The Presbyters Project

22. (2) Interea beatum uirum ciues oppidi memorati suppliciter adierunt, ut pergens ad Febanum, Rugorum principem, mercandi eis licentiam postularet. Quibus ipse: "tempus", inquit, "huius oppidi propinquauit, ut desertum sicut cetera superiora castella cultore destituta remaneat. Quid ergo necesse est locis mercimonia prouidere, ubi ultra non poterit apparere mercator?" (3) Respondentibus illis non se debere contemni, sed consueto subleuari regimine quidam presbyter haec diabolico spiritu repletus adiecit: "perge, quaeso, sancte, perge uelociter, ut tuo discessu parumper a ieiuniis et uigiliis quiescamus". Quo dicto uir dei lacrimis urguebatur ingentibus, quod in ridiculam uanitatem cunctis audientibus sacerdos eruperit. Aperta namque scurrilitas latentium est testificatio delictorum. Sanctus itaque uir cur ita fleret interrogatus a fratribus: "uideo", inquit, "plagam grauissimam nobis absentibus huic loco protinus euenturam, et Christi sacraria, quod non sine gemitu cogor exprimere, humano sanguine redundabunt in tantum, ut etiam locus iste uiolandus sit". Nam in baptisterio loquebatur. (4) Ad antiquum itaque et omnibus maius monasterium suum iuxta muros oppidi Favianis, quod centum et ultra milibus aberat, Danuuii nauigatione descendit. Mox igitur eo discedente Hunumundus paucis barbaris comitatus oppidum, ut sanctus praedixerat, Batauis inuasit ac paene cunctis mansoribus in messe detentis quadraginta uiros oppidi, qui ad custodiam remanserant, interemit. (5) Presbyterum quoque illum, qui tam sacrilega contra famulum Christi in baptisterio fuerat elocutus, ad eundem locum confugientem insequentes barbari peremerunt. Frustra enim illuc offenso deo ueritatis inimicus accessit, ubi tam impudenter excesserat.

(ed. Régerat 1991: 240, 242)

22. (2) Meanwhile, the inhabitants of that town humbly approached the blessed man to go to Feba, prince of the Rugi, and demand for them a permission for trade. He said to them: "The time has come near when this town will lie abandoned like all the upper forts which have been deserted by their inhabitants. What point is there in providing merchandise for places where no merchant will be able to make an appearance in future?" (3) They answered that they ought not to be slighted, but he supported by his guidance as before; and a presbyter, filled with the spirit of the devil, added: "Go, saint, I beg, go quickly that by your departure we may get a little rest from fasts and vigils." At these words, the man of God was moved to floods of tears because a priest had given vent to his ridiculous vanity before a whole audience. For open scurrility bears witness to hidden sins. When, therefore, the holy man was asked by his brethern why he thus cried, he said: "I see a great disaster come over this place as soon as we shall have left, and the sanctuaries of Christ - to my grief I am compelled to say so - will be flooded with human blood; even this place will be violated." For he was speaking in the baptistery. (4) He sailed down the Danube to his oldest and biggest monastery, outside the walls of the town of Favianis, which was a hundred miles and more away. Soon afterwards, when he was still sailing down the river, Hunumundus with a few barbarians in his company, invaded the town of Batavis, as the saint had foretold them; since almost all the inhabitants were out at the harvest, the forty men who had remained as guard of the town were killed.

(trans. L. Bieler 1965: 79-80)

Place of event:

Region

Danubian provinces and Illyricum

City

Batavis
Favianis

About the source:

Author: Eugippius
Title: Life of Severinus, Life of saint Severinus, Vita Severini, Commemoratorium
Origin: Castellum Lucullanum (Italy south of Rome and Sicily)Naples (Italy south of Rome and Sicily),
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Eugippius was originally from Noricum, where he was a monk in the monastery founded by Severinus (died 482). He left Noricum in 488 with other monks and the body of Severinus as part of the evacuation to Italy ordered by Odoacer. They settled in Castellum Lucullanum near Naples, a Roman villa offered to them by the noblewoman Barbaria. In 511, Eugippius wrote the "Life of Severinus." He also composed an anthology of excerpts from the works of Augustine, dedicated to the virgin Proba of the powerful Roman family, the gens Anicia, see [2047]. He also maintained relations with the Roman clergy (as evidenced by his familiarity with Paschasius) and with the African clerics exiled by the Vandals.

The Life can be safely dated to 511, because in the letter to the deacon Paschasius that accompanies the Life, Eugippius mentions that the year of Inportunus' consulship (509) was two years ago, see [2401] and [2402].

Eugippius was still alive in 532 when he corresponded with Ferrandus of Carthage [...].

Edition:

Ph. Régerat (ed.), Eugippe, Vie de saint Séverin, Paris 1991 (Sources Chrétiennes 337)

English translation:

Eugippius, Life of St. Severin, trans. L. Bieler, The Fathers of the Church, Washington D.C. 1965

Bibliography:

M. Pignot, E02347, Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity database [consulted on 10.05.2021]

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR1081.

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

PR1081.

Conflict

PR1081.

Relation with - Barbarian

PR1081.

Relation with - Monk/Nun

PR1081.

Conflict - Violence

PR1081.

Public functions and offices after ordination - Public trustee/Mediator

PR1081.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2414, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2414