October
5, 2015: Feast of St. Placid and Companions, Martyrs
From The Liturgical Year, Dom Gueranger
The
following lessons, taken from the monastic breviary, give the account of
Placid’s life, 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 a simple, to the universal Church.
Placid, 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 Maurus, who at the command of
the holy father ran dry-shod over the water. Later on he accompanied St.
Benedict to Monte Casino. At the age of twenty-one, 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 harbour, 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 behaviour;
while he surpassed everyone in prudence, gravity, kindness, and 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 milk-meat. 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 neighbourhood, but also from Etruria and Africa. But Placid,
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 made a sudden incursion, and seized upon Placid
and his thirty monks while they were singing the night Office in the church. At
the same time were taken Eutychius and Victorinus, Placid’s brothers, and his
sister the virgin Flavia, who had all 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 the smoke, and then
handed her over to be dishonoured. 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 Placid, the virgin’s brother, who tried to convince
him of the vanity of his idols; Manucha there upon 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 Placid, 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 Placid’s
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 of October,
in the year of salvation five hundred and thirty-nine. 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.
Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die,
itself remaineth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. As
heretofore the blood of martyrs was the seed of Christians, it now produced a
rich harvest of monks. Blessed be thou, O Placid, far beyond thy native Italy,
and Sicily the scene of thy combat. Blessed be thou for the numberless ears of
corn, for the _ abundant harvest sprung from the choice grain that fell to the
earth on this day: faith bids us see in thy immolation the secret of the
success granted to the monastic mission of Maurus. Thus, despite the great
diversity and the unequal length of your paths in life, you are ever united in
the heart of your master and father. At the appointed hour he did not hesitate
before the holocaust our Lord required of him; wherefore, he now in heaven
beholds the fulfilment of the hopes he had centered in his two beloved sons.
Deign,
O Placid, to continue thy interest in the extension of Christ’s reign upon
earth, in the progress of the perfect life in the Church, in the diffusion
throughout the world of the monastic family, whereof thou art the glory.
Noviciates especially are confided to thee: remembering the blessed education
thou wast privileged to receive, watch over the aspirants to the ‘better part’.
To them above all is applied the Gospel saying: Unless you become as little
children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,2 that kingdom of heaven,
which consists in the anticipated possession of God here on earth, in the life
of union attained by the way of the counsels. May they reproduce before the
angels thy humble and sweet simplicity; and show their gratitude for the
maternal solicitude of their holy Order by the same filial docility wherewith
thou didst respond to the holy legislator’s special tenderness. May they, in
spite of the world’s opposition, increase in numbers and in merit, for the
honour of God! The trials of the present must prepare the monastic Order, and
indeed the whole religious state, for the trials of the future. It is around
the monks that the martyrs of the last days will gather, as around thee
assembled the Christians of Messina, and thy two brothers, and the heroic
Flavia, so truly worthy to be doubly thy sister. May the chosen flock increase,
and be ever united; so as to be able to say with one voice to the persecutors
both present and future: ‘Do what you mean to do; for we are all of one mind, one
faith, one manner of life.’
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