Saint Malchus of Maronia

After having spent a few years there with great fervor in the practice of penance and other monastic virtues, he learned of his father's death; he then felt the desire to make a journey to his homeland, as much to console his mother in her widowhood as to turn into money the property that had fallen to him by inheritance, in order to give a portion to the poor, another to his monastery, and, with a faithlessness condemnable in a solitary, to reserve some for his own needs. The abbot did his utmost to remove this fancy from his mind. He pointed out to him that this was a temptation of the devil, who wished, under this fine pretext, to make him lose the spirit of his vocation; that several other religious had already been seduced by the same artifice. He brought to him on this subject several examples drawn from Holy Scripture and ecclesiastical history, where one sees the misfortune of those who leave God through the suggestion of the serpent. Finally, being unable to gain anything from him through his remonstrances, he threw himself at his feet and conjured him with tears in his eyes not to abandon him, and not to lose himself by leaving the work of his salvation which he had so generously begun. But Malchus, who imagined that the holy old man was making all these entreaties only for his own consolation, would never change his resolution; he left, despite his abbot, assuring him, nevertheless, that he would return as soon as possible. This good superior, like a true shepherd, followed his disciple for some time; but, finding him still inflexible, he finally left him, saying these words: "I see well, my son, that the devil has already hardened your conscience: you have no good reason to abandon your solitude, and it cannot be that you will not soon perish; for a sheep that separates itself from the fold is always exposed to the fury of the wolf."

As it was necessary to pass through a very dangerous desert, where the Saracens made continual raids, travelers would gather in groups and form caravans, in order to be better able to defend themselves against these barbarians. The poor religious man therefore joined a group of about seventy people of all ages and both sexes, and continued his journey in their company; but they had hardly advanced into the woods when a band of Ishmaelites, mounted on camels and armed with spears and arrows, fell upon them and made them all slaves. Malchus fell to the lot of one of these Arabs, along with a woman who had her husband in the company; they were both put on camels to go to their master's house; they were not so much sitting as hanging on, and the milk of these animals with half-cooked meat was their only food. When they arrived at this barbarian's home, they were forced, according to custom, to prostrate themselves before his wife and children, in testimony of their servitude; after which, they were set to various tasks: Malchus, who was left almost naked, was assigned to guard the flocks; he performed this duty with great faithfulness, because he knew the lesson of Saint Paul, that one must honor the authority of God in temporal masters, and serve them as Jesus Christ.

This employment even gave him consolation in his misfortune, because, as it did not oblige him to be in the house and converse with the other servants, it gave him the freedom to perform his prayer, to sing psalms, and to fulfill the exercises of religious life. He therefore persuaded himself that he had found in his captivity the state he would have lost in his own country. But his rest did not last long; for his master, seeing that his wealth was growing visibly in his hands, wanted to attach him more strongly to his service by making him marry the woman who had been taken captive with him. Malchus tried in vain to represent to him that, being a Christian, he could in no way marry a woman whose husband was still alive; the barbarian, without listening to reason, drew his sword and, raising his arm, threatened to massacre him if he did not do his will at that very moment. All that this unfortunate captive could do to avoid death was to stretch out his arms to this slave as if he were taking her for his wife, with the resolution, however, to lose a thousand lives rather than fulfill this promise.

Night having come, he led her into his cave as if she had been his wife. Then, prostrating himself on the ground, he began to lament his misfortune and to reproach himself for the fault he had committed in wanting to return to the world and in resisting the will and wise remonstrances of his abbot. As, in the midst of an infinity of sighs, he testified that he would rather take his own life than lose the treasure of his vi trésor de sa virginité A central virtue of Malc's life, preserved despite a forced marriage. rginity, this woman, to whom her captivity had given a great desire to live chastely, wisely told him that it was not necessary for that for him to take his life; that she was as far as he from consenting to this false marriage; that they could live together, unknown to their master, as brother and sister, while waiting for it to please Our Lord to help and deliver them. Malchus was very surprised by this speech, and, admiring the prudence and virtue of this woman, he settled on the advice she gave him; but, fearing to lose in an apparent peace what he had preserved amidst the struggles, he always remained extremely on his guard, watching with care even over his eyes.

They thus spent much time in the good graces of their master, who persuaded himself that this marriage would remove any desire they might have to flee. But this religious man thought continually of his monastery, and could not sufficiently regret the holy life he had led there with his brethren. Being one day inspired by the example of a group of ants, which he saw working with such courage to gather their provisions for the winter, he resolved to attempt an escape, which, after all, could only bring him death. He conferred about it with his pretended spouse, and, having found her to be of his opinion, he killed two large goats from his flock, prepared their flesh for provisions, and arranged their skins to help them cross a river they would encounter on the way. The following night, they departed very secretly, and, having crossed the water with the help of these skins, they made every possible effort to reach the lands of the Roman Empire as soon as possible. After three days, looking behind them, they saw their master with a servant, mounted on camels, coming after them. Fear and dread seized them, and they believed themselves entirely lost, especially since the tracks they left on the sand betrayed them and revealed all the places where they had walked. However, seeing a cave to their right, they threw themselves inside, and, because they feared that by going too deep they might be stung by venomous animals with which these burning lands are filled, they placed themselves only at the entrance on the left side, abandoning themselves entirely to the dispositions of divine Providence. Meanwhile, their master, who was following their footsteps, arrived at the opening of the cave, and, holding his sword in his hand, ready to strike them, he ordered his servant to enter to bring them out. The latter entered quite far without perceiving them, shouting with a terrible voice: "Come out, wretches, come out of here; your master awaits you to punish you according to your merit." The great noise he made irritated a lioness that was at the back of the den: she threw herself upon him, and having strangled him, she dragged him away all bloody to serve as food for her cubs. Our fugitives, at this sight, wavered between fear and joy, because, on one hand, they saw the one who sought their death perish, and on the other, they feared that this animal might treat them the same way it had treated this cruel persecutor. Their master, not seeing his slave come out, imagined that they had thrown themselves upon him, and that two against one, they were doing him some harm; thus he entered the cave in a fury to avenge himself, by his own hand, for their infidelity and violence. But he had barely set foot inside when the lioness seized him, slaughtered him, tore him to pieces, and made him her prey.

What was then the consolation of these poor captives, to see themselves delivered from the rage of these two barbarians? But what was at the same time their terror in the almost evident danger of perishing in the same way they had died? As they waited without daring to breathe for what was to happen to them, the lioness, who believed herself discovered, took her cubs in her mouth and carried them elsewhere, thus yielding the place to the chaste servants of Jesus Christ. When they had waited some time in fear that she might return, they left the cave, and, mounting their master's camels which they found loaded with provisions, they continued their journey and arrived, after ten days of flight, on the lands of the Roman Empire. Having recounted their whole adventure to the tribune of the first garrison, and then to the governor of Mesopotamia, they sold their camels to have the means to finish their journey. Malchus, learning that his abbot was dead, joined other religious men and placed his pretended spouse in a company of virgins. Since then, he always loved her as his sister, but he did not trust her as a sister. He lived with such holiness that those who knew him spoke wonders of him to Saint Jerome. This holy doctor spoke to him himself and to this woman, and learned from their own mo uths what he saint Jérôme Father of the Church and author of the original biography of Saint Asella. has written about it.

He concludes their story in these terms: "This is what the old man Malchus told me when I was still young, and now that I am old, I tell it to other chaste people, praying virgins to preserve their integrity, and each of my readers to inform posterity of these wonders, so that everyone may know that chastity cannot be held captive, that it yields neither to the swords of men nor to the teeth of wild beasts, and that he who has devoted himself to Jesus Christ may well die, but can never be conquered."

The Roman Martyrology commemorates Saint Malchus on this day. He should not be confused wit h a religi saint Malc A 4th-century Syrian monk, captive of the Saracens and a model of chastity. ous man named Malachian, of whom Sozomen speaks in the sixth book of his *Ecclesiastical History*, chapter xxxii, although their acts resemble each other in several things, and they lived in the same century. One can infer from what Saint Jerome says of him that he died around the year 378.

He is depicted tending his master's flocks. At his feet are several ants that seem to attract the Saint's attention.

Saint Jerome, Life of the Hermit Saints, boo Saint Jérôme Father of the Church and author of the original biography of Saint Asella. k IV.