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HARVARD TRANSLATIONS 
 
/ 
 
THE LIFE OF SAINT SEVERINUS 
 
 BY 
 
 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME 
 WITH NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE W. ROBINSON 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF 
 ARTS AND SCIENCES 
 
 "Severin: eine Personlichkeit, zu der es keine Parallele giebt." 
 Hauck, Kirchengesckichte DeutscMands, vol. i, p. 33°- 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 1914 
 
^-•vC-- 
 
 COPYRIGHT, I9I4 
 HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 
MANIBUS 
 
 GUILIELMI WATSON GOODWIN 
 
 ADAMS SHERMAN HILL 
 
 JACOBI BRADSTREET GREENOUGH 
 
 CLEMENTIS LAURENTII SMITH 
 
 TftN MAKAPITflN 
 SACRUM 
 
PREFACE 
 
 It has been said of the French, and might with equal 
 truth be said of the Germans, that they make all excel- 
 lent pieces of antiquity their own. That we are yet 
 far from being in a position to make the same boast 
 in behalf of our noble English tongue; that our defi- 
 ciency is particularly great as respects the last cen- 
 turies of ancient civilization, which have so immediate 
 a relation to the mediaeval and modern worlds; and 
 that in those centuries it would be difficult to find a 
 writing more worthy of introduction to English read- 
 ers than the work which Teuffel terms " the incom- 
 parable biography of Saint Severinus": these facts, 
 I trust, may be considered in some measure to justify 
 the present publication. 
 
 This translation of the Life of Severinus, the first, 
 so far as appears, in our language,^ is from the recen- 
 sion of the text by Theodor Mommsen, published at 
 Berlin, in 1898, in the series of Scriptores Rerum Ger- 
 
 ^ Professor Carlton H. Hayes translates Chapters I, II, VII, XX, 
 and XL, and parts of V, VIII, and XI, in An Inlroduclion to the Sources 
 relating to the Germanic Invasions (New York, 1909), pp. 128-133. His 
 translation seems to be made, not from the Latin text, but from the 
 German version of Rodenberg. 
 
 7 
 
8 PREFACE 
 
 manicarum. In an Appendix, pp. 117-121 below, I 
 have given a list of editions and translations. Momm- 
 sen's preface contains an account of the manuscripts 
 of the Life, of the chronology of the time, so far as it 
 casts direct Ught upon the careers of Severinus and 
 Eugippius, and of the references to Eugippius and 
 Severinus in later ecclesiastical writers.^ One who 
 desires a more general view of the period may obtain 
 it by reading the pertinent chapters of Hodgkin, Dahn, 
 or Gibbon, or Julius von Pflugk-Harttung's The Great 
 Migrations, which, translated from the Allgemeine 
 Weltgeschichte, forms the sixth volume in Wright's 
 History of All Nations. Passages referring specifically 
 to Severinus may be found in Pflugk-Harttung's vol- 
 ume, in the English translation, on pages 250 f., 269, 
 and 296. Julius Jung, in his Romer und Romanen in 
 den Donaulandern (Innsbruck, 1877),^ pages 133-141, 
 15&-156, etc., discusses the Life with particular 
 reference to the light which it sheds upon the ethnog- 
 raphy and local history of Noricum and the adjacent 
 provinces. I will also mention the paragraphs on 
 
 1 Mommsen does not mention the passage in the biography of Wil- 
 libald, the Saxon pilgrim, who visited Naples in 729. " Et ibi est 
 prope castella [sic] ubi requiescit sanctus Severinus." Vita WilUhaldi, 
 4, in Monumenta Germaniae Hislorica, Scriptores, xv, i (1887). 
 
 2 In the second edition (Innsbruck, 1887) much of the material 
 relative to the Life is omitted. 
 
PREFACE 9 
 
 Eugippius in Teuffel and Schwabe's History of Roman 
 Literature (Warr's translation, London, 1900), section 
 494, and in Adolf Ebert's Geschichte der Christlich- 
 lateinischen Literatur bis zum Zeitalter Karls des 
 Grossen (Leipsic, 1874), pp. 431 ff., and the some- 
 what longer passage in Albert Hauck's Kirchen- 
 geschichte Deutschlands , vol. i (Leipsic, 1887), pp. 
 
 328-331- 
 
 Andre Baudrillart's Saint Severin (1908), in the 
 
 series Les Saints, and Die Lebensbeschreibung Severins 
 
 als kulturgeschichtliche Quelle (1903), by Theo Sommer- 
 
 lad, require no more than passing notice. 
 
 Matthaeus Rader's Bavaria Sancta contains spirited 
 engravings by Raphael Sadeler, one of which repre- 
 sents the night scene where Severinus recalls the priest 
 Silvinus from the dead. 
 
 Mention may be made of two popular accounts of 
 Severinus for English readers: Alban Butler's in The 
 Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and other Principal 
 Saints (London, 1812-13), vol. i, pp. 113 ff; and 
 Charles Kingsley's in The Hermits (London, 1869), 
 pp. 224-239, with a translation of Chapter VIII. 
 Sabine Baring-Gould, after excising all passages of 
 Kingsley's essay that could offend the most credulous, 
 reprints the remainder in The Lives of the Saints (Lon- 
 don, 1872-77), vol. i, pp. 101-112. 
 
lo PREFACE 
 
 The most recent German translations of the Life 
 are by Karl Rodenberg (Leipsic, 1878, second edition, 
 1884), in Geschichtschreiher der deutschen Vorzeit, and 
 by Sebastian Brunner (Vienna, 1879). 
 
 I thank heartily for courteous assistance Dr. 
 Gennaro Aspreno Galante of Naples, who has given 
 me invaluable help, particularly as respects the recent 
 history of the remains of Severinus; Professor James 
 Hardy Ropes of Harvard University; Professor Cesare 
 Barone, First Archivist of the Royal Neapolitan State 
 Archives; and Librarian Professor Ferdinand Ludwig 
 Schmidt, Dr. Edward D. Snyder, and Mr. Julius 
 Klein, who have kindly examined for me in the 
 Royal Public Library at Dresden, the British Museum, 
 and the BibUotheque Nationale at Paris several edi- 
 tions and translations not accessible in Cambridge. 
 
 George W. Robinson. 
 
 Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
 July, 1914. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 LETTER OF EUGIPPIUS TO PASCHASIUS ... 15 
 
 TABLE OF CHAPTERS 21 
 
 THE LIFE OF SAINT SEVERINUS 29 
 
 LETTER OF PASCHASIUS TO EUGIPPIUS . . . iii 
 
 APPENDIX: 
 
 I. A List of Editions and Translations of the 
 Life 117 
 
 n. A Latin Hymn in Praise of Saint Severinus 121 
 
 in. Chronological Table 125 
 
 INDEX OF AUTHORS CITED IN THE NOTES . 129 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 133 
 
THE LIFE OF SAINT SEVERINUS 
 
LETTER OF EUGIPPIUS TO 
 PASCHASIUS 
 
 To the holy and venerable Deacon Paschasius, Eugip- 
 pius sends his salutation in Christ. 
 
 About two years ago, in the consulship of Impor- 
 tunus/ a letter of a noble layman, directed to a priest, 
 was offered me to read. It contained the life of Bassus , 
 a monk, who formerly dwelt in the monastery of the \ 
 
 mountain called Titas, above Ariminum, and later \ 
 died in the district of Lucania: a man very well | 
 known to me and to many others. When I learned 
 that some were making copies of this letter, I began to 
 reflect, and also to declare to the clergy, that the great 
 miracles which the divine power had wrought through 
 Saint Severinus ought not to be hidden. 
 
 When the author of the letter knew of this, he 
 eagerly requested me to send him some memoranda 
 in regard to Saint Severinus, that he might write a 
 short account of the saint's hfe for the benefit of later 
 generations. In response to this offer, I prepared a 
 memoir, filled full with testimonies from the daily 
 narrations of the elder brethren, with which I was per- 
 fectly familiar. Yet I did this with great regret; for 
 I deemed it unreasonable, that, while thou wert alive, 
 I should ask a layman to write a life of Severinus. It 
 
 1 A.D. 509. 
 'S 
 
I 
 
 1 6 EUGIPPIUS ) 
 
 seemed rash to impose upon a lay writer the arrange- 
 ment and composition of the work. Cultivated in 
 profane Hterature alone, he would be likely to compose 
 the biography in a style difficult for many to under- 
 stand; so that the remarkable events, which had too 
 long remained hidden in silence and night, might fail 
 through the obscurity of his eloquence to shine 
 brightly forth for us, untrained as we are in polite 
 letters. 
 
 But I shall search no more for the feeble light of 
 that lamp now that thy sun-like radiance is here. 
 Only veil not the rays of thy knowledge by a cloud of 
 excuse, accusing thine own ignorance. Lash me not, 
 I beseech thee, with harsh terms; say not, Why expect 
 water from the flint ? Indeed I do not expect water 
 from the flint of this world's highway, but from thee, 
 who, comparing spiritual things with spiritual,^ shalt 
 refresh us from the Hving rock by that honey of speech 
 with which thou overflowest; and already from that 
 honey thou sendest a nectar-taste of sweetest promise, 
 whfle thou biddest me transmit a memoir or notes 
 upon the life of Saint Severinus. 
 
 Until these memoranda win admission to a book of 
 thy construction, let them not offend the mind of the 
 critic. For he who seeks an architect to build a 
 house, carefully prepares the necessary materials; but 
 if the architect delays, and he puts together in the 
 likeness of walls unfashioned heaps from the rough 
 stones, ought one to speak of his work as a building, 
 
 1 I Corinthians, ii, 13. 
 
LETTER TO PASCHASIUS 17 
 
 when no master has constructed, and no proper 
 foundation has been laid? So I, who have with 
 difficulty prepared and most miserably put together 
 the precious material for thy genius, ought I to be 
 thought to have composed what I desire, when a 
 liberal education has not fashioned the work, nor 
 Hterary traming lent it elevation and elegance ? My 
 work has, indeed, the sure foundation of faith alone; 
 that foundation upon which, as thou knowest, rose 
 the saint's admirable, resplendent virtues; and now 
 I commit the materials to the architect, whose hands 
 shall be thy eloquence; and when the capstone is 
 placed upon thy work, I shall return due thanks to 
 
 Christ. 
 
 I beg that thou have the goodness to mention also 
 those miraculous cures, which, either on the journey or 
 here, were wrought by divine virtue unto the memory 
 of the blessed father Severinus. Smce the trusty 
 bearer, thy son Deogratias, best knows these, I have 
 entrusted to hun to communicate them to thee by 
 word of mouth. And I hope that I may speedily be 
 able yet again to call him bearer on the completion of 
 thy work; that so this most faithful servant of God, 
 rich in such great virtues, while he is carried to the 
 glory of the saints by his merits vouchsafed through 
 Christ's grace may by thy pen be unmortalized to 
 human memory. 
 
 It may perhaps be asked, and with justice, from 
 what country Severinus sprang; smce with this partic- 
 ular it is the custom to begin the story of any Ufe. I 
 
1 8 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 confess I have no clear evidence. For many priests 
 and clerics, and lords temporal and spiritual, natives 
 of the country or drawn together to him from afar, 
 often debated the nationality of this man of such great 
 and resplendent virtue. And they were at a loss, but 
 no one ventured to question him directly. There was, 
 however, a certain Primenius, a noble priest of Italy, 
 and a man of the highest standing, who had fled to 
 him for refuge at the time when the patrician Orestes ^ 
 was unjustly slain. This man, it was said, had been 
 Hke a father to Orestes, and therefore feared his 
 murderers. He, then, having won the saint's friend- 
 ship, and enjoyed it for many days, served as spokes- 
 man for the rest, and burst out with the question. 
 " Reverend master," he said, " from what province 
 hath the great hght come,^ which God hath seen fit to 
 bestow upon these lands ? " The man of God first 
 answered him with a cheerful jest, " If thou thinkest 
 me a fugitive slave, ^ prepare a ransom which thou 
 canst offer for me when I am clauned." Presently he 
 added, more seriously, " What profiteth it the servant 
 of God to name his country or race, when by keeping 
 
 1 Orestes was by birth a Roman provincial of Pannonia. Priscus 
 (Bonnae, 1829), pp. 146, 185; Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis, 45; Anon- 
 ymus Valesianus, 38. 
 
 2 J. H. von Falckenstein neatly expands the metaphor in his ap- 
 preciation of Severinus. Geschichten des grossen Herzogthums und 
 chemaligen Konigreichs Bayern (Munich, etc., 1763), i, p. 78. 
 
 2 Fugitivus. For the Roman law in regard to fugitive slaves and 
 their recovery, one may consult W. W. Buckland, The Roman Law of 
 Slavery (Cambridge, England, 1908), pp. 267-274, and the Codex Theo- 
 dosianus, x, 1 2, Si vagiim pelakir mancipium. 
 
LETTER TO PASCHASIUS 1 9 
 
 them silent he can more easily avoid vainglory ? ^ 
 For vainglory is like the left hand, without whose 
 knowledge ^ he desireth through the gift of Christ to 
 accompUsh every good work; that so he may deserve 
 to be among those on Christ's right hand,^ and to be 
 enrolled as a citizen of the celestial country. And if 
 thou knowest that I, though unworthy, truly desire 
 that celestial country, what need that thou learn the 
 earthly country of which thou askest ? But know 
 that the same God who called thee to the priesthood, 
 commanded me also to minister unto these perilled 
 folk." The answer silenced Primenius, nor did any 
 one before or after presume to question the saint upon 
 this matter. 
 
 Yet his speech revealed a man of purest Latin stock; 
 and it is understood that he first departed into some 
 desert place of the East because of his fervid desire 
 for a more perfect life, and that thence, constrained by 
 divine revelation, he later came to the towns of River- 
 side Noricum, near Upper Pannonia, which were 
 harassed by frequent incursions of the barbarians. So 
 he himself was wont to hint, in obscure language as if 
 speaking of another, naming some cities of the East, 
 and indicating that he had passed by miracle through 
 the dangers of an immense journey.* 
 
 1 " I 
 
 ' Quo ipso non obscure indicabat, magno se ortu, et cujus indi- 
 cium jactantiae serviret." Marcus Hansitz, Germania Sacra (Augus- 
 tae Vindelicorum, etc., 1727-55)) i) P- 80. 
 
 2 Matthew, vi, 3. ^ Matthew, xxv, ^z- 
 
 * The detailed account of the early life of Severinus, given in Theo 
 Sommerlad's Die Lebensbeschreibung Severins ah kuUurgeschichiliche 
 
20 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 Even in the lifetime of Saint Severinus, I never 
 heard other particulars in regard to his native place 
 than those I have related. The testimonies concern- 
 ing his marvellous hfe accompany this letter, arranged 
 as a memoir, with a table of chapters prefixed. Grant 
 my request, and let them gain greater fame through 
 thy editorial care.^ It remains to ask that thou cease 
 not to associate thy prayers with his for the pardon 
 of my sins. 
 
 Quelle, pp. 62-68, needs mention only by way of caution. Som- 
 merlad carries ingenuity to a great excess. 
 
 1 " It is exceedingly doubtful whether the request was seriously 
 meant. Similar expressions are very common, which are no more 
 than polite phrases." Wilhelm Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichts- 
 quellen im MittelaUer (6th ed., Berlin, 1893-94), i, p. 49. 
 
TABLE OF CHAPTERS 
 
 I. How in the beginning Saint Severinus won fame 
 in the town which is called Asturis/ by wholesome 
 exhortation to good works and by most veracious 
 prophecy. 
 
 II. Of the town Comagenis, which he miraculously 
 freed from the enemy. 
 
 III. How through his prayer God came to the aid 
 of the inhabitants of the Httle city Favianis, who had 
 long suffered from famine. 
 
 IV. Of the barbarian robbers, who lost their booty 
 which they had taken without the walls of Favianis, 
 and all their weapons too; or, Of his mode of life and 
 surpassing humihty. 
 
 V. In how great reverence he was held by the king 
 of the Rugii, Flaccitheus; or. How Flaccitheus was 
 dehvered from the ambushes of the foe by the oracle. 
 
 VI. Of the Rugian widow's only son, who suffered 
 tortures of pain for twelve years, and was healed 
 through the prayer of the man of God. 
 
 VII. How the youth Odoacer, clad in wretched 
 hides, was told by him of his kingship that was to 
 come. 
 
 1 The place names in the ablative form, Asturis, Comagenis, 
 Favianis, etc., mark the tendency of the provincial Latin to develop 
 into Romance dialects. 
 
2 2 TABLE OF CHAPTERS 
 
 VIII. That Feletheus, sometimes called Feva, king 
 
 of the Rugii, son of Flaccitheus, mentioned above, for 
 
 fear of Saint Severinus forbade his wicked wife to 
 
 rebaptize Catholics ; or, What danger she ran of losing 
 
 her Httle son Fredericus one day when she had spurned 
 
 the saint's intercession for certain persons. 
 
 y IX. Of the bearer of the remains of Saint Gervasius 
 
 ' and Saint Protasius the martyrs, made known by the 
 
 ! marvellous revelation of the man of God; or. With 
 
 what reply he refused the honorable ofhce of bishop 
 
 ^ when he was asked to accept it. 
 
 X. Of a janitor who was one day forbidden to go out 
 I I anywhere, then was taken by the barbarians, and 
 humbly restored by them. 
 
 XL Of the miracle which was wrought in the 
 castle of Cuculhs, where the tapers were hghted by 
 divine power, and the sacrilegious, who had at first 
 concealed themselves, were manifested and amended. 
 
 XII. How the locusts were expelled from the terri- 
 ' tory of the castle of Cuculhs, after God had been pro- 
 pitiated by fasting and prayer and almsgi\'ings; while 
 the patch of corn of a certain poor man, an unbeheving 
 scorner, was swept bare. 
 
 XIII. How the taper was lighted in the hand of 
 \ I the man of God as he prayed, when the fire required 
 J I by custom for the evening service of praise was not 
 \ I found. 
 
 \ I XIV. Of the wondrous healing of the woman 
 ] whose life was despaired of; who, after a terrible and 
 long continued sickness, was so fully restored to health 
 
 i 1 
 
TABLE OF CHAPTERS 23 
 
 by the prayer of the man of God that on the third day 
 she sturdily betook herself to labor in the fields. 
 
 XV. How upon the posts sustaining the river side 
 of the church, which the water at flood often more than 
 covered, the servant of God, praying, cut with an axe 
 the sign of the cross; and how thereafter the water 
 never rose above the cross. 
 
 XVI. Of Silvinus the priest who died; and how, 
 after they had watched through the night at his bier, 
 the corpse, being addressed, immediately opened his 
 eyes, and asked the servant of God, at whose voice he 
 had come to hfe, that he be not further deprived of the 
 rest which he had tasted. 
 
 XVII. How he ministered unto the poor with 
 anxious care; or. That the Norici also were wont to 
 send tithes to him for distribution; and that when 
 these were brought to him according to custom, he 
 foretold that danger threatened those who had delayed 
 to send. 
 
 XVIII. How the rust, which had appeared and was 
 about to ruin the harvests, was driven away by the 
 man of God through fasting and prayer. 
 
 XIX. That Gibuldus, king of the Alamanni, was 
 smitten with great trembhng in the presence of the 
 servant of God, and restored a multitude of captives. 
 
 XX. How the murder of the soldiers was revealed 
 to him, and how he sent his people, who did not know 
 of it, to the river to bury the bodies. 
 
 XXI. As the priest Paulinus, who had come to him 
 some time before, was returning to his own country, 
 
1 
 
 24 TABLE OF CHAPTERS 
 
 he foretold that he was to be ordained bishop of Nori- 
 cum. 
 
 XXII. That when rehcs were being sought for a 
 new church, he foretold of his own accord that he 
 should bring to the church the blessing of Saint John 
 the Baptist, and that in that town while he was away 
 there was to be a massacre; in which massacre the 
 gabbhng priest was killed in the baptistery. 
 
 XXIII. How he received the rehcs of Saint John 
 the Baptist. 
 
 XXIV. Of the inhabitants of another town, who 
 scorned his prophetic commands and directly were 
 slain by the HeruH, because though forewarned they 
 would not leave the place. 
 
 XXV. How he sent letters to Noricum and fortified 
 ^ ^\ the castles with fastings and almsgivuigs; and how 
 
 the incursion of the enemy which he foretold was not 
 f \ able to harm the castles. 
 
 XXVI. Of the cleansed leper, who begged not to be 
 sent back home, lest he might fall into the leprosy of 
 sin. 
 
 XXVII. Of the victory which the Romans won at 
 Batavis over the Alamanni through the prayer of 
 Saint Severinus; and how after the triumph those 
 who scorned to follow his warning prophecy were 
 slain. 
 
 XXVIII. How as the servant of God was minister- 
 ing unto the poor, the oil appeared to increase. 
 
 XXIX. Of the men of Noricum who carried on 
 N their shoulders loads of clothing to be given to the 
 
TABLE OF CHAPTERS 25 
 
 poor; how in midwinter the bear guided them through 
 the snows of the desert to human habitations; and 
 how the man of God, with his wonted gift of revelation, 
 knew what had led them. 
 
 XXX. How he divined that the foe would come the 
 next night against the city of Lauriacum, and with 
 difficulty persuaded the citizens, who dwelt in false 
 security, to keep watch; and how in the morning they 
 declared that he had done well, and thanked him, and 
 asked pardon for their unbeHef . 
 
 XXXI. How he met Feva, king of the Rugii, who 
 was coming up against Lauriacum with his army, and 
 received the peoples in his guardian care, to conduct 
 them to the lower towns, i. e., those nearer the Rugii. 
 
 XXXII. How King Odoacer requested that he 
 should ask him some favor, and at the word of the 
 servant of God recalled one Ambrosius from exile ; and 
 how the servant of God foretold to the king's flatterers 
 how many years he was to reign. 
 
 XXXIII. Of the son of one of the nobles of the 
 king of the Rugii, who in the town Comagenis was 
 made whole by the prayer of the man of God. 
 
 XXXIV. How a leper, Tejo by name, was cleansed. 
 
 XXXV. Of Bonosus the monk, who, when he 
 complained of weak eyes, was told by the saint, " Pray 
 rather that thou may see more with the heart " : and 
 thereupon he earned a wonderful power of endurance 
 in prayer. 
 
 XXXVI. Of the three proud monks, whom he 
 delivered to Satan, that their spirits might be saved. 
 
 
 
26 TABLE OF CHAPTERS 
 
 As to this matter he rendered a most faithful account 
 in its own place, quoting the examples of two of the 
 Fathers. 
 
 XXXVII. How he signified the hour of tribula- 
 tion of Marcianus and Renatus, his monks, which 
 they underwent while in another province; and en- 
 joined prayer upon the other brothers, who were with 
 him. 
 
 XXXVIII. Of the dangers of the deadly pustule, 
 which by revelation he foretold forty days in advance 
 was to come to Ursus the monk, and which he healed 
 by prayer. 
 
 XXXIX. Of the saint's habitation, his bed also 
 and diet, a few things are briefly mentioned. 
 
 XL. How, when through the revelation of God he 
 perceived that his departure was near, he spoke to 
 King Feva and the wicked queen, and ceased not to 
 forewarn his own followers of his death: foretelling 
 that a general removal of the people was at hand, and 
 commanding that his body should be carried away at 
 the same time. 
 
 XLI. How he expressly announced even the day 
 of his death to Saint Lucillus the priest. 
 
 XLII. How he adjured Ferderuchus, brother of 
 King Feva; and advised his own followers. 
 
 XLIII. Of his death; or. What advice he gave his 
 followers in his long final exhortation. 
 
 XLIV. What Ferderuchus wrought against the 
 monastery after his decease; how Ferderuchus was 
 punished; how the saint's oracle was fulfilled by the 
 
TABLE OF CHAPTERS 27 
 
 prosperous migration of the people; how his body was 
 disinterred and removed in a wagon. 
 
 XLV. Of the heahng at that tune of many infirm 
 persons. A recital of individual cases is omitted; only 
 the story of one dumb man is told, who was made 
 whole by praying under the wagon, while the body yet 
 remained on it. 
 
 XL VI. Of the faith of Barbaria, a lady of rank, 
 who built a mausoleum for the body; and of the 
 reception by the people of Naples. Although many 
 were then healed of divers diseases, the particulars are 
 related in three instances only. 
 
THE 
 LIFE OF SAINT SEVERINUS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 At the time of the death of Attila, king of the Huns/ 
 confusion reigned in the two Pannonias and the other 
 borderlands of the Danube. Then Severinus, most 
 holy servant of God, came from the parts of the East 
 to the marches of Riverside Noricum ^ and the Pan- 
 nonias, and tarried in a little town which is called 
 Asturis.^ There he lived in accordance with the 
 evangeUcal and apostohc doctrine, in all piety and 
 chastity, in the confession of the Cathohc faith, and 
 fulfilled his reverend purpose by holy works. By 
 such exercises strengthened, he innocently sought the 
 crown of the celestial calhng; and one day, as was his 
 wont, went forth to the church. Then the priests, the 
 clergy, and the citizens were fetched, and he began in 
 all humihty of mind to prophesy, how they ought to 
 
 ^ In 453- 
 
 2 Noricum Ripense. Rodenberg renders by the German equiva- 
 lent, Ufernoricum. In the translation of Professor Hayes, Ufernori- 
 cum, both here and in Chapter XI, becomes ' Upper Noricum,' which 
 is not a happy guess. 
 
 ' Probably on the site of the present Klostemeuburg, a little above 
 Vienna. 
 
 39 
 
30 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 ward off the threatening snares of the enemy by 
 prayers, and by fastings, and by the fruits of com- 
 passion. But their stubborn hearts, defiled by fleshly 
 lusts, proved the oracles of the prophet by the decision 
 of their unbelief. Yet the servant of God returned to 
 the lodging where the sacristan ^ of the church had 
 received him, and made known the day and hour of 
 imminent destruction. "I go in haste," he said, 
 " from a stubborn town that shall swiftly perish." 
 
 Then he went away to the next town, which is called 
 Comagenis.2 This was very strictly guarded by the 
 barbarians estabHshed within, who had entered into 
 a league ^ with the Romans, and it was not easy for 
 any one to secure permission to go in or to leave. Yet, 
 though they knew him not, they neither questioned 
 the servant of God, nor turned him back. So anon he 
 went into the church; and when he found all in despair 
 
 1 Custos. The office is not to be confounded with that of janitor 
 or doorkeeper {ostiarius) mentioned in Chapters X and XVI, below. 
 Isidorus Hispalensis, De Ecclenaslkis Offi.ciis, ii, 9, says: " Custodes 
 sacrarii, Levitae sunt. Ipsis enim jussum est custodire tabernaculum, 
 et omnia vasa tenipli . . . praeferentes speciem gravitatis." In his 
 Regula Monachorum, 20, he describes somewhat more fully the duties 
 of the position in a monastery church: " Ad custodem sacrarii 
 pertinet cura vel custodia templi, signum quoque dandi in vespertinis 
 nocturnisque officiis; vela, vestesque sacrae, ac vasa sacrorum, 
 codices quoque instrumentaque cuncta, oleum in usum sanctuarii, 
 cera et luminaria." 
 
 2 NearTulln. 
 
 8 A euphemism. Marcus Velserus justly remarks, " Quam misera 
 et deplorata illis temporibus harum provinciarum fuerit conditio, ex 
 uno isto foedere satis superque colUgi poterat, nisi reliqua omnis in 
 id argumentum conspiraret." Opera (Norimbergae, 1682), p. 667. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 31 
 
 of their safety, he exhorted them to be armed with 
 fasting and prayers and ahnsgivings, and set forth 
 examples of salvation from of old, in which the pro- 
 tection of God had freed his people in unforeseen and 
 wondrous ways. And when they hesitated to believe 
 one who at the very crisis of peril promised the safety 
 of all, the old man came who at Asturis had long been 
 the host of Severinus (how great a guest !) . When the 
 guards at the gates anxiously questioned the old man, 
 his deportment and words revealed the destruction of 
 his town. He added that it was destroyed on the 
 same day that a certain man of God had foretold. 
 When they heard this, they eagerly replied, " Thinkest 
 thou he is the same, who in our despair promises us the 
 assistance of God ? " Then straightway the old man 
 recognized the servant of God within the church, and 
 cast himself at his feet, saying that through his kind- 
 ness he had been spared the destruction which had 
 overtaken liis townsmen. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 When they had heard these things, the inhabitants of 
 Comagenis begged forgiveness for their unbelief, and 
 obeyed with holy works the admonitions of the man of 
 God. They made a fast, and assembled in the church 
 for the space of three days, reproaching their past sins 
 with groans and lamentations. But on the third day, 
 during the celebration of the evening sacrifice, there 
 
32 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 was a sudden earthquake;^ and the barbarians who 
 dwelt within the city were so terrorsmitten that they 
 compelled the Romans to open the gates for them in 
 haste. Then they rushed out tumultuously, and 
 scattered, supposing themselves besieged and sur- 
 rounded by near foes; and their terror was augmented 
 by divine influence, so that, in the wanderings and 
 confusion of the night, they slew one another with the 
 sword. Thus utter destruction consumed the enemy; 
 and the people, saved by the divine aid, learned 
 through the saint to fight with heavenly arms. 
 
 1 I think it probable that this is the earthquake mentioned in 
 Anonymus Cuspiniani, Chronicon (in Thomas Roncalhus, Vetustiora 
 Chronica, Patavii, 1787, ii, col. 124) under the year 455: " eversa est 
 Sabaria a Terraemotu VII. idus septemb. die Veneris "; and in the 
 same words, and imder the same year, in the Excerptiim Sangallense 
 (in Karl Frick, Chronica Minora, vol. i, 1892, p. 422). Sabaria was 
 in Upper Pannonia, about seventy miles southeast of Comagenis in a 
 straight line, or ninety-two Roman miles by road. Antonini Augusti 
 Itinerarium, pp. 233 f. Wesseling. 
 
 The date of this earthquake as given in the chronicles clearly can- 
 not be correct. The Friday before the Ides fell, in September 455, on 
 the Qth, not on the 7th. I suggest accordingly that, following 
 C. F. Roesler {Chronica Medii Aevi, Tubingae, 1798, i, p. 341), 
 we make the obvious emendation, and read " V. idus Septembres die 
 Veneris." Theodor Mommsen (Chronica Minora, BerUn, 1892-98, i, 
 p. 304; in Monumenta German iae Historica) suggests the reading 
 " IV.," " nisi in anno erratum est "; but he cannot be right. One 
 might, it is true, reach his result by using inadvertently a table like 
 that in Sir Harris Nicolas's The Chronology of History (London, 1835), 
 p. 49, which contains the dominical letters for 4000 years after the 
 Christian era, according to the New Style. The New Style, however, 
 does not apply to the fifth century. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 33 
 
 CHAPTER in 
 
 At the same time a cruel famine had prostrated a city j 
 named Favianis/ and the inhabitants believed that 1 
 their only remedy would be by devout prayers to j 
 invite the man of God from the town of Comagenis. i 
 He foreknew that they would come to him, and was j 
 moved by the Lord to go with them. When he had | 
 come thither, he began to exhort the people of the j 
 city, saying, " By the fruits of repentance ye shall be 
 able to be freed from so great a calamity of hunger." 
 While they were profiting by such instructions, moSt 
 blessed Severinus learned by divine revelation that a 
 certain widow, Procula by name, had concealed much 
 produce of the fields. He called her before the people, 
 and vehemently rebuked her. " Daughter of most 
 noble parents," he said, " why dost thou make thy- 
 self the handmaid of avarice and stand forth the slave 
 of covetousness, which is, as the apostle teaches, 
 idolatry ? ^ Lo, the Lord in his compassion hath 
 regard for his servants; and thou shalt not have any 
 use for thine ill-gotten wealth, except to cast into the 
 stream of the Danube the corn too long withheld, and 
 so to exhibit to fishes the humanity which thou hast 
 
 1 On the Danube between Tulln and Lorch; perhaps near the 
 site of the present town of Mautern. 
 
 2 Colossians, iii, 5 ; Ephesians, v, 5. Of these passages the former is 
 of course the one to which direct reference is made. Bolland, Sauppe, 
 Rodenberg, Knoell, and Mommsen, all have followed Surius in giving 
 only the reference to Ephesians, which is purely secondary. 
 
34 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 denied to men I Wherefore aid thyself rather than the 
 poor from those things which thou yet thinkest to 
 keep, while Christ hungers." ^ When she heard these 
 sayings, the woman was filled with great fear and 
 trembling; and began willingly to expend her hoards 
 for the poor. 
 
 Not long after, there unexpectedly appeared at the 
 
 bank of the Danube a vast number of boats from the 
 
 Raetias, laden with great quantities of merchandise, 
 
 which had been hindered for many days by the thick 
 
 I ice of the river Aenus.^ When at last God's command 
 
 I had loosed the ice, they brought down an abundance 
 
 I of food to the famine-stricken. Then all began to 
 
 i praise God with uninterrupted devotion, as the 
 
 ' bestower of unhoped rehef; for they had expected to 
 
 I perish, wasted by the long famine, and they acknowl- 
 
 I edged that manifestly the boats had come out of due 
 
 / season, loosed from the ice and frost by the prayers of 
 
 i the servant of God.^ 
 
 I 1 Matthew, xxv, 35-42; Salvian, Adversus Avaritiam, iv, 4: 
 
 I " Christus . . . cum esurientibus esurit . . . quid ais, o homo, qui 
 Christianum te esse dicis, . . . Christus esurit, et tu delitias affluen- 
 tibus paras ? " 
 2 The Inn. 
 
 2 " Cahdis Severini precibus solutae." Andreas Brunner, Anna- 
 Hum Boicorum Partes III (ed. nova, Francofurti ad Moenum, 1710), 
 col. 118. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 At the same time barbarian robbers made an unex- 
 pected plundering incursion, and led away captive all 
 the men and cattle they found without the walls. 
 Then many of the citizens flocked weeping to the man 
 of God, recounted to him the destructive calamity 
 that had come upon them, and showed him evidences 
 of the recent rapine. 
 
 But he straitly questioned Mamertinus, then a 
 tribune, who afterwards was ordained bishop, whether 
 he had with him any armed men with whom to 
 institute an energetic pursuit of the robbers. Mamer- 
 tinus replied, " I have soldiers, a very few. But I 
 dare not contend with such a host of enemies. How- 
 ever, if thou commandest it, venerable father, though 
 we lack the aid of weapons yet we beUeve that through 
 thy prayers we shall be victorious." And the servant 
 of God said, " Even if thy soldiers are unarmed, they 
 shall now be armed from the enemy. For neither 
 numbers nor fleshly courage is required, when every- 
 thing proves that God is our champion. Only in the 
 name of the Lord advance swiftly, advance confi- 
 dently. For when God in his compassion goes 
 before, the weakest shall seem the bravest. The 
 Lord shall fight for you,i and ye shall be silent. 
 Then make haste ; and this one thing observe above 
 everything, to conduct unharmed into my presence 
 those of the barbarians whom thou shalt take." 
 
 1 Exodus, xiv, 14. 
 
2,6 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 Then they went forth. At the second milestone, by 
 a brook which is called Tiguntia, they came upon the 
 foe. Some of the robbers escaped by hasty flight, 
 abandoning their weapons. The soldiers bound the 
 rest and brought them captive to the servant of God, 
 as he had commanded. He freed them from chains, 
 refreshed them with food and drink, and briefly ad- 
 dressed them. '' Go," he said, " and command your 
 confederates not to dare to approach this place again 
 in their lust for booty. For the judgment and retri- 
 bution of heaven shall straightway punish them, since 
 God fights for his servants, whom his supernal power 
 is wont so to protect that hostile missiles do not inflict 
 wounds upon them, but rather furnish them with 
 arms." Then the barbarians were sent away; and he 
 rejoiced over the miracles of Christ, and promised 
 that through Christ's compassion Favianis should 
 have no further experience of hostile pillage; only let 
 neither prosperity nor adversity withdraw the citizens 
 from the work of God. 
 
 Then Saint Severinus withdrew into a more remote 
 spot, which was called Ad Vineas, where a small cell 
 contented him.^ But he was compelled by a divine 
 revelation to return to Favianis; ^ so that, though the 
 
 ^ Georg Kaufmarm says, " Seine Wohnung war eine Zelle, oft auch 
 eine Hohle." Deutsche Gesckichte bis auf Karl den Grossen (Leipsic, 
 1880-81), ii, p. 25. I find this cavern only in Kaufmann's work. 
 
 2 Favianis was long identified with Vienna by an erroneous tradi- 
 tion. Joannes Cuspinianus, the great sixteenth century scholar, 
 believed that his estate in the suburbs of Vienna comprised Ad Vineas 
 and the cell of Severinus. Austria (Francofurti, 1601), pp. 55, 69: 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 37 
 
 quiet of his cell was dear to him, he yet obeyed the 
 commands of God and built a monastery not far from 
 the city.^ There he began to instruct great numbers 
 in the sacred way of Ufe, training the souls of his 
 hearers rather by deeds than by words.^ He often 
 
 " Villam enim S. Severini, ubi cellam habuit pius pater S. Severinus, 
 jam ego possideo, ubi nobilissima crescunt vineta, arboribus illic 
 desectis ac purgatis. ... a sancto Severino patria lingua Severin 
 appellatur." 
 
 Cuspinianus calls Severinus " second apostle of Austria " (secim- 
 dariiis Austriae apostolus, alter Anstralium apostolus), the first being 
 Quirinus, and reckons him among the six patron saints of that coun- 
 try: the martyrs Quirinus, Maximilian, Florian; Severinus; Coknan 
 the Irish pilgrim; Margrave Leopold III the Pious. On p. 70 of his 
 Austria is printed a poem by Joannes Stabius, " In Sanctos Austriae 
 Patronos Precatio," in forty-six hexameter verses. The poem con- 
 tains, however, nothing which seems to have individual reference to 
 Severinus, unless it be in vv. 32-38: 
 
 " Praesidio semper secura sit Austria vestro. 
 Morborum omne genus, quae corpora nostra fatigant, 
 Infandumque malum, crudelem avertite pestem. 
 Sit flavae Cereris, laeti sit copia Bacchi: 
 Tartareo sonitu reboent nee classica Martem, 
 Sed Pax alma ferens ramum felicis olivae 
 Illustret terras, soror et Concordia mitis." 
 
 1 It will be noted that the monasteries founded by Saint Severinus 
 were in the immediate neighborhood of cities. F. W. Rettberg calls 
 attention to this fact, and to its accordance with the monastic rule of 
 Saint Basil the Great: with which, he suggests, Severinus may have 
 become familiar during his wanderings in the Orient. Kirchenge- 
 schkhte Dentschlands (Gottingen, 1846-48), i, p. 231. Compare E. C. 
 Butler's article " Basilian Monks," in the Encyclopaedia Britannica 
 (nth ed.). 
 
 ' Wolfgang Lazius, using a singular figure, says that " from this 
 monastery, as if from the Trojan horse, went forth almost all the 
 bishops of Noricum." Vienna Austriae (Basileae, 1546), p. 54. Lazius 
 
7,8 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 withdrew, indeed, to a solitary habitation, called by 
 the neighbors Burgum, a mile from Favianis, that he 
 might avoid the throngs of men that kept coming to 
 him, and cleave to God in uninterrupted prayer. But 
 the more he desired to inhabit solitude, the more was 
 he warned by frequent revelations not to deny his 
 presence to the afflicted peoples. 
 
 And so day by day his merit grew, and the fame of 
 his virtues increased, and this spread far and wide, 
 and was extended by the marks of celestial favor con- 
 ferred upon him. For good things cannot be concealed, 
 since, according to the words of the Saviour, neither 
 can a candle be concealed under a bushel, nor a city 
 that is set on a hill be hid.^ 
 
 Among the other great gifts which the Saviour had 
 bestowed upon him stood out the gift of abstinence. 
 He subdued his flesh by innumerable fasts, teaching 
 that the body, if nourished with too abundant food, 
 will straightway bring destruction upon the soul. He 
 wore no shoes whatever. So at midwinter, which in 
 those regions is a time of cruel, numbing cold, he gave 
 a remarkable proof of endurance by being always will- 
 ing to walk barefoot. A well-known proof of the 
 terrible cold is afforded by the Danube, which is often 
 so soHdly frozen by the fierce frost that it affords a 
 secure crossing even for carts.^ Yet he whom the 
 
 gives a list of these bishops, which Marcus Hansitz handles very 
 roughly. Germania Sacra, i, pp. 74, 85 ff. 
 
 * Matthew, v, 14, 15. 
 
 * Jordanes {De Rebus Geticis, 55) says that the Danube " freezes 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 39 
 
 grace of God had elevated by such virtues was wont 
 to make acknowledgment with utmost humility, and 
 to say, " Think not that what ye see is of my merit. 
 It is rather an example for your salvation. Let the 
 foolhardiness of man cease. Let the pride of exalta- 
 tion be restrained. That we can do anything good, 
 we are chosen; as the apostle ^ saith, ' He hath chosen 
 us before the foundation of the world, that we should 
 be holy and without blame before him.' ^ Pray rather 
 in my behalf that the gifts of the Saviour to me may 
 serve not for greater condemnation, but for increase of 
 
 so hard that it will support like a solid rock an army of infantry, and 
 carts and sleds, or whatsoever vehicles there may be." 
 
 It is probable that modern regulation of the current of the Danube 
 by engineering works has had a tendency to prevent the formation of 
 extensive ice fields. Yet even now the stream is frozen annually in 
 Lower Hungary throughout several long stretches, which at the height 
 of the frost can occasionally be crossed with carts or sleds. In Ba- 
 varia, Austria, and Rumania, field ice does not form every winter. 
 Yet it sometimes happens even at Vienna — most recently in Janu- 
 ary, 1901 — that the ice is strong enough to allow foot travellers 
 a safe passage across the river. 
 
 I am indebted to the Imperial-Royal Central Bureau of Hydro- 
 graphy at Vienna for the information contained in the above para- 
 graph. One may consult also Anton Swarowsky's essay Die Eisver- 
 haltnisse der Donau in Bayern und Oslerreich von iS^o-go, in Geograph- 
 ische Ahhandliingen, edited by Albrecht Penck, Band v. Heft i 
 (Vienna and Olmiitz, 1891); and, for notices of the great frosts of 821 
 and 1076-77, Fritz Curschmann's Hungersnole im Mittelalter (Leipsic, 
 1900), pp. 94, 121. 
 
 1 It may be noted that in Eugippius the expression ' the apostle ' 
 always refers to Saint Paul. Eugippius never bestows upon Severi- 
 nus the appellation ' apostle of Noricum ' {apostolus Norici or aposto- 
 lus Noricorum), later so common. 
 
 ^ Ephesians, i, 4. 
 
40 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 justification." This and the Hke he was wont to 
 declare, weeping. Thus he taught men humility by 
 his wondrous example. Standing on the secure foun- 
 dation of this virtue, he shone with so great a splendor 
 of the divine gift that even the very enemies of the 
 church, the heretics, honored him with most reverent 
 courtesy. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 The king of the Rugii, Flaccitheus,^ began to feel him- 
 self unsteady on the throne at the very commencement 
 of his reign. The Goths in Lower Pannonia were 
 violently hostile to him, and he was alarmed by their 
 innumerable multitude. Therefore in his perils he 
 asked counsel of most blessed Severinus as of a 
 heavenly oracle. Once he came to him in exceeding 
 confusion, and declared with tears that he had asked 
 of the princes of the Goths a passage to Italy, and 
 
 1 A genealogical table of the Rugian royal house may be of service. 
 Numerals in parentheses refer to the chapters in which the individuals 
 are mentioned. 
 
 Flaccitheus (s, 8, 42). 
 
 Feletheus, or Feva (8, 22 ?, 31, Ferderuchus (42, 44) 
 
 33, 40, 42, 44) 
 
 married 
 Giso (8, 40, 44) 
 
 I 
 Fredericus (8, 44) 
 
 Feba, named in Chapter XXII, is probably the same as Feletheus, 
 
 or Feva. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 41 
 
 that, as they had denied this request, he did not doubt 
 that they would put him to death. Then Flaccitheus 
 received this reply from the man of God: " If the one 
 CathoHc faith united us, thou oughtest rather to con- 
 sult me concerning eternal life; ^ but since thou art 
 
 1 A comparison of this passage with the reference, in Chapter VIII, 
 to Queen Giso's attempt " to rebaptize certain Catholics," makes it 
 evident that the Rugii, or at least their sovereigns, were, like most of 
 the converted Germans of the fifth century and even later. Christians 
 of the Arian sect. The fact that the Rugii were Arians while the pro- 
 vincials were Catholics cooperated with the difference of race to pro- 
 duce a lack of complete sympathy and understanding between them. 
 On the other hand, it was entirely natural that the Rugii, as Chris- 
 tians, should assume the position towards the provincials that we find 
 them occupying more and more, of protectors against the depredations 
 of the German tribes that remained heathen: Alamanni and Thuringi 
 (Chapter XXXI, below, etc.); Heruli (Chapter XXIV); no doubt 
 also the Franks and Saxons, whom Ennodius {De Vila Beati Anloni, 
 12-14) names in connection with the Heruli as devastators of the 
 Paimonias during the ninth decade of the fifth century — cruel as 
 wild beasts; turning a populous land into a desert; worshipping gods 
 who, they believed, could be propitiated only by human victims; 
 slaughtering clerics by preference, as the sacrifices most acceptable to 
 their divinities. 
 
 Dr. Juhus von Pflugk-Harttung's vividly worded description of life 
 in Noricum in the time of Severinus (Allgemeine Weltgeschichte, iv, 
 p. 231) is somewhat confusing, because of his failure to point out 
 clearly this distinctive position of the Rugii. He says, " They and 
 their neighbor-tribes, Thuringi, Heruli, Alamanni, and Goths, came 
 from beyond the Danube in uninterrupted forays." There is no men- 
 tion in the Life of ' forays ' on the part of the Rugii, except in the 
 strictly technical sectarian sense of the confiscation of the monastery 
 plate and furniture (Chapter XLIV) ; on the contrary, they them- 
 selves suffered from plundering raids, as the next paragraph shows. 
 Dr. Pflugk-Harttung's reference to the Goths (Ostrogoths) is also not 
 to the point. They lived, not beyond the Danube but in Parmonia, 
 on the Roman side of the river (Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis, 50). Fur- 
 
42 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 anxious only over present safety, which is of common 
 concern to us both, hear my instruction. Be not 
 troubled by the multitude of the Goths or by their 
 enmity. They shall soon depart and leave thee 
 secure, and thou shalt reign in the prosperity which 
 thou hast desired. Only do not neglect the warn- 
 ings of my humility. Let it not irk thee to seek 
 peace even with the least; never lean upon thine own 
 strength. ' Cursed be the man,' saith the Scripture, 
 ' that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and 
 whose heart departeth from the Lord.'i Learn 
 therefore to beware of snares, not to lay them: and 
 thou shalt die in thy bed - with a peaceful end." 
 
 ther, they were Christians, partially civiHzed, and usually in alliance 
 with the Romans against their barbarian enemies. After the death 
 , of Attila there appears to have been only one period, comprising a few 
 months of the year 473, in which the Ostrogoths were hostile to the 
 Western Empire {ibid., 56). It is to that time that we may very rea- 
 sonably assign their attack upon Tiburnia in Noricum Mediterraneum 
 (Chapter XVII). 
 
 It is regrettable that The Cambridge Medieval History, i (191 1) 
 repeats the false view of the position of the Rugii. Mr. Ernest Bar- 
 ker, the writer of chapter xiv therein, "Italy and the West, 410-476," 
 says (p. 420) " The Rugii . . . appear in the history of the time . . . 
 as vexing with their inroads the parts of Noricum which lay imme- 
 diately south of the river. The Life of Saint Severinus . . . describes 
 their depredations "; and again (p. 425), " Parallel in some ways to 
 the position of Marcellinus and Aegidius is the beneficent theocracy 
 which Saint Severinus established about the same time in Noricum, a 
 masterless province unprotected by Rome, and harassed by the raids 
 of the Rugii from the north of the river." 
 
 ' Jeremiah, xvii, 5. 
 
 ^ In lechdo luo. Rodenberg renders atif deinem Lager: Professor 
 Hayes has " in thine own camp." 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 43 
 
 As Flaccitheus, encouraged by this oracle, was joy- 
 fully departing, a message was brought to him that a 
 band of plundering barbarians had taken captive 
 some of the Rugii. Straightway he sent to the man 
 of God to ask his counsel. Severinus, by revelation of 
 the Lord, forewarned Flaccitheus with holy exhorta- 
 tions not to follow the robbers. " If thou follow them," 
 he said, " thou wilt be slain. Take heed; cross not 
 the stream; be not taken unawares and overcome by 
 the triple ambush which has been prepared for thee! 
 For speedily a trusty messenger will come, who shall 
 inform thee concerning all these matters." Then 
 two of the captives, fleeing from the camp of the 
 enemy, related in order those things which the most 
 blessed man had foretold by revelation of Christ. 
 So the hostile ambush came to naught, and Flac- 
 citheus was prospered more and more, and ended his 
 days in peace and tranquillity. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Now after this one of the Rugii suffered incredible 
 pain from gout for twelve years, and lost all use of his 
 limbs. His intolerable torments were so long con- 
 tinued that they became well known to the neighbors 
 on every side. So at last, when divers remedies 
 availed nothing, his mother, a widow, put her son in a 
 cart, and having brought him to the saint, laid him 
 down in his desperate sickness at the door of the 
 
44 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 monastery, and prayed with many tears that her only 
 son might be restored to her whole. 
 
 But the man of God, perceiving that great things 
 were demanded of him, and moved by her weeping, 
 said: " Why am I oppressed by a deceitful fancy ? 
 Why am I thought to be able to do what I cannot ? 
 I have no power to accomplish such great things. 
 Yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained 
 mercy of God." ^ Then he charged the woman that 
 she should bestow something upon the poor, according 
 to her power. Without delay she quickly took off the 
 clothing which she wore, and was hastening to divide 
 it among the needy. When the man of God heard 
 this, he marvelled at her ardor, and again charged her 
 that she should clothe herself with her garments. 
 " When thy son," he said, " has been healed by the 
 Lord and goes with thee, then shalt thou fulfill thy 
 vows." 
 
 So he set a fast of a few days, as was his wont, and 
 poured forth prayers to God; and straightway healed 
 the sick man, and sent him home whole, walking 
 without aid. 
 
 Afterwards, when the man was present at the 
 crowded weekly market, he exhibited the miracle, and 
 astounded all who saw him. For some said, " Look, 
 it is he, whose whole body was dissolved in corrup- 
 tion "; while as others absolutely denied that it was 
 he, a friendly contention arose. 
 
 1 I Corinthians, vii, 25. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 45 
 
 Now from that time when health was restored to 
 the man who had been thought incurable, the whole 
 nation of the Rugii resorted to the servant of God, and 
 began to render grateful obedience, and to ask help 
 for their diseases. Likewise many of other races, 
 to which the fame of so great a miracle had come, 
 desired to see the soldier of Christ.^ With the same 
 reverence, even before this event, some barbarians, 
 on their way to Italy, turned aside with a view to 
 gaining his benediction. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Among such visitants was Odoacer, later king of Italy, 
 then a tall youth, meanly clad. While he stood, 
 stooping that his head might not touch the roof of the 
 lowly cell, he learned from the man of God that he 
 was to win renown. For as the young man bade him 
 
 1 Adolf Hamack discusses the early conceptions of the Christian 
 religion as a warfare, and of the Church as a military organization, in 
 the first part of his essay Militia Christi (Tubingen, 1905). An illus- 
 tration of the length to which these conceptions might be carried is 
 afforded by the biography of a disciple of Severinus, Ennodius's De 
 Vita Beati Antoni. Antonius, ' warrior of Christ,' decides to forsake 
 his Alpine hermitage and to join the ' regiment of the isle Lerina ' 
 (see note to Chapter XLIV, below) of ' the army of the saints.' " That 
 veteran battle-line is ever watchful, and repulses the enemy, after 
 transfixing him with many blows. They number their triumphs by 
 the wars which the devil wages against them. They are not afraid, 
 when the shrill battle-trumpet announces Satan's onset, and urges to 
 the fight. Daily combat ever makes soldiers skilled and brave, while 
 a long peace relaxes them." 
 
46 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 \ farewell, " Go forth! " said Severinus, " Go forth to 
 \ Italy! Now clad in wretched hides, thou shalt soon 
 ) distribute rich gifts to many." 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 King Feletheus, sometimes called Feva, son of Flac- 
 citheus, mentioned above, imitated his father's dili- 
 gence, and before the commencement of his reign began 
 to make frequent visits to the saint. His wife, Giso by 
 name, a dangerous and wicked woman,^ always drew 
 him back from the healing works of mercy. Among 
 the other pollutions of her iniquity, she even attemp- 
 ted to rebaptize certain Cathohcs.^ But when her 
 husband, out of his reverence for Saint Severinus, did 
 not consent, she incontinently abandoned her sacri- 
 legious purpose. Yet she oppressed the Romans 
 with a heavy hand, and even ordered some to be 
 removed beyond the Danube. For one day she came 
 to a village near Favianis, and commanded that certain 
 ones should be brought to her across the Danube to 
 be condemned to the most degrading offices of slavery. 
 The man of God sent to her and asked that she let 
 them go. But she, her woman's anger kindled to a 
 white heat, replied with a message of the greatest 
 
 1 Max Biidinger offers some excellent remarks on Giso's strongly 
 marked character. Oesterreichische Geschichte (Leipsic, 1858), i, p. 49. 
 
 2 " Ausa etiam Catholico ritu ablutos, sacrilege Arianorum fonte 
 denuo lustrare." Johann Adizreitter, Annalium Boicae Gentis Partes 
 III (ed. nova, Francofurti ad Moenum, 1710), col. 120. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 47 
 
 rudeness. " Pray for thyself," she said, " servant of 
 God, lurking in thy cell! Leave me to issue concern- 
 ing my servants such orders as I please." 
 
 When the man of God received this answer, he said, 
 " I put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. She shall 
 be compelled by necessity to do that which her per- 
 verse incUnation has despised." 
 
 Even so the swift stroke followed which cast down 
 her haughty spirit. For there were certain gold- 
 smiths, barbarians, shut up and straitly guarded that 
 they might fashion ornaments for the king and queen. 
 On the same day on which the queen had spurned the 
 servant of God, the Httle son of King Feletheus, Fred- 
 ericus by name, moved by childish curiosity, went in 
 among them. Then the goldsmiths put a sword at 
 the child's breast, saying that if any one should 
 attempt to approach them without the safeguard of 
 an oath, they would first run through the Httle prince, 
 and afterwards slay themselves; since, worn out by 
 toil and confinement, they were utterly desperate. 
 When this came to the ears of the cruel and ungodly 
 queen, she rent her garments for grief, and cried 
 aloud, " O Severinus, servant of the Lord, thus are 
 the insults I have offered avenged by thy God! 
 With profuse prayers thou hast called down vengeance 
 upon my scorn, that thou might be avenged in my 
 offspring! " So, running to and fro, with manifold 
 contrition and pitiable lamentation, she acknowl- 
 edged that she was smitten by this blow in recompense 
 for the crime of scorn which she had committed 
 
48 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 against the servant of God. And she instantly dis- 
 patched horsemen to seek his pardon; and sent back 
 the Romans whom that very day she had removed, 
 and interceding for whom Severinus had been visited 
 with her scorn. The goldsmiths received the surety 
 of an oath, released the child, and were at the same 
 time themselves released. 
 
 When he heard these things, the most reverent ser- 
 vant of Christ returned unbounded thanks to the 
 Creator: who doth sometimes postpone answering 
 prayer, in order that with the increase of faith, hope, 
 and love he may grant greater blessings than are 
 asked. For the omnipotence of the Saviour brought 
 it to pass that when the cruel woman subjected the 
 free to slavery, she was compelled to restore the slaves 
 to Hberty. 
 
 When these wonders had been accomplished, the 
 queen forthwith hastened with her husband to the 
 servant of God, and showed him her son, who, she 
 acknowledged, had been rescued by his prayers from 
 the brink of death. And she promised that she would 
 never again resist his commands. 
 
 CHAPTER DC 
 
 Not only was the servant of God endowed with the 
 gift of prophecy, but also his diligence in redeeming 
 captives was great. For he appUed himself with 
 eagerness to the task of restoring to their native 
 liberty those oppressed by the sway of the barbarians. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 49 
 
 Meanwhile he instructed a certain man, whom with 
 wife and children he had redeemed, to cross the 
 Danube, and seek out an unknown man at the weekly- 
 market of the barbarians. Divine revelation had 
 shown him the man so clearly that he told even his 
 stature and the color of his hair, his features, and the 
 fashion of his clothing, and showed in what part of the 
 market the messenger was to find hun. He added 
 that whatever the person, when found, should say to 
 the messenger, the latter, returning in all haste, should 
 report to him. 
 
 So the messenger departed, and to his astonishment 
 found everything even as the man of God had fore- 
 told. He was amazed to find the man Severinus had 
 described; who then questioned him, saying, " Think- 
 est thou that I can find someone to conduct me to the 
 man of God, whose fame is everywhere spread abroad ? 
 I will pay what price he wishes. For long have I 
 importuned the holy martyrs, whose relics I bear, 
 that sometime my unworthiness may be freed from 
 this service, which hitherto I have maintained not 
 out of rash presumption but by pious necessity." 
 Then the messenger of the man of God made himself 
 known to him. Severinus received with due honor the 
 rehcs of Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius the 
 martyrs,^ placed them in the church which he had 
 built within the monastery, and committed them to 
 
 1 There is an account of Gervasius and Protasius, the martyrs of 
 Milan, in Tillemont's Ecclesiastical Memoirs (English translation by 
 Thomas Deacon, London, 1 731-35. "> PP- 61-67). 
 
50 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 the care of the priests. In that place he assembled 
 the relics of vast numbers of martyrs; but he always 
 acquired them on the strength of a previous revelation, 
 for he knew that the adversary often creeps in ^ under 
 the guise of sanctity.^ 
 
 He was asked to accept the honorable office of 
 bishop. But he closed the matter with a determined 
 refusal. It was enough for him, he said, that, with- 
 drawn from his beloved solitude, he had come by 
 divine direction to that province to live among the 
 pressing, crowding throngs. Nevertheless he wished 
 to give a pattern to the monks, and urged them to 
 follow earnestly in the steps of the sainted fathers, 
 and thence to gain instruction in holy conduct. 
 They must strive, he admonished them, that he who 
 hath forsaken parents and the world look not back and 
 desire the allurements of worldly display which he had 
 sought to escape. On this point he referred to the 
 
 1 Adopting Velserus's reading suhrepere. 
 
 2 Severinus was not tiie first to adopt this laudable attitude of 
 caution in dealing with supposed relics. Sulpicius Severus, De Beati 
 Martini Vita, 1 1, tells that Saint Martin, finding no clear evidence as to 
 the contents of a tomb supposed to be hallowed by the remains of 
 martyrs, prayed for a divine revelation. " Then he turned to the left, 
 and saw close at hand a foul and savage ghost. He commanded the 
 spectre to tell his name and desert. The spectre made known his 
 name, he confessed his crime; he had been a robber, put to death for 
 his wicked deeds, honored by the blunder of the mob; he had nothing 
 in common with martyrs; they were in glory, he was in torment. The 
 bystanders heard the spectre's voice, but did not see his form. Then 
 Martin related what he had seen, and ordered that the altar which 
 was there should be removed from the place. So he set free the people 
 from the error of that superstition." 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 51 
 
 terrible example of Lot's wife.^ He admonished like- 
 wise that the incentives to lusts must be mortified in 
 the fear of the Lord; and declared that the fires of 
 sensual delights cannot be conquered, except through 
 the grace of God they be quenched in the fountain of 
 tears. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 There was a janitor ^ at the monastery church, Mau- 
 rus by name, whom Saint Severinus had redeemed 
 from the hands of the barbarians. One day the man 
 of God warned him, saying, " Take heed to-day not 
 to go away anywhere: otherwise thou shalt be in 
 imminent peril." But the janitor, contrary to the 
 warning of the great father, and persuaded by a lay- 
 
 1 Genesis, xix, 26; Luke, xvii, 32. 
 
 ^ That this is here the meaning of aedituus is shown by the Table 
 of Chapters, where it is represented by ostiarius. The office of aedi- 
 tuus in the pagan temple, however, corresponds rather to that of 
 custos in the Christian church (see Chapter I, above), being a position 
 of some dignity. Ausonius, Commemoratio Professorum Burdigalen- 
 sium, X, 22-30, speaks of Phoebicius, a professor who had been Beleni 
 aedituus. DuCange gives the definition " Aedituus, Ostiarius, 
 gradus ecclesiasticus; cui aedis sacrae custodia incumbit, custos": 
 an impossible one, since ostiarius and custos are quite different officials. 
 The word never really became naturalized in Christian hterature. 
 Paulinus of Nola uses it, it is true (Epistolae, i, 10; in Migne's Patro- 
 logia Latina, vol. Ixi, col. 158) ; but he was a friend and correspondent 
 of Ausonius. 
 
 Theo Sommerlad, Die Lebensheschreihung Severins als kuUurge- 
 schichtliche Quelle (Leipsic, 1903), p. S3, fails to notice that Eugippius 
 uses aedituus and ostiarius interchangeably both at this place and 
 in Chapter XVI, below, and accordingly wrongly considers aedituus 
 equivalent to the ecclesiae custos of Chapter I. 
 
52 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 man, went out at midday to gather fruit ^ at the second 
 milestone from Favianis. Presently he and the lay- 
 man were made captives by barbarians and carried 
 across the Danube. In that hour the man of God, 
 reading in his cell, suddenly closed the book, and said, 
 " Seek Maurus speedily! " When the janitor was 
 nowhere found, Severinus crossed the streams of the 
 Danube in all haste, and hurried after the robbers, 
 whom the people called Scamarae.^ Stricken with 
 awe by his reverend presence, they humbly restored 
 the captives whom they had taken. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 While the upper towns of Riverside Noricum yet 
 stood, and hardly a castle ^ escaped the attacks of the 
 barbarians, the fame and reputation of Saint Severinus 
 shone so brightly that the castles vied with each other 
 
 1 The country along the Danube was probably then, as now, rich in 
 orchards. Expositio totiiis Mundi et Gentium, 57; A. A. Muchar, 
 Das romische Norikum (Gratz, 1825-26), ii, p. 186. 
 
 2 These organized bands of robbers appear again early in the sixth 
 century, beyond the Danube (Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis, 58; Amedee 
 Thierry, Histoire d'Attila el de ses Sticcesseurs, Paris, 1856, i, pp. 
 288 f.); and, about 570, in Pannonia, under the name of Sxajudpeis 
 (Menander Protector, Boimae, 1829, p. 313). 
 
 3 Castellum. Knoell considers that the word is equivalent to 
 'town' (oppidum). But in Chapter XVII Eugippius contrasts the 
 terms, saying ' towns or castles ' (oppida vel caslcUa). 
 
 Not forgetting that in the Vulgate castellum is the regular render- 
 ing for the Greek Koijir), ' village ', I am inclined to think that the 
 proper meaning in the Life is ' fortified town ', or perhaps one might 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 53 
 
 in inviting his company and protection ; believing that 
 no misfortune would happen to them in his presence. 
 This came to pass not without the aid of divine grace, 
 that all might stand in awe of his commands, as of 
 heavenly oracles, and be armed for good works through 
 his example. 
 
 Moreover the holy man, summoned by the prayers 
 of the vicinage, came to a castle named Cucullis,^ 
 and there a mighty miracle was wrought, which I 
 cannot pass by in silence. We heard the amazing 
 story from Marcianus, a citizen of the same town, 
 later our priest. A part of the populace of CuculHs 
 continued to practise abominable sacrifices at a cer- 
 tain spot.^ When he learned of this sacrilege, the 
 
 say ' fort ' in the frontier sense of a fortified settlement. See Du 
 Cange, Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis, s. v.; and compare 
 Salvian, De Gubernatione Dei, v, 44. 
 
 ^ Now Kuchel. 
 
 2 Amedee Thierry interprets these as " sacrifices humains, pour 
 apaiser la destinee." Recits de VHistoire Romaine an V" Siccle (Paris, 
 i860), p. 148. It is doubtfid if we are justified in pushing specification 
 so far. Any heathen rites would have appeared ' abominable ' both 
 to Severinus and to Eugippius. A Christian writer who wishes to 
 accuse pagans of human sacrifices is likely to make the charge in so 
 many words. Ennodius does so (De Vita Beati Antoni, 13) in speak- 
 ing of the heathen barbarian tribes — Franks, Heruli, Saxons — who 
 were ravaging the Pannonias at this time or a little later. 
 
 Mention was made above (Chapter V, note) of this passage in the 
 Life of Antonius. Though Ennodius speaks of ' the Pannonias,' the 
 cormection makes it clear that his account is intended to apply also 
 to Noricum, particularly the territory about Lauriacum. Antonius 
 was nephew of Constantius, bishop of Lauriacum, who is named below 
 (Chapter XXX), and after the death of Severinus remained at Lau- 
 riacum under the protection of his uncle until the latter's decease. 
 
54 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 man of God addressed the people in many discourses. 
 He persuaded the priests of the place to enjoin a three 
 days' fast; and he instructed that waxen tapers 
 should be brought from each house, and that every- 
 one should fasten his taper with his own hand to the 
 wall of the church. Then, when the customary 
 psalm-singing was completed, and the hour of the 
 sacrifice arrived, the man of God exhorted the priests 
 and deacons that with all alacrity of heart they should 
 join him in prayer to their common Lord; that the 
 Lord might show the hght of his knowledge to dis- 
 tinguish those guilty of sacrilege. So while he was 
 praying with them at great length, weeping much, 
 and on his knees, the greater part of the tapers, those 
 namely which the faithful had brought, were sud- 
 denly kindled by divine agency. The rest remained 
 unhghted, being the tapers of those who had been 
 polluted by the aforesaid sacrilege, but, wishing to 
 remain hidden, had denied it. Thus those who had 
 placed them were revealed by the divine test; and 
 straightway they cried out, and by their behavior 
 sufficiently betrayed the secrets of their hearts. Con- 
 victed by the witness of their tapers, and by open 
 confession, they bore witness to their own sacrilegious 
 acts. 
 
 O merciful power of the Creator, enkindling tapers 
 and souls! The fire was lighted in the tapers, and 
 shone with reflected Hght in the emotions! The 
 visible light melted into flames the substance of the 
 wax, but the invisible light dissolved the hearts of the 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 55 
 
 penitents into tears ! Who would believe, that after- 
 ward those whom the error of sacrilege had ensnared 
 were more distinguished for good works than those 
 whose tapers had been divinely Hghted ? 
 
 CHAPTER Xn 
 
 At another time, in the territory of the same castle, 
 swarms of locusts had settled, consuming the crops, 
 and destroying everything with their noxious bite.^ 
 Therefore, being smitten by this pest, the priests and 
 the other inhabitants promptly betook themselves 
 with urgent prayers to Saint Severinus, saying: " That 
 this great and horrible plague may be removed, we ask 
 the tried suffrage of thy prayers, which by the recent 
 great miracle of the tapers lighted from heaven we 
 have seen to avail much before the Lord." He 
 answered them with great piety. " Have ye not read," 
 he said, " what the divine authority commanded a 
 sinful people through the prophet: ' Turn ye to me 
 with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weep- 
 ing,' 2 and a little after, ' sanctify a fast,' he saith, 
 
 ' According to Marcellinus Comes, Chronicon, " numberless battal- 
 ions of locusts wasted the harvest of Phrygia " in 456. Accounts of 
 the devastations of these insects in 873 (throughout Europe) and in 
 1 195 and 1242 (in the Austrian lands) may be found in Curschmann's 
 Hungersnole im MittelaUer, pp. loo f., 157, 175. In 1242, if we may 
 believe the chronicler, " Locusts of huge size invaded Austria in such 
 numbers, that they consumed most of the vineyards and orchards, 
 and moreover gnawed to pieces horses and cattle feeding in the 
 fields." 
 
 ^ Joel, ii, 12. 
 
56 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 ' call a solemn assembly, gather the congregation/ ^ 
 and the rest which follows ? Therefore fulfill by meet 
 works what ye teach, that ye may readily escape the 
 evil of the present time. Let no one go out to his field, 
 as if concerned to oppose the locusts by human effort; 
 lest the divine wrath be yet more provoked." With- 
 out delay all gathered together in the church, and each 
 in order sang psalms as was their custom. Every age 
 and sex, even such as could not form the words, 
 offered prayer to God in tears, alms were continually 
 given, whatever good works the present necessity 
 demanded were fulfilled, as the servant of God had 
 instructed. 
 
 While all were occupied with exertions of this sort, 
 a certain very poor man forsook the work of God that 
 was begun, to look after his own field of standing corn, 
 a Uttle plot which stood among the sowings of the 
 others. And having gone out, and all day anxiously 
 and diligently driven away, so far as he could, the 
 threatening cloud of locusts, he then went to the 
 church to partake of the holy communion. But his 
 httle patch of corn, surrounded by his neighbors' 
 many crops, was devoured by the dense swarm of 
 locusts. 
 
 The locusts were that night by divine command 
 removed from those territories: a proof of the great 
 power of faithful prayer. So when at dawn the viola- 
 tor and scorner of the holy work again went forth 
 
 » Joel, ii, IS, i6. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 57 
 
 anxiously to his field, he found it swept perfectly bare 
 by the baleful work of the locusts, while all the sowings 
 round about were untouched. Utterly amazed, he 
 returned with doleful outcries to the castle. When he 
 had published what had happened, all went out to see 
 the miracle; where the ravages of the locusts had 
 marked out as if by a ruled line the corn plot of this 
 contumacious fellow. Then he cast himself at their 
 feet and with lamentations begged for the pardon of his 
 sin by the aid of their intercession. Wherefore the 
 man of God took occasion to give a warning, and 
 taught all that they should learn to obey the Lord 
 omnipotent, whose commands even the locusts 
 observe. 
 
 But the poor man, weeping, declared that, for the 
 rest, he could obey the commands, if but a hope of 
 wherewithal he might Hve had been left him. Then 
 the man of God addressed the others. " It is just," 
 he said, " that he who through his own punishment 
 hath given you an example of humility and obedience 
 should of your liberality receive sustenance for the 
 present year." So the poor man, both rebuked and 
 enriched by a collection from the faithful, learned 
 what loss unbelief inflicts, and what benefit God's 
 bounty bestows upon his worshippers. 
 
58 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Near a town called Juvao/ they went into the church 
 
 lone summer day to celebrate the evening service, but 
 
 /found no fire for Hghting the lamps. Unable to eHcit 
 
 / a blaze in the usual way, by striking stones together, 
 
 / they were so long delayed in striking iron and stone ^ 
 
 / that the time of the evening service was passing. But 
 
 i the man of God kneeled on the ground and prayed 
 
 / earnestly; and soon, in full view of three clerics who 
 
 / were present at the time, the taper which Saint 
 
 Severinus held in his hand was lighted.^ By its light 
 
 j the sacrifice of eventide was completed in the custo- 
 
 / mary manner, and they returned thanks to God in all 
 
 / things. Although he wished those who were present 
 
 i at this miracle to keep the fact secret, as in the case of 
 
 4 
 
 f ' Juvao or Juvavum, now Salzburg. 
 
 2 " Rarissimus praeter exspectationem hie usus erat, si scriptorum 
 auctoritas in hac re omnino quidquam valet." M. H. Morgan, " De 
 Ignis eliciendi Modis apud Antiques," in Harvard Studies in Classical 
 Philology, i (1890), p. 38. 
 
 ' A similar miracle is related of Alveus, or Alneus, a Gallic saint of 
 the sixth century. " One night he arose for the early morning vigils, 
 and entered the church with the rest of the brethren. They found 
 that the hghts which usually burned there were out. Saint Alveus 
 kneeled in prayer. The disciples searched for a light; but they could 
 find no fire. The hour was already late, and the disciples reminded the 
 saint of the lateness of the hour. Presently he rose from prayer, and 
 made the sign of the cross above the waxen taper. The taper was 
 kindled instantly through the excellence of God and the merits of the 
 saint, and gave a splendid light for all who were in the building." 
 Acta Sanctorum, September, iii (1750), p. 808. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 59 
 
 many mighty works which were performed through 
 him by God's doing, yet the splendor of so great virtue 
 could not be hid, but surpassingly kindled others to a 
 great faith. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 It happened that a certain woman of Juvao was vexed 
 by long continued sickness and lay half -dead, and the / 
 burial was already prepared. Her relatives, in mourn- / 
 ful silence, repressed funereal lamentations at the voice [' 
 of faith, and laid the sick woman's now almost Hfeless i 
 body at the door of the saint's cell. When the 
 man of God saw the entrance closed by the bed set 
 against it, he said to them, " Why have ye done this ? " 
 They answered, " That by thy prayer the dead may be 
 restored to life." Then he said, bursting into tears, \ 
 " Why do ye demand the great from the little ? I \ 
 know myself utterly unworthy. O that I may ■ 
 deserve to find pardon for my sins! " They said, 
 " We beheve that if thou pray, she will live again." 
 Then Saint Severinus straightway wept, and cast him- 
 self down in prayer; and when the woman forthwith 
 arose, he addressed them: " Do not attribute to my 
 works any of these things ; for the vehemence of your 
 faith hath merited this grace, and this cometh to pass 
 in many places and nations, that it may be known • 
 that there is one God, who doeth wonders in heaven / 
 and on earth, calHng forth the lost unto salvation, and ■ 
 brmging back the dead to Hfe." The woman, her 
 
6o EUGIPPIUS 
 
 health restored, on the third day began to labor with 
 her own hands in the fields, after the custom of the 
 
 \ province. 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 QuiNTANis ^ was a municipahty of Raetia Secunda,^ 
 situated on the bank of the Danube. Near by on the 
 other side ran a small river named Businca. Often the 
 Businca, when swollen in time of flood by the overflow 
 of the Danube, covered some spaces of the castle, 
 because the latter stood on the plain. Moreover the 
 inhabitants of this place had built outside the walls a 
 wooden church which overhung the water, and was 
 supported by posts driven into the riverbed and by 
 forked props. In place of a flooring it had a slippery 
 platform of boards, which were covered by the over- 
 flowing water whenever it rose above the banks. 
 
 1 In the Notitia Dignilatum Quintanis appears as a garrison town, 
 commanded by the praefedus alae primae Flavii Raetorum. It is now 
 represented by Osterhofen. 
 
 ^ Eugippius, whose earlier years were spent in the Danubian lands, 
 tells of conditions there as he remembers them many years before the 
 close of the fifth century. Raetia Secunda then included, nominally 
 at least, the plain country between the Alps, the Inn, and the Dan- 
 ube; Raetia Prima, the whole central Alpine region. It seems clear 
 that at the time of his writing (511) Raetia Secunda lay entirely in 
 the Alps, and comprised the eastern part of the old Raetia Prima; 
 while from the level country to the north, subject though it might be 
 to the more or less shadowy overlordship of Theodoric the Ostrogoth 
 as successor of Old Rome, all vestiges of the provincial name and 
 administration had vanished. E. A. Quitzmann, Die alteste Geschichte 
 der Baiern (Brunswick, 1873), p. 123. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 6i 
 
 Now through the faith of the people of Quintanis 
 Saint Severinus had been invited thither. Coming 
 at a time of drought, he asked why the boards were 
 seen bare and uncovered. The neighbors answered 
 that the frequent inundations of the river always 
 washed away anything that was spread on the boards. 
 But he said, " In Christ's name, let a pavement be 
 now laid upon the boards; from henceforth ye shall 
 see the river restrained by the command of heaven." 
 So when the pavement was finished, he went down 
 into a boat, took an axe, and, after offering prayer, 
 struck the posts; and, having cut the sign of the 
 venerable cross, said to the water of the river, " My 
 Lord Jesus Christ doth not permit thee to overpass 
 this sign of the cross." From that time, therefore, 
 when the river after its wont rose mountain high in 
 floods and encompassed the neighboring country as of 
 yore, it was lower than the site of the church, in such 
 wise that it never actually overpassed the sign of the 
 holy cross which the man of God had marked. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Moreover it happened that there died a highly 
 venerable priest of Quintanis, Silvinus by name. The 
 bier was placed in the church, and, according to the 
 custom, they passed the night watching and singing 
 psalms. When the dawn was already breaking, the 
 man of God asked all the weary priests and deacons 
 
62 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 to go away for a little while, that after the toil of watch- 
 ing they might refresh themselves somewhat by sleep. 
 When they had gone out, the man of God asked the 
 doorkeeper, Maternus by name, whether all had 
 departed as he had bidden. When Maternus answered 
 that all had gone out, " Not so," he said, " but there is 
 a woman hiding here." Then the janitor of the 
 church explored the walls a second time, and assured 
 him that no one remained within them. But the 
 soldier of Christ, the Lord revealing it to him, said, 
 " Some one is lurking here." So the doorkeeper 
 searched more diligently for the third time, and found 
 that a certain consecrated virgin had concealed herself 
 in a very obscure place. Therefore the doorkeeper 
 reproved her: " Why didst thou think that thy pres- 
 ence could be hid when the servant of God was 
 here ? " She answered, " Love of piety persuaded 
 me to do it: for when I saw all driven out, I thought 
 within myself that the servant of Christ would invoke 
 the divine majesty, and raise up this dead man." 
 Then the virgin departed, and the man of God, bowing 
 in prayer together with a priest, a deacon, and two 
 janitors, prayed with many tears that the supernal 
 power might reveal a work of its wonted majesty. 
 Then, as the priest ended the prayer, the saint thus 
 addressed the corpse: "In the name of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, holy priest Silvinus, speak with thy 
 brothers! " But when the dead man opened his eyes, 
 the man of God with difficulty persuaded those present 
 to restrain their joy and keep silent. And again he 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 63 
 
 speaketh unto him, " Shall we ask the Lord that he 
 deign to grant thee still in this life to us, his servants ?" 
 But he saith, " By the Lord I adjure thee, let me not be 
 held here longer, and cheated of the everlasting rest in 
 the possession of which I have seen myself." And 
 immediately, when he had spoken, the dead man was 
 
 at rest.^ 
 
 Now this event was so concealed at the earnest 
 request of Saint Severinus, that no one knew of it 
 until after his death. Yet I learned what I have 
 reported from the account of Marcus the subdeacon 
 and Maternus the janitor. For the priest and the 
 deacon, witnesses of this great miracle, are known to 
 have died before the saint, to whom they had sworn 
 to reveal to no one that which they had seen. 
 
 CHAPTER XVn 
 
 Not only did the grace of Christ make Saint Severinus 
 rich in such gifts, but also from his innate goodness he 
 took so great care of captives and the needy that 
 ahnost all the poor through all the towns and castles 
 
 1 The gratitude of the catechumen recalled to life by Saint Martin 
 was greater in proportion as his reception in the other world had been 
 different. Sulpicius Severus, De Beati Martini Vita, vii, 4-6. 
 
 An engraving which represents this scene is mentioned in the Pre- 
 face. There is another in J. H. von Falckenstein's Anliquitates et 
 Memorabilia Nordgaviae Veteris (Schwabach, i734-43)> h tab. vii, 
 opposite p. 202. The latter is of especial interest in that it portrays 
 the two doorkeepers, or janitors, in military costume, one of them 
 leaning upon a huge battle-axe. 
 
64 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 were fed by his activity. To these he ministered with 
 such cheerful concern, that he believed himself to be 
 filled or to abound in all good things only when he 
 saw that the needy had their bodily wants supplied. 
 
 Though he himself was not in the least enfeebled by 
 repeated week-long fasts, yet he felt himself afficted 
 by the hunger of the unfortunate. When they saw 
 his pious largess to the poor, great numbers, although 
 they were straitened with hunger under the harsh 
 sway of the barbarians, faithfully gave the poor the 
 tithes of their crops. Though this commandment is 
 familiar to all from the law,i yet these observed it with 
 
 ' Paul Viard, Histoire de la Dime EccUsiastique (Dijon, 1909), gives 
 an excellent account of the origin of tithing in the early church, and 
 also (pp. 44 f., 49) discusses this passage at length. Some of his con- 
 clusions may be briefly stated as follows. The only references to 
 tithes in the Gospels (Matthew, xxiii, 23; Luke, xi, 42; xviii, 12) are 
 in rebuke of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The Christians of the 
 first four centuries did not recognize the Jewish tithe. They did in 
 some instances acknowledge the tax of the first fruits. Insistence 
 upon the tithe begins to appear about the end of the fourth century. 
 In the East, its champion was Saint John Chrysostom {In Malthaeum 
 Homilia Ixiv {Ixv), in Migne's Patrologia Graeca, Iviii, col. 615). In 
 the West, it was advocated in two forms. Jerome {Explanalio in 
 Malachiam,u\,T, in Migne^s Patrologia Latino, xkv, coll. 1568-1571; 
 and Epistola ad Nepotianum de Vita Clericorum et Sacerdotum, in 
 Migne, xxii, col. 531) considers that the ancient law is still in force, and 
 that the proceeds of the tithe should be for the support of the clergy. 
 Augustine likewise {Sermones, Ixxxv, 4, in Migne, xxxviii, col. 522) 
 holds to the obligation of the tithe, at least upon the conscience, using 
 the text Matthew, v, 20, " except your righteousness shall exceed the 
 righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees "; but he directs it to the 
 support of the poor. The later development of church polity, finally 
 crystallized into definite enactments at the second council of M&con 
 in 585, was a compromise between these two views. Severinus, on the 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 65 
 
 grateful devotion, as though they were hearing it 
 given by the lips of an angel present among them. 
 The cold, too, was felt by the man of God only in the 
 nakedness of the poor. Indeed, he had received from 
 God the special gift of remaining vigorous and active, 
 hardened by his wonderful abstinence, in a land of 
 
 bitter cold. 
 
 We spoke of tithes for the support of the poor. He 
 was wont to send letters, urging the communities of 
 Noricum^ also to give them. This became their 
 custom, and once, when they had sent to him a 
 quantity of clothing to be distributed, he asked the 
 attendants whether the town of Tiburnia ^ was send- 
 ing a like contribution. They answered that men 
 from that place also would soon arrive. But the man 
 of God signified that they should not come, and fore- 
 told that the offering which they had delayed must be 
 made to the barbarians. Accordingly, not long after 
 the citizens of Tiburnia were beleaguered by the Goths, 
 and fought them with varying fortune; and under the 
 
 other hand, follows Saint Augustine. " Probably," saj^s M. Viard, 
 " he did not speak of the tithe in the exact sense of the word; he 
 wished merely to call forth the charitable gifts of the communities 
 that he evangeUzed. It is very probable that the saint thought, in 
 doing this, to revive the ancient tithe, modifying it, however, accord- 
 ing to the needs of the moment and his personal disinterestedness. 
 The biographer has exaggerated this thought of his hero in order to 
 make it appear an actuality." 
 
 ■ Here, as elsewhere when he uses the word without a modifier, 
 Eugippius means Noricum Mediterraneum, the interior or southern 
 province, of which Tiburnia was the chief town. 
 
 - Teumia in inscriptions. Now Sanct Peter im Holz, near Spital. 
 
66 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 terms of peace, which they obtained with difficulty, 
 they presented to the enemy, among other things, the 
 largess, already collected, which they had delayed to 
 send to the servant of God.^ 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Likewise the citizens of the town of Lauriacum,^ 
 in spite of many warning exhortations from Saint 
 Severinus, had delayed offering to the poor the tithes 
 of their crops. They were pinched with hunger, and 
 the yellow of the ripening harvest showed that relief 
 was at hand. But when a destructive rust unex- 
 pectedly appeared, and was on the point of damaging 
 the crops, they immediately came and cast themselves 
 down before Saint Severinus, and acknowledged the 
 punishment of their stubbornness. But the soldier of 
 
 1 The siege of Tibumia may well be assigned to the year 473. See 
 Chapter V, note. It is then probable that the surrender of the collec- 
 tion of clothing was an important, though hardly a decisive factor in 
 restoring peace between the citizens and the ragged Goths; who, 
 according to Jordanes {De Rebus Gelicis, 56), entered upon the cam- 
 paign because food and clothing were beginning to fail them. " Min- 
 uentibus se deinde hinc inde vicinarum gentium spoliis, coepit et 
 Gothis victus vestitusque deesse: et hominibus, quibus dudum bella 
 alimoniam praestitissent, pax coepit esse contraria; omnesque cum 
 clamore magno ad regem Theodemir accedentes Gothi orant, quacum- 
 que parte vellet ductaret exercitum." 
 
 2 The chief town of Riverside Noricum, Now Ens, or the small 
 place Lorch, near Ens; authorities differ. At the time of the Notitia 
 Dignitatum Lauriacum was defended by a strong garrison of soldiers, 
 under the praefedus legionis secundae, and by a squadron of the 
 Danube flotilla. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 67 
 
 Christ comforted the feeble ones with spiritual words, 
 saying, " Had ye offered tithes for the poor, not only 
 would ye enjoy an everlasting reward, but ye would 
 also be able to abound in present comforts. ^ But 
 since ye rebuke your sin by your own confession, I 
 promise you, by the goodness of the Lord, that this 
 mighty rust shall cause no damage whatever; orily 
 let not your faith waver any more." This promise 
 rendered the citizens from that tune on more ready to 
 pay the tithes. Then, as was his wont, he urged that 
 a fast be proclaimed. When this had ended, a gentle 
 rain relieved from danger the harvest of which they 
 had despaired.^ 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 B ATA VIS - is a town lying between two rivers, the 
 Aenus and the Danube. There Saint Severinus had 
 estabhshed after his wonted fashion a cell for a few 
 monks, because he himself not infrequently came 
 thither at the request of the citizens; particularly on 
 
 1 Caesar Baronius supposes that this chapter and passages in 
 Sidonius Apollinaris {Epistolae, vi, 12) and Gregory of Tours {Historia 
 Francoriim, ii, 24) relate to a general famine, which, he believes, 
 afflicted the northern provinces in 475. " Quae GaUias vexavit dira 
 fames, aeque afflixit Raetios, Noricos, et alios Boreales populos his 
 finitimos." Annates EcclesiasHci, a. 475, sects. 30-35- There seems, 
 however, no sufficient reason for linking the dearth at Lauriacum with 
 that in Gaul, in the winter of 474-75, of which Sidonius and Gregory 
 speak. The latter was caused, not by the fault of the season, but by 
 the depredations of the Visigoths. 
 
 2 Now Passau. 
 
68 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 account of the constant incursions of the Alamanni, 
 whose king, Gibuldus, greatly honored and loved him. 
 
 Now on a certain occasion Gibuldus came eagerly 
 to see him. That the king might not encumber Ba- 
 tavis by his visit, the saint went out to meet him, and 
 addressed the king with so great firmness, that 
 Gibuldus began to tremble violently before him, and 
 declared to his armies, as he withdrew, that never, in 
 war or in any peril, had he been smitten with such 
 trembling. And when he gave to the servant of God 
 his choice, to give what command he would, the most 
 pious teacher asked that the king should pay attention 
 rather to his own best interests, restrain his nation 
 from laying waste the Roman territory, and set free 
 without ransom the captives his followers had made. 
 
 Then the king appointed thatSeverinus should direct 
 some one from his own followers to bring this work 
 more speedily to completion. Forthwith Deacon 
 Amantius was dispatched, and followed in the king's 
 path; but, though he watched before his gates many 
 days, he could not secure an audience. As he was 
 turning back, very sorrowful because his appointed 
 task had not been accomplished, a man appeared in 
 the form of Saint Severinus, who accosted him men- 
 acingly, and, as he stood in utter terror, bade him 
 follow. As he followed in fear and excitement, he 
 came to the king's door; and immediately the guide 
 that had gone before him vanished from his wondering 
 eyes. But the king's messenger asked the deacon 
 whence he came and what he wished. He told his 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 69 
 
 errand briefly, gave letters to the king, and received 
 others from him, and returned home. He conveyed 
 back about seventy captives, and moreover brought 
 the pleasing promise of the Hng, that when he had 
 dihgently searched through the province, he would 
 send back all the captives that were to be found there. 
 Later Saint Lucillus the priest was selected to at- 
 tend to this matter, and recovered from captivity a 
 great number of unfortunates. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 So long as the Roman dominion lasted, soldiers were 
 maintained in many towns at the public expense to 
 guard the boundary wall.^ When this custom ceased, 
 the squadrons of soldiers and the boundary wall were 
 blotted out together. The troop at Batavis, however, 
 held out.2 Some soldiers of this troop had gone to 
 Italy to fetch the final pay to their comrades, and no 
 one knew that the barbarians had slain them on the 
 way. One day, as Saint Severinus was reading in his 
 cell, he suddenly closed the book and began to sigh 
 greatly and to weep. He ordered the bystanders to 
 
 1 Saint Augustine {De Civllate Dei, xviii, 18) teUs of the com, caUed 
 Retica annona, sent from Italy for the supply of the soldiers in Rae- 
 tia: " dicebat . . . narrasse quae passus est, caballum se scilicet 
 factum annonam inter alia jumenta bajulasse militibus, quae dicitur 
 Retica, quoniam ad Retias deportatur." 
 
 2 The cohors nova Baiavorum, according to the Nolitia Dignitalum. 
 The towTi, that is, was a military station, and took its name from the 
 garrison. 
 
70 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 run out with haste to the river, which he declared was 
 in that hour besprinkled with human blood; and 
 straightway word was brought that the bodies of the 
 soldiers mentioned above had been brought to land by 
 the current of the river. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 One PauHnus, a priest, had come to Saint Severinus, 
 whose fame was extending.^ He tarried some days 
 in the company of the saint. When he wished to 
 return home, Severinus said to him, " Hasten, vener- 
 able priest; for, beloved, the episcopal dignity shall 
 speedily adorn thee, even if, as we believe, thou op- 
 posest the desire of the peoples." And presently, 
 when he returned to his own country, the word of the 
 prophet was fulfilled unto him. For the citizens of 
 Tiburnia, which is the metropoUs of Noricum, com- 
 pelled him to assume the preeminence of the highest 
 priesthood. 
 
 1 It would indeed be an evidence of an extensive fame, were we able 
 to accept Mr. Hodgkin's ingenious conjecture as to the source of the 
 penultimate name of the celebrated philosopher and poet Anicius 
 Manlius Severinus Boethius, who was bom at Rome probably during 
 the eighth decade of the fifth century. Italy and her Invaders, iii 
 (1885), p. 523 (or 2d ed., 1896, p. 471): " Severinus was no doubt 
 given to him in honour of one of the hohest names of the fifth century, 
 the saintly hermit of Noricum." 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 71 
 
 CHAPTER XXH 
 
 For a church beyond the walls of Batavis, in a place 
 named Bojotro/ across the Aenus, where Severinus 
 had built a cell for a few monks, relics of martyrs 
 were sought. When the priests were accordingly 
 pushing themselves forward that they might be sent 
 to fetch relics, 2 Saint Severinus uttered this warning: 
 " Though all wrought by mortals' toil passeth away, 
 yet most swiftly must these buildings above others 
 be abandoned." And he said that they ought to 
 make no effort for relics of the saints, because the 
 blessing of Saint John would be brought to them with- 
 out their asking. 
 
 Meantime the citizens of Batavis approached the 
 saint, and besought him to go to Feba, prince of the 
 Rugii, to ask permission for them to trade. He said 
 to them, " The time of this town is at hand, that it 
 remain deserted like the rest of the upper castles and 
 uninhabited. Why, then, is it necessary to provide 
 merchandise for places where in future no merchant 
 can appear ? " They repUed that he ought not to 
 
 ' Now Iimstadt. 
 
 2 Sanduaria. Reliquiae is also used with the same meaning; as, 
 for example, three lines above. The relics need not be of any great 
 extent. Gregory the Great gave orders on at least three occasions 
 that sanduaria or reliquiae of Severinus himself should be furnished 
 for the consecration of churches or oratories. Epistolae, iii, 19; ix, 
 181; xi, 19. This was a hundred years after the saint had been 
 securely buried. 
 
72 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 mock them, but to aid them with his wonted direction. 
 A certain priest, filled with the spirit of Satan, added, 
 '* Go, saint, I beg, go quickly, that for a Httle space thy 
 departure may give us rest from fastings and vigils." 
 At this saying the man of God was oppressed with 
 great weeping, because a priest, in public, had burst 
 forth in ridiculous gabbhng. For open scurrihty 
 is a witness of hidden sins. When the saint was 
 asked by the brethren why he was weeping thus, " I 
 see," he said, " a heavy blow that in my absence 
 shall straightway befall this place; and, with groaning 
 I must say it, the shrine of Christ shall so overflow 
 with human blood, that even this place must be dese- 
 crated." For he was speaking in the baptistery. 
 Therefore he went down the Danube by ship a hun- 
 dred miles and more to his old monastery, larger than 
 the others, near the walls of Favianis. As he was 
 going down the river, Hunimund,^ accompanied by a 
 
 1 Probably Hunimund, king of the Suevi, whose raid into Dal- 
 matia and hostilities with the Ostrogoths are described by Jordanes, 
 De Rebus Gelicis, 53-55. Eduard von Wietersheim, indeed, in his 
 Geschichtc der Volkerwanderimg (2d ed., Leipsic, i88o-8i), ii, p. 324, 
 expresses the belief that the coincidence in name is purely accidental. 
 But if the Hunimund of Eugippius was not Hunimund the Suevian 
 king, who was he ? Eugippius through his whole work is perfectly 
 definite in his identification of persons. He names in all some fifty 
 characters, aside from those mentioned in the Bible or in the church 
 fathers. Each is carefully labelled with the appropriate word or 
 phrase, except two, Stilicho (Chapter XXXVI) and Hunimund. It 
 is a fair inference that Eugippius left these names unqualified — 
 just as, for example, one would now in similar references that of 
 Napoleon or of Bliicher — because no label seemed needed, either for 
 Stilicho, the great general of the Western Empire, or for Hunimund, 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 73 
 
 few barbarians, attacked the town of Batavis, as the 
 saint had foretold, and, while almost all the inhabi- 
 tants were occupied in the harvest, put to death forty 
 men of the town who had remained for a guard. The 
 priest who had spoken sacrilegious words in the 
 baptistery against the servant of Christ fled for refuge 
 to the same place, and was slain by the pursuing bar- 
 barians. For in vain did the offender against God 
 and enemy of truth seek protection in the place where 
 he had so impudently transgressed. 
 
 CHAPTER XXni 
 
 Once while Saint Severinus was reading the Gospel in 
 the monastery at Favianis, after offering prayer he 
 arose, ordered a skiff to be instantly prepared for him, 
 and said to the astonished bystanders, " Blessed be 
 the name of the Lord; we must go to meet the relics 
 of the sainted martyrs." They crossed the Danube 
 without delay, and found a man sitting on the farther 
 bank of the river, who besought them with many 
 prayers to conduct him to the servant of God, whose 
 fame was widespread, and to whom he had long wished 
 to come. The servant of Christ was pointed out to 
 
 king of the Suevi, a principal leader in a war, not yet remote in time, 
 that had devastated Central Europe for years. 
 
 We may infer from the smaUness of the force under the command of 
 Hunimund that the attack on Bojotro was made after the destructive 
 overthrows of the Suevi by the Ostrogoths; perhaps in 474 or 475- 
 The sequence of Eugippius's narrative points to the same date. 
 
74 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 him; and immediately and as a suppliant he offered 
 him the relics of Saint John the Baptist, which he had 
 kept by him for a long time. The servant of God 
 received the relics with the veneration they deserved; 
 and so the blessing of Saint John was bestowed unasked 
 upon the church, as he had foretold, and Severinus con- 
 secrated the relics by the hands of the priests. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 There was a town called Joviaco,i twenty miles and 
 more distant from Batavis. Thither the man of God, 
 impressed as usual by a revelation, sent a singer of the 
 church, Moderatus by name; admonishing that all 
 the inhabitants should quit that place without delay. 
 For imminent destruction threatened them if they de- 
 spised his commands.^ Some were in doubt over so 
 great a presage, while others did not believe it at all. 
 Therefore yet again he sent one unto them, a certain 
 
 * Schlogen. 
 
 2 F. W. Rettberg believes that Severinus may have owed his fore- 
 knowledge of barbarian raids to secret information received from his 
 friends among the Germans. Kirchengeschichte Deulschlands, i, pp. 
 232 f. This view is held also by Felix Dahn. Gelehrtc Anzeigen 
 (Munich), 21 Sept. 1859, coll. 270 f. Reinhold Pallmann decUnes to 
 accept it. Die Geschichte der V'dkerwanderung (Gotha, etc., 1863-64), 
 ii, p. 400, n. I. 
 
 George Thomas Stokes remarks that Severinus " seems to have 
 been gifted with some kind of second-sight, similar to that which 
 Adamnan's Life of St. Columba claims for the Celtic saint of the fol- 
 lowing century." Smith and Wace's Dictionary of Christian Biog- 
 raphy, iv (London, 1887), p. 627. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 75 
 
 man of Quintanis, to whom he said, weeping, " Make 
 haste! Declare unto them that if they stay there this 
 night, they shall without delay be made captives! " 
 He bade that Saint Maximianus too, a priest of 
 spiritual life, should be urgently warned; that he at 
 least, leaving the scomers behind, through the com- 
 passion of heaven might escape. The servant of God 
 said that he was in great sorrow over him, lest haply 
 he might postpone obedience to the saving command, 
 and so be exposed to the threatening destruction. 
 Accordingly the messenger of the man of God went 
 and fulfilled his orders; and when the others in their 
 unbelief hesitated, he did not tarry a moment, though 
 the priest strove to keep him and wished to extend to 
 him the courtesy of his hospitality. That night the 
 HeruU made a sudden, unexpected onslaught, sacked 
 the town, and led most of the people into captivity. 
 They hanged the priest Maximianus on a cross. When 
 the news came, the servant of God grieved sorely that 
 his warnings had been disregarded. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 Later a man from Noricum, Maximus by name, came 
 to visit the servant of God, as was his frequent custom. 
 Pursuant to their established friendship, he tarried 
 some days in the monastery of the saint. Then 
 Severinus informed him by his oracles that his coun- 
 try was about to experience a sudden and heavy 
 disaster. Maximus took a letter addressed to Saint 
 
76 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 Paulinus the bishop, and in all haste returned home. 
 Accordingly Paulinus, prepared by the contents of the 
 letter, wrote to all the castles of his diocese, and 
 strongly admonished them to meet the coming mis- 
 chief and disaster by a three days' fast, as the letter of 
 the man of God had indicated. They obeyed these 
 commands, and the fast was ended, when lo, a vast 
 multitude of the Alamanni, minions of Death, laid 
 everything waste. But the castles felt no danger. 
 The trusty cuirass of fasting, and praiseworthy humil- 
 ity of heart, with the aid of the prophet, had armed 
 them boldly against the fierceness of the enemy. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 Later, a leper from the territory of Milan came to 
 Saint Severinus, attracted by his fame. When he 
 prayed and begged to be made whole, Severinus 
 decreed a fast, and commended the leper to his 
 monks; and through the work of God's grace he was 
 forthwith cleansed. When he had been made whole 
 and was advised to return to his coimtry, he threw 
 himself at the feet of the saint, imploring that he be 
 not compelled to go home again; desiring that he 
 might escape from the leprosy of sin as he had from 
 that of the flesh, and might close his life in the same 
 place with a praiseworthy end. The man of God 
 greatly admired his pious purpose, and with fatherly 
 command instructed a few monks to practise frequent 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 77 
 
 fasts with him and to continue in uninterrupted 
 prayer, in order that the Lord might grant to him 
 those things which were meet. Fortified by so great 
 remedies, within the space of two months the man 
 was freed from the fetters of mortal life. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVn 
 
 At the same time the inhabitants of the town of 
 Quintanis, exhausted by the incessant incursions of the 
 Alamanni, left their own abodes and removed to the 
 town of Batavis. But their place of refuge did not 
 remain hidden from the Alamanni: wherefore the 
 barbarians were the more inflamed, believing that they 
 might pillage the peoples of two towns in one attack. 
 But Saint Severinus applied himself vigorously to 
 prayer, and encouraged the Romans in manifold ways 
 by examples of salvation. He foretold that the pres- 
 ent foes should indeed by God's aid be overcome; 
 but that after the victory those who despised his 
 admonitions should perish. Therefore the Romans 
 in a body, strengthened by the prediction of the saint, 
 and in the hope of the promised victory, drew up 
 against the Alamanni in order of battle, fortified less 
 with material arms than by the prayers of the saint. 
 The Alamanni were overthrown in the conflict and 
 fled. The man of God addressed the victors as 
 follows. " Children, do not attribute the glory of the 
 
78 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 present conflict to your own strength. ' Know that 
 ye are now set free through the protection of God to 
 the end that ye may depart hence within a Httle space 
 of time, granted you as a kind of armistice. So 
 gather together and go down with me to the town of 
 Lauriacum." The man of God impressed these 
 things upon them from the fulhiess of his piety. But 
 when the people of Batavis hesitated to leave their 
 native soil, he added, "Although that town also, 
 whither we go, must be abandoned as speedily as 
 possible before the inrushing barbarism, yet let us now 
 in like manner depart from this place." 
 
 As he impressed such things upon their minds, most 
 of the people followed him. A few indeed proved 
 stubborn, nor did the scorners escape the hostile 
 sword. For that same week the Thuringi stormed 
 the town; and of those who notwithstanding the 
 prohibition of the man of God remained there, a part 
 were butchered, the rest led off into captivity and made 
 to pay the penalty for their scorn.^ 
 
 > With the view of Severinus may be contrasted that of Saint 
 Ambrose, Epistolae, xviii, 30: " deam esse victoriam crediderunt 
 [pagani], quae utique munus est, non potestas: donatur, non domina- 
 tiir, legionum gratia, non religionum potentia "; " they have be- 
 lieved Victory to be a goddess, which is in truth a gift, not a power; 
 is bestowed, and does not rule; comes by the aid of legions, not by the 
 power of religion." 
 
 2 There is some measure of justice in the comment which PaUmann 
 makes upon the conduct of Severinus in this instance. " With his 
 words of discouragement Severinus divided the strength of the citi- 
 zens. Through his disheartening view of things, he brought a part 
 of them to despair, without helping in the least the others who did not 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 79 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 After the destruction of the towns on the upper course 
 of the Danube, all the people who had obeyed the 
 warnings of Saint Severinus removed into the town of 
 Lauriacum. He warned them with incessant exhorta- 
 tions not to put trust in their own strength, but to 
 apply themselves to prayers and fastings and alms- 
 givings, and to be defended rather by the weapons of 
 the spirit. 
 
 Moreover one day the man of God appointed that 
 all the poor be gathered together in one church, that 
 he might, as custom demanded, dispense oil to them: 
 a commodity which in those places was brought to 
 market only after a most difhcult transport by traders. 
 Accordingly a great throng of the needy assembled, 
 as if for the sake of receiving the benediction. No 
 doubt the presence of this fluid, a costly food, swelled 
 
 join him; rather, weakening them. So was the strength of the brave 
 citizens of Passau paralyzed." Die Geschichte der V olkerwanderung, 
 ii, p. 397. It would not, however, be fair to make this citation from 
 Pallmann without quoting also the passage {ibid., pp. 400 f.) in which 
 he sums up his opinion of the saint and his public activities. " It is 
 a strange, noble, powerful figure, this monk. ... A political head 
 would certainly have acted wholly otherwise than Severinus. We do 
 not know whether he would have had better success. Yet it was a 
 piece of good fortune, that in the disastrous time after the death of 
 Aetius, when on every side the dissolution of the Empire, like the 
 death of a human body, was beginning at the extremities, and the prov- 
 inces one by one were renouncing their connection with Italy; when 
 we see Gaul independent under Aegidius, Dalmatia imder Marcel- 
 linus; that in Noricum, if no general arose, yet at least a pure and 
 lofty spirit sought to do the works of righteousness." 
 
8o • EUGIPPIUS 
 
 the throng and the number of applicants. When the 
 saint had finished the prayer, and made the sign of the 
 cross, he uttered as usual, while all listened, the word 
 of Holy Writ, " Blessed be the name of the Lord." 
 Then he began with his own hand to fill the measures 
 of oil for the attendants who conveyed it, copying as a 
 faithful servant his Lord, who came not to be minis- 
 tered unto, but to minister. 1 And, following in the 
 way of the Saviour, he rejoiced that the substance was 
 increased, which he poured out with his right hand, 
 his left hand knowing not.' When the oil-vessels of 
 the poor were filled, the oil in the hands of the attend- 
 ants was not diminished. Now while the bystanders 
 silently wondered at so great a blessing of God, one of 
 them, whose name was Pientissimus, in amazement 
 and great fear cried out, " My Lord! This pot of oil 
 increases, and overflows like a fountain! " So, its 
 miraculous powers having been betrayed, the welcome 
 fluid was withdrawn. Straightway the servant of 
 Christ cried out and said, " Brother, what hast thou 
 done ? Thou hast hindered the advantage of many : 
 may the Lord Jesus Christ pardon thee! " So once 
 the widow woman burdened with debts was bidden by 
 Elisha the prophet from the small quantity of oil 
 which she had to fill vessels not a few. After she had 
 done this, and asked for yet more vessels from her 
 sons, when she heard that there was not a vessel more, 
 straightway the oil stayed.^ 
 
 1 Mark, x, 45. - Matthew, vi, 3. ' II Kings, iv, 2-7. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 8i 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 At the same time Maximus of Noricum, of whom we 
 have made mention above, kindled by the warmth of ^ 
 his faith, at midwinter, when the roads of that region / 
 are closed by the numbing cold, hastened to come to f 
 Saint Severinus. It was an enterprise of rash temerity, | 
 or rather, as was afterwards manifest, of fearless | 
 devotion. He had hired many companions, to carry | 
 on their backs, for the benefit of the captives and the ' 
 poor, a collection of clothing which the people of Nori- i 
 cum had piously given.^ So they set out, and attained 
 the highest peaks of the Alps, where all night long the 
 snow fell so thickly that it shut them in beneath the 
 protecting shelter of a great tree, as a huge pit would ; 
 inclose those who had fallen into it. And when they 
 despaired utterly of their lives, since no aid (as they 
 thought) was at hand, the leader of the companions \ 
 saw in his sleep a vision of the man of God standing j 
 and saying unto him, " Fear not; complete your \ 
 journey." They were instantly heartened by this 
 revelation, and resumed their course, trusting in God 
 rather than in the strength of their limbs; when sud- 
 denly by divine command a bear of monstrous size 
 appeared at their side to show the way: ^ though in 
 
 1 At an earlier date Noricum was celebrated for its export trade in 
 clothing. Expositio totius Mundi et Gentium, 57. 
 
 ^ The friendliness to the righteous of beasts usually wild and savage 
 is a common feature in early Christian narratives. See the index to 
 Heribert Rosweyde's Vitae Patrtim (2d ed., Antverpiae, 1628). There 
 are instances of lions serving as guides in Rosweyde, pp. 231 a, 816 a; 
 and of a wild ass in the same capacity, p. 229 a. 
 
 ^^ 
 
82 , EUGIPPIUS 
 
 ( the winter time he usually hid in caves. He imme- 
 
 Idiately disclosed the desired road, and for about two 
 
 jhundred miles, turning aside neither to the left nor to 
 
 jthe right, showed a passable way. For he went just 
 
 tfar enough ahead of them so that his fresh track broke 
 
 but a path. So, leading through the desert wilderness, 
 
 jthe beast did not forsake the men who were bringing 
 
 'relief to the needy, but with the utmost possible 
 
 f riendhness conducted them as far as human habita- 
 
 ' tions. Then, having fulfilled his duty, he turned aside 
 
 and departed: showing by the great service of his 
 
 ; guidance what men ought to do for men, and how 
 
 / much love they ought to display, since here a savage 
 
 i beast showed the road to the despairing. 
 
 ' When the arrivals were announced to the servant 
 
 of God, he said, " Blessed be the name of the Lord ! 
 
 Let them enter, to whom a bear hath opened a way for 
 
 their coming." When they heard this they marvelled 
 
 with exceeding great amazement that the man of God 
 
 should tell that which had happened in his absence. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 The citizens of the town of Lauriacum and the fugi- 
 tives from the upper castles appointed scouts to explore 
 the suspected places, and guarded against the enemy, 
 so far as by human care they could. The servant of 
 God, instructed by divine inspiration, arranged before- 
 hand with prophetic mind that they should bring 
 inside the city wall all their meagre property, in order 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS S^ 
 
 that the foemen in their deadly foray, meeting with no 
 human life, might be promptly forced by hunger to 
 abandon their frightful and cruel designs. This he 
 earnestly entreated for four days. When the fourth 
 day already verged toward evening, he sent a monk, 
 Valens by name, to Saint Constantius, bishop of the 
 town,^ and said to the others who remained, " Set the 
 customary guards at the walls tonight, and keep a 
 stricter watch; and beware of a sudden and treacherous 
 assault by the foe." They declared to him that the 
 scouts saw absolutely nothing of the enemy. But the 
 servant of Christ did not cease to forewarn the hesi- 
 tant, and cried out with a loud voice, afl&rming that 
 they would be taken captive that same night unless 
 they faithfully obeyed his commands. He often 
 repeated the words, " If I shall be proved a liar, stone 
 me." So at last they were compelled to guard the 
 walls. 
 
 At the beginning of the night they sang psahns, as 
 they were wont, and afterwards the men gathered in 
 great numbers and commenced their watch. Then a 
 nearby haystack, accidentally fired by a porter's 
 torch, illuminated, but did not burn the city. When 
 this happened, every one howled and shouted, and the 
 enemy concealed in the woods and forests were terri- 
 
 1 The best life of Constantius is by Marcus Hansitz {Germania 
 Sacra, i, pp. 82-87). Hansitz believes that much of the success of 
 Severinus in his work must have been due to the cooperation of Con- 
 stantius. 
 
 The ' archbishopric of Lauriacum ' is a mediaeval forgery, long 
 since wholly discredited. 
 
84 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 fied by the sudden brightness and the shouting, and, 
 thinking themselves detected, remained quiet. Next 
 morning they surrounded the city, and ran to and fro 
 everywhere; but when they found no food, they 
 seized the herd of cattle of a certain man who in the 
 face of the prophecies of the servant of God had 
 stubbornly scorned to secure his possessions, and 
 withdrew. 
 
 Now when they were gone the citizens sallied forth 
 from the gates, and found ladders lying not far from 
 the walls. These the barbarians had made ready for 
 the destruction of the city, and had thrown away 
 when they were disturbed in the night by the shouting. 
 Therefore the citizens of Lauriacum humbly besought 
 pardon from the servant of Christ, confessing that 
 their hearts were harder than stones. They recog- 
 nized from these events that the loveliness of prophecy 
 bloomed in the saint. Assuredly the disobedient 
 populace would all have gone into captivity, had not 
 the accustomed prayer of the man of God kept them 
 free; for as James the apostle bears witness, " The 
 continual prayer of a righteous man availeth much." ' 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 Feletheus, sometimes called Feva, king of the Rugii, 
 hearing that from all the towns by the advice of the 
 servant of God the remnants that had escaped the 
 barbarian sword had gathered at Lauriacum, took an 
 
 1 James, v, i6. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 85 
 
 army and came, purposing to bring them quickly into 
 his own power and to lead them away and settle them 
 in the towns, of which Favianis was one, that were 
 tributary to him and near him, and were separated 
 from the Rugii only by the Danube. Wherefore all 
 were deeply disturbed, and with prayers went to Saint 
 Severinus, that he might go forth to meet the king and 
 moderate his purpose. All night Severinus hastened, 
 and in the morning met him at the twentieth milestone 
 from the city. The king, much alarmed by his arrival, 
 averred that he was vastly distressed by the saint's 
 fatiguing journey, and inquired the causes of his 
 sudden visit. To whom thus answered the servant of 
 God: " Peace be unto thee, most excellent king. I 
 come to thee as ambassador of Christ, to beg compas- 
 sion for the conquered. Reflect upon the grace, recall 
 to mind the divine favors, of whose repeated aid thy 
 father was sensible. Throughout the whole time of 
 his reign he never ventured to take any step without 
 my advice. He did not withstand my salutary 
 admonitions; and from frequent successes he learned 
 to recognize the great value of an obedient mind, and 
 how greatly it profiteth victors not to be puffed up by 
 their triumphs." And the king saith, " I will not 
 suffer this people, for whom thou comest as a friendly 
 intercessor, to be ruined by the cruel plundering of the 
 Alamanni and Thuringi, or slaughtered by the sword, 
 or reduced to slavery, when I have neighboring and 
 tributary towns in which they ought to be estab- 
 lished." The servant of Christ firmly answered him 
 
86 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 as follows: " Was it thy bow or sword that delivered 
 these men from the continual ravages of robbers ? 
 Were they not rather reserved by the favor of God, 
 that they might be able for a short while to obey thee ? 
 Therefore, most excellent king, do not now reject my 
 counsel. Commit these subjects to my guardian care, 
 lest by the constraint of so great an army they be 
 ruined rather than removed. For I trust in my Lord, 
 that he, who hath made me a witness of their calami- 
 ties, shall make me a suitable leader to conduct them 
 to safety." 
 
 The king was appeased by these moderate represen- 
 tations, and forthwith went back with his army. 
 Therefore the Romans whom Saint Severinus had 
 received in his guardian care left Lauriacum, were 
 amicably estabHshed in the towns, and lived in 
 friendly alliance with the Rugii.^ But Severinus 
 dwelt at Favianis in his old monastery, and ceased 
 not to admonish the peoples and to foretell the future, 
 declaring that all were to remove into a Roman prov- 
 ince without any loss of liberty. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 At about the same time King Odoacer addressed a 
 friendly letter to Saint Severinus, and, mindful of 
 that prophecy, by which of yore he had foretold that 
 
 1 That this exodus was a partial one only, is indicated both by the 
 laws of probabihty and by Ennodius's Life of Antonius, 10-14. An- 
 tonius remained under the protection of his uncle, Constantius, bishop 
 of Lauriacum, for some time after the death of Severinus. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 87 
 
 he should become king, entreated him to choose what- 
 soever gift he might desire. In response to this august 
 invitation, the saint asked that one Ambrose, who was 
 living in exile, be pardoned. Odoacer joyfully obeyed 
 his command. 
 
 Also, once when in the saint's presence many nobles 
 were praising Odoacer with the adulation usual among 
 men, Severinus asked on what king they were confer- 
 ring such great commendations. They replied, 
 " Odoacer." " Odoacer," he said, " safe between thir- 
 teen and fourteen "; meaning of course the years of 
 his unchallenged sovereignty : and he added that they 
 should live to see the speedy fulfilhnent of his prophecy. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 At the entreaty of the townspeople, among whom he 
 had first won fame. Saint Severinus came to Coma- 
 genis. One of the nobles of King Feletheus had a son, 
 a youth, who was wasted away by inveterate sickness 
 and for whose burial preparations were already in 
 progress. When the nobleman learned that Severinus 
 was at Comagenis, he crossed the Danube and cast 
 himself at his feet. Weeping, he said, " I believe, man 
 of God, that thy entreaty can procure from heaven a 
 swift recovery for my son." Then Severinus offered 
 prayer. The boy, who had been brought to him half- 
 dead, straightway arose whole, to the amazement of 
 his father, and forthwith returned home in perfect 
 health. 
 
88 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 Likewise a certain leper, Tejo by name, attracted by 
 the virtues of Saint Severinus, came from a far coun- 
 try, asking to be cleansed through his prayer. So he 
 was given the customary command, and bidden cease- 
 lessly and with tears to implore God, the giver of all 
 grace. Why say more ? Through the prayers of the 
 saint the leper was cleansed by the divine aid; as he 
 altered his character for the better, he gained a 
 change of color also; and he, and many others who 
 knew of him, proclaimed far and wide the mighty 
 works of the Eternal King. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 \ BoNOSUS, by birth a barbarian, was a monk of Saint 
 \ Severinus, and hung upon his words. He was much 
 \ afflicted by weakness of the eyes, and desired that cure 
 ;' be afforded him through the prayers of the saint. He 
 I bore it ill that strangers and foreigners experienced 
 ; the aid of healing grace, while no cure or help was 
 i tendered to him. The servant of God said unto him, 
 / " Son, it is not expedient for thee to have clear sight 
 in the bodily eyes, and to prefer distinct vision by the 
 eye of the flesh. Pray rather that thy inner sight may 
 be quickened." Bonosus was instructed by these 
 admonitions, and was eager to see with the heart 
 rather than with the flesh. He gained a wonderful 
 power of unwavering continuance in prayer. After 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 89 
 
 he had remained steadfastly for about forty years in ^ 
 the service of the monastery, he passed away in the / 
 same ardent faith in which he was converted. / 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI ^ 
 
 In Bojotro, a place mentioned above, the humble 
 teacher perceived that three monks of his monastery 
 were stained with horrid pride. When he had ascer- 
 tained that each of them upon being visited with 
 reproach was hardened in his sin, he prayed that the 
 Lord should receive them into the adoption of sons, 
 and deign to reprove them with the paternal lash. 
 Before he had ended his tearful prayer, the three 
 monks were in one and the same instant seized vio- 
 lently by the devil and tormented, and with cries 
 confessed the stubbornness of their hearts. 
 
 Let it not seem to any one cruel or wrong, that men 
 of this sort are delivered " unto Satan for the destruc- 
 tion of the flesh," as the blessed apostle teacheth, 
 " that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord 
 Jesus." 2 For Samt Ambrose, bishop of Milan, said 
 that the slave of Stilicho, who was found to be the 
 
 1 This chapter is apparently out of the regular chronological 
 sequence. Chapter XXVIII presupposes the abandonment or de- 
 struction of aU the towns on the Danube above Lauriacum, including 
 Bojotro. It is, however, the opinion of PaUmann {Geschichte der 
 Volkerwanderung, ii, pp. 393 f-) and of Julius Jung {Romer und Ro- 
 manen in den Donaulandern, Innsbruck, 1877, P- 214) that there 
 reaUy was no break of the sort indicated by Eugippius in the continu- 
 ity of occupation. 
 
 2 I Corinthians, v, 5. 
 
90 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 author of forged letters, ought to be delivered unto 
 Satan, that he might not dare to commit such crimes 
 in the future; and at the same moment, while the 
 word was yet in the bishop's mouth, the unclean spirit 
 seized the slave and began to rend him.^ Sulpicius 
 Severus, too, relates,^ on the authority of Postumianus, 
 that a certain man, admirable for his great virtues and 
 miracles, aiming to drive out from his heart the vanity 
 of ostentation into which he had fallen, procured by 
 entreaty " that power over him might be given the 
 devil for five months, and he be made hke those whom 
 he himself had healed." And Sulpicius says, a little 
 further on, that accordingly " he was seized by the 
 devil, held in chains, and endured everything which 
 those possessed by devils are wont to suffer; until, 
 finally, in the fifth month he was cured, not merely 
 from the devil, but (what he needed and desired more) 
 from the fault." 
 
 So the man of God turned over the three monks to 
 the brethren, and subjected them for forty days to the 
 bitter remedy of fasting. When the days were ful- 
 filled, he spake a prayer over them, and plucked them 
 forth from the power of the devil, and bestowed upon 
 them soundness not only of body but of mind. As a 
 result of this event, the saint was held in enhanced 
 awe and terror, and a greater fear of discipline pos- 
 sessed the rest.' 
 
 ^ Paulinus Mediolanensis, Vita Amhrosii, 43. 
 
 "^ Dialogi, i, 20, 7. 
 
 ' We shall not be far astray if we suppose that the ' horrid pride ' 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 91 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 Marcianus the monk, who was afterward priest, and 
 who preceded me in the headship of the monastery, 
 was sent by Severinus to Noricum in company with 
 Brother Renatus. As the third day was passing, the 
 saint said to the brethren, " Pray, dearly beloved, for 
 at this hour grievous tribulation is upon Marcianus 
 and Renatus, from which nevertheless they shall be 
 freed by Christ's aid." Then the monks straightway 
 wrote down what he had said ; and when many months 
 later Marcianus and Renatus returned, and made 
 known the day and hour of their peril, at which they 
 had escaped the barbarians, these were found to be 
 just as had been written down. 
 
 of which the three monks were guilty was some form of insubordina- 
 tion. The relation between humility and obedience in the monk is 
 discussed by H. B. Workman in his essay, The Evolution of the Mo- 
 nastic Ideal (London, 1913), pp. 68-74. " The third fundamental idea 
 of Monasticism," he says, " first specifically introduced by Pacho- 
 mius, was the renunciation of the will. This is sometimes called 
 obedience, sometimes humility; in reality, from the Monastic stand- 
 point the two tend to become one. The two are related as cause and 
 effect; they are different aspects of that complete self-remmciation 
 which is higher than any mere outer surrender. The man who has 
 nailed his inner self to the cross cannot be otherwise than humble; 
 whOe the humble man will show his humility by a perfect obedience." 
 
92 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 Also most blessed Severinus suddenly commanded 
 one of the brethren, by name Ursus, to meet in ad- 
 vance a coming calamity by a strict fast of forty days, 
 with abstinence from food, and lamentations, saying, 
 " A bodily peril threatens thee, which through God's 
 protection thou shalt avert by the remedy of a scanty 
 diet of bread and water." So on the fortieth day a 
 deadly pustule appeared on the arm of the fasting 
 man, which he immediately showed to Severinus, 
 approaching him as a suppUant. The holy servant of 
 God said unto him, " Do not fear the crisis which was 
 foretold thee forty days ago "; and straightway with 
 his own hand made the sign of the cross over it; 
 whereupon the fatal pustule vanished, to the amaze- 
 ment of the bystanders. 
 
 Let it suffice to have told of this one of his cures in 
 \ his own household, that I may avoid the tediousness of 
 \ a lengthy task. For often through the revelation of 
 1 Christ he foretold the illnesses of his monks, and 
 i healed them through the same gifts by which he fore- 
 ' saw them. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 The spiritual teacher, continuing instant in prayer 
 and fasting, dwelt not far from the cell of his disciples. 
 With them he regularly completed the morning 
 prayers, and the proper psakn-singing in the evening. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 93 
 
 The remaining times of prayer he fulfilled in the little 
 oratory in which he lived. In his seasons of prayer 
 he was often strengthened by celestial oracles, and' 
 through the grace of God foretold many things that 
 were to come. He knew the secrets of many things, 
 and, when there was need, made them known, and 
 provided remedies for each patient, according as the 
 kind of sickness demanded. His bed was a smgle 
 mohair rug on the floor of the oratory. ^ Always, even 
 while he slept, he wore the same garment.^ He never 
 broke his fast before sunset except on an appointed 
 festival.^ In Lent he was satisfied with one meal a 
 
 1 The couch of Saint Anthony, the great Egyptian monk, was like- 
 wise a mohair rug; to which, in his case, a rush mat was added. 
 Athanasius, Vita Beati Antonii Abbalis (Evagrius's translation), p. 
 38 a Rosweyde. 
 
 2 Palladius {Heraclidis Paradisus, 35) tells a like story in praise of 
 the Egj-ptian monk Paphnutius Cephala: " De quo tale refertur 
 praeconium, quod per octoginta annos numquam habuerit duas simul 
 timicas." 
 
 3 Eusebius (EcclesiasHca Historia, ii, 17; Cruse's translation, 
 London, 1851, pp. 56 f., corrected) quotes Philo Judaeus, De Vita 
 Contemplativa, in regard to the asceticism of the Therapeutae of 
 Egypt. " None of them " (he says) " takes food or drink before the 
 setting of the sun, smce they judge that the search for wisdom should 
 be prosecuted in the Hght, while it is appropriate that the necessities 
 of the body should be attended to in the dark. Whence they assign 
 to the one the day, and to the other a small portion of the night. But 
 some of them do not remember their food for three days, when m- 
 fluenced by an uncommon desire for knowledge. And some are so 
 delighted, and feast so luxuriously on the doctrines so richly and pro- 
 fusely fm-nished by wisdom, that they forbear even twice this time, 
 and are scarcely induced to take necessary food even for sk days." 
 Eusebius considers that xmder the name of Therapeutae Philo de- 
 scribes the early Christians. Valesius (notes to Eusebii Ecdesiastica 
 
94 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 week, yet his countenance shone with the same cheer- 
 fukiess. He wept over the sins of others as if they 
 were liis own, and helped to overcome them by such 
 aid as he could give. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 At last, after many struggles and long contests, Saint 
 Severinus, through the revelation of God, perceived 
 that he was about to pass from this world. He bade 
 Feva, king of the Rugii, mentioned above, to come to 
 him with his cruel wife Giso. He exhorted Feva, 
 with salutary words, that in dealing with his subjects 
 he should constantly bear in mind that he must 
 render account to the Lord for the condition of his 
 kingdom; and fearlessly added other admonitions. 
 Then he stretched forth his hand, pointing to the 
 king's breast, and reproachfully asked the queen, 
 " Giso, which lovest thou the more, this soul, or gold 
 and silver ? " And when she answered that she 
 prized her husband above all riches, the man of God 
 in his wisdom continued, " Therefore cease to oppress 
 the innocent, lest their affliction result in the destruc- 
 
 Hisloria, edition of 1672, p. 34) believes the contrary. The matter is 
 yet under discussion. H. B. Workman, The Evolution of the Monastic 
 Ideal, p. 90, especially note i. 
 
 The association of eating by night with asceticism appears to have 
 survived, in a singularly altered form, in the religious body organized 
 by George Rapp in Wiirtemberg on the model of the primitive church, 
 and later established at Harmony, Pennsylvania. See The Atlantic 
 Monthly, May, 1866, p. 535. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 95 
 
 tion of your power. For thou often bringest to 
 naught the clemency of the king." But she answered, 
 " Why dost thou receive us so, servant of God ? " 
 He replied, '' I adjure you, I the lowly, who shall 
 shortly stand in the presence of God, that ye restrain 
 yourselves from unjust deeds, and apply yourselves 
 to works of piety. Hitherto by God's help your 
 kingdom hath been prospered. Henceforth look to 
 it." The king and queen, much instructed by these 
 admonitions, bade him farewell, and went away.^ 
 
 Then the saint ceased not to address his people in 
 the sweetness of love concerning the nearness of his 
 departure. Indeed, he had done so ceaselessly before. 
 " Know ye, brethren," he said, " that as the children 
 of Israel were delivered out of the land of Eg}^pt, so 
 all the peoples of this land are destined to be freed 
 from the unrighteous sway of the barbarians. For all 
 shall depart from these towns with their possessions, 
 
 ' The learned Bavarian historian, Johann Adlzreitter, floridly 
 enlarges this conversation to three times its length in Eugippius, and 
 makes it the most prominent feature in his long and curious summary 
 of the Life. Annalium Boicae Geiitis Paries III (1710), coll. 124 f. 
 
 The comment of A. F. Ozanam upon this interview, though quoted 
 with approval by Montalembert {Les Moines d'Occident, i, p. 261) 
 and Charies Kingsley (The Hermits, p. 238), is more rhetorically 
 effective than just. " The history of invasions has many a pathedc 
 scene: but I know none more instructive than the dying agony of 
 that old Roman expiring between two barbarians, and less touched 
 with the ruin of the empire than with the peril of their souls." La 
 Civilisation Chretienne chez les Francs (3d ed., Paris, 1861), pp. 41 f. 
 It requires a certain amount of naivete not to see that the saint's prime 
 concern in his warnings is rather the tranquiUity of the provincials 
 than the souls' welfare of the royal couple. 
 
96 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 and shall reach the Roman province without any loss 
 by capture. But remember the command of the holy 
 patriarch Joseph, in the words of whose testimony I, 
 though unworthy and most lowly, make my request 
 to you: ' God will surely visit you; and ye shall 
 carry up my bones from hence.' ^ This shall profit, 
 not me, but you. For these places, now thronged 
 with inhabitants, shall be rendered a solitude so 
 utterly waste that the enemy, thinking to find gold, 
 shall dig up even the graves of the dead." The pres- 
 ent issue in fact has proved the truth of his prophecy. 
 But the most holy father, with pious forethought, 
 ordered his body to be removed as a token; in order 
 that when the general transmigration of the people 
 should take place, the company of brethren which he 
 had gathered might depart undivided, and, held 
 together by the common bond of his memory, might 
 endure as one holy society. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI 
 
 Moreover most blessed Severinus revealed two years 
 or more in advance the day on which he was to pass 
 from the body.- This he did in the following manner. 
 
 ^ Genesis, 1, 25. 
 
 2 Instances where saints are said to have predicted the day or even 
 the hour of their decease are not rare in the mediaeval narratives; but, 
 as compared with the present account, they are usually vague and 
 perfunctory. A casual examination of a volume of the Acta Sanc- 
 torum taken at random — September, iii — reveals three cases, on 
 pages 58, 293, and 806. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 97 
 
 On the day of Epiphany, when Saint Lucillus the 
 priest had announced in agitation that on the mor- 
 row he was to perform the annual rites of commemora- 
 tion for the burial day of his abbot, Saint Valentine,^ 
 formerly bishop of the Raetias, the servant of God 
 replied, " If Saint Valentine hath committed these 
 rites to thee to be performed, I too, being about to 
 depart from the body, bequeath to thee the care of 
 my funeral festival, which shall be observed upon the 
 same day." Lucillus, an old and broken man, was 
 greatly shaken at this saying, and rather commended 
 himself earnestly to the protection of Severinus, on 
 the ground that he was likely to pass away first. But 
 Severinus answered, " Holy priest, this thing which 
 thou hast heard shall come to pass, nor shall the 
 Lord's ordinance be brought to naught by the will of 
 
 man." 
 
 1 There is a life of Valentine in Matthaeus Rader's Bavaria Sancta 
 (Monad, 1615-27), i, ff. 24b, 25, 26a, with a fine engraving represent- 
 ing the saint in his arboreal retreat. 
 
 " Rura Valentinum tutantur, et oppida peUunt. 
 Fas regnat ruri, regnat in urbe nefas." 
 
 Valentine is also mentioned by Venantius Fortunatus {Vila SancH 
 Martini, iv, 644-648) : 
 
 " Si vacat ire viam neque te Bajovarius obstat, 
 Qua vicina sedent Breonum loca, perge per Alpem, 
 Ingrediens rapido qua gurgite volvitur Aenus. 
 Inde Valentini benedicti templa require, 
 Norica rura petens, ubi Byrrus vertitur undis." 
 
98 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 CHAPTER XLII 
 
 Feva, king of the Rugii, had given Favianis, one of 
 the few towns which remained on the bank of the 
 Danube, to his brother Ferderuchus. Near this 
 town, as I have related, Saint Severinus dwelt. When 
 Ferderuchus came, as was his wont, to pay his respects 
 to Severinus, the soldier of Christ began to tell him 
 eagerly of his approaching journey, and adjured him, 
 saying: " Know that I am to depart quickly to the 
 Lord. Therefore be warned, and beware of attempt- 
 ing, when I am gone, to lay hands on any of these 
 things which have been committed to me. Seize not 
 the substance of the poor and the captives. If thou 
 art guilty of such foolhardiness, which may Heaven 
 for fend, thou shalt feel the wrath of God! " Fer- 
 deruchus, perturbed by the unexpected admonition, 
 said, " Why dost thou adjure me and confound me ? 
 I do not wish to be deprived of thy mighty protection. 
 Indeed, it is seemly that I should add something to thy 
 sacred bounty, which all men know, not take away 
 from it; that I may deserve to be protected by thy 
 wonted prayer, as was our father Flaccitheus. He 
 learned by experience that he was ever aided by the 
 merits of thy holiness." And Severinus said, " On 
 the very first opportunity thou wilt wish to violate 
 my cell. Then straightway thou shalt learn the 
 truth of my words, and be punished in a manner which 
 I do not desire." Then Ferderuchus promised that 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 99 
 
 he would observe the admonitions of the servant of 
 Christ, and returned to his home. 
 
 But the kindly teacher did not cease to speak con- 
 tinually to his disciples, saying, " I trust in the grace of 
 my Lord Jesus Christ that if ye persevere in his work, 
 and in memory of me remain united in friendly associa- 
 tion, he will give you the riches of eternal Ufe, nor in 
 this world will he deny you his consolation." 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII 
 
 On the fifth of January he began to be slightly dis- 
 quieted by a pain in the side.^ When this persisted 
 for three days, at midnight he commanded the breth- 
 ren to be with him. He gave them instructions as to 
 the disposal of his body, strengthened them with 
 fatherly counsel, and bestowed upon them the follow- 
 ing earnest and admirable discourse. 
 
 " Most beloved sons in Christ," he said, " ye know 
 that blessed Jacob, when he was about to leave the 
 world, and the time drew nigh that he must die, called 
 unto his sons, and said, ' Gather yourselves together '; 
 that he might tell them that which should befall them 
 in the last days, and bless them every one according 
 to his blessing.2 But I am lowly and of lukewarm 
 faith. I am inferior to such piety. I dare not 
 assume the burden of this privilege. Yet there is one 
 thing which is accordant with my humility, and which 
 
 * Pleurisy. ^ Genesis, xlix, 1-33. 
 
lOO EUGIPPIUS 
 
 I will say. I will refer you to the examples of the 
 elders, whose faith follow, considering the end of their 
 conversation.^ For Abraham, when called of the 
 Lord, obeyed in faith. He went forth into a place 
 which he was to receive into his possession; and he 
 went forth not knowing whither he was to go. There- 
 fore imitate the faith of this blessed patriarch, copy 
 after his holiness, despise the things of earth, seek ever 
 the heavenly home. Moreover I trust in the Lord, 
 that eternal gain shall come to me from you. For I 
 perceive that ye have enlarged my joy by the fervor 
 of your spirit, that ye love justice, that ye cherish the 
 bonds of brotherly love, that ye neglect not chastity, 
 that ye guard the rule of humility. These things, so 
 far as the eye of man hath power to see, I confidently 
 praise and approve. But pray that those things which 
 to human view are worthy, may be confirmed by the 
 test of the eternal judgment; for God seeth not as 
 man seeth. Indeed, as the divine word declareth, he 
 searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imag- 
 inations of the thoughts.2 Therefore constantly hope 
 and pray for this, that God may enlighten the eyes of 
 your understanding,^ and open them, as blessed EHsha 
 prayed, that ye may see •* what hosts of saints sur- 
 round and support you, what mighty aids are prepared 
 for the faithful. For our God draws nigh to them 
 that are without guile. Let the soldiers of God fail 
 
 * Hebrews, xiii, 7. 
 
 2 I Chronicles, xxviii, 9; Romans, viii, 27. 
 
 ' Ephesians, i, 18. * II Kings, vi, 17. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS loi 
 
 not to pray without ceasing. Let him not be reluc- 
 tant to repent, who was not ashamed to sin. Sinners, 
 hesitate not to lament, if but by the overflowing of 
 your tears the wrath of God may be appeased; for he 
 hath seen fit to call a contrite spirit his sacrifice.^ 
 Therefore let us be humble in heart, tranquil in mind; 
 guarding against all sins and ever mindful of the divine 
 commands; knowing that meanness of garb, the name 
 monk, the word religion, the outward form of piety, 
 profiteth us not, if touching the observance of God's 
 commands we be found degenerate and false. There- 
 fore let your characters, my most beloved sons, accord 
 with the vow which ye have assumed. It is a great 
 crime to lead a sinful Ufe, even for a man of this world ;^ 
 how much more then for monks, who have fled from 
 the enticements of the world as from a hideous wild 
 beast, and have preferred Christ to all desires; whose 
 gait and garb are held to be evidence of virtue ? But 
 why, dearest sons, delay you further with a long ad- 
 dress ? It remains to bestow upon you the last 
 prayer of the blessed apostle, who saith, ' And now I 
 commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, 
 who is able to preserve you, and to give you an inheri- 
 
 ^ Psalms, li, 17. 
 
 2 Homo saeciilaris. The same contrast of saecularls and nionachus 
 is made by Saint Jerome, Epistola ad Paidinum de Institulione Mona- 
 chi: " Saecularium, et maxime potentium consortia devita. Quid 
 tibi necesse est ea videre crebrius, quorum contemtu Monachus esse 
 coepisti ? " Opera (Paris, 1693-1706), iv, 2, col. 566. Homo saccu- 
 lar is cannot here be rendered ' layman '; the monks themselves were 
 reckoned laymen (laid) until the seventh century. 
 
I02 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 tance among all them which are sanctified.' ^ To 
 him be the glory for ever and ever." 
 
 After this edifying address, he bade all in succession 
 approach for his kiss. He received the sacrament of 
 the communion; and altogether forbade that they 
 should weep for him. Having stretched out his hand, 
 and made the sign of the cross over his whole body, 
 he commanded that they should sing a psalm. When 
 the grief that overspread them kept them silent, he 
 himself started the psalm, " Praise ye the Lord in his 
 sanctuary; let everything that hath breath praise the 
 Lord." 2 And so, on the eighth of January, repeating 
 this verse, while we could hardly make the responses, 
 he fell asleep in the Lord. 
 
 When he was buried, our elders, imphcitly believing 
 that, like his many other prophecies, what he had fore- 
 told in regard to our removal could not fail to come to 
 pass, prepared a wooden casket;^ that when the pre- 
 dicted migration of the people should take place, the 
 commands of the prophet might be fulfilled. 
 
 * Acts, XX, 32. 2 Psalms, cl, i, 6. 
 
 ' Locellum: in the next chapter, loculiini. Andre Baudrillart, in 
 his biography, Saint Severin, Apotre du Norique (Paris, 1908), p. 192, 
 speaks of this coffin as " une sorte de chapelle portative ou d'oratoire," 
 and represents the monks, throughout the removal to Italy, as ' pray- 
 ing and singing in it day and night.' This monstrous misconception 
 may serve as a sufficient sample of the insouciance with which M. 
 Baudrillart has performed his task. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 103 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV 
 
 Ferderuchus was poor and ungodly, a greedy bar- 
 barian, and more greedy than the barbarians. When 
 he learned of the death of Saint Severinus, he deter- 
 mined to carry off the clothing allotted to the poor, 
 and some other things. Joining sacrilege to this crime, 
 he ordered that the silver goblet and the rest of the 
 altar service be carried off. Since the service was on 
 the holy altars, the bailiff who was sent dared not 
 stretch out his hands to such a villainy, but compelled 
 a certain soldier, Avitianus by name, to commit the 
 robbery. Although Avitianus executed the order un- 
 willingly, he was from that moment plagued by an 
 incessant trembHng in all his limbs, and furthermore 
 was possessed by a devil. Therefore he quickly set 
 right his sins by adopting a better purpose. For he 
 assumed the vow of the sacred profession, exchanged 
 the weapons of earth for those of heaven, and with- 
 drew to a lonely isle.^ 
 
 1 Islands play an exceedingly large part in the history of monasti- 
 cism in the Occident. The islands of the Mediterranean, the isles of 
 Dalmatia and of the Tyrrhenian Sea, swarmed with monks: not to 
 mention other well-known examples. Lucas Holstenius, Codex Regu- 
 larum Monasticarum (Augustae VindeHcorum, 1759), i, p. ix; Sulpi- 
 cius Severus, De Beati Martini Vita, vi, 5; Rutilius Namatianus, De 
 Reditu suo, i, 439-452 (Capraria: " Squalet lucifugis insula plena 
 viris "); Hilarius Arelatensis, De Vita Sancti Honor ati, iii, 16, 17, in 
 Migne's Patrologia Latina, vol. 1, coll. 1257 f. (Lerina). 
 
 The encircling watery barrier answered a threefold purpose. It 
 served as protection alike against the enticements of the world, the 
 sword of the barbarian, and (according to the popular belief) the as- 
 saults of demons. 
 
I04 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 Ferderuchus, unmindful of the adjuration and pro- 
 phecy of the holy man, seized all the possessions of the 
 monastery, and left only the walls, which he could not 
 carry across the Danube. But presently the threat- 
 ened vengeance came upon him. For within the space 
 of a month he was slain by Fredericus, his brother's 
 son, and lost booty and hfe together. 
 
 Therefore King Odoacer waged war upon the Rugii. 
 They were defeated, Fredericus was compelled to flee. 
 His father Feva was taken prisoner, and removed to 
 Italy with his wicked wife.^ 
 
 Later, Odoacer heard that Fredericus had returned 
 to his home. At once he dispatched a great army, 
 under his brother Onoiilfus; before whom Fredericus 
 fled again, and went to King Theodoric, who was then 
 at Novae,2 g^ ^ity of the province of Moesia. 
 
 Onoiilfus, however, at his brother's command or- 
 dered all the Romans to migrate to Italy. Then all the 
 inhabitants, led forth from the daily depredations of 
 
 1 A long and entertaining account of a triumph celebrated by 
 Odoacer at Rome after his victory, given by A. Thierry in his Recits 
 de Vllistoire Rotnaine au F« Siecle, iii (Paris, i860), pp. 352 flf., is 
 purely a product of Thierry's luxuriant imagination. His invention 
 is, however, imsuspectingly accepted as historical fact by Leopold von 
 Ranke (WeUgeschichte, iv, i, Leipsic, 1883, p. 377) and J. B. Bury 
 {The Later Roman Empire from Arcadhis to Irene, London, 1889, i, 
 
 p. 289). 
 
 Paulus Diaconus {De Gestis Langobardorum, i, 19) says that 
 Odoacer put Feletheus to death. As to Giso's fate we know nothing 
 beyond what is declared by Eugippius. Thierry's statement {Recits, 
 p. 353), followed by Bury {Later Roman Empire, i, p. 289), that she 
 was " thrown into a dungeon," rests on no authority. 
 
 2 Perhaps now Sistova, in Bulgaria. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 105 
 
 the barbarians as from the house of Egyptian bondage, 
 recognized the oracles of Saint Severinus.^ 
 
 When Count Pierius compelled all to depart, the 
 venerable Lucillus, then our priest, was not unmindful 
 of the command of Severinus. After he had ended 
 singing with the monks the vesper psalms, he bade the 
 place of burial to be opened. When it was uncovered, 
 a fragrance of such sweetness surrounded us who stood 
 by, that we fell on the earth for joy and wonder. Then 
 whereas we reckoned in all human expectation to find 
 the bones of his corpse disjoined, for the sixth year of 
 his burial had already passed, we found the bodily 
 structure intact. For this miracle we returned un- 
 measured thanks to the Author of all, because the 
 corpse of the saint, on which were no spices, which no 
 embalmer's hand had touched, had staid unharmed, 
 with beard and hair, even to that time. Accordingly 
 the hnen cloths were changed; the corpse was inclosed 
 in the casket that had been prepared for it long before, 
 placed in a wagon drawn by horses, and presently 
 carried forth. All the provincials made the journey 
 in our company. They abandoned the towns on the 
 banks of the Danube and were allotted the various 
 
 1 Julius Jung {Romer tifid Romaner in den Donauldndern, p. 205) 
 believes that the exodus was less general tlian the words of Eugippius 
 would seem to imply. Whatever may have been the case with re- 
 spect to the Roman population of Riverside Noricum, it is obvious 
 that there was no general withdrawal from Noricum Mediterraneum, 
 where the provincial organization was still in operation in the time of 
 Theodoric. Cassiodorus, Variae, iii, 50; Quitzmann, Die dlteste Ge- 
 schichle dor Baiern, p. 123. 
 
io6 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 abodes of their exile through the different districts of 
 Italy. So the body of the saint passed through many 
 lands and was borne to a castle named Mount Feleter.^ 
 
 CHAPTER XLV 
 
 DimiNG this time many that were attacked by divers 
 diseases, and some who were oppressed by unclean 
 spirits, experienced the instant healing of divine grace. 
 A certain dumb man also was brought to this castle 
 through the compassion of his kinsmen. He eagerly 
 entered the oratory, where the body of the holy man 
 still lay upon the wagon, and when he offered suppH- 
 cation behind the closed door of his mouth, in the 
 chamber of his heart, immediately his tongue was 
 loosed in prayer, and he spoke praise unto the Most 
 High. And when he returned to the inn where he was 
 wont to lodge, and was questioned as usual by nod and 
 sign, he answered in a clear voice, that he had prayed 
 and had offered praise to God. When he spoke, they 
 who knew him were terrified and ran shouting to the 
 oratory and told Saint Lucillus the priest, and us, who 
 were with him and knew nothing of the event. Then 
 we all rejoiced exceedingly, and returned thanks to 
 the divine mercy. 
 
 1 Probably the present Macerata di Monte Feltre, south of San 
 Marino. 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 107 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI 
 
 Barbaria, a lady of rank/ venerated Saint Severinus 
 with pious devotion. She and her late husband had 
 known him well by reputation and through correspond- 
 ence. When, after the death of the saint, she heard 
 that his body had with great labor been brought 
 into Italy, and up to that time had not been com- 
 mitted to earth, she invited by frequent letters our 
 venerable priest Marcianus, and also the whole 
 brotherhood. Then with the authorization of Saint 
 Gelasius, pontiff of the Roman see, and received by 
 the people of Naples with reverent obsequies, the body 
 was laid to rest by the hands of Saint Victor the bishop 
 in the Lucullan castle,^ in a mausoleum which Bar- 
 baria had built. ^ 
 
 1 Thomas Hodgkin {Italy aiid her Invaders, iii, Oxford, 1885, pp. 
 190 f. ; or 2d ed., 1896, pp. 172 f.) seeks to identify Barbaria with the 
 widow of Orestes and mother of Romulus Augustulus. On this point 
 see Jung's Romer und Ronianer in den Do7iaulander, p. 134; and Max 
 Biidinger's Eugipius, eine Untersuchimg, in Silzungsberichte der kaiser- 
 lichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Vienna), philosophisch-historische 
 Classe, xci, i (1878), pp. 802 f. 
 
 2 Now Pizzofalcone. 
 
 ' Two more translations still awaited the body. October 14, 903, 
 the Lucullan castle was abandoned through fear of the marauding 
 Saracens. The remains of the saint were borne in solemn procession 
 to the great Benedictine monastery of Saint Severinus, within the 
 walls of Naples. Joannes Diaconus Neapolitanus, Martyrium Sancti 
 Procopii, in Octavius Cajetanus's Vilae Sanctorum Sicidorum (Pa- 
 normi, 1657), ii, p. 62, reprinted in L. A. Muratori's Kenan Ilalicarum 
 Scripiares (Mediolani, 1723-51), i, 2, pp. 271 f.; and the same, printed 
 
io8 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 At this solemnity many afflicted by divers diseases, 
 whom it would be tedious to enumerate, were instantly 
 healed. Among them was a venerable handmaid of 
 
 from another manuscript, under the title of TranslalioSanctiSeverini or 
 Hisloria Translaiionis, in Acta Sandorufti, January, i (1643), PP- noo- 
 1 103, and reprinted thence in Momimenta Germaniae Historica: Scrip- 
 tores Rerum Langobardicaruni et Italicaruni Saec. VI-IX (Harmoverae, 
 1878), pp. 452-459. — It should be noted, however, that Luigi Para- 
 scandolo, in his Memorie Storiche-Critiche-Diplomatkhe delta Chiesa di 
 Napoli (Naples, 1847-51), ii, pp. 253 f., doubts the authenticity of this 
 narrative, which, he thinks, owes at least its present form to the labor 
 of some Benedictine monk living in the monastery of Saint Severinus 
 at the time of the revival of learning. — Descriptions of the monastery, 
 now for the most part secularized and occupied by the Royal Neapo- 
 litan State Archives, and of the church of Saints Severinus and Sosius 
 connected with it, may be found in Napoli e i Luoghi Celebri delle 
 sue Vicinanze (Naples, 1845), h PP- 233-243, and in the current guide- 
 books. 
 
 Here the remains of Severinus reposed for many centuries, not in 
 the large church, but beneath the great altar of the smaller primitive 
 church, or chapel, connected with it. The inscription on the great 
 altar is given in Acta Sanctorum, January, i, p. 499: 
 
 " Hie duo sancta simul divinaque corpora Patres 
 Sosius unanimes et Severinus habent." 
 
 According to Sebastian Brunner {Leben des St. Severin, Vienna, 1879, 
 p. 170), the following inscription was found in the crypt when it was 
 opened in 1S07: " Divis Severino Noricorum in Oriente Apostolo et 
 Sosio Levitae B. Januarii Episcopi in Passione socio Templum ubi 
 eorum SS. Corpora sub Altare majori requiescunt et Apostohco in- 
 dultu cum oblatione sacra purgantes animae liberantur." 
 
 The fourth removal was on May 30, 1807, after the dissolution of 
 the monastery under the French domination, to the town of Fratta 
 Maggiore, a few miles north of Naples. Stanislao d'Aloe, in Napoli e 
 i Luoghi Celebri delle sue Vicinanze, i, p. 240 (d'Aloe errs as to the 
 date); G. A. Galante, Memorie dell' Antico Cenobio Liiciillano di 
 S. Severiiio Abate (Naples, 1869), p. 41; Brunner, St. Severin, pp. 167- 
 
THE LIFE OF SEVERINUS 109 
 
 God, Processa by name, a citizen of Naples, who suf- 
 fered from a severe and troublesome sickness. In- 
 vited by the virtues of the holy corpse, she hastened 
 to meet it on the way; and when she approached the 
 vehicle in which the venerable body was borne, 
 immediately she was free from sickness in all her 
 members. 
 
 Also at that time a blind man, Laudicius, was star- 
 tled when he heard the unexpected clamor of the peo- 
 ple singing psalms, and anxiously asked his household 
 what it was. When they repKed that the body of a 
 certain Saint Severinus was passing, he was moved by 
 the spirit, and asked that he be led to the window; 
 from which one possessed of sight could behold afar 
 
 172. There was, it would appear from Brunner's account, some 
 ecclesiastical as well as civil authority for the removal of the remains. 
 Nevertheless Dr. Galante considers that they were " fraudolente- 
 mente rapitoci " (p. 41), and in his dissertation (pp. 41 f-) strongly 
 urges their return to Naples. " Gives Fractenses," he writes me 
 under date of March 20, 1914, " non S. Severini, sed S. Sosii corpus 
 repetebant, et occasionem nacti expulsionis Monachorum e coenobio 
 et templo Severinianio, prope Archivium Magnum, corpora utriusque 
 simul quiescentia rapuerunt, et ad oppidum suum transtulerunt, ubi 
 nunc in majori templo Fractensi quiescunt. Quamvis Monachi postea 
 redierint, haud curae fuit, sacra lipsana repetere. Superioribus annis 
 ego nullum non movi lapidem ut corpus S. Severini Neapoli restituere- 
 tur, sed frustra; praecordia tantum sanguine intincta, et quatuor ossa 
 restituta sunt, quae nunc in templo S. Severini asservantur." 
 
 From 1807 to 1874 the bodies of Severinus and Sosius lay in a small 
 chapel near the parish church of Fratta Maggiore. They were then 
 removed into the church, to a new chapel, where the coffins, placed on 
 either side the altar, were covered with red velvet, and distinguished 
 by the gilt letters S. S. M, (Sanctus Sosius Martyr) and S. S. A. 
 (Sanctus Severinus Abbas). Brunner, St. Severin, pp. 179 f. 
 
no EUGIPPIUS 
 
 off the multitude singing psalms and the carriage bear- 
 ing the sacred body. And when he leaned forth from 
 the window and prayed, straightway he saw, and 
 pointed out his acquaintances and neighbors one by 
 one. Thereupon all who heard him wept for joy and 
 returned thanks to God. 
 , Marinus too, precentor of the holy church at Naples, 
 
 I could not recover his health after a terrible sickness, 
 i and suffered from a constant headache. In faith he 
 i leaned his head agamst the carriage, and immediately 
 \ lifted it up free from pain. In memory of this benefit, 
 I he always came on the anniversary of the saint's 
 i burial and rendered to God thanks and the sacrifice 
 \ of a vow. 
 
 1 I have related three of the numberless miracles which 
 
 I were wrought on the arrival of the saint through his 
 I mediation and virtues. Let it suffice; though many 
 I know of more. 
 
 \ A monastery, built at the same place to the memory 
 
 ;, of the blessed man, still endures. By his merits 
 
 \ many possessed with devils have received and do 
 
 \ receive healing through the effective grace of God; to 
 
 \ whom is honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 Illustrious minister of Christ, thou hast the memoir. 
 From it make by thy editorial care a profitable work. 
 
LETTER OF PASCHASIUS TO 
 EUGIPPIUS 
 
 Paschasius the deacon to the holy and ever most 
 beloved priest Eugippius. 
 
 Dearest brother in Christ, thou measurest me by the 
 measure of thy skill, eloquence, and happy leisure, and 
 disdainest to consider my vexatious employments and 
 manifold imperfections. Yet through the contem- 
 plation of thy love I sustain the uijury to my mod- 
 esty.^ 
 
 Thou hast sent me a memoir to which the eloquence 
 of the trained writer can add nothing, and in a short 
 compendium hast produced a work which the whole 
 church can read. The life and character of Saint 
 Severinus, who dwelt in the provinces bordering on the 
 Pannonias, thou hast portrayed with much faithful- 
 ness; and thou hast handed down to the memory of 
 future generations, to remain through long ages, the 
 miracles which divine virtue hath wrought through 
 him. The deeds of the good cannot perish with time. 
 All persons to whom thy narrative shall bring Saint 
 Severinus shall have him before them, and shall per- 
 ceive that in a certain sense he dwells with them. And 
 
 ' Paschasius here imitates Sulpicius Severus, De Beati Martini 
 Vita, Praef., i: " Quid enim esset, quod non amori tuo vel cum det- 
 rimento mei pudoris inpenderem ? " 
 
 III 
 
1 1 2 PASCHASIUS 
 
 so as thou hast told very simply, and explained very 
 clearly, these particulars which thou didst ask me to 
 narrate, I have thought it best not to try to make any 
 addition to thy work. Indeed, it is one thing to relate 
 what we have been told^ quite another thing, to draw 
 from the stores of our own experience. The virtues 
 of teachers are particularly visible in their daily life, 
 and consequently are more easily depicted by their 
 pupils. By God's gift inspired, thou understandest 
 the value of the deeds of the saints for the improve- 
 ment of the minds of the good: their profitableness, 
 the fervor they impart, their cleansing power. On 
 this point we have the authority of the well-known 
 words of the apostle, " being ensamples to the flock; " ^ 
 and Saint Paul commanded Timothy, " be thou an 
 example of the believers." ^ For this reason Saint 
 Paul compiles a concise catalogue of the just, and, 
 beginning from Abel, recounts the virtues of dis- 
 tinguished men.^ So also that most faithful Mat- 
 tathias, as the days drew near that he should die a 
 glorious death, distributed to his sons as an inheritance 
 the examples of the saints; ^ that fired with sacred zeal 
 by the wonderful battles of the saints, they might hold 
 their lives as naught in the defense of the eternal laws. 
 Nor did the sons find the father's teaching false. For 
 so greatly did the deeds of the elders profit them, that 
 with most manifest faith they terrified armed princes, 
 overcame the camps of the wicked, overthrew far and 
 
 ^ I Peter, v, 3. ^ Hebrews, xi. 
 
 ^ I Timothy, iv, 12. * I Maccabees, ii, 49 seq. 
 
LETTER TO EUGIPPIUS 113 
 
 wide the worship and altars of demons/ and decorated 
 with perennial garlands they provided a civic crown for 
 their glorious country. 
 
 For this reason also I rejoice that through a bro- 
 ther's service something is provided for the ornaments 
 of the bride of Christ ;2 not that at any time, as I 
 beheve, have there been lacking illustrious examples of 
 the elders, but because it is fitting that the palace of 
 the Great King should have the standards of many 
 victories. For true virtue is not obscured by the 
 multitude of virtues, but yearns for their increase, and 
 is enlarged thereby.^ 
 
 * I Maccabees, iii, 8; v, 44, 68; x, 83 f. 
 ^ Revelation, xxi, 2, 9. 
 
 ' " As one lamp lights another nor grows less, 
 So nobleness enkindles nobleness." 
 
APPENDIX 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 A List or Editions and Translations of the Life 
 
 (a) Editions 
 
 Laurentius Surius, in De Probatis Sanctorum Historiis, vol. i 
 (Coloniae Agrippinae, 1570), pp. 153-161. Printed 
 from a greatly abridged manuscript, now lost. Lacks 
 the letters and the table of chapters; chapters 6, 13, 14, 
 16, 18-31, 39, 42; and parts of chapters 4, 9, 11, 12, 17, 
 and 43.^ Repeated in the editions of 1576 {ibid.), i, 
 pp. 159-167, and 1581 (Venetiis), i, ff. 49-52- The 
 third Cologne edition of Surius, pubHshed under the 
 title Vitae Sanctorum (161 7) repeats (i, pp. 111-121) 
 Velserus's text of 1595, with the addition of the letter 
 of Eugippius to Paschasius. 
 
 The latest edition of Surius (Augustae Taurinorum, 
 1875-80) reproduces the mutilated text of the earliest 
 editions. Tom. i, pp. 137-150. 
 
 Caesar Baronius, Annates Ecclesiastici, tom. vi (Romae, 
 1595), first printed the letter of Paschasius to Eugippius 
 (a. 496) and that part of the letter of Eugippius to 
 Paschasius which relates to the native country of Seve- 
 rinus {a. 454) ; also chapters 18, 19, and 42. Baronius 
 
 ^ There is a very curious bias displayed in some of the omissions. 
 These include the descriptions of the habits and daily life of Severinus 
 (4, 39); the rehabilitation of the repentant husbandman (12); and 
 the exhortation to the monks to lead lives of practicd godliness (43). 
 
 117 
 
ii8 APPENDIX 
 
 had the Life complete in manuscript, and printed nearly 
 a third of it in the Annals under the years 454, 473, 475, 
 482, 488, 493, 496.^ These portions are repeated in the 
 subsequent editions of his work, of which there are ten 
 or more. 
 
 Marcus Velserus. Histona ab Eugippio ante A nnos circiter 
 MC. scripta, qua Tempora, quae Attilae mortem conse- 
 quuta sunt, occasione vitae S. Severini illustrantur. Ex 
 Bibliotheca S. Emmerani Reginoburg. nunc primum 
 edita, cum scholiis. Augustae VindeUcorum, 1595. 
 Without the letter of Eugippius and the table of chap- 
 ters. The first separate edition. Repeated in Vel- 
 serus's Opera {ibid., 1682), pp. 629-676. 
 
 Henricus Canisius, Antiqua Lectio, tom. vi (Ingolstadii, 
 1604), first printed entire the letter of Eugippius to 
 Paschasius. This is found in the second edition of 
 Canisius, by Jacques Basnage {Thesaurus Monumen- 
 torum, etc., Amstelaedami, 1725), in vol. i, pp. 411 f. 
 
 Joannes Bolland, in Acta Sanctorum, Januarius, tom. i 
 (Antverpiae, 1643), pp. 483-499; editio novissima, 
 tom. i (Parisiis, etc., 1863), pp. 483-499. 
 
 1 A table of the chapters of the Life printed by Baronius may be of 
 
 service. The first column gives the year of the Annals; the second, 
 
 the sections, which are found in several of the editions; the third, page 
 
 references to tom. viii (1751) of the best edition, that of Lucca; the 
 
 fourth, the chapters of the Life. 
 
 454 25-31 168 £F. I, 2; part of the letter of Eugippius. 
 
 3 
 
 S, S, II (2d paragraph). 
 
 7 
 18 
 
 ip, 40, 42, 43 (omitting the address), 44 (2 para- 
 graphs). 
 44 (completion), 45 
 32 (the prophecy only). 
 46; the letter of Paschasius. 
 
 
 33.34 
 
 170 f. 
 
 473 
 
 3-9 
 
 318 ff. 
 
 47S 
 
 4 
 
 331 
 
 
 35 
 
 338 
 
 482 
 
 53-63 
 
 414-417 
 
 488 
 
 9-iS 
 
 504 f. 
 
 493 
 
 3 
 
 554 
 
 496 
 
 49-52 
 
 606 f. 
 
APPENDIX 119 
 
 Hieronymus Pez, in Scriptores Rerum Austriacarum, torn, 
 i (Lipsiae, 1721), coll. 64-93. 
 
 Berthold Rizel, in Sancta et Beata Austria (Augustae Vin- 
 delicorum, 1750), pp. 71-124. Repeated from Pez. ^ 
 
 Joseph Resch, in Amides Ecclesiae Sabionensis nunc Brixi- 
 nensis atque Conterminarum (Augustae Vindelicorum, 
 1760), torn, i, pp. 296-322. A number of chapters 
 toward the end are abbreviated. 
 
 Johann Heinrich von Falckenstein, in Geschichten des 
 grossen Herzogthums und ehemaligen Konigreichs Bay- 
 em, part i (Munich, etc., 1763), pp. 79-120. 
 
 Anton Albert Muchar, in Das romische Norikum, vol. ii 
 (Gratz, 1826), pp. 152-239- Repeated from Pez. 
 
 Jacques Paul Migne, in Patrologiae Cursus Computus, vol. 
 Ixii (Parisiis, 1848), coll. 1 167-1200. Repeated from 
 Acta Sanctorum. The letter of Paschasius is in the 
 same volume, coll. 39 f. 
 Anton Kerschbaumer. Vita S. Severini, auctore Eugippio, 
 secundum Codicem antiquissimum, qui Romae asservatur. 
 Cum tabula specimen codicis Lateranensis continente. 
 Scaphusiae, 1862. The first edition to contain the 
 table of chapters. 
 Johann Friedrich, in Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands , vol. i 
 
 (Bamberg, 1867), pp. 431-489- 
 
 Hermann Sauppe. Eugippii Vita Sancti Severini. Bero- 
 lini, 1877. In Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auc- 
 tores Antiquissimi, tom. i, pars ii. 
 
 PiusKnoell. Eugippii Vita Sancti Severini. Vindobonae, 
 1886. In Corpus Scriptorum Ecc'esiasticorum Latino- 
 rum, vol. viii, pars ii. 
 
 Theodor Mommsen. Eugippii Vita Severini. Berolini, 
 1898. In Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum in usum 
 Scholarum ex Monumentis Germaniae Historicis recusi. 
 
I20 APPENDIX 
 
 (b) German Translations 
 
 Johannes a Via. Das Leben des H. Severini N ortgoivischen 
 Apostels, durch Eugippium beschriben. In his Historien 
 der Lieben Heiligen Gottes, aus dem Latein [of Surius] 
 verteutschet (Munich, 1574-80), vol. i, ff. xciv-xcix. 
 
 Mathias Fuhrmann. Leben und Wunderthaten des Heiligen 
 Nordgauer, oder Oesterreicher A postels Severin. Vienna, 
 1746. 
 
 Johann Heinrich von Falckenstein, 1763, in columns paral- 
 lel to his text. 
 
 Leben des heil. Severin, aus dem Latein. Passau, 181 7. 
 
 P. Durach. Das Leben des h. Severin. Passau, 1847. 
 
 Carl Ritter. Das Leben des heiligen Monches und Apostels 
 der Noriker Severin, beschrieben von Eugippius. Linz, 
 
 1853- 
 Jakob Leitner, in Leben und Wirken des HI. Severin und der 
 
 heiligen Bischofe Maximilian und Valentin (3d edition, 
 
 Passau, 1868), pp. 112-174. 
 
 Karl Rodenberg. Leben des heiligen Severin, von Eugip- 
 pius. Leipsic, 1878; 2d edition, 1884. In Geschicht- 
 schreiber der deutschen Vorzeit. 
 
 Sebastian Brunner. Das Leben des N oriker- Apostels St. 
 Severin, von seinem Schiller Eugippius. Die wichtigste 
 Urkunde aus der Zeit der Volkerwanderung. Aus dem 
 Lateinischen. Mit Einleitung, Erkldrungen, moglichst 
 vollstdndiger Literatur und einem Bericht iiber die Grabe- 
 stdtten St. Severins bis auf die neueste Zeit. Mit einer 
 Abbildung der neuen St. Severinuskirche in Wien. 
 Vienna, 1879. 
 
APPENDIX 121 
 
 (c) French Translation ^ 
 
 In Jean Baptiste Carnandet's Les Actes des Saints, Janvier, 
 iii (Lyons, 1867), pp. 481-509. 
 
 II 
 
 A Latin Hymn in Praise of Saint Severinus ~ 
 
 Canticum laudis domino canentes 
 Hunc diem festum celebremus omnes, 
 Quo Severinus penetravit almus 
 
 Celsa polorum. 
 Quis stilo dives modulansque plectro 
 Cimcta signorum replicare possit, 
 Quae potens Christus studiis opimis 
 
 Contulit ejus ? 
 
 1 Tillemont, whose accuracy is commonly unimpeachable, says of 
 the Life {Memoires pour servir a VHistoire Ecclesiastique des six Pre- 
 miers Siecles, Paris, i yoi-i^J xvi, p. 180) " Elle est traduite en frangois 
 dans les Saints illustres de Mr. d'Andilli." A careful search, how- 
 ever, has so far failed to reveal such a translation. The reference to 
 it in Remy Ceillier's Histoire Generate des Aiiteiirs Sacres ct Ecdesias- 
 tiques (Paris, 1729-63), xvi, p. 158, may be borrowed from Tillemont. 
 
 2 A remarkable Neapolitan hynmary, apparently that of the mon- 
 astery of Saint Severinus, is preserved in two closely related manu- 
 scripts of about the end of the tenth century. Codex Vaticanus 7172 
 and MS. 1092 of the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. Guido Maria 
 Dreves has printed it from these, under the title of Hymnarius Severi- 
 nianus, as volume xiv a of Analeda Hymnica Medii Aevi (Leipsic, 
 1893). In it are two hymns (34 and 35, in Dreves's edition) in praise 
 of Saint Severinus. The second dates from the tenth century, as is 
 shown by its reference to the signs and wonders that accompanied the 
 translation of the relics of the saint from the Lucullan castle to Naples. 
 It contains nothing of biographical interest. The other was first pub- 
 lished by Antoine Frederic Ozanam, in his Documents Inedits pour 
 servir a VHistoire Litter aire de t'ltalie (Paris, 1850), pp. 241 ff., from the 
 
122 APPENDIX 
 
 Inclitus vates nimiumque felix, 
 
 Saepius cui deus intimabat (11,39, 
 
 Tunc ad oppress! populi salutem 40) 
 
 Multa futura, 
 Voce praesaga laqueos latronum (10) 
 
 Atque praedonum machinas retexens (4, 5) 
 
 Valde tutabat monitis supernis (11, 25, 30) 
 
 Oppida fessa. 
 Dulce solamen miseris ministrans 
 Horridam pestem famis amputa''/it, (3, 18) 
 
 Barbara plures feritate victos (8, 9, 10, 19) 
 
 Solvit ab hoste. 
 Magne confessor, humilis magister, (36) 
 
 Tu quidem normam monachis dedisti, (4, 9, 39) 
 
 Calle demonstrans sobrio sequaces 
 
 Scandere celum. 
 
 Vatican manuscript. It is Ozanam's opinion that it was composed 
 shortly after the preparation of the Life. The classical purity of form 
 and the unblurred outline of the story strongly support this view. 
 After Ozanam, Migne, Sauppe, KnoeU, and Mommsen, in their edi- 
 tions of the Life, and Dreves (as above) have printed the hymn. 
 Dreves alone has used the Paris manuscript. He has also suppHed, 
 from another hymn with a similar ending, the last three lines of the 
 final stanza, the Doxology, which is incomplete in the manuscripts. 
 His text is, however, carelessly printed. Andre Baudrillart gives a 
 French translation as an appendix to his Saint Sever in (1908). Sebas- 
 tian Brunner in his translation of the Life (1879), pp. 181 f., gives in 
 German a very free metrical paraphrase, " so arranged," he says, 
 " that it might be sung as a church hymn on the festival of the saint." 
 Its suitability for this purpose is lessened by the fact that Brunner has 
 inadvertently substituted ' Silenus ' for ' Silvinus ' in his rendering of 
 the ninth stanza. 
 
 The text which is here presented follows that of Mommsen, with 
 some correction of punctuation, and with the completing verses of the 
 Doxology from Dreves. The marginal numerals in parentheses refer 
 to chapters of the Life. 
 
APPENDIX 123 
 
 In tuis sacris manibus refulsit (13) 
 
 Celitus lumen, refluensque crevit 
 
 Ad tuos haustus olei liquamen (28) 
 
 Fontis ad instar. 
 Condolens cunctos inopes fovebat, (17) 
 
 Languidos sanans relevabat aegros: (6, 14, 
 
 Omnis accedens salubrem medelam , 33, 34, 38, 
 
 Sumpsit ab illo. 39) 
 
 Tuque Sylvinum loculo jacentem, (16) 
 
 Fratribus coram precibus peractis, 
 Morte devicta redire fecisti ad 
 
 Gaudia vitae. 
 Cereos flamma fidei cremante (11) 
 
 Arguit sanctus pater infideles : 
 Nosque flammescunt deitatis igne 
 
 Algida corda. 
 Cujus ad funus veniens sacratum 
 Mutus accepit modules loquelae, (45) 
 
 Caecus exultat procul ambulantes (46) 
 
 Cernere notos. 
 Neapolis, gaude redimita festa, 
 Plaude caelestem retinens patronum, 
 Quern tibi summus decus et juvamen 
 
 Praestitit auctor. 
 Hujus o Clemens meritis creator 
 Gloriam nobis veniamque confer, 
 Quo tui cultus super astra semper 
 
 Luce fruamur. 
 Gloriam patri resonemus omnes, 
 Gloriam Christo supplices canamus, 
 Cum quibus sanctus simul et creator 
 
 Spiritus regnat. 
 
124 APPENDIX 
 
 Translation 
 
 Singing a song of praise unto the Lord, let us all celebrate 
 this festal day, on which kind Severinus entered the heights 
 of heaven. 
 
 What eloquent pen, what tuneful lyre can repeat all the 
 miracles which mighty Christ bestowed upon his excellent 
 zeal ? 
 
 Seer of renown and exceeding good omen, to whom, for 
 the salvation of the people then prostrate, God often made 
 known many things that were to come. 
 
 With prophetic word he unravelled the snares of robbers 
 and the tricks of plunderers, and by supernal warnings 
 strongly defended the exhausted towns. 
 
 Giving sweet relief to the unfortunate, he banished the 
 horrid curse of famine, and set free from the foe many who 
 had been conquered by the fierce barbarians. 
 
 Great confessor, meek master, thou didst indeed give a 
 pattern to the monks, showing them how to mount to 
 heaven, following in the narrow path of temperance. 
 
 In thy sacred hands glittered the light from heaven; and 
 the oil at thy drawing overflowed and increased Uke a foun- 
 tain. 
 
 He sympathized with all the destitute, and cherished 
 them; he healed the sick, he relieved the suffering: every 
 one who approached received heahng remedy. 
 
 And in the presence of the brethren thou didst pray over 
 Silvinus as he lay in the coffin, and, conquering death, 
 bring him back to the joys of life. 
 
 By the flame that burned the waxen tapers of the faithful 
 the holy father convicted the unbelievers; and our cold 
 hearts flame with the fire of God. 
 
APPENDIX 125 
 
 Coming to his sacred burial, the dumb received speech, 
 the blind exulteth to recognize those that walk afar. 
 
 Naples, rejoice in thy festal crown! Clap thy hands, 
 keeping the heavenly patron whom the sovereign Author 
 hath bestowed upon thee as thy honor and help. 
 
 For his merits, merciful Creator, grant us glory and 
 pardon, that above the stars we may ever enjoy the light 
 of thy worship. 
 
 Let us all resovmd glory to the Father, let us m suppli- 
 ance smg glory unto Christ; with whom reigneth the Holy 
 Spirit and Creator. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Chronological Table 
 
 (Numerals in parentheses refer to chapters of the Life.) 
 
 453. Death of Attila. At about this time Severinus comes 
 " from the parts of the East to the marches of River- 
 side Noricum and the Pannonias " (i). 
 
 455, 9 Sept. Sabaria is destroyed by an earthquake (2 ?). 
 
 476, 23 Aug. Odoacer is proclaimed ruler of Italy. 
 
 28 Aug. The patrician Orestes is " unjustly slain." 
 (Letter to Paschasius). 
 
 Autumn or winter ? Primenius takes refuge with 
 Severinus (ibid.). 
 
 c. 482, 8 Jan. Death of Severinus at his monastery near 
 Favianis (43). 
 
 487. Odoacer wages war on the Rugii. Fredericus flees. 
 Feletheus and Giso are removed to Italy (44). 
 
 488 ? Fredericus returns. He is agam put to flight, this 
 time by an army which Odoacer sends imder his 
 brother Onoulfus. Onoulfus and Covmt Pierius 
 
126 APPENDIX 
 
 order the Roman provincials of Riverside Noricum 
 to withdraw to Italy. The body of Severinus is dis- 
 interred, and is accompanied by the monks to Mount 
 Feleter, in Italy. The provincials are assigned 
 abodes " through the different districts of Italy " 
 
 (44). 
 
 Fredericus goes to Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, 
 
 at Novae in Moesia (44). 
 
 489. Theodoric, with the authorization of the Emperor 
 Zeno, invades Italy, and defeats Odoacer at the 
 Isonzo (28 Aug.) and at Verona (30 Sept.). Fulfill- 
 ment of the prophecy of Severinus (32). 
 
 492-96. Gelasius is pope. Sometime during his pontifi- 
 cate, the body of Severinus is removed to the Lucul- 
 lan castle, near Naples, and there placed by Saint 
 Victor, bishop of Naples, in a mausoleum built for it 
 by Barbaria (46). 
 
 493, 27 Feb. Peace between Theodoric and Odoacer. 
 15 Mar. Odoacer is assassinated by Theodoric, who 
 becomes sole ruler of Italy. 
 
 511. Eugippius, second abbot of the monastery of Saint 
 Severinus at the Lucullan castle, sends the Life of 
 Severinus to Deacon Paschasius. 
 
 526, 30 Aug. Death of Theodoric. 
 
INDICES 
 
INDEX OF AUTHORS CITED 
 IN THE NOTES 
 
 Acta Sanctorum, 58, 96, 108. 
 
 See Bolland. 
 Adlzreitter, Johann, 46, 95. 
 Allgemeine Weltgeschichte, 41. 
 Aloe, Stanislao d', 108. 
 Ambrose, Saint, 78. 
 Andilli, see Arnauld d'Andilly. 
 Anonymus Cuspiniani, 32. 
 Anonymus Valesianus, 18. 
 Antonini Augusti Itinerarium, 
 
 32. 
 Arnauld d'Andilly, Robert, 
 
 121. 
 Athanasius, 93. 
 Atlantic Monthly, The, 94. 
 Augustine, Saint, 64, 69. 
 Ausonius, 51. 
 
 Barker, Ernest, 42. 
 Baronius, Caesar, 67, 118. 
 Baudrillart, Andre, 102, 122. 
 Bible, The: 
 
 Acts, 102. 
 
 I Chronicles, 100. 
 
 Colossians, S3- 
 
 I Corinthians, 16, 44, 89. 
 
 Ephesians, S3, 39, loo- 
 
 Exodus, 35. 
 
 Genesis, 51, 96, 99. 
 
 Hebrews, 100, 112. 
 
 James, 84. 
 
 Jeremiah, 42. 
 
 Joel, 55, 56. 
 
 II Kings, 80, icx>. 
 
 Luke, 51, 64. 
 
 I Maccabees, 112, 113. 
 
 Mark, 80. 
 
 Matthew, 19, 34, 38, 64, 
 80. 
 
 I Peter, 112. 
 
 Psalms, loi, 112. 
 
 Revelation, 113. 
 
 Romans, 100. 
 
 I Timothy, 112. 
 Bolland, Joannes, $5. 
 Brunner, Andreas, 34. 
 Brunner, Sebastian, 108, 109, 
 
 122. 
 BucUand, W. W., 18. 
 Biidinger, Max, 46, 107. 
 Bury, J. B., 104. 
 Butler, E. C, 37. 
 
 Cajetanus, Octavius, 107. 
 Cambridge Medieval History, 
 
 The, 42. 
 Cassiodorus, 105. 
 Ceilher, Remy, 121. 
 Codex Theodosianus, 18. 
 Cruse, C. P., 93. 
 
 139 
 
I30 
 
 Curschmann, Fritz, 39, 55. 
 Cuspinianus, Joannes, 36. 
 
 Dahn, Felix, 74. 
 Deacon, Thomas, 49. 
 Dictionary of Christian Biog- 
 raphy, 74. 
 Dreves, G. M., 121, 122. 
 Du Cange, 51, 53. 
 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 37. 
 Ennodius, 41, 45, 53, 86. 
 Eusebius, 93. 
 Evagrius, 93. 
 
 Excerptum Sangallense, 32. 
 Expositio totius Mundi et Gen- 
 tium, 52, 81. 
 
 Falckenstein, J. H. von, 18, 
 
 63. 
 Frick, Karl, 32. 
 
 Galante, G. A., 108, 109. 
 
 Gelehrte Anzeigen der koniglich 
 bayerischen Akademie der 
 Wissenschaften (Munich), 74. 
 
 Gregory of Tours, 67. 
 
 Gregory the Great, 71. 
 
 Hansitz, Marcus, 19, 38, 83. 
 
 Harnack, Adolf, 45. 
 
 Harvard Studies in Classical 
 
 Philology, 58. 
 Hayes, C. H., 7, 29, 42. 
 Hilarius Arelatensis, 103. 
 Historia Translationis, 108. 
 Hodgkin, Thomas, 70, 107. 
 Holstenius, Lucas, 103. 
 Eymnarius Severinianus, 121. 
 
 INDEX OF AUTHORS 
 
 Isidorus Hispalensis, 30. 
 
 Jerome, Saint, 64, loi. 
 Joannes Diaconus Neapolita- 
 
 nus, 107. 
 John Chrysostom, Saint, 64. 
 Jordanes, 18, 38, 41, 52, 66, 72, 
 Jung, Julius, 89, 105, 107. 
 
 Kaufmann, Georg, 36. 
 Kingsley, Charles, 95. 
 Knoell, Pius, S3, 52, 122. 
 
 Lazius, Wolfgang, 37. 
 Le Nain de Tillemont, Sebas- 
 tian, 49, 121. 
 
 Marcellinus Comes, 55. 
 Menander Protector, 52. 
 Migne, J. P., 51, 64, 103, 122. 
 Mommsen, Theodor, 32, ^^, 
 
 122. 
 Montalembert, Comte de, 95. 
 Monumenta Germaniae His- 
 
 lorica, 8, 32, 108. 
 Morgan, M. H., 58. 
 Muchar, A. A., 52. 
 Muratori, L. A., 107. 
 
 Napoli e i Luoghi Celebri delle 
 
 sue Vicinanze, 108. 
 Nicolas, Sir Harris, 32. 
 Notitia Dignitatum, 60, 66, 69. 
 
 Ozanam, A. F., 95, 121, 122. 
 
 Palladius, 93. 
 
 Pallmann, Reinhold, 74, 78, 89. 
 
 Parascandolo, Luigi, 108. 
 
INDEX OF AUTHORS 
 
 131 
 
 Paulinus Mediolanensis, 90. 
 Paulinus of Nola, 51. 
 Paulus Diaconus, 104. 
 Penck, Albrecht, 39. 
 Pflugk-Harttung, Julius von, 
 
 41. 
 Philo Judaeus, 93. 
 Priscus, 18. 
 
 Quitzmann, E. A., 60, 105. 
 
 Rader, Matthaeus, 97. 
 Ranke, Leopold von, 104. 
 Rettberg, F. W., 37, 74. 
 Rodenberg, Karl, 7, 29, 33, 42, 
 Roesler, C. F., 32. 
 Roncallius, Thomas, 32. 
 Rosweyde, Heribert, 81. 
 Rutilius Namatianus, 103. 
 
 Salvian, 34, 53. 
 Sauppe, Hermann, ^i, 122. 
 Sidonius ApoUinaris, 67. 
 Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen 
 
 Akademie der Wissenschaf- 
 
 ten (Vienna), 107. 
 
 Smith, William, 74. 
 Sommerlad, Theo, 19, 51. 
 Stabius, Joannes, 37. 
 Stokes, G. T., 74. 
 Sulpicius Severus, 50, 63, 90, 
 
 103, III. 
 Surius, Laurentius, 33. 
 Swarowsky, Anton, 39. 
 
 Thierry, Amedee, 52, 53, 104. 
 Tillemont, see Le Nain de Til- 
 
 lemont. 
 Translatio Sancti Severini, 108. 
 
 Valesius, 93. 
 
 Valois, Henri de, see Valesius. 
 
 Velserus, Marcus, 30, 50. 
 
 Venantius Fortunatus, 97. 
 
 Viard, Paul, 64. 
 
 Vita Willibaldi, 8. 
 
 Wace, Henry, 74. 
 Wattenbach, Wilhelm, 20. 
 Wietersheim, Eduard von, 72. 
 Workman, H. B., 91, 94. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Abel, 112. 
 
 Abraham, patriarch, loo. 
 
 Adamnan, abbot of lona, 74, 
 
 n. 2. 
 Ad Vineas, cell of Severinus at, 
 
 36. 
 
 Aedituus, 51, n. 2. 
 
 Aegidius, ruler in Gaul, 41, n. 
 I, 78, n. 2. 
 
 Aenus (Inn), river, 34, 67, 71, 
 97, n. I. 
 
 Aetius, Roman general, 78, 
 n. 2. 
 
 Alamanni, German tribe, 23, 
 41, n. I, 85. 
 lay waste Noricum Mediter- 
 
 raneum, 24, 76. 
 overthrown by the Romans 
 at Batavis, 24, 77 f. 
 
 Almsgivings, enjoined by Seve- 
 rinus, 22, 24, 30, 31, 34, 44, 
 
 56, 57- 63-67- 
 Alps, the, 60, n. 2, 81, 97, n. i. 
 Alveus (or Alneus), Gallic 
 
 saint, 58, n. 3. 
 Amantius, deacon, 68 f. 
 Ambrose, Saint, bishop of 
 
 Milan, 89 f. 
 Ambrosius, exile, 25, 87. 
 Anthony, Saint, Egyptian 
 
 monk, 93, n. i. 
 Antonius, disciple of Severinus, 
 
 45, n. I, 53, n. 2. 
 
 Arians, Christian sect, 41, n. i, 
 46, n. 2. 
 
 Ariminum, city in Italy, 15. 
 
 Asturis, town near the Dan- 
 ube, 21, 29, 31. 
 
 Attila, king of the Huns, 29, 
 41, n. I, 125. 
 
 Austria, 36, n. 2, 38, n. 2. 
 
 Avitianus, soldier, 103. 
 
 Bajovarius, 97, n. i. 
 
 Barbaria, lady of rank, 27, 107, 
 126. 
 
 Basil the Great, Saint, monas- 
 tic rule of, 37, n. i. 
 
 Bassus, monk, 15. 
 
 Batavis (Passau), town on the 
 Danube, 67, 68, 69, 71 f., 
 
 74- 
 attacked by Hunimund, 72 f. 
 the Alamanni defeated at, 
 
 24, 77 f- 
 stormed by the Thuringi, 24, 
 
 78. 
 Bavaria, 38, n. 2. 
 Bear, miracle of the, 25, 81 f. 
 Belenus, Celtic deity, 51, n. 2. 
 Benedictine monastery of 
 
 Saint Severinus, at Naples, 
 
 107, n. 3. 
 Boethius, 70, n. i. 
 Bojotro (Innstadt), church at, 
 
 71- 
 133 
 
134 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Bojotro, monastery of Seve- 
 
 rinus at, 71, 89. 
 Bonosus, monk, 25, 88 f. 
 Boundary wall, the, 69. 
 Breones, Alpine tribe, 97, n. i. 
 Brunner, Sebastian, 10. 
 Bulgaria, 104, n. 2. 
 Burgum, near Favianis, 38. 
 Businca, affluent of the 
 
 Danube, 60 f. 
 Byrrus, river in Noricum, 
 
 97, n. I. 
 
 Capraria, island, 103, n. i. 
 
 Castellum, 52, n. 3. 
 
 Catholic faith, the, 29, 41. 
 
 Catholics, 41, n. i, 46. 
 
 Christ, 15, 17, 19, 34, 36, 43, 
 45,47, 48, 61, 62, 63, 66 f., 
 72, 73, 80, 83, 84, 8s, 91, 92, 
 
 98, 99, loi, no. III, 113, 
 121, 123, 124, 125. 
 
 Christian literature, 51, n. 2. 
 Christian narratives, early, 
 
 81, n. 2. 
 Colman, Irish pilgrim, 36, n. 2. 
 Columba, Saint, biography of, 
 
 by Adamnan, 74, n. 2. 
 Comagenis, town in Riverside 
 Noricum, 21, 25, 30, :},i, 
 87. 
 earthquake at, 31 f. 
 Constantius, bishop of Lauria- 
 
 cum, 53, n. 2, 83. 
 
 CuculHs (Kuchel), town of 
 
 Riverside Noricum, 53, 
 
 n. I. 
 
 abominable sacrifices at, 53. 
 
 miracle of the tapers of the 
 
 faithful at, 22, 53 ff., 123, 
 124. 
 miracle of the locusts at, 22, 
 
 55 ff- 
 Custos ccclcsiae, ^o,n. i, 5i,n. 2. 
 
 Dalmatia, 72, n. i, 78, n. 2, 
 
 103, n. I. 
 Danube, the, 29, S3, 34, 38, 
 
 41, n. I, 46, 49, 52, 60, 67, 
 
 72, 73, 79, 98, 104, 105- 
 Danube fiotUla, the, 66, n. 2. 
 Deogratias, bearer of letters, 
 
 17- 
 Dumb man, miracle of the, 27, 
 
 106, 123, 125. 
 
 Earthquake, at Comagenis, 
 
 31 f. 
 
 date of, 32, n. i, 125. 
 East, the, 19, 29, 125. 
 Egypt, 93, n. 3, 95. 
 Egyptian bondage, house of, 
 
 105. 
 EUsha the prophet, 80, 100. 
 Empire, dissolution of the, 
 
 78, n. 2. 
 Ens, 66, n. 2. 
 Epiphany, 97. 
 Eugippius, priest, sends the 
 
 Life of Severinus to Deacon 
 
 Paschasius, 15-20, 111-113, 
 
 126. 
 
 Famine, at Favianis, 21, 33 f. 
 at Lauriacum, relieved by 
 Severinus, 23, 66 f., 122, 
 124. 
 in Gaul, 67, n. i. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 135 
 
 Fasts, 31. 
 practised by Severinus, 38, 
 
 64, 93 f. 
 enjoined by him, 24, 30, 31, 
 
 44, 54, 55 f-, 76, 77, 79, 
 
 90, 92. 
 denounced by the gabbling 
 
 priest, 72. 
 practised by the Thera- 
 
 peutae, 93, n. 3. 
 Favianis, city in Riverside 
 .Noricum, 21, s^, 36, 46, 
 
 52, 72, 85, 98. 
 famine at, s^ f. 
 defeat of the raiders near, 
 
 35 i- 
 wrongly identified with 
 
 Vienna, 36, n. 2. 
 monastery of Severinus at, 
 
 see Monastery. 
 Feba, prince of the Rugii, 
 probably the same as Fele- 
 theus, or Feva, 40, n. i, 71. 
 Feletheus, or Feva, king of the 
 
 Rugii, son of Flaccitheus, 
 
 22, 26,47,48, 87. 
 his friendship with Severi- 
 nus, 46. 
 removes the provincials 
 
 from Lauriacum, 25, 84 ff. 
 his final interview with 
 
 Severinus, 26, 94 f. 
 gives Favianis to Ferderu- 
 
 chus, 98. 
 taken prisoner and removed 
 
 to Italy, 104, 125. 
 said to have been put to 
 
 death by Odoacer, 104, n. 
 
 I. See Feba. 
 
 Ferderuchus, brother of King 
 Feva, 40, n. i. 
 lord of Favianis, 98. 
 adjured by Severinus, 26, 
 
 98 f., 104. 
 characterized, 103. 
 seizes the possessions of the 
 
 monastery, 26, 103 f. 
 slain by Fredericus, 26, 104. 
 Feva, see Feletheus. 
 Flaccitheus, king of the Rugii, 
 21, 22, 46, 98. 
 interview of, with Severinus, 
 
 40-43- 
 Florian, martyr, 36, n. 2. 
 
 Franks, German tribe, 41, n. i, 
 
 53, n. 2. 
 Fratta Maggiore, town near 
 
 Naples, 107, n. 3. 
 Fredericus, prince of the Rugii, 
 40, n. I. 
 
 seized by the goldsmiths, 22, 
 
 47 f. 
 slays Ferderuchus, 104. 
 flees before Odoacer, 104, 
 
 125- 
 
 returns home, 104, 125. 
 again put to flight, 104, 125. 
 goes to Theodoric, 104, 126. 
 Fugitivus, 18, n. 3. 
 
 Gaul, 67, n. I, 78, n. 2. 
 Gelasius, Saint, pope (492- 
 
 496), 107, 126. 
 Gervasius, Saint, martyr of 
 Milan, 49, n. i. 
 
 relics of, 22, 49 f. 
 Gibuldus, king of the Ala- 
 
 manni, 23, 67 ff. 
 
136 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Giso, queen of King Feletheus, 
 
 22, 40, n. I. 
 troubles of, because of her 
 
 opposition to Severinus, 
 
 46flf. 
 strongly marked character 
 
 of, 46, n. I. 
 her final interview with 
 
 Severinus, 94 f. 
 removed to Italy, 104, 125. 
 her fate unknown, 104, n. i. 
 Goths (Ostrogoths), the, 41, n. 
 
 I, 42. 
 hostile to Flaccitheus, 40. 
 destitution of, 66, n. i. 
 beleaguer Tiburnia, 41, n. i, 
 
 65 f. ■ 
 at war with the Suevi, 72, 
 n. I. 
 
 Harmony, Pennsylvania, 93, 
 
 n. 3. 
 Heruli, German tribe, 24, 41, n. 
 
 I, 53, n. 2, 75. 
 Homo saccular is, loi, n. 2. 
 Hunimund, 72 f. 
 Hims, the, 29. 
 
 Ice, formation of, on the 
 Danube, 38. 
 melting of, on the Aenus, 34. 
 Importunus, Roman consul 
 
 (509), 15- 
 
 Inn, the, 60, n. 2. Sec Aenus. 
 
 Innstadt, see Bojotro. 
 
 Islands, part of, in the history 
 of monasticism in the Occi- 
 dent, 103, n. I. 
 
 Isonzo, battle of the (489), 126. 
 
 Israel, children of, 95. 
 
 Italy, 18, 40, 45, 46, 69, 78, n. 
 
 2, 102, n. 3, 104, 106, 107, 
 
 125, 126. 
 
 Jacob, patriarch, 99. 
 James the apostle, 84. 
 Januarius, martyr, 107, n. 3. 
 Jesus, 47, 61, 62, 80, 89, 99. 
 
 See Christ. 
 John the Baptist, Saint, bless- 
 ing of , 24, 71, 74. 
 
 relics of, 24, 73 f. 
 Joseph, patriarch, 96. 
 Joviaco (Schlogen), town of 
 Riverside Noricum, 74. 
 
 sacked by the Heruli, 24, 
 
 75- 
 Juvao (Salzburg), town of 
 
 Riverside Noricum, 58, 
 
 n. I. 
 miracle of the saint's taper 
 
 at, 22, 58 f., 123, 124. 
 miracle of the sick woman 
 
 at, 22 f., 59 f. 
 
 Klosterneuburg, 29, n. 3. 
 Kuchel, see Cucullis. 
 
 Laid, loi, n. 2. 
 
 Laudicius, blind man, miracle 
 
 of, 109 f., 123, 125. 
 Lauriacum, chief town of River- 
 side Noricum, 53, n, 2, 
 66, n. 2, 89, n. i. 
 miracle of the rust at, 23, 
 
 66 f. 
 people of Batavis remove to, 
 
 78. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 137 
 
 Lauriacum, miracle of the oil 
 at, 24, 79 f., 123, 124. 
 preserved by Severinus, 25, 
 
 82 ff. 
 abandoned at the behest of 
 Feva, 25, 84 ff. 
 Lent, 93. 
 
 Leopold III the Pious, mar- 
 grave of Austria (1096- 
 ii36),36, n. 2. 
 Leper from the territory of 
 Milan, miracle of the, 24, 
 76 f. 
 Leper named Tejo, miracle of 
 
 the, 25, 88. 
 Lerina, isle in the Mediter- 
 ranean, 45, n. I, 103, n. I. 
 Locellum, 102, n. 3. 
 Loculum, 102, n. 3. 
 Locusts, ravages of, 22, 55 ff. 
 Lorch, 66, n. 2. 
 Lot's wife, 51. 
 Lower Hungary, 38, n. 2. 
 Lower Pannonia, 40. 
 Lucania, district in Italy, 15. 
 Lucillus, Saint, priest, 26, 69, 
 
 97, 105, 106. 
 Lucullan castle, the, near 
 Naples, 107, 121, n. 2, 126. 
 
 Macerata di Monte Feltre, 
 
 town in Italy, 106, n. i. 
 Macon, second council of 
 
 (585). 64, n. I. 
 Mamertinus, tribune, 35. 
 pursues the robbers, 35. 
 victorious at the brook Ti- 
 
 guntia, 36. 
 ordained bishop, 35. 
 
 MarcelHnus, ruler in Dalma- 
 
 tia, 41, n. I, 78, n. 2. 
 Marcianus, monk, 26, 91. 
 
 a citizen of Cucullis, 53. 
 
 priest of the monastery of 
 Saint Severinus, 53, 107. 
 Marcus, subdeacon, 62, 63. 
 Marinus, precentor of the 
 
 church at Naples, no. 
 Martin, Saint, of Tours, 50, n. 
 
 2, 63, n. I. 
 Maternus, doorkeeper, 62, 63. 
 Mattathias, Jewish leader, 112. 
 Maurus, janitor, 22, 51 f. 
 Maximianus, Saint, priest, 75. 
 Maximilian, martyr, 36, n. 2. 
 Maximus, man of Noricum, 
 
 75 f- 
 leads a party across the 
 
 Alps, 81. 
 saved by the bear, 81 f. 
 Mediterranean, the, 103, n. i. 
 Milan, 76, 89. 
 Moderatus, singer, 74. 
 Moesia, province, 104, 126. 
 Monachus, loi, n. 2. 
 Monastery of Severinus near 
 Favianis, 26, 36 f., 43 f., 
 49f-,5i,72, 73,75, 86, 89, 
 92 f., 98, 103, 104, 125. 
 at Batavis, 67. 
 at Bojotro, 71, 89 f. 
 Mount Feleter, castle in Italy, 
 106, 126. 
 
 Naples, 8, n. i, 27, 107, 109, 
 
 no, 121, n. 2, 126. 
 Norica rura, 97, n. i. 
 iNorici, 23, 65, 67, n. i. 
 
138 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Noricum, district in Central 
 
 Europe, 8, 41, n. i, 53, n. 
 
 2, 78, n. 2. 
 use of the word, 65, n. i. 
 Riverside Noricum, 19, 29, 
 
 52, 66, n. 2, 105, n. i, 125, 
 
 126. 
 Noricum Mediterraneum 
 
 (Noricum), 24, 65, 70, 75, 
 
 81, 105, n. I. 
 Novae, city of Moesia, 104, 
 126. 
 
 Occident, the, island monaster- 
 ies of, 103, n. I. 
 Odoacer, visits cell of Severi- 
 nus, 45. 
 Severinus foretells his great- 
 ness, 21, 45 f. 
 and his downfall, 25, 87, 126. 
 proclaimed ruler of Italy, 
 
 125. 
 friendly relations with Sev- 
 erinus, 25, 86 f. 
 wages war against the Rugii, 
 
 104, 125 f. 
 commands the removal of 
 
 the provincials, 104. 
 overthrown and slain by 
 Theodoric, 126. 
 Oil, miracle of the, 24, 79 f., 
 
 123, 124. 
 Onoiilfus, brother of 'Odoacer, 
 
 104, 125 f. 
 Orestes, patrician, 18, 107, n. 
 
 I, 125- 
 Orient, the, 37, n. i. 
 Osterhofen, see Quintanis. 
 Ostiarius, 30, n. i, 51, n. 2. 
 
 Pachomius, Egyptian monk, 
 
 90, n. 3. 
 Pannonia, 18, n. i, 41, n. i, 
 
 52, n. 2. 
 Pannonias, the, 29, 41, n. i, 53, 
 
 n. 2, III, 125. 
 Pannonias, the two, 29. 
 Paphnutius Cephala, Egyp- 
 tian monk, 93, n. 2. 
 Paschasius, Roman deacon, 126. 
 addressed by Eugippius, 15- 
 
 20. 
 replies, 111-113. 
 Passau, see Batavis. 
 Paul, Saint, 39, n. i, 112. 
 Paulinus, priest of Noricum 
 Mediterraneum, 23, 70. 
 elected bishop of Tiburnia 
 in accordance with the 
 prophecy of Severinus, 
 24, 70. 
 warned by Severinus of the 
 incursion of the Alamanni, 
 
 24, 75 f- 
 
 Pennsylvania, 93, n. 3. 
 
 Phoebicius, professor at Bur- 
 digala, 51, n. 2. 
 
 Pientissimus, bystander, 80. 
 
 Pierius, Count, official of Odo- 
 acer, IDS, 125 f. 
 
 Pizzofalcone, near Naples, 107, 
 n. 2. 
 
 Poor man's corn, miracle of 
 the, 22, 56 f., 117, n. I. 
 
 Postumianus, 90. 
 
 Primenius, ItaUan priest, 18, 
 19, 125. 
 
 Processa, woman of Naples, 
 108 f. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 139 
 
 Procula, wealthy widow, $3 f. 
 Protasius, Saint, martyr of 
 Milan, 49, n. i. 
 relics of, 22, 49 f. 
 
 Quintanis (Osterhofen), munic- 
 ipality of Raetia Secunda, 
 60, n. I, 75. 
 miracle of the church by the 
 
 river at, 23, 60 f. 
 the inhabitants remove to 
 Batavis, 77. 
 Quirinus, martyr, 36, n. 2. 
 
 Raetia, 69, n. i. 
 
 Raetia Prima, 60, n. 2. 
 
 Raetia Secunda, 60. 
 
 Raetias, the, 34, 69, n. i, 97. 
 
 Raetii, 60, n. i, 67, n. i. 
 
 Rapp, George, 93, »• 3- 
 
 Reliquiae, 71, n. 2. 
 
 Renatus, monk, 26, 91. 
 
 Retica annona, 69, n. i. 
 
 Roman dominion, 69. 
 
 Roman province, the, 96. 
 
 Roman territory, 68. 
 
 Romans, 30, 32, 41, n. i, 46, 48, 
 77, 104. 
 
 Rome (city), 70, n. i, 104, n. i. 
 
 Rome (empire),4i,n. i,6o,n. 2. 
 
 Romulus Augustulus, last em- 
 peror of the West (475-476), 
 107, n. I. 
 
 Royal Neapohtan State Ar- 
 chives, the, 107, n. 3. 
 
 Rugian royal house, genealog- 
 ical table of the, 40, n. i. 
 
 Rugian widow's only son, 
 miracle of the, 21, 43-45. 
 
 Rugii, German tribe on the 
 
 Danube, 21, 22, 25, 40, 
 
 43, 45, 71, 84, 85, 86, 94, 
 
 98. 
 
 distinctive position of, 41, 
 
 n. I. 
 
 attacked by Odoacer, 104, 
 
 125. 
 Rumania, 38, n. 2. 
 
 Sabaria, town in Pannonia, 
 
 destroyed by earthquake, 
 
 32, n. I, 125. 
 Salzburg, see Juvao. 
 Sanct Peter im Holz, town, 65, 
 
 n. 2. 
 Sanctiiaria, 71, n. 2. 
 San Marino, 106, n. i. 
 Saracens, 107, n. 3. 
 Satan, 25, 45, n. i, 72, 89, 
 
 90. 
 Saviour, the, 38, 39, 48, 80. 
 
 See Christ. 
 Saxons, German tribe, 41, n. i, 
 
 53, n. 2. 
 Scamarae, robbers, 52. 
 Schlogen, see Joviaco. 
 Severin, village, 36, n. 2. 
 Severinus, Saint, 15, 16, 19 f. 
 
 hfe of, 21-110. 
 
 founds a monastery near 
 Favianis, 36 f. 
 
 trains the monks, 37, 50 f., 
 92 f., 122, 124. 
 
 mode of life of, 38 flf., 92 ff. 
 
 redeems captives, 23 48, 
 67 ff. 
 
 collects reUcs of martyrs, 22, 
 24, 49 f., 71, 73 f 
 
I40 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Severinus, declines the ofl&ce of 
 
 bishop, 2 2, 50. 
 fame of, 38, 52, 70. 
 cares for captives and the 
 
 needy, 23, 63 fif., 122, 123, 
 
 124. 
 establishes tithes, 64-67. 
 reviled by the gabbUng 
 
 priest, 24, 72. 
 discipUnes the three proud 
 
 monks, 25 f., 89 f. 
 his final address to his fol- 
 lowers, 26, 99-102, 117, 
 
 n. I. 
 death of, 26, 102. 
 burial of, 102. 
 first translation of the body, 
 
 to Mount Feleter, 27, 
 
 IDS f. 
 second translation, to the 
 
 Lucullan castle, 27, 107- 
 
 iio, 123, 125. 
 third translation, to the 
 
 Benedictine monastery of 
 
 Saint Severinus in Naples, 
 
 107, n. 3. 
 fourth translation, to Fratta 
 
 Maggiore (1807), 107, n.3. 
 patron saint of Austria, 
 
 36, n. 2. 
 called apostle of Noricum, 
 
 39, n. 2. 
 called second apostle pt 
 
 Austria, 36, n. 2. 
 Silenus, 121, n. 2. 
 Silvinus, priest of Quintanis, 
 
 recalled from the dead by 
 
 Severinus, 23, 61 ff., 121, 
 
 n. 2, 123, 124. 
 
 engravings representing the 
 scene, 9, 63, n. i. 
 Sistova, town in Bulgaria, 
 
 104, n. 2. 
 Soldiers, at Favianis vinder 
 Mamertinus, 35 f. 
 
 at Batavis, 69 f. 
 Sosius, martyr, 107, n. 3. 
 Spital, 65, n. 2. 
 Stilicho, 72, n. i, 89. 
 Suevi, German tribe, 72, n. i. 
 Sulpicius Severus, 90. 
 
 Taper of the saint, miracle of 
 the, 22, 58 f., 123, 124. 
 
 Tapers of the faithful, miracle 
 of the, 22, 53 ff., 123, 124. 
 
 Tejo, leper, miraculously 
 healed, 25, 88. 
 
 Theodemir, king of the Ostro- 
 goths, 66, n. I. 
 
 Theodoric, king of the Ostro- 
 goths, 60, n. 2, 104, 105, n. 
 I, 126. 
 
 Therapeutae, Egyptian ascet- 
 ics, 93, n. 3. 
 
 Three proud monks, miracle 
 of the, 25 f., 89 f. 
 
 Thuringi, German tribe, 41, n. 
 1,85. 
 storm Batavis, 78. 
 
 Tiburnia, metropoHs of Nori- 
 cum Mediterraneum, 41 , n. i , 
 
 65 f., 70. 
 Tiguntia, brook, battle at the, 
 
 36. 
 Timothy, Saint, 112. 
 Titas, mountain near Arimi- 
 
 num, 15. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 141 
 
 Tithes, 23, 64-67. 
 
 Tulln, 30, n. 2. 
 
 Tyrrhenian Sea, the, 103, n. i. 
 
 Upper Pannonia, 19, 32, n. i. 
 Ursus, monk, 26, 92. 
 
 Valentine, Saint, bishop of the 
 Raetias, 97. 
 ■ Verona, battle of (489), 126. 
 Victor, Saint, bishop of Naples, 
 
 107, 126. 
 Victory, goddess, 78, n. i. 
 
 Vienna, 29, n.3, 36, n. 2,38,n. 2, 
 church of Saint Severinus 
 at, 120. 
 Visigoths, the, 67, n. i. 
 Vulgate, the, 52, n. 3. 
 
 Western Empire, the, 41, n. i, 
 
 72, n. I. 
 Willibald, Saxon pilgnm, 8, n. i. 
 Wurtemberg, 93, n. 3. 
 
 Zeno, Byzantine emperor (474 
 -491), 126. 
 
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