De sancto Philiberto confessore
The Noble Calling
Philibert transitions from the royal court of King Dagobert to the service of the Church in Rouen.
Saint Philibert, being a young man of good character, was brought to the attention of Dagobert, King of the Franks, and was summoned to the palace, where he was received into the order of the nobility and their company. Even while wearing the golden belt of his rank, he felt a deep love for God, and later, because of the shining merits of his life, he was elevated to the see of the Church of Rouen.
The Disciplined Disciple
Philibert embraces monastic life, overcomes demonic temptations, and leads his brothers with divine authority.
When Philibert was twenty, he heard the divine commandments and chose to become a disciple of Christ the Lord Jesus. After meeting a soldier of God named Agilus, who led the monastery at Rebais, he went there, cut his hair, gave all his possessions to charity, and took up the sweet yoke of the Lord. As he grew in the heights of religious life and abstinence—to the point that he became an example to more perfect men—the ancient enemy grew envious and began to attack his soul, urging him to eat more substantial food. One night, after he had been refreshed with food, the enemy began to stroke his belly and say, 'Now, this is good.' Recognizing the enemy's darts, Philibert began to triple the rigor of his abstinence and to implore God's help against the tyrant's weapons. As he frequented the church every night, a dire serpent raged in three temptations against him; in the form of a bear, it first tried to terrify him inside the church, then on another night it appeared to pierce him with an iron candlestick, and on the third night it tried to block the church door with outstretched arms. But blessed Philibert drove away all its schemes by divine power through the protection of the holy cross. When blessed Agilus died in the Lord, with the consent of the brothers, Saint Philibert took over the leadership and governed the house entrusted to him energetically, showing no favoritism and rooting out vices as he found them. When some of the brothers rebelled and presumed to drag the holy man of God out of the church, the avenging hand of the Lord did not leave this unpunished; one of them died by a lightning strike, and another, in the manner of Arius, had all his intestines spill out into a dung heap, ending his unworthy life with an unworthy death. After building monasteries, performing many miracles, and laboring immensely for the Lord, he made a happy exit.
Read the original Latin
Sanctus Philibertns, cum esset bonae indolis adolescens, regi Francorum Dagoberto nuntiatus advocatur in palatium regeptusque est in ordinem nobilium et eórum consortium. Qui sub aureo baltheo Deum valde diligens postinodum praefulgentibus vitae suae merilis cathedram subiit Rothomagensis ecclesiae. Cum antem esset Philibertus annorum viginti, divina praecepta audiens elegit discipulus Christi doinini Jesu fieri agnitoque Dei milite Agili nomine, qui praeerat Resbacensi coenobio, illuc veniens comam deposuit omnibusque snis in elemosinam erogatis jugum domini suave recepit, Ubi cuim multo religionis et abstinentiae culmine cresceret, ita ut viris perfectioribus imitabilis fieret, antiquus hostis invidens pulsare animnm coepit, ut ampliora edulia sumeret, Nam cum quadam nocte fuisset cibo refectus, ille ventrem ejus palpare et dicere: modo hoc est bene, Tunc ille inunici jacula cognoscens rigorein abstinentiae coepit triplicare et contra arma tyranni Dei auxilium implorare, Cumque singulis noctibus ecclesiam frequentaret, in tribus contra ipsum tentationibus dirus anguis exarsit, nam ursi specie eum intra ecclesiam tentavit primum terrere et nocte alia de ferro candelabri visus est ewn transfigere et nocte tertia ostium ecclesiae expansis brachiis voluit prohibere, Sed omnia ejus machinamenta beatus Philibertus expulit virtute divina per sanctae crucis praesidia, Cum autem beatus Agilus obiisset in domino, fratrum consensu sanctus Philibertus regiminis curam suscepit et domum sibi traditam strenue gubernare, nullius personam excipere, inventa vitia radicitus exstirpare, cum quidam ex fratribus assumta rebellione sanctum Dei de ecclesia praeswnserunt extrahere, Sed ultrix manus domini hoc impunitum non pertulit, nam unus ex iis ictu fulguris interiit, alius etiam more Arii in sterquilinimn omnia intestina ejus deposuit indignamque vitam indigna inorte finivit, Postque constructionem coenobiorum et miraculorum multorum operationem et post labores immensos pro domino felicem exitum fecit.
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