De sancto Clemente
The Name and Noble Origins of Clement
The chapter introduces Clement through the etymology of his name and the tragic dispersion of his noble Roman family.
Clemens: the name comes from 'cleos,' meaning glory, and 'mens,' meaning a glorious mind. He possessed a glorious mind—one cleansed of all filth, adorned with every virtue, and now decorated with every happiness. As Augustine says in his book On the Trinity, this happiness consists in the fact that there our being will not know death, our knowing will not know error, and our loving will not know offense. Alternatively, it comes from 'clementia' (clemency), because he was very kind and merciful. Or, as the glossary says, Clemens is called sweet, just, mature, and pious: just in action, sweet in speech, mature in conduct, and pious in intention. He included his own life story in his itinerary, specifically up to the point where it shows how he succeeded the blessed Peter in the pontificate. The rest is taken from his commonly accepted deeds. Bishop Clemens was born into a noble Roman family. His father was named Faustinianus, his mother was Macidiana, and he had two brothers named Faustinus and Faustus. Because his mother, Macidiana, possessed such wonderful physical beauty, her husband's brother burned with a fierce, lustful love for her.
The Long Separation and Divine Reunion
Clement's family is scattered by tragedy and reunited through the providential ministry of Saint Peter.
Since he bothered her daily, and she was unwilling to give in to him at all, yet feared to reveal this to her husband lest she stir up enmity between the two brothers, she thought of staying away from her homeland for a time until the illicit love—which the sight of her presence was inflaming—might quiet down. To get her husband to agree to this, she cleverly concocted a dream, which she reported to him in this way: 'Look, someone stood before me in a vision and commanded me to leave the city immediately with our two twins, Faustinus and Faustus, and to stay away until he himself commanded my return; if I didn't do this, I would die along with our two children.' Hearing this, the husband was terrified and sent his wife, along with the two children and a large household, to Athens, so that she might stay there and have the sons educated; however, the father kept the younger child, Clement, who was five years old, with him for comfort. But when she realized she could find neither the living nor the dead, she gave out great cries and wails, tore at her own hands with her teeth, and would accept no consolation from anyone. And though many women stood by to tell her of their own misfortunes, she found no comfort in them; among them, however, was a woman who claimed that her own husband, a young sailor, had perished at sea, and because of her love for him, she had refused to marry again. Having received whatever small comfort she could, she stayed with that woman and earned her daily bread with her own hands; but not long after, her hands, which she had lacerated with frequent bites, became so devoid of feeling and movement that she could no longer work with them at all. The woman who had taken her in then suffered a stroke and could not rise from her bed, so Macidiana was forced to beg, and she herself was fed by the woman who had hosted her from whatever she could find. A year after Macidiana had left her homeland with the children, her husband sent messengers to Athens to find them and report on how they were doing. But those who were sent never returned. Finally, after he had sent others who returned reporting they had found no trace of them, he left his son Clement in the care of guardians and boarded a ship himself to search for his wife and children, but he didn't return either. For twenty years, Clement remained bereft, unable to find any trace of his father, mother, or brothers. Clement himself, however, devoted his life to the study of letters and reached the very pinnacle of philosophy. Yet he longed intensely and searched diligently to find how he might be convinced of the immortality of the soul. For this reason, he constantly attended the schools of the philosophers; he would rejoice if it were maintained that the soul was immortal, but if it were concluded that it was mortal, he would leave in sadness. Finally, when Barnabas arrived in Rome and began preaching the faith of Christ, the philosophers mocked him as a madman and a fool. Consequently, a certain man—who according to some was Clement the philosopher—who at first had mocked him like the others and despised his preaching, posed a question to Barnabas in mockery, saying: 'Since a gnat is such a tiny creature, why is it that it has six feet and also possesses wings, while an elephant, though it is a huge animal, has no wings and only four feet?' Barnabas replied to him: 'Fool, I could easily answer your question if you seemed to be asking to learn the truth. But as it is, it's absurd for me to speak to you about creatures, since you don't know the Creator of those creatures; because you don't know the Creator, it's only right that you should be mistaken about the creatures.' This word struck the heart of Clement the philosopher deeply, so that, having been instructed by Barnabas, he received the faith of Christ and later hurried to Peter in Judea, who instructed him further in the faith of Christ and clearly taught him the immortality of the soul. At that time, Simon Magus had two disciples, Aquila and Nicetas, who recognized his deceptions, left him, fled to Peter, and became his disciples. When Peter asked Clement about his family, he explained in order what had happened to his mother, brothers, and father, adding that he believed his mother and brothers had perished at sea, and that his father had died either of grief or in a similar shipwreck. Hearing this, Peter couldn't hold back his tears. At one point, Peter traveled with his disciples to Antandrus and from there to an island six miles away, where Clement’s mother, Macidiana, was staying, and where there were some glass columns of amazing size. Peter and the others were admiring these, and seeing her begging, he rebuked her for not working with her own hands instead. She replied, 'I only have the appearance of hands, sir; they have been so weakened by my own biting that they have become completely numb, and I wish I had thrown myself into the sea so that I wouldn't have to live any longer.' Peter asked her, 'Why are you saying that?' 'Don't you know that the souls of those who kill themselves are severely punished?' She replied, 'If only I could be certain that souls live on after death! I would gladly kill myself if I could at least see my sweet children for one hour.' When Peter asked her the reason for such great sadness and she had told him the whole story of what had happened, Peter said, "There is a young man with us named Clement who claims that these things you're describing happened to his mother and brother." Hearing this, she was so overwhelmed with amazement that she collapsed. When she came to, she said through her tears, "I am that young man's mother," and falling at Peter's feet, she begged him to show her her son right away. Peter told her, "When you see the young man, keep it to yourself for a little while until we've left the island by ship." When she promised she would, Peter took her by the hand and led her to the ship where Clement was. But when Clement saw Peter leading a woman by the hand, he began to laugh. But as soon as the woman was near Clement, she couldn't hold back; she immediately rushed into his arms and began to kiss him repeatedly. He, however, pushed her away in indignation, as if she were a madwoman, and was quite angry with Peter. Peter said to him, "What are you doing, my son Clement?" "Don't push away your mother." When Clement heard this, he was overcome with tears, fell upon his mother as she lay there, and began to recognize her. Then, at Peter's command, his hostess, who had been lying there paralyzed, was brought forward and was immediately healed by him. Then his mother asked Clement about his father. He replied, "He went off to look for you and never came back." Hearing this, she only sighed; for while she had great joy at finding her son, she was still nursing her other sorrows. Meanwhile, when Nicetas and Aquila returned and saw the woman with Peter, they asked who she was. Clement told them, "She is my mother, whom God has given back to me through my master, Peter." After this, Peter explained everything to them in order. When Nicetas and Aquila heard this, they suddenly stood up, stunned and troubled, saying, "Master, Lord God, is this true, or is what we're hearing just a dream?" Peter said, "My sons, we aren't crazy; this is the truth." But they, rubbing their faces, said, "We are Faustinus and Faustus, whom our mother thinks perished at sea." And they ran to their mother, threw themselves into her arms, and kept kissing her. But she asked, "What does this mean?" Peter replied, "These are your sons, Faustinus and Faustus, whom you thought had perished at sea." Hearing this, the mother collapsed, overcome by such immense joy that she seemed beside herself; then, coming to her senses, she said, "I beg you, my dearest sons, tell me how you escaped." They answered, "When the ship broke apart and we were carried on a plank, some pirates found us and took us into their boat. They changed our names and sold us to a respectable widow named Justina, who treated us like her own sons and had us educated in the liberal arts. Eventually, we devoted ourselves to philosophy and attached ourselves to a certain magician named Simon who had been raised with us. But once we realized his deception, we left him entirely and became disciples of Peter through Zacchaeus." The following day, Peter took the three brothers—Clement, Aquila, and Nicetas—down to a more secluded place for the sake of prayer. A certain venerable, yet poor, old man began to speak to them, saying, "I pity you, brothers, for I see that under the guise of piety you are gravely mistaken. For there is no God, nor is there any worship here, nor is there any providence in the world; rather, blind chance and fate govern everything, as I myself have clearly discovered, having been educated in the discipline of mathematics more than others. Do not be deceived, therefore; for whether you pray or not, what your fate contains will be yours." Clement, however, looked at him and felt a stirring in his heart, as if he had seen him somewhere before. When Clement, Aquila, and Nicetas had debated with him for a long time at Peter's command and had demonstrated providence through clear reasoning, they kept calling him 'father' out of reverence. Aquila then said, "Why is it necessary that we call him 'father,' when we have the command to call no one on earth 'father'?" After this, he looked at the old man and said, "Do not take offense, father, that I corrected my brother for calling you 'father,' for we have a command not to call anyone by that name." When Aquila said this, the whole group standing by, along with the old man and Peter, laughed. When he asked the reason for the laughter, Clement said to him, "Because you are doing the very thing you blame others for, by calling the old man 'father.'" But he denied it, saying, "I truly do not know if I called him 'father.'" But when there had been enough discussion about providence, the old man said, "I would certainly believe that providence exists, but my own conscience prevents me from agreeing. I know my own fate and that of my wife, and I know that what fate dictated for each of us has come to pass. Listen to my wife's horoscope, and you will find the configuration whose outcome has occurred. She had Mars with Venus at the center, and the moon in the west in the house of Mars and the bounds of Saturn. This configuration, of course, makes women adulterous, causes them to love their own servants, to travel abroad, and to die in the water—which is exactly what happened." She fell in love with a servant, and fearing danger and disgrace, she fled with him and perished at sea.
The Trial of Faith and the Magician's Deception
Simon Magus attempts to discredit Peter by impersonating Clement's father, but the truth is revealed through Peter's authority.
For, as my brother reported, he first fell in love with her, but when she refused to return his feelings, he turned that love into a slave to his own lust; yet he isn't to be blamed for it, because his destiny forced him to act that way. He also told how he had made up the dream, and how he had perished in a shipwreck while traveling to Athens with his children; and when his sons wanted to rush at him and reveal the truth, Peter stopped them, saying, "Wait until I give the word." Peter said to him, "If I can produce your chaste wife and your three sons for you today, will you believe that destiny is nothing?" He replied, "Just as it's impossible for you to show what you've promised, so it's impossible for anything to happen outside of destiny." Peter said to him, "Look, this is your son Clement, and these two are your twins, Faustinus and Faustus." Then the old man's limbs went limp, and he collapsed, appearing lifeless. His sons rushed to him and kissed him, fearing he might not be able to breathe again. Finally, coming to his senses, he heard the whole story of how everything had happened, in order. Then, suddenly, his wife arrived and began to cry out in tears, "Where is my husband and my lord?" As she was crying this out like a woman out of her mind, the old man ran up and began to embrace and hold her tight with many tears; while they were still together, a messenger arrived reporting that Apion and Anubion, close friends of Faustinianus, were staying with Simon the magician. Faustinianus was very happy about their arrival and went to visit them, but then a messenger came to report that an official of Caesar had arrived in Antioch to search for all magicians and punish them with death. Then Simon the magician, out of hatred for the sons who had left him, imprinted the likeness of his own face onto Faustinianus, so that everyone would think he was Simon the magician, not Faustinianus. He did this so that he would be seized and killed by Caesar's officials in his place. Simon himself, however, left the area. When Faustinianus returned to Peter and his sons, the sons were terrified by the face of Simon as they looked at him, even while hearing the voice of their own father. Only Peter was able to see his natural face, and when his sons and wife shrank away from him and cursed him, he said to them, "Why do you curse and shrink away from your own father?" They replied that they were avoiding him because Simon the Magician's face appeared on him. For Simon had prepared a certain ointment and had anointed his face with it, and by magical art had impressed his own likeness upon him. He therefore lamented and said, 'What has happened to me in my misery, that I was recognized by my wife and children in a single day, yet could not rejoice with them?' His wife, with her hair disheveled, and his children wept bitterly. Now Simon the Magician, while he was still in Antioch, had slandered Peter greatly, calling him a sorcerer, a criminal, and a murderer; indeed, he had stirred up the people against Peter to such an extent that they were desperate to find him and tear his flesh with their teeth. Peter therefore said to Faustinianus, 'Since you appear to be Simon the Magician, go to Antioch, defend me before all the people, and retract everything that Simon said about me in his own person. After this, I will come to Antioch, and I will drive this alien face from you and restore your own face before everyone.' However, it is by no means to be believed that the blessed Peter commanded anyone to lie, since God has no need of our falsehood. Therefore, the 'Travels of Clement,' in which these things are written, is an apocryphal book and should not, as some would like, be accepted in such matters. Nevertheless, it can be said that Peter, if his words are carefully considered, did not say it for his own sake—as if to say he himself was Simon the Magician—but rather to show the people the face superimposed upon him, so that he might commend Peter while in the person of Simon and retract the evils he had spoken. And he said that he was Simon, not in truth, but in appearance; hence what Faustinianus said later: 'I, Simon, etc.' This should be understood this way: as far as appearances go, I seem to be Simon. Simon was, therefore, a pretender. Faustinianus, Clement's father, went to Antioch and, calling the people together, said: 'I, Simon, announce to you and confess that I have been wrong about Peter; he is by no means a deceiver or a magician, but was sent for the salvation of the world.' Therefore, if I say anything against him from now on, you should reject me as a deceiver and a sorcerer; I'm now doing penance because I realize that I spoke wrongly. I advise you, therefore, to believe him, so that you and your city don't perish together.' When he had finished everything Peter had commanded and had already stirred up the people to love Peter, Peter came to him and, after a prayer, completely removed the likeness of Simon's face from him. The people of Antioch, however, received Peter kindly and with great honor, and raised him to the cathedra. Hearing this, Simon went there and, calling the people together, said: 'I'm amazed that, although I instructed you with healthy teachings and warned you to beware of the deceiver Peter, you haven't only listened to him, but have even raised him to the episcopal cathedra.' Then they all said to him with fury: 'You're like a monster to us; three days ago you said you were doing penance, and now you're trying to ruin both yourself and us.' And attacking him, they immediately drove him out in disgrace. Clement narrates all these things about himself in his book, where he included this story. After this, however, when Peter had come to Rome and saw that his passion was imminent, he ordained Clement as bishop after him. When Peter, the prince of the apostles, had died, Clement—a prudent man—feared for the future, lest anyone, following this example, might want to appoint a successor for himself in the Church and possess the sanctuary of the Lord as an inheritance; so he yielded to Linus and later to Cletus. Some assert that Linus and Cletus weren't supreme pontiffs, but only coadjutors of the apostle Peter, for which reason they deserved to be counted in the catalog of pontiffs.
Episcopal Ministry and Martyrdom
Clement serves as bishop in Rome and later in exile, where he performs miracles before his martyrdom at sea.
After them, Clement was chosen and compelled to preside; he was so adorned with virtue that he was pleasing to Jews, Gentiles, and all Christian peoples alike. He kept a list of the needy in every province and wouldn't allow those he had cleansed through the sanctification of baptism to be subjected to public begging. After he had consecrated the virgin Domitilla, niece of the Emperor Domitian, with the sacred veil, and had converted Theodora, wife of the Emperor’s friend Sisinnius, to the faith—and she had promised to remain in her resolve of chastity—Sisinnius, driven by jealousy, secretly entered the church after his wife, wanting to know why she frequented it so often. But a prayer was offered by Saint Clement and a response given by the people. Then Sisinnius was struck completely blind and deaf, and he immediately said to his servants, "Quickly, pick me up and take me outside." The servants led him in circles around the church, but they couldn't even reach the doors. When Theodora saw them wandering like that, she first turned away, thinking her husband might recognize her. But later, wondering what was going on, she asked them, and they said, "Our master, because he wanted to see and hear what is not permitted, has been made blind and deaf." Then she gave herself to prayer, begging that her husband might be able to leave, and after the prayer, she said to the servants, "Go now and lead your master home." Once they had left, Theodora told Saint Clement what had happened. Then the saint, at Theodora's request, came to him and found him with his eyes open but seeing nothing, and hearing absolutely nothing. When Clement had prayed for him and he had regained his hearing and sight, he saw Clement standing next to his wife and was driven mad, suspecting he had been deluded by magic arts. He ordered his servants to seize Clement, saying, "He blinded me with magic arts so he could get to my wife." He ordered his ministers to bind Clement and drag him away. But they, while binding columns and stones lying about, thought—as it also seemed to Sisinnius—that they were dragging and binding Saint Clement and his clerics. Then Clement said to Sisinnius, "Because you call stones gods, you have earned the right to drag stones." He, however, truly believing him to be bound, said, "I'm going to have you put to death." Clement, however, leaving that place, asked Theodora not to cease from prayer until the Lord visited her husband. As Theodora was praying, therefore, the Apostle Peter appeared to her and said, "Through you, your husband will be saved, so that what my brother Paul said may be fulfilled: the unbelieving husband will be saved through the believing wife"; and saying this, he departed. Immediately Sisinnius called his wife to him, begging her to pray for him and to call Saint Clement to him. When he arrived, he instructed him in the faith and baptized him along with 313 people from his household. Through this Sisinnius, however, many nobles and friends of the Emperor Nerva believed in the Lord. Then the count of the sacred largesses gave money to many and stirred up a great sedition against Saint Clement. Then Mamertinus, the prefect of the city, unable to bear the great sedition of the people, had Clement brought to him; and when he reproved him and attempted to sway him to his side, he said, "I would wish for you to come to reason, for if many dogs bark against us and bite us, they can never take away from us the fact that we are rational humans and they are irrational dogs; and a sedition stirred up by the ignorant shows that it has nothing certain or true." Mamertinus then wrote to the Emperor Trajan and received this reply: he must either offer sacrifice or be sent into exile across the sea to the wilderness near the city of Cherson. The prefect then said to Clement with tears, "May your God, whom you worship with a pure heart, help you." The prefect gave him a ship and provided all the necessities, and many clergy and laypeople followed him into exile. Upon arriving at the island, he found more than two thousand Christians who had long ago been condemned to cut marble; when they saw Saint Clement, they immediately burst into weeping and tears. He comforted them, saying, "It isn't for my merits that the Lord has sent me to you to become the leader of your crown." When he learned from them that they were carrying water on their shoulders from six miles away, he said, "Let us all pray to our Lord Jesus Christ that He may open a spring and veins of water for His confessors here. May He who struck the rock in the desert of Sinai so that waters flowed in abundance grant us a flowing stream, that we may rejoice in His benefits." When he finished his prayer and looked around, he saw a lamb standing there, which with its foot raised seemed to be pointing out the place to the bishop. Understanding that it was the Lord Jesus Christ whom he alone could see, he went to the spot and said, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and..." "...of the Holy Spirit, strike in this place." But since there was no water where the lamb had stood, he took a small shovel and, with a light strike, hit the ground beneath the lamb's foot; a great spring erupted immediately and grew into a river. Then, as everyone rejoiced, Saint Clement said, "The river's currents make glad the city of God." Many flocked there because of this news. In a single day, five hundred or more received baptism from him, and they destroyed the temples of the idols, building seventy-five churches throughout the province within one year. Three years later, however, the Emperor Trajan—who had begun his reign in the year of our Lord 106—heard of this and sent a leader there. When this leader saw that everyone was willing to die, he gave in to the crowd and threw only Clement into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck, saying, "Now the Christians won't be able to worship him as a god anymore." While the whole crowd stood on the seashore, Cornelius and Phoebus, his disciples, instructed everyone to pray that the Lord would reveal the body of His martyr. Immediately the sea receded for three miles, and everyone walked across on dry land and found a shrine prepared by God in the manner of a marble temple, and there, in a chest, was the body of Saint Clement, with the anchor beside it. However, it was revealed to his disciples that they should not remove his body from that place. Every year, at the time of his passion, the sea recedes for seven days for three miles and provides a dry path for those who come.
The Miraculous Preservation and Translation of Relics
The memory of Clement is preserved through miraculous signs at his tomb and the eventual translation of his relics to Rome.
On one of the feast days, a woman came to the site with her young son. When the feast day ceremonies ended and the boy had fallen asleep, the sound of rushing water suddenly broke out; the woman, terrified and forgetting her son, fled to the bank with the rest of the crowd. After a year, when the sea had opened up, she hurried back to the place, hoping to find some trace of her son. After she finished praying before the tomb of Saint Clement and stood up, she saw the child in the same spot where she had left him sleeping. Thinking he was dead, she approached, intending to pick up his lifeless body, but when she realized he was just sleeping, she quickly lifted him up, safe and sound, before the eyes of the people and asked where he had been all that year. He replied that he didn't know a whole year had passed, but thought he had only been sleeping peacefully for one night. Saint Ambrose says in his preface: when the most wicked persecutor was forced by the devil to punish blessed Clement, he did not bring him torment, but triumph. The martyr was thrown into the waves to be drowned, and from this he arrived at his reward, just as his master Peter arrived at heaven. Christ, approving the hearts of both in the waves, called Clement back from the deep to the palm of victory, and lifted Peter to the heavenly kingdoms in the same element so he would not drown. Leo, Bishop of Ostia, reports that during the time when Emperor Michael was ruling the empire in New Rome, a priest named Philosophus—who had been called that since childhood because of his great intellect—came to Cherson. When he asked the inhabitants about the stories told in the history of Clement, they admitted they didn't know, as they were newcomers rather than natives. For the miracle of the receding sea had long since ceased due to the sins of the inhabitants, and because of the incursions of barbarians, the temple had been destroyed during the time of the sea's recession, and the chest with the body had been buried by the sea's waves, as the sins of the inhabitants demanded. Amazed by this, the Philosopher approached a small town called Georgia, where he went to the bishop, clergy, and people to seek the sacred relics on the island where they believed the martyr’s body lay; digging with hymns and prayers, they found the body and the anchor with which it had been cast into the sea, and they carried it to Cherson. The philosopher then brought the body of Saint Clement to Rome, and after many miracles occurred in the church now known as Saint Clement’s, the body was honorably placed there. However, it is read in a certain chronicle that the sea was dried up at that place by blessed Cyril, Bishop of the Moravians, and the body was translated to Rome.
Read the original Latin
Clemens: dicitur a cleos, quod est gloria, et mens, quasi gloriosa mens, Habuit enim gloriosam mentem, scilicet purgatam ab omni sorde, ornatam omni virtute et decoratam nunc omni felicitate; quae felicitas consistitin hoc, sicutdicit Augustinus in libro de trinitate, quia ibi esse nostrum non habebit mortem, nosse nostrum non habebit errorem, amare nostrum non habebit offensionem. Vel dicitur a clementia, quia clemens et misericors valde fuit. Vel, sicut dicitur in glossario, Clemens dicitur dulcis, justus, maturus, pius, Justus in actione, dulcis in sermone, maturus in conversatione, pius in intentione. Ejus vitam ipse in sno itinerario inseruit maxime usque ad illum locum, in quo, qualiter beato Petro in pontificatu successit, ostenditur. Caetera ex ejus gestis, quae communiter habentur, sumuntur. — Clemens episcopus ex nobili Romanorum prosapia ortus est. Pater ejus Faustinianus, mater vero ejus Macidiana nuncupata est, habuitque duos fratres, quorum unus Faustinus, alter Faustus dicebatur. Cumque Macidiana mater ejus mira corporis pulchritudine polleret, frater viri sui libidinoso amore in eam vehementer exarsit.
Cum autem eam quotidie molestaret et ipsa sibi nullatenus assentire vellet viroque suo hoc revelare timeret, ne inter duos fratres inimicitias suscitaret, cogitavit per aliquod tempus se a patria absentare, donec illicitus amor conquiesceret, quem adspectus presentiae inflammaret. Ut antem hoc a viro suo obtinere posset, somnium valde confinxit callide, quod in hunc modum viro retulit dicens: ecce quidam mihi per visum adstitit mihi praecipiens, ut confestim cum duobus geminis, scilicet Faustino et Fausto, ex urbe discederem et tamdiu abessem, donec ipse mihi reditum imperaret, quod si non facerem, simul cum duobus liberis interirem, Quod vir audiens vehementer expavit ac uxorem cum duobüs liberis et familia multa Athenas misit, ut et ibi maneret et filios faceret erudiri, minorem autem filiam, scilicet Clementem, cum esset annorum quinque, sibi pater in solatium retinuit, Cum antem mater cum filiis navigaret, nocte quadam navis naufragium pertulit et mater sine filiis a fluctibus ejecta super quoddam saxum evasit, quae duos natos periisse considerans prae nimio dolore in maris fundum se praecipitasset, nisi quia eorum cadavera se repertaram sperabat. At vero, ubi nec vivos nec mortuos se reperire posse cognovit, clamores et ululatus maximos dabat, manus suas morsibus lacerabat nec ullam consolationem ab aliquo recipere volebat. Cumque multae mulieres adstarent, quae sua infortunia eidem narrarent et illa ex hoc consolationem non reciperet, affuit quaedam mulier inter caeteras, quae virum suum adolescentem et nautam in mari periisse asseruit et ob hoo sni amorem postmodum nubere recusavit. Recepta igitur qualicumque consolatione apud ipsam manebat et quotidianum vietum suis manibus acquirebat, sed non multo post manus ejus, quas crebris morsibus laceraverat, sine sensu etmotu adeo sunt effectae, ut cum ipsis nullatenus operari posset, llla autem, quae eam susceperat, paralisin incurrit et de lecto surgere non valebat sicque Macidiana mendicare- compellitur et ipsa eum hospita ex his, quae invenire poterat, pascebatur. Completo igitur anno, quo Macidiana cum liberis discessit e patria, misit Athenas nuntios vir ejus, ut ipsos requirerent et, quid agerent, intimarent. Sed illi, qui missi fuerant, nullatenus redierunt. Denique cum alios misisset et illi revertentes se nullum inde vestigium reperisse narrarent, Clementem filium suum sub tutoribus dereliquit et )ipse ad quaerendum uxorem cum filiis navem conscendit, sed minime rediit.
Viginti igitur annis Glemens orbatus stetit nec de patre vel de matre vel de fratribus aliquod indicium invenire potuit. Ipse autem Clemens studio litterarum se contulit et summum philosophiae apicem apprehendit. Desiderabat autem vehementer et studiose quaerebat, qualiter sibi animae immortalitas persuaderi posset. Ob hoc philosophorum Scholas semper adibat et siquidem, quod immortalis esset, obtinebatur, gaudebat, si quando vero, quod mortalis esset, concludebatar, tristis discedebat. Denique cum Barnabas Romam venisset et fidem Christi praedicaret, philosophi eum tamquam insanum et amentem deridebant. Unde et quidam, qui secundum quosdam fuit Clemens philosophus, qui eum primo sicut alii deridebat et ejus praedicationem contemnebat, talem quaestionem pro derisu Barnabae fecit dicens: cum culex animal sit exiguum, quid est, quod sex pedes habet et insuper alas possidet, elephas autem, cum sit immane animal, nec alas possidet et tantum quatuor pedes habel? Cui Barnabas: stulte, tuae quaestioni respondere perfacile possem, si veritatis causa discendae quaerere videreris, sed nunc de creaturis vobis dicere aliquid absurdum est, cum a vobis creaturarum conditor ignoretur; quia enim creatorem non cognoscitis, justum est, ut in creaturis erretis. Hoc verbum cordi Clementis philosophi valde inhaesit, ita quod fidem Christi instructus a Barnaba recepit et in Judacam ad Petrum postmodum properavit, quem ille de fide Christi instruxit et animae immortalitatem evidenter edocuit.
Eo tempore Symon magus duos discipulos habebat, scilicet Aquilam et Nicetam, qui ejus fallacias agnoscentes eum reliquerunt et ad Petrum confugerunt et ejus discipuli sunt effecti, Cum autem Petrus Clementem de sua interrogasset progenie, ille, quid matri et fratribus et patri acciderit, per ordinem enarravit addens, quod credebat, quod mater cum fratribus in mari periissent, pater vero aut moerore aut similiter naufragio interiisset. Quod audiens Petrus laerymas continere non potuit. Quadam autem vice Petrus um discipulis suis !) Antandrum et inde ad insulam per sex milliaria distantem, in qua Macidiana mater Clementis morabatur, venit, ubi quaedam columnaevitreae mirae magnitudinis erant. Quas cum Petrus cum caeteris miraretur, videns ipsam mendicantem, enr non potius suis manibus operaretur, increpavit, Quae respondit: speciem tantum, domine, habeo manuum, quae meis sic sunt dobilitatae morsibus, ut omnino sint insensibiles effectae, atque utinam me in mare praecipitassem, ut ultra non viverem. Cui Petrus: quid est, quod loqueris? nescis, quia animae eorum, qui se interimunt, graviter puniuntur? Cui illa: utinam hoc mihi certum fieret, quod animae post mortem vivant, libenter enim me ipsam occiderem, ut saltem una hora dulces meos natos videre possem.
Cumque Petrus ab ea causam tantae tristitiae interrogasset et illa ei ordinem gestae rei narrasset, ait Petrus: est quidam adolescens apud nos, nomine Clemens, qui haec, quae refers, matri et fratri asserit accidisse. Quod illa audiens nimio stupore percussa corruit, cumque ad semet ipsam rediisset, cum lacrymis ait: ego sum adolescentis mater, et procidens ad pedes Petri rogare eum coepit, ut sibi filium suum festinanter ostendere dignaretur. Cui Petrus: cum adolescentem videris, paullulum dissimula, quousque ab insula cum navi egrediamur. Qaod cum illa se facturam promisisset, tenens Petrus manum ejus ipsam ad navem, ubi erat Clemens, ducebat, Videns vero Clemens Petrum manu- mulierem ducentem ridere coepit. Mox autem, ut mulier juxta Clementem fuit, se continere non potuit, sed statim in amplexus ejus ruit et crebro osculari coepit. Quam ille tamquam insanientem mulierem cnm indignatione repellebat et adversus Petrum indignatione non modica movebatur, Cui Petrus: quid agis, o fili Clemens? noli repellere matrem tuam, Quod cum audivisset Clemens, laerymis infusus super matrem jacentem concidit et eam recognoscere coepit. Tunc ad praeceptum Petri hospita sua, quae paralitica jacebat, adducitur et ab eo continuo liberatur.
Tunc mater Clementem de patre interrogavit. Cui ille: ad te quaerendum ivit et ultra non rediit. At illa audiens solummodo suspiravit, grande enim pro filio invento gaudinm habens reliquos consolabatur moerores, Interea cum Nicetas et Aquila deessent et redeuntes mulierem eum Petro vidissent, quaenam sit haec mulier, percunctantur. Quibus Clemens ait: mater mea est, quam mihi Deus redonavit per dominum meum Petrum. Post haec Petrus omnia iis per ordinem enarravit. Quae cum audivissent Nicetas et Aquila, subito surrexerunt et obstupefacli conturbari coeperunt dicentes: dominator domine Deus, verane sunt haec an somnium est, quod audivimus? Tano Petrus: fili, non, inquit, nos insanimus, sed haec vera sunt, At illi faciem confricantes ajunt: nos sumus Faustinus et Faustus, quos mater nostra aestimat in mari interiisse. Et aecurrentes in complexas matris ruunt et eam crebrius oscnlantu.
At illa ait: quid vult hoc esse? Ad quam Petrus: isti sunt filii tui Faustinus et Faustus, quos in mari periisse putabas. Hacc audiens mater prae nimio gaudio velut amens effecta corruit et post ad se reversa ait: obsecro vos, dulcissimi filii, narrate mihi, quomodo evasistis, Qui responderunt: cum navis fuisset resoluta et nos super quandam tabulam veheremgr, quidam piratae nos invenientes in suam naviculam posuerunt ac mutatis nominibus cnidam nos honestae viduae, Justinae nomine, vendiderunt, quae tamquam filios nos habuit et liberalibus artibus nos erudiri fecit; tandem philosophiae operam dedimus et Symoni cuidam mago nobiscum educato adhaesimus, cumque ejus fallaciam cognovissemus, ipsum omnino deseruimus et Petri discipuli per Zachaeum effecti sumus, Sequenti autem die assumtis Petrus tribus fratribus, scilicet Clemente, Aquila et Niceta, ad quendam secretiorem locum orationis gratia descendit, Quos venerandus quidam senex, sed tamen pauper alloqui coepit dicens: misereor vestri, fratres, qnia snb specie pietatis vos graviter errare considero, neque enim Deus est neque cultus hic aliquis est nec providentia in mundo, sed fortuitus casus et genesis omnia agunt, sicut et ego ex me ipso manifeste comperi, in disciplina mathesis prae caeteris eruditus; nolite ergo errare, sive enim oretis sive non, quod vestra genesis continet, vobis erit. Clemens autem in eum respiciens animo pulsabatur et sibi se eum alias vidisse videbatur, Cumque de mandato Petri Clemens, Aquila et Nicetas cum eo diutius disputassent et providentiam apertis rationibus ostendissent eumque ob reverentiam crebro patrem vocarent, dixit Aquila: quid necesse est, ut eum patrem vocemus, cum in mandatis habeamus neminem super,terram patrem vocare? Et post hoc respiciens ad senem ait: non injuriose accipias, pater, quod fratrem meum cnlpavi, quia te patrem vocavit; habemus enim tale mandatum, ne aliquem nomine isto vocemus. Cumque Aquila hoc dixisset, risit omnium adstantium coetus una cum sene et Petro, et cum ille causam risus inquireret, dixit ad eum Clemens: quia facis id, de quo alios culpas, senem patrem vocando, At ille negabat dicens: vere nescio, si eum patrem vocaverim. Verum eum satis de providentia disputatum esset, dixit senex: crederem utique, providentiam esse, sed a propria conscientia prohibeor, huic fidei accommodare consensum; novi enim meam et conjugis meae genesin et scio ea, quae unicuique nostrum dictabat genesis, accidisse; audite igitur conjugis meae thema et invenietis schema, cnjus exitus accidit, Habnit namqueMartem cum Venere super centrum, lunam vero in occasu in domo Martis et finibus Saturni ; quod scilicet schema adulteras facit et servos proprios amare et peregre proficisci et in aquis defungi, quod et factum est. Incidit namque in amorem servi et periculum atque opprobrium metuens cum ipso aufugit et in mari periit.
Nam, sicut frater meus retulit, ipsum primo adamavit, sed cum ipse assentire sibi nollet, in servum suae libidinis amorem retorsit, nec tamen ei imputandum est, quia eam genesis hoc facere compulit. Narravitque, quomodo somnium finxerit et quomodo cum liberis Athenas vadens naufragio perierit, Cumque filii vellent in eum irruere et rem aperire, prohibuit Petrus dicens: quiescite, quoadusque mihi placuerit. Dixitque ei Petrus: si hodie conjugem tuam castissimam cum tribus filiis tuis consignavero, credes, quia genesis nihil sit? Cui ille: sicut impossibile est te exhibere, quod promisisti, ita et impossibile est, extra genesin aliquid fieri. Dixitque ei Petrus: ecce -iste est filius tuus Clemens et hi duo gemini tui Faustinus et Faustus. Tunc senex resolutis membris cecidit et exanimis factus est. Filii autem irruentes in eum osculabantur verentes, ne spiritum revocare posset. Tandem ad se rediens omnia, ut acciderant, per ordinem audivit.
Tunc subito uxor advenit et cum lacrymis clamare coepit: ubi est vir meus et dominus meus? Haec cum illa quasi amens clamaret, senex cucurrit et cum multis lacrymis amplecti et stringere eam coepit, Dum igitur simul manerent, advenit quidam nuntians Apionem et Ambionem Faustiniani amicissimos cum Symone mago hospitari. De quorum adventu Faustinianus valde gavisus ad eos visitandos ivit et ecce nuntius venit, qui digeret, ministrum Caesaris Antiochiam advenisse, ut magos omnes quaereret et morte puniret. Tunc Symon magus in odium filiorum, qui ipsum reliquerant, vultus sui similitudinem in Faustinianum impressit, ut non Faustinianus, sed Symon magus ab omnibus putaretur. Hoc antem fecit, ut a ministris Caesaris loco sui teneretur ét occideretur. Ipse autem Symon de partibus illis abscessit. Cum antem Faustinianus ad Petrum et filios rediisset, expaverunt filii vultum Symonis, in enm intuentes, vocem autem patris sui audientes. Solus autem Petrus erat, qui vultum ejus naturalem videbat, cumque filii ejus et uxor i enm refugerent ct exsecrarentur, dicebat iis: cur exsecramini ct refugitis patrem vestrum?
Qui responderunt, qnod ideo eum fugerent, quia in eo vultus Symonis magi appareret. Confecerat enim Symon quoddam unguentum et faciem ejus perunxerat et vultum suum arte magica impresserat in eum. Ipse igitur lamentabatur et dicebat: quid mihi misero accidit, ut una die recognitus ab uxore et filiis laetari non potuerim cum iis? Uxor vero ejus sparsis crinibus et filii plurimum flebant. Symon autem magus, dum adhuc esset Antiochiae, Petrum plurimum infamaverat, magum maleficum et homicidam eum dicendo, denique in tantum adversus Petrum populum concitaverat, ut ipsum invenire plurimum affectarent, ut carnes ejus dentibus laniarent, Dixit ergo Petrus Faustiniano: quoniam quidem Symon magus esse videris, perge Antiochiam, coram omni populo me excusa ac ea, quae de me dixit Symon, ex persona sui retracta; post haec ego Antiochiam veniam et alienum hunc vultum a te effugabo et proprium vultum coram omnibus reddam. Hoc tamen nullo modo credendum est, quod beatus Petrus mentiri mandaverit, cum Deus non indigeat nostro mendacio. Ideo itinerariumn Clementis, in quo haec scripta sunt, liber apocryphus est nec, nt quibusdam placet, suscipiendus in talibus. Verumtamen dici potest, quod Petrus, si diligenter verba sua considerentur, non sibi dixit, ut Symonem magum esse se diceret, sed ut populo effigiem faciei superinductam ostendens Petrum cx persona Symonis commendaret et mala, quae dixerat, revocaret, Et ille dixit, se esse Symonem, non quantum ad veritatem, sed quantum ad apparentiam, unde quod dixit infra Faustinianus: ego Symon ete.
, sic debet accipi: id est, quantum ad apparentiam, videor esse Symon. Fuit ergo Symon, supple: putativus, Perrexit ergo Faustinianus pater Clementis Antiochiam et populum convocans dixit: ego Symon annuntio vobis et confiteor omnia fefellisse de Petro, nequaquam enim est seductor vel magus, sed ad salutem mundi missus. Quapropter, si de caetero aliquid contra ipsum dixero, tamquam seductorem et maleficum repellatis; nunc enim poenitentiam ago, quia male me dixisse cognosco. Moneo igitur vos, ut ipsi credatis, ne vos et civitas vestra insimul pereatis, Cumque haec omnia, quae Petrus jusserat, complevisset et jam in amorem Petri populum incitasset, Petrus ad eum venit et oratione facta effigiem vultus Symonis ab eo penitas effugavit, populus autem Antiochenus Petrum benigne et cum malto honore recepit ct ipsum in cathedra sublimavit. Qnod audiens Symon illuc perrexit et populum convocans ait: miror, quod, cum vos salubribus praeceptis instruxerim et a seductore Petro vos cavere monuerim, vos ipsum non solum audivistis, sed etiam episcopali cathedra sublimastis. Tuncomnes cum furore adversus eum dixerunt: monstro nobis similis es, nudius tertius te poenituisse dicebas et nunc te et nos praecipitare conaris, et impetum in eum facientes cum ignominia eum protinus expulerunt. Haec omnia Clemens in libro suo de se ipso narrat et hanc hystoriam ibidem inseruit, Post haec autem Petrus, cum Romam venisset et suam passionem imminere videret, Clementem post se episcopum ordinavit, Mortuo igitur principe apostolorum Petro Clemens vir providus praecavens in futurum, ne scilicet per hoc exemplum quilibet vellet sibi in ecclesia successorem statuere et hereditate sanctuarium domini possidere, Lino cessit et postmodum Cleto. Nonnulli asserunt, quod Linus ct Cletus non fuerunt summi pontifices, sed tantum Petri apostoli coadjutores, propter quod in catalogo pontificum meruerunt annumerari.
Post hos autem Clemens eligitur et praesidere compellitur, qui ita morum ornamento pollebat, ut Jndaeis et gentilibus et omnibus christianis populis complaceret. Singularum inopes provinciarum nominatim scriptos habebat, et quos baptismi sanctificatione mundaverat, non sinebat publicae fieri mendicitati subjectos, Cum itaque Domicillam virginem, neptem Domitiani jmperatoris, sacro velamine consecrasset et Theodoram uxorem Sisinnii amici imperatoris ad fidem convertisset et in castitatis proposito manere promitteret, Sisinnius zelo ductus ecclesiam post uxorem suam occulte intravit, scire volens, propter quod illa sic ecclesiam frequentaret. At vero a sancto Clemente oratio fusa est et a populo responsum est, Tum Sisinnius caecus et surdus penitus effectus est, qui statim pueris suis dixit: cito me tollite et foras educite, Pueri autem per totam ecclesiam eum girabant, sed et ad jannas pervenire non poterant. Quos cum vidisset Theodora sic errantes, primo quidem ab iis declinavit, putans, quod vir suus eum cognoscere posset, postmodum antem, quidnam hoc esset, eos interrogavit, qui dixerunt: dominus noster, dum vult videre et audire, quae non licet, caecus et surdus factus est, Tunc illa in orationem se dedit deprecans, ut vir suus inde exire posset, et post orationem dixit pueris: ite modo et perdncite dominum vestrum ad domum. Cumque abiissent, sancto Clementi Theodora, quid acciderit, indicavit. "Tunc sanctus rogatu Theodorae ad eum venit et ipsum invenit apertis oculis nil videntem et nìhil penitus audientem, cumque Clemens pro eo orasset et ille auditum et lumen recepisset, videns Clementem juxta uxorem suam stantem amens efficitur et se illusum magicis artibus suspicatur praecepitque servis suis, ut tenerent Clementem, dicens: ut ingrederetur ad uxorem meam, magicis artibus me excaecavit, Praecepitque ministris, ut Clementem ligarent et ligatum traherent. At illi ligantes columnas jacentes et saxa putabant, sicut etiam Sisinnio videbatur, quod sanctum Clementem cum suis clericis traherent et ligarent. Tunc Clemens Sisinnio ait: quia saxa Deos dicis, saxa trahere meruisti.
Ille autem vere eum ligatum existimans ail: ego te interfici faciam. Clemens antem inde abscedens Theodoram rogavit, ne ab oratione cessaret, donec virum suum dominus visitaret. Oranti igitur Theodorae Petrus apostolus apparuit dicens: per te vir tnus salvabitur, ut impleatur, quod dixit frater meus Paulus, salvabitur vir infidelis per mulierem fidelem, et hoc dicens abscessit. Statimque Sisinnius uxorem suam ad se vocavit obsecrans, ut pro sc oraret et sanctum Clementem ad se vocaret. Qui cum venisset, ipsum in fide instruxit et eum cum CCCXIII de domo sua baptizavit. Per hunc autem Sisinnium multi nobiles et amici Nervae imperatoris domino crediderunt. Tunc comes sacrorum pecuniam multis dedit et contra sanctum Clementem seditionem maximam excitavit. Tunc Mamertinus urbis praefectus populi seditionem maximam non ferens ad se Clementem adduci fecit, Quem cum redargueret et ad se inclinare attentaret, ille ait: optarem te ad rationem accedere, nam si canes multi contra nos latraverint et morsibus attrectaverint, nunquam hoc nobis auferre possunt, quod nos sumus rationabiles homines et ipsi sunt irrationabiles canes, seditio autem ab imperitis exorta ostendit se nihil habere certum vel verum.
Tunc Mamertinus de co Trajano imperatori scribens responsum accepit, quod aut sacrificaret aut trans pontum maris in eremo, quod adjacet civitati Tersonae, ipsum in exsilium mitteret, Tunc praefectus Clementi cum lacrymis ait: Deus tuus, quem pure colis, ipse te adjuvet. Praefectus autem ei navem tribuit et omnia necessaria ministravit, multi autem clerici et laici ipsum in exsilium sunt secati. Profectus autem in "insulam invenit ibi plus quam duo millia christianorum ibidem jamdudum ad secanda marmora damnatorum, qui sanctum Clementem videntes statim in fletum et lacrymas prorupernnt. Quos ille consolans ait: non meis meritis ad vos me misit dominus vestrae coronae principem me fieri. Et cum ab iis didicisset, quod a sexto milliario aquam suis humeris deportarent, dixit iis: oremus omnes dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, ut confessoribus suis fontem in isto loco ac venas aquae aperiat, et qui percussit petram in deserto Syna et fluxerunt aquae in abundantia, ipse nobis laticem affluentem ünpertiatur, ut de cjus beneficiis gratulemur. Cumque oratione facta hinc inde circumspiceret, vidit agnum stantem, qui pedeerecto quasi locum episcopo ostendebat. Et intelligens dominum Jesum Christum essc, quem solus ipse videbat, perrexit ad locum et dixit: in nomine patris et filii et. spiritus sancti in isto loco percutite.
Sed cum nullus in isto loco, in quo agnus steterat, contingeret, ipse accepto brevi sarculo levi ictu locnm sub pede agni percussit el statim maximus fons erupit et in fluvium crevit. Tunc universis gaudentibus sanctus Clemens ait: fluminis impetus laetificat civitatem Dei. Ad hanc famam multi confluxerunt. et una die quingenti et amplius ab eo baptisma susceperunt et ydolorum templa destruentes per totam provinciam intra annum unum LXXV ecclesias aedificaverunt. Post tres autem annos Trajanus imperator, qui coeperat anno domini CVI, hoc andiens quendam ducem illuc misit, qui, cum omnes libenter mori conspiceret, multitudini cessit et solum Clementem ligata ad collum ejus ancora in mare praecipitavit dicens: jam non poterunt ipsum pro Deo colere )christiani. Stante autem omni multitudine ad littus maris Cornelius et Phoebus discipuli ejus omnes orare praeceperunt, ut dominus corpus sui martiris dis monstraret, statimque mari per tria milliaria recedente omnes per siccum ingressi invenerunt in modum templi marmorei habitaulum a Deo paratum et ibi in archa corpus sancti Clementis et ancoram juxta emm. Revelatum est autem discipulis ejus, ne inde tollerent corpus ejus. Omni autem anno tempore passionis ejus per septem dies ad tria milliaria mare recedit et siccum iter advenientibus tribuit.
In: una autem sollemnitatum mulier cum filio suo parvulo ad locum accessit. Completis autem festivitatis sollemniis cum puer obdormiret, sonus inundantium aquarum subito factus est, mulier antem territa et filii sui oblita cum reliqua multitudine ad ripam aufugit, Quae postmodum filii memor cum ejulatu maximo flebat et nsque ad coelum lamentabiles voces dabat ac per littora clamans et ejulans discurrebat, si forte filii corpus a littoribus ejectum videret, sed cum in ea spes omnis deficeret, ad domum rediit et totum illum annum in fletu et moerore duxit. Post annum igitur aperto mari omnes anticipans ad locum concita venit, si de filio forte aliquod vestigium invenire posset. Cum ergo ante tumulum sancti Clementis se in orationem dedisset, surgens vidit infantem in loco, ubi cum reliquerat dormientem. — Aestimans antem eum esse defunctum, accessit propius, quasi collectura corpus exanime, sed cum eum dormientem cognovisset, excitatum velociter spectantibus populis incolumem in ulnis levavit et, ubinam per illum annum fuerit, requisivit. Ille autem se nescire respondit, Si annus integer praeterierat, sed tantum unius noctis spatio se suaviter dormivisse putabat. Ambrosius in praefatione sic ait: cum iniquissimus persecutor beatum Clementem poenis afficere a dyabolo cogeretur, non ei tormentum intulit, sed triumphum; jactatur ergo martir in fluctibus, ut mergeretur, et ex hoc pervenit ad praemium, unde Petrus magister ejus pervenit ad coelum, )Àmborum ergo in fluctibus Christus approbans mentes Clementem ad palmam victoriae de profundo revocat, Petrum ad coelestia regna, in eodem elemento ne mergeretur, elevat, Refert Lco Ostiensis episcopus, quod tempore, quo Michael imperatornovae Romae regebat imperium, sacerdos quidam nomine Philosophus, qui ob summum ingenium a pueritia fuerat sic vocatus, cum Tersonam pervenisset et de hís, quae narrantur in hystoria Clementis, habitatores interrogasset, quia advenae potius quam indigenae erant, se nescire professi sunt. Siquidem miraculum marini recessus ob culpam inhabitantium jamdiu cessaverat et ob incursum barbarorum tempore marini recessus venientium templum destructum fuerat et archa cum corpore marinis fluctibus obruta erat, exigentibus culpis inhabitantium.
Super quo miratus Philosophus ct accedens ad civitaculam, nomine Georgiam, 'eum episcopo et clero et populo accessit ad quaerendum sacras reliquias ad insulam, in qua aestimabant esse corpus martiris, Cum hymnis et orationibus fodientes divina revelatione invenerunt corpus et ancoram, cum qua fuerat in mare projectum, et deporlaverunt Tersonam. Deinde praedictus Philosophus cum corpore sancti Clementis Romam venit et multis ostensis miraculis in ecclesia, quae nunc dicitur sancti Clementis, honorifice corpus collocatum fuit. In quadam chronica autem le50 gitur, quod mari ab illo loco exsiccato a beato Cyrillo ) Moravarum episcopo Romam translatum est.
The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea) companion
Continue through all 240 chapters, one saint a day
Chosen Portion serves the Golden Legend as a daily portion on iOS, free, alongside the full Sub Rosa archive
The Legenda Aurea was organized for day-by-day use across the liturgical year, and Chosen Portion restores that original one-feast-per-day reading rhythm
- A complete saint's life or feast reading most days in 5-10 minutes
- 240 chapters - enough daily readings to cover a full liturgical year and beyond
- Daily reminders so the plan survives busy weeks