“True and Living Friendship Can Not Thrive Amid Sin” ~ Saint Francis de Sales and the crisis of post-Christian friendship

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A lamentable feature of modern post-Christian life in the West is the inability of many people to form strong, lasting friendships. This observation has popped up with increasing frequency in the secular media, particularly as it relates to the Millennial generation. A recent poll that made the rounds last year indicated that 22% of Millennials who responded said that they had no friends at all, 27% said that they had no close friends, and 30% said that they had no best friends.

The article accompanying the poll suggests that social media usage has been a major driver of this phenomenon. Online "friends" may be myriad, but they are also distant and illusory—not really friends at all in the traditional sense. Most young people seem to understand that implicitly.

As families shrink, and young people grow up without knowing the joys of a multitude of siblings and cousins, this lack of friends means that more and more people are feeling isolated, lonely and are lacking any sort of social safety net to help them when they encounter financial, health, or emotional problems.

But this sad dilemma should not be left at the doorstep of social media alone. Rather, I posit that the problem is at least partially due to a general loss of the traditional Christian virtues as a given among most people, and the tendency to fill that void by congregating together based on vain and trivial interests or worse, outright sinful desires and activities. As St. Francis de Sales taught in his excellent work, Philothea: Introduction to the Devout Life, such trivialities can never form the basis of a true friendships. Instead, true friendship requires that we bear with the trivial, actively discourage the sinful, and encourage virtue in our friends. It should go without saying that the same should be true of married couples and family members.

In Philothea, Saint Francis explains the difference between true and false friendship in great detail:

“Friendship demands very close correspondence between those who love one another, otherwise it can never take root or continue. And together with the interchange of friendship, other things imperceptibly glide in, and a mutual giving and receiving of emotions and inclinations takes place; especially when we esteem the object of our love very highly, because then we so entirely open our heart to him, that his influence rules us altogether, whether for good or evil.”

The distorted modern concept of “love” is often rendered as being unconditional and all-accepting. That is, we are enjoined to demonstrate our love for each other by accepting, celebrating, or even adopting the faults and sins of our friends and family members. Saint Francis continues, saying, to the contrary:

“Of course we should love him notwithstanding his faults, but without loving those faults. True friendship implies an interchange of what is good, not what is evil….Saint Gregory Nazianzen tells us how certain persons who loved and admired Saint Basil were led to imitate even his external blemishes, his slow, abstracted manner of speaking, the cut of his beard, and his peculiar gait. And so we see husbands and wives, children, friends, who, by reason of their great affection for one another, acquire—either accidentally or designedly—many foolish little ways and tricks peculiar to each. This ought not to be, for everyone has enough imperfections of their own without adding those of anybody else, and friendship requires no such thing. On the contrary, it rather constrains us to help one another in getting rid of all sorts of imperfections. Of course we should bear with our friend's infirmities, but we should not encourage them, much less copy them.”

It should be pointed out that St. Francis is only talking about small flaws here—personal idiosyncrasies and imperfections. As to actual sinful behaviors and desires, he speaks without any equivocation: these should never be encouraged or tolerated in our friends. To do so renders the friendship a perverse fiction that can not be maintained without considerable self-deception:

“Of course, I am speaking of imperfections only, for, as to sins, we must neither imitate nor tolerate these in our friends. That is but a sorry friendship which would see a friend perish, and not try to save him, would watch him dying of an abscess without daring to handle the knife of correction which would save him. True and living friendship cannot thrive amid sin....Friendship will banish a casual sin by brotherly correction, but if the sin be persistent, friendship dies out—it can only live in a pure atmosphere.”

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As to those who attempt to lead their friends into sinful behavior, St. Francis says adamantly that we should not consider anyone who does so a friend:

“Much less can true friendship ever lead any one into sin. Our friend becomes an enemy if he seeks to do so, and deserves to lose our friendship, and there is no surer proof of the hollowness of friendship than its profession between evil-doers. If we love a vicious person, our friendship will be vicious too. It will be like those to whom it is given. Those who draw together for mere temporal profit, have no right to call their union friendship. It is not for love of one another that they unite, but for love of gain.” [de Sales: Philothea, Part III, Chapter 22]

In a previous chapter, St. Francis describes what a true friendship should look like:

“Love every one with the pure love of charity, but have friendship only with those whose interactions are good and true, and the purer the bond which unites you so much higher will your friendship be. If your relationship is based on science it is praiseworthy, still more if it arises from a participation in goodness, prudence, justice and the like. But if the bond of your mutual liking be charity, devotion and Christian perfection, God knows how very precious a friendship it is! Precious because it comes from God, because it tends to God, because God is the link that binds you, because it will last forever in Him. Truly it is a blessed thing to love on earth as we hope to love in Heaven, and to begin that friendship here which is to endure for ever there. I am not now speaking of simple charity, a love due to all mankind, but of that spiritual friendship which binds souls together, leading them to share devotions and spiritual interests, so as to have but one mind between them. Such as these may well cry out, ‘Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is, brethren, to dwell together in unity!’” [de Sales: Philothea, Part III, Chapter 22]

Today, January 29, is the feast day of St. Francis de Sales on the traditional calendar. This great saint and Doctor of the Church had many profound things to say about friendship, love, and other aspects of life that are sadly forgotten today. Click here to read more from his Philothea: Introduction to the Devout Life.

Of course, this is a book that every Catholic should have on their bookshelves, so go ye and order a copy here.

"Glittering with the Indescribable Brightness of the Sun" ~ Saint Polyeuctus and his magnificent temple in Byzantium

The execution of St. Polyeuctus of Melitene, taken from the Menologion
of Basil II, ca. AD 1000.

February 13 is the feast day of yet another victim of the persecution of Decius, Saint Polyeuctus of Melitene in Roman Armenia. Though practically unknown today, Polyeuctus was renowned in antiquity as a soldier-martyr. An epitome of his acts was recorded by Symeon Metaphrastes in the 10th century, though it is likely that Symeon was working from a much older tradition. Indeed, Polyeuctus was revered in antiquity from at least the time of the Empress Eudocia (mid 5th century AD) who built a shrine dedicated to him in Constantinople.

Here is an English translation of Metaphrastes’s acts of Saint Polyeuctos taken from The Lives of the Saints by Sabine Baring-Gould (1878) who claims that they are based on the original by Nearchus “who took his body to burial after his death”:

Whilst the Christians, especially those in the East, were suffering persecution under the Emperors Decius and Valerian, there were two men very friendly, Polyeuctus and Nearchus by name. Now Nearchus was a Christian, but Polyeuctus was a heathen. But when Decius and Valerian could not be satiated with the blood of the saints, they issued an edict that those Christians who would sacrifice to the gods, should be favored by the majesty of the empire, but that those who refused should be cruelly punished. Which things being heard, Nearchus, who desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ, lamented because his comrade, whom he loved as a second self, would be left in peril of eternal damnation.

Going therefore to his friend, Polyeuctus, he announced to him that on the morrow their friendship must come to an end. And when he answered that death alone could terminate this, Nearchus said, "You speak the truth, we are about to be separated by death." And he showed him the imperial edict. Then Polyeuctus narrated to Nearchus how Christ had appeared to him in vision, and had taken off his dirty vestment, together with his military harness, and had thrown over him a gorgeous silk robe, linking it at his shoulder with a golden brooch, and had mounted him on a winged horse. Hearing this, Nearchus was glad, and having expounded the vision, and instructed Polyeuctus more fully in the faith, his friend believed perfectly, and began to thirst for martyrdom.

Now when Polyeuctus declared himself openly to be a Christian, and rebuked idolatry, being tried by the persecutors, he was for a long time tortured. And when he had been a long while scourged with rods, the tormentors were weary, and endeavored to persuade him with bland speeches and promises, to return to the worship of the gods. But he, remaining immovable in the confession of the Lord, and deriding them, was more furiously beaten.

Then came his wife and only son, and she filled the place with her cries, and held out to him his son, alleging his marriage ties, with many tears and sighs, and labored to call the saint from martyrdom, by the thoughts of his son, of his wealth, and of his friends. But he, divinely inspired, could not be separated from Christ by any temptations, but all the more exhorted his wife to desert her idols and believe in Christ.

Now when the governors saw that the constancy of the martyr was not to be shaken, they pronounced capital sentence against him. And when the martyr heard this, he gave thanks, and praising God, was led to the place of execution, confirming the faithful with his holy exhortations, so that not a few of the unbelievers were converted. Then, turning to the Blessed Nearchus, he announced to him that he should follow him according to mutual agreement; and bidding him farewell, died a glorious death.

As mentioned above, the Empress Eudocia built a shrine to Polyeuctus in Constantinople. This would be eclipsed a few decades later by a truly monumental church raised in Constantinople to Saint Polyeuctus by the wealthy noblewoman Anicia Juliana during the 520s AD. Indeed, at the time of its completion, the great Church of Saint Polyeuctos would be the largest and most magnificent ecclesiastical edifice in the city—and possibly the world. An epigram exists celebrating the works of Anicia, a descendant of Constantine and Theodosius, which describes the interior of this church. Here is an excerpt from the epigram rendered into English by Mary Whitby:

Miniature of Anicia Juliana flanked
by personifications of Wisdom and
Magnanimity from a copy of De
Materia Medica dedicated to her
in the early 6th century, AD.

What choir is sufficient to sing the contests of Juliana who, after Constantine, embellisher of his Rome, after the holy all-golden light of Theodosius, and after royal descent from so many forebears, accomplished a work worthy of her family, and more than worthy in a few years? She alone has overpowered time and surpassed the wisdom of the celebrated Solomon, raising a temple to receive God, the richly wrought and gracious splendor of which a great epoch cannot celebrate.

How it stands forth on deep-rooted foundations, springing up from below and pursuing the stars of heaven, and how too it extends from the west, stretching to the east, glittering with the indescribable brightness of the sun on this side and on that! On either side of the central nave, columns standing upon sturdy columns support the rays of the golden-roofed covering. On both sides recesses hollowed out in arches have given birth to the ever-revolving light of the moon. The walls, opposite each other in measureless paths, have put on marvelous meadows of marble, which nature caused to flower in the very depths of the rock, concealing their brightness and guarding Juliana’s gift for the halls of God, so that she might accomplish divine works, laboring at these things in the immaculate promptings of her heart. What singer of wisdom, moving swiftly on the breath of the west wind and trusting in a hundred eyes, will pinpoint on each side the manifold counsels of art, seeing the shining house, one ambulatory upon another?

The epigram, which was apparently inscribed in stone upon the walls of the church, also describes glorious images from the life of Constantine, perhaps rendered in mosaic upon the interior of the dome:

Thence, it is possible to see above the rim of the hall a great marvel of sacred depiction, the wise Constantine, how escaping the idols he overcame the God-fighting fury, and found the light of the Trinity by purifying his limbs in water. [Taken from Whitby: The Saint Polyeuktos Epigram: A Literary Perspective]

Foundations of the Church of St. Polyeuctus in Istanbul.
Photo credit: Jeremy Thomas.

It is said that the low-born emperor Justinian viewed Juliana as a rival and her great church as a direct challenge to him. In the 6th century work entitled The Glory of the Martyrs by Gregory of Tours, an anecdote is related in which Justinian demanded that Juliana remit a portion of her wealth to the imperial treasury. In response, Juliana did the following:

Julinana gathered some craftsmen and secretly gave them whatever gold she could find in her storerooms. She said: “Go, construct plates to fit the measure of the beams, and decorate the ceiling [of the church] of the blessed martyr Polyeuctus with this gold, so that the hand of the greedy emperor cannot touch these things.”

When Justinian came to collect the wealth of Juliana, she invited him to pray with her in the great church of Saint Polyeuctus which was next to her home. Upon entering, she said:

“Most glorious Augustus, I ask you to look at the ceiling of this church and realize that my poorness is kept there in this craftsmanship. But you now do what you wish. I will not oppose you.”

Justinian, realizing he was defeated, left the church and accepted from Juliana only a gold ring set with an emerald as a token of the wealth he had hoped to receive into the imperial fisc.

The so-called Pillars of Acre at Saint Mark's Cathedral,
Venice, now known to have come from St. Polyeuctus.

The above excerpts were taken from Gregory of Tours Glory of the Martyrs, translated with an introduction by Raymond van Dam. The entire story of the above incident is well worth reading.

It is speculated that Justinian built his gigantic new Hagia Sophia, completed in AD 537, specifically to outshine Juliana's Church of St. Polyeuctus.

The Church of St. Polyeuctus seems to have survived into the 11th century when it fell to ruin. Pieces of it were recycled and used for other buildings--some even finding their way to Venice in the aftermath of the 4th Crusade. Whatever remained was leveled by the time of the Ottoman conquest, to be rediscovered by archaeological excavations in the 1960s.

As a final note, there have been some recent interpolations of lives of Saints Polyeuctos and Nearchus which attempt to reinvent them as homosexual lovers, despite the clear mention of Polyeuctos’s wife and child in the acts. Let it suffice to say that such attempts have no basis in fact and are largely the product of modern fantasy which can not comprehend strong male friendships without a sexual overlay. Such interpolations may be safely ignored.

"They seized her and knocked out all her teeth" ~ The martyrdom of Saint Apollonia and the persecution of Decius in Alexandria

The Martyrdom of Saint Apollonia, taken from Shea's Pictorial Lives of the Saints.

Apollonia was an elderly matron who lived in Roman Alexandria. She is remembered nearly 1, 800 years after her death because she was one of the victims of mob attacks on Christians in Alexandria which immediately preceded the empire-wide persecution under the emperor Decius in AD 250. Her memory is commemorated by Catholics and Orthodox Christians on her feast day—February 9.

The Roman Emperor Decius reigned for two years from AD 249 through 251. A would-be reformer, Decius attempted to reinstitute pagan piety throughout the empire as a means of restoring political order and unity. To accomplish this, Decius issued an edict that enjoined all citizens of the empire to offer sacrifice to the pagan pantheon. Once a citizen had offered this obligatory sacrifice, they would be issued a document known as a libellus to certify that they had done so.

A marble bust of Decius.

Examples of libelli from this period have survived antiquity. Following is one from Roman Egypt:

To the commissioners of the village of Alexandrou-Nesos, elected to superintend the sacrifices. From Aurelius Diogenes, son of Satabos, of the village of Alexandrou-Nesos, aged seventy-two years, with a scar on his right eyebrow.

I have at all times offered sacrifices to the gods, and now again in accordance with the edict in your presence I have again made sacrifice and libations and partaken of the sacred offerings, and I request you certify this statement. May you prosper. I, Aurelius Diogenes, have presented this application.

I, Aurelius Syros, have witnessed your sacrifice.

The first year of the Emperor Cæsar Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, pious and prosperous, Augustus, on the second of the month Epiphi.

Clearly, a Christian could not do what was necessary to receive such a certificate. The result was the outbreak of the first empire-wide persecution of Christians. This persecution was apparently prosecuted with great vigor in Alexandria, a city with a long history of moral corruption as Saint Clement of Alexandria opined in a previous post. Alexandria was also well known in antiquity for outbreaks of political and religious violence, as per the observations of Ammianus Marcellinus, Socrates Scholasticus and Hermias Sozomen.

For the Decian persecution as it relates to Alexandria, we have an amazing first-hand account from Saint Dionysius, patriarch of Alexandria (AD 248-264) in the form of a letter to his colleague Fabian, bishop of Antioch, saved for posterity by Eusebius Pamphilus in his Ecclesiastical History. It is within this account that we find a brief notice of the martyrdom of Saint Apollonia.

Engraving of St. Dionysius
of Alexandria.

Dionysius’s description begins with a note indicating that attacks against the Christians actually anticipated the arrival of the imperial edict:

The persecution did not begin amongst us with the Imperial edict, for it anticipated that by a whole year. And the prophet and poet of evil to this city, whoever he was, was beforehand in moving and exciting the heathen crowds against us, rekindling their zeal for the national superstitions. So they being aroused by him and availing themselves of all lawful authority for their unholy doings conceived that the only piety, the proper worship of their gods was this—to thirst for our blood.

Dionysius then goes on to record a litany of outrages committed against Christians whose only crime was refusing to deny Christ and worship the pagan gods:

First, then they carried off an old man, Metras, and bade him utter impious words, and when he refused they beat his body with sticks and stabbed his face and eyes with sharp bulrushes as they led him into the outskirts of the city and there stoned him.

Then they led a believer named Quinta to the idol-house and tried to make her kneel down, and when she turned away in disgust, they bound her by the feet and hauled her right through the city over the rough pavement, the big stones bruising her poor body, and at the same time beat her till they reached the same spot, and there stoned her.

Thereupon they all with one consent made a rush on the houses of the believers, and falling each upon those whom they recognized as neighbors, plundered, harried and despoiled them, setting aside the more valuable of their possessions and casting out into the streets and burning the cheaper things and such as were made of wood, till they produced the appearance of a city devastated by the enemy.

We then get to the case of Saint Apollonia. The events of her martyrdom would later be embellished with legendary elements, but given that Dionysius is a contemporary, we may trust that his account represents the bare facts:

Another notable case was that of the aged virgin Apollonia, whom they seized and knocked out all her teeth, striking her on the jaws. Then they made a pyre before the city and threatened to burn her alive if she would not join them in uttering blasphemies. But she asked for a brief respite, and being let go, suddenly leapt into the fire and was devoured by the flames.

Subsequent political unrest in the city caused the Christian community to be forgotten for a short time. However, when the imperial edict of Decius finally arrived, the persecution broke out again in Alexandria with renewed ferocity. The imperial imprimatur on the actions of the persecutors apparently convinced numerous Christians to become apostate. Dionysius continues:

The edict arrived, which was itself almost to be compared with that foretold by the Lord, well-nigh the most terrible of all, so as to cause, if possible, even the elect to stumble. Nevertheless all were panic-stricken, and numbers at once of those who were in higher positions, some came forward in fear, and some who held public posts were led by their official duties. Others, again, were brought in by those about them and when their names were called, approached the impure and unholy sacrifices, pale and trembling in some cases as if they were not going to sacrifice but themselves become sacrifices and victims to the idols, so that they incurred ridicule from the large crowd that stood by and proved themselves to be utter cowards both in regard to death and in regard to sacrificing, whilst others ran readily up to the altar, making it plain by their forwardness that they had not been Christians even before.

However, there were still plenty of stout souls who resisted the imperial will with admirable fortitude. Here Dionysius offers another litany of those who suffered martyrdom, including the following:

But the steadfast and blessed pillars of the Lord, being strengthened by Him and receiving due and proportionate power and endurance for the mighty Faith that was in them, proved themselves admirable witnesses of His Kingdom. Foremost among them was Julian, a sufferer from gout, unable to stand or walk. He was brought up with two others who carried him, of whom the one straightway denied the Faith. The other, Cronion by name, but surnamed Eunous (well-disposed) and the old man Julian himself confessed the Lord and were conveyed on camel’s back and scourged as they rode right through the city—big though it be, as ye know—and at last were burnt with fire unquenchable, whilst all the people stood round. And a soldier who stood by as they were carried along and protested against those who insulted them was denounced and brought up, to wit God’s brave warrior Besas, and after heroic conduct in the great war of piety, was beheaded.

And yet another, a Libyan by race, who rightly and happily was named Mauar (happy), though the judge urged him strongly to renounce the Faith, would not give in and so was burnt alive. After them Epimachus and Alexander, when they had remained a long time in bonds and had endured endless tortures from the “claws” and scourges, were also consumed with fire unquenchable. And with them four women: Ammonarion, a holy virgin, though the judge tortured her vigorously for a long time because she had declared beforehand that she would say nothing that he bade her, kept true to her promise and was led off to punishment. And of the rest there was the aged and reverend Mercuria and Dionysia who, though she had many children, did not love them above the Lord. These the Prefect was ashamed to go on torturing in vain and be beaten by women, and so they died by the sword without further tortures, for the brave Ammonarion had exhausted all their devices.

Dionysius goes on to describe several more martyrdoms in similar detail. Finishing up his account, he makes it clear that these are only a fraction of those who perished in Alexandria during the persecution:

And these things I have described at length, brother, not without purpose, but in order that thou mightest know how many terrible things have taken place amongst us, of which those who have had more experience will know of more cases than I do.

Dionysius himself was pursued by the prefect Sabinus. He was eventually captured, imprisoned and sent into exile. He would later be released from captivity by the emperor Gallienus who came to the throne in AD 253.

As for Decius, his short and violent reign came to a fitting end as he was defeated and slain by the Goths at the Battle of Abritus in AD 251. Writing about 60 years later, the Christian apologist Lactantius describes Decius’s death in his work entitled, On the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died:

Click for more info.

[Decius] was suddenly surrounded by the barbarians and slain, together with a great part of his army. Nor could he be honored with the rites of sepulture, but stripped and naked, he lay to be devoured by wild beasts and birds—a fit end for the enemy of God.”

All of the above excerpts (including the libellus, excerpts from Dionysius and Lactantius) were taken from I Am a Christian: Authentic Accounts of Christian Martyrdom and Persecution from the Ancient Sources which is a collection of some of the best ancient sources on the persecution of the early Church. This book includes additional details from the letter of Dionysius as well as other accounts related to the persecution of Decius, and is well worth reading if you are interested in the early Christian martyrs.

The Desert Bishop and the Saracen Queen ~ The Roman-Arab War of AD 371

Christian bishops, emperors and saints as portrayed in an 11th century fresco
in the Monastery of Mar Musa in Syria. 

February 7 is the feast day of Saint Moses, bishop of Arabia. Not to be confused with Saint Moses the Black who was his near contemporary, this Moses was a desert hermit of the late-Fourth century AD who is mentioned by several of the ancient Christian Roman historians including Rufinus, Socrates and Sozomen, in connection with Mavia, warrior-queen of the Arabs.

Following the death of her husband the king, Mavia made war on the Roman Empire, invading Phonecia and Palestine around the year AD 371. The Magister Militum of the East—possibly Julius, who would be memorialized by Ammianus Marcellinus for having all of the Gothic troops in the eastern provinces treacherously killed after the Battle of Adrianople in AD 378—at first, considered this incursion to be a minor one that would be easily dealt with. Sozomen describes what happened next:

This war was by no means a contemptible one, although conducted by a woman. The Romans, it is said, considered it so arduous and so perilous, that the general of the Phœnician troops applied for assistance to the general of the cavalry and infantry of the East. This latter ridiculed the summons and undertook to give battle alone. He accordingly attacked Mavia, who commanded her own troops in person, and he met with so signal a defeat, that it was with difficulty he saved his life.

This rescue was solely effected by the intervention of the general of the troops of Palestine and Phœnicia. Perceiving the extremity of the danger, this general deemed it unnecessary to obey the orders he had received to keep aloof from the combat. He therefore rushed upon the barbarians and then, while retreating, discharged volleys of arrows upon them, in order to enable the Romans to make good their escape. This occurrence is still held in remembrance among the people of the country and is celebrated in songs by the Saracens.

Following this battle, the Romans made peace overtures to Mavia. She, however, had one very specific demand in mind which may indicate why she went on the warpath to begin with. It is here that our Saint Moses makes his appearance. Sozomen continues:

As the war was still pursued with vigor, the Romans found it necessary to send an embassy to Mavia to solicit peace. It is said that she refused to comply with the request of the embassy, unless consent were given for the ordination of a certain man named Moses, who dwelt in solitude in a neighboring desert, as bishop over her subjects. This Moses was a man of virtuous life and capable of performing the most wonderful miracles. On these conditions being announced to the emperor, the chiefs of the army were commanded to seize Moses and conduct him to Lucius.

For the record, the Lucius mentioned here was the Arian Patriarch of Alexandria. During the reign of the eastern emperor Valens, Arianism was in the ascendancy while orthodoxy was actively suppressed and persecuted. As an orthodox monk, Moses wanted no dealings with Lucius, least of all to be consecrated bishop by him. Sozomen describes the scene as follows:

The monk exclaimed, in the presence of the rulers and the assembled people, “I am not worthy of the honor of bearing the name of bishop. But if, notwithstanding my unworthiness, God destines me to this office, I take him to witness who created the heavens and the earth, that I will not be ordained by the imposition of the hands of Lucius, which are defiled with the blood of the saints.”

Lucius immediately rejoined, “If you are unacquainted with the nature of my creed, you do wrong in judging me before you are in possession of all the circumstances of the case. If you have been prejudiced by the calumnies that have been circulated against me, at least allow me to declare to you what are my sentiments, and do you be the judge of them.”

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“Your creed is already well known to me,” replied Moses, “and its nature is testified by bishops, priests, and deacons, of whom some have been sent into exile and others condemned to the mines. It is clear that your sentiments are opposed to the faith of Christ, and to all orthodox doctrines concerning the Godhead.”

Having again protested, upon oath that he would not receive ordination at the hands of Lucius, the Roman rulers conducted him to the bishops who were then in exile. After receiving ordination from them, he went to exercise the functions of his office among the Saracens. He concluded a peace with the Romans and converted many of the Saracens to the faith.

Sozomen then proceeds to give a brief history of the Arabs drawn largely from the Old Testament accounts of their origins. Given that Sozomen himself was a native of Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, it is likely that he had personal interactions with local Arabs which helped to inform this passage. He completes his account of Saracen history with their acceptance of Christianity near his own time, likely drawn from his own knowledge as this tale does not appear among other contemporary historians:

Some of the Saracens were converted to Christianity not long before the accession of Valens. Their conversion appears to have been the result of their intercourse with the priests who dwelt among them and with the monks who dwelt in the neighboring deserts and who were distinguished by their purity of life and by their miraculous gifts. It is said that a whole tribe and Zocomus their chief, were converted to Christianity and baptized about this period, under the following circumstances: 

Zocomus was childless and went to a certain monk of great celebrity to complain to him of this calamity, for among the Saracens and, I believe, other barbarian nations, it was accounted of great importance to have children. The monk desired Zocomus to be of good cheer, engaged in prayer on his behalf, and sent him away with the promise that if he would believe in Christ, he would have a son. When this promise was accomplished by God and when a son was born to him, Zocomus was baptized and all his subjects with him. From that period this tribe was peculiarly fortunate and became strong in point of number, and formidable to the Persians as well as to the other Saracens.

The above excerpts are all taken from the Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen, Book VI, Chapter 38.

It seems that after the conclusion of Mavia’s war, a contingent of Saracen troops was recruited into the Roman army and accompanied the emperor Valens while he was in Antioch. This contingent would render signal service during the Gothic raid into Thrace preceding the Battle of Adrianople. The pagan historian Zosimus, writing in the early 6th century AD, describes how these Saracens stymied and terrified the Goths:

As the fleetness of their horses, and the force of their spears, caused the Scythians [that is, Goths] to suppose it difficult to overcome these Saracens, they attempted to circumvent them by stratagem. They planted in several places ambuscades of three Scythians to one Saracen; but their design was rendered abortive, as the Saracens by means of the swiftness of their horses could easily escape whenever they perceived any considerable number approaching. The Saracens with their spears committed such ravage among the Scythians, that at length despairing of success, they preferred passing the Ister and surrendering themselves to the Huns, than being destroyed by the Saracens. [Zosimus, New History, Book 4]

"Divine Providence has found an arbiter of our age." ~ Avitus of Vienne on the Baptism of Clovis, King of the Franks, AD 496

Ivory carving of the Baptism of Clovis, ca. AD 870.

On February 5 is commemorated the life of Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus, known more commonly to posterity as Saint Avitus of Vienne. Avitus was bishop of Vienne in southeastern France during the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD, a time of tremendous upheaval and transition as formerly Roman provinces became incorporated into the newly constituted barbarian kingdoms of the Franks and the Burgundians.

Saint Avitus left considerable writings which have come down to us from antiquity, including letters, poetry and a few homilies. Many of these may be found in the book Avitus of Vienne by Danuta Shanzer and Ian Wood. In this book, we find correspondence between Avitus and bishops and popes, senators and kings. His most compelling surviving literary work, however, is a letter he sent to the Frankish king Clovis celebrating the latter’s epochal baptism into the Catholic Church. Following is an excerpt:

Bishop Avitus to King Clovis (ca. AD 496)

The followers of error have in vain, by a cloud of contradictory and untrue opinions, sought to conceal from your extreme subtlety the glory of the Christian name. While we committed these questions to eternity and trusted that the truth of each man’s belief would appear at the Future Judgement, the ray of truth had shown forth even among the present shadows. Divine Providence has found an arbiter of our age. Your choice is a general sentence. Your faith is our victory….

What should be said of the glorious solemnity of your regeneration? If I could not assist in person among the ministers (of the rite), I shared in its joy. Thanks to God, our land took part in the thanksgiving for, before your baptism, a messenger of Your Most Subtle Humility informed us that you were “competens”. Therefore the sacred night (of Christmas) found us sure of what you would do. We saw (with the eyes of the spirit) that great site, when a crowd of bishops around you, in the ardor of their holy ministry, poured over your Royal limbs the water of life; when that head, feared by the masses, bowed down before the servants of God; when your royal locks, hidden under a helmet, were steeped in holy oil; when your breast relieved of its cuirass, shone with the same whiteness as your baptismal robes. Do not doubt, most flourishing of kings, that this soft clothing will give more force to your arms; whatever Fortune has given up to now, this sanctity will bestow.

These excerpts are taken from Clovis, King of the Franks – Toward a new Chronology, by Dane R. Pestano. Check out this article to read the entire letter and for a very interesting discussion on the dating of the baptism of Clovis.

"Now, leave if you can" ~ Saint Scholastica and her brother, Saint Benedict

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February 10 is the feast of Saint Scholastica, the lesser-known sister of Saint Benedict of Nursia, the founder of western monasticism.

A famous story is told in the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great of the last visit of Benedict to Scholastica before her death. Well, the story used to be famous at least, when educated people living in the west had a firm formation in Church history. As part of his near-contemporary biography of Saint Benedict written in the late 6th century AD and included as part of the Dialogues, Pope Gregory recounts this charming tale as follows:

His sister, named Scholastica, was dedicated from her infancy to our Lord. Once a year she came to visit her brother. The man of God went to her not far from the gate of his monastery, at a place that belonged to the Abbey. It was there he would entertain her. Once upon a time she came to visit according to her custom, and her venerable brother with his monks went there to meet her. 

They spent the whole day in the praises of God and spiritual talk, and when it was almost night, they dined together. As they were yet sitting at the table, talking of devout matters, it began to get dark. The holy Nun, his sister, entreated him to stay there all night that they might spend it in discoursing of the joys of heaven. By no persuasion, however, would he agree to that, saying that he might not by any means stay all night outside of his Abbey. 

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At that time, the sky was so clear that no cloud was to be seen. The Nun, hearing this denial of her brother, joined her hands together, laid them on the table, bowed her head on her hands, and prayed to almighty God.

Lifting her head from the table, there fell suddenly such a tempest of lightning and thundering, and such abundance of rain, that neither venerable Benedict, nor his monks that were with him, could put their heads out of doors. The holy Nun, having rested her head on her hands, poured forth such a flood of tears on the table, that she transformed the clear air to a watery sky.

After the end of her devotions, that storm of rain followed; her prayer and the rain so met together, that as she lifted up her head from the table, the thunder began. So it was that in one and the very same instant that she lifted up her head, she brought down the rain. 

The man of God, seeing that he could not, in the midst of such thunder and lightning and great abundance of rain return to his Abbey, began to be heavy and to complain to his sister, saying: "God forgive you, what have you done?"

She answered him, "I desired you to stay, and you would not hear me; I have desired it of our good Lord, and he has granted my petition. Therefore if you can now depart, in God's name return to your monastery, and leave me here alone." 

But the good father, not being able to leave, tarried there against his will where before he would not have stayed willingly. By that means, they watched all night and with spiritual and heavenly talk mutually comforted one another.

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It is believed that Scholastica died soon after this incident.

Artistic representations of this tale are fairly abundant. The one featured above is from Subiaco where both Benedict and Scholastica had monasteries. I have added the lightning flashes for effect, but nothing catches the viewer's attention so well as the mischievous smirk on Scholastica's face as she prays.

This anecdote it where Luise Rinser's outstanding novel, Leave If You Can, gets its title. The title is significant in that the events in the novel revolve around St. Benedict's ruined abbey of Monte Cassino during World War II and well describe the circumstance of the two young girls who are the main characters.

Saint Ignatius to Trajan: "You are in error when you call the dæmons of the nations gods."

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"Pray without ceasing on behalf of other men...For cannot he that falls rise again?"

~Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius of Antioch is one of the earliest of the Church fathers who left significant writings behind. Born in the mid-First Century AD, it is believed that he, along with Polycarp, were disciples of Saint John the Evangelist. Ecclesiastical historians of the fourth and fifth centuries mention that Ignatius was consecrated bishop of Antioch by Saint Peter himself. His feast day, on the traditional calendar, is February 1.

Ignatius was martyred during the reign of Trajan, thus sometime between AD 98 and 117. There exists an ancient martyrdom account of which includes this fascinating dialogue between Ignatius and Trajan while the latter was sojourning in Antioch. We know for certain that Trajan spent time in Antioch because he was present there when the earthquake of AD 115 devastated the city.

When [Ignatius] was set before the Emperor Trajan, [that prince] said to him: "Who are you, you evil demon, who so zealously breaks our commands, and persuades others to do the same, so that they should miserably perish?"

Ignatius replied: "No one ought to call Theophorus evil; for all of the demons have departed from the servants of God. But if, because I am an enemy to these [demons], you call me wicked in respect to them, I quite agree with you; for inasmuch as I have Christ the King of heaven [within me], I destroy all the devices of these [demons].

Trajan answered: "And who is Theophorus?"

Ignatius replied: "He who has Christ within his breast."

Trajan said: "Do we not then seem to you to have the gods in our mind, whose assistance we enjoy in fighting against our enemies?

The full account of the
martyrdom of St. Ignatius
of Antioch may be found
in I Am A Christian.

Ignatius answered: "You are in error when you call the dæmons of the nations gods. For there is but one God, who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that are in them; and one Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, whose kingdom may I enjoy. 

Trajan said: "Do you mean Him who was crucified under Pontius Pilate?"

Ignatius replied: "I mean Him who crucified my sin, with him who was the inventor of it, and who has condemned [and cast down] all the deceit and malice of the devil under the feet of those who carry Him in their heart."

Trajan said: "Do you then carry within you Him that was crucified?"

Ignatius replied: "Truly so; for it is written, 'I will dwell in them, and walk in them.' [2 Corinthians 6:16]

Then Trajan pronounced sentence as follows: "We command that Ignatius, who affirms that he carries about within him Him that was crucified, be bound by soldiers, and carried to the great [city] Rome, there to be devoured by the beasts, for the gratification of the people."

When the holy martyr heard this sentence, he cried out with joy: "I thank you, O Lord, that You have vouchsafed to honor me with a perfect love towards You, and have made me to be bound with iron chains, like your Apostle Paul."

Read the rest of the martyrdom of Saint Ignatius of Antioch in I Am A Christian: Authentic Accounts of Christian Martyrdom and Persecution from the Ancient Sources.

The quote featured in the above meme is taken the Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians, one of the earliest post-Scriptural Christian writings. Here is the quote in context--a letter in which Saint Ignatius gives advice on the proper behavior for a Christian:

Chapter X: Exhortations to Prayer, Humility, etc. 

And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men. For there is in them hope of repentance that they may attain to God. See, then, that they be instructed by your works, if in no other way. Be ye meek in response to their wrath, humble in opposition to their boasting: to their blasphemies return your prayers; in contrast to their error, be ye steadfast in the faith; and for their cruelty, manifest your gentleness. While we take care not to imitate their conduct, let us be found their brethren in all true kindness; and let us seek to be followers of the Lord (who ever more unjustly treated, more destitute, more condemned?) that so no plant of the devil may be found in you, but ye may remain in all holiness and sobriety in Jesus Christ, both with respect to the flesh and spirit.

And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men; for there is hope of the repentance, that they may attain to God. For cannot he that falls arise again, and he that goes astray return? Permit them, then, to be instructed by you. Be ye therefore the ministers of God, and the mouth of Christ. For thus saith the Lord, "If ye take forth the precious from the vile, ye shall be as my mouth." Be ye humble in response to their wrath; oppose to their blasphemies your earnest prayers; while they go astray, stand ye steadfast in the faith. Conquer ye their harsh temper by gentleness, their passion by meekness. For "blessed are the meek;" and Moses was meek above all men; and David was exceeding meek. Wherefore Paul exhorts as follows: "The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle towards all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves."

Do not seek to avenge yourselves on those that injure you, for says [the Scripture], If I have returned evil to those who returned evil to me." Let us make them brethren by our kindness. For say ye to those that hate you, Ye are our brethren, that the name of the Lord may be glorified. And let us imitate the Lord, "who, when He was reviled, reviled not again;" when He was crucified, He answered not; "when He suffered, He threatened not;" but prayed for His enemies, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do."

If any one, the more he is injured, displays the more patience, blessed is he. If any one is defrauded, if any one is despised, for the name of the Lord, he truly is the servant of Christ. Take heed that no plant of the devil be found among you, for such a plant is bitter and salt. "Watch ye, and be ye sober," in Christ Jesus.

The text of the full letter may be found at tertullian.org.

There is an interesting story about the fate of Trajan's immortal soul involving Pope Saint Gregory the Great. See the following post for details of Trajan's death...and rescue from Hell.

The Death of Trajan ~ August 8 ~ His correspondence with Pliny, and his legendary rescue from Hell.

The image at the top of this post is "The Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch" by Cesare Fracanzano, 17th century.

Moses the Black ~ A Christian Hercules

Modern icon of Saint Moses
looking particularly fierce.

August 28 is best known as the feast day of Saint Augustine, the great theologian and apologist of Hippo Regius in Roman north Africa. However, it is also the feast of another African saint—one of the great desert fathers, St. Moses the Black. He is known by numerous alternate epithets, including Moses the Strong, Moses the Ethiopian, Moses of Scete, Moses of Abyssinia and Moses the Robber. He was an anchorite in the Egyptian desert and lived in the generation immediately after Saint Anthony the Abbot, that is, from about AD 330-400.

If you've never heard of Saint Moses before, read on. He is one of those tremendous heroic figures from antiquity who could conquer any man in single combat but struggled most mightily to conquer himself and the temptations that plagued him. However, unlike Hercules from Greco-Roman mythology whose sins ultimately led to his undoing, Moses found strength from a power more mighty than himself. Via the grace of Almighty God and the strict ascetic practices of the desert fathers, Moses was able to master the demons which tormented him.

A brief video of his life, drawn from the 5th century Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen may be seen below:


A more detailed biography of Saint Moses may be found in the so-called Lausiac History by Palladius of Galatia set down around the year AD 420--about 20 years after Moses's death:

A certain Moses--this was his name--an Ethiopian by race and black, was house-servant to a government official. His own master drove him out because of his immorality and brigandage. For he was said to go even the length of murder. I am compelled to tell his wicked acts in order to show the virtue of his repentance.

They said that Moses was leader of a robber-band, and among his acts of brigandage one stood out specially: that once he plotted vengeance against a shepherd who had one night with his dogs impeded him in a project. Desirous to kill him, he looked about to find the place where the shepherd kept his sheep. And he was informed that it was on the opposite bank of the Nile. And, since the river was in flood and about a mile in extent, he grasped his sword in his mouth and put his shirt on his head and so got over, swimming the river. While he was swimming over, the shepherd was able to escape him by burying himself in the sand. So, having killed the four best rams and tied them together with a cord, he swam back again. Having come to a little homestead he flayed the sheep, and having eaten the best of the flesh and sold the skins in exchange for wine, he drank a quart, and went off fifty miles further to where he had his band.

In the end this abandoned man, conscience-stricken as a result of one of his adventures, gave himself up to a monastery and to such practicing of asceticism that he brought publicly to the knowledge of Christ even his accomplice in crime from his youth, the demon who had sinned with him. Among other tales this is told of him. One day robbers attacked him as he sat in his cell, not knowing who it was. They were four in number. He tied them all together and, putting them on his back like a truss of straw, brought them to the church of the brethren, saying: "Since I am not allowed to hurt anyone, what do you bid me do with these?" Then these robbers, having confessed their sins and recognized that it was Moses the erstwhile renowned and far-famed robber, themselves also glorified God and renounced the world because of his conversion, saying to themselves: "If he who was so great and powerful in brigandage has feared God, why should we defer our salvation?"

This Moses was attacked by demons, who tried to plunge him into his old habit of sexual incontinence. He was tempted so greatly, as he himself testified, that he almost relinquished his purpose. So, having come to the great Isidore, the one who lived in Scete, he told him about his conflict. And he said to him: "Do not be grieved. These are the beginnings, and therefore they have attacked you the more vehemently, seeking out your old habit. For just as a dog in a butcher's shop owing to his habits cannot tear himself away, but if the shop is closed and no one gives him anything, he no longer comes near it. So also with you; if you endure, the demon gets discouraged and has to leave you."

So he returned and from that hour practiced asceticism more vehemently, and especially refrained from food, taking nothing except dry bread to the extent of twelve ounces, accomplishing a great deal of work and completing fifty prayers (a day). Thus he mortified his body, but he still continued to burn and be troubled by dreams. Again he went to another one of the saints and said to him: "What am I to do, seeing that the dreams of my soul darken my reason, by reason of my sinful habits?"

More traditional icon
of Saint Moses

He said to him: "Because you have not withdrawn your mind from imagining these things, that is why you endure this. Give yourself to watching and pray with fasting and you will quickly be delivered from them."

Listening to this advice also he went away to his cell and gave his word that he would not sleep all night nor bend his knees. So he remained in his cell for six years and every night he stood in the middle of the cell praying and not closing his eyes. And he could not master the thing. So he suggested to himself yet another plan, and going out by night he would visit the cells of the older and more ascetic (monks), and taking their water-pots secretly would fill them with water. For they fetch their water from a distance, some from two miles off, some five miles, others half a mile. So one night the demon watched for him, having lost his patience, and as he stooped down at the well gave him a blow with a cudgel across the loins and left him (apparently) dead, with no perception of what he had suffered or from whom. So the next day a man came to draw water and found him lying there, and told the great Isidore, the priest of Scete. He therefore picked him up and brought him to the church, and for a year he was so ill that with difficulty did his body and soul recover strength. So the great Isidore said to him: "Moses, stop struggling with the demons, and do not provoke them."

But he said to him: "I will never cease until the appearance of the demons ceases."

So he said to him: "In the name of Jesus Christ your dreams have ceased. Come to Communion then with confidence, for, that you should not boast of having overcome passion, this is why you have been oppressed, for your good." And he went away again to his cell.

Afterwards when asked by Isidore, some two months later, he said that he no longer suffered anything. Indeed, he was counted worthy of such a gift (of power) over demons that we fear these flies more than he feared demons.

This was the manner of life of Moses the Ethiopian; he too was numbered among the great ones of the fathers. So he died in Scete seventy-five years old, having become a priest and he left seventy disciples.

Another translation of this biography offers the following final sentence:

When he was a thief, he had [as followers] seventy men and these now became his disciples, and they were perfect in the fear of God.

Moses the Black is numbered among the saints by the Catholic, Orthodox, and Coptic Churches.

The Chair of Saint Peter

Photo of the Chair of Saint Peter, taken in 1867 and
included in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1911).

February 22 is commemorated as the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Antioch on the Catholic liturgical calendar, commemorating his foundation of that church. The feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Rome is celebrated on January 18. A good summary of the history of the two feasts may be found at the New Liturgical Movement site.

The phrase "chair of Saint Peter" has both literal and figurative meanings. In the more abstract sense, The "seat" of Saint Peter is the Holy See -- the Sancta Sedes, or the episcopal jurisdiction of the Pope in Rome, symbolizing the leadership and unity of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. More literally, we think of the actual chair, or cathedra, upon which the Apostle Peter actually sat. While a Chair of Saint Peter in Antioch (of dubious history) exists in Venice, it is believed that the authentic Chair in Saint Peter in Rome may be found to this day at the Vatican.

As early as about AD 200, we have the testimony of Tertullian in De Praescriptione Haereticorum that pilgrims could visit the chair upon which Peter sat in Rome:

Come now, thou who willest to exercise thy curiosity to better purpose in the business of thy salvation: go through the Apostolic Churches where the very thrones of the Apostles at this very day preside over their own districts, where their own genuine letters are read which speak their words and bring the presence of each before our minds. If Achaia is nearest to thee, thou hast Corinth. If thou art not far from Macedonia, thou hast Philippi. If thou canst travel into Asia, thou hast Ephesus. Or if thou art near to Italy, thou hast Rome, where we too have an authority close at hand. What a happy Church is that whereon the Apostles poured out their whole doctrine together with their blood; where Peter suffers a passion like his Lord's, where Paul is crowned...

As for the reputed chair itself, I have included an image of it along with this post (see above). The Catholic Encyclopedia (1911) gives a very detailed provenance for the cathedra which is not necessary to replicate here. A modern description is offered in Roma Sotterranea: Or, Some Account of the Roman Catacombs, Especially of the Cemetery of San Callisto (1869) by Rev. J. Spencer Northcote and Rev. W. R. Brownlow as follows:

A more recent color image of the chair taken
from the St. Peter's Basilica website.

The Chair has four solid legs composed of yellow oak, united by horizontal bars of the same material. In these legs are fixed the iron rings which make the whole a sella gestatoria such as that in which the Sovereign Pontiff is now carried on state occasions, and such as those which the Roman senators began to use in the time of Claudius. The four oak legs were evidently once square, but they are much eaten away by age and have also had pieces cut from them as relics. These time worn portions have been strengthened and rendered more ornamental by pieces of dark acacia wood which form the whole interior part of the chair, and which appear to have hardly suffered at all from the same causes which have so altered the appearance of the oak legs. The panels of the front and sides and the row of arches with the tympanum above them which forms the back are also composed of this wood. But the most remarkable circumstance about these two different kinds of material is that all the ivory ornaments which cover the front and back of the chair are attached to the acacia portions alone and never to the parts composed of oak. Thus the oak framework, with its rings, appears to be of quite a distinct antiquity from that of the acacia portions with their ivory decorations.

For more, check out Roma Sotterranea on Google books. That work also contains an even more detailed history of the Chair, along with a discussion of a second cathedra of Peter existing in the Cemetery of Ostrianus.

Saint Josephine Bakhita and Benedict XVI's Spe Salvi

February 8 is the feast of Saint Josephine Bakhita, canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 2000. Her perilous and inspiring journey from slavery to sainthood is fairly well-known as it has been the subject of several books and movies. A summary of her biography may also be found in Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Spe Salvi from 2007. Pope Benedict wrote:

The example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time. I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonized by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869—she herself did not know the precise date—in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life.

Aside: This general was Turk, as Sudan was under Turkish rule from 1821 through 1885. As Sr. Josephine herself recounted in detail, her treatment in this household was abominable, even for a slave. She was beaten nearly to death, and while still recovering, she was subjected to a brutal scarring via knife-cuts over her torso and arms meant to mark her for life as a piece of chattel. Her account of her days as a slave may be read in Bakhita: From Slave to Saint by Roberto Italo Zanini. Returning to Spe Salvi...

Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name “paron” for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. Now, however, she heard that there is a “paron” above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme “Paron”, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father's right hand”. Now she had “hope” —no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.”

Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer a slave, but a free child of God. She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world—without hope because without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her “Paron”. On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice. On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter's lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her which had “redeemed” her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.

Could a humble woman like Sr. Josephine ever have considered that she would be mentioned so prominently in a Papal Encyclical?

During her life, Sr. Josephine made a profound impact on those who came to know her. During World War I, her convent was at one time turned into a field hospital serving Italian soldiers returning from the front. As Roberto Zanini records in his abovementioned book:

Mother Genoveffa De Battisti remembered: “It was not a rare sight to have officers and soldiers standing around the Little Brown Mother, all wanting to hear her story. Bakhita, equipped with Mother Superior’s permission, and with a simplicity that was all her own, narrated in her ungrammatical language the adventures and facts that she always attributed to the good God, who guided her with special love to become his spouse. Who paid attention to her grammatical mistakes? Who laughed? Nobody. All of them were filled with admiration and compassion for that innocent one who had suffered so much and who had appeared in their eyes to be an extraordinary being. And her lectures about eternal truths? More than one of her listeners would have taken them to heart, treasuring them later during the dangerous trials of war. And the reprimands she would give if she heard someone cursing? It did not matter if it came out of the mouth of a simple foot soldier or an officer—she would give them a warning and then made a point of exhorting and enlightening them about eternal truths until the guilty party promised to make amends and wanted to regain God’s grace.”

In the years since her death in 1947, and especially following her canonization, Saint Josephine Bakhita's story has reached the four corners of the globe. May she continue to intercede on behalf of all of those poor souls who, even to this day, are exploited via human trafficking.

Who was Saint Blaise?

Saint Blaise blessing a child. From the
altarpiece in the Church of Saint Blaise,
Alsace, France.

Most Catholics’ familiarity with Saint Blaise (also, Blasius) begins and ends with the blessing of the throats on February 3. Who he was is an interesting question. What we know of his life is based almost entirely on a Greek hagiography written in the 8th century and later incorporated into The Golden Legend – a collection of stories of the lives and deeds of the saints compiled in the 13th century.

The accepted facts about Saint Blaise seem to be as follows: He was an Armenian who was bishop of the city of Sebasteia in Anatolia (Sivas in modern Turkey). He was martyred during the reign of the Eastern Roman emperor, Licinius (about AD 315), the colleague and brother-in-law of Constantine who ruled in the west at this time.

The invocation of Blaise’s name concerning diseases of the throat may be attributed to the following passage from The Golden Legend, as translated into pre-modern English by William Caxton:

There was a woman that had a son dying, in whose throat was a bone of a fish athwart, which estrangled him, and she brought him tofore his feet, praying him that he would make her son whole. And Saint Blaise put his hand upon him and made his prayer to God that this child, and all they that demanded benefits of health in his name, that they should be holpen and obtain it, and anon he was whole and guerished [healed]. 

Click here to read the full Life of St. Blaise from The Golden Legend.

This piece of the legend seems to bear out. In an ancient medical work dating from the late 5th or early 6th century AD by Aetius of Amida, the name of Saint Blaise is mentioned in connection with helping clear a throat obstruction:

“To remove a bone stuck in the throat, one should cry out in a loud voice: “As Jesus Christ drew Lazarus from the grave, and Jonah out of the whale, thus Blasius, the martyr and servant of God, commands: ‘Bone come up, or go down.’” [Taken from Garrison: An Introduction to the History of Medicine.] 

So the good Saint Blaise was considered a wonder-worker in this regard at least 200 years after his death and 200 years before his Greek Acta was compiled.