
those things which we know and be acquainted with, we
should learn to be afraid of those, which yet we have
not seen nor have any experience.
C&apter C&ittp^ttot) : of tftt Deatf) of a Couttier :
to5o0e gratie tiumeD tuitf) fire, fl Maximianus,
Bishop of Syracusis, a man of holy life, who for a long
time in this city had the government of my Monastery,
often told me a terrible story, which fell out in the pro-
vince of Valeria. A certain courtier, upon Easter even,
was godfather to a young maid, who, after the fast was
ended, returned home to his house : where drinking
more wine than enough, he desired that his god-daughter
might tarry with him : whom that night, which is hor-
rible to speak of, he did utterly undo. In the morning,
up he rose, and with guilty conscience thought good to
go unto the bath, as though the water of that place
could have washed away the filthiness of his sin, yet he
went and washed himself. Then he began to doubt,
whether it were best to go unto the church or no ; fear-
ing, on the one side, what men would say, if he went
not upon that so great a festival day ; and on the other,
if he did go, he trembled to think of God's judgment.
In conclusion, shame of the world overcame him, and
therefore to the church he went : where yet he remained
with great fear and horror, looking every instant that he
should have been delivered to the devil, and tormented
before all the people. At that solemn mass, though he
did wonderfully shake for fear, yet he scaped free from
all punishment : and so he departed very joyfully from
church : and the next day after, came thither without
any fear at all : and so merrily and securely he continued
for six days together, thinking with himself that either
God saw not that his abominable sin, or else that mercifully
he had pardoned the same. Upon the seventh day, by
sudden death he was taken out of this world. And
being buried, for a long time after, in the sight of the
216
ffiinotoleDgc of tije faints
whole town, a flame of fire came out of his grave, which
burnt his bones so long, until it consumed the very
grave itself, in such sort that the earth which was raised
up with a little bank, appeared lower than the rest of
the ground. By which fact almighty God declared what
his soul suffered in the other world, whose dead body
flaming fire consumed in this. To us also he hath left
a fearful example, that we may thereby learn what the
living and sensible soul suffereth for sin committed,
when as the sensible bones by such a punishment of fire
were burnt to nothing.
JPCtCt. Desirous I am to know whether in heaven the
good know the good, and the wicked in hell know one
another.
€t)apter CJ)irtp=tbtee : tfjat in f)eatien tfte gooD
fenoin tbe gooD : anD in fjeU tf)e toicfeeQ ijatie fenoto-
IcDge of tbe toicfeeD. ^ (Stegotp. The truth of this
question we find most clearly resolved in those words of
our Saviour before alleged : in which, when it is said
that : There was a certain rich man, and he was clad with
purple and silk, and he fared every day magnifically : and there
was a certain beggar called Lazarus, that lay at his gate full
of sores, desiring to be filled of the crumbs that fell from the rich
mans table, and none did give him, but the dogs also came
and licked his sores ; straightways it is there also said,
that : Lazarus died, and was carried of the Angels into
Abraharns bosom : and the rich man also died, and was
buried in hell : who, lifting up his eyes, being in torments, saw
Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried
saying: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger into water for
to cool my tongue, because I am tormented in this flame. To
whom Abraham answered : Son, remember that thou diddest
receive good things in thy lifetime, and Lazarus likewise evil?-
By which words, the rich man, having no hope of salva-
^ Luke i6, 19-25,
217
Cfje Dialogues of %t (25re0orp
tion for himself, beginneth to make suit for his friends,
saying : Father, I beseech thee, that thou wouldest send him
unto my father s house, for I have five brethren, for to testify
unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments. In
which words we see plainly, that the good do know the
good, and the bad have knowledge of the bad. For if
Abraham had not known Lazarus, never would he have
spoken to the rich man being in torments, and made
mention of his affliction and misery past, saying : that
he had received evil things in his life. And If the bad did
not know the bad, never would the rich man in torments
have remembered his brethren that were absent : for
shall we think that he knew not them that were present
with him, who was so careful to pray for them that were
absent ?
By which we learn also the answer to another ques-
tion, which you demanded not : and that is, that the good
do know the bad, and the bad the good. For Abraham
knew the rich man, to whom he said : Thou hast received
good things in thy life : and Lazarus, God's elect servant,
was also known to the rich reprobate, whom by name
he desired that he might be sent unto him, saying : Send
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger into water, and
cool my tongue : by which mutual knowledge on both sides,
the reward likewise to both parts increaseth, for the good
do more rejoice, when they behold them also in felicity
whom before they loved : and the wicked seeing them,
whom in this world not respecting God they did love,
to be now punished in their company, tormented they
are, not only with their own pains, but also with the
pains of their friends. Beside all this, a more wonder-
ful grace is bestowed upon the Saints in heaven : for they
know not only them with whom they were acquainted
in this world, but also those whom before they never saw,
and converse with them in such familiar sort as though
in times past they had seen and known one another :
218
Visiom of tbe Dtfjer motin
and therefore when they shall see the ancient fathers in
that place of perpetual bliss, they shall then know them
by sight, whom always they knew in their lives and
conversation. For seeing they do in that place with
unspeakable brightness (common to all) behold God,
what is there that they know not, that know him who
knoweth all things ?
Cbaptet Cf)irtp=four : of a certain religious man,
tOat at f)iS QCatb SatU tbe PtOP&etS. q For a certain
religious man of my Monastery, that lived a virtuous
life, dying some four years since, saw at the very time
of his departure (as other religious men do report, that
were present) the Prophet Jonas, Ezechiel, and Daniel,
and by their names called them his Lords, saying that
they were come unto him : and as he was bowing his
head downward to them for reverence, he gave up the
ghost : whereby we perceive what perfe'ct knowledge
shall be in that immortal life, when as this man, being
yet in corruptible flesh, knew the Prophets whom he
never saw.
Ctiaptet Cf)irtp=fit)e : tjoto sometime souls
reaop to Depart tbis toorlD, t&at fenoto not one
another, fenoto pet toftat torments for t&eir sins,
or like retoarDs for tfteir gooD Deeds, tbep s&all
receitie. anD of tbe Deatb of 3[ot)n, Orsus, (Z5umor=
pijiUS, anD ^tepben. ^ And sometime it falleth out
that the soul, before it departeth, knoweth them with
whom, by reason of equality of sins or rewards, it shall
in the next world remain in one place. For old
Eleutherius, a man of holy life, of whom in the former
book I spake much, saith that he had a natural brother
of his, called John, who lived together with him in his
Monastery, who, fourteen days beforehand, told the
monks when he was to die : and three days before he
departed this life, he fell into an ague, and when his
time was come, he received the mystery of our Lord's
219
C&e JDialoffues of %t, (^tejotp
body and blood : and calling for the monks about him,
he willed them to sing in his presence, prescribing them
a certain anthem concerning himself,' saying : Open unto
me the gates ofjustkey and being gone into them, I will confess
unto our Lord : this is the gate of our Lord, just men shall
enter in by it ; ^ and whiles the monks about him were
singing this anthem, suddenly with a loud and long
voice he cried out, saying : " Come away, Ursus " :
straight after which words his soul departed this mortal
life. The monks marvelled, because they knew not the
meaning of that, which at his death he so cried for : and
therefore after his departure, all the Monastery was in
sorrow and affliction. Four days after, necessary busi-
ness they had, to send some of their brethren to another
Monastery far distant : to which place when they came,
they found all the monks in great heaviness, and
demanding the reason, they told them that they did
lament the desolation of their house : " for four days
since," quoth they, " one of our monks died, whose life
kept us all in this place " : and when they inquired his
name, they understood that it was Ursus : asking also
at what hour he left this world, they found that it was
at that very instant, when he was called by John who
died with them. Out of which we may learn that the
merits of either were alike ; and that in the next world
they live familiarly together in one mansion, who at one
time like fellows departed this life.
Here also will I tell you what I heard from the
mouths of my neighbours, at such time as I was yet
a layman, and dwelled in my father's house, which
descended to me by inheritance. A certain widow there
was not far from me, called Galla, which had a young
man to her son, whose name was Eumorphius : not far
from whom dwelt one Stephen called also Optio. This
Eumorphius, lying sick at the point of death, called for
'^ Psalm ii8, 19-20.
220
H -5
O 'S
2^
<
y.
o
o
u
l^-isions of tfte ©tijet mom
his man, commanding him in all haste to go unto Stephen
Optio, and to desire him without all delay to come
unto him, because there was a ship ready, to carry them
both into Sicily. But because his man refused to go,
supposing that through extremity of sickness he knew
not what he spake, his master very earnestly urged him
forward, saying : « Go thy way, and tell him what I say,
for I am not mad, as thou thinkest," Hereupon away
he went towards Stephen, but as he was in the midst
of his journey, he met one that asked him whither he
was going, and when he told him, that he was by his
master sent to Stephen Optio : " You lose your labour,"
quoth the other, "for I come now from thence : and he
died this very hour." Back again upon this news he
returned to his master, Eumorphius : but before he
could get home, he found him dead. And so, by con-
conferring their meeting together, and the length of the
way, apparent it was that both of them, at one and the
self same instant, departed this mortal life.
lP^0tCt. Very terrible it is that you say : but what, I
pray you, is the reason, that he saw a ship at his depar-
ture ? Or why did he say that he was to go into Sicily ?
(St00Oip, The soul needeth not anything to carry it :
yet no wonder it is, if that appeared to the soul being
yet in the body, which by means of the body it had
oftentimes before seen : to the end that we should thereby
understand whither his soul might spiritually be carried.
And in that he said he was to go into Sicily, what else
can be meant thereby, but that there be in the islands
of that country more than in any place else, certain gaping
gulphs of torments, casting out fire continually .'' and as
they say that know them, daily do they wax greater, and
enlarge themselves : so that the world drawing to an end,
and so, consequently, more coming thither to be burnt
in those flaming dungeons, so much the more do those
places of torments open and become wider. Which
221
Cfte Dialogues of ^t (^regotp
strange thing almighty God, for the terror and amend-
ment of the living, would have extant in this world, that
infidels which believe not the unspeakable pains of hell,
may with their eyes see the places of torments, which
they list not to credit when it is told them. And that
both the elect and reprobate, whose life and conversation
hath been alike, shall after death be carried to like places,
the saying of our Saviour doth teach us, though we had
no examples to prove the same ; for of the elect himself
saith in the Gospel : In the house of my Father there be
many mansions} For if there were not inequality of
rewards in the everlasting felicity of heaven, then were
there not many mansions, but rather one : wherefore
there be many mansions, in which divers orders and
degrees of God's saints be distinguished, who in common
do all rejoice of the society and fellowship of their
merits, and yet all they that laboured receive one penny,
though they remain in distinct mansions : because the
felicity and joy which there they possess is one, and the
reward, which by divers and unequal good works they
receive is not one but divers : which to be true our
Saviour assureth us, when, talking of his coming to
judgment, he saith : Then I will say to the reapers : Gather
up the cockle^ and hind it into bundles to burn?' For the
Angels, which be the reapers, do then bind up in bundles
the cockle to burn, when like with like are put together
in torment : as the proud to burn in hell with the proud,
carnal with the carnal, covetous with the covetous,
deceitful with the deceitful, envious with the envious,
and infidels with infidels : when therefore those that
were like in sinful life, be condemned to like torments,
then be they as it were cockle bound together in bundles
to be burnt.
ipCtCt, You have given a sufficient reason for satisfac-
tion to my demand : yet I beseech you to inform me
1 John 14, 2. 2 jyigjt ij^ jo^
222
lJision0 of tbe ©tfjet morlD
further, what the cause is, that some be called out of
this world, as it were through error : who afterward
return again to life, saying that they heard how they
were not the men which were sent for out of this life.
C&aptet CF)ittp=sir : of tftose souls tobicft seem
as it toete t&roufff) etrot to be taken out of tbeit
fjoDies : anD of toe Deatf) anti retiitiing of a monfe
calleD lp)eter : of tbe deatf), lifeetoise, anD raising
up again of one ^tepfjen : anD of tbe sttange
tJision of a certain soIDier. fl ©regotp. When this t
happeneth, Peter, it is not, if it be well considered, any
error, but an admonition. For God of his great and
bountiful mercy so disposeth, that some after their death
do straightways return again to life, that having seen the
torments of hell, which before when they heard they
would not believe, they may now at least tremble at,
after they have with their eyes beheld them. For a
certain Sclavonion, who was a monk and lived with me
here in this city in my Monastery, used to tell me that
at such time as he dwelt in the wilderness, that he knew
one Peter, a monk born in Spain, who lived with him
■ in the vast desert called Evasa : which Peter (as he said)
told him how, before he came to dwell in that place, by
a certain sickness he died, and was straightways restored
to life again, affirming that he had seen the torments and
innumerable places of hell, and divers, who were mighty
men in this world, hanging in those flames ; and that as
himself was carried to be thrown also into the same fire,
suddenly an Angel in a beautiful attire appeared, who
would not suffer him to be cast into those torments :
but spake unto him in this manner : " Go thy way back
again, and hereafter carefully look unto thyself, how
thou leadest thy life " : after which words his body by
little and little became warm, and himself, waking out
of the sleep of everlasting death, reported all such things
as happened about him : after which time he bound
223
Clje Dialogues of %t ©tegotp
himself to such fasting and watching, that though he
had said nothing, yet his very life and conversation did
speak what torments he had seen and was afraid of:
and so God's merciful providence wrought in his tem-
poral death that he died not everlastingly.
But because man's heart is passing obdurate and hard,
hereof it cometh that though others have the like vision,
and see the same pains, yet do they not always reap the
like profit. For the honourable man Stephen, whom
you knew very well, told me of himself, that at such
time as he was upon business resident in the city of
Constantinople, that he fell sick and died ; and when
they sought for a surgeon to bowel him, and to embalm
his body, and could not get any, he lay unburied all the
night following : in which space his soul was carried to
the dungeon of hell, where he saw many things, which
before when he heard he little believed. But when he
was brought before the judge that sat there, he would
not admit him to his presence, saying : " I commanded
not this man to be brought, but Stephen the smith " :
upon which words he was straightway restored to life,
and Stephen the smith, that dwelled hard by, at that very
hour departed this life : whose death did show that the
words which he heard were most true. But though the
foresaid Stephen escaped death in this manner at that
time, yet three years since, in that mortality which
lamentably wasted this city (and in which, as you know,
men with their corporal eyes did behold arrows that
came from heaven, which did strike divers), the same
man ended his days : at which time a certain soldier
being also brought to the point of death, his soul was in
such sort carried out of his body, that he lay void of all
sense and feeling, but coming quickly again to himself,
he told them that were present, what strange things he
had seen. For he said (as many report that know it
very well) that he saw a bridge, under which a black and
Uisions of t!)e Dtbet motlD
s moky river did _xun , th a t had -ar-fikfey-aft d intolerabl e
s mell : but upon the fa rther side thereof there^jwere
pleasant green meadows tull of sweet flowers, in which
also there were divers companies of men apparelled in
white : and such a delicate savour there was, that the
fragrant odour thereof did give wonderful content to all
them that dwelt and walked in that place.] Divers
particular mansions also therC' were, all shining with
brightness and light, and especially one magnifical and
sumptuous house which was a building, the brick
whereof seemed to be of gold, but whose it was, that he
knew not.
There were also upon the bank of the foresaid river
certain houses, but some of them the stinking vapour
which rose from the river did touch, and some other it
_. tou ched not at all. Now those that desired to pass over
the foresaid bridge, were subject to this manner of trial :
if any that was wicked attempted to go over, down he
fell into that dark and stinking river ; but those that were
just and not hindered by sin, securely and easily passed
over to those pleasant and delicate places. There he
said also that he saw Peter, who was steward of the
Pope's family, and died some four years since, thrust
into a most filthy place, where he was bound and kept
down with a great weight of iron : and inquiring why
he was so used, he received that answer, which all we
that knew his life can affirm to be most true : for it was
told him that he suffered that pain, because when him-
self was upon any occasion to punish other, that he did
it more upon cruelty than to shew his obedience ; of
which his merciless disposition none that knew him can
be ignorant. There also he said that he saw a Priest
whom he knew : who coming to the foresaid bridge,
passed over with as great security, as he lived in this
world sincerely.
Likewise, upon the same bridge he said that he did
225 p
Cf)e Dialogues of %t ategotp
see this Stephen, whom before we spake of, who being
about to go over, his foot slipped, and half his body
hanging beside the bridge, he was of certain terrible
men, that rose out of the river, drawn by the legs
downward : and by certain other white and beautiful
persons, he was by the arms pulled upward : and whiles
they strove thus, the wicked spirits to draw him down-
ward, and the good to lift him upward, he that beheld
all this strange sight returned to life, not knowing in
conclusion what became of him. By which miraculous
vision we learn this thing concerning the life of Stephen,
to wit, that in him the sins of the flesh did strive with
his works of alms. For in that he was by the legs
drawn downward, and by the arms plucked upward,
apparent it is, that both he loved to give alms, and yet
did not perfectly resist the sins of the flesh, which did
pull him downward : but in that secret examination of
the supreme judge, which of them had the victory, that
neither we know, nor he that saw it. Yet most certain
it is, that the same Stephen, after that he had seen the
places of hell, as before was said, and returned again to
his body, did never perfectly amend his former wicked
life, seeing many years after he departed this world,
leaving us in doubt whether he were saved or damned.
Whereby we may learn, that when any have the torments
of hell shewn them, that to some it is for their com-
modity, and to others for their testimony: that the
former may see those miseries to avoid them, and these
other to be so much the more punished, in that they
would not take heed of those torments, which they both
knew and with their eyes beheld.
Petet. What, I beseech you, was meant by the build-
ing of that house in those places of delight, with bricks
of gold ? For it seemeth very ridiculous, that in the
next life we should have need of any such kind of
metal.
226
DcusDcDit tbe ^ftoemaliet
mhat is meant tjp t&e builDing of tfje !)0usc in tfjose
pleasant places. 9nD of one 2:)eusDeDit, to6ose
bouse toas seen to tie built upon tbe ^atutDap.
^ (StegOtp. What man of sense can think so ? but by
that which was shewn there, whosoever he was, for
whom that house was built, we learn plainly what
virtuous works he did in this world : for he that by
plenty of alms doth merit the reward of eternal light,
certain it is, that he doth build his house with gold.
For the same soldier who had this vision said also,
which I forgot before to tell you, that old men, and
young, girls, and boys, did carry those bricks of gold
for the building of that house : by which we learn that
those to whom we shew compassion in this world, do
labour for us in the next. There dwelt also hard by us
a religious man, called Deusdedit, who was a shoe-
maker, concerning whom another saw by revelation that
he had in the next world an house a building ; but the
workmen thereof laboured only upon the Saturday.
"Who afterward enquiring more diligently how he lived,
found that whatsoever he got by his labour all the week,
and was not spent upon necessary provision of meat
and apparel, all that upon the Saturday he bestowed
upon the poor in alms at St. Peter's church : and there-
fore see what reason there was, that his building went
forward upon the Saturday.
l^etet. You have given me very good satisfaction
touching this one point : yet desirous I am further to
know, what the reason was that some of those habitations
were touched by the stinking vapour, and some were
not ; and what is meant by the bridge and river which
he saw.
©tegOtp. By the representation of these things, Peter,
are expressed the causes which they do signify. For the
bridge, by which he beheld God's servants to pass unto
those pleasant places, doth teach us that the path is very
227
Cfje Dialogues of ^t. ©regotp
strait which leadeth to everlasting life : i and the stinking
river, which he saw running beneath, signifieth that the
filthy corruption of vice in this world doth daily run to
the downfall of carnal pleasure. And that some of the
habitations were touched with the stinking vapour, and
some were not, what is meant else, but that there be
divers which do many good works, yet in their soul
they are touched with the delight of carnal sins ? and
therefore very great reason there is, that in the next
world such should taste of a stinking vapour, whom
filthy carnality did delight in this ; and therefore blessed
Job, perceiving the pleasure of the flesh to be stinking,
pronounceth this sentence of the wanton and carnal
man : His sweetness be •worms? But those that do
preserve their heart free from all pleasure of carnal
thoughts, have not their houses touched with any such
stinking vapour : and here we have also to note, that
he saw one and the same thing both to be a vapour and
also to have an ill savour, because carnal delight doth
so obscure the soul which it hath infected, that it can
not see the brightness of true light : for the more
pleasure it hath in the inferior part, the more darkness
it hath in the superior, which doth hinder it from the
contemplation of heavenly mysteries.
l^CtCt. Is there any text of holy scripture, to prove
that carnal sins be punished with stinking and bad
savours ?
f)f tf)e l^unisibment of t&e men of ^oDom.
^ (©tegOtp* There is : for in Qenesis ' we read that our
Lord rained fire and brimstone upon the city of Sodom :
that both fire might burn them, and the stench of
brimstone smother and kill them : for seeing they burnt
with the unlawful love of corruptible flesh, by God's
just judgment they perished both by fire and an un-
savoury smell ; to the end they might know that they
i Matt. 7, 14. 2 Job 24, 20. 3 Gen. 19, 24.
228
€bt Contietsion of CbeoDotus
had, by the pleasure of their stinking life, incurred the
sorrows of eternal death.
]^tttt. Concerning those things which before I doubted
of, I find myself now so fully satisfied, that I have not
any further Question to move.
Cfjaptet Cmrtp=0et)en : f)oto tbe souls of some
men, being: get in tbeit ijoDies, Do see some
spiritual punis&ment : and of t6at tofeict) i)ap=
peneD to m tJOp CtjeoDotus. ^ (Stegotp. We have
also to know that sometime the souls, whiles they are
in their bodies, do behold some spiritual punishment :
which yet happeneth to some for their own good, and
to others for the edification of them that hear thereof.
For there was one Theodorus (which story I remember
that in mine Homilies to the people I have also spoken
of) who was a very unruly lad, and, more upon neces-
sity than of his own good will, in the company of his
brother entered into my Monastery : and so little
pleasure he took in spiritual talk, that it was death to
him to hear anything tending to the good of his own
soul, for he was so far from doing any good work, that
he could not endure to hear thereof : and he would
openly protest, sometimes by swearing, sometimes in
anger, and sometimes in scoffing sort, that he never
meant to take upon him the habit of a religious life.
This untoward boy, in the late mortality which con-
sumed the greatest part of this city, was grievously
strooken : whereof he lay sore sick : and being at last
come to the point of death, all the monks repaired to
his chamber, to pray for the happy departure of his
soul, which seemed not to be far off: for the one half of
his body was already dead, and only in his breast a little
life remained, and therefore the nearer they saw him to
his end, the more fervently did they commend him to
God's mercy. Whiles they were thus busied, suddenly
he cried out to them, and with great clamour went about
229
Ctje Dialogues of %t (Stegotp
to interrupt their devotions, saying : "Depart and
away, for behold I am delivered over to a dragon to be
devoured, and your presence doth let him, that he can
not dispatch me. My head he hath already swallowed
up in his mouth, and therefore go your ways, that my
torments be not the longer, and that he may effect that
which he is about to do : for if I be given him to
devour, why do you keep me here in longer pain ? "
At these fearful words the monks said unto him :
" Why do you speak thus, good brother ? Bless your-
self with the sign of the holy cross" : to whom he
answered : " Willingly I would, but I can not, I am so
loaden with this dragon's scales." Upon these words
the monks fell prostrate upon the earth, and in great
zeal with tears they prayed to God for his delivery out
of the enemy's hands, who mercifully heard them, for
upon a sudden the sick person began to cry out, and
say : " God be thanked, behold the dragon that had me
to devour, is fled away, and overcome with your prayers,
here he could not tarry. Now, I beseech you, make
intercession for my sins, for I am ready to turn unto
God, and wholly to renounce all kind of secular life " :
and thus he that was half dead, as before was said, re-
served now to a longer life, turned to God with his
whole heart : and so, after he had put on a new mind,
and was a long time punished with affliction, then his
soul departed from the miseries of this mortal life.
Chapter Ct)irt5=eifff)t : of tbe Deatft of Ctrisorius ;
anD of a certain a^onfe of 31conia, fl But Chrisorius
on the contrary (as his kinsman Probus, of whom I
made mention before, told me) was a substantial man
in this world, but as full of sin as of wealth : for he was
passing proud, given to the pleasures of the flesh,
covetous, and wholly set upon scraping of riches to-
gether. But when God determined to make an end of
so many sins, he sent him a great sickness ; and when
230
C6e Deat!) of Cfttisorius
his last time drew near, in that very hour in which his
soul was to leave the body, lying with his eyes open,
he saw certain cruel men and black spirits stand before
him, pressing upon him to carry him away to the pit of
hell : at which fearful sight he began to tremble, to
wax pale, to sweat, and with pitiful outcries to crave
for truce : and often with faltering tongue to call for
his son Maximus (whom, when I was a monk, I knew
also to profess the same kind of life), saying : " Come
away, Maximus, with all speed. Never in my life did
I any harm to thee, receive me now in thy faith." His
son, greatly moved at these outcries, came unto him in
all haste : and his whole family lamenting and crying
out, repaired also to his chamber : none of all which
beheld those wicked spirits, which did so urge and vex
him : but by his trouble of mind, by his paleness and
trembling, they made no doubt of their presence : for he
was so affrighted with their terrible looks, that he turned
himself every way in his bed. Lying upon his left side,
he could not endure their sight : and turning to the
wall, there also he found them : at last, being very
much beset, and despairing of all means to escape their
hands, he cried out with a loud voice : " O truce till
to-morrow, O truce till to-morrow " : and crying out
in this sort he gave up the ghost. This being the
manner of his death, certain it is that he saw this fear-
ful sight not for himself, but for us : that his vision
might do us good, whom God's patience doth yet with
fatherly long sufferance expect to amendment. For
what profit reaped he by seeing those foul spirits before
his death, and by craving for that truce which he could
not obtain ?
There is also now dwelling amongst us a Priest of
Isauria called Athanasius, who telleth a very fearful story
which in his time happened, as he saith, at Iconium.
For there was in that place, as he reporteth, a Monastery
231
Cl)c Dialogues of %t. ©regotp
called Thongolaton, in which there lived a monk that
was had in great account : for he was of good conversa-
tion, and in his life very orderly : but, as the end declared,
he was far otherwise than he outwardly appeared : for
though he did seem to fast with the rest of the monks,
yet did he secretly take his meat : which vice of his none
of the other monks ever understood. But at length it
came forth by this means: for falling grievously sick,
so that no hope of life remained, he caused all the monks
of the Convent to be called together, who all willingly
came, verily thinking that, at the departure of so notable
a: man, they should have heard some sweet and good
exhortation : but it fell out far otherwise, for with great
trouble of mind, and trembling of body, he was enforced
to tell them that he died in a damnable state, saying :
" When you thought that I fasted with you, then had
I my meat in secret corners : and behold, now I am
delivered to a dragon to be devoured, who with his tail
hath enwrapped fast my hands and feet : and his head he
hath thrust into my mouth, and so he lieth sucking and
drawing out of my breath " : and speaking these words
he departed this life, and had not any time given to
deliver himself by penance from that dragon which he
saw. By which we learn, that he had this vision only for
the commodity of them that heard it, seeing himself
could not escape from the enemy which he beheld, and
into whose hands he was given to be devoured.
l^etet. Desirous I am to be informed, whether we ought
to believe that after death there is any fire of Purgatory.
Chapter C&irtp^nine : toi)etf)et t&ere lie an? fire
of l^utffatotp in tfte nert tootlD. fl ©tegorp. Our
Lord saith in the Gospel : Walk whiles you have the light: ^
and by his Prophet he saith : In time accepted have I
heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I holpen thee:^
which the Apostle St. Paul expounding, saith : Beholdy
1 John 12, 35. 2 Isai. 49, 8.
232
Cbe Docttine of Iputgatorp
now is the time acceptable; behold, now the day of salvation}
Solomon, likewise, saith : Whatsoever thy hand is able to do,
work it instantly: for neither work, nor reason, nor know-
ledge, nor wisdom shall be in hell, whither thou dost hasten?
David also saith : Because his mercy is for ever? By which
sayings it is plain, that in such state as a man departeth
out of this life, in the same he is presented in judgment
before God. But yet we must believe that before the
day of judgment there is a Purgatory fire for certain
small sins : because our Saviour saith, that he which
speaketh blasphemy against the holy Ghost, that it shall not
be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to
come? Out of which sentence we learn, that some sins
are forgiven in this world, and some other may be
pardoned in the next : for that which is denied concern-
ing one sin, is consequently understood to be granted
touching some other. But yet this, as I said, we have
not to believe but only concerning little and very
small sins, as, for example, daily idle talk, immoderate
laughter, negligence in the care of our family (which\
kind of offences scarce can they avoid, that know in what
sort sin is to be shunned), ignorant errors in matters of
no great weight : all which sins be punished after death,
if men procured not pardon and remission for them in
their lifetime : for when St. Paul saith, that Christ is the
foundation : and by and by addeth : And if any man build
upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
stubble : the work of every one, of what kind it is, the fire
shall try. If any maris work abide which he built thereupon,
he shall receive reward ; if any man's work burn, he shall
suffer detriment, but himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire?
For although these words may be understood of the fire
of tribulation, which men suffer in this world : yet if
any will interpret them of the fire of Purgatory, which
1 2 Cor. 6, 2. * Eccles. 9, lo. ^ Psalm 118, i.
« Matt. 12, 32. 5 I Cor. 3, 11-15.
233
Cbe Oialoffues of ®t (Stegorp
shall be in the next life : then must he carefully con-
sider, that the Apostle said not that he may be saved by
fire, that buildeth upon this foundation iron, brass, or
lead, that is, the greater sort of sins, and therefore more
hard, and consequently not remissible in that place : but
wood, hay, stubble, that is, little and very light sins,
which the fire doth easily consume. Yet we have here
further to consider, that none can be there purged, no,
not for the least sins that be, unless in his lifetime he
deserved by virtuous works to find such favour in that
place.
Cbaptet JFortp : of tU soul of pasctjasius tije
2!)CaC0n. ^ For when I was yet in my younger years,
and lived a secular life, I heard from the mouth of
mine elders, who knew it to be true : how that Pas-
chasius, a Deacon of this Roman church (whose sound
and eloquent books of the holy Ghost be extant amongst
us), was a man of a wonderful holy life, a marvellous
giver of alms, a lover of the poor, and one that con-
temned himself. This man, in that contention which,
through the exceeding hot emulation of the clergy, fell
out betwixt Symmachus and Lawrence, made choice of
Lawrence to be Bishop of Rome : and though he was
afterward by common consent overcome, yet did he con-
tinue in his former opinion till his dying day : loving
and preferring him, whom the Church, by the judgment
of Bishops, refused for her governor. This Deacon
ending his life in the time of Symmachus, Bishop of the
Apostolic see : a man possessed with a devil came and
touched his dalmatic, as it lay upon the bier, and was
forthwith delivered from that vexation. Long time
after, Germanus, Bishop of Capua (before mentioned),
by the counsel of physicians, for the recovery of his
health went to the baths : into which after he was
entered, he found there standing in those hot waters the
foresaid Paschasius, ready to do him service. At which
234
Cbe %ouI of ipa0cbasius
sight being much afraid, he demanded what so worthy a
man as he was did in that place : to whom Paschasius
returned this answer : " For no other cause," quoth he,
" am I appointed to this place of punishment, but for
that I took part with Lawrence against Symmachus : and
therefore I beseech you to pray unto our Lord for me,
and by this token shall you know that your prayers be
heard, if, at your coming again, you find me not here."
Upon this, the holy man Germanus betook himself to
his devotions, and after a few days he went again to the
same baths, but found not Paschasius there : for seeing
his fault proceeded not of malice, but of ignorance, he
might after death be purged from that sin. And yet we
must withal think that the plentiful alms which he be-
stowed in this life, obtained favour at God's hands, that
he might then deserve pardon, when he could work
nothing at all for himself.
Ip0t0t. What, I pray you, is the reason, that, in these
latter days, so many things come to light, which in times
past were not known : in such sort that by open revela-
tions and manifest signs, the end of the world seemeth
not to be far off .''
Chapter JFortp^one : tofjp in latter times so manp
things fte ftnoton, concerning men's souls : tofticB
in former ages toere not bearD of, ^ (Sregorp. So
it is, for the nearer that this present world draweth to-
wards an end, so much the more the world to come is at
hand, and sheweth itself by more plain and evident
tokens. For seeing, in this world, we kiiow not one
another's cogitations, and, in the next, men's hearts be
known to all, what fitter name can we give to this world
than to term it night, and what better to the next, than
to call it day ? But as, when the night is almost spent,
and the day beginneth to break, darkness and light be in
a certain manner joined together, until the light of the
day following doth perfectly banish away the dark rem-
235
Cbe Dialogues of %t (Stejotp
nants of the former night : even so, the end of this world
is, as it were, mingled together with the beginning of the
next, and with the darkness of this, some light of such
spiritual things as be in that doth appear : and so we see
many things which belong to that world, yet for all this,
perfect knowledge we have not any, but as it were in
the twilight of our soul behold them before the rising
of that sun of knowledge, which then abundantly will
cast his beams over all.
IPCtCt. I like very well of your speech, yet, in so worthy
a man as Paschasius was, this doubt doth trouble me,
how he was after his death carried to any place of punish-
ment, seeing the touching of his garment upon the bier
did dispossess a wicked spirit.
(5tC0Otp, Herein appeareth the great and manifold
providence of almighty God, by whose just judgment it
fell out, that Paschasius for some time entertained in-
wardly sin in his soul, and yet in the sight of the world
wrought miracles by his body after his death, who in his
lifetime did, as they know, many good works : to the end
that those which had seen his virtuous life, should not be
deceived concerning the opinion of his great alms ; and
yet himself should not without punishment have remis-
sion of his sin, which whiles he lived he thought to be
no sin, and therefore did not by tears wash it away.
l^Ctet. I understand very well what you say, but by
this reason I am driven into such straights, that I must
stand in fear both of those sins which I know, and also
of those which I know not. But because a little before
you discoursed of the places of torments : in what part
of the world, I beseech you, are we to believe that hell
is, whether above the earth or beneath the same ?
Cfjaptet jfottp^too : in to&at place of tbe tootlD
toe ouffbt to tielietie tf)at f)ell is. fl (Stegorp. Touch-
ing this point I dare not rashly define anything : for
some have been of opinion that hell was in some place
236
mtm ©ell 10
upon the earth ; and others think that it is under the
earth : but then this doubt ariseth, for 1f it be there-
fore called hell, or an infernal place, because it is below,
then as the earth is distant from heaven, so likewise
should hell be distant from the earth : for which cause,
perhaps, the Prophet saith : T/iou hast delivered my soul
from the lower hell ;^ so that the higher hell may seem to
be upon the earth, and the lower under the earth : and
with this opinion that sentence of John agreeth, who,
when he had said, that he saw a book sealed with seven ■
seals : and that none was found worthy, neither in heaven, nor
in earth, nor under the earth, to open the book, and loose the
seals thereof:'^ he added forthwith : and I wept much :
which book, notwithstanding, afterward he saith was
opened by a lion of the tribe of Juda. By which book,
what else can be meant but the holy scripture, which
our Saviour alone did open : for being made man, by his
death, resurrection, and ascension, he did reveal and
make manifest all those mysteries which in that book
were closed and shut up. And none in heaven, because
not any Angel ; none upon earth, because not man living
in body ; not any under the earth was found worthy :
because neither the souls departed from their bodies
could open unto us, beside our Lord himself, the secrets
of that sacred book. Seeing, then, none under the earth
is said to be found worthy to open that book, I see not
what doth let, but that we should believe that hell is ir^
the lower parts, under the earth.
IPCtCt. I beseech you : Is there one fire in hell, or,
according to the diversity of sinners, be there so many
sorts of fire prepared in that place ?
Chapter JFortp=ti)ree: toipet&et tftete is one fire
in i)en, or manp* fl (Sregorp. The fire of heii is but
one : yet doth it not in one manner torment all sinners.
For every one there, according to the quantity of his sin,
I Psalm 86, 13. 2 Rey. 5^ j.j.
237
€H Dialoffues of ©t. (Stegotp
hath the measure of his pain. For as, in this world,
many live under one and the same sun, and yet do not
alike feel the heat thereof : for some be burnt more, and
some less : so in that one fire, divers manners of burning
be found, for that which in this world diversity of bodies
doth, that in the next doth diversity of sins : so that
although the fire be there all alike, yet doth it not in
one manner and alike burn and torment them that be
damned.
l^CtEt. Shall those, I pray you, which be condemned to
that place, burn always, and never have any end of their
torments .''
Chapter jrortp=four: tof)etber tf)ose ti)at be in
fjcll s6ali burn tbere fot etiet. ^ (©tefforp. Certain
it is, and without all doubt most true, that as the good
shall have no end of their joys, so the wicked never any
release of their torments : for our Saviour himself
saith : The wicked shall go into everlasting punishment^ and
the just into everlasting life?- Seeing, then, true it is, that
which he hath promised to his friends : out of all ques-
tion false it cannot be, that which he hath threatened to
his enemies.
J^0t0t» What if it be said that he did threaten eternal
pain to wicked livers, that he might thereby restrain them
from committing of sins .''
0r0gOrp. If that which he did threaten be false,
because his intent was by that means to keep men from
wicked life : then likewise must we say that those things
are false which he did promise : and that his mind was
thereby to provoke us to virtue. But what man, though
mad, dare presume so to say i For if he threatened that
which he meant not to put into execution : whiles we are
desirous to make him merciful, enforced we are likewise
(which is horrible to speak) to affirm him to be deceitful.
l^etet, "Willing I am to know how that sin can justly
1 Matt. 25, 46,
238
aEtJetla0tinfl: punishment
be punished without end, which had an end when it was
committed.
_(St00Otp. This which you say might have some reason,
if the just judge did only consider the sins committed,
and not the minds with which they were committed :
for the reason why wicked men made an end of sinning
was, because they also made an end of their life : for
willingly they would, had it been in their power, have
lived without end, that they might in like manner have
sinned without end. For they do plainly declare that
they desired always to live in sin, who never, so long as
they were in this world, gave over their wicked life :
and therefore it belongeth to the great justice of the
supreme judge, that they should never want torments
and punishment in the next world, who in this would
never give over their wicked and sinful life.
l^CtEt. But no judge that loveth justic^ taketh pleasure
in cruelty : and the end why the just master commandeth
his wicked servant to be punished is, that he may give
over his lewd life. If, then, the wicked that are tor-
mented in hell fire never come to amend themselves, to
what end shall they always burn in those flames ?
0t00Otp. Almighty God, because he is merciful and
full of pity, taketh no pleasure in the torments of
wretched men : but because he is also just, therefore
doth he never give over to punish the wicked. All
which being condemned to perpetual pains, punished
they are for their own wickedness : and yet shall they
always there burn in fire for some end, and that is, that
all those which be just and God's servants may in God
behold the joys which they possess, and in them see the
torments which they have escaped : to the end that they
may thereby always acknowledge themselves grateful to
God for his grace, in that they perceive through his
divine assistance, what sins they have overcome, which
they behold in others to be punished everlastingly.
239
C&e Dialoffues of %t ©regorp
^tttt* And how, 1 pray you, can they be holy and
saints, if they pray not for their enemies, whom they
see to lie in such torments ? when it is said to them :
Pray for your enemies}
(^t00Otp. They pray for their enemies at such time as
their hearts may be turned to fruitful penance, and so
be saved : for what purpose else do we pray for our
enemies, but, as the Apostle saith, that God may give them
repentance to know the truth, and recover themselves from
the devil, of whom they are held captive at his will?^
IPCtCt, I like very well of your saying : for how shall they
pray for them, who by no means can be converted from
their wickedness, and brought to do the works of justice ?
({5t80Otp. You see, then, that the reason is all one,
why, in the next life, none shall pray for men condemned
for ever to hell fire : that there is now of not praying for
the devil and his angels, sentenced to everlasting tor-
ments : and this also is the very reason why holy men do
not now pray for them that die in their infidelity and
known \yicked life : for seeing certain it is that they be
condemned to endless pains, to what purpose should
they pray for them, when they know that no petition
will be admitted of God, their just judge? And there-
fore, if now holy men living upon earth take no
compassion of those that be dead and damned for their
sins, when as yet they know that themselves do some
thing through the frailty of the flesh, which is also to
be judged : how much more straightly and severely do
they behold the torments of the damned, when they be
themselves delivered from all vice of corruption, and be
more nearly united to true justice itself : for the force
of justice doth so possess their souls, in that they be so
intrinsical with the most just judge, that they list not
by any means to do that which they know is not con--
formable to his divine pleasure.
^ Matt. 5, 44. 2 2 Tim. 2, 25-26.
240
THE MASS OF ST. GREGORY
(Vatican Gallery , Rome)
CtDo 0@annet of Deaths
l^CtCt. The reason you bring is so clear, that 1 cannot
gainsay it: but now another question cometh to my
mind, and that is, how the soul can truly be called
immortal, seeing certain it is that it doth die in that
perpetual fire.
Chapter jrortg=fii)e : t)oto t&e soul is saiD to tie
immortal anD netiet to Die : if it be punisbeD tDit6
tbe sentence of peatb, ^ (Sregor?. Because there be
two manner of lives, consequently also there be two
manner of deaths. For one kind of life there is, by
which we live in God, another which we received by
our creation or generation : and therefore one thing it is
to live blessedly, and another thing to live naturally.
The soul, therefore, is both mortal and immortal :
mortal, because it loseth the felicity of an happy life :
and immortal, in that it always keepeth his natural life,
which can never be lost, no, not when it is sentenced
to perpetual death : for in that state, though it hath not
a blessed life, yet it doth retain still the former being
and natural life : by reason whereof it is enforced to
suiFer death without death, defect wit:hout defect, and
end without end : seeing the death which it endureth is
immortal, the defect which it sufFereth never faileth,
and the end which it hath is infinite, and without end,
l^etet. What man is he, though never so holy, that,
Cometh to leave this mortal life, hath not just cause
to fear the unspeakable sentence of damnation ? for
although he knoweth what he hath done, yet ignorant
he is not, how straightly his works shall be examined
and judged.
Chapter JFottp=sir ; of a certain t)0lp man t&attoas
aftaiD tnben l)e came to Die. fl (^regorp. it is even
so, Peter, as you say. And yet sometime the only fear
of death doth purge the souls of just men from their
smaller sins, as you and I have often heard of a certain
holy man that was very much afraid when he came to
241 Q
C&e Dialo0ue0 of ^t (Stegorp
die : and yet, after he was dead, appeared to his disciples
in a white stole, reporting to them in what excellent
manner he was received, when he departed out of this
world.
Chapter Jfortp^setien : fjoto 0ome ftp Ditiine retie^
lation are Disc!)atffeD from fear at tt)eir Deatf).
anD of tbe manner i)Oto t&e monfes antfjonp,
a^erulus, anD 3lot)n Departed t&is life, f Sometime
also almighty God doth by divine revelation strengthen
the minds of them that be fearful, to the end that they
should not be afraid of death. For a certain monk
there was, called Anthony, that lived together with me
in my Monastery, who by daily tears laboured to come
to the joys of heaven : and when as he did very care-
fully and with great zeal of soul meditate upon the
sacred scriptures, he sought not so much for cunning
and knowledge, as for tears and contrition of heart, that
by means thereof his soul might be stirred up and
inflamed : and that by contemning all earthly things,
he might with the wings of contemplation fly unto the
kingdom of heaven. This man upon a night, by revela-
tion, was admonished in this manner : " Make yourself
ready, because our Lord hath given commandment for
your departure " : and when he answered, that he had not
wherewith to defray the charges of that journey : straight-
ways he heard these comfortable words : " If you take
care for your sins, they be forgiven you " ; which thing
though he had heard once, and yet for all that was in
great fear, another night he had again the same vision :
and so after five days he fell sick of an ague, and as
the other monks were praying and weeping about him,
he departed this life.
Another monk there was in the same Monastery,
called Merulus, who was wonderfully given to tears
and bestowing of alms : and no time almost passed him,
except it were when he was at meat or asleep, in which
242
€ht ©eatb of Certain Q^onfes
he did not sing psalms. This man, by vision in the
night, saw a crown made of white flowers to descend
upon his head : and straight after falling sick, he died
with great quiet and joy of mind. Fourteen years after,
when Peter, who now hath the government of my
Monastery, went about to make a grave for himself
hard by Merulus' sepulchre, such a fragrant and
pleasant smell, as he saith, came out of it, as though
it had been a storehouse of all manner of sweet flowers.
By which it appeared plainly, that it was very true, which
before he had seen by vision in the night.
Likewise in the same Monastery there was another,
called John, who was a young man of great towardness,
and one that led his life with great circumspection,
humility, sweetness, and gravity. This man falling
sore sick, saw in his great extremity by vision in the
night an old man to come unto him, who touched him
with a wand, saying : " Rise up, for you shall not die of
this sickness : but make yourself ready, for you have
not any long time to stay in this world " : and forth-
with, though the physicians despaired of his health, yet
he recovered, and became perfectly well. The vision
which he saw he told to others, and for two years
following, as I said, he served God in such sort, that
his great devotion surpassed his young years. Three
years since another monk died, who was buried in the
churchyard of the same Monastery, and when we had
ended all his funerals, and were departed, this John, as
himself with pale face and great trembling told us,
remained there still, where he heard that monk which
was buried to call him out of the grave : and that it
was so indeed, the end following did shew : for ten days
after he fell sick of an ague and so departed this life.
l^ZttX, Willingly would I learn whether we ought to
observe such visions, as be revealed to us by night in
our sleep.
243
Cbe Dialogues of ©t. (Stegotp
Chapter JFortp^eifffjt : tDftetljet Dteams ate to be
tielietieD : anD i)oto manp feltiD of Dreams tftere be.
fl (^tejOtp, Concerning this point, Peter, you must
understand that there are six kind of dreams. For
sometime they proceed of too much fulness or emptiness
of the stomach : sometime by illusion : sometime both
by thought and illusion : sometime by revelation : and
sometime both by thought and revelation. The two
first all by experience know to be true : and the four
latter we find mentioned in holy scripture. For if
dreams did not sometime proceed by illusion from our
secret enemy, never would the wise man have said :
Dreams have made many to err, and hoping in them have
they been deceived:^ and again : Tou shall not he sooth-
sayers, nor observe dreams : by which words we see how
they are to be detested, that are compared with sooth-
sayings. Again, if dreams did not sometime proceed
both of thought together with illusion, the wise man
would not have said : Dreams follow many cares?' And
if sometime also they did not come by mystical revela-
tion, Joseph had never known by dream that he should
have been exalted above his brethren : ^ neither the Angel
would ever in a dream have admonished the spouse of
our Lady to fly away with the child into Egypt.* Again,
if sometime they did not also proceed both from thoughts
and divine revelation, never would the prophet Daniel,
disputing of Nabuchodonosor's dream, have begun from
the root of his former thoughts, saying : Thou, O king,
diddest begin to think in thy bed, what should happen in times
to come ; and he that revealeth mysteries did shew thee what
things should come: and a little after : Thou diddest see,
and behold as it were a great statua : that great statua
and high of stature did stand against thee, £ffc.^ Wherefore,
seeing Daniel doth with reverence insinuate that the
1 Ecclus. 34, 7, ^ Eccles. S, 2. 3 Gen. 37, 5-10.
* Matt. 2, 13. 6 Daniel 2, 29-31.
244
Concetniitff Dteams
dream should come to pass, and also declareth from
what cogitation it did spring, plainly do we learn that
dreams sometimes do come both of thought and revela-
tion together. But seeing dreams do grow from such
divers roots, with so much the more difficulty ought we
to believe them : because it doth not easily appear unto
us, from what cause they do proceed. Holy men, indeed,
by a certain inward spiritual taste, do discern betwixt
illusions and true revelations, by the very voices or
representations of the visions themselves : so that they
know what they receive from the good spirit, and what
they suffer by illusion from the wicked : and therefore,
if our mind be not herein very attentive and vigilant, it
falleth into many vanities, through the deceit of the
wicked spirit : who sometime useth to foretell many
true things, that, in the end, he may by some falsehood
ensnare our soul.
Chapter jFortpmine: of one to^o in Us Dream
f)aD long life promiseD fjim, anD pet Diep sF)ottlp
aftet, ^ As not long since it is most certain, that it
befell to one that lived amongst us, who, being much
given to observe dreams, had one night in a dream long
life promised him : and when as he had made provision
of great store of money for the maintenance of his many
days, he was so suddenly taken out of this life, that he
left it all behind him, without ever having any use
thereof, and carried not with him any good works to
the next world.
l^eter. I remember very well who it was : but let us,
I pray you, prosecute such questions as we began to
entreat of: Doth any profit, think you, redound to
men's souls, if their bodies be buried in the church ?
Ctjapter Jfiftp : m&etfjer tfje souls receive anp
commoDitp, if tfteir iJODies be ftutieD in tbe cbutco.
^ (©tegOrp. Such as die not in mortal sin receive this
benefit by having their bodies buried in the church : for
245
Cf)e Dialogues of ^t ©regotg
when their friends come thither, and behold their
sepulchres, then do they remember them, and pray
unto God for their souls : but those that depart this
life in the state of deadly sin, receive not any absolution
from their sins, but rather be more punished in hell,
for having their bodies buried in the church : which
thing shall be more plain, if I do briefly tell you what
concerning this point hath chanced in our time.
Cftaptet jTiftp^one : of a certain Bun t&at tuas
burieD in tl)e cfturcf), \tiUtt appeared tnitb f)er
llODp fjalf fiUrnt ^ Felix, Bishop of Portua, a man of
holy life, who was born and brought up in the province
of Sabina, saith that there lived in that place a certain
Nun, which, though she were chaste of her body, yet
had she an ungracious and foolish tongue : which
departing this life, was buried in the church : the keeper
whereof, the night following, saw her by revelation
brought before the holy altar, where she was cut in two
pieces, and the one half was burnt in the fire, and the
other was not touched at all. Rising up in the morning,
he told unto others what a strange vision he had seen,
and shewed them the very place in which she was burnt,
the marble whereof appeared with the very marks and
signs of a fire upon it, as though that woman had been
there burnt in very deed with corporal fire. By which
we may plainly see, that such as have not their sins
pardoned, can reap small benefit by having their bodies
after death buried in holy places.
Chapter jFiftp^ttno : of the burial of T:7alerianus.
^ John also, an honourable man, one of the governors
of this city, and one that is of great gravity and credit,
as all know, told me how one Valerianus, that was a
gentleman of the city of Bressa, departed this life, whose
body for money the Bishop was content should be buried
in the church. This Valerianus, even to his very old
age, led a light and wanton life : refusing utterly to give
246
Cbe TBoDp of Ualentfnus
over sin and wickedness. That very night in which he
was buried, the blessed martyr Faustinas, in whose
church his body lay, appeared to the keeper thereof,
saying : " Go, and bid the Bishop cast out that stinking
carcass which he hath here buried, and if he will not do
it, tell him that thirty days hence he shall die himself."
This vision the poor man was afraid to report unto the
Bishop, and though he were admonished the second
time to do it, yet he refused : and so upon the thirtieth
day, the Bishop going safe and sound to bed (never
fearing any such thing), suddenly departed this life.
Chapter jTiftp=tf)ree : of tbe ooDp of "fcTalentinus,
tF)at toas aftet bis fturial cast out of tf)e cl)utc&.
^ There be also at this time here in the city our vener-
able brother Venantius, Bishop of Luna, and Liberius,
a noble man and one of very great credit : both which
do say that themselves know it, and that their servants
were present in the city of Genua, when this strange
thing happened. One Valentinus, who had an office in
the church of Milan, died there, a man in his life time
given to wantonness and all kind of lightness, whose
body was buried in the church of the blessed martyr
Sirus. The midnight following, a great noise was heard
in that place, as though some body by force had been
drawn out from thence : whereupon the keepers ran
thither, to see what the matter was, and when they
were come, they saw two very terrible devils, that had
tied a rope about his legs, and were drawing him out ot
the church, himself in the mean time crying and roaring
out : at which sight they were so frighted, that they
returned home again to their beds : but when the
morning was come, they opened the grave in which
Valentinus was buried, but his body they could not
find, and therefore they sought without the church to
see where it was, and so found it thrown into another
place, with the feet still bound as it was drawn out of
247
C&e Dialogues of ©t arcgotp
the church. Out of which, Peter, you may learn that
such as die in mortal sin, and cause their bodies to be
buried in holy ground, are punished also for that their
presumption : the holy places not helping them, but
rather the sin of their temerity accusing them.
Clbapter fiftp=fout : of t&e lioDp of a Dpet tJUtieD in
tfje cf)utc&, tofjici) aftertoatD coulD not &e founD.
^ For another thing also which happened in this city,
the company of dyers dwelling here do testify to be
most true, and it is concerning one that was the chief
of their profession, who departed this life, and was by
his wife buried in the church of St. Januarius the martyr,
near to the gate of St. Lawrence : whose spirit the night
following, in the hearing of the sexton, cried out of his
grave, saying : " I burn, I burn " : and when he con-
tinued a long time crying so, the sexton told it to the
dyer's wife, who thereupon sent certain of his own pro-
fession to the church, to see in what case his body was
in the grave, who so cried out in that pitiful manner :
and when they had opened it, there they found his gar-
ments safe and sound, which be still kept in the same
church, for a perpetual memory of that which happened :
but his body by no means could they find, as though it
had never been buried there : by which we may gather
to what torments his soul was condemned, whose body
was in that sort turned out of the church. What profit,
then, do holy places bring to them that be buried there,
when as those, that be wicked and unworthy, be by
God's appointment thrown out from those sacred
pi -
aces
?
J^gtCt. What thing is there, then, that can profit and
relieve the souls of them that be departed .''
Ct)apter JTiftp^fiVie : tnbat is aioailable fot tbc soul
aftet Deatf) : anD of a priest of Centumcellis, tnbo
teas DesireD bv a certain man's spirit, to fie i)0lpen
after fjis Deata, t>g t&e &olp sacrifice : anD of tU
248
Cbe l^ricst of CentumcelUs
soul of a monfe caUeD 3!ustus. ^ ©reffotg. if the
sins after death be pardonable, then the sacred oblation
of the holy host useth to help men's souls : for which
cause the souls sometime, of them that be dead, do desire
the same : for Bishop Felix, whom we spake of before,
saith that a virtuous Priest, who died some two years
since, and dwelt in the diocese of the city of Centum-
cellis, and was pastor of the church of St. John in the
place called Tauriana, told him that himself did use (when
he had need) to wash his body in a certain place, in
which there were passing hot waters : and that going
thither upon a time, he found a certain man whom he
knew not, ready to do him service, as to pull off his
shoes, take his clothes, and to attend upon him in all
dutiful manner. And when he had divers times done
thus, the Priest, minding upon a day to go to the baths,
began to think with himself that he would not be un-
grateful to him that did him such service, but carry him
somewhat for a reward, and so he took with him two
singing breads : and coming thither he found the man
there ready, and used his help as he was wont to do :
and when he had washed himself, put on his clothes,
and was ready to depart, he offered him for an holy
reward that which he had brought, desiring him to take
that courteously, which for charity he did give him.
Then with a sad countenance, and in sorrowful manner,
he spake thus unto him : " Why do you give me these,
father ? This is holy bread, and I cannot eat of it, for
I, whom you see here, was sometime lord of these
baths, and am now after my death appointed for my
sins to this place : but if you desire to pleasure me,
offer this bread unto almighty God, and be an intercessor
for my sins : and by this shall you know that your
prayers be heard, if at your next coming you find me
not here." And as he was speaking these words, he
vanished out of his sight : so that he, which before
249
Ctie Dialogues of ^t (Sregorp
seemed to be a man, shewed by that manner of depar-
ture that he was a spirit. The good Priest all the week
following gave himself to tears for him, and daily offered
up the holy sacrifice : and afterward returning to the
bath, found him not there : whereby it appeareth what
great profit the souls receive by the sacrifice of the holy
oblation, seeing the spirits of them that be dead desire
it of the living, and give certain tokens to let us under-
stand how that by means thereof they have received
absolution.
Here also I cannot but tell you that which happened
three years since in mine own Monastery. A certain
monk there was, called Justus, one very cunning In
physic, and whiles I remained in the Abbey, served me
very diligently, attending upon me in my often infirmi-
ties and sickness. This man himself at length fell sore
sick, so that in very deed he was brought to the last
cast. A brother he had, called Copiosus, that had care
of him, who yet liveth. Justus perceiving himself past
all hope of life, told this brother of his where he had
secretly laid up three crowns of gold ; but yet they were
not so closely conveyed, that they could be concealed
from the monks : for they, carefully seeking, and tossing
up all his medicines and boxes, found in one of them
these three crowns hidden. Which thing so soon as I
understood, very much grieved I was, and could not
quietly digest so great a sin at his hands, that lived with
us in community, because the rule of my Monastery
was that all the monks thereof should so live in common,
that none in particular might possess anything proper to
himself Being, therefore, much troubled and grieved
at that which had happened, I began to think with
myself what was best to be done, both for the soul of
him that was now dying, and also for the edification and
example of those that were yet living. At length I sent
for Pretiosus, Prior of the Monastery, and gave him
250
this charge : " See," quoth I, " that none of our monks
do so much as visit Justus in this his extremity, neither
let any give him any comfort at all : and when his last
hour draweth nigh, and he doth desire the presence of
his spiritual brethren, let his carnal brother tell him that
they do all detest him, for the three crowns which he
had hidden : that, at least before his death, sorrow may
wound his heart, and purge it from the sin committed :
and when he is dead, let not his body be buried amongst
the rest of the monks, but make a grave for him in some
one dunghill or other, and there cast it in, together with
the three crowns which he left behind him, crying out
all with joint voice : 'Thy money be with thee unto
perdition ' ; and so put earth upon him." In either of
which things my mind and desire was, both to help him
that was leaving the world, and also to edify the monks
yet remaining behind, that both grief of death might
make him pardonable for his sin, and such a severe
sentence against avarice might terrify and preserve them
from the like offence : both which, by God's goodness,
fell out accordingly. For when the foresaid monk came
to die, and carefully desired to be commended to the
devotions of his brethren, and yet none of them did
either visit him, or so much as speak to him : his
brother Copiosus told him for what cause they had all
given him over : at which words he straightways sighed
for his sin, and in that sorrow gave up the ghost. And
after his death, he was buried in that manner, as I had
given in commandment : by which fact all the monks
were so terrified, that they began each one to seek out
the least and basest things in their cells, and which by
the rule they might lawfully keep : and very much they
feared, lest some thing they had, for which they might
be blamed.
Thirty days after his departure, I began to take com-
passion upon him, and with great grief to think of his
251
C&e DiaIoffue0 of @t. (Sregorp
punishment, and what means there was to help him :
whereupon I called again for Pretiosus, Prior of my
Monastery, and with an heavy heart spake thus unto
him : " It is now a good while since that our brother
which is departed remaineth in the torments of fire, and
therefore we must shew him some charity, and labour
what we may to procure his delivery : wherefore go
your way, and see that for thirty days following sacri-
fice be offered for him, so that no one day pass in which,
for his absolution and discharge, the healthful sacrifice
be not offered" : who forthwith departed, and put my
commandment in execution. In the mean time, my
mind being busied about other affairs, so that I took no
heed to the days how they passed : upon a certain night
the same monk that was dead, appeared to his brother
Copiosus : who, seeing him, enquired of his state in this
manner : " What is the matter, brother ? and how is it
with you ? " to whom he answered thus : " Hitherto
have I been in bad case, but now I am well ; for this
day have I received the communion " : with which
news Copiosus straightways coming to the Monastery,
told the monks : and they diligently counting the days,
found it to be that in which the thirtieth sacrifice was
offered for his soul : and so, though neither Copiosus
knew what the monks had done for him, nor they what
he had seen concerning the state of his brother, yet at
one and the same time both he knew what they had
done, and they what he had seen, and so the sacrifice
and vision agreeing together, apparent it was that the
dead monk was by the holy sacrifice delivered from his
pains.
1^0t0t. The things you report be passing strange, and
yet full of joy and comfort.
Chapter jTiftp^sir : of tf)e life anD Departure of
TBisoop Cassiu0. ^ (Srejorp. And that we should
not call in question, or doubt of that which the dead
252
iBaraca tU farmer
report, we have, for confirmation of the same thing, the
facts of the living. For Cassius, Bishop of Narni, a man
of holy life, who did usually every day offer sacrifice
unto God (and whiles he was at the mysteries of those
sacrifices, did also immolate himself in tears), received
from our Lord this message by one of his Priests. " Do
that thou doest : work that thou workest : let not thy
foot cease, let not thy hand cease, upon the nativity of
the Apostles thou shalt come unto me, and I will give
thee thy reward." And so, seven years after, upon that
very day of the Apostles, after he had ended the solem-
nity of Mass and received the mysteries of the sacred
communion, he departed this life.
Chapter jTiftp=0et)en : of one tfjat teas taken bv
bis enemies anD put in prison, tofjose irons fell
off at tfje time of tbe sacrifice : anD of one llBaraca,
a mariner, tbat toas tip t&e bolp sacrifice DeliioereD
from DrOtoning:. ^ That also which I have heard is
known to many, to wit, how one was by his enemies
taken and put in prison, with irons upon him : for whom
his wife caused upon certain days sacrifice to be offered :
who, long time after, returning home to his wife, told
her upon what days his bolts used to fall off : by whose
relation she found that it was upon those very days in
which sacrifice had been offered for him. By another
thing likewise, which happened seven years since, the
very same truth is confirmed. For when Agathus,
Bishop of Palermo (as many faithful and religious men
both have and still do tell me), was, in the time of my
predecessor of blessed memory, commanded to come to
Rome, and in his journey fell into such a tempest at sea,
that he despaired of ever coming to land : the mariner
of the ship, called Baraca (who now is one of the clergy,
and serveth in the same church), governed another
small vessel, tied to the poop of the former ship : the
rope whereof breaking in pieces, away it went with man
Cl)e Dialogues of ^t. ©regotp
and all, and amongst the huge mountains of waters,
quickly vanished out of sight. The ship in which the
Bishop was, after many great dangers, at length arrived
all weather-beaten at the island of Ostica : and when
three days were past, and the Bishop could hear no
news of the foresaid mariner that was so violently
carried away with the storm, nor see him in any part of
the sea, very sorry he was, and verily believed that he
had been drowned : and so upon great charity bestowed
one thing upon him being yet alive, which was not due
unto him until he was dead : for he willed that the
sacrifice of the healthful oblation should be oiFered unto
almighty God for the absolution of his soul : which
being done accordingly, and the ship new rigged, away
he departed for Italy, where, arriving at Portua, he
found the mariner alive, whom he verily supposed to
have been drowned : upon which good chance altogether
unlooked for, very glad he was, and demanded of him,
how it was possible that he could escape so many days,
in so great a danger and so terrible a tempest : who told
him, how in that storm he was tossed with that little
ship which he governed, and how he did swim with it
being full of water : and so often as it was turned
upside down, how he gat upon the keel, and held fast
there : adding also that, by striving and labouring thus
continually day and night, at length, with watching and
hunger, his strength began to fail him : and then he told
how, by the singular providence and mercy of God, he
was preserved from drowning : for as even to this very
day he still affirmeth, so then did he verify the same to
the Bishop, telling him in this manner. " As I was,"
quoth he, " striving and labouring in the sea, and my
strength began to fail me, suddenly I became so heavy
of mind, that methought I was neither waking nor yet
asleep : and being in that case in the midst of the sea,
I saw one come, who brought me bread to refresh my
254
s^psterp of tfje ^olp Sacrifice
tired body : which so soon as I had eaten, I recovered
my strength again ; and not long after, a ship passing
i j°°'' "^^ ^"' ^"'^ ^° ^^® ^ delivered from that danger
of death and set safe a land. The Bishop, hearing this,
enquired upon what day this strange thing happened,
and he found by his relation, that it was that very day
in which the Priest in the island of Ostica did sacrifice
for him unto God, the host of the holy oblation.
l^CtCt. That which you report, myself also heard at my
being in Sicily.
(StegOtp, I, for my part, do verily believe, that the
reason why, by God's providence, this thing falleth out
thus apparently to them that be living, and think nothing
thereof, is that all may know how, if their sins be not
irremissible, that they may after death obtain pardon
and absolution for them, by the oblation of the holy
sacrifice. But yet we have here to note, that the holy
sacrifice doth profit those kind of persons after their
death, who in their life time obtained that such good
works as were by their friends done for them might be
available to their souls, after they were out of this
world.
C&apter JFiftp=eiffbt : of tf)e Uirtue anD mpsterp
of m f)Olp sacrifice. ^ And here also we have
diligently to consider, that it is far more secure and safe
that every man should do that for himself whiles he is
yet alive, which he desireth that others should do for
him after his death. For far more blessed it is, to
depart free out of this world, than being in prison to
seek for release : and therefore reason teacheth us, that
we should with our whole soul contemn this present
world, at least because we see that it is now gone and
past : and to offer unto God the daily sacrifice of tears,
and the daily sacrifice of his body and blood. For this
sacrifice doth especially save our souls from everlasting
damnation, which in mystery doth renew unto us the
255
€l)t Dialogues of ^t. (Sregotp
death of the Son of God : who although being risen
from death, doth not now die any more, nor death shall
not any further prevail against him : yet living in him-
self immortally, and without all corruption, he is again
sacrificed for us in this mystery of the holy oblation :
for there his body is received, there his flesh is distri-
buted for the salvation of the people : there his blood
is not now shed betwixt the hands of infidels, but
poured into the mouths of the faithful. Wherefore
let us hereby meditate what manner of sacrifice this is,
ordained for us, which for our absolution doth always
represent the passion of the only Son of God : for what
right believing Christian can doubt, that in the very
hour of the sacrifice, at the words of the Priest, the
heavens be opened, and the quires of Angels are
present in that mystery of Jesus Christ ; that high
things are accompanied with low, and earthly joined to
heavenly, and that one thing is made of visible and
invisible ?
Cftaptet JTiftp^nine: f)oto trie oug&t to procure
sorrotD of fteart, at tbe time of tfje mv masteries :
anD of ti)e custoDp of our soul after contrition,
^ But necessary it is that, when we do these things,
we should also, by contrition of heart, sacrifice ourselves
unto almighty God : for when we celebrate the mystery
of our Lord's passion, we ought to imitate what we then
do : for then shall it truly be a sacrifice for us unto God,
if we offer ourselves also to him in sacrifice. Careful
also must we be, that after we have bestowed some time
in prayer, that, as much as we can by God's grace, we
keep our mind fixed in him, so that no vain thoughts
make us to fall unto dissolution, nor any foolish mirth
enter into our heart : lest the soul, by reason of such
transitory thoughts, lose all that which it gained by
former contrition. For so Anne deserved to obtain that
which she craved at God's hand, because after her tears
256
JFot0it)ene0s of mm
she preserved herself in the former force of her soul :
for of her thus it is written : Jnd her looks were not any
more changed to divers things} She therefore, that forgot
not what she desired, was not deprived of that gift which
she requested.
Cbaptcr ^irtg : tW toe ougbt to patDon otber
men tbeir sins, t&at toe mag o&tain remission of
out Oton. ^ We have also further to know, that he
doth rightly and in good sort demand pardon for his
own sin, who doth forgive that which hath been done
against himself. For our gift is not received, if, before,
we free not our soul from all discord and lack of charity :
for our Saviour saith : If thou offer thy gift at the altar, and
there thou remember that thy brother hath aught against thee,
leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be
reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy
gift} Wherein we have to consider, that whereas all sin
by a gift is loosed, how grievous the sin of discord is,
for which no gift is received : and therefore we ought,
in soul and desire, to go unto our neighbour though he
be far off, and many miles distant from us, and there to
humble ourselves before him, and to pacify him by humi-
lity and hearty good will, to the end that our Creator,
beholding the desire of our mind, may forgive us our
own sin, who receiveth a gift for sin. And our Saviour
himself teacheth us, how that servant, which did owe
ten thousand talents, by penance obtained of his Lord
the forgiveness of that debt : but yet because he would
not forgive his fellow-servant an hundred pence, which
were due to him, that was again exacted at his hands,
which before was pardoned.^ Out of which sayings we
learn, that if we do not from our heart forgive that
which is committed against us, how that is again re-
quired at our hands, whereof before we were glad that
by penance we had obtained pardon and remission.
1 I Kings I. i8. ^ Matt. 5. 23-24. 3 Matt. 18. 27,
257 R
Cfte Dialogues of ^t. (Sregotp
Wherefore, whiles time is given us, whiles our judge
doth bear with us, whiles he that examlneth our sins doth
expect our conversion and amendment : let us mollify
with tears the hardness of our heart, and with sincere
charity, love our neighbours : and then dare I speak it
boldly, that we shall not have any need of the holy
sacrifice after our death : if, before death, we offer up
ourselves for a sacrifice unto almighty God.
^ ^ere em tht Dialogues of ©aint (Sregorp.
258
5Bote0, $c.
OBoofe 31
Introduction, p. 4. Similarly in the letter addressed to Leander
of Seville, prefixed to the Moralia, or Exposition of the Book of Job (com-
posed before his elevation to the papacy), St. Gregory had written :
" Now that the times are disturbed through multiplied evils, the end
of the worjd being at hand, we ourselves, who are believed to be
devoted to the inner mysteries, are involved in external cares."
Cf below, Bk. III. chap. 38 ; Bk. IV. chap. 41.
Chapter I. p. 7. Funda, more correctly Fundi (the translator is
somewhat casual in his rendering of the Latin names of places), is the
modern Fondi, in the province of Caserta, between Terracina and
Formia. Cf. Horace, Sat. I. 5, 34-36. Honoratus is celebrated in
the Roman Martyrology on January 16.
Chapter II. p. 9. For Totila, see below, Bk. II. chap. 14. He
was king of the Ostrogoths in Italy from 541 to 552.
Ibid. p. 10. In 553, after the death of Totila's successor, Teias,
Leutharand Butilin (here called Buccellinus), chiefs of the Alamanni,
who were subject to the king of the Franks, invaded Italy in support
of the scattered remnants, of the Goths. Butilin ravaged Campania
in 554, until defeated and slain by Narses at the battle of Capua.
^ee Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, V. bk. vi. chap. i.
Chapter IV. p. 15. The province of Valeria included the cities
of Reate (Rieti) and Tlbur (Tivoli), and the modern province of
Aquila (Abruzzi). St. Equitius is commemorated on March 7. It
is uncertain whether the monastery quod appellatur Balneum Ciceronis
was at Tusculum, or (as seems more probable from the context) on
the site of the present abbey of San Domenico Abbate near Isola del
Liri in the diocese of Sora.
Ibid. p. 16. Amiternum, an ancient Sabine town, the birthplace
of Sallust, is some five miles from the modern city of Aquila ; its
site is occupied by the village of San Vittorino. Two letters of
Cassiodorus, written in the name of King Theodoric, refer to this
Basilius, who, together with another Roman noble named Praetex-
tatus, was imprisoned for practising magical arts, but made his
261
escape. Theodoric ordered that he should be recaptured, and
examined by a board of five persons, one of whom was the patrician
Symmachus (Cf. Bk. IV. chaps. 13 and 30). S« Hodgkin, The
Letters of Cassiodorus, pp. 246, 247. Baronius places these events in
the year 504 or thereabouts. Nothing is known of the subsequent
fate of Basilius, to which St. Gregory refers ; he is evidently not
the same person as the Basilius mentioned by Boethius, in the De
Cottio/atione Philosophlae, as one of his accusers.
Ibid. p. 18. Castorius (or Castus) was a military officer (magister
militum), who shared in the defence of Rome against the Lombards,
and is mentioned with high praise by St. Gregory himself in a
letter of 595 to the Emperor Mauritius {Registrum, Epist. v. 36, ed.
Ewald and Hartmann, i. p. 317). For "Bishop of Reatino"
{Reatinae antistes ecclesiae) read "Bishop of Reate " (Rieti). The
Bishop of Rome mentioned in this chapter is probably Pope
Symmachus I. (498-514), for whom see below, Bk. IV. chap. 40.
Ibid. p. 19. Julianus is described in the Latin text as being then
defensor (of the Church of Rome). The Defenders of the various
Churches were ecclesiastical lawyers, clerics appointed to look after
the interests of the Church. See Moroni, Dizionario di Erudizione
storico-ecclesiastica,yiyL. pp. 38 ^/ seq., and St. Gregory, Registrum, Epist.
V. 26, ed. Ewald and Hartmann, i. p. 307.
Ibid. p. 22. Valentinus was the second Abbot of Sant' Andrea,
the monastery into which St. Gregory converted his palace on the
Caelian Hill.
Ibid. p. 23. The Lombards came into the province of Valeria in
571, three years after their first appearance in Italy.
Chapter VII. pp. 26, 27. For Maximianus, Bishop of Syracuse,
see Bk. III. chap. 36. The " Abbey which is hard by the city of
Nepi " is the monastery " called Suppentonia," mentioned in the
next chapter. There were a number of early mediaeval monasteries
on Mount Soracte ; the one presided over by Nonnosus was, perhaps,
that traditionally associated with St. Sylvester, which was afterwards
in the eighth century refounded by Carloman the Frank.
Chapter VIII. p. 29. Suppentonia is the modern Castel Sant'
Elia, between Nepi and Civita Castellana. Anastasius is com-
memorated on January 11.
Ibid. p. 31. Tuscania, more properly Tuscia, is, of course, the
modern Tuscany.
Chapter IX. p. 31. The place meant is apparently Ferentinum
(Ferentino), near Frosinone, which, however, is in Latium not
Tuscany. Bonifacius is commemorated on May 14.
Chapter X. p. 38. Tuder is now Todi in Umbria. For-
tunatus died in 537, and is commemorated on October 14. The
Julianus here mentioned, nostrae ecclesiae defensor, is not the same
262
Jl30tCS
person as the Julianus connected with St. Equitius (Bk. I. chap. 4),
who previously held the same office of " defender."
Chapter XII. p. 46. " In eo etiam loco Interorina vallis dicitur,
quae a multis verbo rustico Interocrha nominatur." The place is
apparently Interocrea, or Intocrium, the modern Antrodoco, between
Rieti and Aquila.
'Book 3I3I
Introduction, p. 51. St. Benedict was born at Nursia about 480. >
The date of his leaving Rome is disputed ; it was probably a few
years before 500. Constantinus and Simplicius were his two imme-/
diate successors, the second and third Abbots of Monte Cassino ;)
Honoratus presided over the Abbey of Subiaco in St. Gregory's own
days. ^>
Chapter I., p. 52. For " Enside," read Enfide^ which is identified
with the mountain-village of Affile, between Olevano and Subiaco.
Ibid. p. 53. Sublacum, or Sublaqueum, now Subiaco, in the
Apennines, above the river Anio. Here Nero had built a villa,
with three artificial lakes, and it was over the ruins of the Emperor's
" sylvan retreat " that the order of the Benedictines thus sprang into
being. Cf. Lanciani, Wanderings in the Roman Campagna, pp. 350-
352. The "strait cave," in which St. Benedict lived, is now the
famous Sagro Speco, on the mountain-side, high above the town.
Ibid. p. 53. The name of this Abbot is variously given as
Theodacus or Adeodatus.
Chapter II. p. 55. These thorns and nettles are piously said to
have turned into the roses, the descendants of which are still seen in
the garden of the monastery of the Sagro Speco,
Chapter III. p. 56. The monastery in question is said to have
been at Varia (the modern Vicovaro), near Mandela. In the second
chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict, we read that the Abbot " shall be
acquitted in so far as he shall have shown all the watchfulness of a
shepherd over a restless and disobedient flock ; and if as their pastor
he shall have employed every care to cure their corrupt manners, he
shall be declared guiltless in the Lord's judgment, and he may say
with the prophet, / have not hidden Thy justice in my heart; 1 have
told Thy truth and Thy salvation; but they contemned and despised me"
(Gasquet's translation.)
Ibid. p. 60. " That notable preacher of the world." This is,
perhaps, a misprint in the edition of 1608 for " word." The Latin
has simply : ilk quoque egregius praedicator.
Ibid. p. 61. The name of the father of Maurus is variously
written : Equitius, Evitius, Euticius ; " Tertullius the senator " is
simply Tertullus patricius. For the reception of children into the
order, cf. chap. 59 of the Rule. According to the tradition, Maurus
263
Jl3ote0
became the Benedictme apostle of France, and died in 584, while
Placidus died a martyr's death in Sicily in 541, a few years before the
death of St. Benedict himself.
Chapter VI. p. 63. " If any one whilst engaged in any work,
either in the kitchen, in the cellar, in serving others, in the bake-
house, in the garden, or in any other occupation or place, shall do
anything amiss, break or lose anything, or offend in any way whatsoever,
and do not come at once to the abbot and community of his own
accord to confess his offence and make satisfaction, if afterwards it
shall become known by another he shall be more severely punished."
(Jlule of St. Benedict, chap. 46, Gasquet's translation.)
Chapter VIII. p. 68. St. Benedict thus founded the great Abbey
of Monte Cassino in 528 or 529. Dante translates St. Gregory's
words in the Paradiso (xxii. 37-45), where he puts them into the
mouth of St. Benedict himself:
"Quel monte, a cui Cassino e nella costa,
Fu frequentato gii in sulla cima
Dalla gente ingannata e mal disposta.
E quel son io che su vi portai prima
Lo nome di Colui, che in terra addusse
La verita che tanto ci sublima ;
E tanta grazia sopra me rilusse,
Ch'io ritrassi le ville circostanti
Dair empio culto che il mondo sedusse."
Chapter XL p. 70. "The son of a certain courtier" is hardly
the equivalent of cujusdam curialis filtus . A curtails, or decurio, was
: member of the municipal council of some provincial town. See
Hodgkin, II. pp. 577 et seq.
Chapter XII. p. 71. "The brother who is sent on an errand,
and expects to return to his monastery the same day, shall not presume
to eat outside his house, even though he be asked to do so by any
one, unless he be so ordered by his abbot. If he do otherwise, let
him be excommunicated." (Rule of St. Benedict, c^s.'^. 51, Gasquet's
translation.)
Chapter XIII. p. 72. This Valentinian is probably the Abbot of
the Lateran mentioned on p. 52.
Chapters XIV. and XV. pp. 73-75. Totila (Baduila) became
king of the Ostrogoths in Italy in 541, when Belisarius had won
back for Justinian and the Empire all the peninsula south of the Po.
His interview with St. Benedict took place probably in the following
year, 542. Of his four Gothic attendants here mentioned — Riggo,
Vult, Ruderic, and Bleda — the last two are also known in history as
having been sent by the king to besiege Florence in this same year.
{Cf. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, II. p. 433). Totila recon-
264
Botes
quered almost all Italy, except Ravenna and Ancona ; he captured
Rome twice (546 and 549), and overran Sicily; but in 552 was
defeated by Narses and killed in the rout of his army. It was
naturally impossible for St. Gregory to take an impartial view of
the Goths, and modern historians depict Totila in far more favourable
colours. According to Dr. Hodgkin, he was " upon the whole one of
the best types of the still future age of chivalry that the Downfall of
the Empire can exhibit."
Chapter XV. p. 75. "Camisina" is Canusium, the modern
Canosa di Puglia. The Bishop is the Sabinus spoken of below,
Bk, III. chap. 5. Honoratus is the Abbot of Subiaco already men-
tioned on p. 52.
Chapter XVI. p. 75. Constantius, Bishop of Aquinum (Aquino),
is commemorated on September I .
Chapter XVII. p. 78. The Abbey of Monte Cassino was destroyed
by the Lombards of the duchy of Beneventum in 589.
Chapter XIX. p. 80. " No one, without leave of the abbot, shall
presume to give, or receive, or keep as his own, anything whatever.
. , . All things are to be common to all, as it is written. Neither did
any one say or think that aught zuas his own," (Rule of St. Benedict,
chapter 33, Gasquet's translation. Cf. also chapter 54.)
Chapter XX. p. 80. In chapter iv. of the Rule, among the instru-
ments of good works, we read : "To dash at once against Christ (as
against a rock) evil thoughts which rise up in the mind." According
to the Latin text, this monk cujusdam defensoris flius fuerat. The
Defensores Cimtatum were the chief municipal authorities of the pro-
vinces, originally instituted to protect the people from the unjust
extortions of the imperial oiRcials. Cf. Hodgkin, Italy and her
Invaders, I. pp. 625-628.
Chapter XXII. p. 82. Tarracina, the Volscian city of Anxur,
now Terracina, the last town of the former Papal States before crossing
the Neapolitan frontier.
Chapter XXXI. p. 91. The name of this Goth is more usually
written Zalla.
Chapter XXXIII. p. 94. According to the tradition, St. Scho-
lastica died on February 10, 543, and St. Benedict a month later,
March 21, 543. Their bodies are supposed to lie together under the
high altar of the abbey church at Monte Cassino ; but this is a little
uncertain, as they are said to have been at one time translated (perhaps
temporarily) to France.
Chapter XXXV. p. 96. This Liberius quondam patricius is prob-
ably the Liberius mentioned in the letters of Cassiodorus (Hodgkin,
The Letters of Cassiodorus, pp. 178, 179) as a Roman noble who had
been Praetorian Prefect under Theodoric. The monastery is referred
to in St. Gregory's letters, Registrum, Epist. ix. 162, 164 (Ewald and
265
BottS
Hartmann, ii. pp. 162, 163). St. Germanus, Bishop of Capua, died
in 540 or 541, and is commemorated on October 30.
Hid. pp. 97, 98. This vision of the whole world, and St. Gregory's
explanation, deeply impressed the mediaeval mind. It was imitated
by Marcus, the Irish Benedictine who wrote the Vision of Tundal
(Fisio Tnugdali, ed. Wagner, p. 52), and by Dante {Par. xxii. 133-1 53).
St. Thomas Aquinas discusses it with a view to showing that St.
Gregory's words do not imply that St. Benedict, still living in the
present life, saw God in that vision per essentiam, in His Essence.
{Summa T/feologica, II. ii. Q. 108, A. 5 ad 3.)
Chapter XXXVI. p. 99. " For he wrote a rule for his monks,
both excellent for discretion and also eloquent for the style." The
Latin runs : Nam scripsit monachorum regulam, discretione praecipuam,
sermone luculentam. St. Gregory himself, in the epistle to Bishop
Leander prefixed to the Moralia, professes to despise " literary style "
(ipsam loquendi artem, quant magisteria disciplinae exterloris insinuant) ;
" for I deem it most unworthy," he says, " to restrict the words of
the heavenly oracle under the rules of Donatus " (Epistola missoria ad
Leandrum Hispaknsem, cap. 5). For the style and Latinity of the Rule,
cf. especially E. WolfBin, Die Latinit'dt des Benedikt von Nursia in Archiv
fur lateinhche Lexikographie und Grammatik,\x. Munich, 1896.
TBoofe m%
Chapter I. pp. 105-108. St. Paulinus (Meropius Pontius Anicius
Paulinus) was born at Bordeaux in 353 or 354, of a noble house with
vast estates in Gaul, Italy, and Spain. In middle life he left the
world, and from 409 until his death in 431 was Bishop of Nola in
Campania (a province of which he had been governor in early man-
hood). Many of his letters and poems (he had been a pupil of
Ausonius) have been preserved. His feast is on June 22. The story
here told by St. Gregory presents various chronological difficulties.
The Vandals established their kingdom in Africa between 429 and 439
(in which latter year Gaiseric, or Genseric, took Carthage) ; their
ravages in Italy (culminating in the sack of Rome by Gaiseric in 455)
did riot begin in the lifetime of Paulinus ; and Gaiseric himself, who
is evidently the king here referred to, did not die until 477, more
than forty years after the death of Paulinus. As a matter of fact,
Alaric took Nola in 410, after his sack of Rome, and Paulinus, then
newly appointed Bishop, was made prisoner. " Our Paulinus, Bishop
of Nola," writes St. Augustine, " who from one most wealthy had
become voluntarily poor and most abundantly holy, when the Bar-
barians sacked Nola, and he was held captive, prayed thus in his
heart, as we afterwards learned from him : Lord, let me not be tor-
mented on account of gold and silver, for Thou knowest where all I
266
Jl3otes
have is " {De Civitate Dei, i. lo). Alaric died within the year. It
seems not impossible, as M. Andr6 Baudrillart suggests {Saint Paulin
Evijue de Note, pp. 167-170), that the foundation for St. Gregory's
story is some tradition connected with the taking of St. Paulinus in
410, and that the Vandals h.ive been confused with the Visigoths,
Gaiseric with Alaric. There is no evidence that St. Paulinus was
ever a prisoner in Africa.
Chapter II. p. 109. For "Justinian the elder" read "Justin
the elder " (the mistake is not the translator's, but due to the Latin
text that he used). John I., a Tuscan by birth, was elected Pope in
523, in succession to Pope Hormisdas, whose reconciliation of the
Roman See with the Eastern Empire, as represented by Justin I.,
had weakened the power of Theodoric in Italy. In 525 he was
compelled by the Gothic king to go on an embassy to Justin,
here recorded by St. Gregory, with a view of persuading the
Emperor to adopt less vigorous methods against the Arians. At
Constantinople he crowned the Emperor. On his return to
Ravenna, Theodoric threw him into a dungeon, where he died in
May, 526. He is the last Pope whom the Church of Rome venerates
as a martyr. Cf. below, Bk. IV. chap. 30.
Chapter III. p. 109. Agapitus I., a Roman noble, was elected
Pope in 535, when Justinian, the nephew and successor of Justin,
was preparing to reconquer Italy from the Goths. He went to
Constantinople, at once to make peace (in which he was unsuccessful)
and to procure the deposition of the patriarch Anthimus, who adhered
to the Monophysite heresy and was supported by the Empress
Theodora. There the Pope suddenly died in April 536. Dante
(Par. vi. 10-21) makes Justinian represent himself as converted from
the Monophysites by the words of Agapitus :
" Cesare fui, e son Giustiniano,
Che, per voler del primo amor ch'io sento,
D'entro le leggi trassi il troppo e il vano.
E prima ch'io all'opra fossi attento,
Una natura in'Cristo esser, non pifie,
Credeva, e di tal fede era contento ;
Ma il benedetto Agapito, che fue
Sommo pastore, alia fede sincera
Mi dirizz6 con le parole sue.
lo gli credetti, e ci6 che in fede sua era
Veggio ora chiaro, si come tu vedi
Ogni contraddizion e falsa e vera."
Chapter IV. p. no. Datius, Archbishop of Milan, a great
champion of orthodoxy and an active ecclesiastical politician, was
closely associated with Pope Vigilius in his struggle with Justinian
267
and Theodora. He died at Constantinople in 552. This legend
probably refers to his earlier visit to the Byzantine Court, circa 544.
Chapter V. p. iil. Sabinus, Bishop of Canosa in Apulia, has
been already mentioned, Bk. II. chap. 15. This story shows Totila
in a different light from that in which he usually appears in Gregory's
pages.
Chapter VIII. p. 116. The Pope in question is usually identified
with John III. (561-574) ; but the previous reference to Constantius,
Bishop of Aquino, as a contemporary of St. Benedict (cf. Bk. II.
chap. 16), seems to point to John II. (533-535).
Chapter IX. p. 117. Frigidianus or Frigdianus (in Italian, San
Frediano) was an Irishman. He died in 588, and is celebrated on
March 18 and November 18. For " Anser " read Auser, now called
the Serchio.
Chapter X. p. 118. Placentia is the modern Piacenza, in
Lombardy.
Chapter XI. p. 119. Cerbonius died about 575. Populonium,
or Populonia, a few miles from Piombino in the Maremma of
Tuscany, was an important place in antiquity by reason of the
smelting of the iron from Elba. It was the chief Etruscan seaport.
Chapter XII. p. 120. Otricoli {Ocriculum) is near Orte in
Umbria. This St. Fulgentius (d. 540) is not to be confused with his
contemporary, St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe (d. 533).
Chapter XIII. p. 121. The capture of Perusia (the modern
Perugia) by the Goths and the martyrdom of St. Herculanus (Sant'
Ercolano) took place in 549, after a siege of three years, during
which the city was gallantly defended by a Greek imperial garrison
under Cyprian. According to the legend, when the defenders were
reduced to" extremities, Herculanus ordered a lamb or an ox to be
fed with all the store of grain that remained, and then hurled down
from the walls, in order that the besiegers might suppose that
supplies abounded, and abandon theii' hope of reducing the city by
starvation. A young ecclesiastic, either accidentally or by treachery,
revealed the trick to the Goths, who straightway took the city by
storm.
Chapter XIV. p. 123. There were a number of Syrian monks
in Italy during the sixth century (^Herculanus of Perugia is said to
have been a Syrian). Nothing more is known concerning this
Isaac of Spoleto, who, if he lived " almost to the last days of the
Goths," must have died about the middle of the century (Teias,
the successor of Totila, and the last king of the Goths in Italy,
was slain in 553). He is not to be confused with two other
Syrians of the same name, the presbyter Isaac of Antioch (middle
of fifth century) and Isaac of Nineveh, the Nestorian bishop of that
city in the latter half of the seventh century. For the last-named,
268
Botes
see J. B. Chabot, De S. Isaaci Ninimtae vita, serif lis, et aoctrina (Paris,
1892), and a more recent article by J. P. Arendzen in the Catholic
Encyclopedia, vol. viii. (New York, 1910). The Latin Liber de
contemptu mundi is a kind of collection from the writings of Isaac of
Nineveh (translated from a Greek version of the Syriac original) ;
upon this is based an Italian work of the fourteenth century, variously
entitled De la perfectione de la vita contemplativa and Collazione dell'
Abate Isaac, erroneously attributed to St. Gregory's Isaac of Spoleto,
which has been several times reprinted (the latest edition is that of
Bartolommeo Sorio, published at Rome in 1845, together with the
letters of Giovanni dalle Celle).
Chapter XV. p. 128. Euthicius (better, Eutychius) died about
540 ; Florentius about 547.
Chapter XVI. p. 133. Marcius is called Martinus in the Latin
text. Mons Marsicus is either Monte Marsicano in the Abruzzi, or
the mountain of the same name near Marsico Nuovo in Basilicata.
Pope Pelagius II., Gregory's immediate predecessor, reigned from 579
to 590.
Chapter XVII. p. 136. Buxentum, in Lucania, is either Pisciotta
or Policastro on the coast of Calabria. Monte Argentario, in the
Tuscan province of Grosseto (formerly a part of the republic of Siena)
is famous in the annals of the order of the Passionists.
Chapter XVIII. p. 139. This monk Benedict (who, of course,
is not the same person as his more famous contemporary, St. Benedict
of Nursia) is commemorated on March 23.
Chapter XIX. p. 140. For "Antharicus" read Autharicus.
Authari, king of the Lombards, reigned from 584 to 590. These
great floods were in 589. Athesis is the modern Adige. St. Zeno,
whose feast is on April 12, was Bishop of Verona in the fourth
century, and, according to the legend, delivered the daughter of the
Emperor Galienus from an unclean spirit. Nothing is known about
his having suffered martyrdom. Cf. Acta Sanctorum, Aprilis Tom II.,
pp. 68-78. Two books of Tractatus, or Sermones, attributed to him
are in Migne, P.L., XI.
Chapter XXII. p. 143. Valentius is the same person as the
Valentinus mentioned on pp. 22, 202. He is variously called
Valentinus, Valentius, or Valentio.
Chapter XXIII. p. 145. Praeneste is the mediseval Palestrina,
near which St. Gregory's own ancestral lands lay. The mountain,
upon the side of which the city stands, is crowned by Castel San
Pietro, with a church probably occupying the site of the abbey here
mentioned and a ruined castle of the Colonna.
Chapters XXVII. and XXVIIL pp. 1 50-1 51. Dr. Hodgkin (VI.
p. 97) conjectures that these atrocities were not committed by the
Lombards properly so called, who were Arians, but by their barbarian
269
Botes
auxiliaries, Bulgarians, Sarmatians, and Gepidae, who had come with
them into Italy, and who were idolaters.
Chapter XXX. p. 153. The church in question is Sancta Agatha
in Subura, now known as Santa Agata de' Goti. It had been built
(or, perhaps, restored) as a church of the Arians by Ricimer, the
Visigothic patrician, shortly before 472, and was taken for Catholic
worship by St. Gregory in 59 1 or 592, and dedicated to St. Agatha,
to whom he had a special devotion. In a letter written early in 594,
St. Gregory commends the church to the acolyth Leo: "ecclesia
sanctae Agathae sita in Subora, quae spelunca fuit aliquando pravitatis
hereticae, ad catholicae fidei culturam, Deo propitiante, reducta est."
{Registrum, Epist. iv. 19, ed. Ewald and Hartmann, i. p. 253) ; but
makes no mention of any miracle. Subura is the district between
the Esquiline, Quirinal, and Viminal hills, and had a bad repute in
classical times. Cf. Horace, Epod. v., 57. For " St. Stephen," read
" St. Sebastian." The Latin runs : " introductis illic beati Sebastiani
et sanctae Agathae martyrum reliquiis."
Chapter XXXI. pp. i SS-1 57. Leander, Bishop of Seville (to whom
St. Gregory dedicated his Moraiia), was the brother of Theodosia, the
first wife of King Leovigild, the mother of Hermenigild and Rechared.
Hermenigild, who had been converted from Arianism by his young
wife Ingunthis (a Catholic Frank princess), was associated with his
father in the kingdom, ruling at Seville, while Leovigild held his
court at Toledo. He rebelled against his father in 583, and was
either murdered or put to death hy the latter (the circumstances are
not clear) in 585. Leovigild died in 586, and his successor,
Hermenigild's brother Rechared, became a Catholic in the following
year. St. Leander died in 599, and was succeeded in the see of
Seville by his more famous brother, St. Isidore, the great apostle of
Latin culture and Catholic orthodoxy among the Visigoths of Spain.
Chapter XXXII. p. 157. St. Gregory's chronology is here at
fault. The great persecutor of the Catholics in Africa, King
Hunneric of the Vandals (the son and successor of Gaiseric), reigned
from 477 to 484, in the time of the Emperor Zeno. Justinian did
not ascend the imperial throne until 527.
Chapter XXXVI. p. 164. Maximianus, Bishop of Syracuse and
formerly abbot of St. Gregory's abbey of Sant' Andrea on the Caelian
Hill, was a constant friend and correspondent of the latter ; he died
in 594. St. Gregory was sent to Constantinople as afocrisiarius or
papal legate, by Pope Pelagius II., in 579, and stayed there until
about 585. While there he composed his great Moraiia.
Ibid. p. 165. "Cothronum" is Cotroue, on the east coast of
Calabria.
Chapter XXXVIIL p. 173. For "Ferenti" (Ferentino), cf.
Bk. I. chap. 9, "John the younger" is apparently Pope John III,,
270
Botes
who was Bishop of Rome from 561 to 574. The Lombards entered
Italy in 568, Eutychius is the more usual form of this martyr's
name.
IBoofe ^Yf
Chapter. I. p. 178. There is a certain resemblance here with
the famous opening of the seventh book of Plato's Republic ; but
Gregory, in spite of his residence at Constantinople, knew hardly any
Greek, and the analogy is probably accidental.
Chapter III. p. 180. " Man, therefore, as he is created in the
middle state." C/. Dante in the De Monarchia (iii. 16).
Chapter VHI. p. i88. The monastery founded by St. Benedict
at Terracina has been already mentioned, Bk. II. chap. 22.
Chapter X. p. 189. Venerahilis pater nomine Sfes. " Cample" is,
perhaps, Campello sul Clitunno, nearer Spoleto than Norcia.
Chapter XII. p. 192. For "Reati" (Reate) read " Rieti." A
St. Juvenal was Bishop of Narni in the fourth century, but he was
not a martyr ; St. Eleutherius (not to be confused with St. Gregory's
friend, the Abbot of that name). Pope and martyr, suffered death
under the Emperor Commodus in 189.
Chapter XIII. pp. 192, 193. The Roman patrician and Christian
philosopher, Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, was consul in 485, and
afterwards Head of the Senate ; he was put to death by Theodoric in
525 [cf. below, chapter 30). He was the father-in-law of Boethius,
and Galla was therefore the sister of the latter's wife, Rusticiana. It
was to this Galla {Ad Gallam viduam) that St. Fulgentius of Ruspe
addressed his treatise, De Consolatione super morte mariti et de statu
viduarum (In Migne, P.L. LXV., coll. 311-323). Another Sym-
machus, the son of Boethius, was consul in 522 ; but chronological
considerations make it clear that his grandfather is the person whom
St. Gregory means.
Chapter XIV. p. 194. The story of Servulus is told by St.
Gregory in his 15th Homily. (Homiliarum in Evangelia, Lib. I.
Homilia 15.)
Chapter XV. p. 195. Homiliarum in Evangelia, Lib. II. Homilia 40.
Chapter XV. p. 196. Praeneste, or Palestrina, was always a haunt
for hermits and ascetics in the Middle Ages. For a later instance,
that of the beata Margherita Colonna, see Maud F. Jerrold, Fittoria
Colonna, pp. 32, 33.
Chapter XVI. p. 198. The story of Ttiarsilla, or Tarsilla, is told
at greater length in the Homilies (Lib. II. Homilia 38). Tharsilla,
Gordiana, and Emiliana were the three sisters of St. Gregory's father,
Gordianus ; one, Gordiana, returned to the world and married. The
Pope Felix, whom St. Gregory describes as atavus mens, was probably
the third Pope of that name, who was Bishop of Rome from 483 to
271
il3otes
492, famous for his struggle with the patriarch Acacius of Constanti-
nople. He was a married man before taking priest's orders, but his
exact relationship with St. Gregory is uncertain. This story curiously
suggests' the apparition of St. Gregory himself to the dying Santa Fina,
painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio at San Gimignano.
Chapter XVIIl. p. 200. He refers to the great pestilence that
devastated Rome at the beginning of 590, during which he was elected
Pope on the death of Pelagius II.
Chapter XIX. p. 201. In the Homilies (Lib. II. Homilia 35),
St. Gregory speaks of Stephen as "pater monasterii juxta Reatinae
urbis moenia constituti." Cf. above, Bk. IV. chap. 11.
Chapter XXI. p. 202. Cf. note on Bk. III. chap. 22.
Chapter XXII. p. 203. Sura is the present Sora in the valley of
the Liris (included in the modern province of Caserta), still famous
for the abbeys in its neighbourhood.
Chapter XXIII. p. 203. For " Marsori " read " Marsi " {Ecchsia
Marsorum). The district indicated is the modern Abruzzi.
Chapter XXV. p. 205. This appeal to these two texts in Isaiah
and the Revelation of St. John, for evidence of the resurrection of the
body, became a traditional one with mediaeval theologians. Thus
Dante, answering St. James as to the object of the Christian's hope
(Par. XXV. 88-96) :
" Le nuove e le scritture antiche
Pongono il segno, ed esso lo mi addita.
Deir anime che Dio s'ha fatte amiche
Dice Isaia che ciascuna vestita
Nella sua terra fia di doppia vesta,
E la sua terra h. questa dolce vita.
E il tuo fratello assai vie plii digesta.
La dove tratta delle bianche stole,
Questa rivelazion ci manifesta."
Chapter XXVI. p. 206. The church of San Sisto is on the Via
Appia within the city ; it was given by Honorius III. to St. Dominic
in the thirteenth century, and is now occupied by Dominican nuns.
The Via Praenestina runs from the Porta Maggiore (Porta Praenestina)
to Palestrina.
Ibid. p. 207. Portua (more properly Portus, the Portui Tra'tani) is
the modern Porto, an important commercial seaport under the Empire,
but now a village two miles from the sea.
Ibid. p. 208. Patricii Narsae temforibus. The Narses meant is
evidently the famous Armenian eunuch who reconquered Italy from the
Goths and governed Rome for the Empire from 552 to 567 ; not the
Narses, a contemporary of St. Gregory, to whom several of the Pope's
letters are addressed.
272
Botes
Chapter XXVII. p. 210. Centumcellae is the present Civita
Vecchia. " Earl " is the translator's equivalent of comes, or " count,"
the chief military officer of a district. St. Gregory relateg this story
in his Homilies (Lib. II. Homilia 36).
Chapter XXX. p. 213. Julianus hujus Romanae Eccksiae secundus
defensor has already been mentioned, Bk. I. chap, 10. He was the
second of this name to hold the office of " defender." C/. note on
Bk. I, chap. 4.
Ibid. p. 214. Theodoricus (Thiuda-reiks), whom we call Theo-
doric the Goth, was born in 454, invaded Italy as the delegate of the
Emperor Zeno in 489, and, by his capture of Ravenna from Odoacer
in 493, founded the short-lived Ostrogothic kingdom. In 500, he
came to Rome as a pacific and beneficent sovereign, hailed by the
Romans as a new Trajan, pledging himself to maintain the Roman
laws for the benefit of the Roman People. He restored the walls and
decreed the preservation of the monuments of the city. " King of
the Goths and Romans in Italy," he ruled nominally as the repre-
sentative of the Emperor at Byzantium, Himself an Arian, Theodoric
during the greater part of his reign treated Arians and Catholics with
the same impartial justice as he did Goths and Romans in the
political field. But the reconciliation between the Byzantine Court
and the Holy See in 519, the consequent tendency of the Roman
Senate towards Constantinople rather than towards Ravenna, and the
increasing bitterness between Arians and Catholics both in East and
West, gradually alienated the King from his Catholic and Roman
subjects, and he finally degenerated into a religious persecutor and
suspicious tyrant. The philosopher Boethius was tortured to death
by his orders in 524 or 525 ; Symmachus, the Head of the Senate,
was executed in 525 j and Pope John I. {cf. above, Bk. III. chap. 2)
died in the King's dungeons at Ravenna in May, 526. Theodoric
followed his victims to the grave on August 30, 526, the day on which,
according to his decree, all the Catholic churches in Italy were to
have been surrendered to the Arians. At some uncertain date, his
body was cast out of his magnificent tomb at Ravenna : Agnellus of
Ravenna, who wrote in the first half of the ninth century, states
that it had been done before his time {Liber Pontlficalis, in Migne,
P.L. cvi. col, 535) ; but there seems no foundation for the
assertion of Fra Salimbene, the thirteenth-century chronicler of
Parma (Cronica, ed. Holder-Egger, pp. 209, 210), that it was St.
Gregory the Great himself who ordered this work of desecration to
be carried out. The crater mentioned in this unpleasant legend is
either that of Vulcano or Stromboli, two of the Lipari islands.
Chapter XXXI. p. 215. San Lorenzo in Damaso, the basilica of
St. Lawrence near the site of Pompey's theatre, was founded by Pope
St. Damasus (366-384).
273 S
Bom
Chapter XXXII. p. 216. " Courtier " is here, as before, the
translator's equivalent for curia/is. Cf. above, note on Bk. II.
chap. II.
Chapter XXXIII. p. 219. " For seeing that they do in that place
with unspeakable brightness (common to all) behold God, what is
there that they know not, that know him who knoweth all things ?"
Cf. Dante, Par. xv. 55-63, xxi. 82-IO2.
Chapter XXXV. p. 219. A " natural brother " (germanus frater)
means a brother according to the flesh, not merely a fellow-monk.
Ibid. p. 220. Optio was not Stephen's name, but his military
rank. The right reading is not cui cognomen Optio fuit, " whose sur-
name was Optio," but qui in numero optio fuit, " who in rank was
adjutant."
Ibid. p. 221. This allegorical ship is possibly the ultimate source
of the boat that conveys the souls of the redeemed from the mouth
of the Tiber in Dante's Purgatorio.
Chapter XXXVI. p. 223. Evasa appears to be the island of
Iviza in the Balearic Archipelago.
Ibid. pp. 223-226. This famous and important chapter may be
regarded as the germ of the later medisval visions of Hell, Pur-
gatory, and Heaven. The Bridge is the " Bridge of Dread," said to
be of Oriental origin, which occurs in so many of the later visions of
the other world (though not in the Divina Commedia ) ; this is its
first appearance in the West, the Latin version of the Visio Sancti
Pauli, in which (though not in the original Greek) it also occurs,
being later. The sumptuous house of gold, which is being built for
an unnamed person, is the ultimate source of the empty throne seen
preparing (probably for St. Bernard) in the vision of Tundal {Visio
Tnugdali, ed. cit., p. 54), and for Henry VII. in the Divina
Commedia {Par. xxx. 133-138). The episode of the priest, who
passes safely over the bridge, is dramatically expanded in the vision of
Tundal (ed. cit., pp. 1 5, 27).
Ibid. p. 227. In the usual version of the Latin text, the arrange-
ment of the chapters is different. The story of Deusdedit forms
chapter xxxvii., the story of the boy Theodorus being included with
those of the deaths of Chrysaorius and the monk of Iconium as
chapter xxxviii.
Chapter XXXVII. p. 229. The story of Theodorus (without his
name) is told by St. Gregory in the Homilies (Lib. II. Homilia 38).
Chapter XXXVIII. p. 230. Chrysaorius in the Latin text.
Ibid, p. 232. St. Gregory calls this monastery in Greek TSi'
TaKa.Tii)v, that is, " of the Galatians."
Chapter XL. pp. 234, 235. Pope Anastasius XL, whom Dante
(Inf. xi. 7-9) condemns as a heretic, died in November 498. Two
rival conclaves met : the one, which represented the majority, was
274,
Bom
held in the Lateran, and elected the Sardinian deacon Symmachus to
the papacy ; the other, which favoured a reconciliation with the
Emperor (Anastasius I.), in S. Maria Maggiore, chose for Pope the
Archdeacon Laurentius, who was a Roman. After a violent struggle,
an appeal to the arbitration of Theodoric resulted in the general
recognition of Symmachus. The struggle was afterwards renewed,
until Laurentius finally withdrew in 505. In the synod {Synodus
palmaris) which was called in 501 to investigate the charges against
Symmachus, the famous principle of the Church of Rome was estab-
lished : Summa sedes a nem'tne judicatur. CJ. Grisar, GeschUhte Roms
and der Pdpste im Mittelalter, nos. 308, 309. Paschasius died a few
years before the death of Symmachus (514) ; he is venerated as a saint
on May 31. A work on the Holy Ghost, De Spiritu Sanaa libri duo, is
attributed to him, and identified with the " rectissimi et luculenti de
Sancto Spiritu libri," of which St. Gregory here speaks (Migne, P.L.
Ixii.J ; but its authenticity has been disputed, and it is included
by Augustus Engelbrecht among the works of Bishop Faustus o.
Riez (Corpus Scriptorum Eccleiiasticorum Latinorum, vol. xxi., Vienna,
1891.) A letter from Paschasius to Eugippius, the biographer of
St, Severinus, is extant (In Migne, torn, at., and ed, Pius Knoell in
Corp. Script. Eccles. Lat., vol. ix. pars 2, Vienna, 1886). The scene
of this apparition is laid by St. Gregory In Angulanis thermis, that is,
the baths of Angulus, or Paterno, near the modern Castel Sant'
Angelo in the Abruzzi. This story of Paschasius is cited by mediaeval
writers on the place of Purgatory as implying that souls are punished
in the places on earth where they committed their faults. In his
Commentary upon the S^»/«f« of Peter the Lombard (/« Lib. IF.
Sententiarum, dist. xx. pars i. art. i. q. 6), St. Bonaventura combats
this theory, declaring that the case of Paschasius was a special dispen-
sation, and not according to the general purgatorial rule ; for " it
appears altogether incredible, or at least improbable, that all the souls
who sinned in Paris should be punished in Paris."
Chapter XLIV. p. 240, This doctrine of St. Gregory's, that
the faithful do not pray for the souls of those whom they suppose to
be in Hell, is more explicitly stated in the Moralia (lib. xxxiv. cap. 19) :
" The Saints do not pray for the unbelieving and impious that are
dead, because they shrink from the merit of their prayer, concerning
those whom they already know to be condemned to eternal punish-
ment, being made void before that countenance of the just Judge."
This is curiously inconsistent with the popular legend, first heard in
the eighth century, that St. Gregory, moved by the tale of the
justice and humility of Trajan towards the poor widow whose son
had been slain, prayed and obtained that the soul of the Emperor
might return from Hell to his body to win his salvation. This
inconsistency is noticed by St. Thomas Aquinas, who discusses
275.
mom
the story at some length (Summa Theologtca, III. supl. Q. 71, A. 5 :
TJtrum suffragia prosint existentibus in Inferno). Dante speaks of the
legend of Trajan and St. Gregory, in two famous passages {Purg. x,
73-93 ; Par. xx. I06-117).
Chapter XLV. p. 241. "Two manner of deaths," duobtis etiam
modis mors debet ir.telligi. Cf. Rev. xxi. 8 : " which is the second
death." Thus Dante speaks of the souls of the lost, che la seconda morte
ciascun grida {Inf. i. 1 17).
Chapter XLVIII. p. 245. This power of saints, to " discern
betwixt illusions and true revelations," is emphasised by St. Catherine
of Siena.
Chapter LII. p. 246. In the Latin text, this John is described
as in hoc urbe locum proefectorum servans, that is, vicar of the prefect 01
Rome. Bressa (Brixia) is the modern Brescia, of which St. Faustinus
(martyred in the second century) is one of the patron saints.
Chapter LIII. p. 247. This Liberius, a contemporary ot St.
Gregory, is not to be confused with the Liberius mentioned in
Bk. II. chap. 35. The office that Valentinus held was ecclesiae
Mediolanensis defensor {Cf Book I. chap, 4, notes). St Syrus, who
is specially venerated at Genoa, was Bishop of Pavia, and was martyred
about 96.
Chapter LV. p. 249. "Two singing breads," duas ohlationum
<oronas ; apparently, two unconsecrated hosts.
Ibid. p. 250. The monastery is, as usual, St. Gregory's convent of
Sant' Andrea, on the Caelian Hill. In the Rule oj St. Benedict, we
read : " The beds shall be frequently searched by the abbot to guard
against the vice of hoarding. And if any one be found in possession
of something not allowed hy the abbot, let him be subjected to the
severest punishment" (chap. 55, Gasquet's translation).
Chapter LVI. p. 253. Cassias, Bishop of Narni, died in 558.
The story of his death is told at greater length in the Homilies
Lib. II, Homilia 37),
276
3ntitx
Abundius, keeper of St. Peter's Church, 147
Acacius, Patriarch of Constantinople, 272
Agapitus, St., Pope, 109, no, 267
subdeacon, 88
Agathus, Bishop of Palermo, 253
Agnellus of Ravenna, 273
Alaric, King of the Visigoths, 264, 265
Alberic of Monte Cassino, xxv.
Albinus, Bishop of Rieti, 18
Alfred, King, xxi., xxiv.
Amantius, priest at Tivoli, 163, 164
Ammonius, monk, 208
Anastasius, Abbot of Suppentonia, xix., 27, 29, 262
Pope, 274
Andrew, Bishop of Funda, 113-116
Bishop of Aquinum, 117
Antharicus (Autaris), King of the Lombards, 140, 269
Anthimus, Patriarch of Constantinople, 267
Anthony, layman, 87
monk, 242
Aquinas, St. Thomas, 266, 275
Armentarius, nobleman, 135
boy visionary, 208
Athanasius, Greek priest, 231
Augustine, St., on the captivity of St. Paulinus, 266
Ausonius, 266
Baraca, mariner, 253-255
Basilius, magician, 16, 17, 261, 262
Bede, Venerable, xxv.
Belisarius, 264
277 T
3InDer
Benedict (Bennet), St., of Nursia, xx.-xxii., xxv., 48, 51-
100, 135, 188, 263-266; his Rule, xix., xxii., 99, 263,
264, 265, 266, 276
Benedict (Bennet), monk in Campania, 139
Benedicta, nun, 194
Blindinus (Bleda), Gothic chieftain, 74, 264
Boethius, xx., xxi., 262, 271, 273
Bonaventura, St., xxv., 275
Bonifacius, Bishop of Ferenti, 31-37, 262
St. Gregory's monk and deacon, 141, 152
Buccellinus (Butilin), leader of the Alamanni, 10, 261
Carterius, a sinner, 149
Cassianus of Marseilles, xxi.
Cassiodorus, 261, 265
Cassius, Bishop of Narni, 113, 252, 253, 276
Castorius, Roman officer, 18, 262
Cerbonius, Bishop of Populonium, 119, 120, 268
Cesarius, St., of Aries, xxi,
Chrisorius, or Chrysaorius, 230, 231, 274
Constantinus, successor to St. Benedict, 51, 52, 263
Constantius, clerk near Ancona, 23-26
ambitious priest, 31, 32, 34, 35
Bishop of Aquinum, 75, 116, 117, 265, 268
Copiosus, monk under St. Gregory, 250-252
Curiales, 70, 2i6, 264, 274
Damasus, St., Pope, 215, 273
Dante, xxi,, xxii., xxiv., xxv., 264, 266, 267, 271, 272, 274,
276
Darida, Gothic captain, 9
Datius, Bishop of Milan, no, ill, 267, 268
Defensores Civitatum, 80, 265
Defensores Eccksiae, 19, 38, 213, 247, 262, 273, 276
Deusdedit, friend of St. Gregory, 214
shoemaker, 227 (perhaps the same person)
Edmund of Eynsham, xxv.
Eleutherius of Spoleto, 123, 142, 159-161, 219
St., Pope and martyr, 192, 271
278
3fnDer
Equitius, Abbot, xxi., 15-23, 261
^ugippius, 275
Eumorphius, 220, 221
Euthicius (Eutychius), Abbot, 128-132, 269
^uthicius (Eutychius), the martyr, 173
Evitms (or Equitius or Euticius), father of Maurus, 61, 263
Exhilaratus, lay brother, 79
Faustinus, patron saint of Brescia, 247
Faustus, Bishop of Riez, 275
Felix, prior of Funda, 13
nobleman of Nursia, 18
HI., Pope, 198, 271, 272
Bishop of Porto, 246, 249
Florentius, enemy of St, Benedict, 65-67
solitary, 128-132, 269
priest in Rome, 215
Floridus, Bishop of Tivoli, 121, 163
Fortunatus, Abbot, 15, 45
nobleman of Ferenti, 33
Bishop of Todi, 38-45
Frigidianus, Bishop of Lucca, 1 17, 118, 268
Fulgentius, Bishop of Otricoli, 120, 121, 268
Bishop of Ruspe, 268, 271
Galla, daughter of Symmachus, 192, 193, 271
Roman widow, 220
(or Zaila), a Goth, 91, 92
Gaiseric, King of the Vandals, 105-108, 266, 270
Gaudentius, a priest, 31
Germanus, Bishop of Capua, 97, 188, 234, 266
Gerontius, monk, 207
Gordianus, father of St. Gregory, xxii., 271
Gregoria, nun, 123
Gregory the Great, Pope, his Dialogues, xix., xx., xxii, ;
life and pontificate, xxii.-xxiv. ; influence of his Dialogues,
xxiv.-xxvi, ; their setting, 3-5 ; his talk with the old man
of Todi, 41 ; his knowledge of the life of St. Benedict,
51 ; his consecration of Santa Agata, 153, 270; at Con-
stantinople, 158, 164, 165, 270; friendship with Eleuth-
erius, 159-161 ; with Sanctulus, 166; his Homilies, 194,
279
31nDer
195; his family, 197, 198, 271," 272; his treatment of
the avaricious monk, 250-252 ; his Moralia, 261-;
letters, 262, 265 ; on literary style, 266 ; alleged desecra-
tion of Theodoric's tomb, 273 ; on prayers for the lost,
275 . „
Gregory, monk of Terracina, 188
Gunmar, Lombard captain, 120
Herculanus, St., Bishop of Perugia, I2i, 122, 268
Hermigildus (Hermenigild), St., Prince of the Visigoths, 155-
157, 270
Hirundina, nun at Praeneste, 196
Honoratus, Abbot of Funda, 6-9, 10-12
Abbot of Subiaco, 52, 75, 263, 265
Hope, Abbot, 189, 271
Hormisdas, Pope, 267
Hunneric, King of the Vandals, 157, 270
Isaac of Spoleto, 123-127, 268, 269
Isidore, St., 270
John I., St., Pope and martyr, 109, 214, 267, 273
II., Pope, 116,268
III., Pope, 173, 268, 270
the tribune, 140, 246, 276
brother of Eleutherius, 219, 220
a young monk, 243
Jovinus, Bishop of Aquinum, 117
Julianus, defender, afterwards Bishop, 19-21, 262
the second defender, 38, 213, 262, 273
Justinian, Emperor, xxiii., 110, 157, 267, 270
Justin, Emperor ("Justinian the Elder"), 109, 267
Justus, monk under St. Gregory, 250-252
Juvenal, St., 192, 271
L AURIC, monk, 2 J
Lawrence, monk, 8, 9
Lawrence, antipope, 234, 235, 275
Leander, St., Bishop of Seville, xxiii., 155, 156, 261, 270
Levigildus (Leovigild), King of the Visigoths, 155-157, 270
280
3InDer
Liberius, the elder, 96, 265
the younger, 247, 276
i-iibertinus, prior of Funda, 9-13
Marcellus of Todi, 44
one of St. Gregory's monks, 207
Marcellinus, Bishop of Ancona, 26
Marcius (or Martinus), solitary, 133-136, 269
Martin, St., of Tours, xxi.
Martirius, monk, 45
Maurus, St., disciple of St. Benedict, $1, 62, 63, 64, 66,
263
Mascatus, 135
Mauritius, Emperor, xxiii., 158
Maximianus, Bishop of Syracuse, xix., 26, 164, 165, 216,
270
Maximus, father of Probus, 192
son of Chrisorius, 231
Mellitus, monk of Porto, 207, 208
Merulus, monk under St. Gregory, 242, 243
Menas, solitary, 148, 149
Musa, virgin, 198, 199
Narses, xxiii., 208, 209, 272
Nonnosus, Prior on Mount Soracte, xix., 26-28, 262
Optio, Stephen, 274
Paschasius, the Deacon, 234-236, 275
Paulinus, St., Bishop of Nola, 105-108, 266, 267
Pelagius II., Pope, 133, 269, 270
Peregrinus, 87
Peter the Deacon, 3-6, et passim
monk of Spain, 223, 224
papal steward, 225
Abbot of St. Gregory's monastery, 243
Placidus, St., disciple of St. Benedict, 61, 62, 64, 264
Pompeianus, Abbot, 62
Pretiosus, Prior of St. Gregory's monastery, 250-252
281
31nDer
Probus, Bishop of Rieti, 192
his nephew, 192, 198, 201, 230
Pronulphus, comes ^ 140
QuADRAGEsiMUs, subdeacon, 136, 137
Recharedus, King of the Visigoths, 156, 157, 270
Redempta, nun, 196, 197
Redemptus, Bishop of Ferenti, xx., 173
Reparatus, his vision, 214, 215
Riggo, guardsman of Totila, 73, 74, 264
Romanus, monk, 53
Romula, nun, 195-197
Rudericus, Gothic chieftain, 74, 264
Sabinus, Bishop of Camisina, in, 112, 268
Bishop of Placentia, 118
Salimbene of Parma, 273
Sanctulus, priest of Nursia, 128, 166-171
Scholastica, St., sister of St. Benedict, 94-96, 265
Servandus, deacon, 96, 97
Servulus, poor man, 194, 195
Sirus (Syrus), St., 247, 276
Severus, parish priest, 46, 47
Simplicius, third general of the Benedictines, 52, 263
Speciosus, priest, 188, 195
Stephen, priest in Valeria, 141
"Optio," 220, 221, 274
visions concerning, 224, 226
the smith, 224
Abbot, 190, 201
Symmachus, Pope, 18-21 (?), 234, 235, 262, 275
Consul and Senator, xxi., 193, 214, 262, 271, 273
Suranus, Abbot, 203
Tarsilla (Tharsilla), St., aunt to Pope Gregory, 197, ic
271
Teias, King of the Ostrogoths, 261
TertuUius, father of Placidus, 61, 263
Theodacus (or Adeodatus), Abbot, 53, 263
282
3InDcr
Theodoricus, King of the Ostrogoths, 213, 214, 262, 267
1 heodorus, keeper of St. Peter's, 146
boy monk, 229, 230
Theoprobus, convert of St. Benedict, 78, 97
Theophanius, Count of Centumcellae, 210, 211, 273
Tiburtius, priest of San Lorenzo in Damaso, 215
Totila (Baduila), King of the Ostrogoths, xxi., 9, 73, 74, 91,
III, 112, 113, 119, 121, 122, 139, 261, 264, 265
Trajan, Emperor, 275, 276
Tundal, Vision of, xxv., 266, 274
Ursus, monk, 220
Valentinianus, Abbot of the Lateran, 52, 72, 264
Valentinus (or Valentius), St. Gregory's Abbot, 22, 143,
202, 262, 269
defender of the Milanese Church, 247, 276
Valerian, gentleman of Brescia, 246, 247
Venantius, nobleman of Samnium, 6, 7
Bishop of Luna, 117, 118, 120, 247
Vigilius, Pope, 267
Vultericus (Vult), Goth chieftain, 74, 264
Werferth, Bishop of Worcester, xxiv.
Zaccharias L, Pope, xxiv.
Zeno, St., Bishop of Verona, 140, 269
Emperor, 270, 273
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