Saint Placid of Rome

This mountain was part of the domain of Tertullus, father of Placid; but this pious lord gave it irrevocably to Saint Benedict, along with a quantity of lands, islands, towns, and lordships that belonged to him. He also gave him eighteen villages in Sicily, with their ports, woods, rivers, ponds, mills, waterfalls, and seven thousand slaves with wives and children to cultivate them. The holy abbot sent his beloved disciple to Sicily to establish a monastery there and to assemble a religious community. In sending him, he gave him holy instructions with his blessing, and joined two companions to him: Donatus and Gordian. He was received in Capua by Saint G Gordien Father of Saint Concordius, described as a man of great virtue. ermanus; in Benevento, by Saint Martin; in Canosa, by Saint Sabinus, and in Reggio, in Calabria, by Sisinnius, who were bishops of these cities, with extraordinary respect and tenderness. He

performed great miracles everywhere, the glory of which he avoided by attributing them all to his father, Saint Benedict. He restored sight to six or seven blind people, one of whom had been blind from birth. He made the mute speak, the deaf hear, and the lame walk. He healed a crowd of sick people and cast demons out of the bodies of the possessed.

Having arrived in Mess Messine Site of the monastery's foundation and the martyrdom of Placid. ina, he was received there by the lord Messalin, a former friend of his father; but he stayed at his house for only one night, because, he said, religious should not stop in the houses of seculars. He took note of all the possessions that his father had given to his Order, a nd spoke son Ordre Religious order occupying the monastery of Honnecourt. to all the stewards who had the management of them. Then he built a monastery n ear the port of Messina, the church monastère auprès du port de Messine Monastery founded by Placid in Sicily. of which he consecrated in honor of Saint John the Baptist, and where he assembled, in a short time, more than thirty religious full of fervor and worthy of being the disciples of such a great master. His austerity was extreme, and it went far beyond what is prescribed by the Rule. He never drank anything but pure water; he observed at all times the rigor of the Lenten life, fasted almost continually, and during Lent he ate only bread and even ate it only three times a week: Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The hairshirt was his ordinary garment; he never lay down to sleep, but contented himself with a little rest, seated on his chair. Charity alone could open his mouth and make him break his silence; his conversations were only on the contempt of the world, on detachment from earthly things, and on the pure love of God. He was never seen to be moved, but always in an admirable sweetness, tranquility, and openness of heart. His humility was so perfect and had so many charms that it attracted to him the heart and affection of everyone; he could not see a poor person without hastening to help him. His new miracles in Sicily were so considerable and so numerous that he soon passed for the wonder-worker of his century. He once healed, by the sign of the cross, all the sick of the island who had been gathered around him to participate in such a favorable blessing.

After four years, the lords Eutychius and Victorinus, his younger brothers, and the virgin Flavi la vierge Flavie Sister of Saint Placidus, martyred with him. a, his sister, being informed of his holiness and the countless miracles he performed in Sicily, ardently desired to see him. For this purpose, they departed from Rome and, after a fortunate voyage, arrived safe and sound in Messina. They could not recognize Placidus, nor be recognized by him; he was only a few years old when their father took him to the monastery of Saint Benedict; but it was not long before they gave him indubitable signs of who they were. He felt extreme joy in possessing them, by a secret instinct that God gave him that they had come only to participate in the glory of his martyrdom.

Shortly thereafter, a corsair, having come probably from the coasts of Africa, roamed the coasts of Italy and Sicily to destroy cities, castles, and churches, and to force Christians to worship the idol Moloch. His army was composed of one hundred ships, all well-armed and loaded with numerous soldiers. Having landed at the port of Messina, he first seized the monastery of Saint John the Baptist and took prisoner Saint Placid, his religious, his two brothers, and his sister, without anyone being able to escape, except for Gordian, who skillfully exited through a back door. Donatus, the other religious who had come with Saint Placid, was beheaded without any form of trial. As for the others, having been presented to the corsairs, they confessed Jesus Christ loudly and generously, protesting that no torture would be capable of tearing the faith from their hearts. The tyrant, to overcome their constancy, had them whipped and tortured with unheard-of cruelty; the executioners shouted at them to renounce Jesus Christ and they would be set free; but they suffered this torment with more joy than they had ever taken in all the amusements of the world; then they were thrown, with irons on their feet and hands tied behind their backs, into a dungeon, without being given any food for seven days. Saint Placid, during this time, encouraged his companions to persevere through heavenly discourses with which he entertained them day and night, and Our Lord, who sustained them without food, also filled their hearts with unspeakable vigor and consolation.

On the other hand, the barbarians, who found themselves forced by the storm to remain for some time on this island, caused incredible evils there and killed an infinity of people of all conditions for the cause of Jesus Christ. To also add to the sufferings of our holy Martyrs, every day they beat them with sticks; but, as all these evils were not capable of shaking them, their leader had them hung by their feet and whipped in that state over all their limbs, then a horrible smoke was made under their heads to suffocate them. After so many tortures, they were each given a handful of raw barley to eat, and a thousand beautiful promises were made to them if they would abjure the faith and embrace paganism; but they all said with one voice that even if they were offered the whole empire of the world, they would not change their resolution. After this response, they were taken back to prison, where Gordian came secretly to congratulate them on their perseverance and to encourage them to hold firm until death. Saint Placid told him that divine Providence had allowed him to escape to provide burial for their bodies and to make their martyrdom known to posterity; that he should therefore not fail to inform Saint Benedict and his dear brothers Maurus and Felicissimus. He was then presented again before the leader of the pirates, who, being unable to gain anything from him, had him stripped for the third time with his companions and broken with blows from sticks. As for Saint Flavia, he had her tortured with even more cruelty; they even tried to assault her modesty, but God protected her.

The tyrant was dying of spite to see that his cruelty could not extract from the mouths of the generous Martyrs a single word of impatience or discontent. He had them locked up again, then flogged more cruelly than ever, and with such barbarity that the executioners left them for dead on the spot; but, Our Lord having suddenly closed and healed their wounds, Saint Placid not only encouraged his companions to remain constant until the end, but also pressed the tyrant and the ministers of his cruelty to convert and embrace Christianity to be saved; the tyrant commanded that his lips and jaws be broken with stones, and that his tongue be cut out to the root. This sentence was immediately executed; but Placid, by a great miracle of the power of God, did not cease to speak, as if his lips, teeth, and tongue had been whole. This prodigy not touching the corsair in the least, he invented a new type of torture to torment him with his brothers and sister: they were laid on the ground and ship anchors were left on their legs for a whole night with heavy stones on top. Finally, seeing that nothing was capable of diminishing their fervor, he condemned them, as Christians and as enemies of his god Moloch, to be beheaded: which was executed on October 5, 541 or

542, which was the twenty-fourth year of the life of Saint Placid. The names of the religious who suffered with him are not known; only Faustus and Firmat, a deacon, are known, who, with Donatus, made up the number of thirty-three.

The barbarians, not content with having put them to death with such inhumanity, also razed their monastery, with the exception of the church, which they did not have the leisure to demolish, although they had profaned it with a thousand indignities. But divine justice did not leave their crimes unpunished for long; for, scarcely were they in the middle of the Strait of Messina, from where they intended to go to Reggio, than they were all swallowed up in the waters by a storm that rose suddenly on the sea, without a single one escaping, neither from the hundred ships they had, nor from the sixteen thousand eight hundred Saracens who were inside.

The holy bodies having remained four days on the ground without buri le religieux Gordien Father of Saint Concordius, described as a man of great virtue. al, the religious Gordian, whom divine Providence had reserved to render them this good office, buried them at the very place of their martyrdom, with all the reverence that was possible for him, except for that of Saint Placid, which he placed in the church of Saint John the Baptist. He also wrote to Saint Benedict the whole story of their death; and this holy Patriarch, far from being saddened by it, conceived a sovereign joy from it, considering himself infinitely happy that God would deign to choose his children to make them witnesses of His Gospel.

Great miracles occurred at the sepulcher of Saint Placid, who is the first Benedictine martyr, and his veneration increased greatly when new religious, sent by Saint Benedict, restored his church to its former splendor.

All Martyrologies make mention of this glorious Martyr, and the Church commemorates him in its office.

Saint Placid is represented: 1° kneeling near the throne of the Blessed Virgin; 2° being pulled from the water, where he was drowning, by Saint Maur who reaches out his hand to him; 3° standing, holding a palm; 4° being tortured; 5° having his tongue cut out; 6° receiving from the Blessed Virgin a lily and a crown from Saint Joseph, while the child Jesus presents his cross to him; 7° kneeling before an altar, his chest pierced by a sword, giving his hand to an angel who receives his blood in a chalice.

Acta Sanctorum; Life of the Saint, by Gordian, Benedictine religious, and Peter, religious of Monte Cassino.