De sanctis Vito et Modesto
The Meaning of the Names
The names Vitus and Modestus are interpreted through the lenses of the active and contemplative life and the balance of virtue.
The name Vitus comes from the word for life; however, in The City of God, Augustine distinguishes three types of life: the active, which involves a life of action; the quiet, which involves the spiritual rest of the contemplative life; and a life that combines both. And this threefold kind of life was in him. Or, Vitus is like the word for virtue, meaning a virtuous person. Modesty stands, as it were, in the middle—that is, in the middle of virtue—for every virtue is surrounded by two vices acting as extremes, just as a middle point is surrounded by its ends. For the extremes of prudence are craftiness and foolishness; the extremes of temperance are the indulgence of carnal desires and the total affliction of oneself; the extremes of fortitude are cowardice and recklessness; and the extremes of justice are cruelty and laxity.
The Trials of Vitus
Young Vitus endures persecution from his father and the prefect, demonstrating the power of prayer and divine protection.
Vitus, a remarkable and faithful twelve-year-old boy, suffered martyrdom in Sicily. His father beat him often because he despised idols and refused to worship them. When the prefect Valerian heard about this, he summoned the boy and ordered him to be beaten with clubs for refusing to sacrifice; however, the arms of those beating him and the hands of the prefect immediately withered. The prefect cried out, "Woe is me, for I have lost my hand!" Vitus replied, "Let your gods come and heal you, if they can." The prefect asked him, "Are you able to do this, too?" Vitus answered, "I can do it in the name of my Lord," and he immediately prayed for him and obtained his healing. The prefect then said to the father, 'Correct your boy, lest he come to a bad end.' Then, taking him into the house, he tried to change the boy's soul with various kinds of music, the games of young girls, and other sorts of pleasures. But when he had locked him in a room, a wonderful fragrance drifted out from it. This filled the father and the whole household with an overwhelming scent. Looking through the doorway, the father saw seven angels standing around the child and said, "The gods have come into my house," and he was immediately struck blind. The entire city of Lucca was stirred by his cry, so much so that Valerianus came running. He asked what had happened to him. He replied, "I saw fiery gods, and I couldn't bear their faces." He was then led to the temple of Jupiter and promised a bull with golden horns for the recovery of his sight, but when that did nothing, he asked his son for healing and regained his sight through his prayers. When he still wouldn't believe, but instead thought about killing his son, an angel of the Lord appeared to his tutor, Modestus, and commanded him to board a ship and take the boy to another land. Once he had done this, an eagle brought them food, and they performed many wonders there; meanwhile, the son of the Emperor Diocletian was seized by a demon, which declared that it would never leave unless Vitus of Lucca came. Vitus was sought out, found, and led to the emperor, to whom Diocletian said, "Boy, can you heal my son?" He replied, "Not I, but the Lord." He immediately laid his hands upon him, and the demon fled from him at once. Diocletian then said, "Boy, look out for yourself and sacrifice to the gods, lest you die a miserable death."
Martyrdom and Glory
Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia face final tortures and miraculous deliverances before yielding their souls to God.
When he refused and had been sent into prison with Modestus, the iron weight that had been placed upon them suddenly fell, and the prison shone with an immense light; when this was reported to the emperor, he was led out and thrown into a burning furnace, but he emerged unharmed. Then a terrifying lion was sent to devour him, but it was calmed by the power of his faith. Finally, he was ordered to be hung on the rack along with Modestus and his nurse Crescentia, who had always followed him, but suddenly the air was disturbed, the earth shook, thunder roared, and the temples of the idols collapsed, killing many; the emperor, terrified, beat himself with his fists, saying: 'Woe to me, that I have been defeated by a single boy.' They, however, were immediately released by an angel and found themselves beside a river, and there, while resting and praying, they gave up their souls to the Lord; their bodies, guarded by eagles, were buried by Florentia. They suffered, however, under Diocletian, who began his reign around the year of our Lord 287.
Read the original Latin
Vitus dicitur a vita; distinguit autem Augustinus in libro de civitate Dei triplex genus vitae, scilicet actuosum, quod pertinet ad vitam activam , otiosum, quod pertinet ad otium spirituale vitae contemplativae, et ex utroque compositum. Et istud triplexsg'enus vitae fuit in eo. Vel Vitus quasi virtus, id est virtuosus.
Modestug quasi stans in medio, hoc est in medio virtutis, quamlibet enim virtutem tanquam medium circumstant duo vitia, tamquam extrema, Nam extrema prudentiae sunt dolositas et fatuitas, extrema temperantiae desideriorum carnalium adimpletio et omnimoda sui afflictio, extrema fortitudinis pusillanimitas et temeritas, extrema justitiae crudelitas et remissio.
Vitus puer egregius et fidelis annorum XII in Sicilia martirium passus est. Hic a patre crebro verberatus ex eo, quod ydola contemnebat nec ipsa adorare volebat: quod audiens Valerianus pracfectus puerum accersivit et sacrificare nolentem fustibus caedi jussit, brachia autem verberantium et manus praefecti statim aruerunt clamavitque praefectus: vaeh mihi, qnia manum amisi, Cui Vitus: accedant Dii tui et sanent te, si possunt. Cui ille: numquid et tu facere vales hoc? Cui Vitus: in nomine domini mei valeo, statimque pro eo oravit et sanitatem sibi obtinuit. Dixitque praefeetus patri: corripe puerum tuum, ne male pereat. Tunc enm in domum ducens diversis musicorum generibus et puellarum lusibus aliarumque deliciarum generibus immutare animam pueri satagebat. Cum autem eum in thalamum inclusisset, mirabilis odoris fragrantia inde exiit,. quae patrem et totam familiam nimio odore perfudit adspiciensque pater per ostium vidit septem angelos circa infantem stantes dixitque: Dii venerunt in domum meam, statimque coecatus est.
Ad cujus clamorem tota civitas Lucana commota est, ita ut Valerianus accurreret. et, quid sibi accidisset, interrogavit. Cui ille: Deos vidi igneos et vultum eorum ferre non potui. Ad templum igitur Jovis deducitur et pro recuperatione luminis taurum cum cornibus aureis-pollicetur, sed cum nihil proficeret, filium pro sua sanatione rogavit et lumen suis precibus recuperavit. Cum autem nec sic crederet, sed potius filium occidere cogitaret, angelus domini Modesto paedagogo ejus apparuit et nt navem conscendens puerum ad aliam terram duceret, imperavit. Quod cum fecisset, aquila iis cibum afferebat et multa ibidem mirabilia faciebant, Interea filius Dyocletiani imperatoris a daemone arripitur et, nisi Vitus Lucanus veniat, se nunquam exire fatetur. Vitus quaeritur et inventus ad imperatorem ducitur, cui Dyocletianus: puer, puerum meum sanare vales? Cni ille: non ego, sed dominus, statimque super eum manus imposuit et protinus ab eo daemon aufugit, Et ait Dyocletianus: puer, consule tibi et Diis sacrifica, ne mala morte intereas.
Quod cum ille recusaret et in carcerem cum Modesto missus fuisset; subito ferri moles, quae iis erat imposita, cecidit et carcer immenso lumine coruscavit: quod cum imperatori nuntiatum fuisset, eductus in clibanum ardentem mittitur, sed tamen illaesus egreditur. Tunc leo terribilis ad eum devorandum mittitur, sed tamen ab co fidei virtute placatur. Tandem ipse cum Modesto et Crescentia nutrice sua, quae semper eum secuta fuerat, in equuleum suspendi juhetur, sed subito aér perturbatur, terra concutitur, tonitrua mugiunt, ydolorum templa corruunt et multos occidunt, imperator autem territus fugieffs pugnis se perentiebat dicens: vach mihi, quod ab uno puero victus sum. Illi autem ab angelo continuo solnti juxta quoddam flumen se invenerunt et ibidem pausantes et orantes animas domino reddiderunt, quorum corpora ab aquilis custodita Florentiasepelivit. Passi sunt autem sub Dyocletiano, qui coepit circa annos domini ducentesimo octogesimo septimo.
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