Vita Et Passio Sancti Desideri

Life and Passion of Saint Desiderius by Sisebutus, King of the Goths. (Florez, España Sagrada, vol. XXX.) For the imitation of those present, for the edification of men of the future, for the holy pursuits of succeeding ages, I have resolved to write the life of the holy martyr Desiderius, and what faithful report has made known to our knowledge, I have set forth in a drier style rather than with words laden with ornament. I implore the Lord, who is to be present to us, who has conferred upon him power to work miracles not undeservedly, to shake off the torpor of our mind and tongue and grant us, unworthy as we are, the faculty to narrate the order of his deeds. This man, born of Roman parents of illustrious stock, consecrated to God from the cradle, drew a most noble lineage. When he reached the lawful years for instruction, he was handed over to the study of letters. Without any delay, as the vigor of his understanding grew, already surpassing his teachers, he was most fully instructed in grammar, and retained and expounded divine authorities with marvelous speed; for he was vigorous in capacity, retentive in memory, most acute in mental ability, most clear in eloquence, and, what is greater than all these, contrite in all his actions; to the hungry, according to the Gospel, he offered food, to the thirsty he offered drink, he provided comfort to the sick and to the imprisoned, hospitality to the stranger, and clothing to the naked.

Not hostile pride exalted him above all virtues, not sluggish drunkenness wounded him, not excessive presumption in food weighed him down, not voracious lust corrupted him, not deceitful falsehood changed him, not harmful cupidity persuaded him. And while he flourished with such virtues by divine favor, and having passed the limits of youthful years, he did not seize upon desires; the fame of his good reputation, spreading abroad, and the works of light granted by the true light shone forth in many regions. Finally, when the bishops of many cities, for the sake of benefits to be received by the peoples, sought the holy man for themselves as bishop, he, as humility has it, professed himself unequal to so great a mystery, declaring himself a mere log. At length, not so much willingly as driven by many prayers, the chosen pontiff earned the Church of Vienne for himself. Once he had taken it up, by his most careful preaching he removed from anger the contentious, from falsehood the deceitful, from greed the covetous, from shameful acts the lustful; he subdued drunkenness with sobriety, overcame gluttony with abstinence, conquered discord with the gift of charity, restrained pride with sincere humility, roused the most uncertain from torpor with vigilance, taught them to be more generous in almsgiving, grateful in prayer, steadfast in friendship, diligent in judging matters, and always discreet in every action. But he taught all these things more by example than by words, knowing that the Lord would be present, seeking not so much eloquence as works.

While these things were being done by Christ's permission, the inventor and friend of death groaned against the converted and the converted turned away, and, surrounded by every kind of weapon, brought himself to fight against the soldier of Christ. Certainly, the cunning of the adversary availed nothing, nor did the calamitous wickedness teach the man of God anything, whom the grace of the Redeemer had armed with special weapons. Finally, the evil Spirit poisoned a certain man of pestilential mind with viperous venom and poured the poisonous draughts of contrived crimes into his innards, so that the unspeakable mouth, which he had filled with evil intentions, might equally defame the athlete of the Lord. He persuaded some companions in his own name, and the deceiver devised such fraudulent documents against the servant of the Savior, while, of course, Theodoric was reigning, a man worthy of all folly and a patroness of the worst arts, most friendly to evils, Brunhild; they likewise approach a certain matron, who was of noble lineage but deformed in mind, just in name, foul in deed, honorable in name, but more disgraceful in deed, unworthy of good things, indeed laden with evils, a stranger to truth, never separated from crime: who, instructed in council, complained that the most blessed Desiderius had once inflicted violence and rape upon her, while all were amazed that the servant of God was implicated in such matters, but they thought that the accusation, being fabricated, was made against him.

But the presiding officials, in accordance with the long-prepared schemes, gave a wicked sentence against the innocent man with reckless audacity, and immediately the men who were to punish him, stripped of his office, bound him in exile to a monastery on an island; his rejection was the highest happiness, his disgrace was conspicuous sanctity, his degradation was eternal bliss. A false priest, one Domnolus by name, a servant of the devil, is substituted for him, and as much as the man of God grew in abundant virtues, so much the other was defiled by nefarious deeds. In that same monastery, while the blessed martyr was living a blessed life, a poor man came, begging for alms in his mind, whose mouth great silences had closed and whose office of articulate speech perpetual silence concealed. The almighty Father, not neglecting the prayer of his soldier, made him both a gift and fit for speech. This deed, indeed, once spread by common report, good fame could not keep silent, but rather, traversing everything, brought it to the knowledge of many; hence it happened that a multitude of the sick ran to him in hope of recovering health, and the benefits of the Lord for healing those for whom the servant of God besought the Lord as Savior were not lacking. Sufficiently, I think, the grace of healings has shone forth in the general account; but lest the speech, by excessive brevity, close the door to the scrutinizing reader, I have taken care to note down certain things specifically in this work, in whatever continuous manner I could.

Some men, always darkened by ancient shadows, were occupying the nighttime hours, and without light upon their face; but the soldier of the Lord, having parted the dreadful veil of darkness, recalled them to the bright light of day through the grace of God, as he prayed. Where three lepers were cured by Saint Desiderius. After such things, three lepers, oppressed by the disease of their illness, came to him for the grace of healing; a hideous whiteness had invaded their bodies, and blackened wounds beset the limbs of the wretches; the stench was intolerable, and the vertiginous quality of their face was excessively and abundantly horrible; a lurid humor drained away, and nearly the whole head of hair, along with purulent contagions, after the hairs were cut off, was foully drawn out by the roots. The servant of God removed these morbid afflictions of the sufferers, and restored them, healthy and cheerful, to their own well-being. With the Lord granting this by his customary mercy, the rumor of the people inserted into the ears of Theoderic and likewise of Brunhild that the servant of God, exalted by abundant virtues, was rather denied the gift of healing by the grant of all-powerful authority.

Immediately struck with terror and overwhelmed by the greatest fear, they scrutinize the matters of the case beforehand, seeking either that due honor be rendered to the banished man, or that the permanence of his relegation be added to the one condemned in vain; and when the cunning investigation sought the cause of the whole mystery from the sick man, divine vengeance, not undeservedly, seized the inventor of the magic art and of the nefarious counsel, who had long ago seemed to condemn the soldier of Christ, concerning whose detestable end I have noted in a continuous narrative with my writing pen. This pestilential person, to be remembered unhappily, was held subject to many vices and crimes: yet among his unspeakable wickednesses, his own were greed for wealth and false accusation, which things roused the greatest populace to kill the monstrous disgrace; for at a certain time, while he stood in the sight of his patron Theuderic, he is cut off by the tumultuous destruction of the hand of the Burgundians, and his body, butchered piecemeal, is left bloody and scattered. In such a way he lost his life and soul together, a wretched man, and, about to perish, willingly mingled himself with the infernal prisons. What shall I say of that unjustly just and justly unjust woman, whom the bloody man seized as his true possession? At the same time when the aforementioned man was deservedly killed, an evil spirit deservedly invaded.

All the troops of falsehoods which he had long prepared, that same deadly little servant again exacted from the household, whose exacting profession was uttered in this manner: I acknowledge the crime contrived by God against the servant, I acknowledge the cause, I acknowledge, feeling more keenly, the due punishment. Let the omnipotent avenger respond to that contriver Brunigild, let the punisher restore these penalties, and let the avenging right hand of torments confer passions, whose persuasion dragged me to smoky destruction, an accursed gift to death, a promise to no perishing salvation. But when he had given an end to speaking, the artificer of all vices destroyed her, strangled and suffocated, and brought her, always to burn, into the avenging blazing flames; hearing of the deaths of the aforementioned, Brunigild and likewise Theodoric were terrified. Thinking such things happened by divine judgment, they were more vehemently terrified, and lest they be punished by a like sentence of punishment, with feigned piety they order that the man of God, who had been removed from the pontifical order in vain, should again approach his longed-for Church to be governed. When he, however, assented less to the requests, affirming that he would remain where he had been relegated, they again and again with offered prayers begged him not to deny them his presence, and to relax the machinations of their frauds with a merciful mind. Indeed, sincere piety softened his sincere heart, and abundant benevolence opened the way for the servant of God returning.

But when the same most blessed man stood revealed to the faces of the wretched, they fell prostrate at his feet and strove to declare him propitious to themselves—him whom they had long before banished by a fraudulent condemnation—and that the expiation of such a great sin might render innocent those whom deadly contagions had entangled in crimes. He, however, with a merciful spirit, relaxed the perpetrated crime, and according to the Lord's sentence, did not retain the faults of those who owed them, but dismissed them. Then, with a great retinue, after the unhappy expulsion of Domnulus, the Church of Vienne, rejoicing, received its governor. The sick rejoiced that they had found a physician, the oppressed that they had found solace, the needy that they now held sustenance. Why say more? Abundant supports were restored by the Lord to the Church of Vienne; for the presence of the holy man, with the Lord's mercy, suspended the scarcities of calamities, the frequent plagues of pestilence, and the insolent storms of the entire city, which, without doubt, when the pastor was removed, the cause of his absence had oppressed.

Three indeed I have set out to narrate concerning his virtues, though my discourse, sluggish with the disease of idleness, may labor over them: at a certain time when a great crowd had gathered to visit him by grace, he ordered them to be silent about food and drink according to custom, and it was reported by a servant that the desired kind of wine had run out more than was wanted. He quickly ordered that vessel to be shown to him where such liquor had flowed; marked with the protection of the cross, it was filled with the fragrance of pure wine by the grace of the Savior. Thus the assembled crowd was refreshed with blessing and mystical drink alike. Again, when he was wasting his body with prolonged abstinence and was chastising himself by the occasional consumption of meat—not for impurity, but for temperance—his fellow priest came to visit him not far from the city: there was among them a familiar conversation about divine oracles among other things. There, as Phoebus had passed the axis of the hours traversing the daily spaces, the legitimate time for refreshment was imminent. Suddenly, from the air failing, with rustling feathers and swift flight, an eagle, queen of birds, appeared from the parts of the shining sky, which, carrying an aquatic morsel, placed a sea creature before their faces; they received it with great joy, and, giving thanks to the Lord the giver, they partook of it, inclined and cheerful, before a certain one of his noble sect.

At the time of his passion it happened that he filled a lamp with his own hands and lit it near the altar; the lamp, however, does not cast forth the rays of light less widely, and overflows the measure of its capacity without any hindrance... the liquid of the overflowing oil truly abounds; he who by the grace of God drives away the afflictions of toil embraces this with the highest reason, and removes the morbid passions of mankind by bestowing health. This much, which I have been able to touch upon briefly with my enfeebled speech, let it suffice to have said concerning his life. Now, concerning his passions—how he consigned his holy soul to the almighty Lord, as they have been brought to our knowledge—with his support, I shall set forth.

Since they were seen to be harmful rather than helpful, and more destructive than governing, Theuderic and Brunhild alike were afflicted with pernicious vices; and with the stain of perjury laid open and the bonds of oath abandoned by their sacrilegious mind, they pressed on toward non-being, nor did any shameful deed or crime remain undone. The martyr of God, as bishop and overseer of these evils, in the manner of a prophet, sounded the trumpet’s blast, throwing himself wholly into driving out their errors, so that he might make God’s own those whom the devil had made alien, according to that eminent saying of divine authority which converts the impious, saves his soul, and covers the multitude of his sins; but vessels of wrath, tinder of vices, and a thicket of damnation offered bitter for sweet, harsh for gentle, deadly remedies for salvation, and a more savage enemy besieged their breast, and a most cunning serpent held them captive in his power. Nor could they reach the port of salvation with free steps, whom a deadly brigand had bound with tighter chains. Yet, sated with his light draughts, they began to bark rabid words against the servant of God, and with roaring speeches, threatening, they spewed forth foulest utterances; but the martyr of God was neither broken by the threats of mortals, nor softened by the anger of the faithless, nor bent by the storm of the mad; he presented himself immovable in persecutions, to be struck for justice, not because he would receive from the Lord the promised heavenly kingdom.

Observing the untouched constancy of this man of humanity, the enemy, who never abandoned the hearts of Brunhild and Theuderic, insinuated himself entirely as if into his own dwelling, and in a commanding manner drove the right owed to him more toward his own destruction, having promised them the first place in punishments if they could extract the soul of the soldier of Christ from his bodily bonds. Immediately, with harmful words, the sacrilegious mouth, always armed with insults, uttered a sentence of a kind of impiety. "It has pleased us to decree that Desiderius, hostile to our customs and an enemy to our works, be beaten with blows of stones and afflicted with many kinds of punishments." Swiftly, the ministers, accomplices in crime, promise to fulfill the edict of such a nefarious command, taking it most wickedly from the ears of the ruler. Nor did the struggles of his labor lie hidden from the martyr of God, who, predestined and indeed forewarned by the Lord, was to receive the rewards of the crown. When he saw the awaited day, he was suddenly snatched from the bosom of the church by the hands of the faithless and led to punishment as if to kill an innocent condemned man; and there was an unbearable weeping of the great people, who had been deprived of the remedies of such a shepherd, crying out with these voices: "Why, O pious father, do you desert your flock? Why do you leave your perishing people?

Do not, we beg, cast us into the jaws of wolves; do not let your sheep, until now refreshed with the sweetness of nectar-like flowers, be torn apart by biting thistles and sickle-shaped brambles, through the wondrous provision of the pontiff. It is certain, and the voice is in harmony with divine scriptures, that the scattering of the sheep arises from the absence of the shepherd, whose presence is the greatest benefit to them. We cannot bear, by any reasoning, to be torn from you; if the desired life is denied us equally, let it be permitted to undergo a glorious death with you. After these words, the blessed martyr calmly spoke thus: "The intention is indeed admirable, but the devotion is not praiseworthy. If the caverns of Tartarus were besieging us, if the infernal bars were striving to lock the funeral gates, if the crackling, dreadful flame of the abyss were attempting to invade, it would have been more fitting to attack the enemy with spiritual arms. Now, since we are invited to serve in the heavenly camps with the radiant angelic hosts, with the apostles and apostolic men, with the shining bands of martyrs, our whole community is restored to you. Allow, I implore, your shepherd to return to the shepherd of all shepherds, so that, with the pontiff leading the way, the flock may more easily reach the prepared place unharmed.

Thus he spoke, and suddenly a packed throng of raging men arrived, grim-faced and with the most hideous countenance; their brows were scowling, their eyes fierce, their aspect hateful, their movements dreadful; and they were sinister in mind, depraved in morals, deceitful in speech, obscene in words, swollen outwardly, empty within, deformed in both respects, unworthy of good things, abounding in the worst, bound to crimes, enemies of God, indeed perpetual friends of the devil, and all too eager for death. Their accursed destructiveness, with fury as its agent, seized the most wicked Anna and poured a stony shower of stones over the martyr of Christ; but when the dread missiles of the raging men passed by and turned their course to another side, the very hard nature of flint and the very crash of the stoning rendered service to the servant of God, and though they were not living, yet they struck in accordance with divine laws, only the human heart remained hardened, which could have been inclined to mercy and neighborly feeling. And when he breathed his last, the same man, seizing the blessed man's neck, broke it with a blow. Thus the fleshly material, abandoning the soul and freeing itself from bodily bonds, victorious, mingled as a companion in the starry air.

The life and death alike of this soldier of Christ he has set forth in as polished a speech as he could, which, however much it may displease the over-fastidious and the unskilled by its excessive roughness, yet ennobles those who humbly feel and believe, having set aside the pomp of words. Therefore, just as we have described his life, his virtues, and his greatly glorious end, it remains for us to recount the destruction and death of the lost ones. When Theudericus, forsaking God—or rather, forsaken by God—having received the news of Christ’s servant, rejoiced, he was seized by the disease of dysentery, lost his most foul life, and acquired the eternal death that was dear to him. The lost Brunigildis lost her perishing comforts, and, trembling, was tormented inwardly by her accusing conscience, insomuch that the quality of her guilt, which had exalted her in the perpetrated crime, was followed by vengeance that fed more sharply upon her by torturing her. While she was turning these things over in her dark mind, she declared war against a neighboring people. But when the time for battle came and the diverse throng clashed, by divine will, terror seized the part of the most wicked woman; thus it happened that the diseased head was followed by the sluggish limbs to the refuge of flight. So, wandering here and there before the faces of the enemy, first of all the enemies, the enemy of the Christian rule and the contriver of every crime was captured. Concerning whose death, what we have learned by common report we shall not be reluctant to tell.

It is a twisted beast, possessing a more monstrous body, and having naturally certain coils; the summit of its back, however, is more swollen, and, gathered together, it holds a place higher than the other limbs, sufficiently and abundantly suited for a burden, and more excellent than other animals in carrying things. Upon the peak of this center, the aforementioned woman, cast down in her garments, is lifted up, and before the faces of the enemy she is led away ignominiously. For a while, she provides a spectacle to those awaiting a most foul wonder; then she is bound by untamed horses, and dragged through trackless and rugged places. Thus, by the seething horses, her body, already withered by age, is torn apart piece by piece, and her scattered, nameless, and bloody limbs are strewn about. In such a way, the earthly soul of the matter, released, and bound to eternal punishments—not undeservedly—is held to burn in boiling pitchy waves. This further pursuit has exceeded the matters at hand and become too broad. But lest it displease the fastidious by its prolixity, let us now, weaving together moderate things, name them, and set a limit and an end; commonly entreating all, that they not wish to receive too sluggishly what our Lord Jesus Christ did not begrudge to grant through his martyr, at whose most venerable body Christ bestows such a wealth of healings.

Whatever illness a person may have been afflicted with, or whatever bodily weakness may have cast him down, as soon as he has called upon the divine name there with his whole heart, shaking off all diseases from himself and driving away every blemish, he arrives, sound and cheerful, at the desired health through the grace of God; the one Lord always abiding in the Trinity, who may grant eternal life to me, the most unworthy one following after it, and may bestow abundant grace upon you who are listening.