Migne Reading Room
PG 100 · cols. 1271–1292
Methodius of Constantinople, Homily on Saint Agatha
Editors' preface
SANCTI METHODII
OF SAINT METHODIUS
PATRIARCHAE CONSTANTINOPOLITANI,
PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE,
ORATIO IN SANCTAM AGATHAM,
ORATION ON SAINT AGATHA
1. Quoniam ipsamet admiratio me ad dicendum excitavit; quoniam voluntas item ipsa ad desiderandum
1. Since admiration itself has roused me to speak; since likewise the will itself […] to desire
Editors' notes and page, col. 1271
Footnotes
(*) ‹anchor: ORATIO IN SANCTAM AGATHAM› · called in the title printed across cols 1271–1272; note printed full width under both columns, set here Combef. Biblioth. concion. t. VI, p. 723. Ex ms. PP. Oratorii Romae, producente. Joan. Bollan. ad 5 Febr.
Combefis, Bibliotheca concionatoria, vol. 6, p. 723. From a manuscript of the Fathers of the Oratory at Rome, produced by John Bolland[us] at 5 February.
Editors' prose
(Leonardo Pate Interprete.)
(Leonardo Pate translator.)
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- other: the upper part of the column (end of the editors' notice on Methodius, the close of one section, sections 19 and 20, and its footnote (1)) and the full-width pointer title "SANCTI METHODII HOMILIA DE CRUCE ET PASSIONE CHRISTI" (Gretser; exstat PG 18, col. 397) belong to neighbouring matter, not this unit. The unit's title is printed full width across cols 1271–1272 below them; set in c1271_a. The text begins with the last two lines of col 1271.
me impellit; contra vero ipsummet desiderium mihi persuadet ut maxime velim vobis omnibus
[…] impels me; and on the other side desire itself persuades me that I should most earnestly wish, for all of you […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1272
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- old-edition numerals: none
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- other: the upper part of the column (continuation of the editors' notice on Methodius, section 20, with its footnote (2)) and the full-width pointer title of the Homily on the Cross belong to neighbouring matter. The unit's title, printed full width across cols 1271–1272, is set in c1271_a; its note (*) is set in n1271. This column's text is its last two lines.
(⟨P⟩atres fratresque quotquot simul hic adestis, ac prope me astatis), ut ex mea taciturnitate in verba prorumpam admiratione permotus, et desiderii silentiique mei vinculis solutionem inveniam, hac memoranda die sanctae martyris Agathae cruciatibus consecrata; quodque vos attonitos reddit, hoc equidem ex mea vel loquendi impotentia admirabundus eloquar. Sunt etenim, sunt nonnullae res omnino praeter opinionem admirabiles, quae sicut aliquando silentium pariunt, ita etiam aliquando suggerunt facundiam: quod utrumque parit magnitudo miraculi, atque ipsa plane argumenti amplitudo. Hoc autem publicum atque inusitatum spectaculum, cui vel ipsi oculi faciunt fidem (quippe valde praeter opinionem jam pridem fuit) adductis in medium rationibus explicare contendam. Est enim, est sicut in compositis sermonibus, semen fecundae sapientiae ipsa praeceptorum observatio, ita miraculorum exhibitio emanat ex martyrio propter Deum, atque ex virginitate et puritate mentis, quae sunt vera divinarum virtutum imitamenta. Quod igitur ad miraculorum effectionem spectat, sub finem vobis edisseram. Nunc vero, ut principium narrandi faciam, ipsam martyrem commendabo; quae quidem, uti dicebam, fons est atque origo miraculorum; et primum quidem ubinam, et quam ob causam convenimus, plane edisseram.
[…] (fathers and brothers, as many of you as are here together and stand near me), that, moved by admiration, I should break out of my silence into words and find release from the bonds of my desire and my silence, on this memorable day consecrated by the torments of the holy martyr Agatha; and what renders you astonished, this I, full of wonder, shall indeed utter even out of my very inability to speak. For there are, there are some things admirable wholly beyond expectation, which, as at times they beget silence, so at times they also supply eloquence: both of which are begotten by the greatness of the miracle and by the plain fullness of the subject itself. And this public and unwonted spectacle, to which even the eyes themselves give credence (for indeed it was long ago exceedingly beyond expectation), I shall strive to explain by bringing reasons into the midst. For it is, it is so: as in composed discourses the very observance of the precepts is the seed of fruitful wisdom, so the display of miracles flows from martyrdom for God's sake, and from virginity and purity of mind, which are the true imitations of the divine virtues. What concerns the working of the miracles, then, I shall set out for you towards the end. But now, to make a beginning of the narration, I shall commend the martyr herself, who, as I was saying, is the fountain and origin of the miracles; and first I shall set out plainly where, and for what cause, we have come together.
2. Anniversaria sanctae martyris commemoratio in unum hunc locum nos omnes collegit, ut nostis, o mei auditores, antiquae quidem martyris et primariae propter insigne certamen, sed vero recentis, quae quasi nunc decertando vincat propter divina miracula, quibus quotidie coronatur, pulchreque decoratur. Martyris, quae opportuno quidem tempore ostendit amoris ardorem sui erga Deum, continuis vero tempestatibus in manu habet miraculorum potestatem et efficientiam pro justa remuneratione; quandoquidem et fortis animi promptitudo, qua praedita erat, et corpore propter Deum penitus dilectum declaratur, ut quaecunque acciperet, retribueret. Dat quidem illa corpus, et firmum liberae voluntatis propositum, atque haec a Deo obfirmata juxta divinam electionem, recipit autem nominis claritatem, et regium diadema, illustrior effecta, quam si filios aut filias procreasset, atque adeo omni prolis foeda voluptate despecta sublimior.
2. The yearly commemoration of the holy martyr has gathered us all into this one place, as you know, my hearers: [the commemoration] of a martyr ancient indeed, and of the first rank because of her signal contest, yet truly recent, since she as it were conquers now in the struggle, because of the divine miracles with which she is daily crowned and beautifully adorned. [A commemoration] of a martyr who at the fitting time showed the ardour of her love towards God, and in all seasons without end holds in her hand the power and working of miracles as a just recompense; since both the readiness of the brave spirit with which she was endowed, and [the readiness] with a body wholly beloved for God's sake, is declared [in this], that whatever she received she repaid. She gives her body, and the firm purpose of her free will, and this made firm by God according to the divine choice; and she receives the renown of a name, and a royal diadem, being made more illustrious than if she had begotten sons or daughters, and all the more exalted for having despised all the foul pleasure of offspring.
Editors' notes and page, col. 1273
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: in manu habet miraculorum› · printed under col 1273
Hinc patet multa olim sanctae Agathae meritis accidisse miracula, cum praeter id quod in repressis Aetnaeis ignibus eluxit, nullum modo exstet ante relatas Constantinopoli reliquias factum.
From this it is plain that many miracles once came about through the merits of Saint Agatha, since, apart from that which shone forth in the checking of Etna's fires, none now survives that was done before the relics were brought back from Constantinople.
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- other: the scripture notes 1–3 printed under this column (left side) are called in col 1274 and set in n1274; the continuation of note (2) of col 1274 is printed under this column's notes and under col 1274.
(3). Et quoniam de iis, quae ad liberos gignendos pertinent, memini, deque regio diademate mentionem feci, dicere jam incipiam. Mulier quidem est per solam naturam, non quidem per electionem, sicut reliquum feminarum genus; quarum, quasi praesagientium futura, consuetudo etiam in ludicris puellaribus operam navat liberis educandis ac nutriendis: sed virgo, quae ne ludendo quidem puellares ineptias aliquando effingere visa est. Mulier, dixi, sed addidi, virgo. Mulier quidem, propterea quod a principio ab sapiente Adam (erat enim tunc vere sapiens, quippe nondum in peccatum lapsus) impositum hoc nomen fuit. Scribens enim Moyses, ingenue etiam nominis interpretationem, quam Adamus addidit, indicavit, dicens: Haec vocatur virago, quoniam ex viro sumpta est; Virgo autem, quod ex immortalis Dei Verbi (quod etiam propter me in carne sua mortem gustavit) indivisoque Dei Filio nata est, ut loquitur Theologus Joannes, Quotquot autem receperunt eum, dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri, etc. Mulier igitur virgo, quae vos invitavit ad nostrum religiosum epulum, illa est mulier bene desponsa uni viro Christo, ut verbis utar apostoli Pauli de thalami conjunctione; Virgo, cui etiam ipse conjugii auspex non incussit timorem, utrum deciperetur, sicut olim aviae nostrae Evae Satanas per insidiosum serpentem. Mulier, quae ne notam quidem inflictae sibi a Decio refert lacerationis: Virgo, quae vulneribus a Quintiano affecta, dissimulat. Mulier, quae tyrannicorum ponderi edictorum non se submisit; virgo, quae principum oestro percitorum rabido furori non cessit. Mulier, quae in tempestate imperiosiorum fluctuum haudquaquam naufragium fecit; virgo, quae in retia gerentium principatum non incidit. Mulier, quae fert justitiae leges; virgo, quae propria scribere manu suum non veretur institutum. Mulier, quae tumidum superbiae fastum subjugavit; virgo, quae martyris cursum strenue peregit. Mulier, quae non purpura, fucatisque umbris, et velamentis vultus formam mentiri suam passa est, neque medicamentis, et ex vivo argento confectis, vestes, manuumque lineamenta inficere; sed virgo, quae conscientiae a lumine, coloreque sanguinis veri divinique Agni et labia sua et genas et linguam purpurissabat exornabatque: necnon etiam continua mentis suae cognitione
3. And since I have remembered the things that pertain to begetting children, and have made mention of the royal diadem, I shall now begin to speak. She is a woman by nature alone, not by choice, like the rest of the race of women; whose custom, as though they foresaw the future, busies itself even in girlish games with rearing and nursing children: but a virgin, who was never seen to mimic girlish trifles even in play. A woman, I said, but I added: a virgin. A woman, because from the beginning this name was imposed by wise Adam (for he was then truly wise, not yet having fallen into sin). For Moses, writing, frankly indicated also the interpretation of the name which Adam added, saying: She shall be called virago, because she was taken out of man; but a virgin, because she was born of the immortal Word of God (Who also for my sake tasted death in His flesh), and of the undivided Son of God, as John the Theologian says: But as many as received Him, He gave them power to become sons of God, etc. The woman, then, the virgin, who has invited you to our religious banquet, is a woman well betrothed to one husband, Christ, to use the words of the apostle Paul about the union of the bridal chamber; a virgin, in whom even the very patron of the marriage stirred no fear whether she would be deceived, as Satan once [deceived] our grandmother Eve through the treacherous serpent. A woman, who does not even bear a mark of the laceration inflicted on her by Decius: a virgin, who, wounded by Quintianus, makes nothing of it. A woman, who did not submit herself to the weight of tyrannical edicts; a virgin, who did not yield to the rabid fury of princes goaded by frenzy. A woman, who in the storm of the more imperious waves in no way suffered shipwreck; a virgin, who did not fall into the nets of those who held rule. A woman, who bears the laws of justice; a virgin, who does not fear to write her purpose with her own hand. A woman, who subdued the swollen disdain of pride; a virgin, who vigorously completed the course of a martyr. A woman, who did not suffer herself to counterfeit the form of her face with purple and painted shadows and veils, nor to stain her garments and the lines of her hands with cosmetics, and those made from quicksilver; but a virgin, who reddened and adorned her lips and her cheeks and her tongue from the light of conscience and with the colour of the blood of the true and divine Lamb: and also with the continual
Editors' notes and page, col. 1274
Footnotes
(¹) ‹anchor: ex viro sumpta est› · printed under col 1273 Gen. II, 23.
Gen. 2:23.
(²) ‹anchor: filios Dei fieri› · printed under col 1273 Joan. I, 12.
John 1:12.
(³) ‹anchor: uni viro Christo› · printed under col 1273 II Cor. XI, 2.
2 Cor. 11:2.
(2) ‹anchor: Mulier, quae non purpura› · printed under col 1273 and continued under col 1274
Conjicias hinc, atque ex Actis Latinis, ubi ei exprobrat tyrannus quod servilem personam induerit, eam, non quidem, ut quae nunc sanctae monialem vitam profitentur virgines, vili induuntur habitu, qui tamen apud virtutis veros estimatores perhonorificus est, ita tum palam rerum humanarum contemptum ipsis vestimentis ostentantes; luxum tamen mundumque muliebrem aversatam, ac modesto usam amictu. Concionatorie id exagerasse videtur sanctus Vincentius Ferrerius in serm. de sancta Agatha: « Mortuis parentibus, inquit, remansit haeres illius magni palatii patris sui: quae exemplo Christi dimisit palatium patris et ornamenta et vasa aurea et argentea, et restrinxit se in quadam parva domo, ut simplex persona: » et paucis interjectis: « Voluit indui pauperrime ut Beguina, et dabat patrimonium pauperibus amore Dei, et vivebat propriis manibus, filavit, suit, et texuit, quia nullus potest continue orare. » Probabilius forte Paulus Aemilius Sanctorius: « Non sinuosis uti vestibus, non gemma capillum insignire, aut unguento linire, sed serico: anthini velo coloris (quod adhuc aspicimus Catanae) obtegere: » ubi luxum removet, moderatum nitorem admittit.
You may gather from this, and from the Latin Acts, where the tyrant reproaches her for having put on the person of a slave, that she did not indeed, as the holy virgins who now profess the life of nuns are clothed in a mean habit (which nevertheless is most honourable in the eyes of true judges of virtue), thus then openly display by her very garments a contempt for human things; but that she shunned luxury and womanly finery and used modest dress. Saint Vincent Ferrer seems to have exaggerated this in preacher's fashion in his sermon on Saint Agatha: "When her parents were dead," he says, "she remained heir of that great palace of her father; and after the example of Christ she gave up her father's palace and the ornaments and the vessels of gold and silver, and confined herself in a certain small house, as a simple person"; and a little further on: "She wished to be clothed most poorly, like a Beguine, and she gave her patrimony to the poor for the love of God, and lived by her own hands; she spun, sewed and wove, because no one can pray continually." More probably, perhaps, Paulus Aemilius Sanctorius: "Not to use flowing garments, not to adorn her hair with a gem, nor to anoint it with unguent, but to cover it with a silken veil of the colour of flowers (which we still see at Catania)": where he removes luxury but admits a moderate elegance.
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- running head: 1273 ORATIO IN S. AGATHAM. 1274 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹(3). Et quoniam›; B ‹rago, quoniam ex viro›; C ‹dissimulat. Mulier›; D ‹labia sua et genas› (gutter, shared with col 1273)
- old-edition numerals: 273 after ‹feminarum›
- signature: none
- other: none
necem sui studiosi amatoris, quasi nuper sanguine madentis, revolvebat, intusque circumferebat; ut haec stola ejus confessionis non solum indelebilem ferret Christi notam purpurei sanguinis alte jam imbibiti, sed etiam virginalis eloquentiae thesauros advenientibus posteris elegantes ejusmodi colores una cum non deficiente verborum scaturigine impartiret.
meditation of her mind she turned over and carried about within her the slaying of her devoted Lover, as though freshly dripping with blood; so that this robe of her confession should not only bear the indelible mark of Christ's purple blood, now deeply drunk in, but should also impart to posterity as it comes the treasures of virginal eloquence, such elegant colours, together with an unfailing spring of words.
4. Haec itaque vere bona, quippe Dei pars exsistens, eidem sponso suo, et rursus nobis boni communione, qua nominis sui vim significationemque refert, Agatha, ab ipso bonitatis fonte Deo concessa, donoque data. Quid autem magis beneficum, quam summum bonum? et quid magis celebrandum laudum praeconiis quispiam inveniat, quam Agatham? Agatha, cujus bonitas ad nomen, ad ipsamque rem quadrat; Agatha, quae rebus praeclare gestis bonum nomen prae se fert, et in ipso nomine praeclare abs se gesta demonstrat; Agatha, quae vel suo nomine allicit, ut ad sese omnes maximopere occurrant: quae etiam suo exemplo docet, ut ad verum bonum, qui solus Deus est, omnes sine mora secum contendant. Agatha, quae signum erexit, quid de se decretum fuerat, ut fieret, atque in lucem edita, quod per gratiam decretum erat, peregit; Agatha, per vaticinium parentibus praenuntiata, atque a Deo ab aeterno praecognita. Agatha, quae etiam illos non fefellit, qui hoc ei nomen imposuere: et invocantibus nomen hoc praesto est, faciteque respondet.
4. She, then, being truly good, as being God's portion, is Agatha to that same Bridegroom of hers, and again to us by communion in the good, in which she carries the force and meaning of her name: granted and given as a gift by God, the very fount of goodness. And what could anyone find more beneficent than the highest good? and what more to be celebrated with the proclamations of praise than Agatha? Agatha, whose goodness squares with her name and with the thing itself; Agatha, who by her glorious deeds displays a good name, and in the very name shows the glorious deeds done by her; Agatha, who by her very name draws all to run to her with all eagerness: who also teaches by her example that all should strive without delay, with her, towards the true good, which is God alone. Agatha, who raised up a sign of what had been decreed concerning her, that it should come to pass, and, brought forth into the light, accomplished what had been decreed through grace; Agatha, foretold to her parents by prophecy, and foreknown by God from eternity. Agatha, who did not deceive even those who imposed this name upon her: and to those who invoke this name she is at hand, and readily answers.
5. Etenim Deo singuli manifesti sunt, ut loquitur sacra Scriptura: Omnia nuda, et aperta sunt oculis ejus, ad quem sermo noster collimat; verum omnia praedefinita sunt a cognoscente: ipsa etenim praecognitio procreatoris Dei circa res singulas cognitionem, quod quidem et rationem habet divini consilii, et concursus, et praeterea modum liberae voluntatis eorum, qui divino solum beneplacito procreati, libere in opus prodeunt. Praedestinatio vero, extremum eorum lapsum non permittit, sed confert ad eum, qui praedestinatur, bonam et propensam voluntatem opificis Dei cum libero humano arbitrio: et ut omni ratione beatissima inter omnes, et sanctissima Domina nostra regina Virgo Deique parens, a divino Verbo, quod in ea habitavit, eamque effinxit, ex omnibus gentibus delecta fuit; ita etiam haec ejusdem Deiparae filia et ancilla (quae nunc faustis acclamationibus decoratur a nobis, quaeque nostra praeconia, nostrasque gratiarum actiones Deo per Virginem Deiparam offert) praedestinata fuerat ut martyr esset et electa, et per divinum
5. For each one is manifest to God, as sacred Scripture says: All things are naked and open to His eyes, to Whom our discourse is directed; but all things have been predefined by Him Who knows: for the very foreknowledge of God the Creator [is] a knowledge concerning each single thing, which indeed holds both the reason of the divine counsel and of [its] concurrence, and moreover the manner of the free will of those who, brought into being by the divine good pleasure alone, go forth freely into action. Predestination, however, does not permit their final fall, but confers on him who is predestined the good and favourable will of God the Maker together with free human choice: and just as, in every respect most blessed among all, our most holy Lady, the Queen, the Virgin and Mother of God, was chosen out of all nations by the divine Word, Who dwelt in her and fashioned her, so also this daughter and handmaid of the same Mother of God (who is now adorned by us with auspicious acclamations, and who offers our praises and our thanksgivings to God through the Virgin Mother of God) had been predestined to be a martyr, and chosen, and by a divine […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1275
Footnotes
(3) ‹anchor: virginalis eloquentiae thesauros› · printed under col 1275
De sanctae Agathae eloquentia illud exstat in Menaeis elogium: Diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis, o Martyr a bonitate nomen indepta. Diserte enim confutasti aperte impudentem, eloquio divinitus tradito locupletata.
On the eloquence of Saint Agatha there is this eulogy in the Menaea: "Grace is poured out on your lips, O martyr who have got your name from goodness. For you eloquently and openly confuted the shameless one, enriched with an eloquence given from God."
(4) ‹anchor: refert, Agatha› · printed under col 1275
Ἀγαθὸς quippe bonum significat, ἀγαθὴ bonam.
For agathos means "good" (masculine), agathe "good" (feminine).
(5) ‹anchor: per vaticinium parentibus› · printed under col 1275 (right side)
Inuèges negat hinc sequi, parentes sanctae Agathae fuisse christianos; praeterquam quod identidem orationem hanc, principio excepto, proclamet Methodii non esse, sed moderni cujuspiam scriptoris, nec dignam fide. Praefert ipse vaticinium, quod s⟨up⟩ra ex codice Panormitano relatum est § 3, n. 56.
Inveges denies that it follows from this that the parents of Saint Agatha were Christians; besides which he declares again and again that this oration, apart from its beginning, is not Methodius's but some modern writer's, and not worthy of credit. He himself prefers the prophecy which was reported above from the Palermo manuscript, § 3, n. 56.
(⁴) ‹anchor: ad quem sermo noster collimat› · printed under col 1275 Hebr. IV, 13.
Heb. 4:13.
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- running head: 1275 S. METHODII PATRIARCHAE CP. 1276 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹gnitione necem sui›; B ‹tham? Agatha, cujus bonitas›; C ‹5. Etenim Deo singuli›; D ‹que effinxit, ex omnibus› (gutter, shared with col 1276)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the scripture note ⁵ printed under this column is called in col 1276 and set in n1276. Note (5): the printed name reads "Inuèges" (Inveges); "supra" has damaged type.
liberumque propositum praeparata, quemadmodum Virgo nostra Domina habitaculum Dei effecta fuit. Ab hac enim ipsa et unica Domina et virginum Matre Deipara, et Matre Virgine haec discipula et ancilla (ut ita dicam) Deiparae filia, Domino suo et Deo, et rerum omnium Opifici sese sponsam tradere didicit.
[…] and free purpose prepared, just as our Lady the Virgin was made the dwelling-place of God. For from this very one and only Lady and Mother of virgins, the Mother of God, and Virgin Mother, this disciple and handmaid, the daughter (so to speak) of the Mother of God, learned to give herself as bride to her Lord and God, and the Maker of all things.
6. Agatha igitur revera bona, et jure optimo Deo gratissima amica, haec pertulit quidem ut mulier esset, et ad liberorum procreationem non inepta; verum ut virginitatem suam custodiret, et summis votis exoptavit, et omnino decrevit. Cum igitur audiret scriptum quoddam Decii imperatoris per totam Romanam ditionem passim vulgari, illud Agatha derisit: cumque velut ostium ventis perflantibus humani consensus obserasset, ipsi naturae postes opposuit; et interminatam propensionem animae, et corpus; velut in medio templi Hierosolymitani velum cordatae mentis interjecit, quod consensum arceret; ipsaque mentis contemplatione Seraphicis adjuncta spiritibus, ter sanctum sui numen solum ad misericordiam impetrandam supplicabat hujuscemodi usurpans verba liberae ingenuaeque gratiarum actionis apud Deum.
6. Agatha therefore, truly good, and by the best of rights a friend most pleasing to God, bore this indeed, that she was a woman and not unfit for the procreation of children; but that she should guard her virginity she both longed for with her highest prayers and altogether resolved. When therefore she heard that a certain edict of the emperor Decius was being published everywhere throughout the whole Roman dominion, Agatha laughed it to scorn: and when, as a door against the winds blowing through, she had barred [the way] of human consent, she set doorposts against nature itself, and against the boundless inclination of the soul, and the body; as in the midst of the temple of Jerusalem, she interposed the veil of a wise mind, to keep consent away; and, joined in the contemplation of her mind to the Seraphic spirits, she besought her thrice-holy Godhead alone to obtain mercy, using words of this kind of free and noble thanksgiving before God.
Tu quidem, o Domine, jampridem hostem corporis mei causa bellum inferentem, et velut equum ipsa corporis membra adhibentem, atque utentem ipsa natura contra naturam, dignatus es me ut subjugarim et conculcarim; tu item etiam nunc, o amator hominum, qui indeficientem meum erga te amorem probe nosti, sis mihi in hoc certamine opitulator; et qui ex intimis erumpit praecordiis, fontem excipe lacrymarum, ac tribue de ipso hoste mihi gloriosam victoriam, o animarum humanique generis amator; qui etiam, quod propria manu victoriosissimum certamen cum nostro eodem hoste iniisti, nobis ascribere ac tribuere benignissime es dignatus: quam etiam ob causam, o peccati expers Domine, de nostra sumptam pro nobis carnem induisti.
"Thou indeed, O Lord, long ago didst deign that I should subdue and trample down the enemy who wages war on account of my body, and uses the very members of the body as a horse, and employs nature itself against nature; Thou likewise even now, O Lover of men, Who knowest well my unfailing love towards Thee, be my helper in this contest; and receive the fountain of tears which bursts forth from my inmost heart, and grant me a glorious victory over this same enemy, O Lover of souls and of the human race; Who also, having with Thine own hand entered upon a most victorious contest with this same enemy of ours, didst most kindly deign to ascribe and grant it to us: for which cause too, O Lord without sin, Thou didst put on for us flesh taken from ours."
7. Illa vero haec Christum precabatur, non ut certamen evitaret, sed ut vires sibi sufficerentur ad martyrium. Exaudierat enim Agatha mulierculam quamdam pessimis artibus deditam cum Quintiano de se communicantem, et idcirco perquam paratissima prono in terram procidit vultu, odioque contra persecutorem, contraque ipsum peccatum, ardenti etiam amoris erga Deum excitato desiderio, ad intactos Domini pedes advolvitur, sicut ad ejus vestis laciniam illa olim haemorrhoissa: et profluvium quidem non inhibuit (hoc enim non patiebatur; potius vero (sicut Joannes virgo fluentum theologiae
7. She besought Christ with these words, not that she might avoid the contest, but that strength might be supplied to her for martyrdom. For Agatha had heard that a certain wretched woman given over to the worst arts was conferring about her with Quintianus, and therefore, most ready indeed, she fell with her face prone to the ground, and, hatred being roused against the persecutor and against sin itself, and also a burning desire of love towards God, she throws herself at the untouched feet of the Lord, as once that woman with the issue of blood at the hem of His garment: and she did not indeed stop a flow (for this she did not suffer; but rather (as John the virgin [received] the stream of theology […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1276
Footnotes
(⁵) ‹anchor: illa olim haemorrhoissa› · printed under col 1275 Matth. IX, 20.
Matt. 9:20.
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ex accubitu super Domini immaculatum pectus) illa lacrymarum rivos, quo uberius dimanarent, accepit. Surgit igitur post precum satietatem, perinde ac si accepisset divini auxilii tesseram, corde quidem, certaque spe sibi victoriam per fidem pollicetur; ideoque sic loquitur: Ecce jam Christi virtute hostilis potentia in favillam redacta, conculcata, et exstincta est a mea pudicitia: quod reliquum est, confidens alacri animo ad stadium procurram.
[…] from reclining upon the Lord's spotless breast) she received streams of tears, that they might flow down the more abundantly. She rises, then, after she has had her fill of prayers, just as if she had received a token of divine help, and in her heart, with sure hope, she promises herself the victory through faith; and so she speaks thus: "See, by the power of Christ the enemy's might has now been reduced to ashes, trampled down and extinguished by my chastity: for what remains, I shall run to the arena confidently and with an eager mind."
8. Itaque summa mentis constantia ad tyrannum pergit inter lictores laetabunda, cum de sui generis nobilitate, magnisque et multis rerum fortunis nihil plane meminisset, ac ne verbo quidem, quod ad res suas pertineret, prolato, sed simplici expeditoque gressu praecurrebat eos, qui eam ducebant: ita ut hos quidem trahi potius ab Agatha, quam Agatham ab ipsis trahi viderent spectatores, qui vel ipsa oculorum acie illius celeritatem prosequi nequirent. Atque hi, qui virginalis animi promptitudine erudiri, et ad prudentem audaciam incitari debuissent ad mortem pro virtute oppetendam, tamen e contrario, per innatam inconstantiam, cervorum instar cordis trepidationem penitus impressam foventes, veloci reversione beatam virginem miseri reliquerunt.
8. And so with the utmost constancy of mind she goes on to the tyrant among the lictors, rejoicing, since she gave no thought at all to the nobility of her family or to her great and many possessions, and not a word was uttered about what concerned her property, but with a simple and unhindered step she ran ahead of those who were leading her: so that the spectators saw these men dragged by Agatha rather than Agatha dragged by them, for they could not follow her swiftness even with the very keenness of their eyes. And these men, who ought to have been taught by the readiness of the virgin's spirit, and stirred to a prudent daring to meet death for virtue's sake, on the contrary, through their inborn inconstancy, nursing like stags a trembling of heart deeply impressed on them, wretchedly left the blessed virgin in a swift retreat.
At illa dum incederet, lacrymas ubertim profundens, ita secum ad preces conversa loquebatur, seseque ad majorem constantiam inflammabat: Primum quidem pro virginali pudicitia propter Christum sponsum meum decertavi, delicias ut rem abominandam abominata, ut ne de improviso per illecebras expugnarer. Agesis etiam nunc, adesto alacritati animi mei, o dulcissime mi canditate, qui solus efficis et potes omnia: ostende meam hanc humilem mentem cunctis rebus terribilibus sublimiorem; ita ut etiam animo eas pro nihilo ducam, neque quidquam existimem instar levis cantilenae ac strepitus, etiamsi decies mille sint, qui necem mihi intentent.
But she, as she went, pouring out tears abundantly, turned to prayer and spoke thus with herself, and kindled herself to greater constancy: "First indeed I have fought for virginal chastity for the sake of Christ my Bridegroom, abhorring delights as a thing to be abhorred, so that I might not be overcome unawares through allurements. Come now, even now stand by the eagerness of my soul, O my most sweet Candidate, Who alone doest and canst do all things: show this lowly mind of mine to be higher than all terrible things; so that I may even count them as nothing in my mind, and may reckon them no more than a light song and a noise, even if there be ten thousand who threaten me with death."
9. Sub haec quasi vero oculis inspiceret (mente enim certe intuebatur) hostem suum, eidem tanquam praesenti exprobravit: Non vides, inquiens, meum studium, o veritatis hostis, quique ab ea alienus es, ad quod contemplandum universa angelorum ac justorum occurrit multitudo exsultantium,
9. Upon this, as if she were really looking at her enemy with her eyes (for with her mind she certainly beheld him), she reproached him as though he were present: "Do you not see," she said, "my zeal, O enemy of the truth and stranger to it, to behold which the whole multitude of angels and of the just comes running, exulting […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1277
Footnotes
(⁶) ‹anchor: Domini immaculatum pectus› · printed under col 1277 Joan. XIII, 23.
John 13:23.
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et, ut decet, collaetantium? Me autem ipsam interim non animadvertis, o veterator, sub amatoris mei umbra dormientem, et sub certaminis praemiorumque arbitro Christo viriliter decertantem, ideoque quae Magister meus docuit exercentem, et pro viribus expleturam reipsa sperantem. Providebam enim Dominum meum in conspectu meo semper, quoniam a dextris mihi est ne commovear.
[…] and rejoicing with [me], as is fitting? But do you not notice me myself meanwhile, O old deceiver, sleeping under the shadow of my Lover, and contending manfully under Christ the judge of the contest and of the prizes, and therefore practising what my Master has taught, and hoping to fulfil it in very deed as far as my strength allows? For I foresaw my Lord always in my sight, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be moved."
10. Talia dicentis contigit ut in ipsa cursus celeritate calceamenti corrigia solveretur. Sedulitatem autem etiam cum illam colligare vellet, maxime ostendit masculinam, et conversa, et comitantium omnino neminem intuita, preces quidem fudit opitulanti Deo: Domine omnipotens, qui non deseris te amantes, et in te spes suas collocantes, esto adjutor meus in altero certamine, quod mihi parari jam video, et ad quod accingor, gratia tua opitulante: hisce autem, qui me tantisper exceperunt, dum hic licuit quiete agere, meque continere longe a patria ac paterna domo ut ne auribus quidem acciperem nuptialia Quintiani nuntia, condignam vicem reddas, et effice ut sermones mei, quos privatim de te habui, vero Deo, deque unigenito Filio tuo, et de castitate, et de judicio, in eorum cordibus perseverent.
10. It happened, as she was saying such things, that in the very swiftness of her course the thong of her shoe came loose. And when she wished to tie it up again, she showed a most manly diligence, and having turned round and seen not one at all of those who had accompanied her, she poured out prayers to God her helper: "Lord almighty, Who dost not forsake those who love Thee and place their hopes in Thee, be my helper in the second contest, which I now see being prepared for me, and for which I gird myself, Thy grace helping me: and to these who received me for a while, as long as it was possible to live quietly here, and to keep myself far from my native place and my father's house, so that I should not even hear with my ears the marriage proposals of Quintianus, do Thou render a worthy recompense, and grant that my words, which I spoke privately of Thee, the true God, and of Thine only-begotten Son, and of chastity, and of the judgement, may abide in their hearts.
Sed quoniam vereor ne eorum memoria diffluat (ecce enim me occulte reliquerunt omnes), ostende, quaeso, his urbis incolis magnum aliquod miraculum. Et cum haec virgo fuisset precata, illico sterilis olea exorta est, quae publica ignominia notabat eos, qui per speciem honoris eam deduxerant, timideque aufugerant.
But since I fear that their memory may melt away (for see, they have all secretly left me), show, I pray, to the inhabitants of this city some great miracle." And when the virgin had prayed thus, at once a barren olive tree sprang up, which branded with public disgrace those who had escorted her under a show of honour, and had fled in fear.
11. Strenua autem virgo ex eo miraculo magis animata (quippe jam senserat exauditis precibus divinum sibi adesse Numen, ejusque angelos qui se tuerentur ab lictorum injuriis) corde intrepido se in viam dedit. Ubi vero Catanam appropinquabat, magnus civium suorum numerus illi obviam prodiit; et mulieres quidem aliquot ejus vicem dolebant, aliquot etiam, quibus Christianum pectus magis sapiebat, inter se tacitis laudibus constantiam virginis extollebant, quod †impi⟨u⟩s proconsulis oblatas nuptias ne auditu quidem dignata esset; ideoque solum vertere sapienter decrevisset. Matronae vero primariae civitatis, quibus propter nobilitatis, opum ac divitiarum famam, locus datus
11. And the valiant virgin, the more encouraged by that miracle (for she had already perceived, her prayers having been heard, that the divine Godhead was present with her, and His angels to protect her from the outrages of the lictors), set out on her way with a fearless heart. And when she was drawing near to Catania, a great number of her fellow citizens came out to meet her; and some women indeed lamented her lot, while some also, whose hearts savoured more of Christ, extolled among themselves with silent praises the constancy of the virgin, because she had not deigned even to listen to the marriage offered by the impious proconsul, and had therefore wisely resolved to leave her country. But the leading matrons of the city, to whom, on account of the fame of their nobility, wealth and riches, a place [had been] given […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1278
Footnotes
(⁷) ‹anchor: ne commovear› · printed under col 1277 Psal. XV, 8.
Ps. 15:8.
(6) ‹anchor: longe a patria› · printed under col 1277
Videntur Panormitani asserere, migrasse primum Agatham, adhuc infantulam, cum parentibus Panormo Catanam; ibique adolevisse: (unde alioquin Catanensibus ita fuisset nota, ut apud Quintianum ejus nobilitatem ac pulchritudinem depraedicarent?) ac deinde Panormum ad lares paternos reversam.
The people of Palermo seem to assert that Agatha, while still a little child, first moved with her parents from Palermo to Catania, and grew up there (for how otherwise would she have been so well known to the Catanians that they extolled her nobility and beauty before Quintianus?), and then returned to Palermo to her father's home.
(7) ‹anchor: quod impius proconsulis› · printed under col 1277 and continued under col 1278
Nusquam in Actis Latinis, ut diximus, mentio expressa fit fugae: neque ad nuptias expetita dicitur a Quintiano, qui uxorem habebat, sed potius ad stuprum, « ut qui erat de genere ignobili natus, per hoc personaret ad aures vulgi, quod tantus esset ac talis, qui posset etiam spectabilium subjugare personas. » Exstant passim apud scriptores exempla importunissimae libidinis praetorum Romanorum in provincialium filias ac conjuges. Lege qui ea requiris, apud Ciceronem quae C. Verres Praetor in eadem Sicilia gesserit, et act. 3, quae antea Lampsaci. Sanctorius existimat Quintianum sibi jungere matrimonio Agatham voluisse. Qui igitur potuit prudentissima virgo qu. I. n. 5, optare, ut talis esset uxor Quintiani qualis dea sua Venus, si sciebat eum uxore carere, seque ad legitimum conjugium expeti? Quod votum Virg⟨i⟩nis ita idem Sanctorius exponit: R⟨o⟩gabo Jesum Christum Dominum meum, ut uxor tua (si thoro fortasse es all⟨i⟩gatus) talis moribus et gloria evadat qualis amorum regina Venus. »
Nowhere in the Latin Acts, as we have said, is express mention made of flight: nor is she said to have been sought in marriage by Quintianus, who had a wife, but rather for debauchery, "so that, being a man born of an ignoble family, he might by this make it resound in the ears of the common people that he was so great and of such a kind that he could subjugate even persons of distinction." Examples of the most outrageous lust of Roman praetors against the daughters and wives of provincials are found everywhere in the writers. You who look for them, read in Cicero what C. Verres did as praetor in this same Sicily, and, in the third Action, what he did earlier at Lampsacus. Sanctorius thinks that Quintianus wished to join Agatha to himself in marriage. How then could the most prudent virgin (qu. I, n. 5) wish that Quintianus's wife should be such as his goddess Venus, if she knew that he had no wife, and that she herself was being sought for lawful marriage? This wish of the Virgin the same Sanctorius explains thus: "I shall ask Jesus Christ my Lord that your wife (if perhaps you are bound to a marriage bed) may turn out, in character and glory, such as Venus the queen of loves."
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fuerat a satellitibus, ad Agatham salutandam accedentes, in osculo sancto eam susceperunt; deque reditu gratulatae animum faciunt, ut stadium suum conficiat virtute dignum: et quae tam constanter primo certamine servandae Sponso suo virginitatis solum migrando eucurrit, ac fugiendo pervicit hostem; nunc in altero agone pro fidei professione usque ad mortem fortiter dimicando, Quintianum debellet, ac moriendo gloriose tandem triumphet. Illa vere, Meas, inquit, spes in Deo collocavi: ejus mihi Filius vires sufficiet. Ejus freta auxiliis, tyranni minas, verbera, tormenta, cruciatus, mortem denique ipsam devincendam spero atque opto.
[…] by the guards, came up to greet Agatha, received her with a holy kiss, and, congratulating her on her return, gave her courage to complete her course worthily of her virtue: and that she who in the first contest, to keep her virginity for her Bridegroom, had so constantly run off by changing her country, and had overcome the enemy by fleeing, should now, in the second struggle, by fighting bravely unto death for the profession of the faith, subdue Quintianus, and by dying at last triumph gloriously. She indeed said: "I have placed my hopes in God: His Son will supply me with strength. Relying on His help, I hope and desire to overcome the threats of the tyrant, the scourges, the tortures, the torments, and in the end death itself."
12. Praeses vero, ubi accepit Agatham ad urbem adventare, ut aliquantisper turbatam civitatem, ac praesertim animos consanguineorum mulceret, in Aphrodisiae nobilis feminae, sed famosae, domum divertere illam, atque honorificentissime excipi jubet, cavens ne aliquem ex propinquis ejus illuc introduci pateretur. Quae tibi mens animi tunc inerat, Virgo integerrima, cum te inclusam spectabas in illo Aphrodisiae, novemque muliercularum matri per quam similium, prostibulo potius, quam nobilium honesta domo? Quidnam animo virginali meditabaris in sordido illo infamium Sirenum coenoso lupanari verius, quam remoto, dignoque virginum gynaeceo? Non vereor, ne non tu honestas aures profanis illarum incantamentis obturaveris, sed scire sane gestio, si fas esset, in quasnam rerum divinarum meditationes ipsos triginta dies noctesque sanctissimam mentem tuam defixeris. Sed quoniam haec, quibus nihil arcanius esse debet, nos mortales de te in coelo degente audire non licet, liceat mihi certe nunc, sanctis viris qui in hujusmodi calamitates inciderunt, te comparare.
12. But the governor, when he learned that Agatha was coming to the city, in order to soothe for a while the disturbed city, and especially the minds of her kinsfolk, orders her to lodge in the house of Aphrodisia, a woman of noble birth but of ill fame, and to be received there most honourably, taking care not to allow any of her relatives to be brought in there. What thoughts were then in your mind, most chaste Virgin, when you saw yourself shut up in that brothel, rather than honourable house of nobles, of Aphrodisia, the mother of nine wretched women very like her? What were you meditating in your virginal mind in that squalid and filthy den of infamous Sirens, rather than in a secluded women's quarter worthy of virgins? I do not fear that you did not stop your honourable ears against their profane enchantments, but I do long to know, were it lawful, on what meditations of divine things you fixed your most holy mind for those thirty days and nights. But since we mortals may not hear these things, than which nothing ought to be more secret, about you who dwell in heaven, let me at least now be allowed to compare you to holy men who fell into calamities of this kind.
13. Quid etenim te Virginem sanctissimam Davidi quam simillimam judicem, qui Saulis regis furorem declinans in ferarum speluncis latitabat quidem, sed ibidem cum Deo colloquens, sicut in augusto et religioso templo ante divinam aram prostratus sibi esse videbatur; ubi preces lacrymasque fundebat, ubi divinum implorabat auxilium, ubi se ac vitam suam pro victima Deo offerebat. Tu vero in Aphrodisiae... haec aliaque multo majori cum ardore Christo obtulisti, qui te a tuis desideriis non fraudavit. Quin etiam ibidem mancipata, virum illum desideriorum Danielem imitabaris, qui in fetido leonum lacu odoriferum orationis thymiama summo Numini incendebat; meruitque tandem septimo die a jejunis septem leonum faucibus incolumis evadere. Tu vero cum ipsos triginta dies, virgo purissima, adversus decem leaenas in domestico lacu in servanda Deo v⟨i⟩rginitate decertasses, multo integrior evadere meruisti. Neque obliviscebaris Jonae qui in abyssum dejectus, ipso piscis ventre tanquam
13. For why should I not judge you, most holy Virgin, to be most like David, who, avoiding the fury of King Saul, lay hidden indeed in the caves of wild beasts, but, conversing with God there, seemed to himself to be as though prostrate before the divine altar in an august and holy temple; where he poured out prayers and tears, where he implored the divine help, where he offered himself and his life as a victim to God? And you in Aphrodisia's... offered these and other things with far greater ardour to Christ, Who did not cheat you of your desires. Nay more, delivered over into bondage there, you imitated that man of desires, Daniel, who in the fetid den of lions burned the fragrant incense of prayer to the supreme Godhead; and at last on the seventh day he was found worthy to escape unharmed from the jaws of seven hungry lions. But you, most pure virgin, when for those thirty days you had fought against ten lionesses in a den at home to keep your virginity for God, were found worthy to escape far more unharmed. Nor did you forget Jonah, who, cast into the abyss, [using] the very belly of the fish as [though it were] […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1279
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Hierosolymitano templo usus, laudes Deo fundebat ac preces; quibus a Deo auditis, ex ore piscis vivus ejectus in terram publice concionabundus magnae civitatis saluti consuluit. Tu vero, Agatha, vere tibi virgo bona, bona quippe quibus tuam in maximis aerumnis constantiam intuentibus, atque admirantibus specimen christianarum virtutum dedisti; ita ut neque divitiarum pollicitationibus, neque propositis deliciarum oblectamentis, neque adeo tormentorum minis ac periculis, neque vero imperatoris Decii decreto de subeundis ultimis cruciatibus, dimoveri potueris a proposito servandae virginitatis, fideique Christianae professione. Eras quippe quasi firmus in pelago scopulus, qui ventorum flatus, ingruentium pluviarum lapsus, frementium undarum impetus contemnit potius quam timet, distringitque fortius, quam illis cedit.
[…] the temple of Jerusalem, poured out praises and prayers to God; and when these had been heard by God, he was cast out alive from the mouth of the fish onto the land, and by preaching publicly he provided for the salvation of a great city. But you, Agatha, truly a good virgin for yourself, good indeed [also] to those to whom, as they beheld and admired your constancy in the greatest afflictions, you gave an example of the Christian virtues; so that neither by promises of riches, nor by the delights of pleasures set before you, nor even by the threats and dangers of torments, nor yet by the decree of the emperor Decius about undergoing the extreme tortures, could you be moved from your purpose of keeping your virginity and from the profession of the Christian faith. For you were like a firm rock in the sea, which scorns rather than fears the blasts of the winds, the falling of the rains that beat upon it, the onset of the roaring waves, and breaks them more strongly than it yields to them.
14. Quas quidem Agathae virtutes cum esset admirata omnis illa muliercularum colluvies, ad Quintianum pergit Aphrodisia, nuntiatque sese ac filias operam perdidisse; faciliusque Aetnea saxa in ceram converti, quam Agathae cor in obstinatione conservandae Christo virginitatis obduratum emolliri aliquantulum posse.
14. When that whole rabble of wretched women had marvelled at these virtues of Agatha, Aphrodisia goes to Quintianus and announces that she and her daughters have wasted their labour, and that the rocks of Etna could more easily be turned into wax than Agatha's heart, hardened in her resolve to keep her virginity for Christ, be softened even a little.
Tum ille ad suum citari virginem tribunal jubet; qui renascentes pristinae cupiditatis iraeque flammas cum diu per astum suppressisset, Aetnae similis, quem non semper ignem ab horrendis faucibus ejaculari ferunt, sed quibusdam interjectis temporum intervallis ebullientes intus flammas ubi continuit, protinus majores evomit ignitos fluvios, globosque ejaculatur. Et, Scio equidem, inquit, te ex nobili opulentoque genere ortam esse; tuique sanguinis splendorem cognati tui, quorum opera in magnis imperii rebus non semel usus sum, testantur: quid igitur causae est, ut posthabitis nostris diis humilem Christianorum vitam ancillarum in morem, in obscuro agas? Et illa: Recte me ancillam autumas; sum enim Christi Dei mei ancilla, cui omnes creatae res, velint nolint, famulantur. Verum haec conditio non ingenitam familiae meae nobilitatem obscurat, sed illustrat magis: neque ego me nobilem atque ingenuam praedicarem, si non unico veroque Deo, ejusque unigenito Filio, caste pieque servirem; sed vitiis ac voluptatibus vitae, diisque vestris, non vere diis, essem obnoxia.
Then he orders the virgin to be summoned to his tribunal; he, when he had long suppressed by cunning the reviving flames of his former lust and anger, like Etna, which, they say, does not always hurl fire from its dreadful jaws, but, when it has held in the flames boiling within for certain intervals of time, at once vomits forth greater fiery rivers and hurls out balls [of fire]. And he said: "I know indeed that you are sprung from a noble and wealthy family; and your kinsmen, whose services I have more than once used in great affairs of the empire, bear witness to the splendour of your blood: what reason is there, then, that, setting aside our gods, you lead the lowly life of the Christians in obscurity, in the manner of handmaids?" And she said: "You rightly call me a handmaid; for I am the handmaid of Christ my God, Whom all created things serve, willing or unwilling. But this condition does not obscure the inborn nobility of my family, but rather makes it illustrious: nor would I proclaim myself noble and free-born if I did not serve the one true God, and His only-begotten Son, chastely and piously, but were subject to the vices and pleasures of life, and to your gods, who are not truly gods."
15. Haec satis intrepide apud praesidem Agathae alloquenti, protinus satelles manu sacrilega in faciem colaphum impingit, ut virgo Christi vere bona discipula boni Magistri, similibus initiis martyrium imitaretur, sponsoque suo sponsa similis appareret. O quam belle purpurissatas tunc dilecta virgo genas dilecto suo ostentabat! quam pie virginali rubore ac decoro livore ornatum vultum in coelum extollebat, oculosque lacrymis cruoreque respersos ad Christum dirigebat, ut iisdem ipsis propter ejus
15. As Agatha addressed these words quite fearlessly before the governor, at once an attendant with sacrilegious hand struck a blow on her face, so that the virgin of Christ, truly the good disciple of a good Master, might imitate His martyrdom with like beginnings, and appear as a bride like her Bridegroom. O how beautifully the beloved virgin then showed her crimsoned cheeks to her Beloved! how piously she lifted to heaven her face adorned with virginal blush and becoming bruise, and directed to Christ her eyes sprinkled with tears and blood, so that with these very [eyes], for His […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1280
Footnotes
(8) ‹anchor: sponsoque suo sponsa› · printed full width under cols 1279–1280
Cui nimirum apud Annam Pontificem « unus assistens ministrorum dedit alapam, » Joan. XVIII, 22.
To Whom, namely, in the presence of Annas the high priest "one of the attendants standing by gave a blow", John 18:22.
Page
- running head: 1279 S. METHODII PATRIARCHAE CP. 1280 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹Hierosolymitano templo›; B ‹darum impetus contemnit›; C ‹mit ignitos fluvios›; D ‹luptatibus vitae› (gutter, shared with col 1279)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: none
amorem vulneratis divinum pectus vulneraret, Sponsique cor transfixum ad majorem sui amorem illiceret atque inflammaret.
[…] love, [eyes] wounded, she might wound the divine breast, and allure and inflame the pierced heart of the Bridegroom to a greater love of her.
16. Post igitur multiplices intentatas Agathae minas, ad tenebrosum detrudi carcerem eam jubet Quintianus. Pergebat vero illa magno animi gaudio, vultusque laetitia; et quasi ad nuptiale epulum invitata, ad ergastulum humi depressum maturabat. Quo dum illam satellites magno impetu detrudere conabantur, divinitus factum est, ut durus lapis virginis pedibus quasi venerabundus cederet, ac immobilem servaret Agatham: cujus vestigia ibidem impressa magna cum religionis observantia omnes mortales venerantur; ut per hoc etiam miraculum Christus sibi in coelum hilariter ascendenti, ac a terris triumphanti, Agatham similem declararet, etiamsi in carcerem illa descenderet: quippe quae illuc gloriose incedendo, de Aphrodisia devicta laetissimum triumphum angelis et hominibus agere videbatur.
16. So, after the many threats held out against Agatha, Quintianus orders her to be thrust down into a dark prison. And she went with great joy of mind and gladness of countenance; and, as though invited to a wedding feast, she hastened to the dungeon sunk in the ground. And while the guards were trying to thrust her down into it with great violence, it came about by God's doing that the hard stone yielded to the virgin's feet as though in reverence, and kept Agatha unmoved: her footprints, impressed there, all men venerate with great religious observance; so that by this miracle too Christ might declare Agatha like Himself as He ascended joyfully into heaven and triumphed from the earth, even though she was going down into a prison: for she, going gloriously thither, seemed to celebrate before angels and men a most joyful triumph over Aphrodisia vanquished.
17. Virgo igitur volens ac lubens in carcerem includitur: ubi noctem insomnem agens, divinarum rerum contemplationi cum lacrymis operam navat; utque sibi coelestes in agone cruciatuum vires Christus sufficiat, precatur. Vix illuxerat, cum iterum ad tribunal Quintiani virgo sistitur: ubi cum audacter pro Christi fide ac virginitate tuenda se mori malle professa esset, continuo manibus pedibusque colligatis, in praeparato distenditur equuleo: expediuntur faces, flagellis virginale corpus obtunditur; deinde ferreis ungulis ac fidiculis latera sulcantur: tum candentibus aduruntur laminis; demum vix enatae torquentur mammae, et crudeliter denticulatis forcipibus discerpuntur: in quo cruciatu magnanima virgo insolentem saevitiam exprobrat Quintiano: Enimvero, inquiens, impius et crudelis es, naturae hostis humanae; quippe non erubescis mamillas saeviter amputari in virgine, quas infans blande in matre suxisti. Sed quanquam hasce caducas praecidisti, haudquaquam alteras, quas reconditas in anima, ab infantia Christo meo consecratas servo, poteris avellere.
17. So the virgin, willing and glad, is shut up in the prison: there, spending a sleepless night, she devotes herself with tears to the contemplation of divine things; and she prays that Christ may supply her with heavenly strength in the contest of tortures. Scarcely had day dawned when the virgin is again set before the tribunal of Quintianus: there, when she had boldly declared that she would rather die for the faith of Christ and the defence of her virginity, at once, her hands and feet bound, she is stretched on the rack made ready: torches are brought out, the virginal body is beaten with scourges; then her sides are furrowed with iron claws and cords: then they are burned with red-hot plates; finally her breasts, scarcely grown, are twisted, and cruelly torn off with toothed pincers: in which torment the great-souled virgin reproaches Quintianus for his insolent cruelty: "Truly," she said, "you are impious and cruel, an enemy of human nature; for you do not blush to have the breasts of a virgin savagely cut off, you who as an infant sucked them sweetly in your mother. But although you have cut off these perishable ones, you will by no means be able to tear away the others, which I keep hidden in my soul, consecrated from infancy to my Christ."
18. Excanduit Quintianus, ubi non adhuc consternatae puellae intrepidas voces ex virili pectore prodeuntes accepit. Et ne se victum fateretur, Agatham in carcerem reduci jubet, custodibusque edicit, ut continenter vigilent, ne quis e propinquis chirurgum submittat, neu cibum potumque clanculum audeat ministrare. Ibi virgo inclusa, sacris intenta precibus, hujuscemodi verbis Christum alloquebatur: O qui vere Sponsus sanguinum jure nunc dici potes, gratias tibi ago immortales, quod per potentiam tuam me superiorem tormentis effecisti. Suscipe, quaeso, hosce pectoris cruciatus in
18. Quintianus blazed up when he heard the fearless words of the girl, not yet dismayed, coming forth from a manly breast. And so as not to confess himself beaten, he orders Agatha to be taken back to prison, and commands the guards to keep watch continually, lest any of her relatives send in a surgeon, or dare to supply food and drink secretly. Shut up there, the virgin, intent on holy prayers, addressed Christ in words of this kind: "O Thou Who mayest now rightly be called truly a Bridegroom of blood, I give Thee undying thanks, because by Thy power Thou hast made me superior to the torments. Receive, I pray, these torments of my breast for […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1281
Footnotes
(9) ‹anchor: miraculum Christus sibi› · printed under col 1281 and continued under col 1282
Cujus quippe ultima vestigia humo impressa in monte Oliveti hodieque monstrantur, ut pluribus Patrum ac Historicorum testimoniis confirmat Baronius t. I Annal. ad an. Chr. 34, nu. 232. seqq. et passim alii Scriptores.
For His last footprints, impressed in the ground on the Mount of Olives, are shown even today, as Baronius confirms by many testimonies of the Fathers and historians, Annals, vol. 1, at the year of Christ 34, no. 232 and following, and other writers here and there.
(⁸) ‹anchor: Sponsus sanguinum› · printed under col 1281 Exod. IV, 25.
Exod. 4:25.
Page
- running head: 1281 ORATIO IN S. AGATHAM. 1282 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹amorem vulneratis›; B ‹denti, ac a terris›; C ‹obtunditur; deinde ferreis›; D ‹prodeuntes accepit› (gutter, shared with col 1282)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the scripture notes ⁹ and ¹⁰ printed under this column are called in col 1282 and set in n1282. A small stray mark stands after ‹Vix illuxerat,›; it matches no note and is not a call. In note (9) the figures of "34" and "232" are small and 3/5 could not be told apart with certainty.
laudem et honorem nominis tui, et in gloriam Ecclesiae tuae. Et ecce sub mediae noctis silentium, inter illas obscuri carceris tenebras, veneranda specie quidam senex (quem puer praeibat, facemque praeferebat) illeque se chirurgiam callere affirmabat, ac pollicebatur avulsas mamillas curari posse. Tum illa: Medicamenta equidem, venerande senex, corpori meo nunquam exhibui; sed habeo Dominum meum Jesum Christum, qui unico nutu, si voluerit, me curabit. Et ego, inquit senex, apostolus ejus sum; et in nomine ejus veni ut curata sis.
[…] the praise and honour of Thy name, and for the glory of Thy Church." And behold, in the silence of midnight, amid that darkness of the gloomy prison, an old man of venerable appearance (a boy went before him and carried a torch before him), and he declared that he was skilled in surgery, and promised that the torn-off breasts could be healed. Then she said: "I have never indeed applied medicines to my body, venerable old man; but I have my Lord Jesus Christ, Who by a single nod, if He wills, will heal me." "And I," said the old man, "am His apostle; and in His name I have come that you may be healed."
19. Sed quid ego in hoc ergastulo moram traho? Jamdiu illud Catanense theatrum suis elatis flammis me, vosque omnes advocat, animisque praesentibus spectaculo ibidem exhibendo nos astare jubet, ubi super flammantes carbones, ignitaque testarum fragmenta tenerrimum virginis corpus collocatur. Atque nunc haec lectuli species illa mihi videtur esse, quam Sponsus describens a floribus commendavit, cui nec purpureae rosae desunt candentis ignis, nec lilia corporis virginalis. Complectantur igitur ignes rosei, atque lambant potius, quam adurant lilium virginale; complectantur, inquam, neque spinis suis dilacerent: ardeat, ut lubet, ignis in spinis, sicut in rubo Mosaico; et si comburere amat, suas comburat spinas, sed lilio parcat candidissimae virginitatis. Jacet enim Agatha, ac vallatur flammis, sicut spinis lilium. Meretur hujus praemii praerogativam votum virginitatis, ab infantia Deo nuncupatum, et illibato candore servatum.
19. But why do I linger in this dungeon? For a long while now that theatre of Catania with its high-rising flames has been summoning me and all of you, and bids us stand by, with minds present, at the spectacle to be shown there, where the most tender body of the virgin is laid upon flaming coals and red-hot fragments of potsherds. And now this appearance of a bed seems to me to be that which the Bridegroom, describing it, commended for its flowers, a bed which lacks neither the purple roses of the glowing fire nor the lilies of the virginal body. Let the rosy fires, then, embrace the virginal lily, and lick rather than scorch it; let them embrace it, I say, and not tear it with their thorns: let the fire burn, as it pleases, in the thorns, as in the bush of Moses; and if it loves to burn, let it burn its own thorns, but spare the lily of most white virginity. For Agatha lies there, and is walled about by flames, as the lily by thorns. The vow of virginity, pledged to God from infancy and kept in unblemished whiteness, earns the privilege of this reward.
20. Vix igitur Agatha ignes tetigerat, cum ecce patria tellus, filiae suae vicem miserata, funditus contremuit; et quasi materno sensu praedita esset, apertis non uno in loco faucibus, ore multiplici exclamabat, clareque testabatur, quam vehementer doleret, quamque juste indignum crudeleque illud spectaculum detestaretur; in eam plane rationem, qua rerum omnium conditore Deo in crucem acto, universum contremuit terrae elementum, immane Judaeorum scelus, impiumque nefas ferre non valens. Liceret fortasse affirmare Catanensem tellurem id temporis quasi ludibundam exsultasse, choreasque duxisse, quod in lectulo illo ignito quasi in geniali thalamo, filiam suam Agatham jam Christi sponsam videret collocatam, sperans de sanguine filiae martyrio fortiter consummato, uberrimam nepotum segetem ad evangelicam lucem nascituram. Vere etenim ille invitus fatebatur, sanguinem martyrum esse semen Christianorum. Sed multo certius equidem censeo, eamdem terrae concussionem non ab aere in ejus visceribus violenter concluso, neque aquis ab iisdem praecordiis perrumpentibus fuisse factam, sed vero ab angelis de coelo descendentibus, quibus familiare est terram quatere
20. Scarcely, then, had Agatha touched the fires, when behold, her native land, pitying the lot of its daughter, trembled from its depths; and as though it were endowed with a mother's feeling, it opened its jaws in more than one place and cried out with many mouths, and bore clear witness how vehemently it grieved, and how justly it abhorred that unworthy and cruel spectacle; in just the same way as, when God the Maker of all things was brought to the cross, the whole element of the earth trembled, being unable to bear the monstrous crime and impious wickedness of the Jews. It might perhaps be affirmed that the land of Catania at that time leapt up as if in play and led dances, because it saw its daughter Agatha, now the bride of Christ, laid on that fiery bed as on a marriage couch, hoping that from the blood of its daughter, her martyrdom bravely consummated, a most plentiful harvest of descendants would be born to the light of the Gospel. For truly that man confessed, though unwilling, that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians. But I for my part judge much more surely that this shaking of the earth was caused neither by air violently shut up in its bowels, nor by waters bursting out from those same inner parts, but in truth by angels descending from heaven, whose habit it is to shake the earth […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1282
Footnotes
(⁹) ‹anchor: quam Sponsus describens› · printed under col 1281 Cant. I, 15.
Song 1:15.
(¹⁰) ‹anchor: sicut in rubo› · printed under col 1281 Exod. III, 2.
Exod. 3:2.
Page
- running head: 1281 ORATIO IN S. AGATHAM. 1282 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹laudem et honorem›; B ‹ubi super flammantes›; C ‹cupatum, et illibato›; D ‹sti sponsam videret› (gutter, shared with col 1281)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the end of note (9) of col 1281 is printed under this column; set in n1281.
suoque adventu impios a malis faciendis absterrere, pias vero mentes in studiosis actionibus confirmare. Id quod evenisse legimus ad Christi sepulcrum paulo postquam ille redivivus ab inferis triumphavit: ad quod descendente angelo magnus terrae factus est motus; qui ubi sepulcrum reclusit, milites quidem illud custodientes metu exanimatos in fugam convertit, a piis vero mulieribus omnem timorem excussit.
[…] and by their coming to frighten the impious away from doing evil, and to strengthen devout minds in zealous deeds. This we read happened at the tomb of Christ a little after He, alive again, triumphed over the underworld: when an angel came down to it, a great earthquake took place; and he, when he had opened the tomb, put to flight the soldiers guarding it, half dead with fear, but shook all fear from the devout women.
21. Opem igitur Agathae in incendiis jacenti ecquis dubitet angelos attulisse, roreque coelesti eos ignes flammasque aspersisse? Nonne haec nostra virgo, divinitus illustrata, roris hujus salutarem pluviam sibi spoponderat, cum Quintianum alloquebatur? Si ignem, inquiens, corpori meo adhibeas, rorem mihi salutiferum de coelo angeli ministrabunt. An vero angeli, ipseque angelorum rex Christus frustra haberet Agathae spes in se collocatas, ita ut Virginis verba inania, infirmaque censeret Quintianus? An hujus Virginis animus, qui semper a lethalibus libidinis ignibus abhorruerat, eosque omnino exstinguendos curaverat, penitusque Deo fixus inhaeserat, nunc suum corporis organum, quod pro servandae virginitatis fide super ignitos carbones, acutasque testas flammantes injici pertulerat, ab iisdem vel mediocrem injuriam praeter conceptam spem perpeti spectaret?
21. Who then would doubt that angels brought help to Agatha as she lay in the fires, and sprinkled those fires and flames with heavenly dew? Had not this virgin of ours, divinely enlightened, promised herself the saving rain of this dew when she was speaking to Quintianus? "If you apply fire to my body," she said, "the angels will minister to me a health-giving dew from heaven." Or would the angels, and Christ Himself the King of angels, hold Agatha's hopes placed in them to be in vain, so that Quintianus should judge the Virgin's words empty and weak? Or would the soul of this Virgin, which had always shrunk from the deadly fires of lust, and had taken care that they should be wholly extinguished, and had clung wholly fixed on God, now look on while the instrument of its body, which for the faith of keeping its virginity had endured to be thrown upon burning coals and sharp flaming potsherds, suffered from them even a moderate injury beyond the hope it had conceived?
An etiam ille Filius hominis, cujus gloria est quasi Unigeniti Dei, qui voluit quartus interesse cum tribus pueris in fornace Babylonica, adeo ut nihil eos ignis laeserit, ille in igneo lectulo propter se jacentem Agatham, sibique desponsam, quippe quae ab infantia sibi adhaeserat, eratque secum facta unus spiritus, dimitteret amburendam? Adfuit, adfuit Agathae sponsae Sponsus, qui per angelos suos spiritus factos et terram fecit tremere, productis ventis de arcano suorum thesaurorum; fecitque incendium illud Agathae substratum quasi auram roris flantem, ita ut neque virginale corpus tangere, neque ejus animum contristare, neque molestiae quidquam inferre auderet ignis. Adfuit, inquam, Christus, secumque nobile angelorum agmen, tam nobili spectaculo, dignoque quod coelestibus oculis cerneretur, adeo ut jure optimo Agatha clamare potuerit: Vidisti, Domine, et spectasti agonem meum, quomodo pugnavi in stadio, et quia volui fidem virginitatis custodire, jussa sum non solum suspendi in equuleo, et in mamillis totoque corpore excarnificari, sed etiam in igne collocari: sed tui divini amoris fervor mihi vires sufficit, o bone Sponse, fulcitque hisce flammis, velut rosarum floribus, stipatque odorifero carbonum quasi pomorum et aromatum suffitu; ita ut carnificum tormenta haec crudelia, et hosce ignitos carbones hilariter sustineam, amanterque complectar, non tanquam ignes cruciantes, sed tanquam vernos flores, et purpureas coronas mihi adblandientes;
Or would that Son of Man too, Whose glory is as of the Only-begotten of God, Who willed to be present as the fourth with the three youths in the Babylonian furnace, so that the fire did them no harm at all, would He leave Agatha, lying on a fiery bed for His sake and betrothed to Him, since she had clung to Him from infancy and had become one spirit with Him, to be burned up? He was there, the Bridegroom was there for His bride Agatha, He Who through His angels made spirits also made the earth to tremble, bringing forth the winds out of the secret place of His treasuries; and He made that fire laid beneath Agatha like a breeze blowing with dew, so that the fire dared neither touch the virginal body, nor sadden her soul, nor bring her any harm. Christ was there, I say, and with Him a noble host of angels, at so noble a spectacle and one worthy to be seen by heavenly eyes, so that Agatha could by the best of rights cry out: "Thou hast seen, O Lord, and hast beheld my contest, how I fought in the arena; and because I willed to keep the faith of virginity, I was ordered not only to be hung on the rack and to be butchered in my breasts and my whole body, but also to be laid in the fire: but the fervour of Thy divine love supplies me with strength, O good Bridegroom, and stays me up with these flames as with flowers of roses, and compasses me about with the fragrant fumes of the coals as of apples and spices; so that I bear these cruel torments of the executioners, and these burning coals, cheerfully, and embrace them lovingly, not as fires that torture, but as spring flowers and purple crowns that caress me;
Editors' notes and page, col. 1283
Footnotes
(¹¹) ‹anchor: omnem timorem excussit› · printed under col 1283 Matth. XXVIII, 2.
Matt. 28:2.
(¹²) ‹anchor: nihil eos ignis laeserit› · printed under col 1283 Dan. III, 92.
Dan. 3:92.
(¹³) ‹anchor: velut rosarum floribus› · printed under col 1283 Cant. II, 5.
Song 2:5.
Page
- running head: 1383 S. METHODII PATRIARCHAE CP. 1284 (across the page; the column number is misprinted 1383 for 1283)
- marginal letters: A ‹tere, suoque adventu›; B ‹beas, rorem mihi›; C ‹nihil eos ignis laeserit›; D ‹agonem meum, quomodo› (gutter, shared with col 1284)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: none
iisdemque quasi pretiosis pyropis concinnari patiar et gaudeam, pretiosos torques ac monilia, omnem mundum nuptialem, ac vestem martyrii, ut hisce decorata ornamentis ad coelestes thalamos admittat.
and that I suffer and rejoice to be adorned with them as with precious fire-red gems, precious chains and necklaces, all the bridal finery, and the robe of martyrdom, that He may admit me, decked with these ornaments, to the heavenly bridal chambers."
22. Inter haec Quintianus terrae motu, duorumque nece amicorum ante ejus oculos oppressorum ruinis parietum, pavefactus, maximeque populi tumultu conturbatus, obortoque clamore Catanensium virginem incolumem servare volentium, exanimatus, illico Agatham in carcerem reduci jubet: quae civium coelestium exercitu populique turmis stipata, de jam superato Quintiano, ac tormentis omnibus triumphum agitans, in venerandum ingreditur carceremne dicam, an regium palatium, an vero potius coelestis templi sacrosanctum vestibulum? ubi virgo stans oculis in coelum sublatis, passisque in crucis speciem brachiis virginalibus, orans in haec verba linguam solvit: Domine Jesu Christe, magister bone, gratias tibi ago qui me hoc honore dignatus es, ut decertarem pro nomine tuo; qui abstulisti a me mortalis vitae amorem, mihique coelestes vires suffecisti, ut tormenta perferrem; tu, idem Domine Deus, exaudi preces meas, et dignare ancillam tuam, ut hanc terram dimittat, utque ornata purpureo triumphalis martyrii peplo, flammeoque virginali contecta, ad immarcescibilem aeternae gloriae coronam feliciter perveniat. Hisce peractis precibus, illico immaculatum Deo tradidit spiritum.
22. Meanwhile Quintianus, terrified by the earthquake and by the death of two of his friends, crushed before his eyes by the fall of walls, and greatly disturbed by the tumult of the people, and half dead with fear at the outcry that arose from the Catanians, who wished to keep the virgin unharmed, at once orders Agatha to be taken back to prison: and she, thronged by an army of heavenly citizens and by crowds of the people, celebrating her triumph over Quintianus now overcome and over all the torments, enters, shall I say, a venerable prison, or a royal palace, or rather the most holy vestibule of the heavenly temple? There the virgin, standing with her eyes raised to heaven and her virginal arms spread out in the form of a cross, loosed her tongue in prayer in these words: "Lord Jesus Christ, good Master, I give Thee thanks, Who hast deemed me worthy of this honour, that I should contend for Thy name; Who hast taken from me the love of mortal life, and hast supplied me with heavenly strength to endure the torments; do Thou, the same Lord God, hear my prayers, and grant to Thy handmaid that she may leave this earth, and that, adorned with the purple mantle of triumphant martyrdom and covered with the virginal bridal veil, she may happily attain the unfading crown of eternal glory." When she had finished these prayers, she at once gave up her spotless spirit to God.
23. Quod ubi populus carcerem circumstans cognovit, magno cum pietatis studio ac reverentia, corpus generosae martyris in monumento honorifice composuit. An vero Sponsus Agathae Christus, qui gloriosus est et mirabilis in sanctis martyribus suis, hanc amabilem ejus sponsam, et martyrum Sicularum eximiam reginam, quam etiam in terris viventem miraculis cohonestaverat, mox in coelo secum triumphantem non redderet longe clariorem? Et cujus virginis linguam testem suae divinitatis disertam Christus fecerat, secumque castum amorem, ac nuptialem fidem jusserat publice profiteri, mox eidem corpus iis de causis cruciatum quiescere in obscuro marmore pateretur inglorium? Fecit utique, fecit dignissimae hujus Sponsae suae Christus sepulcrum gloriosum, non per unum aut duos angelos coelitus missos paucis mulieribus conspicuos, sicuti suam speluncam, ubi extra Hierosolymam ipse Sponsus jacuerat; sed per centum spiritus coelestes humanam decore juventutis formam indutos; qui dum virginale corpus a Christianis civibus decore collocatur, conspicui omnibus, coelestem melodiam decantarunt. Quidam vero inter eos longe pulcherrimus adolescens ad sepulcrum nondum opertum accessit, coeloque delatam marmoream tabellam ad Virginis caput apposuit, in qua ejus encomia erant breviter exarata: Mens
23. When the people standing around the prison learned this, with great zeal of devotion and reverence they laid the body of the noble martyr honourably in a tomb. But would not Christ, the Bridegroom of Agatha, Who is glorious and wonderful in His holy martyrs, soon make far more illustrious this lovable bride of His, the peerless queen of the Sicilian martyrs, whom He had honoured with miracles even while she lived on earth, now triumphing with Him in heaven? And would Christ, Who had made the tongue of this virgin an eloquent witness to His divinity, and had bidden her profess publicly her chaste love and bridal faith towards Him, soon allow her body, tortured for these reasons, to rest without glory in obscure marble? He did indeed, Christ did make a glorious tomb for this most worthy Bride of His, not through one or two angels sent from heaven and seen by a few women, as with His own cave, where outside Jerusalem the Bridegroom Himself had lain; but through a hundred heavenly spirits clothed in human form with the comeliness of youth; who, while the virginal body was being fittingly laid to rest by the Christian citizens, visible to all, sang a heavenly melody. And one among them, a youth far the most beautiful, came up to the tomb not yet covered, and placed at the Virgin's head a marble tablet brought down from heaven, on which her praises were briefly inscribed: "A mind […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1284
Page
- running head: 1383 S. METHODII PATRIARCHAE CP. 1284 (across the page; the left column number is misprinted 1383)
- marginal letters: A ‹iisdemque quasi pretiosis›; B ‹vero potius coelestis›; C ‹23. Quod ubi populus›; D ‹Christus sepulcrum gloriosum› (gutter, shared with col 1283)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: none
sancta spontanea, honor Deo, et patriae liberatio.
[…] holy and willing, honour to God, and the deliverance of her country."
24. Quid hoc unum meum os, meaque mortalis lingua audet amplius laudes Agathae celebrare, quas non centum angelorum ora, non totidem coelestes linguae verbis volantibus attingere valuerunt? Sed illas ipsas magno silentio coelestibus digitis ille caeteris major angelus, virginis nuper custos, dictante descripsit Deo; admiratusque angelicas ac prope divinas virtutes, protinus inde discessit. Certe ut ipse quoque praesens esset, fieretque particeps in deliciis coelestibus, quibus civitas omnis coelestis perfundebatur ad triumphum martyris omnium magnanimae, suoque jure esset paranymphus ad ingressum pulcherrimae Christi sponsae in thalamum sibi a Matre virginum Virgine Deipara praeparatum: necnon ut idem custos angelus, qui certaminibus disputationum tormentorumque Agathae semper interfuerat, aeque supra puellare ingenium ac vires, quasi auritus oculatusque testis perceperat, singulaque admirabundus spectaverat, mox per totum coelum victimas caneret virginales, invitaretque beatos coelestis militiae exercitus ad Filium Dei ac Deiparae Virginis collaudandum, quod talem fecisset in imbelli virgine victoriam.
24. Why then does this one mouth of mine, and my mortal tongue, dare any further to celebrate the praises of Agatha, which not a hundred mouths of angels, not as many heavenly tongues with winged words, were able to attain? But these very praises that angel greater than the rest, until lately the virgin's guardian, wrote down in great silence with heavenly fingers at God's dictation; and, marvelling at her angelic and almost divine virtues, at once departed thence. Surely [he did so] that he too might be present, and become a sharer in the heavenly delights with which the whole heavenly city was flooded at the triumph of the martyr most great-souled of all, and might by his own right be groomsman at the entry of the most beautiful bride of Christ into the bridal chamber prepared for her by the Mother of virgins, the Virgin Mother of God: and also that the same guardian angel, who had always been present at Agatha's contests of disputations and of torments, and had perceived, as a witness both with ears and eyes, what was likewise above a girl's nature and strength, and had watched each thing in wonder, might soon sing through all heaven of the virginal victims, and invite the blessed hosts of the heavenly army to praise together the Son of God and of the Virgin Mother of God, because He had won such a victory in an unwarlike virgin.
25. Sed fortasse verius inde angelus discessit, quia cum virginalis mentis purissimam sanctitatem, ardentissimum spontaneae martyris amorem ac desiderium, eximium in maximis tenelli corporis cruciatibus Christo Sponso exhibitum honorem ab Agatha publice testatus esset, erubuit prope jam nobile corpus consistere, eo quia longe clariora per illud facinora in terris edidisse Agatham cognoscebat, quam ipsemet purus putus spiritus in coelo contra draconem patraverat; ideoque aeriam humani corporis speciem exuere maturavit, nempe fassus se a mortali adolescentula longe superatum; et in auras evanuit ad eum plane modum, quo ab Jacob patriarcha, quocum similis angelus luctabatur, nec illum superare poterat, dimissionem petiit aurora ascendente. Et quia jam laetissimae Agathae anima quasi coelestis ac rosea aurora ad coeleste fastigium soliumque gloriae sublimis ascendebat, exueratque jam mortale corpus, indecorum angelo videbatur in terris moram facere, et mortalibus oculis adhuc sese conspicuum exhibere. Vel certe huic angelo, ejusque centuriae coelesti, illud usu venit ad Agathae sepulcrum, quod binis olim Seraphim, qui dum divino Verbo mortalem carnem assumpturo angelicum illud Trisagium concinerent, divinamque sanctitatem ei optime congruere conclamarent, sese totos alis velabant, sedentis majestatem et gloriam contemplari nequeuntes. Hujus enim virginis nostrae angelus, cum propter integerrimam virginitatem Agathae mentem sanctam declarasset, sanctam item ejus voluntatem, propter acerbissimos cruciatus hilariter perpessos, quibus mirifice Christus Deus toto
25. But perhaps, more truly, the angel departed thence because, when he had publicly testified to the most pure holiness of the virgin's mind, to the most ardent love and desire of the willing martyr, and to the exceptional honour shown by Agatha to Christ the Bridegroom in the greatest torments of her tender body, he was almost ashamed to remain in a noble body any longer, because he knew that Agatha had performed on earth, through [her body], deeds far more glorious than he himself, a pure and simple spirit, had achieved in heaven against the dragon; and therefore he hastened to put off the airy appearance of a human body, confessing, in fact, that he had been far surpassed by a mortal young girl; and he vanished into the air in just the same way as a like angel, who was wrestling with the patriarch Jacob and could not overcome him, asked Jacob to let him go as the dawn was rising. And since the soul of the most joyful Agatha, like a heavenly and rosy dawn, was now ascending on high to the heavenly summit and throne of glory, and had now put off the mortal body, it seemed unbecoming for the angel to linger on earth, and still to show himself visible to mortal eyes. Or surely it happened to this angel and his heavenly company at Agatha's tomb as it once did to the two Seraphim, who, while they sang together that angelic Trisagion to the divine Word, Who was to take mortal flesh, and cried aloud that divine holiness befitted Him supremely, veiled themselves wholly with their wings, being unable to contemplate the majesty and glory of Him Who sat [on the throne]. For the angel of this virgin of ours, when he had declared Agatha's mind holy on account of her most perfect virginity, and her will likewise holy on account of the most bitter torments cheerfully endured, by which Christ God was wonderfully made glorious in the whole of […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1285
Footnotes
(¹⁴) ‹anchor: ab Jacob patriarcha› · printed under col 1285 Gen. XXXII, 26.
Gen. 32:26.
(¹⁵) ‹anchor: contemplari nequeuntes› · printed under col 1285 Isa. VI, 2, 3.
Isa. 6:2, 3.
Page
- running head: 1235 ORATIO IN S. AGATHAM. 1286 (across the page; the column number is printed blurred and reads 1235 for 1285)
- marginal letters: B ‹sancta spontanea› (top of the gutter, where A is expected; printed B); B ‹praeparatum: necnon›; C ‹Agatha publice testatus›; D ‹talibus oculis adhuc› (gutter, shared with col 1286)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: none
coelo terraque fiebat gloriosus, animadvertens novum se Trisagium cecinisse, adeoque mirificis Agathae sanctitatis splendoribus angelicam obtundi mentem, invisibilibus alis sibi consulendum censuit, itaque sublimis evanuit.
[…] heaven and earth, perceiving that he had sung a new Trisagion, and that his angelic mind was dazzled by the wonderful splendours of Agatha's holiness, judged that he must take counsel for himself with invisible wings, and so vanished on high.
26. Sed quaeso te, o coelestis angelorum centuria, unam saltem mihi angelicam linguam ac manum ad breve temporis spatium accommoda, ut coeleste epithalamium, quod vos cum Agathae corpusculo in obscuro sepulcralis marmoris condidistis, in lucem proferam; paucaque vestra (ut soletis) verba in eo descripta, ac reconditis mysteriis obvoluta, fas mihi sit edisserere. Et quidem vos in re optima ab virginalis mentis sanctitate laudes Agathae celebrare occepistis. Virgo etenim haec, cum adhuc infans esset, nullo mortali magistro edocente, sed Spiritu sancto intrinsecus suadente, virginitatem Deo consecravit, adeoque toto vitae decursu excolere satagebat, ut nullis eam saecularibus curis, aut nuptialibus colloquiis macularit; quinimo rerum omnium creatarum immemor, divinae vacans contemplationi, eam reddiderit puriorem; ideoque ad eximium divini amoris excessum subvolarit; et pro Sponsi sui tuenda fide ad cruciatuum agonem pervenire maxime exoptarit. Quas ob res factum est, ut ejus ardentibus desideriis ex pura avidaque mente scintillantibus, obsecundarit Deus; sibique honor aeternus, gloriosus, immortalis pullulaverit; ipsaque Ecclesia et candida et rubicunda mortalibus ac coelestibus oculis coeperit apparere.
26. But I beg you, O heavenly company of angels, lend me at least one angelic tongue and hand for a short space of time, so that I may bring to light the heavenly wedding song which you laid up with Agatha's little body in the darkness of the marble tomb; and may it be lawful for me to set out your few words (as is your custom) inscribed on it and wrapped in hidden mysteries. And indeed you began, most fittingly, to celebrate Agatha's praises from the holiness of her virginal mind. For this virgin, while she was still an infant, with no mortal master teaching her, but the Holy Spirit persuading her within, consecrated her virginity to God, and was so zealous to cultivate it through the whole course of her life that she stained it with no worldly cares or talk of marriage; nay rather, unmindful of all created things and devoting herself to divine contemplation, she made it purer; and so she soared up to an exceptional ecstasy of divine love; and she longed above all to come to the contest of torments to defend her faith to her Bridegroom. For these reasons it came about that God favoured her burning desires, sparkling from a pure and eager mind; and eternal, glorious, immortal honour sprang up for her; and the Church herself began to appear both white and ruddy to mortal and heavenly eyes.
27. Hodie igitur Christiana Ecclesia sese exornet, cum jam suam gloriosam intinxerit purpuram purissimis martyris Agathae cruoribus; atque adeo gaudeat et exsultet, canatque ejus victorias ac triumphos, patriaeque Catanae dignam gloriatione praedicet; orbemque terrarum impleat Agathae Christique nominis celebritate. Enimvero quaenam creata res magis admirabilem Dei potentiam, quid magis praedicabilem ejus sapientiam, quid magis amabilem ejus bonitatem ostendat, quam in fragili feminarum corpusculo viriles animos atque heroicas virtutes intueri? Inter feminas autem quid illustrius invenias, quam tenellas virgines Deo per votum integritatis consecratas? Inter virgines vero post Deiparam Virginem quid delectabilius agit in stuporem, quidve admirabilius Ecclesiam Christi delectat, quam haec virgo singularis Agatha? quae quidem sapientis Regis consilio obsecuta, non solum de primitiis corporis sui, sed etiam de tota sua substantia honorandum sibi decrevit Deum. Cum enim nobilissimis esset orta natalibus in urbe Catanensium, corpore pulcherrima, divitiis opulenta, eloquentia sermonisque lepore admirabilis, virtute prudentiae conspicua, animique fortitudine praedita singulari, haec aliaque corporis animique ornamenta singula Christo Deo, ejusque honori et gloriae
27. Today, then, let the Christian Church adorn herself, since she has now dyed her glorious purple in the most pure blood of the martyr Agatha; and so let her rejoice and exult, and sing her victories and triumphs, and proclaim her native Catania worthy of glorying; and let her fill the whole world with the renown of the name of Agatha and of Christ. For indeed what created thing could show the power of God as more admirable, what His wisdom as more worthy of proclamation, what His goodness as more lovable, than to behold manly spirits and heroic virtues in the frail little body of women? And among women what could you find more illustrious than tender virgins consecrated to God by the vow of integrity? And among virgins, after the Virgin Mother of God, what more delightfully moves to amazement, or what more wonderfully delights the Church of Christ, than this singular virgin Agatha? who indeed, following the counsel of the wise King, resolved that God was to be honoured by her not only with the first fruits of her body but also with all her substance. For since she was sprung from the most noble birth in the city of the Catanians, most beautiful in body, wealthy in riches, admirable for eloquence and charm of speech, conspicuous for the virtue of prudence, and endowed with a singular fortitude of soul, these and each of the other adornments of body and soul she […] to Christ God, and to His honour and glory
Editors' notes and page, col. 1286
Page
- running head: 1235 ORATIO IN S. AGATHAM. 1286 (across the page)
- marginal letters: B ‹coelo terraque› (top of the gutter, where A is expected; printed B); B ‹adhuc infans esset›; C ‹et rubicunda mortalibus›; D ‹votum integritatis› (gutter, shared with col 1285)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: none
mancipavit: quin se quoque ipsam quasi nihilum despexit propter Christi dilectionem; continenterque Domino suo dignos honores ad usque vitae occasum exhibuit. Totum hoc ipsum testatur breve epithalamium atque angelicum oraculum, quod non ad inutilem verborum ornatum, neque ad speciosa encomia, sed ad veras Agathae virtutes aeternis monumentis consignandas, divinitus fuit descriptum.
[…] made over: nay, she even despised herself as nothing for the love of Christ; and she continually showed her Lord fitting honours right up to the setting of her life. All this is attested by the brief wedding song and angelic oracle, which was written by God's doing, not for a useless ornament of words, nor for showy praises, but to record Agatha's true virtues on eternal monuments.
28. Sed non pigeat extrema coelestis oraculi verba paulisper pensitare; sunt enim altera pars illius, quod sub initium proposui. Enimvero Martyres, dum tormenta et cruciatus pro Christo patiuntur, non solum sibi gloriae coronam contexunt, Ecclesiae laudem, Deoque honorem exhibent, sed etiam, dum ad exemplum suarum virtutum imitandum cives provocant suos, eisdem coelestes favores, non auri argentique pretio, sed profusi sanguinis thesauro promerentur. Neque vero sanctarum Virginum pro Christo trucidata corpora, in vili marmore jacentia, minus utilia cognatis civibusque, patriaeque sunt, ubi in vitam mortalem edita fuerunt, quam fortissimorum virorum exercitus pro patria pugnantium.
28. But let us not be loath to weigh for a little the last words of the heavenly oracle; for they are the other part of what I set forth at the beginning. For indeed the martyrs, while they suffer torments and tortures for Christ, not only weave for themselves a crown of glory, and render praise to the Church and honour to God, but also, while they call their fellow citizens to imitate the example of their virtues, they win for them heavenly favours, not at the price of gold and silver, but by the treasure of their shed blood. Nor are the bodies of holy virgins slain for Christ, lying in cheap marble, less useful to their kinsfolk and fellow citizens, and to the country where they were born into mortal life, than an army of the bravest men fighting for their country.
Quis enim de crudelissimo Quintiano, ejusque asseclis, tam subitam facilemque victoriam consequi potuisset, praeter Agathae meritum apud Deum, illiusque potentiam adversus hostes? Tumultuati sunt quidem cives ejus adversus Quintianum eumque in fugam verterunt, metuque perculsum ex urbe expellere valuerunt; sed ille, quia incolumis ex eorum manibus evasit, ferocior est effectus, cogitabatque contra Agathae cognatos, ab se extorres factos, qua nece, qua suppliciis rabidum animum exsaturare, eorumque pingues rerum fortunas una cum Agathae patrimonio, imperatoris aerario inferre. Haec impius machinabatur, minime vero pientissimae Virginis ultionem vitavit. Quintianum enim scapha sedentem, dum Simethum fluvium Catanae proximum trajiciebat, duo equi ferocientes qua morsibus in faciem jactis, qua calcibus in corpus illisis, in profluentem deturbant semimortuum
For who could have won so sudden and easy a victory over the most cruel Quintianus and his followers, except for Agatha's merit with God, and her power against enemies? Her fellow citizens did indeed rise in tumult against Quintianus, and put him to flight, and were able to drive him, struck with fear, out of the city; but he, because he escaped unharmed from their hands, became fiercer, and was planning against Agatha's kinsfolk, who had been made exiles by him, how to glut his raging mind, partly with death, partly with punishments, and to carry their rich estates, together with Agatha's patrimony, into the emperor's treasury. These things the impious man was contriving, but he by no means escaped the vengeance of the most holy Virgin. For as Quintianus sat in a skiff, while he was crossing the river Simethus, nearest to Catania, two furious horses, partly by bites aimed at his face, partly by kicks dashed against his body, throw him half dead into the stream […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1287
Footnotes
(10) ‹anchor: gloriae mancipavit› · printed under col 1287
Hinc sumptum, quod inter alia in Menaeis exstat odarion: Στολίζεσθω σήμερον ἡ Ἐκκλησία, πορφυρίδα ἔνδοξον καταβαφεῖσαν ἐξ ἁγίων λύτρων Ἀγάθης τῆς μάρτυρος, χαῖρε, βοῶσα, Κατάνης τὸ καύχημα. Indicat hodie Ecclesia gloriosam purpuram, in Martyris Agathae casto sanguine tinctam, Salve, proclamans, Catanae gloriatio.
From this is taken the little ode which, among other things, is found in the Menaea: "Let the Church be arrayed today in a glorious purple, dyed in the holy blood of Agatha the martyr, crying: Hail, boast of Catania." [Latin:] Today the Church puts on a glorious purple, dyed in the chaste blood of the martyr Agatha, proclaiming: Hail, glory of Catania.
(10*) ‹anchor: divinitus fuit descriptum› · printed under col 1287 and continued under col 1288 Reliquam tituli partem, quae est Patriae liberatio, auctor per septem capita, seu paragraphos ac sectiones plane fusior prosequitur; in quibus nec dicendi finem facere videtur, quin aliqua ei desiderentur, in iis quae P. I. Bollandus repraesentavit, uti is ipse monuit, suas egregie exsecutus partes exornanda tanta martyre, ac quae vere Ecclesiae purpuram cruoribus suis tinxerit, ut auctor loquitur, Menaea secutus quibus sic canunt, στολιζέσθω σήμερον ἡ Ἐκκλησία πορφυρίδα ἔνδοξον καταβαφεῖσαν ἐξ ἁγνῶν λύτρων Ἀγάθης τῆς μάρτυρος. Induat hodie Ecclesia gloriosam purpuram, martyris Agathae castis cruoribus tinctam: quibus tantae martyris, sicque nobilis certamine, fusoque sanguine, praeclare honestatum sacrum martyrum chorum, scite significatur.
The remaining part of the title, which is "the deliverance of her country", the author pursues quite at length through seven chapters, or paragraphs and sections; in which he does not seem to make an end of speaking without something being found wanting in what Fr. J. Bolland presented, as he himself noted, [the author] having performed his part excellently in adorning so great a martyr, and one who truly dyed the purple of the Church with her blood, as the author says, following the Menaea, in which they sing thus: "Let the Church be arrayed today in a glorious purple, dyed in the pure blood of Agatha the martyr." [Latin:] Let the Church put on today a glorious purple, dyed in the chaste blood of the martyr Agatha: by which it is aptly signified that the sacred choir of martyrs has been splendidly honoured by the contest and the shed blood of so great and so noble a martyr.
Editors' prose
(Act. Sanctor. Februar. t. I, p. 629.)
(Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. 1, p. 629.)
Page
- running head: 1287 S. METHODII PATRIARCHAE CP. 1288 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹riae mancipavit›; B ‹non solum sibi gloriae›; C ‹num eumque in fugam›; D beside note (10) ‹Hinc sumptum›, in the notes area (gutter, shared with col 1288)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the source line (Act. Sanctor. …) is printed centred in this column between the close of section 27 and 28.; it marks where the Acta Sanctorum text (sections 28–34) takes up. In note (10) the Greek verb is accented Στολίζεσθω as printed (στολιζέσθω in note (10*)); Ἐκκλησία is printed with the κ that looks like χ.
: quem mox ejus servi neque vivum, neque mortuum diu quaesitum invenire potuerunt. Invenit illico eum malorum daemonum exercitus, qui flagitiosam illam ejus animam egredi reluctantem, ex voragine extractam, in proximas Aetnae flammas perpetuo destinatam adduxit.
[…] and his servants, after searching long for him, could find him neither alive nor dead. At once the army of evil demons found him, and his shameful soul, struggling against going out, they dragged from the whirlpool and led to the nearby flames of Etna, to which it was destined for ever.
29. Militat enimvero pro sanctis suis Deus, qui sicut Pharaonem, Israeliticas tribus terra marique persequentem, tandem in mari Rubro cum curribus et equitibus suis involutum suffocavit; ita Quintianum neces ac rapinas anhelantem, per ejusdem equos fluvialibus marinisque aquis abreptum demersit. O quam belle Catanensium mulierum chorus Marianum canticum usurpavit, dicens: Cantemus Agathae, gloriose enim magnificata est, per equos equi ascensorem dejecit in mare. Fortitudo mea, et laus mea Agatha, et facta est mihi in salutem. Ipsa est soror mea, glorificabo eam. Agatha gloria mea, et exaltabo eam. Dixit inimicus: Persequar, et comprehendam, dividam spolia, implebitur anima mea. Flavit furor equorum, et ille submersus est in aquis vehementibus. Quis similis tui in fortibus, Agatha, magnifica in sanctitate, terribilis atque laudabilis et faciens mirabilia? Tu vere es Catanensis civitatis gloria, tu honorificentia populi nostri: et, quod virginitatem amaveris, tradidit Dominus Quintianum in manu tua, erisque benedicta in aeternum.
29. For indeed God fights for His saints, Who, just as He at last drowned Pharaoh, pursuing the tribes of Israel by land and sea, overwhelmed in the Red Sea with his chariots and horsemen, so He sank Quintianus, panting for slaughter and plunder, carried off through his own horses by the waters of river and sea. O how beautifully the choir of the women of Catania took up the canticle of Miriam, saying: "Let us sing to Agatha, for she is gloriously magnified: through the horses she has cast the rider of the horse into the sea. My strength and my praise is Agatha, and she has become my salvation. She is my sister, I will glorify her. Agatha is my glory, and I will exalt her. The enemy said: I will pursue, and I will overtake, I will divide the spoils, my soul shall be filled. The fury of the horses blew, and he was sunk in the mighty waters. Who is like you among the mighty, Agatha, magnificent in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, and doing wonders? You truly are the glory of the city of Catania, you are the honour of our people: and because you loved virginity, the Lord has delivered Quintianus into your hand, and you shall be blessed for ever."
30. Agite nunc, auditores, et ab aquis gradus fiat nobis miraculorum Agathae ad Aetnaeos ignes. Legistis plerique, credo, Aetnae nomen in antiquis historiis nostrorum scriptorum, quae etiamnum apud nos habemus: vel certe ejus montis famam toto orbe celeberrimam audistis: sed fortasse hic nonnulli adsunt, quos Aetnae nomen adhuc latet. Aetna igitur mons est excelsus quidem, nubibusque longe superatis Catanae urbi impendet. Illius dorsa perpetuis albicare nivibus testantur, qui de nostratibus ad Catanensem portum, appulerunt, feruntque per declivia frequentibus habitari pagis, villisque. Testantur etiam Aetnaei verticis crateres perpetuo fumigare, ac vapores igneos cineresque sulphureos eructando circumquaque dispergere, magno cum
30. Come now, hearers, and let us make a step from the waters to the miracles of Agatha at the fires of Etna. Most of you, I believe, have read the name of Etna in the ancient histories of our writers, which we still have with us: or at least you have heard of the fame of that mountain, most celebrated in all the world: but perhaps there are some here to whom the name of Etna is still unknown. Etna, then, is a mountain, lofty indeed, and, rising far above the clouds, it overhangs the city of Catania. Those of our countrymen who have put in at the port of Catania testify that its ridges are white with perpetual snows, and report that its slopes are inhabited by numerous villages and farmsteads. They testify too that the craters of Etna's summit smoke perpetually, and, belching out fiery vapours and sulphurous ashes, scatter them all around, with great […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1288
Footnotes
(11) ‹anchor: Aetnaei verticis crateres› · printed under col 1288
« In Aetnae vertice hiatus duo sunt, inquit Solin. c. 11, crateres nominati. » Ita et Plin. l. III, c. 8. Crater ejus patet ambitu stadiorum 20. » Strabo autem l. VI, testatur, λαμβάνειν μεταβολὰς πολλὰς τὰ ἄκρα τοῦ ὄρους διὰ τὴν νομὴν τοῦ πυρὸς, ποτὲ μὲν εἰς ἕν⟨α⟩ κρατῆρα συμφερομενου, ποτὲ δὲ σχιζομένου. Montis summitates varie mutari ob ignis grassationem; qui alias in unum colligitur craterem, alias in plures scinditur partes. Testatur et Fazellus plures subinde aperiri hiatus; majoris crateris ambitum ad 4 millia passuum patere: alii ad 24 stadia. Et videtur non semper eadem esse amplitudo. Inferior crater in putei rotunditatem angustus esse traditur. Horrenda sunt quae de illis hiatibus idem narrat Fazellus testis oculatus, ac Philotheus de Homodeis, et alii apud Cluverium Siciliae antiquae l. I, c. 8.
"On the summit of Etna there are two openings," says Solinus, ch. 11, "called craters." So too Pliny, book 3, ch. 8: "Its crater extends to a circuit of 20 stades." And Strabo, book 6, testifies that "the summits of the mountain undergo many changes because of the spreading of the fire, which at one time is gathered into one crater, at another is split up." [Latin:] The summits of the mountain change in various ways because of the ravaging of the fire, which is sometimes gathered into one crater, sometimes split into several parts. Fazellus too testifies that more openings are opened from time to time; that the circuit of the greater crater extends to 4,000 paces; others say 24 stades. And the size seems not always to be the same. The lower crater is said to be narrow, with the roundness of a well. Dreadful are the things which the same Fazellus, an eyewitness, tells of those openings, and Philotheus de Homodeis, and others, in Cluverius, Ancient Sicily, book 1, ch. 8.
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- running head: 1287 S. METHODII PATRIARCHAE CP. 1288 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹mortuum: quem mox›; B ‹per equos equi›; C ‹Legistis plerique›; D beside ‹tyris, sicque nobilis› in the notes area (gutter, shared with col 1287)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none
- other: the section numeral of 30. is printed in a figure that reads 50. (3 and 5 alike in this fount; 30 by sequence, 29 → 31). The end of note (10*) of col 1287 is printed under this column; set in n1287.
agrorum, silvarum, ac pecudum detrimento. Contigit vero, Kalendis ipsis Februarii anni insequentis beatae Agathae martyrium, ut diffractis Aetnae lateribus Tartareus ac faeculentus ignis, vehementius solito effervescens, eruperit, ac praecipitis spatiosique torrentis instar debacchando, obvia quaeque devastarit, cursusque adversus Catanenses pagos, urbemque ipsam direxerit.
[…] loss to fields, woods and flocks. And it happened, on the very Kalends of February of the year following the martyrdom of blessed Agatha, that, the sides of Etna having burst open, a hellish and dreg-laden fire, boiling up more violently than usual, broke out, and, raging like a headlong and broad torrent, laid waste everything in its way, and directed its course against the villages of Catania and the city itself.
31. Quid consilii paganam gentem illam crebris terrae succussionibus et bombis perterrefactam, incendiique profluentis horrore stupidam, ac pene exanimatam cepisse putatis? In re adeo trepida, sic volente Numine, in mentem illis venit angelicum oraculum ad Agathae caput depositum, de liberatione patriae sibi promissa. Animos igitur sibi facientes: Festinemus, inquiunt, ad nostrae Virginis sepulcrum: cujus opem nunc primum publice imploramus. Certa enim est in coelesti ejus epitaphio descripta promissio de patriae liberatione, neque de tam magnae martyris efficacia meritorum apud Deum, neque de propensa nostrae virginis in patriam voluntate, ambigendum.
31. What counsel do you think that pagan people took, terrified by the frequent shocks and rumblings of the earth, stunned by the horror of the flowing fire, and almost lifeless? In so alarming a situation, by the will of the Godhead, there came into their minds the angelic oracle placed at Agatha's head, concerning the deliverance of their country promised to them. So, taking courage, they said: "Let us hasten to the tomb of our Virgin, whose help we now for the first time implore publicly. For the promise of the deliverance of our country inscribed on her heavenly epitaph is certain, and we must not doubt either the efficacy of the merits of so great a martyr with God, or the goodwill of our virgin towards her country.
Quod si olim duorum fratrum civium nostrorum naturalis pietas erga parentes valuit Aetnaea incendia remorari, ne se devorarent, et quia piis humeris impositos illos auferrent, in cujus pii facinoris memoriam majores nostri illis sacros honores impenderunt; quid facere par est nostram item civem Agatham, quae ne Deum nostrum, ac rerum omnium parentem desereret, in vivos ignes testasque candentes injici passa est, et quae ne fidem castitatis Christo semel datam frangeret, mortalem vitam libenter voluit profundere? Quod si Agatham adhuc mortalem, pro Christo comburi exoptantem, carnificum incendia attingere non audebant, nunquid ejusdem nolentis, quae jam prope Christum assistit immortalitate donata, patrium solum, urbem civesque, suaeque nativitatis palatium, ac sacrosancta martyris monumenta audebunt hi profluentes ignes obruere? Minime enimvero hic igneus torrens Catanensem tellurem attinget, quae virginis recenti adhuc cruore respersa, validius apud Deum clamat, quam Abelis sanguis: ideoque nihil nobis desperandum est, recentibus tam bonae civis Agathae meritis patrocinantibus.
And if once the natural piety of two brothers, our fellow citizens, towards their parents was able to hold back the fires of Etna from devouring them, because they were carrying their parents away placed on their dutiful shoulders, in memory of which pious deed our ancestors paid them sacred honours; what is it fitting that our fellow citizen Agatha likewise should do, who, rather than forsake our God and the Father of all things, endured to be thrown into living fires and red-hot potsherds, and who, rather than break the faith of chastity once given to Christ, willingly chose to pour out her mortal life? And if the fires of the executioners did not dare to touch Agatha while she was still mortal and longing to be burned for Christ, will these flowing fires dare, against her will, now that she stands near Christ endowed with immortality, to overwhelm her native soil, her city and fellow citizens, the palace of her birth, and the most holy monuments of the martyr? By no means will this fiery torrent reach the land of Catania, which, sprinkled with the virgin's still fresh blood, cries out more powerfully before God than the blood of Abel: and so we need despair of nothing, with the recent merits of so good a fellow citizen, Agatha, as our protection."
32. Haec illi colloquentes ad sanctae martyris sepulcrum festinantes accurrunt, preces fundunt et lacrymas, velum, quod virginale corpus tegebat, extrahunt, bacillo in aerem extollunt: itaque armati fidentesque grassantibus incendiis obviam prodeunt. Mirum visu: illico praecipites illi torrentes ignei, quasi praesentis Virginis potentiam, ac martyris majestatem reveriti, cursum sistunt, rabiem ponunt, calorem exstinguunt. Quid hic praedicem
32. Talking together of these things, they hasten and run to the tomb of the holy martyr, pour out prayers and tears, take out the veil which covered the virginal body, and raise it into the air on a staff: and so, armed and confident, they go out to meet the advancing fires. Wonderful to see: at once those headlong fiery torrents, as though in reverence for the power of the present Virgin and the majesty of the martyr, halt their course, lay aside their fury, and quench their heat. Why should I here proclaim […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1289
Footnotes
(12) ‹anchor: Quod si olim duorum fratrum› · printed under col 1289 and continued under col 1290
Egimus de his fratribus 31. Jan. ad Vitam sancti Athanasii Methonensis episcopi c. 2, n. 3. Ubi « Amphinomus et Anapias » appellantur, hic a Valerio Maximo « Anapus, » ab aliis « Anapius et Anapis. » Syracusani cives suos fuisse aiunt, « Emantiam et Critonem » nominatos. Sed in Catanensi districtu gesta res est.
We have treated of these brothers at 31 January, at the Life of Saint Athanasius, bishop of Methone, ch. 2, no. 3, where they are called "Amphinomus and Anapias"; one of them is called "Anapus" by Valerius Maximus, and "Anapius" and "Anapis" by others. The Syracusans say they were their own citizens, named "Emantias and Crito". But the deed took place in the district of Catania.
(13) ‹anchor: majores nostri illis› · printed under col 1290
Strabo l. 6. « Horum memori⟨a⟩m ita posteritas munerata est, ut sepulcri locus nominaretur C⟨a⟩mpus piorum. »
Strabo, book 6: "Posterity so rewarded their memory that the place of their burial was named the Field of the Pious."
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- running head: 1289 ORATIO IN S. AGATHAM. 1290 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹agrorum, silvarum›; B ‹facientes: Festinemus›; C ‹desereret, in vivos›; D ‹patrocinantibus› (gutter, shared with col 1290)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: PATROL. GR. C. (under this column)
- other: none
funiculum coccineum ex fenestra Rahab appensum, qui ad sui conspectum, propter vitam duobus tantum Israelitis servatam meruit totam ejus domum incolumem servare? Turpe enim fuerit hujus malae olim mulierculae vittam cum venerando virginalis capitis conferre velamine. Indecorum etiam fuerit ter optimam Agatham alienis ornamentis, et emendicatis fucis exornare, cum ipsa satis superque propriis laudibus meritisque praecellat. Liceat tamen hoc Virginis velamen sacro pontificis Aaronis thuribulo comparare, quod cum ille igne thureque replesset, contraque incendium objecisset, stetissetque inter mortuos ac viventes, continuo cessavit plaga. Hoc enim velamen cum ex Agathae attactu sacros quosdam sibi odores imbibisset, cumque se ac dominam ignibus jacentem servasset incolumem ac illaesam, hujusmodi promeruit adversus ignes potentiae praerogativam, ut ad sui intuitum odoremque incendia omnia contremiscant, atque illico sopiantur, sine ullius mortalis internecione.
[…] the scarlet cord hung from Rahab's window, which, at the sight of it, because of the life saved for only two Israelites, earned the preservation unharmed of her whole house? For it would be shameful to compare the headband of that once wicked woman with the venerable veil of a virginal head. It would be unbecoming, too, to adorn thrice-excellent Agatha with borrowed ornaments and begged cosmetics, since she excels abundantly in her own praises and merits. Yet let it be allowed to compare this veil of the Virgin to the sacred censer of the high priest Aaron, which, when he had filled it with fire and incense, and set it against the burning, and stood between the dead and the living, the plague at once ceased. For this veil, having absorbed into itself certain holy fragrances from the touch of Agatha, and having kept itself and its mistress, as she lay in the fires, safe and unharmed, earned such a privilege of power against fires that at the sight and smell of it all fires tremble, and are at once laid to rest, without the destruction of any mortal.
33. Liceat etiam hic Mosaicam arcam ante oculos vestros proponere, quae ubi Jordanis alveum sacerdotum invecta humeris intravit, admirabundae steterunt aquae, et montis instar intumescebant, neque ad eam audebant accedere, nempe divini Numinis praesentiam et majestatem, eo quo poterant modo, reveritae. Spectastis Arcam Jordanis aquas dividentem, earumque cursus remorantem? Quaeso nunc, mentis oculis perspicite Aetnaea incendia, quasi liquefacta metalla torrentis instar decurrentia, atque obvia quaeque, etiam lapideo⟨s⟩ montes, velut ceram dissolventia: quorum ardores cursusque, neque ingentes fontes, neque fluvii ex liquefactis nivibus occurrentes, exstinguere vel certe mitigare potuerunt. Sed quid fontes fluviique valeant adversus tam magnum igneum profluvium, cum illud ipsum Ionium mare suas comburi aquas olei instar pertulerit, ideoque intra humidos profundosque sinus suos locum illi concedat, ac fugiens antiqua littora mutare, longeque se contrahere oportuerit? Cum igitur nihil alti durissimorum lapidum montes, rupesque ingentes, nihil etiam inimicum maris elementum, contra ignes Aetnaeos conari possent, ejusque vires retundere; exiguum sane virginis Agathae velamen a civibus suis in sublime elatum, ventisque expositum (mirum dictu), protinus et incendia exstinxit et rapidum cursum repressit. In cujus praeclari facinoris monumentum faeculenta illa incendia in arduos montes horrentium saxorum, exustarumque rupium conversa, pro aeterno virginalis victoriae trophaeo erecta subsistunt, comprobantque oraculi veritatem de patriae liberatione, de coelo per angelos delati. Quam etiam ob causam velamen illud quasi Agathae
33. Let me also set before your eyes here the ark of Moses, which, when it entered the bed of the Jordan borne on the shoulders of the priests, the waters stood still in wonder, and swelled up like a mountain, and did not dare to approach it, revering, in the only way they could, the presence and majesty of the divine Godhead. Have you seen the Ark dividing the waters of the Jordan and holding back their course? Now, I pray, behold with the eyes of the mind the fires of Etna, running down like molten metals in a torrent, and dissolving like wax everything in their way, even stony mountains: whose heat and course neither great springs nor rivers running to meet them from the melted snows could quench or even lessen. But what could springs and rivers avail against so great a fiery flood, when the Ionian Sea itself endured its waters to be burned like oil, and so yields place to it within its moist and deep bays, and has had to flee, change its ancient shores, and draw itself far back? Since, then, the mountains of hardest stones and the huge crags could attempt nothing lofty against the fires of Etna, nor could even the hostile element of the sea blunt its strength, the small veil of the virgin Agatha, raised on high by her fellow citizens and exposed to the winds (wonderful to tell), at once both put out the fires and checked their rapid course. As a monument of this glorious deed, those dreg-laden fires, turned into steep mountains of rough rocks and scorched crags, stand erected as an eternal trophy of the virginal victory, and confirm the truth of the oracle, brought down from heaven by angels, concerning the deliverance of her country. For which cause too that veil, as though Agatha's […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1290
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- running head: 1289 ORATIO IN S. AGATHAM. 1290 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹funiculum coccineum›; B ‹ac dominam ignibus›; C ‹dia, quasi liquefacta›; D ‹sane virginis Agathae› (gutter, shared with col 1289)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: 41 (under this column; the sheet number that goes with PATROL. GR. C. under col 1289)
- other: the end of note (12) and note (13), both called in col 1289, are printed under this column; set in n1289.
vexillum de igne triumphantis laeto populorum plausu circumfusum, in arcam, in qua dux ipsa victoriae quiescebat, inclusum fuit, ut majori cum veneratione ac pietate in adversis patriae rebus servaretur.
[…] standard of triumph over the fire, surrounded by the joyful applause of the peoples, was shut up in the chest in which the leader of the victory herself rested, so that it might be kept with greater veneration and devotion for the adversities of her country.
34. O centies, et millies vere bona virgo, et martyr! bona, inquam, tibi ac sponso tuo Christo; bona etiam patriae, tuisque civibus, quos tam evidenti miraculo incolumes servasti! Vere non est alia civitas, quae experta sit sanctos cives suos ita sibi propitios, sicut Agatham regio Catanensis. Neque vero tam bona virgo erga suos tantum propensam habuit voluntatem, sed in externos etiam sua beneficia plenis manibus diffudit. Quorum fama permota Lucia, virgo inter Syracusanas nobilissima, Eutychiae parenti sanguinis fluxione laboranti persuasit, ut Catanam ad sanctae virginis Agathae templum sepulcrumque simul pergerent. Cumque jam illa incruentum sacrificium pro matre
34. O virgin and martyr, a hundred and a thousand times truly good! good, I say, to yourself and to your Bridegroom Christ; good also to your country and your fellow citizens, whom you kept unharmed by so evident a miracle! Truly there is no other city which has found its holy citizens so favourable to it as the region of Catania has found Agatha. Nor did so good a virgin have a kindly will towards her own people only, but she poured out her benefits with full hands on strangers also. Moved by the fame of these, Lucy, the noblest virgin among the women of Syracuse, persuaded her mother Eutychia, who was suffering from a flow of blood, that they should go together to Catania, to the church and tomb of the holy virgin Agatha. And when she had now [caused] the unbloody sacrifice for her mother […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 1291
Footnotes
(14) ‹anchor: permota Lucia› · printed under the unit's text in col 1291
De sancta Lucia matrisque ejus curatione ⟨a⟩gemus, et plenius, ad 13 Decemb. quo colitur.
We shall treat of Saint Lucy and the healing of her mother, and more fully, at 13 December, on which she is venerated.
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- running head: 1291 S. METHODII PATRIARCHAE CP. 1292 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹vexillum de igne›; B ‹bilissima, Eutychiae›; C and D stand beside the following works (neighbouring matter) (gutter, shared with col 1292)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none in the unit's part of the page
- other: the unit ends in col 1292 with note (15). Below the notes, full width, follow the pointer title "EJUSDEM S. METHODII MARTYRIUM BEATI DIONYSII AREOPAGITAE" (exstat PG 4, col. 669–684) and "EJUSDEM METHODII EPISTOLA" (Ang. Mai), whose Latin begins in this column: neighbouring matter, not this unit.
ibidem offerendum curasset, suasque preces cum lacrymis miscuisset, Agathae sepulcrum complectendo, pieque exosculando, in levem somnum incidit. Atque sibi videre visa est beatam Agatham in coelo inter angelorum ac virginum choros clare fulgentem, specie super omnes augustiore, verbaque haec sibi promentem audire: Lucia virgo, cujus integritas me invitat, ut te sororem appellem, quid per me a Christo, utriusque nostrum sponso, valetudinem matri tuae deprecaris? Tute ipsa propter virginitatis tuae florem illibatum illam impetrasti, et ecce jam convaluit. Sed et quae tibi ventura sint, enuntio; nam post martyrii coronam, quam brevi indues, Christi sponsa mecum in coelestem thalamum ingredieris; et sicut per me Catanensium civitas illustratur a Christo, ita per te Syracusana exornatur. Atque haec locuta sublimis abiit, et Lucia expergefacta parentem sanam reperit.
[…] to be offered there, and had mingled her prayers with tears, embracing and devoutly kissing Agatha's tomb, she fell into a light sleep. And she seemed to herself to see the blessed Agatha in heaven, shining brightly among the choirs of angels and virgins, with an appearance more majestic than all, and to hear her uttering these words to her: "Lucy, virgin, whose integrity invites me to call you sister, why do you ask through me from Christ, the Bridegroom of us both, health for your mother? You yourself, by the unblemished flower of your virginity, have obtained it, and see, she has now recovered. But I also announce to you what is to come for you; for after the crown of martyrdom, which you will shortly put on, you will enter with me, as the bride of Christ, into the heavenly bridal chamber; and as the city of the Catanians is made illustrious by Christ through me, so that of Syracuse is adorned through you." And having said this she went away on high, and Lucy, awakened, found her mother healed.
Editors' notes and page, col. 1292
Footnotes
(15) ‹anchor: parentem sanam reperit› · printed under the unit's text in col 1292
Videntur adhuc aliqua deesse. Neque ⟨e⟩nim ita abrupte desinere potuit tantus orator.
Something still seems to be missing. For so great an orator could not have ended so abruptly.
Page
- running head: 1291 S. METHODII PATRIARCHAE CP. 1292 (across the page)
- marginal letters: A ‹ibidem offerendum›; B ‹tanensium civitas›; C and D stand beside the following works (neighbouring matter) (gutter, shared with col 1291)
- old-edition numerals: none
- signature: none in the unit's part of the page
- other: the unit's last word is ‹reperit› in the upper third of this column, before note (15). Below, full width, follow the pointer title of the Martyrium of Dionysius and the title of Methodius's Epistola to the patriarch of Jerusalem, whose Greek begins in this column: neighbouring matter, not this unit.