Saint Ennodius of Pavia

Pope Hormisdas set his sights on him to work toward the reunion of the Eastern and Western churches. The emperor who reigned at that time was Anastasius. He fomented division by favoring the heresy of Eutyches. He also employed dissimulation against the Church, a detestable vice, especially in those who command.

The Bishop of Pavia made two journeys to Constantinople, one in 515, with Fortunatus, Bishop of Catania, and the other in 517, with Peregrinus, Bishop of Misenum. The instructions given by the Pope were that they should work to have the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon received, as well as the letters of Saint Leo against Nestorius, Eutyches, Dioscorus, and their followers; to have the anathema pronounced against Acacius of Constantinople and Peter of Antioch subscribed to; and to ask the emperor for the return of the bishops who had been exiled for their attachment to the faith. Anastasius outwardly showed a great desire for peace. In dismissing the legates, he gave them a letter for the Pope, in which he declared that he condemned Nestorius and Eutyches, and that he accepted the Council of Chalcedon. He promised to send ambassadors to Rome to settle the other articles; but his sole goal was to gain time. He even banished four bishops of Illyria while Enn odius Ennode Bishop of Pavia, writer, and papal legate in the 6th century. was in Constantinople. He delayed sending his ambassadors until the middle of the following year; and even then, he did not send bishops, as he had promised, but two laymen, one of whom was named Theopompus, and the other Severianus. This embassy resulted, on the part of the Orientals, only in making vague protestations for the good and peace of the Church. Hormisdas replied that he had nothing more at heart; that he even threw himself at the feet of the emperor in order to implore his protection so that good order might be re-established everywhere.

The second journey that Ennodius made to Constantinople produced no more effect than the first . Anasta Anastase Byzantine emperor who favored the Monophysite heresy. sius would not admit the formula that the Pope had drawn up for the union of the two Churches; he even tried to corrupt the legates with money: but seeing that they were proof against such a temptation, he had them secretly embarked under the guard of two prefects and some other officers who had orders not to let them enter any city. The legates nevertheless found a way to distribute their protests everywhere against what had been done. The bishops who received copies of them sent them to Constantinople, for fear of being accused, which embittered the emperor even more. The first effect of his resentment was to send back home nearly two hundred bishops who were about to assemble at Heraclea to pacify the troubles of the East. This is where the word he had given to contribute to the restoration of peace between the two Churches ended up. The senate and the people having reproached him for the violation of the oath he had taken, he replied coldly that there are circumstances where it is permitted for a prince to perjure himself. Such a response confirmed in all minds the suspicions that were held regarding the secret attachment of Anastasius to the impious opinions of the Manichaeans.

Meanwhile Ennodius, to whom all the ports of the East were closed by the emperor's order, was in imminent danger of perishing. The vessel on which he had been forced to embark was old and worm-eaten; one could hardly hope that it would suffice to make the journey. It did so, however, and the holy bishop arrived safe and sound in Italy.

Back in his diocese, he applied himself more than ever to the sanctification of his flock. It seemed as though what he had suffered for the faith had given more activity to his zeal while bestowing a new luster upon his virtues. The conversion of sinners, the care of the poor, the ornamentation of churches, and the composition of several poems on pious subjects occupied all his time until his death, which occurred on August 1, 521. He was forty-eight years old. Popes Nicholas I and John VIII give him the title of *great* and *glorious confessor*. He is named in the Roman Martyrology under July 17.

## WRITINGS OF SAINT ENNODIUS.

We have, under the name of Ennodius:

1st. Two hundred and ninety-seven letters which have been distributed into nine books. Most are letters of friendship and civility. Those containing something remarkable for doctrine or ecclesiastical discipline are those to Fanate, where he speaks of the unfortunate consequences caused by the schism between Laurentius and Symmachus, both elected to fill the Holy See, and recognizes that faith obliges us to adore a single nature in God, under the distinction of three persons equal in dignity; those to the bishops of Africa whom King Trasamund relegated to Sardinia, numbering two hundred and twenty; those to Armenius to console him for the death of his son by representing to him that he had passed to a better life; and others, less interesting, to various persons.

2nd. A Panegyric of King Theodoric, who had just made himself master of Italy after several victories won over Odoacer.

3rd. An Apology for Symmachus, which he composed to justify the conduct that the synod of Rome had held regarding this Pope.

4th. A Life of Saint Epiphaniu s, Bishop of P saint Épiphane Predecessor of Ennodius to the see of Pavia. avia, where the author professes to report the virtues and actions of this Saint with as much sincerity as accuracy.

5th. A Life of the blessed Anthony, priest and hermit, who died at Lérins.

6th. A writing called *Eucharisticum*, that is to say *Thanksgiving*, which he composed out of gratitude after having been miraculously healed by the intercession of Saint Victor, Bishop of Milan.

7th. An Exhortation addressed to Ambrose and Beatus. It is partly in prose and partly in verse, and deserves to be read by young people whom one wishes to form in virtue.

8th. An Ordinance concerning clerics.

9th. An Act of manumission, drawn up as a model for acts of this kind, when the Emperor Constantine permitted masters to free their slaves.

10th. Discourses, of which the first six are on subjects of piety: the first on the day of the inauguration of Laurentius, Bishop of Milan; the second on the dedication of a church of the Apostles; the third on the tonsures of Maximus, successor of Saint Epiphanius to the see of Pavia; the fourth on the dedication of the church of Saint John the Baptist; the fifth on the taking of possession by a bishop; the sixth against the heretics of the East and for the defense of the Catholic faith.

11th. Poems, divided into two parts, of which the first contains the longer pieces, and the other the epigrams. The most remarkable are those he composed for the tonsure of Saint Epiphanius, of the Blessed Virgin, of Saint Cyprian, of Saint Stephen, of Saint Dionysius of Milan, of Saint Ambrose, of Saint Euphemia, of Saint Nazarius, of Saint Martin, etc.; on the mysteries of the Ascension and Pentecost, and on other matters of piety and religion.

The style of Ennodius is sententious, which makes it obscure and difficult: his writings can provide insights into the history of Gaul and Italy, but little can be drawn from them for the clarification of theological difficulties. The question of freedom and grace is the only one where he explains himself at any length.

The writings of Ennodius are found among the orthodoxographa printed in Basel in 1569. They were reprinted in Tournai and Paris in 1610 and 1611. It is upon the 1611 edition that they were given a place in the Library of the Fathers of Paris, Cologne, and Lyon, and in the Collection of Opuscula of Father Sirmond in Paris, in 1696.

Taken from Godescard, and Dom Ceillier, *Histoire des auteurs sacrés et ecclésiastiques*.

inhabitants of Gaeta, Naples, and Amalfi, the Romans won a signal victory over their enemies.

Here is what Voltaire says about this historical fact: Attacked by the Saracens, Pope Leo showed himself worthy, in defending Rome, of commanding there as a sovereign. He had used the riches of the Church to repair the walls, to raise towers, to stretch chains across the Tiber. He armed the militias at his own expense, engaged the inhabitants of Naples and Gaeta to come and defend the coasts and the bridge of Ostia, without failing in the wise precaution of taking hostages from them; knowing well that those who are powerful enough to assist are powerful enough to harm us. He visited all the posts himself, and received the Saracens upon their landing; not in war gear, as Gozlin, Bishop of Paris, had done on an even more pressing occasion, but as a Pontiff who exhorted a Christian people, and "as a king who watched over the safety of his subjects (849)." He was Roman: the courage of the first ages of the republic revived in him in a time of cowardice and corruption, like a beautiful monument of ancient Rome, which one sometimes finds in the ruins of the new. His courage and his care were seconded. The Saracens were fought courageously upon their landing; and the storm having dissipated half of their ships, a portion of these conquerors, having escaped the shipwreck, were put in chains. The Pope made his victory useful by having the same hands that were to destroy them work on the fortifications of Rome and its embellishment.

Nothing was lacking to the glory of Leo: this fine feat of arms, this second battle of Poitiers, if one may speak thus, this immortal service rendered to religion, has been transmitted to posterity by Raphael, in the halls of the Vatican. At Poitiers, France above all was saved; but at the victory of Ostia, the city of Rome itself was directly threatened: in a few hours, the Saracens, had they been victorious, could have made themselves masters of it.

The new city built around Saint Peter's is still called the Leonine City today: only it is joined to Rome and currently enclosed within the same circuit.

In 852, the Pope, prudent as happy men who have conquered the barbarians must be, wished to further fortify the city of Porto, because the Saracens had gathered many forces in Sicily. Then a great number of Corsicans appeared, whom the fear of the Saracens had driven from Bastia and the surroundings of Corte, and who were wandering and without a fixed dwelling. After having exposed their misery, they promised, if one would receive them, to remain, they and their children, in the service of the Pope, who, for his part, offered them the city of Porto, well fortified, with vineyards, meadows, and arable lands, horses and cattle. The Corsicans, a brave people, loving war, and feeling a high esteem for a Pontiff who had been as brave as they, accepted the benefits of Leo; and an act of donation of the lands was delivered in due form to those who hastened to sign this treaty.

Leo IV had crowned, in 850, Louis II as emperor, or rather as associate to the empire; and he lived with him constantly in good understanding, as well as with Lothair, father of Louis, who was still alive.

Toward the end of the year 853, Leo IV held in Rome, in the church of Saint Peter, a Council of sixty-seven bishops, among whom there were four sent by the Emperor Lothair. The Council assembled on December 8, the seventh year of the reign of Leo, the thirty-seventh year of the reign of Lothair, and the fifth year of the reign of Louis II. It is in this Council that Anastasius was deposed.

The inhabitants of the city of Centum Cellæ, flourishing under Trajan, were exposed to surprises from the Saracens, and they had left this city. Leo built a new one at some distance; but in the course of time, it was abandoned, and the inhabitants returned to Centum Cellæ, which was called from then on Old City (Civita-Vecchia), a name it still keeps today.

Saint Leo IV governed the Church for eight years, three months, and six days. In two ordinations, he created sixty-three bishops, nineteen pri ests, and eig Saint Léon IV Pope who authorized the transfer of the relics of Saint Callistus. ht deacons.

This Pope was very learned; he united the rarest virtues: circumspection, magnificence, piety, humanity, courage, and love of justice; he was beneficent to the poor, and fulfilled the duties of the pontifical ministry with the most exemplary exactitude. One could have said of him again what Abbo said of Gozlin, *mitissimus heros*, he was a hero full of gentleness. Leo died on July 17, 853; he was buried in the Vatican. The Holy See remained vacant for one month and twelve days, until the consecration of Benedict III.

Taken from the History of the Roman Sovereign Pontiffs, by Arland de Montor. — Cf. Acta Sanctorum, volume IV of July; Godescard, Bulliet.