Blessed John Cassian

In 403, they both went to Constantinople, and there heard the instructions given by Saint Chrysosto m. Cassian was or saint Chrysostome Patriarch of Constantinople whose support caused the exile of Anatolius. dained a deacon and employed in the service of the church of that city. The holy archbishop having been exiled, Cassian and Germanus went to Rome. They were, according to Palladius, bearers of the letters in which the clergy of Constantinople took up the defense of their persecuted pastor. Cassian was raised to the priesthood in the West, after which he retired to Marseille, where he founded, around 413, two monasteries, one for men and the other for women.

Saint-Victor of Marseille Saint-Victor de Marseille Monastery where he made his profession and of which he became abbot. (Sanctus Victor Massiliensis) is a very ancient and illustrious abbey of the Order of Saint Benedict, a double monastery, as we have just noted. The one for men was built on the site where the Confession was formerly located; the one for women was consecrated under the title of Saint-Sauveur. The church of the former was called the Basilica of the Apostles Peter and Paul. The lower church, or the small church, was dedicated in honor of the Blessed Virgin and Saint John the Baptist. This ancient monastery, after having been devastated in turn by the Vandals, the Normans, and the Saracens, was rebuilt around the year 1040 through the efforts of Pons II, Bishop of Marseille. It is said that the cross of Saint Andrew was kept in the lower church, first encased in iron, then in silver, and which had been revealed by an angel to the sacristan Saint Hugh, after having been buried underground near the Veaune river for fear of the Saracens.

The kings of France, Pepin, Charlemagne, Louis the Pious, and Lothair, as well as the bishops and viscounts of Marseille, enriched the Abbey of Saint-Victor in turn with goods, dignities, and privileges. But its principal glory is to have been the mother of a multitude of other monasteries, even outside of Gaul. As the regular observance remained flourishing there, the abbeys that were in need of reform were placed under the rule of the abbots of Saint-Victor. Today, there remains of this ancient monastery a church and some other ruins that one contemplates with religious respect.

It was in the cloister that the blessed Cassian composed his Spiritual Conferences and his other works. He died in the odor of sanctity, around the year 433. An ancient painting representing him could be seen at Saint-Victor of Marseille. His head and his right arm, enclosed in reliquaries, were exposed there for public veneration, in consequence of a permission granted by Pope U rban V. The r pape Urbain V Reforming pope of French origin, 200th pope of the Catholic Church. est of his body was under a marble tomb which could be seen in an underground chapel. The same church, by a special privilege, honors Cassian on the 23rd of July.

## WRITINGS OF THE BLESSED JOHN CASSIAN. The works we have from the blessed John Cassian are: 1° The book on the Incarnation, against Nestorius; it was written at the request of Saint Leo, then archdeacon of Rome. 2° The Institu tes of the Monastic Life, in twel Institutions de la vie monastique A work in twelve books on the organization and discipline of monks. ve books. The author, in the first four, speaks of the clothing, exercises, and way of life of the monks who inhabited Egypt, and whom he proposed as models for the monks of the West. They wore, he says, a poor habit that served only to hide their nakedness; the sleeves were short and did not pass the elbow. Their garment was fastened with a belt, and their head covered with a hood. They did not know the use of shoes; they had only a kind of sandal that they removed when they approached the altar. They all carried a staff in their hand, to remind themselves that they were travelers on earth. They abandoned everything they could possess in the world, worked with their hands, lived in obedience, and recited the divine office composed of psalms and lessons. Those who wished to be received into a monastery had to give proofs of patience, humility, and contempt for the world, and be tested by refusals and affronts. No postulant was allowed to give his goods to the monastery he chose. The first thing he was taught was the necessity of overcoming his passions, of renouncing his own will, and of having blind obedience to his superior. He was also instilled with the obligation not to take advantage of his talents, his knowledge, and everything that could nourish a secret pride in him. Cassian, after saying that young monks lived only on boiled herbs seasoned with a little salt, adds that the abstinence and extraordinary austerities of the Eastern monks in food were not practicable in the West. He treats, in the last eight books, of eight capital vices; he indicates the remedies for them, and explains the contrary virtues. He shows that chastity can only be obtained by a special grace of God, and that one must ask for it through fervent prayers, accompanied by fasting and vigils. If he recommends a continual fast, he wants the rules of moderation to be observed. He remarks that vainglory is the last vice that we overcome, and that it takes the opportunity of the very victory won over it to renew its assaults. The Institutes of the Monastic Life are perhaps the best and most useful of Cassian's works. We see, however, that the reading of his Conferences was strongly recommended to monks by Saint Benedict, Saint John Climacus, Saint Gregory, Saint Dominic, Saint Thomas, etc.

3° Cassian, in his Co nferences, Conférences A collection of dialogues with the Desert Fathers of Egypt. collected the spiritual maxims of the wisest and most experienced among the monks of Egypt with whom he had lived. This work can be divided into three parts: The first, which contains ten conferences, was written in 423; the second, which contains seven, was composed two years later; the third, in which there are seven other conferences, was completed in 428.

According to Cassian, the goal that a monk must propose to himself is to acquire more easily in solitude than in the world that purity or simplicity of heart without which no one can see God in His glory, nor enjoy His presence by grace in this life; for this, he must leave the world with its goods and riches, renounce or die to himself, free his heart from all disordered affection, and detach himself from all visible things, to apply himself solely to that which is spiritual and divine. The veil of the passions being once torn, the eyes of the soul will begin, so to speak, to contemplate naturally the mysteries of God, which are always obscure and unintelligible to those who have only the eyes of the flesh, and whose heart is defiled by sin and by the love of the world. The heart is purified by the exercises of composition, penance, and renunciation. One must lay as a foundation a deep humility capable of supporting a tower that reaches up to heaven; for it is upon this that the edification of all spiritual virtues is supported. To win the victory over his vices, a religious must reveal all his temptations to his superior. Temptations thus revealed lose their strength. The tempter, seeing his ruses brought to light, withdraws of his own accord. His suggestions are dangerous only as long as they remain hidden in the heart. Cassian confirms this by the example of Serapion, who was cured of the inveterate habit of doing something contrary to the rule of his community by confessing his fault.

But all these exercises of which Cassian has just spoken are only preparations. For, according to him, the end and perfection of the monastic state consist in a continuity of prayer such as human frailty can bear, and this is what is called the constant union of the heart with God; but this spirit of prayer can only be obtained by a vehement contrition, a liberation from all the bonds of earthly affections, and by the light of the Holy Spirit, whose pure rays cannot enter a defiled heart. Cassian compares the soul to a feather that rises by its own lightness when one blows gently upon it, but which the slightest humidity causes to fall back to the ground. Indeed, the soul cannot rise toward God if it is not freed from the weight of earthly corruption.

Cassian strongly praises the use of frequent aspirations, and recommends above all that which the Church uses, and which begins with these words: Deus, in adjutorium meum intende, etc. Returning to the end and perfection of the monastic state, he says that, to attain it, one must purify oneself of all earthly attachment and rise to spiritual things, until the soul, through insensible progress, acquires the gift of continual prayer, and its love and desires terminate in God. In this union formed by charity, it possesses an image of future happiness and a foretaste of eternal delights.

The same author, speaking of lukewarmness, makes this remark: "We have often seen souls pass to perfection from coldness, that is to say, from the world and from paganism; but we have never seen anything of the sort among lukewarm Christians. God has such an aversion for them that the Prophet orders on His behalf that preachers should not address any exhortation to them, but should abandon them as a sterile land, and cast the seed of the divine word into new hearts among sinners and pagans. Plow this field which has been fallow until now, and sow this land which is covered with briars."

The holy abbot offers a beautiful eulogy of the peace and happiness enjoyed by a soul that seeks God; he exposes the marvelous effects that the Lord operates in His saints, which can only be known by those who have experienced them.

In his third conference, Cassian, under the name of Abbot Chaeremon, favors the principles of the semi-Pelagians, which had not yet been condemned, the errors of these heretics having been proscribed for the first time at the Council of Orange, held in 529. It is for this reason that Sain t Prosper of Aquitaine, a saint Prosper d'Aquitaine A disciple of Saint Augustine who criticized the positions of Cassian regarding grace. n enthusiastic disciple of Saint Augustine, drew the latter's attention to the opinions of Cassian and the other Marseillais, and wrote an express refutation of Cassian under the title: *De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio, contra Collatorem*. However, he never names the author of the Conferences by name, and even gives him the title of Catholic doctor.

Cassian's style is neither pure nor elegant; but it is clear, full of unction, and persuasive. The best edition of his works is that of Alard Gazet, which also contains Prosper's writing against Cassian and the valuable censures of Henri Cuyck, Bishop of Roermond. Douai, 1616, 2 vol. in-8°; Arras, 1628, in-fol.; Frankfurt, 1722, in-fol. — Cf. Wigger, *De J. Cassiano M. S.*, qui semi-pelagianismi auctor vulgo perhibetur, Rostock, 1824, 1825. Cassian's works are included in the collection of Abbé Migne (2 vol. in-4°). A French translation of the *Conferences* and the *Institutions* was provided by Nicolas Fontaine, under the name of Salignac, who purged them of all passages favoring semi-Pelagianism (2 vol. in-8°, Paris, 1663).

Taken from the *Acta Sanctorum*, and supplemented with Godescard; Dom Rivet, *Histoire littéraire de la France*; Gombier, *Dictionnaire encyclopédique de la théologie catholique*; Migne, *Dictionnaire des Abbayes*; De Montalembert, *Les Moines d'Occident*.