cism. biographer writes, "He subdued his flesh by innumer- His ascetiable fasts . . he wore no shoes whatever. At midwinter, which in those regions is a time of cruel, numbing cold, he gave a remarkable proof of endurance by being always willing to walk barefoot." 1 66 He never broke his fast before sunset except on an appointed festival. In Lent he was satisfied with one meal a week, yet his countenance shone with the same cheerfulness. He wept over the faults of others as if they were his own, and helped to overcome them by such aid as he could give.' orthodox tians. One of the tribes represented in Noricum was the Arian and Rugii, whose king Flaccitheus had apparently been con- Chrisverted by Arian missionaries. It is probable that a considerable number of his subjects were also Arian Christians. How bitter were the feelings that existed between the Arian and the orthodox Christians may be gathered from the remark of Eugippius concerning Gisa, the wife of King Feva (Feletheus): "Among the other pollutions of her iniquity she even attempted to rebaptize certain catholics." 3 When, on one occasion, it was suggested to Severinus that he should Severinus accept the office of a bishop he refused, saying that be made a "it was enough for him that, withdrawn from his be- bishop. loved solitude, he had come by divine direction to that province to live among the pressing, crowding throngs." By means of the influence which he obtained with Gibuldus the king of the Alemanni he restrained him on several occasions from the depredations that he had planned and induced him to set free captives whom he had taken. 1 Vita, c. iv. 2 Vita, x. 47. T "4 3 Vita, c. iii. 15. 4 Vita, c. iii. 17. refuses to His dying words. Contents of his When, "after many struggles and long contests, he perceived that he was about to pass from this world, he summoned Feva, the king of the Rugii and his wife and urged them, as one "about to stand in the presence of God," to " refrain from unjust deeds and apply themselves "to works of piety," and he foretold that all the peoples of Noricum would migrate in safety to the Roman province. His biographer states that he had foretold the day of his death two years before its occurrence. In the course of an address delivered to the monks and others who were gathered round his death-bed he said: "Let us be humble in heart, tranquil in mind knowing that meanness of garb, the name monk, the word religion, the outward form of piety, profiteth us not, if touching the observance of God's commands we be found degenerate and false."1 He bade all approach in succession to receive a kiss, and having received the holy sacrament he commanded that they should sing a psalm. When grief kept them silent, he himself started the verse, "Praise ye the Lord in his sanctuary, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord," and as he was repeating the words, "he fell asleep in the Lord." He died on January 8, 482. The task to which Severinus was called resembled, message. apart from its purely missionary aspect, that of Jeremiah, inasmuch as a chief part of his message consisted of a summons to repent and to give way to the invaders of the country against whom no effective or permanent resistance could be made. By the austere holiness of his life and that of his disciples he commanded 1 Vita, c. xi. 52. the respect of the lawless chiefs, and, whilst he relieved the material wants of those who had lost all that they possessed amidst the ravages and desolations of this unhappy time, he was the means of converting and adding to the Christian Church many from the ranks alike of the persecuted and the persecutors. miracles It is interesting to note that although his life was The written by a contemporary, it contains, as does that attributed of St. Martin, long and detailed accounts of miracles to him. which were attributed to him. In his case a large proportion of the miraculous gifts with which he is credited. were displayed in foretelling events, or in describing events that were occurring at a distance at the time when he was speaking. If we suppose that he was gifted with a kind of second sight, such as that which a limited number of persons have been proved to possess within more recent times, many of these miraculous occurrences would receive an explanation which, without impugning the veracity of his biographer, would enable us to regard them as consistent with the normal methods of God's dealings with men. It is certainly the case that several of the incidents attributed to Severinus, and regarded by his biographer as miraculous, can be paralleled by exactly similar incidents which have been attributed to persons possessed of what is popularly called second sight, and which have been indisputably authenticated within recent times. The same explanation may be offered of several incidents attributed by Adamnan to Columba. Limits of MORAVIA The kingdom of Moravia in the early part of the ninth century, the time when Christianity first spread throughout the country, extended from the frontier of Bavaria to the river Drina and from the Danube to the river Styri in southern Poland. The Slavonic race that inhabited it had been subjected by Charlemagne, and some unsuccessful efforts had been made to introduce Christianity under the direction of Arno, archWork of bishop of Salzburg. A church was consecrated by Arno, 836. Arno at Neutra in 836. It would appear that the priests who endeavoured to win the people to a profession of Christianity were unacquainted with the Slavonic tongue, and, as a natural consequence, the services which were said in Latin failed to appeal to those whom they desired to influence. Archbp. King In 863 the Moravian king Rostislav, or Radislav, asks for who was anxious to recover his independence and deteachers. sired to ally himself with the Greek Empire, asked the Emperor Michael to send Christian teachers to instruct his people. His words, as recorded by the Russian chronicler, imply that by this date a large proportion of the people had been baptized. The message to the Greek Emperor runs: "Our land is baptized and we have no teacher to preach to us, to instruct us and to explain to us the Holy Scriptures. We do not understand either the Greek or Latin tongue: some teach us in one way, some in another: we do not understand the meaning of the sacred Scriptures nor their import. Send us teachers who may be able to explain to us the 1 See Chronique de Nestor, pp. 19-21. of the letter and the spirit of the sacred Scriptures." On receipt of this message the Emperor called together his wise men and repeated to them the message of the Slav princes,1 whereupon one of them said: "There is a man at Thessalonica called Leon, who has sons well acquainted with the Slavonic language and versed in science and philosophy." The Emperor on hearing this sent to Leon and ordered him to send him his two sons, Methodius 2 and Constantine (Cyril),3 and, after Methodius and Cyril. interviewing them, he sent them to the Slavonic princes. The chronicler continues: "After their arrival they The use formed the letters of the Slavonic alphabet and trans- Slavonic lated the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels. language. The Slavs rejoiced to hear of the greatness of God in their own language. Then certain persons began to find fault with the books written in Slavonic and to say, 'No people ought to have its own alphabet except it be Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, as is shown by the inscription which Pilate wrote upon the cross of the Saviour.' The Pope of Rome when he heard this, blamed those who murmured against the Slavonic books and said, 'Let the words of Holy Scripture be accomplished, and let all tongues praise God.'" He added words which contrast with those used by his 1 This message was sent in the names of Rostislav, Swatopolk and Kotsel. 2 This Methodius is probably not to be identified with the Methodius, a painter and monk, who is said to have converted Boris, king of Bulgaria, by painting a representation of the final judgment. 3 The name Cyril was adopted by Constantine at Rome shortly before his death. Prior to his missionary |