Saint Gaudence
Évêque de Brescia (✝ 410)
ou Ence.
Disciple desaint Philastre, il lui succéda et fut ordonné évêque par saint Ambroisevers 387. Envoyé défendresaint Jean Chrysostomeen Orient, il fut prisonnier à Thrace et mourut peu après.
Illustre par son érudition et, bien sûr aussi, par sa sainteté. Les textes qui nous restent de lui dans la 'Patrologie Latine' de Migne en témoignent.
À Brescia en Lombardie, vers 410, saint Gaudence, évêque. Ordonné par saint Ambroise, remarquable par sa doctrine et ses vertus parmi les évêques de son temps, il enseigna son peuple par sa parole et ses écrits et construisit une basilique qu’il appela l’Assemblée des Saints.
Martyrologe romain
Saint Gaudence de Brescia
Neuvième évêque de Brixia
Fête le 25 octobre
Brescia, Lombardie, v. 360 – † id. v. 410
Autres graphies : [Gaudentius] Gaudenzio
Élève de saint Philastre, il lui succéda comme évêque de Brixia, ville de la Gaule Transpadane [auj. Brescia], vers 387. Il fit partie de l’ambassade envoyée à Constantinople par Innocent Ier pour plaider la cause de saint Jean Chrysostome. Mémoire liturgique 25 octobre (Fête).
HOMÉLIE PASCALE DE SAINT GAUDENCE DE BRESCIA
L'Eucharistie, Pâque du Seigneur.
Un seul est mort pour tous, et c'est le même qui, à travers toutes les maisons de l'Église, dans le mystère du pain et du vin, réconforte en étant immolé, donne la vie en étant cru, sanctifie ceux qui le consacrent en étant consacré.
C'est la chair, c'est le sang de l'Agneau. Car le pain qui est descendu du ciel a dit : Le pain que je donnerai, c'est ma chair, pour la vie du monde. Et son sang est fort bien signifié par l'apparence du vin, puisqu'en disant lui-même dans l'Évangile : Moi, je suis la vraie vigne, il montre clairement que son sang, c'est n'importe quel vin offert pour représenter sa passion. Aussi le saint patriarche Jacob avait-il fait cette prophétie sur le Christ : Il lave son vêtement dans le vin, son habit dans le sang de la grappe. Effectivement, il devait laver son vêtement, c'est-à-dire notre corps, dans son propre sang.
Lui qui est le Créateur et le Seigneur de la nature, qui fait sortir le pain de la terre, il fait avec du pain (parce qu'il le peut et qu'il l'a promis) son propre corps ; et lui qui a fait du vin avec de l'eau, il a fait son sang avec du vin.
C'est la Pâque du Seigneur, dit-il, c'est-à-dire son passage. Car tu ne dois pas penser que c'est un élément terrestre : en « passant » en lui, il en a fait une réalité céleste, il en a fait son corps et son sang.
Ce que tu reçois, c'est le corps qui provient de ce pain céleste, c'est le sang de cette vigne sainte. Car, lorsqu'il présentait le pain et le vin à ses disciples, il leur a dit : Ceci est mon corps ; ceci est mon sang. Croyons, je vous en prie, celui en qui nous avons mis notre foi; il ignore le mensonge, lui qui est la vérité.
Lorsqu'il parla de manger son corps et de boire son sang, les foules furent stupéfaites, et elles protestaient : Ce qu'il dit là est intolérable, on ne peut pas continuer à l'écouter ! Aussi, pour purifier par le feu du ciel ces pensées, dont je vous ai dit qu'il faut les éviter, il ajouta : C'est l'Esprit qui fait vivre, la chair n'est capable de rien. Les paroles que je vous ai dites sont esprit et elles sont vie.
SOURCE : http://adoratioiesuchristi.blogspot.ca/2014/05/homelie-pascale-de-saint-gaudence-de.html
Gaudentius of Brescia B (RM)
Died c. 410. Saint Gaudentius was apparently educated under Saint Philastrius, bishop of Brescia, Italy, and considered him his spiritual father.
He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem hoping to escape the attention his reputation has gained him at home, and then became a monk at Caesarea in Cappadocia. During this time, Saint Philastrius died, and the clergy and people of Brescia chose Gaudentius to succeed him, overruling his objections. He was consecrated by his friend, Saint Ambrose of Milan, c. 387.
A nobleman named Benevolus, who had been disgraced by Empress Justina because he failed to support the Arians, had retired to Brescia. Due to ill health, he was unable to attend Gaudentius's Easter sermons, and he asked Gaudentius to write them down. For this reason, ten of the saint's sermons survive.
Saint Gaudentius is remembered, however, chiefly in connection with Saint John Chrysostom. After Chrysostom was banished for the second time in 404, the Western emperor, Honorius wrote on his behalf to Emnperor Arcadius at Constantinople.
The letter, with another form Pope Saint Innocent I, was carried by a deputation, of which Gaudentius was a principal member. They were stopped by officials outside Constantinople and ordered to give up the letters, and when they refused to deliver them to anyone but Arcadius in person they were taken from them by force.
Then a vain attempt was made to bribe the deputation to recognize Chrysostom's intruded successor as archbishop. Gaudentius saw that their mission was hopeless, and at his request they were eventually allowed to go back home.
They were shipped on a vessel so unseaworthy that it had to be left at Lampsacus. Chrysostom sent a letter of thanks for their efforts to Saint Gaudentius and the others, a rather stiff and cool missive which suggests it was written by a secretary rather than by the warm-hearted John.
Rufinus (who wrote one of the first ecclesiastical histories) had a high opinion of Saint Gaudentius as a teacher, but only a few homilies have survived (Attwater, White).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1025.shtml
Bishop of Brescia from about 387 until about 410; he was the successorof the writer on heresies, St. Philastrius. At the time of that saint'sdeath Gaudentius was making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The people of Brescia bound themselves by an oath that they would accept no other bishop than Gaudentius; and St. Ambrose and other neighbouring prelates, in consequence, obliged him to return, though against his will. The Easternbishops also threatened to refuse him Communionif he did not obey. We possess the discourse which he made before St. Ambroseand other bishops on the occasion of his consecration, in which he excuses, on the plea of obedience, his youth and his presumption in speaking. He had brought back with him from the Eastmany precious relics of St. John Baptist and of the Apostles, and especially of the Forty Martyrsof Sebaste, relics of whom he had received at Caesareain Cappadocia from nieces of St. Basil. These and other relics from Milan and elsewhere he deposited in a basilica which he named Concilium Sanctorum. His sermon on its dedicationis extant. From a letter of St. Chrysostom (Ep. clxxxiv) to Gaudentius it may be gathered that the two saints had met at Antioch. When St. Chrysostom had been condemned to exile and had appealedto Pope Innocent and the Westin 405, Gaudentius warmly took his part. An embassy to the EasternEmperor Arcadius from his brother Honoriusand from the pope, bearing letters frorn both and from Italianbishops, consisted of Gaudentius and two other bishops. The envoys were seized at Athens and sent to Constantinople, being three days on a ship without food. They were not admitted into the city, but were shut up in a fortress called Athyra, on the coast of Thrace. Their credentials were seized by force, so that the thumb of one of the bishops was broken, and they were offereda large sum of money if they would communicate with Atticus, who had supplanted St. Chrysostom. They were consoled by God, and St. Paul appeared to a deacon amongst them. They were eventually put on board an unseaworthy vessel, and it was said that the captain had ordersto wreck them. However, they arrived safe at Lampsacus, where they took ship for Italy, and arrived in twenty days at Otranto. Their own account of their four months' adventures has been preserved to us by Palladius (Dialogus, 4). St. Chrysostom wrote them several grateful letters.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06393c.htm
St. Gaudentius
We possess twenty-one genuine tractates by Gaudentius. The first ten are a series of Eastersermons, written down after delivery at the request of Benivolus, the chief of the Brescian nobility, who had been prevented by ill health from hearing them delivered. In the preface Gaudentius takes occasion to disown all unauthorized copies of his sermons published by shorthand writers. These piratededitions seem to have been known to Rufinus, who, in the dedication to St. Gaudentius of his translation of the pseudo-Clementine "Recognitions", praises the intellectualgiftsof the Bishop of Brescia, saying that even his extempore speaking is worthy of publication and of preservation by posterity. The style of Gaudentius is simple, and his matter is good. His body lies at Brescia in the Churchof St. John Baptist, on the site of the ConciliumSanctorum. His figure is frequently seen in the altar-piecesof the great Brescianpainters, Moretto, Savoldo, and Romanino. The best edition of his works is by Galeardi (Padua, 1720, and in P.L., XX).
Chapman, John."St. Gaudentius."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 6.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1909.31 Oct. 2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06393c.htm>.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06393c.htm
St. Gaudentius of Brescia, Bishop and Confessor
HE seems to have been educated under St. Philastrius, bishop of Brescia, whom he styles his father. His reputation ran very high when he travelled to Jerusalem, partly to shun applause and honours, and partly hoping by his absence to be at last forgotten at home. In this, however, he was mistaken. In a monastery at Cæsarea, in Cappadocia, he met with the sisters and nieces of St. Basil, who, as a rich present, bestowed on him certain relics of the forty martyrs and some other saints, knowing that he would honour those sacred pledges as they had honoured them. 1 During his absence St. Philastrius died, and the clergy and people of Brescia, who had been accustomed to receive from him solid instructions, and in his person to see at their head a perfect model of Christian virtue, pitched upon him for their bishop, and fearing obstacles from his humility, bound themselves by oath to receive no other for their pastor. The bishops of the province met, and with St. Ambrose, their metropolitan, confirmed the election. Letters were despatched to St. Gaudentius, who was then in Cappadocia, to press his speedy return; but he only yielded to the threat of an excommunication if he refused to obey. He was ordained by St. Ambrose with other bishops of the province, about the year 387; the sermon which he preached on that occasion, expresses the most profound sentiments of humility with which he was penetrated. 2
The church of Brescia soon found how great a treasure it possessed in so holy a pastor. He never ceased to break to them the bread of life, and to feed their souls with the important truths of salvation. A certain virtuous nobleman, named Benevolus, who had been disgraced by the Empress Justina, because he refused to draw up an edict in favour of the Arians, had retired to Brescia, his own country, and was the greatest ornament of that church. This worthy nobleman being hindered by a severe fit of sickness from attending some of the sermons of St. Gaudentius, requested of him that he would commit them to writing for his use. 3 By this means we have seventeen of his sermons. 4In the second which he made for the Neophites at their coming out of the font, he explaineth to them the mysteries which he could not expound in presence of the catechumens, especially the blessed eucharist, of which he says: “The Creator and Lord of nature who bringeth the bread out of the ground, maketh also of bread his own body; because he hath promised, and is able to perform it: and he who made wine of water, converteth wine into his own blood.” 5 The saint built a new church at Brescia, to the dedication of which he invited many bishops, and in their presence made the seventeenth sermon of those which are extant. In it he says: that he had deposited in this church certain relics of the forty martyrs, of St. John Baptist, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, St. Luke; some of the blood of SS. Gervasius, Protasius, and Nazarius, moulded into a paste, and of the ashes of SS. Sisinnius and Alexander. He affirms that a portion of a martyr’s relics is in virtue and efficacy the same as the whole. “Therefore,” says he, “that we may be succoured by the patronage of so many saints, let us run and supplicate with an entire confidence, and earnest desire, that by their interceding we may deserve to obtain all things we ask, magnifying Christ our Lord, the giver of so great grace.” 6 Besides these seventeen sermons of this father we have three others. The twentieth is a panegyric on St. Philastrius, 7 wherein our saint mentions that he had made a like panegyric on his holy predecessor every year on his anniversary festival for fourteen years. The saint exhorts Christians to banish all dissolute feastings accompanied with dancing and music, saying: “Those are wretched houses which resemble theatres. Let the houses of Christians be free from every thing of the train of the devil; let humility and hospitality be practised therein; let them be always sanctified by psalms and spiritual songs; let the word of God, and the sign of Jesus Christ (the cross) be in your hearts, in your mouths, on your countenance, at table, in the bath, when you go out and when you come in, in joy and in sorrow.” 8 In 405, St. Gaudentius was deputed with some others by the Roman council and by the Emperor Honorius into the East to defend the cause of St. Chrysostom before Archadius: for which commission St. Chrysostom sent him a letter of thanks which is extant, though the deputies were ill received, and imprisoned for some time in Thrace, and afterwards put on board a rotten vessel. St. Gaudentius seems to have died about the year 420; Labbe says in 427. Rufinus styles him “the glory of the doctors of the age wherein he lives.” He is honoured on this day in the Roman Martyrology. See his works printed in the Library of the Fathers, and more correctly at Padua, in 1720, 4to; also Ceillier, t. 10, p. 517; Cave, Hist. Littér. t. 1, p. 282.
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume X: October. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/10/253.html
Saint Gaudentius of Brescia
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/saint-gaudentius-of-brescia/
Saint Gaudentius of Brescia
Also known as
- Gaudenty
Profile
Studied under SaintPhilastrius, Bishop of Brescia, Italy. He preached throughout Italy and in the East, respected wherever he went for his oratory and leading the Christian life. When Philastrius died near the end of the 4th century, the people of Brescia chose Gaudentius as their bishop. He was consecrated by SaintAmbrose of Milan in 387. Guadentius wrote many pastoral letters, and ten of his sermons have come down to us. They show a desire to educate, and to present good examples for living.
He left his diocesein 405 to join a delegation sent by PopeInnocent I to defend SaintJohn Chrysostom from charges brought by a heretic. The group was forced by John‘s enemies to return to Italy. Their ship sank near Lampsacus, Greece, but the group finally safely reached home. Though the delegation did not achieve its mission, SaintJohn sent a letter of thanks to SaintGaudentius.
Born
- 410 of natural causes
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/saint-gaudentius-of-brescia/