Part 34

In subsequent sessions the acts of the Iconoclastic Council at Jerusalem were examined and refuted in order, and the council closed with the usual acclamations and prayers for the prosperity of the emperor and empress; after which synodal letters containing the decrees were sent to all churches. Pope Adrian approved of all that had been decreed, and sent copies of the Acts into France, where pictures and images were used historically, but no honour, such as burning candles or offering of incense before them, was allowed. On receiving these copies, Charlemagne wrote, or caused to be written, or put forth under his name, a work containing an examination of the decrees of the second council of Nicæa, by some of the bishops, of whom Alcuin was chief. This contained a repudiation of these Acts, and a rejection of image-worship. It maintained that respect was due to pictures and statues of the Saviour and the Saints, but refused the right of offering them any sort of religious honour, as by lighting candles and incensing them. This work was presented to Pope Adrian by Engilbert, the ambassador of Charlemagne, and it drew forth from the pope an answer which, however, did not alter the practice of the Gallican Church, for in the Council of Frankfort, held in 794, the decrees relative to the worshipping of images passed by the second Council of Nicæa were rejected, as was the case again in a council held at Paris, in 824. Tarasius, in the meantime, obedient to the decrees of the synod, restored holy images throughout the extent of his patriarchate. His life was a model of perfection to both clergy and laity. He lived a quiet, austere life, in the midst of magnificence and luxury. He reduced to the smallest possible amount the expenses of his household, and gave to the poor what he had economised. He often took the dishes of meat from his table to distribute among them with his own hands: and he assigned them a large annual revenue. And that none might be overlooked, he visited every house and hospital in Constantinople. His discourses turned on the mortification of the senses, and he was particularly severe against all theatrical entertainments, which served then to encourage and diffuse licentiousness. Some time after, the emperor became enamoured of Theodota, a maid of honour to his wife, the empress Mary, and, after having spent seven years in marriage, in 795, he resolved to divorce the empress. He used every effort to gain the patriarch. He sent an officer to him to inform him that a plot of the empress to poison him had been discovered. S. Tarasius, however, received the request to divorce the emperor, and marry him to Theodota, with a stern refusal. "Tell him that I will rather suffer death and all manner of torments than consent to his design." The emperor, hoping to prevail with him by flattery, sent for him to the palace, and said, "I can conceal nothing from you, whom I regard as my father. No one can deny but I may divorce one who has attempted my life. The Empress Mary deserves death or perpetual penance." He then produced a vessel, full of the poison, which he pretended she had prepared for him. The patriarch, with good reason, judging this to be an attempt to impose upon him, answered, that he was too well convinced that his passion for Theodota was at the bottom of all his complaints against the empress. He boldly declared to Constantine that even if she were guilty of the crime laid to her charge, a second marriage during her lifetime would be adulterous. The monk John, who had been legate of the Eastern patriarchs in the council at Nicæa, being present, also spoke resolutely to the emperor, who was so irritated that he drove them both out of his presence, and John narrowly escaped with his life. As soon as they were gone, he turned the empress Mary out of the palace and obliged her to assume the veil. Tarasius persisted in his refusal to marry him to Theodota, and the ceremony was performed by Joseph, the treasurer of the church of Constantinople. The patriarch became thenceforth an object of persecution to the emperor, who placed spies about his person, suffered no one to speak with him without their leave, and banished many of his relations and servants. This confinement gave the patriarch more leisure for prayer and contemplation. In the meantime, the ambitious Irene, discontented at being no longer at the head of the administration, formed a conspiracy to dethrone her son. The secret was faithfully kept above eight months, till the emperor, suspicious of his danger, escaped from Constantinople, with the design of appealing to the provinces and armies. By this hasty flight the empress was left on the brink of a precipice. She addressed a private epistle to the friends whom she had placed about his person with a menace that, unless they accomplished, she would reveal, their treason. Their fear rendered them intrepid. They seized the emperor on the Asiatic shore, and transported him to Constantinople, where his mother and the other conspirators decided to render him incapable of the throne by blinding him. Her emissaries assaulted the sleeping prince, and stabbed their daggers into his eyes. He survived for several years, oppressed by the court, and forgotten by the world; whilst his unnatural mother resumed the sovereign power, of which he had divested her by becoming of age. She reigned for five years, during which she recalled all the banished, and favoured the Catholics. But she was in turn conspired against by the high treasurer, Nicephorus, who was secretly invested with the purple, and crowned at S. Sophia by the patriarch. The empress was sent into exile in the isle of Lesbos, where she was obliged to earn a scanty subsistence by the labours of her distaff, till her haughty spirit consuming her, she died of grief.

Under Nicephorus, S. Tarasius persevered peaceably in his practices of penance, and in the functions of his pastoral charge. Through his last sickness he continued to offer daily the holy Sacrifice as long as he was able to move. A little before his death he fell into a trance, as the author of his life, who was an eye-witness of the scene, relates, wherein he was heard disputing with a number of accusers, very busy in sifting his whole life, and objecting to his actions. He seemed to be in fear and agitation, and defending himself against everything laid to his charge. This filled all present with fear, seeing the endeavours of the enemy of man to find some condemnation in the life of so holy and so irreprehensible a bishop. But a great serenity succeeded, and the holy man gave up his soul to God in peace, on the 25th of February, in 806, having sat twenty-one years and two months. God honoured his memory with miracles, some of which are related by the author of his life. His festival began to be celebrated under his successor.

B. ROBERT OF ARBRISSEL.

(A.D. 1117.)

[Authority:--His life, by Baldric, B. of Dôle (d. 1130); and another attributed to Andrew, monk of Fontevrault, and his disciple.]

Robert of Arbrissel was born of poor parents, in a village of Brittany, then called Arbrissel, and now known as Arbresec, in the diocese of Rennes, near La Guierche, in the year 1045 or 1047. His father, Damalioc, who afterwards embraced a religious life, and his mother, Orvenda, were pious people who brought him up to love God above all things. When of an age to study, with their consent he went to several towns of his native province, to learn in the schools without being a charge to his parents; and, making great progress, he went to Paris, where he so distinguished himself that he became a doctor in the university. At this time Silvester de la Guierche, Chancellor of Conon II., duke of Brittany, was placed upon the episcopal throne of Rennes, but being desirous of relieving himself of his duties on various accounts, he chose Robert, and appointed him his vicar-general, with absolute power in the diocese. Robert employed his authority in restoring ecclesiastical discipline, putting down simony, prohibiting incestuous marriages amongst the laity, and in enforcing clerical celibacy. As long as Silvester de la Guierche was alive, Robert was safe from the enemies his discipline had aroused, but, on the death of his protector, he was obliged to leave Brittany, and take refuge in Angers, where he gave lessons in theology. But, wishing to consecrate himself entirely to God, he quitted Angers, and buried himself in the forest of Craon, in Anjou, where he lived in great austerity, wearing a habit of pig skin, and eating roots and wild fruit. His fame as a second S. John the Baptist, having been bruited about, great numbers came to place themselves under his direction, so that he speedily saw his forest solitude invaded by many hundreds of anchorites. The number became at length so great as to oblige him to disperse them through the neighbouring forests. Not being able to watch over all, he divided them into three colonies, of which he retained one, and gave the others to two of his disciples: the B. Vitalis of Mortain, who founded the order of Savigny; and the B. Raoul de la Futaye, founder of the abbey of S. Sulpice, at Rennes.

Robert was obliged to quit his retired life, and preach the Crusade, by order of Pope Urban II. He, therefore, placed his colony under the care of the bishop of Angers, and undertook the execution of the task imposed upon him.

On the confines of Anjou and Poitou, about four miles from the little town of Candes, was an extensive tract of undulating land, covered with bushes, and wholly uncultivated; a little valley, traversed by a slender stream in this district, bore the name of Fontevrault. Here, in 1099, Robert began to build some huts to shelter his followers, and here he settled to found a new colony. Many religiously disposed persons of both sexes, young and old, gathered round him, and Robert found it necessary to establish distinct residences for the men and for the women, each with its own separate oratory. The work of the women was to sing continually the praises of God; that of the men was, between their spiritual exercise, the tillage of the soil. Charity, unity, modesty, and gentleness, prevailed in this singular colony. All lived on what their hands produced, or on the alms sent them; and they bore the name of "The poor of Jesus Christ."

The example of these new solitaries attracted great numbers, many of whom had only an imperfect or a mistaken vocation. Women who had led dissolute lives, feeling a passing compunction, hastened thither, assumed the outward profession, waxed cold, and gave great scandal by fresh lapses. This drew forth severe censure from Marbod, bishop of Rennes, and Godfrey, abbot of Vendôme. The former wrote to Robert a letter full of reproach, in which he told him that he had quitted the Order of the Regular Canons to run after women, and that the colony of Fontevrault was a scandal to the Church, through the confinement of some of the women, and the cries of new born babes; and he rebuked him for having given the religious habit to persons who asked for it, without having previously tested their sincerity. The letter of Godfrey of Vendôme, was couched in a similar strain of remonstrance; but he went further, and, trusting to hearsay, reprimanded Robert for associating too freely with the females of his Order, and seeing them in private without the presence of witnesses. Some have supposed these letters to be spurious, but without sufficient grounds. A man of great singleness of mind and guilelessness of spirit is easily deceived by the professions of others, and is liable to be led into actions which, with more worldly wisdom, he would avoid as indiscreet. Indeed, the formation of this double society was hardly consistent with prudence, and Robert found it necessary to keep it within the bounds of severe and vigilant prescriptions, to prevent the recurrence of those scandals which had called forth the reprimand of Marbod and the abbot of Vendôme. Godfrey was afterwards so thoroughly convinced that he was in error in attributing evil to the saintly Robert, that he became his ardent champion. Robert erected three convents, strictly enclosed, for the women: one for virgins and widows, called the Grand Moutier, was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; another for penitents, was placed under the patronage of S. Mary Magdalene; and a third, for leprous and infirm women, was dedicated to S. Lazarus. The house of the men was completely distinct, and was placed under the invocation of S. John the Divine. One large church was erected to serve the four houses, and the whole community was placed by Robert under the supreme direction of an abbess; and he set the example of submission, by appointing Petronilla de Craon, widow of the Baron de Chemille, Superior to the Order, and he lived in obedience to her till his death, which took place on February 25th, 1117.

[69] Or Diodorus.

[70] The Iconoclastic party was not actuated by any religious feeling, but was simply that of free-thinkers, as the Protestant and very prejudiced ecclesiastical historian Gieseler is constrained to admit. He says, "the enlightenment party, the opponents of images, was not created by a religious feeling, but merely by the emperor's will, and thus partly fostered a superficial, free-thinking, rather than a beneficial reformatory tendency."

February 26.

S. NESTOR, _B. M. of Magida_, A.D. 251. SS. FORTUNATUS AND COMPANIONS, _MM. at Antioch_. S. DIONYSIUS, _B. M. of Augsburg_, A.D. 303. S. ALEXANDER, _Patr. of Alexandria_, A.D. 326 S. FAUSTIAN, _B. of Bologna, in Italy, 4th cent._ S. PORPHYRY, _B. of Gaza_, A.D. 421. SS. EOLADIUS AND AGRICOLA, _BB. of Nevers, 6th cent._ S. VICTOR, _P. at Arcis-sur-Aube, in France, 6th or 7th cent._ S. EDIGNA, _V. at Puech, in Bavaria_, A.D. 1119.

S. NESTOR, B. M.

(A.D. 251.)

[Roman Martyrology, the ancient one called S. Jerome's, those of Bede, Ado, Usuardus, Notker, &c. By the Greeks on Feb. 28th. Authority:--The ancient and genuine Acts.]

In the reign of Decius, Pollio was governor of Pamphylia. When persecution broke out, Nestor, bishop of Magida, an obscure town in that province, knowing that he was particularly feared by the pagans, and that the first stroke was sure to fall upon him, ordered his flock to disperse into places of safety, and then calmly awaited the officers of justice. They found him in prayer, and led him forth with his head covered with a hood (_mafortium_). And when he came into the forum, he was honourably received, all the court rising and saluting him. He said, "God pardon you, why have you done this?" They answered, "Thy manner of life is deserving of respect." Then he was taken apart from the public, and stools were placed for the magistrates and his advocates, and a chair for the bishop, and he was requested to sit down. He replied, "The honour of being summoned into your presence suffices me." Then the Irenarch said, "Sir, dost thou know the order of the emperor?" "I know the command of the Almighty, not that of the emperor," was the reply of the Bishop. "O Nestor," said the magistrate, "consent without difficulty, that we be not called to judge thee." "I obey the commands of the heavenly King," answered Nestor. "Thou art possessed," said the magistrate. "Nay," said the bishop, "not I, but thou, for thy gods are devils." "I shall have to send thee to the governor," said the Irenarch, "for they are true gods. Beware of torture." Then Nestor signing the cross on his brow, said, "Wherefore dost thou threaten me with torture? The only torments I dread are those of my God. Be well assured, in torture, or out of torture, Him shall I confess."

Then he was taken to Perga, where was the governor of the province, which he reached on the fourth Sabbath (Saturday.) And when the Irenach had presented him to Pollio the governor, Nestor was again urged with kind and courteous words to renounce his religion; but he as constantly refused. "Torment me as thou wilt," said he, "with chains or wild beasts, or sword, as long as there is any breath in my nostrils, I will confess the name of my Lord Jesus Christ." Then the judge ordered him to be suspended on the little horse, and to be cruelly tortured. The executioner laid his sides bare, tearing them with iron hooks; but Nestor chanted, "I will alway give thanks unto the Lord: his praise shall ever be in my mouth." (Ps. xxxiii.; (A. V. 34) 1.) The judge, astonished at his endurance, exclaimed, "Why, wretched man! art thou not ashamed to put thy faith in a man, and he short-lived?" "Let that be my confusion, and that also of all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus," answered the martyr. And when the crowd clamoured that he should be released from his sufferings, the governor asked again, "What, then, is thy final choice, to be with us, or with thy Christ?" Then the martyr exclaimed, "With my Christ have I ever been, with Him am I now, and with Him shall I ever be." Seeing his inflexibility, Pollio said scornfully, "Nestor, as thou hast rejected the immortal gods to follow the crucified One, I will not be so wanting in devotion to this God of thine, as to condemn thee to any other death. Thou shalt be crucified on the wood."

Then a cross was made ready, and Nestor, the bishop, was nailed to it. And as he hung, he exhorted the people, and at length he bid them kneel and pray to God through Jesus Christ; and all knelt, and when he had said the final Amen, he breathed forth his spirit.

S. DIONYSIUS, B. OF AUGSBURG, M.

(A.D. 303.)

[German Martyrology. No trustworthy authorities for his life and acts. The following account is from the Augsburg Breviary.]

Dionysius, together with his sister Hilaria, (August 12th), her daughter Afra, (August 7th), and the rest of his family, was converted and baptized by S. Narcissus the bishop, afterwards chief pastor of the Church of Gerona, in Spain, (March 18th.) As Narcissus was obliged to leave the little band of Christians at Augsburg, he instructed, and then ordained, Dionysius to be their priest, or, as some writers assert, their bishop. Thus Dionysius became the spiritual father of a little family of true believers, and was called to encourage them during the fiery trial of persecution. He saw his sister Hilaria, and her daughter Afra, glorify God by martyrdom. Knowing that his own turn had come, he fortified himself with the Holy Sacrament, yielded himself into the hands of those who sought his life, and dying a martyr's death, gained the crown and palm.

The relics of this saint, who is reckoned the first bishop of Augsburg, together with those of Quiriacus, were discovered in the year 1118, and were translated by the abbot Egino to the Church of S. Ulrich, in Augsburg, and enclosed in an altar. Later, in the year 1258, Hartmann, bishop of Augsburg, opened this altar, and placed them, on 26th Feb., in a new altar, dedicated to SS. Dionysius and Quiriacus, and he ordered that this day should be observed as the festival of S. Dionysius. The Church of Augsburg honours him as her first bishop, though the episcopal see of Augsburg was not regularly constituted till 250 years later, when Sosimus became the first of a succession of prelates which from that time to the present has not failed.

S. ALEXANDER, PATR. OF ALEXANDRIA.

(A.D. 326.)

[Roman Martyrology, and those of Bede, Usuardus, Ado, Notker, &c. Authorities:--Sozomen, Socrates, Eusebius, and the Apology of S. Athanasius.]

S. Alexander was patriarch of Alexander when Arius, the arch-heretic, began to preach his denial of the eternal Godhead of Christ. Alexander, one of the mildest of men, endeavoured by gentleness and kind expostulation to bring the heretic back to the true belief. But when he found that he was incorrigible, he summoned an assembly of his clergy, and therein questioned Arius, and on his boldly proclaiming his disbelief in the fundamental doctrine of the Catholic faith, he excommunicated him. A council was called at Alexandria about the end of the year 320, in which Arius was again tried, and the sentence of excommunication was ratified by nearly one hundred bishops, who were present. Alexander attended the famous General Council of Nicæa, assembled in 325, which finally condemned the heresy of Arius. S. Alexander, after this triumph of the faith, returned to Alexandria; where, after having recommended S. Athanasius for his successor, he died on the 26th February, in the year 326. For a fuller account of the Arian heresy, and the Council of Nicæa, the reader is referred to the life of S. Athanasius, (May 2nd.)

S. PORPHYRIUS, B. OF GAZA.

(A.D. 421.)

[Commemorated by Greeks and Latins on the same day. Authority:--His life, written by Mark the Deacon, his disciple.]