vendredi 5 octobre 2012

Saint PLACIDE et ses compagnons, martyrs




Saint Placide et ses Compagnons

Martyrs

(518-542)

Saint Placide appartenait par sa naissance à une des plus anciennes et des plus célèbres familles de Rome. Il fut confié, âgé de sept ans, à saint Benoît, pour être élevé à Subiaco, sous sa conduite. On le voit dès lors pratiquer rigoureusement les exercices de la vie monastique. L'obéissance l'ayant envoyé un jour chercher de l'eau dans le lac voisin, il tombe et est entraîné par les flots. Benoît, du fond de son monastère, a la connaissance miraculeuse de ce malheur; il appelle son disciple Maur: "Courez vite, mon frère, lui dit-il, l'enfant est tombé à l'eau." Maur s'élance, muni de la bénédiction de l'abbé, marche sur les eaux, saisit par les cheveux l'enfant, qui surnage encore, et le ramène sur le bord.

Depuis ce temps, Placide fit des progrès plus grands encore, au point que saint Benoît lui-même en était dans l'admiration. Le saint abbé envoya plus tard son bien-aimé disciple en Sicile pour y établir un monastère. Son austérité y devint de plus en plus étonnante et allait beaucoup au-delà des prescriptions de la Règle; il ne buvait jamais que de l'eau, faisant Carême en tout temps et souvent ne mangeant que trois fois la semaine et du pain seulement. Pour vêtement il portait un cilice; son siège était son unique lit de repos; son silence n'était interrompu que par les saintes exigences de la charité. Par sa vertu d'humilité, il attirait à lui tous les coeurs.

Ses innombrables miracles le rendirent presque l'égal de saint Benoît: un jour, en particulier, il guérit par sa bénédiction tous les malades de son île réunis près de lui.

Placide et ses religieux furent faits prisonniers, dans leur couvent, par des pirates cruels qui les maltraitèrent affreusement. Le Saint animait ses compagnons à la persévérance. Le tyran, outré de dépit à la vue de l'inébranlable constance des martyrs, les fit, à différentes reprises, fustiger très cruellement; mais Notre-Seigneur vint fermer et guérir leurs plaies. Placide exhortait le tyran et ses bourreaux à se convertir au christianisme; c'est alors qu'on lui brisa les lèvres et les mâchoires à coups de pierres et qu'on lui coupa la langue jusqu'à la racine. Mais le martyr parla aussi bien qu'auparavant. Le bourreau, n'étant nullement touché du prodige, inventa un nouveau supplice; il fit coucher le saint moine à terre et lui laissa toute une nuit sur les jambes des ancres de navire avec d'énormes pierres. Tous ses efforts vinrent échouer devant cet invincible défenseur de la foi. Placide et ses compagnons eurent enfin la tête tranchée.

Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950

SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_placide_et_ses_compagnons.html


Saint Placide et ses Compagnons (518-542)

LEÇON DU BRÉVIAIRE ROMAIN

Placide est né à Rome, d'un père nommé Tertullus, appartenant à la première noblesse. Offert à Dieu dès son enfance et confié à saint Benoît, il fit de si grands progrès dans la vertu et dans les observances monastiques qu'il mérita d'être compté parmi les plus illustres disciples du Saint. Envoyé par lui en Sicile, il fonda, près du port de Messine, une église et un monastère en l'honneur de saint Jean-Baptiste, et il mena, en compagnie de ses moines, une vie admirable de sainteté. Ses frères Eutychius et Victorinus, ainsi que sa sœur la Vierge Flavie, vinrent l'y visiter, mais en même temps, un cruel pirate, nommé Manucha, abordait à ces rivages. Il s'empara du monastère et, ne pouvant par aucun moyen amener Placide et ses compagnons à renier le Christ, il le fit cruellement massacrer, ainsi que ses frères et sa sœur. Avec eux, il y avait aussi Donat, le diacre Firmat, Faustus et trente autres moines, qui consommèrent heureusement le combat du martyre en même temps que lui, le cinq Octobre, l'an du salut cinq cent trente-neuf.




St Placide et ses Compagnons, martyrs

Groupe de Martyrs attestés en Sicile, identifiés, selon la légende bénédictine codifiée par Pierre Diacre, avec le disciple de St Benoît (qui vécu au VIème siècle) à partir du XIIème siècle. Inscrits au calendrier en 1588. Si ce Placide n’a rien a voir avec la légende bénédictine, le martyrologe Hiéronymien nous assure d’un culte de ces Martyrs dès le IVème siècle.

(Leçon des Matines (avant 1960)


Troisième leçon. Placide naquit à Rome. Tertullus, son père, occupait un rang très élevé dans la société romaine. Offert à Dieu dès son enfance et confié à saint Benoît, il fit de si grands progrès dans la vertu et dans les observances de la vie monastique, qu’il mérita d’être compté parmi les plus illustres disciples du saint patriarche. Envoyé par lui en Sicile, il fonda, près du port de Messine, une église et un monastère en l’honneur de saint Jean-Baptiste, et il mena, en compagnie de ses moines une vie admirable de sainteté. Ses frères Eutychius et Victorinus, ainsi que sa sœur, la vierge Flavie, vinrent l’y visiter. A la même époque, un pirate cruel, nommé Manucha, abordait à ces rivages. Il s’empara du monastère, et, ne pouvant par aucun moyen, amener Placide et ses compagnons à renier le Christ, il le fit massacrer ainsi que ses frères et sa sœur. Donat, le diacre Firmat, Faustus et avec eux trente moines, soutinrent heureusement jusqu’au bout le combat du martyre en même temps que lui, le troisième jour des nones d’octobre, l’an du salut cinq cent trente-neuf.


die 5 octobris

Ss. Placidi et Sociorum

Martyrum

Commemoratio (ante CR 1960 : simplex)

Missa Salus autem, de Communi plurimorum Martyrum III loco, cum orationibus ut infra :

Oratio.

Deus, qui nos concédis sanctórum Mártyrum tuórum Plácidi et Sociórum eius natalítia cólere : da nobis in ætérna beatitúdine de eórum societéte gaudére. Per Dóminum.

Secreta

Múnera tibi, Dómine, nostræ devotiónis offérimus : quæ et pro tuórum tibi grata sint honóre Iustórum, et nobis salutária, te miseránte, reddántur. Per Dóminum.

Postcommunio

Præsta nobis, quǽsumus, Dómine : intercedéntibus sanctis Martýribus tuis Plácido et Sóciis eius ; ut, quod ore contíngimus, pura mente capiámus. Per Dóminum.


le 5 octobre

St Placide et ses Compagnons

Martyrs

Commémoraison (avant 1960 : simple)

Messe Salus autem, du Commun de plusieurs Martyrs III, avec les oraisons ci-dessous :

Collecte

O Dieu qui nous faites la grâce d’honorer la naissance au ciel de vos Saints Martyrs Placide et ses Compagnons, accordez-nous de jouir de leur société dans l’éternité bienheureuse.

Secrète

Nous vous offrons Seigneur, ces dons de notre piété ; faites que vous étant présentés en l’honneur de vos justes, ils vous soient agréables et qu’ils nous soient rendus salutaires grâce à votre miséricorde.

Postcommunion

Accordez-nous, s’il vous plaît, Seigneur, que vos saints martyrs Placide et ses Compagnons, intercédant pour nous, nous gardions en un cœur pur ce que notre bouche a reçu.



Francesco Solimena (1657–1747). Le Martyre de Saint Placide et de sainte Flavie, 1697-1708
 huile sur toile, 75 x 133, Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest)
La sainteté de saint Benoît dans sa grotte de Subiaco attira bientôt autour de lui de nombreux disciples, parmi lesquels les deux plus grands furent saint Maur, l’apôtre de l’Ordre Bénédictin en France, et saint Placide.

Confiés tous deux au saint Patriarche, le premier à douze ans et le second dès l’âge de sept ans, par leurs parents qui appartenaient aux plus illustres familles patriciennes de Rome, ils firent, sous la direction d’un tel maître, les plus rapides progrès dans la sainteté.

Saint Benoît avait une prédilection toute spéciale pour le jeune Placide, et de même que le Sauveur choisissait quelques-uns de Ses disciples pour être témoins de Ses miracles, il aimait à se faire accompagner de ce pieux enfant lorsque Dieu lui donnait d’en opérer.

Un jour que puisant de l’eau dans le lac de Subiaco, saint Placide y était tombé et que les flots l’emportaient loin de la rive, l’homme de Dieu envoya saint Maur qui en marchant miraculeusement sur l’eau, le délivra.

Ayant suivi saint Benoît au Mont-Cassin avec saint Maur, il y fut l’un des plus fermes soutiens du grand Patriarche des Moines d’Occident.

Aujourd’hui l’Office et la Messe célèbrent la mémoire de plusieurs Chrétiens qui furent mis à mort en Sicile vers 541 par des pirates sarrasins. D’après une pieuse tradition ces martyrs étaient saint Placide, sa sœur et les moines que saint Benoît avait envoyés avec lui.
Saint Placide appartenait par sa naissance à une des plus anciennes et des plus célèbres familles de Rome. Il fut confié, âgé de sept ans, à saint Benoît, pour être élevé à Subiaco, sous sa conduite. On le vit dès lors pratiquer rigoureusement les exercices de la vie monastique.
L’obéissance l’ayant envoyé un jour chercher de l’eau dans le lac voisin, il tombe et est entraîné par les flots. Saint Benoît, du fond de son monastère, a la connaissance miraculeuse de ce malheur ; il appelle son disciple saint Maur : « Courez vite, mon frère, lui dit-il ; l’enfant est tombé à l’eau ». Saint Maur s’élance, muni de la bénédiction de l’Abbé, marche sur les eaux, saisit par les cheveux l’enfant, qui surnage encore, et le ramène sur le bord. Depuis ce temps, saint Placide fit des progrès plus grands encore, au point que saint Benoît lui-même en était dans l’admiration.
Le saint Abbé envoya plus tard son bien-aimé disciple en Sicile pour y établir un monastère et y assembler une communauté religieuse. Son austérité y devint de plus en plus étonnante et allait beaucoup au delà des prescriptions de la Règle ; il ne buvait jamais que de l’eau, faisant carême en tout temps et souvent ne mangeant que trois fois la semaine et du pain seulement. Pour vêtement il portait un cilice ; son siège était son unique lit de repos ; son silence n’était interrompu que par les saintes exigences de la charité ; ses paroles n’avaient pour objet que les choses du salut et le saint amour de Dieu.
Par sa vertu d’humilité il attirait à lui tous les cœurs. Ses innombrables miracles le rendirent presque l’égal de saint Benoît : un jour, en particulier, il guérit par sa bénédiction tous les malades de son île réunis près de lui.
Saint Placide et ses religieux furent faits prisonniers, dans leur couvent, par des pirates cruels qui les maltraitèrent affreusement. Le Saint animait ses compagnons à la persévérance. Le tyran, outré de dépit à la vue de l’inébranlable constance des martyrs, les fit, à différentes reprises, fustiger très cruellement ; mais Notre-Seigneur vint fermer et guérir leurs plaies. Saint Placide exhortait le tyran et ses bourreaux à se convertir au christianisme ; c’est alors qu’on lui brisa les lèvres et les mâchoires à coups de pierres et qu’on lui coupa la langue jusqu’à la racine. Mais le martyr parla aussi bien qu’auparavant. Le bourreau, n’étant nullement touché du prodige, inventa un nouveau supplice : il fit coucher le saint moine à terre et lui laissa toute une nuit sur les jambes des ancres de navire avec d’énormes pierres. Tous ses efforts vinrent échouer devant cet invincible défenseur de la Foi.
Saint Placide et ses compagnons eurent enfin la tête tranchée, le 5 octobre 541, Vigile étant pape, Justinien empereur d’Orient et Childebert Ier roi des Francs.
En châtiment de tant de barbarie, peu de jours après, toute la flotte sarrasine périt dans une tempête. Saint Benoît fut heureux et fier d’avoir engendré dans la Foi des martyrs à Dieu.



SAINT PLACIDE 

(518-542)

et SES COMPAGNONS

Martyrs

(† 542)

        Saint Placide appartenait par sa naissance à une des plus anciennes et des plus célèbres familles de Rome. Il fut confié, âgé de sept ans, à saint Benoît, pour être élevé à Subiaco, sous sa conduite. On le voit dès lors pratiquer rigoureusement les exercices de la vie monastique. L'obéissance l'ayant envoyé un jour chercher de l'eau dans le lac voisin, il tombe et est entraîné par les flots. Benoît, du fond de son monastère, a la connaissance miraculeuse de ce malheur ; il appelle son disciple Maur : « Courez vite, mon frère, lui dit-il, l'enfant est tombé à l'eau. » Maur s'élance, muni de la bénédiction de l'abbé, marche sur les eaux, saisit par les cheveux l'enfant, qui surnage encore, et le ramène sur le bord.


        Depuis ce temps, Placide fit des progrès plus grands encore, au point que saint Benoît lui-même en était dans l'admiration. Le saint abbé envoya plus tard son bien-aimé disciple en Sicile pour y établir un monastère. Son austérité y devint de plus en plus étonnante et allait beaucoup au-delà des prescriptions de la règle ; il ne buvait jamais que de l'eau, faisant carême en tout temps et souvent ne mangeant que trois fois la semaine et du pain seulement. Pour vêtement il portait un cilice ; son siège était son unique lit de repos ; son silence n'était interrompu que par les saintes exigences de la charité. Par sa vertu d'humilité, il attirait à lui tous les cœurs.



        Ses innombrables miracles le rendirent presque l'égal de saint Benoît : un jour, en particulier, il guérit par sa bénédiction tous les malades de son île réunis près de lui. 



        Placide et ses religieux furent faits prisonniers, dans leur couvent, par des pirates cruels qui les maltraitèrent affreusement. Le saint animait ses compagnons à la persévérance. Le tyran, outré de dépit à la vue de l'inébranlable constance des martyrs, les fit, à différentes reprises, fustiger très cruellement ; mais Notre-Seigneur vint fermer et guérir leurs plaies. Placide exhortait le tyran et ses bourreaux à se convertir au christianisme ; c'est alors qu'on lui brisa les lèvres et les mâchoires à coups de pierres et qu'on lui coupa la langue jusqu'à la racine. Mais le martyr parla aussi bien qu'auparavant. Le bourreau, n'étant nullement touché du prodige, inventa un nouveau supplice ; il fit coucher le saint moine à terre et lui laissa toute une nuit sur les jambes des ancres de navire avec d'énormes pierres. Tous ses efforts vinrent échouer devant cet invincible défenseur de la foi. Placide et ses compagnons eurent enfin la tête tranchée.

©Evangelizo.org ©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015

SOURCE : http://peripsum.org/main.php?language=TRF&module=saintfeast&localdate=20151005&id=322&fd=0

- Saint Placide de Rome et ses compagnons, martyrs à Messine en Sicile. 541.

Pape : Vigile

Empereur romain d'Orient : Justinien Ier.

" Combattons énergiquement, afin que Dieu nous couronne pour l'éternité."
Saint Bonaventure. Serm. XII Pentec.

Placide, né à Rome, eut pour père Tertullus, de la très noble famille des Anicii. Il fut, encore enfant, offert à Dieu et confié à saint Benoît. D'une admirable innocence, tels furent ses progrès dans la vie monastique, qu'il compta parmi les principaux disciples du maître. Il était présent, lorsqu'une source miraculeuse jaillit, à la prière de celui-ci, au désert de Sublac. Un autre prodige est celui dont il fut l'objet lorsque, tout jeune encore, étant allé puiser au lac il y tomba et fut sauvé, au commandement du bienheureux père, par le moine Maur courant à pied sec sur les eaux.

Il accompagna Benoît lors de sa retraite en Campanie et, dans sa vingt-deuxième année, fut envoyé en Sicile pour y défendre contre d'injustes déprédations les possessions et droits assurés par son père au monastère du Mont-Cassin. De grands et nombreux prodiges marquèrent sa route, et ce fut précédé de la renommée de sa sainteté qu'il parvint à Messine. Il lut le premier qui introduisit dans l'île la discipline monastique, en construisant non loin du port, sur le domaine paternel, un monastère où trente moines furent rassemblés.

Rien qui l'emportât sur lui en placidité douce, en humilité ; en prudence, gravité, miséricorde, perpétuelle tranquillité d'âme, il surpassait tout le monde. La contemplation des choses célestes absorbait le plus souvent ses nuits, ne s'asseyant un peu que lorsque s'imposait la nécessité du sommeil. Combien grand n'était pas son amour du silence ! Fallait-il parler, tout son discours était du mépris du monde et de l'imitation de Jésus-Christ. Son zèle pour le jeûne était tel, qu'il s'abstenait toute l'année de chair et de laitage ; pendant le Carême, les mardi, jeudi et Dimanche, il se contentait de pain et d'eau fraîche, se passant les autres jours de toute nourriture. Il ne but jamais de vin, porta perpétuellement le cilice. Cependant si grands, si nombreux étaient les miracles de Placide, que leur éclat lui amenait en foule, implorant guérison, les malades non seulement du voisinage, mais encore de l'Etrurie et de l'Afrique ; toutefois il avait pris, dans son insigne humilité, l'habitude d'opérer au nom de saint Benoît ces divers miracles et de lui en attribuer le mérite.

Sa sainteté, ses prodiges favorisaient grandement les progrès de la religion chrétienne, quand, la cinquième année depuis sa venue en Sicile, eut lieu une irruption subite de Sarrasins. Or, il se trouva que dans ces mêmes jours Eutychius et Victorinus, frères de Placide, avec sa sœur la vierge Flavia, étaient arrivés de Rome pour lui faire visite ; les barbares, surprenant l'église du monastère pendant l'office de nuit, s'emparèrent d'eux, ainsi que de Donat, de Fauste, du diacre Firmat et des trente moines.

Donat eut aussitôt la tête tranchée. Les autres, amenés devant Manucha le chef des pirates, furent sommés d'adorer ses idoles ; ce qu'ayant sans faiblir refusé de faire, on les jeta pieds et poings liés en prison sans aucune nourriture, après les avoir frappés de verges, et avec ordre de les frapper tous les jours. Mais Dieu les soutint ; lorsque après beaucoup de jours on les ramena au tyran, leur constance dans la foi fut la même ; de nouveau flagellés à plusieurs reprises, on les suspendit nus la tête en bas au-dessus d'une fumée épaisse, pour les étouffer. Chacun les croyait morts ; le lendemain, ils reparaissaient pleins de vie, miraculeusement guéris, sans aucune blessure.

Alors le tyran s'en prit séparément à la vierge Flavia, et ne pouvant rien sur elle par menaces, il la fit suspendre nue par les pieds à une haute poutre Mais comme il lui imputait à infamie cette épreuve :
" L'homme et la femme, dit la vierge, ont un seul Dieu pour créateur et auteur ; c'est pourquoi mon sexe ne me sera pas imputé près de lui à démérite, ni davantage cette nudité que je supporte pour son amour à lui qui, pour moi, ne voulut pas être seulement dépouillé de ses vêtements, mais encore attaché aune croix."

Sur cette réponse Manucha furieux, après avoir repris contre elle le supplice des verges et de la fumée, ordonne qu'on la livre à la prostitution. Mais la vierge priait ; Dieu paralysa ceux qui voulurent l'approcher, et les punit de douleurs subites en tous leurs membres. Après la vierge, ce fut au frère de soutenir l'assaut. Comme il dénonçait la vanité des idoles, Manucha lui fit briser à coups de pierres la bouche et les dents, puis commanda qu'on lui coupât la langue jusqu'à la racine ; mais le martyr n'en parlait pas avec moins de netteté et d'aisance. La colère du barbare s'accrut à ce prodige ; sur Placide, sa sœur et ses frères, renversés à terre, il ordonne qu'on entasse en poids énorme des ancres et des meules, sans pourtant arriver davantage a leur nuire. Enfin, de la seule famille de Placide trente-six martyrs eurent la tête tranchée avec leur chef, sur le rivage du port de Messine ; ils remportèrent la palme avec beaucoup d'autres, le trois des nones d'octobre, l'an du salut 539 ou 541. Quelques jours plus tard, Gordien, moine de ce même monastère échappé par la fuite, retrouva tous les corps intacts et les ensevelit avec larmes. Quant aux barbares, ils furent peu après engloutis par les ondes vengeresses de la mer en punition de leur cruauté.

En 1588. la découverte à Messine des reliques du martyr et de ses compagnons de victoire est venue confirmer la véracité des Actes de leur glorieuse Passion. Ce fut à cette occasion que le Pape Sixte-Quint étendit la célébration de leur fête à toute l'Eglise sous le rit simple.



St. Placidus

St. Placidus, disciple of St. Benedict, the son of the patrician Tertullus, was brought as a child to St. Benedict at Sublaqueum (Subiaco) and dedicated to God as provided for in chapter 69 of St. Benedict's Rule. Here too occurred the incident related by St. Gregory (Dialogues, II, vii) of his rescue from drowning when his fellow monk, Maurus, at St. Benedict's order ran across the surface of the lake below the monastery and drew Placidus safely to shore. It appears certain that he accompanied St. Benedict when, about 529, he removed to Monte Cassino, which was said to have been made over to him by the father of Placidus. Of his later life nothing is known, but in an ancient psalterium at Vallombrosa his name is found in the Litany of the Saints placed among the confessors immediately after those of St. Benedict and St. Maurus; the same occurs in Codex CLV at Subiaco, attributed to the ninth century (see Baumer, "Johannes Mabillon", p. 199, n. 2).

There seems now to be no doubt that the "Passio S. Placidi", purporting to be written by one Gordianus, a servant of the saint, on the strength of which he is usually described as abbot and martyr, is really the work of Peter the Deacon, a monk of Monte Cassino in the twelfth century (see Delehaye, op. cit. infra). The writer seems to have begun by confusing St. Placidus with the earlier Placitus, who, with Euticius and thirty companions, was martyred in Sicily under Diocletian, their feast occurring in the earlier martyrologies on 5 October. Having thus made St. Placidus a martyr, he proceeds to account for this by attributing his martyrdom to Saracen invaders from Spain — an utter anachronism in the sixth century but quite a possible blunder if the "Acta" were composed after the Moslem invasions of Sicily. The whole question is discussed by the Bollandists (infra).

Sources

Acta SS., III Oct. (Brussels, 1770), 65-147; MABILLON, Acta SS. O.S.B., I (Paris, 1668), 45; IDEM, Annales O.S.B., I (Paris, 1703); IDEM, Iter italicum (Paris, 1687), 125; GREGORY THE GREAT, Dial., II, iii, v, vii, in P.L., LXV, 140, 144, 146; PIRRI, Sicilia sacra (Palermo, 1733), 359, 379, 432, 1128; ABBATISSA, Vita di S. Placido (Messina, 1654); AVO, Vita S. Placidi (Venice, 1583); Compendio della vita di s. Placido (Monte Cassino, 1895); DELEHAYE, Legends of the Saints, tr. CRAWFORD (London, 1907), 72, 106.

Huddleston, Gilbert. "St. Placidus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 5 Oct. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12142b.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. Ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus per Iesum Christum.


Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.



St. Placidus, Abbot, and Companions, Martyrs

From St. Greg. Dial. l. 2, c. 3, 7, and Mabillon, Annal. Bened. t. 1, who shows the several acts of their martyrdom to be pieces of no authority, with all the instruments relative; which is confirmed at large by Bue the Bollandist, § 3 and 4.

A.D. 546.

THE REPUTATION of the great sanctity of St. Benedict, whilst he lived at Sublaco, being spread abroad, the noblest families in Rome brought their children to him to be educated by him in his monastery. Equitius committed to his care, in 522, his son Maurus, then twelve years of age, and the patrician Tertullus his son Placidus, who was no more than seven. Philip of Macedon, recommending his son Alexander the Great to Aristotle, whom he had chosen for his preceptor, in his letter upon that subject, gave thanks to his gods not so much for having given him a son as for providing him with such a master for his education. With far more reason Tertullus rejoiced that he had found such a sanctuary, where his son, whilst his heart was yet untainted by the world, might happily escape its contagion. St. Gregory relates, that Placidus being fallen into the lake of Sublaco, as he was fetching some water in a pitcher, St. Benedict, who was in the monastery, immediately knew this accident, and, calling Maurus said to him: “Brother, run, make haste; the child is fallen into the water.” Maurus, having begged his blessing, ran to the lake, and walked upon the water above a bow-shot from the land to the place where Placidus was floating, and, taking hold of him by the hair, returned with the same speed. Being got to the land, and looking behind him, he saw he had walked upon the water, which he had not perceived till then. St. Benedict ascribes this miracle to the disciple’s obedience; but St. Maurus attributed it to the command and blessing of the abbot, maintaining that he could not work a miracle without knowing it. Placidus decided the dispute by saying: “When I was taken out of the water I saw the abbot’s melotes upon my head, and himself helping me out.” The melotes was a sheep’s skin worn by monks upon their shoulders. We must observe that St. Placidus, being very young had not yet received the monastic tonsure and habit. This miraculous corporal preservation of Placidus may be regarded as an emblem of the wonderful invisible preservation of his soul by divine grace from the spiritual shipwreck of sin. He advanced daily in holy wisdom, and in the perfect exercise of all virtues, so that his life seemed a true copy of that of his master and guide, the glorious St. Benedict; who, seeing the great progress which divine grace made in his tender heart, always loved him as one of the dearest among his spiritual children, and took him with him to Mount Cassino in 528. The senator Tertullus, principal founder of this monastery, made them a visit soon after their arrival there, saw with pleasure the rising virtues of his son Placidus, and bestowed on St. Benedict part of the estates which he possessed in that country, and others in Sicily. The holy patriarch founded another monastery upon these latter near Messina, a great city with a fine harbour, upon the straits which part Italy from Sicily. Of this new colony St. Placidus was made abbot. Dom Rabache de Freville, the present sub-prior of St. Germain-des-Prez, in his manuscript life of St. Maurus, places the arrival of that saint at Angers in France, and the foundation of the abbey of Glenfeuil, in 543, the very year in which St. Benedict died. St. Placidus is supposed to have gone to Sicily in 541, a little before the holy patriarch’s death, being about twenty-six years of age. He there founded a monastery at Messina. The spirit of the monastic state being that of penance and holy retirement, the primitive founders of this holy institute were particularly watchful entirely to shut the world out of their monasteries, and to guard all the avenues through which it could break in upon their solitude. Its breath is always poisonous to those who are called to a life of retirement. Charity may call a monk abroad to serve his neighbour in spiritual functions; but that person only can safely venture upon this external employment who is dead to the world, and who studies to preserve in it interior solitude and recollection, having his invisible food and sacred manna, and making it his delight to converse secretly in his heart with God, and to dwell in heaven. This spirit St. Placidus had learned from his great instructor, and the same he instilled into his religious brethren. 1 He had not lived many years in Sicily before a Pagan barbarian, with a fleet of pirates from Africa rather than from Spain, then occupied by Arian Goths, not by Pagans, landed in Sicily, and out of hatred of the Christian name, and the religious profession of these servants of God, put St. Placidus and his fellow-monks to the sword, and burnt their monastery, about the year 546.

All true monks devote themselves to God; they separate themselves from the world, and do not entangle themselves in secular business, that they may more easily seek perfectly and with their whole hearts, not those things which are upon earth, but those which are in heaven. This is the duty of every Christian, as Origen elegantly observes, 2 and as St. Paul himself teaches, 3 according to the divine lessons of our blessed Redeemer. For to be dead to the world, and to live to Christ, is the part of all who are truly his disciples. Those who live in the world must so behave as not to be of the world. They must be assiduously conversant in prayer and other exercises of religion. Their work itself must be sanctified and dedicated to God by the like motives with which the ancient monks applied themselves to penitential manual labour, 4 or to external spiritual functions.

Note 1. SS. Placidus, Eutychius, and thirty other martyrs are commemorated in the most pure copies of the ancient Martyrology ascribed to St. Jerom, viz. that of Lucca given by Florentinius, that of Corbie in D’Achery, (Spicil. t. 4,) that in Martenne, (Anecd. t. 3, col. 1563,) &c. also in Ado, Usuard, &c. Solier the Jesuit, (in Martyrol. Usuardi ad 5 Octob.) Chatelain, (Mart. univ.) Bue the Bollandist, (1 Octob. p. 66,) &c. think these to be ancient martyrs under the Roman Pagans. Others have confounded them with the Monks Martyrs. That a St. Placidus was a disciple of St. Benedict we are assured by St. Gregory, &c. that he was sent into Sicily is mentioned by Leo Marsicanus in the eleventh century, (in his Historia Casinensis, l. 1, c. 1,) and that he died there by martyrdom is recorded by Bertarius, abbot of Cassino, in the eleventh century, (Carmine de S. Benedicto,) by the old Martyrology of Cassino, (ap. Muratori, t. 7; Rerum Ital. Col. 935,) Mabillon. (Iter. Ital. t. 1, p. 144,) &c. St. Placidus is invoked in several Benedictin Litanies before the eleventh age. See Ruinart. Apol. pro S. Placido, § 3, Card. Bona. Liturg. l. 1, c. 12, n. 4. Mabillon, Anal. t. 2, &c. First Gelinus, after him Maurolycus, Molanus, Gelesinius, Baronius, &c. give the title of disciple of St. Benedict to St. Placidus, honoured on this day, in which the Bollandists suspect the Monks Martyrs to be substituted in modern Martyrologies in the place of the Roman Martyrs recorded in more ancient Martyrologies, seeing Usuard, Notker, &c. though monks, do not mention that circumstance; nevertheless unless some Martyrology more ancient than St. Benedict could be produced, in which St. Placidus martyr occurs, the tradition of the Benedictins, who think their St. Placidus the same, cannot be proved a mistake. At present at least the Benedictin abbot and his companions are the saints honoured in the Roman Martyrology on this day. The barbarians, by whose hands they suffered, are presumed by Mabillon to have been Sclavini, who, in the reign of Justinian, plundered Thrace and Illyricum, as Procopius relates, l. 3, c. 38, de bello Gothico. Others think them Arian Goths from Spain; others Arian cruel Vandals, or pagan Moors subject to them in Africa; others Saracens; but these were not so early in that neighbourhood, and were not likely to have made a long voyage from Egypt or Arabia. The acts called the pirate Mamucha.

  The monastery of Messina was soon after rebuilt; its possessions, the original gift of the senator Tertullus, in Sicily and Italy, were confirmed to it by Pope Vigilius, if Rocchus Pyrrhus (Siciliæ sacra, l. 4, par. 2,) was not imposed upon by a false deed. The Saracens from Alexandria invading Sicily in 669, again destroyed this monastery of St. Placidus, and murdered all the monks; and after it had been repaired by the monks of Cassino, again destroyed it under their leader Abraham, about the year 880, as the Chronicles of Cassino relate. The monks slain there in this its third destruction, are honoured with the title of martyrs by Cajetan, (De Sanctis Siculis, t. 1, printed in 1610,) and by Wion, (in Martyrol. Ben.) on the 1st of August. In the year 1276, the bodies of St. Placidus and his companions were discovered at Messina, in the ruins of the church of that monastery, which bore the title of St. John Baptist. In 1361 certain noblemen of Messina founded the abbey of St. Placidus of Colonero, ten miles from Messina, which, in 1432, was removed to a monastery two miles from Messina. The bodies of St. Placidus and his fellow-martyrs were again discovered under the ruins of St. John Baptist’s church in Messina, in 1588, known by the marks of martyrdom and the tradition of the citizens; of which several relations have been published; thirty-seven bodies of martyrs were found in one place, deposited separately, and afterwards some others, of which several relations are published. Pope Sixtus V. in 1588, and again Paul V. in 1621, ordered their festivals to be kept at Messina, &c. The relics are chiefly preserved in the priory of St. John Baptist at Messina. See the history of their discovery, &c. written at that time in Italian, and Mabillon, Diss. des Saints inconnus, p. 28. Also F. Bue the Bollandist, p. 103, and Bened. XIV. De Canoniz.
Santor. l. 4, par. 2, cap. 33, p. 222. [back]

Note 2. Origen, Hom. 11, in Levit. [back]

Note 3. Col. iii. 2. [back]

Note 4. St. Aug. l. de Moribus Eccl. Catholicæ, c. 30, 31, et l. de Opere Monachorum; S. Hier. ep. 22, ad Eustoch. &c. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume X: October. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

Champions of Catholic Orthodoxy

Ss. Placidus and Companions, Martyrs (†539; Feast – October 5)

The Protomartyr of the Benedictine Order stands before us today in his strength and beauty. The Roman Empire had fallen, and the yoke of the Arian Goths lay heavy upon Italy. Rome was no longer in the hands of the glorious races which had made her greatness; these, nevertheless, kept up their honorable traditions. They offered a great lesson, for future times of revolution, to other descendants of not less noble families: in lieu of the ensign of civic honor once committed to their fathers, the survivors of the old patrician ranks made it their duty to raise still higher the standard of true heroism, of those virtues which alone are everlasting. Thus St. Benedict of Nursia, fleeing into the desert, had rendered greater service than any mighty conqueror to Rome and her immortal destinies. The world soon discovered this fact; and then began, as St. Gregory the Great tells us (Dialog. lib. 2, ch. 3), the concourse of Roman nobles, bringing their children to the patriarch of monks, to be educated by him for almighty God.

Placidus was the eldest son of the patrician Tertullus. The excellent qualities early discovered in the child led his worthy father to offer to God, without delay, this dear first-fruit of his paternity. In those days, parents loved their children, not for this passing world, but for eternity; not for themselves, but for the Lord. The faith of Tertullus was well rewarded when, twenty years later, not only his first-born, but also his two other sons and their sister, were crowned with martyrdom. This was not the first holocaust of the kind in that heroic family, if it be true that they were relatives by blood, and heirs of the goods as well as of the virtues, of the holy Martyr Eustace, who had been immolated four centuries earlier with his wife and sons (Feast—September 20).

Among the children of promise enlisted by the vanquished nobles of the ancient Empire in the new militia of the holy valley, Equitius brought to Subiaco (the site of St. Benedict's first monasteries) his son Maurus, a boy some years older than Placidus. Henceforth the names of St. Maurus (Feast—January 15) and St. Placidus became inseparable from that of St. Benedict; and the patriarch acquired a new glory from his two sons, so united and yet so different.

Equal in their love of their master and father, and themselves equally loved by him for their equal fidelity in good works, they experienced to the full that delight in virtue which makes its practice a second nature. However similar their zeal in using "the most strong and bright armor of obedience," in the service of Christ the King, it was wonderful to see the master accommodating himself to the age of his disciples; so adapting himself to their differences of character, that there was nothing precipitate, nothing forced, in his education. It disciplined nature without crushing it, and followed the Holy Ghost without endeavoring to take the lead. In St. Maurus was especially reproduced St. Benedict's austere gravity; in St. Placidus his simplicity and sweetness. St. Benedict took St. Maurus to witness the chastisement inflicted on the wandering monk, who would not stay at prayer; but St. Placidus accompanied him to the mountain-top, where his prayer obtained a spring of water to deliver from danger and fatigue the brethren dwelling on the rocks above the Anio. But when, walking along the riverside, holding St. Placidus by the hand and leaning upon St. Maurus, the legislator of monks explained to them the code of perfection they were afterwards to propagate, the angels know not which most to admire: the candor of the one, winning the father's most tender affection; or the precocious maturity of the other, meriting the holy patriarch's confidence, and already sharing his burden.

Who does not recollect the admirable scene of St. Maurus walking on the water and saving St. Placidus from drowning? Monastic traditions never weary of extolling the obedience of St. Maurus, St. Benedict's humility, and the sagacious simplicity of the child pronouncing sentence as judge of the prodigy. Of such children the master could say from experience: "The Lord often-times revealeth that which is best, to him that is the younger" (Rule Ch. 3). And we may well believe that the recollections of the holy valley prompted him, later on, to lay down in his rule this prescription: "In all places whatsoever, let not age be taken into account as regardeth order, neither let it be to the prejudice of anyone; for Samuel and Daniel, while yet children, were judges over the elders" (Rule Ch. 63).

The following lessons, taken from the Monastic Breviary, will complete the account of the life of St. Placidus, and relate the manner of his death. In 1588 the discovery of the martyrs' relics at Messina confirmed the truth of their Acts. On this occasion, Pope Sixtus V extended the celebration of their Feast, under the rite of simplex, to the Universal Church:

St. Placidus, a Roman by birth and son of Tertullus, belonged to the noble family of the Anicii. Offered to God while still a child, he was entrusted to St. Benedict, and made such progress in sanctity and in the monastic life, as to become one of his principal disciples. He was present when the holy father obtained from God by prayer a fountain of water in the solitude of Subiaco. While still a boy, being sent one day to draw water, he fell into the lake, but was miraculously saved by the monk St. Maurus, who at the command of the holy father ran dry-shod over the water. Later on he accompanied St. Benedict to Monte Cassino. At the age of 21, he was sent into Sicily, to defend, against certain covetous persons, the goods and lands which his father had given to Monte Cassino. On the way he performed so many great miracles, that he arrived at Messina with a reputation for sanctity. He built a monastery on his paternal estate, not far from the harbor, and gathered together thirty monks; being thus the first to introduce the monastic life into the island.

Nothing could be more placid or more humble than his behavior; while he surpassed everyone in prudence, gravity, kindness, and unruffled tranquility of mind. He often spent whole nights in the contemplation of heavenly things, only sitting down for a short time when overpowered by the necessity of sleep. He was most zealous in observing silence; and when it was necessary to speak, the subjects of his conversation were the contempt of the world and the imitation of Christ. His fasts were most severe, and he abstained all the year round from flesh and every kind of dairy food. In Lent he took only bread and water on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays; the rest of the week he passed without any food. He never drank wine, and always wore a hairshirt. So numerous and so remarkable were the miracles he worked, that the sick came to him in crowds to be cured, not only from the neighborhood, but also from Etruria and Africa. But St. Placidus, in his great humility, worked all his miracles in the name of St. Benedict, attributing them to his merits.

His holy example and the wonders he wrought caused the Christian Faith to spread rapidly. In the fifth year after his arrival in Sicily, the Saracens (who were then pagans, this being before the time of Mohammed) made a sudden incursion, and seized upon St. Placidus and his thirty monks while they were singing the night Office in the church. At the same time were taken Eutychius and Victorinus, St. Placidus’ brothers, and his sister the virgin Flavia, who had come from Rome to visit him; and also Donatus, Faustus, and the deacon Firmatus. Donatus was beheaded on the spot. The rest were taken before Manucha, the chief of the pirates; and as they firmly refused to adore his idols, they were beaten with rods, and cast, bound hand and foot, into prison, without food. Every day they were beaten afresh, but God supported them. After many days, they were again led before the tyrant; and as they still stood firm in the Faith, they were again repeatedly beaten, then stripped of their clothes, and hung, head downwards, over thick smoke to suffocate. They were left for dead, but the next day were found alive, and miraculously healed of their wounds.

The tyrant then addressed himself to the virgin Flavia apart. But finding he could gain nothing by threats or promises, he ordered her to be stripped, and hung by the feet from a high beam, insulting her meanwhile upon her nakedness. But the virgin answered: Man and woman have the same author and Creator, God; hence neither my sex, nor this nakedness which I endure for love of him will be any disadvantage to me in His eyes, Who for my sake chose not only to be stripped, but also to be nailed to a cross. Manucha, enraged at this reply, ordered her to be beaten and tortured with smoke, and then handed her over to be dishonored. At the virgin's prayer, God struck all who attempted to approach her, with sudden stiffness and pain in all their limbs. The tyrant next attacked St. Placidus, the virgin's brother, who tried to convince him of the vanity of his idols; Manucha thereupon commanded his mouth and teeth to be broken with stones, and his tongue to be cut out by the root; but the martyr spoke as clearly and easily as before. The barbarian grew more furious at this miracle, and commanded that St. Placidus, with his sister and brethren should be crushed under an enormous weight of anchors and millstones; but even this torture was powerless to hurt them. Finally, thirty-six of St. Placidus’ family, with their leader, and several others, were beheaded on the shore near Messina, and gained the palm of martyrdom on the third of the Nones (the 5th) of October, in the year of salvation 539. Gordian, a monk of that monastery, who had escaped by flight, found all their bodies entire after several days, and buried them with tears. Not long afterwards the barbarians, in punishment of their crime, were swallowed up by the avenging waves of the sea.

"Placidus, my beloved son, why should I weep for thee? Thou art taken from me, only that thou mayest belong to all men. I will give thanks for this sacrifice of the fruit of my heart, offered to Almighty God." Thus, on hearing of this day's triumph, spoke St. Benedict, his spiritual father, mingling tears with his joy. He did not survive St. Placidus long; yet long enough to complete, of his own accord, the sacrifice of separations, by sending into far-off France the companion of St. Placidus' childhood, St. Maurus, who was destined not to rejoin him in Heaven for many long years. Charity seeketh not her own interests; she finds them by forgetting self, and losing self in God. St. Placidus had disappeared; St. Maurus had been sent away; St. Benedict was about to die: human prudence would have believed the holy patriarch's work in danger of perishing; whereas, at this critical moment, it strengthened its roots and extended its branches over the whole world. Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit (John 12: 24-25). As heretofore the blood of martyrs was the seed of Christians, it now produced a rich harvest of monks.

SOURCE : http://www.salvemariaregina.info/SalveMariaRegina/SMR-174/Placidus.htm

San Placido Monaco


sec. VI

Fu, assieme a Mauro, uno dei più noti discepoli di san Benedetto. Dei due, Placido era forse il più giovane: poco più che un fanciullo, quando venne posto sotto la guida dell'abate Benedetto. Per questo viene considerato patrono dei novizi benedettini. A Placido, oltre che a Mauro, è attribuito un celebre episodio miracoloso narrato da san Gregorio Magno nei suoi Dialoghi. Mentre Benedetto era nella sua cella, un giorno, il giovane Placido si recò ad attingere acqua nel lago. Perse l'equilibrio e cadde nella corrente, che subito lo trascinò lontano dalla riva. L'abate, nella cella, conobbe per rivelazione l'accaduto. Chiamò Mauro e gli disse di correre in soccorso del confratello. Mauro si affrettò ad obbedire correndo sull'acqua, fino a raggiungerlo e trarlo in salvo. San Placido, invocato per tutto l'Alto Medioevo come "Confessore", venne trasformato in martire alla fine dell'XI secolo. Un fantasioso biografo compose infatti un falso racconto della sua Passione, sofferta in Sicilia, per opera dei Saraceni.

Patronato: Novizi monaci

Etimologia: Placido = colui che è dolce e mansueto

Martirologio Romano: Commemorazione di san Placido, monaco, che fu sin dalla fanciullezza discepolo carissimo di san Benedetto.

Il Calendario universale della Chiesa non segna oggi questa memoria, ricordata invece dal Martirologio Romano. Non esitiamo però ad ammettere che San Placido - onorato, a torto, come Martire, e vedremo perché, - sia il personaggio più noto, tra i Santi, a tale data.

E’ però una celebrità riflessa, come di una subitanea illuminazione, che esalta per un momento un oggetto, scoprendolo dall'ombra, per riconsegnarlo all'ombra.

Placido fu, con Mauro, il più docile discepolo del grande San Benedetto, il quale li ebbe ambedue, Placido e Mauro, cari come figli.

Dei due, Placido era forse il più giovane: poco più che un fanciullo, quando venne posto sotto la paterna guida dell'Abate San Benedetto. Per questo, San Placido viene considerato quale Patrono dei novizi, cioè dei giovani che si preparano alla professione religiosa nei monasteri benedettini.

A Placido, oltre che a Mauro, è attribuito un celebre episodio miracoloso narrato da San Gregorio Magno nei suoi Dialoghi. Mentre Benedetto era nella sua cella, un giorno, il giovane Placido si recò ad attingere acqua nel lago. Perse l'equilibrio e cadde nella corrente, che subito lo trascinò lontano dalla riva.

L'Abate, nella cella, conobbe per rivelazione l'accaduto. Chiamò Mauro e gli disse di correre in soccorso del confratello. Ricevuta la benedizione, Mauro si affrettò ad obbedire: valicò la riva, e seguitò a correre sull'acqua, fino a raggiungere Placido. Afferratolo, lo riportò a riva, e soltanto giungendo sulla terra asciutta, voltosi indietro, si accorse di aver camminato sull'acqua, come San Pietro sul lago di Tiberiade.

L'episodio ebbe un seguito ancor più commovente, perché San Benedetto attribuì il prodigio al merito dell'obbedienza di Mauro, mentre il discepolo lo attribuiva ai meriti dell'Abate. Il giudizio venne rimesso a Placido, il quale disse: "Quando venivo tratto dall'acqua, vedevo sopra il mio capo il mantello dell'Abate, e mi pareva che fosse egli a riportarmi a riva".

In questo episodio narrato da San Gregorio è contenuto tutto ciò che sappiamo sul conto di Placido. Anch'egli, come Mauro, è circonfuso e quasi confuso nella luce di San Benedetto. La sua santità fa quasi parte della aureola del Patriarca, della cui Regola fu l'interprete più pronto.

Resta da accennare al fatto che San Placido, invocato per tutto l'Alto Medioevo come Confessore,  venne trasformato in Martire alla fine dell'XI secolo. Un fantasioso biografo compose infatti un falso racconto della sua Passione, sofferta in Sicilia, per opera dei Saraceni. Ma è un'invenzione che contrasta non soltanto con la realtà storica, ma anche con il carattere stesso della santità di Placido, che preferiamo immaginare sempre umile e obbediente, pacifico e nascosto.

Fonte:
Archivio Parrocchia