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.
|
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
Pape : Vigile.
" Combattons énergiquement, afin que Dieu nous couronne pour l'éternité."
Saint Bonaventure. Serm. XII Pentec.
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.
- 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.
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.
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.
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 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
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.
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
|