With infinite zeal for his Father"s honor, and charity for us sinners, with invincible patience, and the most profound humility, he now offered himself most cheerfully to his Father to undergo whatever he was pleased to enjoin him. Fifthly, he teaches us by the example of voluntary obedience to a law that could not oblige him, to submit with great punctuality and exactness to laws of divine appointment; and how very far we ought to be from sheltering our {061} disobedience under lame excuses and frivolous pretexts. Sixthly, by this ceremony, he humbled himself to satisfy for our pride, and to teach us the sincere spirit of humility. What greater humiliation can be imagined than for Him who is the eternal Son of G.o.d, in all things equal to his Father, to conceal these glorious t.i.tles under the appearance of a sinner? What a subject of confusion to us, who, being abominable criminals, are ashamed to pa.s.s for what we are, and desire to appear and be esteemed what we are not!
Shall we not learn from this example of Christ to love humiliations, especially as we cannot but acknowledge that we deserve every reproach and all manner of contempt from all creatures? Seventhly, by beginning the great work of our salvation in the manner he was one day to finish it; suffering in his own person the punishment of sin, to deliver us from both sin and its punishment, he confounds the impenitence of sinners who will suffer nothing for their own sins; and inculcates the necessity of a spiritual circ.u.mcision, whereof the external was but the type and figure, as the apostle puts us in mind.[9]
It is manifest, beyond all contradiction, from several texts of the Old Testament,[10] that men under that dispensation ought not to have rested in the external act alone, but should have aspired from the letter to the spirit, from the carnal to a spiritual circ.u.mcision. These texts, at the same time that they set forth its necessity, describe it as consisting in a readiness and willing disposition to conform to the will of G.o.d, and submit to it when known, in every particular. They in consequence require a retrenchment of all inordinate and superfluous desires of the soul, the keeping a strict guard and government over ourselves, a total abstinence from criminal, and a prudent reserve even in the lawful gratifications of sense and appet.i.te. If such instances of spiritual circ.u.mcision were required of those under the Old Law, to qualify them for acceptance with G.o.d, can any thing less than the same ent.i.tle us Christians to the claim of spiritual kindred with faithful Abraham, and to share of that redemption which Christ began this day to purchase for us at the expense of his blood? We must cut off whatever inordinate or superfluous desires of riches, honors, or pleasures reign in our hearts, and renounce whatever holds us wedded to our senses or the world. Though this sacrifice required the last drop of our blood, we ought cheerfully to make it. The example of Christ powerfully excites us not to spare ourselves. A thousand irregular affections reign in our souls, and self-love is master there. This enemy is only to be expelled by compunction, watchfulness over ourselves, perfect obedience, humble submission to correction, voluntary self-denials, and patience under crosses. To these endeavors we must join earnest prayer for the necessary grace to discover, and courageously crucify whatever opposes the reign of the pure love of G.o.d in our affections. If we are conscious to ourselves of having taken a contrary course, and are of the unhappy number of the _uncirc.u.mcised to heart_; what more proper time to set about a thorough reformation, by cutting off whatever is inconsistent with or prejudicial to the true Christian spirit, than this very day, the first of the new year? that so it may be a _new_ year to us in the most Christian and beneficial sense of the word.[11]
{062}
Wherefore, after having consecrated its first-fruits to G.o.d, by the most sincere and fervent homage of praise and adoration; after having paid him the just tribute of thanksgiving for all his benefits, and in particular for the mercy by which he vouchsafes us still time to appease his anger, and serve him; it becomes us to allot some part of this day to tears of compunction for our past offences, and to the diving into the source of our spiritual sloth and other irregularities, with a view to the amendment of our lives, and the preventing of relapses: not contenting ourselves with general purposes, which cost self-love so little, the insufficiency of which our own experience has convinced us of; we must lay the axe to the root, and seriously resolve to decline, to the best of our power, the particular occasions which have betrayed us into sin, and embrace the most effectual means of reformation of life and improvement in virtue. Every year ought to find us more fervent in charity; every day ought our soul to augment in strength, and be decked with new flowers of virtue and good works. If the plant ceases to grow, or the fruit to ripen, they decay of course, and are in danger of perishing. By a rule far more sacred, the soul, which makes not a daily progress in virtue loses ground: a dreadful symptom in the spiritual life.
The more intense ought our fervor to be, as we draw the nearer to the end of our course: _So much the more_, says the apostle, _as you perceive the day to approach_,[12] the day of _retribution_ to each according to his works, which will be that of our death, which may be much nearer than we are willing to imagine. Perhaps we may not live to the end of this very year: it will be the case of thousands, who at this time are as regardless of it as we can be. What security can we have against a surprise, the consequences whereof are infinite and irretrievable, except that of a sincere and speedy conversion, of being upon our guard against temptations, of dedicating effectually this ensuing year and the remainder of our short lives to G.o.d, our last end and only good, and frequently imploring his grace and mercy. It is our blessed Saviour"s advice and injunction: _Watch ye therefore; praying at all times {063} ... that you may be accounted worthy ... to stand before the Son of man_.[13]
The Christian"s devotion on this day ought to consist, first, in the solemn consecration of the first-fruits of the year to G.o.d; and secondly, in honoring the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of G.o.d, particularly his birth and circ.u.mcision. The church invites us on this day to unite our homage with the seraphic ardors and transports of devotion with which the glorious Mother of G.o.d a.s.sisted at these wonderful mysteries which we commemorate, but in which she acted herself so great a part. With what sentiments did Mary bear in her womb, bring forth, and serve her adorable son, who was also her G.o.d? with what love and awe did she fix her eyes upon him particularly at his circ.u.mcision, who can express in what manner she was affected when she saw him subjected to this painful and humbling ceremony? Filled with astonishment, and teeming affections of love and grat.i.tude, by profound adorations and praise she endeavored to make him all the amends in her power, and the best return and acknowledgment she was able. In amorous complaints that he would begin, in the excess of his love, to suffer for us in so tender an age, and to give this earnest of our redemption, she might say to him: _Truly than art to me a spouse of blood._[14] With the early sacrifice Christ here made of himself to his Father, she joined her own offering her divine son, and with and through him herself, to be an eternal victim to his honor and love, with the most ardent desire to suffer all things, even to blood, for the accomplishment of his will.
Under her mediation we ought to make him the tender of our homages, and with and through this holy Redeemer, consecrate ourselves to G.o.d without reserve.
Footnotes: 1. In the ancient sacramentary of the Roman church, published by cardinal Thomasius, (the finishing of which some ascribe to Pope Gelasius I., others more probably to Leo I., though the ground was doubtless the work of their predecessors,) this festival is called the Octave of our Lord"s Nativity. The same t.i.tle is given to it in the Latin calendar (or rather collection of the gospels read at Ma.s.s throughout the year) written above 900 years ago, presented to the public by F. John Fronteau, regular canon of saint Genevieve"s at Paris, and by Leo Allatius. The inference which Baillet draws from thence that the mystery of our Lord"s circ.u.mcision was not then commemorated in the office of this day, is a notorious mistake. For Thoma.s.sin takes notice from Ivo of Chartres, that the word Octave here implies the circ.u.mcision of our Lord, which was performed on the eighth day after his birth; and in the above mentioned Sacramentary express mention is made of the circ.u.mcision in the Secret of the Ma.s.s. In F. Froubeau"s calendar the gospel read on this day is the history of the circ.u.mcision given, by St. Luke. An old Vatican MS. copy of St. Gregory"s Sacramentary and that of Usuard"s Martyrology kept at St. Germain des-Pres, express both the t.i.tles of the Octave day and of the circ.u.mcision.
Durandus in the 13th century, (Ration. offic. l. 6, c. 15,) John Beleth, a theologian of Paris, (c. 71,) and several missals of the middle ages prescribe two ma.s.ses to be said on this day, one on the circ.u.mcision, the other on the B. Virgin Mary. Micrologus (c. 39) a.s.signs this reason, that as the B. Virgin, who had so great a share in the birth of Christ, could not be mentioned in that solemn office, therefore a commemoration of her is deferred to the Octave day. The second Ma.s.s is now abolished: but in a great part of the office a regard is had to the B. Virgin. In F. Fronteau"s Roman calendar, after the t.i.tle of the Octave is added, _Natale S. Mariae_ for which Dom Martenne would have us read _S. Martinae_; but without grounds. For, as Pope Benedict XIV. observes, (Comment. de Festis Domini, c. 1,) the original unquestionably means a festival of the B. Virgin Mary. The word _Natale_, which was used originally for the birth-day of the emperors, was afterwards taken for any annual feast.
2. Gen. xvii.
3. Grounding their opinion on Gen. xvii. 14, &c.
4. Luke i. 31.
5. Matt. i. 21.
6. Phil. ii. 8, 9, 10.
7. Matt. xxviii. 18.
8. The Jews generally named their children on the day of their circ.u.mcision, but this was not of precept. There are several instances of children named on the day of their birth, (Gen. x.x.x.) which could not be that of their circ.u.mcision by an express law requiring the interval of eight days from their birth; the child being presumed too weak and delicate to undergo the operation sooner, without danger of its life. It seems to have been the practice among the Jews for children to be circ.u.mcised at home; nor was a priest the necessary or ordinary minister, but the father, mother, or any other person could perform the ceremony, as we see in the time of Abraham, (Gen. xvii.; Acts vii.) and of the Maccabees, (1 Mac. 1.) St. Epiphanius, (Haer. 20.) Whence F. Avala, in his curious work ent.i.tled _Pietor Christia.n.u.s_, printed at Madrid in 1730, shows that it is a vulgar error of painters who represent Christ circ.u.mcised by a priest in the temple. The instrument was sometimes a sharp stone, (Exod. iv. Jos. v.,) but doubtless most frequently of iron or steel.
9. Rom. ii. 29.
10. Deut. x. 16; x.x.x. 6; Jer. iv. 4.
11. The pagan Romans celebrated the _Saturnalia_, or feast of Saturn, from the 17th of December during seven days: at which time slaves dined with their masters, and were allowed an entire liberty of speech, in the superst.i.tious remembrance of the golden age of the world, in which no distinction of ranks was yet known among men.
(Macrob {}, 10. Horat. &c.) The calends also of January were solemnized with licentious shows in honor of Ja.n.u.s and the G.o.ddess Strenia: and it is from those infamous diversions that among Christians, are derived the profane riots of new year"s day, twelfthtide, and shrovetide, by which many pervert these times into days of sin and intemperance. Several councils severely condemn these abuses; and the better to prevent them, some churches formerly kept the 1st of January a fast-day, as it is mentioned by St.
Isidore of Seville (lib. 2 offic c. 40) Alcuin (lib. de div offic) &c. Dom Martenne observes, (lib. de antiquis ritibus in celebr. div.
offic. c. 13,) that on this account the second council of Tours in 567 ordered that on the calends of the circ.u.mcision the litany be sung, and high ma.s.s begun only at the eighth hour, that is, two in the afternoon, that it might be finished by three, the hour at which it was allowed to eat on the fasts of the stations. We have among the works of the fathers many severe invectives against the superst.i.tions and excesses of this time. See St. Austin, (serm. 198, in hunc diem,) St. Peter Chrysologus, (serm. in calendas,) St.
Maximus of Turin, (Hom. 5, apud Mabill. in Musaeo Italico,) Faustinus the Bishop, (apud Bolland. hac die. p. 3,) &c. The French name Etrennes is pagan, from _strenae_, or new-year gifts, in honor of the G.o.ddess Strenia. The same in Poitou and Perche, anciently the country of the Druids, is derived from their rites. For the Poitevins for Etrennes use the word Auguislanneuf, and the Percherons, Equilans, from the ancient cry of the Druids, _Au guy l"an neuf_, i.e. _Ad Visc.u.m, annul novus_, or to the mistletoe the new-year, when on new-year"s day the Pagans went into the forests to seek the mistletoe on the oaks. See Chatelain, notes on the Martyr.
Jan. 1, p. 7.
The ancients began the year, some from the autumnal, others from the vernal equinox. The primitive patriarchs from that of autumn, that is, from the month called by the Hebrews Tisri, which coincides with part of our September and October. Hence it seems probable, that the world was created about that season; the earth, as appears from Gen.
iii. 2, being then covered with trees, plants, fruits, seeds, and all other things in the state of their natural maturity and perfection. The Jews retained this commencement of the year, as a date for contracts and other civil purposes; as also for their sabbatical year and jubilee. But G.o.d commanded them to begin their ecclesiastical year, or that by which their religious festivals were regulated, from the spring equinox, or the Hebrew month Nisan, the same with part of our March and April, Exod. xii. 2. Christian nations commenced the year, some from the 25th of March, the feast of the Annunciation, and bordering upon the spring equinox; others from Christmas; others from its octave day, the first of January, in which our ancestors have often varied their practice. Europe is now agreed in fixing the first of January for this epoch.
The Julian year, so called from Julius Caesar, from whom the Roman calendar received its last reformation, consisted of 365 days and 6 hours, which exceed the true solar year by 11 minutes, for astronomers compute the yearly revolution of the sun not to exceed 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 37 seconds, according to Ca.s.sini, but according to Keil 57 seconds, or almost 49 minutes. This error, becoming daily more sensible, would have occasioned the autumnal equinox to have at length fallen on the day reckoned the solstice, and in process of time, on that held for the vernal equinox. The Golden number, or Grecian cycle of the lunar years, was likewise defective. The remedy both which, pope Gregory XIII., in 1585, established the new style. Scaliger, Tachet, and Ca.s.sini have demonstrated that cycles might be chosen still more exact by some few seconds: however, this adopted by pope Gregory, besides being the easiest in the execution, admits of no material error, or sensible inconveniency. This correction of the style was received by act of Parliament, in Great Britain, in 1752; for the promoting of which, great praise is due to the two ill.u.s.trious ornaments of the republic of letters, the earls of Chesterfield and Macclesfield.
12. Heb. x. 25.
13. Luke xxi. 36.
14. Exod. v. 25.
THE LIFE OF S. FULGENTIUS, B.C.
Extracted from his works, and from his life, accurately written by a disciple of great abilities, the companion of his exile: and dedicated to Felician, his successor in the see of Ruspa. The author declares himself a monk: consequently was not the deacon Ferrandus, as some critics imagine.
A.D. 533.
FABIUS CLAUDIUS GORDIa.n.u.s FULGENTIUS was the descendant of a n.o.ble senatorian family of Carthage: but much decayed in its splendor by the invasion of the Vandals. His father Claudius, being unjustly deprived of his house in Carthage, which was made over to the Arian priests, settled at an estate belonging to him at Telepte, the capital city of the province of Byzacena. Our saint was born in 468, about thirty years after the Barbarians had dismembered Africa from the Roman empire. He was educated in sentiments of piety with his younger brother, under the care of his mother Mariana, who was left a young widow. Being, by her particular direction, taught the Greek very young, he spoke it with as proper and exact an accent as if it had been his native language. He also applied himself to Latin, and all the useful parts of human literature, under masters distinguished for consummate abilities: yet he knew how to mingle business with study; for he took upon himself the regulation of the family concerns, in order to ease his mother of the burden. His prudent circ.u.mspection in all the affairs he transacted, his virtuous conduct, his mild carriage to all, and more especially his deference for his mother, without whose express orders or approbation he never did any thing, caused him to be beloved and admired wherever his name was known. He was chosen procurator, that is, lieutenant-governor, and general receiver of the taxes of Byzacena. But it was not long before {064} he grew disgusted with the world; and being justly alarmed at its dangers he armed himself against them by pious reading, a.s.siduous prayer, and rigorous fasting. His visits to monasteries were frequent; and happening among other books of spiritual entertainment, to read a sermon of St. Austin on the thirty-sixth psalm, in which that father treats of the world and the short duration of human life, he felt within him strong desires of embracing the monastic state.
Huneric, the Arian king, had driven most of the orthodox bishops from their sees. One of these, named Faustus, had erected a monastery in Byzacena. It was to him that the young n.o.bleman addressed himself for admittance; but Faustus immediately objecting the tenderness of his const.i.tution, discouraged his desires with words of some harshness; "Go," said he, "and first learn to live in the world abstracted from its pleasures. Who can well suppose, that you on a sudden, relinquishing a life of softness and ease, can take up with our coa.r.s.e diet and clothing and can inure yourself to our watchings and fastings?" The saint, with downcast eyes, modestly replied: "He, who hath inspired me with the will to serve him, can also furnish me with courage and strength." This humble, yet resolute answer, induced Faustus to admit him on trial. The saint was then in the twenty-second year of his age. The news of so unthought of an event both surprised and edified the whole country; many even imitated the example of the governor. But Mariana his mother, in transports of grief, ran to the monastery, crying out at the gates: "Faustus! restore to me my son; to the people, their governor: the church always protects widows; why then rob you me, a desolate widow, of my son?" She persisted several days in the same tears and cries. Nothing that Faustus could urge was sufficient to calm her, or prevail with her to depart without her son. This was certainly as great a trial of Fulgentius"s resolution as it could well be put to; but the love of G.o.d, having the ascendant in his breast, gave him a complete victory over all the suggestions of nature: Faustus approved his vocation, and accordingly recommended him to the brethren. The saint having now obtained all he wished for in this world, made over his estate to his mother, to be discretionally disposed of by her in favor of his brother, as soon as he should be arrived at a proper age. He totally abstained from oil and every thing savory; from wine also, drinking only water.
His mortifications brought on him a dangerous illness; yet after recovery he abated nothing in them. The persecution breaking out anew, Faustus was obliged to withdraw; and our saint, with his consent, repaired to a neighboring monastery, of which Felix, the abbot, would fain resign to him the government. Fulgentius was much startled at the proposal, but at length was prevailed upon to consent that they should jointly execute the functions. It was admirable to observe with what harmony these two holy abbots for six years governed the house. No contradiction ever took place between them; each always contended to comply with the will of his colleague. Felix undertook the management of the temporal concerns; Fulgentius"s province was to preach and instruct.
In the year 499, the country being ravaged by an irruption of the Numidians, the two abbots were necessitated to fly to Sicca Veneria, a city of the proconsular province of Africa. Here it was, that an Arian priest ordered them to be apprehended and scourged on account of their preaching the consubstantiality of the Son of G.o.d. Felix, seeing the executioners seize first on Fulgentius, cried out: "Spare that poor brother of mine, whose delicate complexion cannot bear torments; let them rather be my portion who am strong of body." They accordingly, at the instigation of this wicked priest, fell on Felix first, and the old man endured their stripes {065} with the greatest alacrity. When it was Fulgentius"s turn to experience the same rigorous treatment, he bore the lashes with great patience; but feeling the pain excessive, that he might gain a little respite and recruit his spirits, he requested his judge to give ear to something he had to impart to him. The executioners thereupon being commanded to desist, he began to entertain him with an account of his travels. This savage monster expected nothing more than some overtures to be proposed to him of an intention to yield; but finding himself disappointed, in the utmost rage, ordered his torments to be redoubled. At length having glutted his barbarity, the confessors were dismissed, their clothes rent, their bodies inhumanly torn, and their beards and hair plucked off. The very Arians were ashamed of such cruelty, and their bishop offered to punish the priest, if Fulgentius would but undertake his prosecution. His answer was, that a Christian is never allowed to seek revenge; and for their parts it was inc.u.mbent on them not to lose the advantage of patience, and the blessings accruing from the forgiving of injuries. The two abbots, to avoid an additional effort of the fury of these heretics, travelled to Ididi, on the confines of Mauritania. Here Fulgentius went aboard a ship for Alexandria, being desirous, for the sake of greater perfection, to visit the deserts of Egypt, renowned for the sanct.i.ty of the solitaries who dwelt there. But the vessel touching at Sicily, St. Eulalius, abbot at Syracuse, diverted him from his intended voyage, on a.s.suring him, that "a perfidious dissension had severed this country from the communion of Peter,"[1] meaning that Egypt was full of heretics, with whom those that dwelt there were obliged either to join in communion, or be deprived of the sacraments. The liberality and hospitality of Fulgentius to the poor, out of the small pittance he received for his particular subsistence, made Eulalius condemn himself of remissness in those virtues, and for the future imitate so laudable an example.
Our saint having laid aside the thoughts of pursuing his voyage to Alexandria, embarked for Rome, to offer up his prayers at the tombs of the apostles. One day pa.s.sing through a square called Palma Aurea, he saw Theodoric, the king of Italy, seated on an exalted throne, adorned with pompous state, surrounded by the senate, and his court, with all the grandeur of the city displayed in the greatest magnificence: "Ah!"
said Fulgentius, "how beautiful must the heavenly Jerusalem be, if earthly Rome be so glorious! What honor, glory, and joy will G.o.d bestow on the saints in heaven, since here in this perishable life he clothes with such splendor the lovers and admirers of vanity!" This happened towards the latter part of the year 500, when that king made his first entry into Rome. Fulgentius returned home in a short time after, and was received with incredible joy. He built a s.p.a.cious monastery in Byzacena, but retired to a cell himself, which was situate on the sea-sh.o.r.e. Here his time was employed in writing, reading, prayer, mortification, and the manual labor of making mats and umbrellas of palm-tree leaves.
Faustus, who was his bishop, obliged him to resume the government of his monastery; and many places at the same time sought him for their bishop.
King Thrasimund having prohibited by edict the ordination of orthodox bishops, several sees by this means had been long vacant and dest.i.tute of pastors. The orthodox prelates resolved to remedy this inconveniency, as they effectually did; but the king receiving intelligence of the matter, caused Victor, the primate of Carthage, to be apprehended. All this time our saint lay concealed, though sought after eagerly by many citizens for their bishop. Thinking the danger over, he appeared again: but Ruspa, now a little town called {066} Alfaques, in the district of Tunis, still remained without a pastor; and by the consent of the primate, while detained in the custody of the king"s messengers, Fulgentius was forcibly taken out of his cell, and consecrated bishop in 508.
His new dignity made no alteration in his manners. He never wore the _orarium_, a kind of stole then used by bishops, nor other clothes than his usual coa.r.s.e garb, which was the same in winter and summer. He went sometimes barefoot: he never undressed to take rest, and always rose to prayer before the midnight office. His diet chiefly consisted of pulse and herbs, with which he contented himself, without consulting the palate"s gratification by borrowed tastes: but in more advanced years, finding his sight impaired by such a regimen, he admitted the use of a little oil. It was only in very considerable bodily indispositions, that he suffered a drop or two of wine to be mingled with the water which he drank; and he never could be prevailed upon in any seeming necessity to use the least quant.i.ty of flesh-meat, from the time of his monastic profession till his death. His modesty, meekness, and humility, gained him the affection of all, even of the ambitious deacon Felix, who had opposed his election, and whom the saint received and treated with the most cordial charity. His great love for a recluse life induced him to build a monastery near his own house at Ruspa, which he designed to put under the direction of his ancient friend Felix; but before the building could be completed, or he acquit himself to his wish of his episcopal duties, orders were issued from King Thrasimund, for his banishment to Sardinia, with others to the number of sixty orthodox bishops.
Fulgentius, though the youngest of this venerable body, who were transported from Carthage to Sardinia, was notwithstanding their sole oracle in all doubts, and their tongue and pen upon all occasions; and not only of them, but even of the whole church of Africa. What spread a brighter l.u.s.tre on these amiable qualities, were the humility and modesty with which he always declared his sentiments: he never preferred his counsel to that of another, his opinion he never intruded. Pope Symmachus, out of his pastoral care and charity, sent every year provisions in money and clothes to these champions of Christ.[2] A letter of this pope to them is still extant,[3] in which he encourages and comforts them; and it was at the same time that he sent them certain relics of SS. Nazarius and Roma.n.u.s, "that the example and _patronage_,"[4] as he expresses it, "of those generous soldiers of Christ, might animate the confessors to fight valiantly the battles of the Lord." Saint Fulgentius, with some companions, converted his house at Cagliari into a monastery; which immediately became the comfort of all in affliction, the refuge of the poor, and the oracle to which the whole country resorted for deciding their controversies without appeal.
In this retirement the saint composed many learned treatises for confirming and instructing the faithful in Africa. King Thrasimund, hearing that he was their princ.i.p.al support, and their invincible advocate, was desirous of seeing him; and having accordingly sent for him, appointed him lodgings in Carthage. The king then drew up a set of objections, to which he required his immediate answer: the saint without hesitation complied with, and discharged the injunction; and this is supposed to be his book, ent.i.tled, An Answer to Ten Objections. The king equally admired his humility and learning, and the orthodox triumphed exceedingly in the advantage their cause gained by this piece. To prevent a second time the same effect, the king, when he sent him new objections, ordered them to be only read to him. Fulgentius refused to give an answer in writing, unless he was allowed {067} to take a copy of them. He addressed, however, to the king an ample and modest confutation of Arianism, which we have under the t.i.tle of his Three Books to King Thrasimund. The prince was pleased with the work, and granted him permission to reside at Carthage; till upon repeated complaints from the Arian bishops of the success of his preaching, which threatened they said, a total extinction of their sect in Carthage, he was sent back to Sardinia in 520. Being ready to go aboard the ship, he said to a catholic, whom he saw weeping: "Grieve not, Juliatus!" for that was his name, "I shall shortly return, and we shall see the true faith of Christ flourish again in this kingdom, with full liberty to profess it; but divulge not this secret to any." The event confirmed the truth of the prediction. His humility concealed the multiplicity of miracles which he wrought, and he was wont to say: "A person may be endowed with the gift of miracles, and yet may lose his soul: miracles ensure not salvation; they may indeed procure esteem and applause; but what will it avail a man to be esteemed on earth, and afterwards be delivered up to h.e.l.l torments?" If the sick, for whom he prayed, recovered, to avoid being puffed up with vain-glory, he ascribed it wholly to the divine mercy.
Being returned to Cagliari, he erected a new monastery near that city, and was exceedingly careful to supply his monks with all necessaries, especially in sickness; but would not suffer them to ask for any thing, alleging, "That we ought to receive all things as from the hand of G.o.d, with resignation and grat.i.tude." Thus he was sensible how conducive the unreserved denial of the will is for perfecting ourselves in the paths of virtue.
King Thrasimund died in 523, having nominated Hilderic his successor.
Knowing him inclined to favor the orthodox, he exacted from him an oath, that he would never restore their profession. To evade this, Hilderic, before the death of his predecessor, signed an order for the liberty of the orthodox churches, but never had the courage to declare himself of the same belief; his lenity having quite degenerated into softness and indolence. However, the professors of the true faith called home their pastors. The ship which brought them back, was received at Carthage with the greatest demonstrations of joy: the sh.o.r.e echoed far and near with repeated acclamations, more particularly when Fulgentius appeared on the upper deck of the vessel. The confessors went straight to the church of St. Agileus, to return thanks to G.o.d, and were accompanied by thousands; but on their way, being surprised with a sudden storm, the people, to show their singular regard for Fulgentius, made a kind of umbrella over his head with their cloaks to defend him from the inclemency of the storm. The saint hastened to his own church, and immediately set about the reformation of the abuses that had crept in during the persecution, which had now continued seventy years; but this reformation was carried on with a sweetness that won, sooner or later, the hearts of the most vicious. In a council held at Junque, in 524, a certain bishop, named Quodvultdeus, disputed the precedency with our saint, who made no reply, though he would not oppose the council, which ordered him to take the first place. The other resented this as an injury offered to the dignity of his see; and St. Fulgentius, in another council soon after, publicly requested that Quodvultdeus might be allowed the precedency. His talents for preaching were singular; and Boniface, the archbishop of Carthage, never heard him without watering, all the time, the ground with his tears, thanking G.o.d for having given so great a pastor to his church.[5]
{068}
About a year before his death, he secretly retired from all business into a monastery on the little island, of rock, called Circinia, in order to prepare {069} himself for his pa.s.sage to eternity, which he did with extraordinary fervor. The necessities and importunities of his flock recalled him to Ruspa a little before his exit. He bore the violent pains of his last illness for seventy days with admirable patience, having this prayer almost always in his mouth:[6] "Lord, grant me patience now, and hereafter mercy and pardon." The physicians advised him the use of baths; to whom he answered "Can baths make a mortal man escape death, when his life is arrived at its final period?" He would abate nothing of his usual austerities without an absolute necessity. In his agony, calling for his clergy and monks, who were all in tears, he begged pardon if he had ever offended any one of them; he comforted them, gave them some short, moving instructions, and calmly breathed forth his pious soul in the year 533, and of his age the 65th, on the 1st of January, on which day his name occurs in many calendars soon after his death, and in the Roman; but in some few on the 16th of May,--perhaps the day on which his relics were translated to Bourges, in France, about the year 714, where they still remain deposited.[7] His disciple relates, that Pontian, a neighboring bishop, was a.s.sured in a vision of his glorious immortality. The veneration for his virtues was such, that he was interred within the church, contrary to the law and custom of that age, as is remarked by the author of his life. St.
Fulgentius proposed to himself St. Austin for a model; and, as a true disciple, imitated him in his conduct, faithfully expounding his doctrine, and imbibing his spirit.
Footnotes: 1. A comumnione Petri perfida dissentio separavit. Vit S. Fulg. c. 12.
2. Anastas. in Symmacho. Bar. ad ann. 504. Fleury, Liv. 31.
3. Inter opera Ennodii. t. 4. Conc. Labb. col. 1300.
4. Patrocinia.
5. S. Fulgentius, in his first letter, to a gentleman whose wife in a violent sickness had made a vow of continency, proves that a vow of chast.i.ty ought not to be made by a person engaged in a married state, without the free consent of the husband. In his second, to Galla, a most virtuous Roman lady, he comforts her upon the death of her husband, who, he says, was only gone a little before her to glory; and he sets before her the divine mercy, which by this means calls her to a more heroic practice of all virtues in the state of widowhood,--especially continence, plainness in dress, furniture, and diet, profuse alms-deeds, and holy prayer, the exercise whereof ought to be her most a.s.siduous employment. Herein he warns her that vanity and pride are our most dangerous enemies, against which we must diligently watch and arm ourselves. In his third letter, addressed to the holy lady Proba, sister to Galla, consecrated to G.o.d by a vow of virginity, he shows the excellency of that virtue, and recommends, at length, temperance, penance, and perfect humility, as its essential attendants, without which it cannot render a soul the spouse of Christ, who chose her poor, and bestowed on her all she had. In his fourth letter, to the same lady, he again puts her in mind of the extreme danger of pride and vain-glory, and lays down excellent precepts concerning the necessity of a.s.siduous prayer and compunction; in which spirit we are bound to weep continually before G.o.d, imploring his mercy and succor under the weight of our miseries, and to pay him the constant tribute of praise and thanksgiving for all his benefits and gratuitous favors.
His letter to the abbot Eugypius, is a commendation of fraternal charity, a princ.i.p.al fruit of which is, to pray for one another. In the sixth letter, he congratulates with Theodorus, a senator, upon his conversion from the world, promising himself that such an example would have great influence over many: for "those who are raised above others by their rank in the world, either draw many with themselves into eternal d.a.m.nation, or are to many an occasion of salvation." The saint strenuously exhorts him to the study of the most profound humility, which is the only greatness of a Christian, and is always attended with its sister virtue, meekness. The seventh letter of this father is addressed to the ill.u.s.trious and venerable lady Venantia, and contains a strong exhortation to the spirit and practice of penance, with advice against despair. The sermons and homilies of S. Fulgentius are usually short: we have near one hundred extant which bear his name, but some of these belong to S.
Austin. The danger and evil of presumption and pride, are points which he takes every occasion to inculcate: he teaches that it is impossible to know G.o.d, and his benefits and goodness, unless we have a true knowledge of ourselves, and our own frailty and miseries. (Hom. 14, p. 123. Bibl. Patr. Lugdun. T. 9, part 1.) In his sermons and letters, he frequently enforces the obligation of alms-deeds. His other works are chiefly polemical, against the Arians, Pelagians, and Nestorians. In his books against the Sermon of Fastidiosus, (an Arian priest,) to Felix the Notary; On the Orthodox Faith, to Donatus, against Fabian; Three Books to King Thrasimund; Ten Answers to Ten Objections of the Arians, &c., he explains the trinity of persons in one divine nature, solidly answers the objections of the Arians, and frequently shows that prayers which are addressed to the Father, or to the Son, or to the Holy Ghost, are addressed to the whole Blessed Trinity. (Lib. 9, contra Fabium, p. 620, &c.) Showing that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are equally to be adored, he distinguishes the worship of _Latria_, or adoration, which is due to G.o.d alone, and that of _Dulia_, which is given to creatures. (Ib. lib. 4, p. 592.) Pinta, an Arian bishop, having published a treatise against our saint"s books to King Thrasimund, St. Fulgentius answered him by a work which is lost. For that which we have among his writings, is the performance of some other Catholic controvertist of the same age, as the learned agree. This author"s style falls short of St.
Fulgentius"s: he quotes the Scripture according to the Old Italic Version; our saint always makes use of the Vulgate. He understood not the Greek tongue, in which St. Fulgentius was well skilled. And the author of our saint"s life mentions, that in his book against Pinta he referred to his books to King Thrasimund, which is not found in this work.
One of the most famous among the writings of St. Fulgentius, is that ent.i.tled, On the Two-fold Predestination, to Monimus, in answer to certain difficulties proposed to him by a friend of that name. In the first book he shows, that though G.o.d foresees sin, he predestinates no one to evil, but only to good, or to grace and glory. In the second book he proves, that the sacrifice of Christ"s body and blood is offered not to the Father alone, as the Arians pretended, but to the whole Blessed Trinity. In this and the third book he answers certain other difficulties. In his two books, On the Remission of Sins, to Euthymius, he proves that sins can never be forgiven without sincere repentance, or out of the pale of the true church. When Peter, a deacon, and three other deputies from the Scythian monks in the East, arrived at Rome, to be informed of the sentiments of the western churches concerning the late errors advanced in the East, against the mystery of the Incarnation, and in the West, by the Semipelagians against the necessity of divine grace, they consulted the sixty African bishops who were at that time in banishment, in Sardinia. St. Fulgentius was pitched upon to send an answer in the name of this venerable company of Confessors.
This produced his book, On the Incarnation and Grace, in the first part of which he confutes the Nestorians and Eutychians, and in the second the Semipelagians. His three books, On the Truth of Predestination and Grace, addressed to John the Archimandrite, and Venerius, deacon of Constantinople, are another fruit of the leisure which his exile gave him. In the first part he shows, that grace is the pure effect of the divine goodness and mercy; in the second, that it destroys not free-will; and in the third, that the Divine election both to grace and glory is purely gratuitous. In another treatise or letter, to the same John and Venerius, who had consulted the Confessors in Sardinia about the doctrine of Faustus of Riez, he confutes Semipelagianism. In the treatise, On the Incarnation, to Scarilas, he explains that mystery, showing that the Son became man,--not the Father, or the Holy Ghost; and that in G.o.d the trinity destroys not the unity of the nature. Ferrand, the learned deacon of Carthage, consulted St. Fulgentius about the baptism of a certain Ethiopian, who had desired that sacrament, but was speechless and senseless when it was administered to him. Our saint, in a short treatise on this subject, demonstrates this baptism to have been both necessary and valid. By another treatise, addressed to this Ferrand, he answers five questions proposed by him, concerning the Trinity and Incarnation. Count Reginus consulted him, whether the body of Christ was corruptible, and begged certain rules for leading a Christian life in a military state. St. Fulgentius answered the first point, proving that Christ"s mortal body was liable to hunger, thirst, pain, and corruption. The second part of moral instructions, which he lived not to finish, was added by Ferrand the deacon. St.
Fulgentius"s book, On Faith, to Peter, is concise and most useful.
It was drawn up after the year 523, about the time of his return from Sardinia. One Peter, designing to go to Jerusalem, requested the saint to give him in writing a compendious rule of faith, by studying which he might be put upon his guard against the heresies of that age. St. Fulgentius executed this in forty articles, some copies and forty-one. In these he explains, under anathemas, the chief mysteries of our faith: especially the Trinity. Incarnation, sacrifice of the altar, (cap. 19. p. 475,) absolute necessity of the true faith, and of living in the true church, to steadfastness, in which he strongly and pathetically exhorts all Christians in the close of the work, (c. 44, 45.) For if we owe fidelity to our temporal prince, much more to Christ who redeemed our souls, and whose anger we are bound to fear above all things, nay, as the only evil truly to be dreaded. The writings of this father discover a deep penetration and clear conception, with an admirable perspicuity in the diction; but seeming apprehensive of not having sufficiently inculcated his matter, he is diffusive, end runs into repet.i.tions.
His reasoning is just and close, corroborated by Scripture and tradition. The accurate F. Sirmond published part of his writings, but the most complete edition of them was given at Paris, in 4vo., 1584.
6. Domine, da mihi modo patientiam, et postea indulgentiam.
7. See Gall. Christ. Nov. T. l, p. 121. and Baillet, p. 16. The written relation of this translation is a production of the tenth century, and deserves no regard; but the constant tradition of the church and country proves the translation to have been made (See Hist. Liter.
de la France, T. 6, p. 265.) The hutch in which these relics are venerated at Bourget, is called S. Fulgentius"s. The saint"s head is in the church of the archbishop"s seminary, which was anciently an abbey, and named Monte-maven.
ST. ODILO, OR OLON, SIXTH ABBOT OF CLUNI
HIS family was that of the lords of Mercteur, one of the most ill.u.s.trious of Auvergne. Divine grace inclined him from his infancy to devote himself to G.o.d with his whole heart. He was very young when he received the monastic habit at Cluni, from the hands of S. Mayeul, by whose appointment he was made his coadjutor in 991, though only twenty-nine years of age, and from the death of S. Mayeul in 994, our saint was charged with the entire government of that great abbey. He labored to subdue his carnal appet.i.tes by rigorous fasting, wearing hair-cloth next his skin, and studded iron chains. Notwithstanding those austerities practised on himself, his carriage to others was most mild and humane. It was usual with him to say, that of two extremes, he chose rather to offend by tenderness, than a too rigid severity. In a great famine in 1006, his liberality to the poor was by many censured as profuse; for he melted down the sacred vessels and ornaments, and sold the gold crown S. Henry made a present of to that abbey, to relieve their necessities. He accompanied that prince in his journey to Rome when he was crowned emperor, in 1014. This was his second journey thither; he made a third in 1017, and a fourth in 1022. Out of devotion to S. Bennet he paid a visit to Mount Ca.s.sino, where he begged leave, with the greatest earnestness, to kiss the feet of all the monks, which was granted him with great difficulty. Besides the journeys which the reformation he established in many monasteries obliged him to undertake, he made one to Orbe, to wait on the empress Alice. That pious princess burst into tears upon seeing him, and taking hold of his habit, kissed it, and applied it to her eyes, and declared to him she should die in a {070} very short time. This was in 999, and she died on the 16th of December the same year. Ma.s.sacres and plunders were so common in that age, by the right which every petty lord pretended of revenging his own injuries and quarrels by private wars, that the treaty called the truce of G.o.d was set on foot. By this, among other articles, it was agreed, that churches should be sanctuaries to all sorts of persons, except those that violated this truce; and that from Wednesday till Monday morning no one should offer violence to any one, not even by way of satisfaction for any injustice he had received. This truce met with the greatest difficulties among the Neustrians, but was at length received and observed in most provinces of France, through the exhortations and endeavors of St. Odilo, and B. Richard, abbot of St. Vanne"s, who were charged with this commission.[1] Prince Casimir, son of Miceslaw, king of Poland, retired to Cluni, where he professed the monastic state, and was ordained deacon. He was afterwards, by a solemn deputation of the n.o.bility, called to the crown. St. Odilo referred the matter to pope Benedict IX., with whose dispensation Casimir mounted the throne in 1041, married, had several children, and reigned till his death in 1058.[2]
St. Odilo being moved by several visions, inst.i.tuted the annual commemoration of all the faithful departed, to be observed by the members of his community with alms, prayers, and sacrifices, for the relief of the suffering souls in purgatory; and this charitable devotion he often much recommended. He was very devout to the Blessed Virgin; and above all sacred mysteries, that of the divine Incarnation employed his particular attention. As the monks were singing that verse in the church, "thou being to take upon thee to deliver man, didst not abhor the womb of a virgin;" melting away with the tenderest emotions of love, he fell to the ground; the ecstatic agitations of his body bearing evidence to that heavenly fire which glowed in his soul. Most of his sermons and little poems extant, treat of the mysteries of our redemption, or of the Blessed Virgin.[3] He excelled in an eminent spirit of compunction, and contemplation. While he was at prayer, trickling tears often watered his cheeks. Neither importunities nor compulsion could prevail upon him to submit to his being elected archbishop of Lyons in 1031. Having patiently suffered during five years the most painful diseases, he died of the cholic, at Souvigny, a priory in Bourbonnois, while employed in the visitation of his monasteries, January 1, 1049, being then eighty-seven years old, and having been fifty-six years abbot. He would be carried to the church, to a.s.sist at the divine office, even in his agony; and having received the viatic.u.m and extreme-unction the day before, he expired on sackcloth strewed with ashes on the ground. See his life, by his disciple Lotsald, as also, by St. Peter Damian, who wrote it soon after the saint"s death, at the request of St. Hugh of Cluni, his successor, in Bollandus, and Bibliotheca Cluniacensis by Dom Marrier, and in Andrew d.u.c.h.esne, fol.
Paris, 1614. See likewise certain epistles of St. Odilo, ib., and fourteen Sermons on the festivals of our Lord, the B. Virgin, &c., in Bibl. Patr. Lugdun. an. 1677, T. 17, p. 653.
Footnotes: 1. Glaber, monk of Cluni, in his history which he dedicated to St.
Odilo, l. 4, c. 5, l. 5, c. 1.
2. Mab. Annal. l. 57, n. 45. Solignac, Hist. de Pologne, t. 1.