Saint John the Almsgiver

However, the Church o f Alexandr Alexandrie Place of refuge and study during the persecution. ia had remained without a shepherd following the death of Theodore Scriban, who had succeeded Saint Eulogius; everyone turned their eyes toward our Saint to raise him to the throne of Saint Mark. The clergy and the people of Alexandria sent ambassadors to Empero r Heracli Héraclius Byzantine emperor who appointed John to the patriarchate. us, who was then in Constantinopl Constantinople City where the saint exercised his ministry and patriarchate. e, begging him to interpose his authority and give them John the Almsgiver as patriarch. The Emperor immediately ordered the holy man to come and meet him; as soon as he arrived, despite the resistance and excuses he could offer, he was compelled to submit and take charge of the Church of Alexandria. (Circa 608.)

His first cares, when he found himself on the patriarchal throne, were to uproot, as much as he was able, the thorns of heresies and vices that were spoiling the Lord's vineyard: he succeeded so well that, instead of the seven churches or houses of devotion he found upon his entry into Alexandria, he left seventy there at his death. He was very circumspect in admitting clerics to holy orders, so that they might enter through the true door of merit and virtue, and not through the false door of favor and money. He recommended to secular judges that they always proceed with equity in their judgments; and to set them an example, he himself held general audience on Wednesday and Friday of each week, with the goal of hearing all those who came to complain, saying that, since it is permitted for everyone to approach God at any hour whatsoever without needing an intercessor, judges and prelates should at least sometimes provide free audiences. One day, as no one appeared at his tribunal, he withdrew, quite afflicted that he had been of service to no one and had nothing he could offer to God as satisfaction for his faults. Nevertheless, he remained consoled when he was assured that this very thing was an effect of his vigilance, because he kept everyone so well in their duty that no one had cause for complaint in the entire city.

Having noticed that some people left Mass as soon as the Gospel was finished, in order to go and talk at the door, he devised an expedient to remedy this abuse. One day he himself left the altar, went out with them, and joined their company; and as they were astonished by this action, he said to them: "Do not be astonished, my children, it is reasonable that the Shepherd should be with his flock." In this way, he abolished this bad custom. He also prevented irreverence from being committed in the church through useless conversations. He perfectly performed the office of a vigilant shepherd, preaching to his people no less by his example than by his words. He was very religious in all his conduct, although he had worn secular clothing and had little frequented ecclesiastics, having been married as we have seen; however, as soon as he was bishop, he adopted a way of life so perfect that he surpassed in virtue many of the holy hermits. He founded two monasteries for religious in Alexandria: one in honor of the most holy Virgin, and the other under the title of Saint John, where he placed two communities that he provided with everything necessary for their temporal needs, so that the religious might work ceaselessly for the salvation of souls.

It would be too long to describe all the virtues of this great man: that is why we shall stop only at the one that seems to distinguish him particularly from all other Saints, that is to say, this mercy toward the poor, in which he seems to have had no equal. Upon his entry into the patriarchate, he once said, in full assembly, to his officers, to go throughout the city to make a register of his masters and lords, and seeing that his officers did not understand what he meant, he replied to them: 'I call my lords those whom you name the beggars and the destitute, because they can give me the kingdom of heaven.' Seven thousand five hundred were found; he gave alms to them all every day. And as his almoners represented to him that, in the ranks of these poor, there were people who were not in need at all, the Saint did not find this advice good, but said to them, with a holy anger, that 'Jesus Christ and his servant John needed, not curious ministers, but intelligent servants.' Thus, he was not discouraged from giving alms several times to the same people who asked him for it. A merchant, who had been shipwrecked, had recourse to him as to the port of mercy; he received from him twice enough to re-establish himself in trade; he presented himself a third time, the Saint rendered him the same service again, but recommending that he not mix the goods of the Church with his own which were ill-gotten, because that was what caused the loss of both. He therefore had a ship loaded with twenty thousand measures of wheat given to him for this time. The merchant left Alexandria with a favorable wind that carried him for twenty days, without his knowing where he was going; on the twentieth, he found himself on the coasts of England, at a time when the price of wheat was extremely high, so that he sold his grain at whatever price he wanted, and was paid half in silver and half in tin; this metal, by the will of God, changed immediately into silver: which showed all at once the merit of the alms and the power of the Saint before God. Another person, wanting to test the Saint, dressed as a poor man, and pretending to be a captive, begged him to give him enough to ransom himself. The man of God had alms given to him, and the person, having received it, changed clothes and asked him for it up to three times; Saint John was warned of this by one of his officers, but he nonetheless continued to give him alms, saying: 'That perhaps Jesus Christ disguised as a poor man wanted to test him.'

To these two examples we shall add a third which will make it known that one loses nothing by giving for God, but on the contrary that there is much to gain. One day as the Saint was going to church, a man, from whom thieves had taken great wealth, asked him for some help to get back on his feet; the Patriarch signaled to his steward to give him fifteen gold pieces; but the latter, wanting to spare his master's purse, gave him only five. Upon leaving the church, a lady gave the bishop a note for fifteen hundred pounds to help him in his good works; but only five hundred were found written on it, because the thousand had been erased by the secret hand of God, in punishment for the steward having thus withheld the alms of the poor.

Undoubtedly there would be reason to be astonished at the way in which the holy patriarch obtained so much wealth to give his alms, if one did not know that God possesses hidden treasures, and that He opens them, when it pleases Him, to His servants who trust fully in His divine Providence. The blessed John had even received assured promises of this; for, from the age of fifteen, as he was resting at night, he saw a person approach him, and having asked her who she was, she replied with a smiling face full of joy: 'I am the first of the daughters of the great King; if you wish to have me as a spouse, I can help you find access to Him; for no one approaches Him with more confidence than I, and indeed, I made Him descend from heaven to earth, in order to be clothed there in human flesh.' Our Saint recognized, by this discourse, that it was the virtue of Mercy. Wanting to test if his vision was true, as he was going to church in the morning, meeting a naked poor man, he gave him his habit; and immediately an unknown man gave him one hundred gold pieces in a bag. Since that time, when he gave any alms, he always said to himself: 'I will see if Jesus Christ will fulfill his promise by giving me a hundred for one.' He claims to have experienced this so many times that, finally, he grew tired of saying these words. One or two examples will also provide us with proofs of this promise of Mercy in favor of charitable Christians.

The holy Patriarch, finding himself short of both money and wheat, in a time of extreme scarcity, was obliged to go and borrow to help the poor. Seeing this, a certain rich man, who had been married twice, offered him a large sum of money to give his alms, provided that he dispense him from his irregularity and make him a deacon; but the Saint refused him absolutely, saying that he did not need to use iniquitous means to exercise his liberality, since divine Providence never failed him. Indeed, he was still speaking to this man, when news was brought to him that two ships loaded with wheat were arriving for him from Sicily. Another time, thirteen small boats belonging to the church of Alexandria, and all loaded with wheat, were shipwrecked in the harbor through the fault of the sailors; these poor people, fearing the anger of the holy prelate, took refuge in the church; but he, having knowledge of it, consoled them and held them quit of what they owed to repair this loss, assuring them that God would feed His poor by other ways: which happened; for divine Providence soon returned double everything that His servant had lost.

Nicetas, a favorite of the emperor, under the pretext of some public necessity in the war against the Persians, took all the treasures of the church of Alexandria, leaving only one hundred pounds to the patriarch, who suffered this violence patiently. But, at the same hour that Nicetas was carrying away t Nicétas Patrician and prefect of Alexandria, close to the saint. he riches of the church, he met people who were carrying two jars to the holy bishop; on one of them was written: very good honey, and on the other: honey without smoke. They were gold pieces that were being sent from Africa to the holy Almoner. The saint, extremely consoled by this favor of Providence, sent one of the jars to Nicetas, who had asked him for it, believing that it was real honey; but Nicetas, seeing what it was, had it taken back to the Patriarch and returned everything he had taken from the church, and another hundred pounds of gold from his own property, begging him to obtain mercy for his faults.

These great experiences of God's fatherly care wonderfully increased in our holy Patriarch his inclination to give alms; indeed, he sought every day new ways to provide for the needs of his neighbor. A young man remained extremely distressed that his father had, by will, given his property to the poor, and that he had contented himself with commending him to the Blessed Virgin, so that she might take care of him. The matter having come to the knowledge of the holy Patriarch, to console this afflicted man, he had a document drawn up stating that the deceased was his first cousin; thus he acknowledged this son as his relative, and married him to a young girl of very good family; which proves that the Blessed Virgin is a powerful protectress, and that it is very advantageous to be commended to her care.

The blessed John was not content with being the sole support of the poor and the needy; but he also studied to lead others to this virtue. Once, when he was visiting a hospital in the company of another bishop, called Troilus, he said to him: "My brother Troilus, it is your turn today to love and honor the brothers of Jesus Christ." This bishop, who had brought thirty pounds with the intention of buying a silver vase for his table, distributed them to the poor, more out of human respect than from a motive of perfect charity; thus this forced alms grieved him so much that he was seized with a high fever. The Patriarch, being informed of it, went to visit him; and knowing the cause of his illness, he wished to provide the following remedy: he pretended to have made this proposal to the bishop more in jest than otherwise, and told him that he intended to return his thirty pounds to him, provided that he gave him a note in writing by which he ceded to him all the merit of it before God. Which Troilus did willingly; and afterwards he was healed and went off to dine very joyfully with the Patriarch. God, who did not want to heal only his body, but also his soul, made him see in a dream, the following night, a magnificent palace, extremely well adorned, which bore on the entrance a sign in these terms: "The eternal dwelling and rest of Bishop Troilus"; but he had hardly finished reading this writing, when he perceived a venerable senator who, ordering this first writing to be erased, had this one put in its place: "The eternal dwelling and rest of John, Patriarch of Alexandria, purchased for thirty pounds." Troilus awoke at this, and profiting from this dream, he became thereafter as liberal toward the poor as he had previously been stingy toward them.

In this regard, we wish to report here two examples that our Saint himself took pleasure in citing to his people, to excite them to give alms. The first is that of a certain banker, called Peter, whom some say had the government of all Africa Pierre African banker converted to charity by a vision. under the Emperor Justinian. This man was so hard toward the poor that he was called nothing other than the Miser. Once, therefore, the poor of the city having gathered, and talking about those who did them good, all complained equally that this one never gave anything. Then, one of the group, bolder than the others, assured that he would extract alms from him; to succeed, he watched for the moment when the baker was bringing bread to his house. He fortunately found him at his door and pressed him with such importunity that this man, to get rid of him, took one of these loaves and threw it at his head in anger. The poor man received it with great joy, and went to show it to the others. Two days later, this banker fell dangerously ill; he seemed to be at the judgment of God; on one side, he saw a troop of Ethiopians who were piling up, in one of the pans of a scale, all the sins he had committed in his life; and on the other, men dressed in white and of a formidable look, who asserted that they had, to counterbalance all these faults, only the bread he had thrown in anger at the head of this poor man. Peter awoke very astonished by this vision; but he drew no less profit from it than Bishop Troilus from the previous one; he resolved from then on to give all his property to the poor; and indeed, having met a poorly dressed poor man, he stripped off his tunic and gave it to him, begging him to use it and wear it out. The poor man did nothing of the sort, for he sold it; which extremely afflicted the banker; but Our Lord consoled him by appearing to him the following night dressed in that garment. It was then that Peter resolved to give not only his property, but also his own person for the service of the poor, and compelled, for this purpose, one of his servants to take him to Jerusalem and sell him there. He was therefore sold for thirty sous to a goldsmith whom he served in the capacity of a cook, until, being discovered, he fled for fear of being honored, giving in passing the use of speech and hearing to a man who was deaf and dumb from birth, who later recounted this wonder of Peter. The Greeks recognize him as a Saint in their menologion, on January 20.

The other example was that of Saint Serapion, called the Sindonite by Palladius; because besides the cowl, he wore only a tunic. Although Serapion did n saint Sérapion Saint and ascetic cited as an example of evangelical poverty. ot know how to read, he nevertheless had a book of the Gospels, which he had others read to him; once, meeting a poor man, he gave him his hood; then, another presenting himself, he took off his tunic to give it to him; and remaining thus almost naked, he said that this book of the Gospels had stripped him. But that is not all: finding a third poor man, he gave him his book of the Gospels. Finally, seeing a widow who was complaining that she had no bread for her children, he gave himself to her, so that she might sell him to actors: which she did. The holy Patriarch said regarding these two traits: "If these holy personages did not spare their own persons for the relief of the brothers of Jesus Christ, is it much that we simply share with them this little that we possess?" Thus, one of his servants thanking him for some considerable alms he had received from his kindness, the Saint replied to him: "My brother, I have not yet shed my blood for you, as my God and my Lord Jesus Christ commanded me."

He was of such a tender nature that he could not see a person weeping without mingling his own tears with theirs.

The apostle Saint Paul wrote in his first epistle to the Corinthians: "If I gave to the poor all that I possess and if I delivered my body to the flames, and had not charity, it would profit me nothing."

Neither prayer, nor fasting, nor alms can carry you to heaven: to be able to count effectively on the grace of God and eternal happiness, you must absolutely possess charity. Now, Saint John the Almsgiver showed not only through alms, but also in many other ways, that he possessed true charity. Here are some examples:

One day the holy bishop found himself in the necessity of being severe with a priest of his diocese. The latter, to take revenge, spread all sorts of slanders against the bishop. The prelate was very afflicted by this, not so much because of the shame that reflected upon him, but because of the scandal that resulted from it, which would necessarily harm the salvation of souls. The following Sunday, at the moment when the office was about to begin, and the bishop was about to ascend to the altar, he remembered these words of the Lord: "When, after having deposited your offering on the altar, you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there, go and reconcile with him, and then return to offer the sacrifice."

Immediately he descended from the altar, as if pushed by an invisible force, and had the guilty priest called. The latter having come, the holy bishop knelt before him and said: My brother, forgive me! The priest, deeply moved, threw himself at the feet of the bishop, asked for his forgiveness, and implored his mercy. The bishop said to him: May the Lord forgive us all! Then they returned to the church together; Saint John went back up to the altar, his heart content and his soul tranquil, for he could with full confidence make this prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."

Another time, Saint John had a conflict with Nicetas, the prefect of Alexandria, regarding a matter that concerned the poor. After a long, very heated discussion, where each persisted in his opinion, they parted in anger. The bishop had taken the defense of the poor, the prefect the side of financial interests; but the bishop said to himself: It is never permitted for a Christian to harbor hatred against a brother, not even when it might be justified. He therefore charged two priests to go and say to Nicetas: Remember that it is said in Scripture: "Do not let the sun go down on your anger!" The prefect, struck by the gravity of these words of Scripture, and touched by the truly Christian approach of the bishop, immediately went to reconcile with him.

The bishop had with him a nephew named George whom he loved very much. This young man, in a brawl he had one day with a tavern keeper, was gravely insulted by the latter. George was deeply afflicted by this: he thought that his honor and that of his uncle had at the same time received a grave blow, especially since the affair had taken place in public.

Upon returning home, he was weeping so hard that it was impossible for him to answer his uncle, who was pressing him with questions. Others, who knew what had happened, informed the bishop. Then the latter said to George: I promise you that I will avenge myself for this affront in a way that will astonish all those who hear of it. The young man therefore believed that his uncle, using his episcopal right, would have the insolent man punished in the public square. But the bishop replied, while embracing his nephew: If you want to be truly of my family, you must prove your kinship through humility; for true kinship does not come from flesh and blood, but from the conformity of sentiments. And here is how the holy bishop took his revenge: the one who had so insolently offended the saint's nephew was the farmer and debtor of the prelate; Saint John immediately had the steward of his estates come and ordered him to cancel the debt. So the holy bishop took revenge on his enemy by doing him good; which filled with admiration, says Metaphrastes, all the inhabitants of Alexandria.

When someone allowed themselves to slander or calumniate in the presence of our Saint, he always knew how to skillfully steer the conversation in another direction. When this pious ruse did not produce the expected effect, he remained entirely silent; and then he would order his servant not to let the slanderer in again.

Another time, a young man had abducted a nun, which naturally must have extremely afflicted the holy bishop. In a meeting, this affair was also spoken of, and the conduct of the seducer was very severely blamed, since he had lost two souls at once: that of the nun and his own. But the holy bishop rebuked the assembly by saying: "Do not speak thus, my dear brothers! In doing so, you commit two faults yourselves: first, you forget that it has been said: Do not judge, so that you may not be judged yourselves; then, you do not know if the guilty have not converted."

In those days, those whom we call servants today were slaves, and masters could treat them as they saw fit. Now, when the holy bishop learned that someone was mistreating the poor slaves, he would have them come and say with kindness: "My son, remember that the poor and the humble are the friends of God. The slave is also a man: for him as for us, God created the heaven, the earth, the stars, the sun, the sea with all that it contains. He has like us his guardian angel; finally, for him as for us, Jesus Christ died on the cross. And this man, whom God has loved so much, and whom he has redeemed at the price of his blood, you esteem so little, and you dare to treat him as one treats animals! Tell me, would you want God to demand a severe account of all your sins? No, undoubtedly. Well, you say each day, in the Lord's Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. If therefore you want God to forgive you one day, forgive also your slaves, and do not punish them so severely!"

As it was known that the holy bishop observed to the letter this word of the Gospel: "Do not turn away from him who wants to borrow," a swindler took advantage of the occasion to ask him for a loan of considerable importance. When it came time to pay back, the crook brazenly denied his debt, and the saint was advised to take him to court; for, it was said with reason, it would not be just that this iniquitous man enjoy a good from which the Saint could benefit the poor. But he replied with Scripture: "Be merciful as your heavenly Father, who makes the sun shine on the good and the wicked, and who makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust."

Another time, as he gave a beggar less than the latter had hoped for, he found himself overwhelmed with gross insults. Then the bishop's servants wanted to severely correct this insolent man; but the saint rebuked them himself by saying: "For sixty years that I have lived, I have many times offended God by my sins, why would I not willingly suffer this humiliation?" Then he held out his purse to the beggar, telling him to take what he needed from it.

There was in Alexandria a man of standing who for a long time lived in enmity with another. Saint John, after having long sought in vain to reconcile them, one day had the first one told to come and find him for an important matter. This man having come, the Saint asked him to attend the holy mass that he was going to say in his private chapel. Besides the guest, there was no one in the chapel but a servant of the bishop, who was to serve him mass, and to whom he had given his instructions. In those days it was customary that after the elevation the priest recited the Lord's Prayer jointly with those present. Now, when they reached these words: Forgive us our trespasses, etc., suddenly the bishop and his servant fell silent, so that the guest was obliged to pronounce them alone. Then the Saint turned and said to him: Reflect well on the place where you are, and on what you are saying: Forgive me, O my God, as I also forgive!... Then this man with a hardened heart, and who until then had not wanted to hear of reconciliation, burst into tears and cried out: Order, Lord, I am ready to obey you; and upon leaving the bishop's house, he went to reconcile with his enemy.

Saint John the Almsgiver, in speaking of the charity and indulgence that men must have for one another, placed above all before the eyes of his listeners the infinite love and long-suffering of God. He said: "How many professional evildoers are there, whom God preserves for a fairly long time! How many pirates does he preserve from all dangers, to leave them time to convert! How many sacrilegious sinners have received unworthily the body and blood of Our Lord, and he has not punished them as they deserved! How many wretches does one see habitually plunging into the mire of vice, getting drunk, vomiting licentious remarks, abandoning themselves without restraint to all excesses!... and during this time the diligent bee continues to gather for them the nectar of flowers, and to prepare for their impure mouth a sweet nectar! And while thousands of mortals are occupied only with blaspheming and offending God, his sun makes the fruits of the vine ripen to quench the thirst of these guilty tongues, and to rejoice these hearts unworthy of living! And while eyes, fascinated by vice, seek an occasion to offend God, the flowers, these cherished children of the Creator, seek to attract and rejoice them by the ravishing charms of their colors and their forms so varied!..."

Let us cite another trait of the holy bishop's solicitude for the salvation of the souls of his diocesans; yes, we must still report this example. A merchant of Alexandria sent a ship to Africa in which he had placed his entire fortune, save for seven and a half pounds of gold which he gave to the holy Patriarch, so that he might pray to God for his son who was captaining the ship. The Saint offered his prayer; but a month later the son died, and the ship, running the risk of being lost, all the merchandise was thrown into the sea: which put this poor man in extreme affliction. Nevertheless, as he was occupied with these thoughts at night, a personage resembling the holy archbishop appeared to him and spoke these words: "Why are you sad? Did you not pray to me to ask God to preserve your son? He has preserved him and delivered him from the perils of this life where he would certainly have been lost. And as for the ship, know that God has preserved it through my prayers, without which it would have perished with all the merchandise." This afflicted father came to recount this to the holy Patriarch: both gave thanks to God, and adoring His judgments, they remained peaceful and consoled.

But it is time to come to the end of this life, which we would never finish if we wanted to speak of all the virtues of this great Saint. His death was not unforeseen by him; for, in order to always have it present, he had had his sepulcher begun in the same place where the archbishops his predecessors were buried, with a command to those who worked there to come and tell him often, even in the midst of the finest company, that his tomb was not yet finished. And indeed it never was, because God, who was preparing another for him elsewhere, disposed affairs in such a way that the country which had served as his cradle was also the place of his sepulcher: which happened in this manner.

Emperor Heraclius, being on the point of waging war against the Persians, sent to Alexandria the patrician Nicetas, of whom mention has been made above, in order to raise some funds for the expenses of this war. Nicetas, who knew the holiness of the Patriarch very well, begged him to accompany him to Constantinople to give his blessing to the Emperor before he marched against the Persians; the Saint acquiescing to this, by order of divine Providence, they both embarked to make the journey; but a storm having surprised them at sea, they were forced to land on the island of Rhodes. It was there that the Saint, waking up at night, had a revelation of his death by a venerable personage who appeared to him with a scepter in his hand and said these words: "Come, the King of kings calls you." The blessed prelate immediately gave notice of this to the patrician Nicetas; the latter, seeing that a greater monarch than his own was calling his servant to a journey of greater importance than the one he was having him make, had him taken to the island of Cyprus. Having arrived at Amathus, the city of his birth, the bish Amathonte Birthplace of John in Cyprus and place of his death. op of Alexandria made his testament in these terms: "John, most humble servant of the servants of Jesus Christ, and, because of the dignity of the priesthood which has been committed to me, free by the grace of God. I give thanks to You, O my Lord, that You have judged me worthy to offer You what belonged to You, and that of all the goods of the world there remains to me only the third part of a coin, which I wish to be given to the poor, my brothers. When, by Your Providence, I was created bishop of Alexandria, I found in my bishopric about eight thousand coins and oblations from devout persons; I have amassed much more, but as they belonged to Jesus Christ, Your Son, I have also wished to give them to You, and now I render my soul to Him." Finally, he expired peacefully in Our Lord, in the year 619 according to Baronius, 616 according to others, and at the age of about sixty-three. His body was carried to the church of Saint Tychon, bishop of Amathus.

It is said that when he was placed in the tomb where two other bishops were already buried, they, as if they were alive, moved to either side to give the middle place to this great Patriarch. So much for his body; but as for his blessed soul, it was seen in Alexandria, the same night he died, by two holy persons, one of whom was named Sabinus, a religious, to whom it seemed that the holy archbishop was leaving his episcopal house, and that a very beautiful virgin, more resplendent than the sun, taking him by the hand, placed upon his head a crown of olive branches. The other saw the holy bishop walking in the church, followed by the poor, the widows, and the orphans, who all also carried olive palms in their hands as a sign of triumph.

This wonder is also told: A woman of Amathus who had on her conscience a sin so enormous that she dared not confess it, gave it in writing to the holy Patriarch, in a sealed and stamped paper, five days before his death, so that, through his prayers, this sin might be forgiven her; but the death of the Saint having occurred without him having returned this writing, this poor creature was in despair, for fear that her note being found by someone, her sin would also be discovered. Nevertheless, not losing hope for that, she withdrew to the tomb of the Saint, and there she persevered for three days and as many nights in prayers and tears; at the end of this time, the Saint, assisted by the two other bishops with whom he was buried, returned the note completely sealed to this woman who, having unsealed it, found her sin erased, and, in its place, were written these words: "By the merit of my servant John, your sin is erased."

Subsequently, the body of Saint John the Almsgiver was transferred to Constantinople, where it was kept for a long time. The Emperor of the Turks presented it to Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, who placed it in his chapel at Buda. In 1530 it was transferred to Talla, near Pressburg, and in 1632 to Pressburg itself, Presbourg Final resting place of the saint's relics. where it is still honored in the church of Saint Martin.

The memory of Saint John the Almsgiver is marked with honor in the Roman Martyrology on January 23; the reader may see in the *Homilies* of the learned Cardinal Baronius which authors have written about him. As for us, we have followed more expressly in this collection the life of this holy prelate written by Leontius, Bishop o f Neap Léonce Bishop and author of an elegant version of the life of Simeon. olis in Cyprus, which was very well received at the Second Council of Nicaea as being very worthy of being read; it is found very developed among the lives of the holy Fathers.

VIES DES SAINTS. — TOME Ier