(ABOUT A.D. 660.)
[Commemorated in Greek Menologies on Jan. 21st, save in that of
Cardinal Sirlet, which assigns him to this day. Life, in Menologies
and in Bollandists, by a contemporary Sicilian who derived his
statements from B. Elias or from John the Deacon.]
Our saint's life was calm and almost uneventful; yet it is not without
interest or profit to those who love to see the life of Christ
reflected in some degree in the unruffled mirror of His saints' lives.
His parents owned a farm or small estate near the convent of S. Lucia,
in the neighbourhood of Syracuse. Brought up among all the delights of
a pastoral life in Sicily, of which Theocritus sings in such inimitable
strains, he yet yearned for higher and holier joys. Accordingly, he
gladly assented to his parents' wish to dedicate him to S. Lucia; and,
about 578, when seven years old, he was offered as a living sacrifice
to God in her convent. His chief duty was to watch by the precious
shrine of S. Lucia. Some only of her relics could have been preserved
there, for after the translation of her body from Syracuse to Rome,
it was removed by order of the emperor Otho I. to Metz. Her touching
history will be told on the 13th December, the day on which she
suffered as a martyr for chastity and Christianity. The little Zosimus
doubtless often knelt in prayer for his father and mother in the recess
beneath the silver shrine where her relics rested. Still such communion
with his parents did not satisfy the natural cravings of his heart, for
once when he was ordered by the abbot Faustus to do some disagreeable
task out of doors, he ran home to his friends. They brought the truant
back to the convent, where he was set to watch the tomb again. That
night it seemed to him the hinges of the shrine creaked, and the virgin
herself stepped forth, and standing over him seemed to threaten him
with punishment. Then he saw another lady of gracious aspect by her
side, interceding for him and promising in his name that he would never
so offend again; a promise which he gladly ratified with his own lips.
The virgin returned to her shrine, and he was left alone in the still
dark night watching the lamps which shone in front of her tomb.
Henceforth he approached her shrine with more than his former awe:
his visits home were short and less frequent, he only just stayed to
greet his parents, and then hurried back to the threshold of the virgin
martyr. Prayer, the constant attendance at the shrine, the regular
life of the convent, gave calmness and depth to his character. He once
again, it is said, witnessed the wrath of the virgin. A lady of rank,
suffering from disease, came to the shrine with an unseemly request.
The saint moved from her resting-place, and smote the petitioner on the
cheek. Zosimus summoned her servants to take up their mistress: they
took her up--_dead_.
After thirty years had been passed by our saint in contemplation,
obedience, and cheerful acts of kindness to his brethren, Abbot Faustus
died. The brethren could not fix upon a successor. Leaving Zosimus in
charge of the shrine and the church, they went in a body to S. John,
Bishop of Syracuse. He asked, "Is there no one else beside in your
convent?" They said "No." But the bishop rejoined, "Go and see whether
there be no one." Then they admitted that there was the doorkeeper
of the church, whom all had forgotten. The Bishop sent for him. As
Zosimus entered, S. John looking stedfastly at him, and reading his
character in his face, said, "Behold him, whom the Lord has chosen."
They accepted Zosimus as their Abbot. Then one of the brethren said to
him, "Verily of a truth this scripture is fulfilled in thee to-day. 'On
whom shall My spirit rest, save on him that is of a humble and contrite
spirit, and that trembleth at My word.'"
The same bishop ordained him priest a few days after, to serve the
Church of the Blessed Mary ever Virgin. He ruled his monastery for
forty years with singular success. His like was never seen before or
after in the convent of S. Lucia. He was loved by the good for his
gentleness, yet he was never lax in his treatment of the bad.
On the death of the saintly Peter, Bishop of Syracuse, the people
elected Zosimus, the clergy, a priest named Venerius to succeed him.
The latter was boastful, full of vain glory, ambitious for the post.
Zosimus would willingly have declined the burden of the episcopate,
but his friends would not let him. An appeal was made to Rome. Pope
Theodore, who sat in S. Peter's chair from 641 to 649, chose and
consecrated Zosimus Bishop of Syracuse.
As Zosimus landed in the port of Ortygia, the people and clergy flocked
to meet him and escort him with all due honour to his cathedral. The
once glorious city of Syracuse had then shrunk to a shadow of its
former self: it did not extend beyond the limits of the island of
Ortygia, yet its people were still wealthy, and its cathedral well
supplied with silver plate. When the Saracens sacked it about two
hundred years after, the plate of the cathedral alone weighed five
thousand pounds of silver, and the entire spoil of the city was
estimated at one million pieces of gold (about four hundred thousand
pounds sterling). Zosimus taught his people diligently. Two remarks of
his are preserved: "Anger differs as much from gentleness as storm from
calm." "Death is to the virtuous a rest from trouble and toil, and a
loosing of bands: to the wicked it is the beginning of punishment."
His benevolence to the needy was unfailing. He bade his deacon John
give two coins to a man, who asked an alms. John replied, "Our purse
is empty." "Go and sell thy cloak and give to him that needeth," was
the quick reply. It was a new one just bought, so John murmured and
hesitated; the bishop took off his own cloak and handed it to him and
bade him go and sell it. When he returned from relieving the beggar,
he saw a young man lay a heavy purse of gold at the bishop's feet. The
bishop rebuked John for having so little faith in God.
The bishop would not suffer any one to wait on him. One day he fell
asleep while a priest was reading his psalter near. The flies tormented
the sleeping bishop, so the priest drove them away with a fan. Zosimus
awoke and said to him, "Never do so again, but sit still and read thy
psalter."
He re-built and re-decorated the church of S. Mary, and offered the
unbloody sacrifice there in the 82nd year of his age, and the fifth of
his episcopate, when it was again opened for Divine Service.
Eupraxius, chamberlain of the Emperor Constans II., who made Syracuse
his abode for the last six years of his life, found Zosimus in his
last illness lying on a mat and covered with a few rags. He sent him
some splendid rugs and coverlets. The saint lay on them for a time,
and then bade his attendants make him a bed of straw and sell the rugs
and give the price to the poor and the stranger. He died in 656, and
was followed to his grave by the people, who mourned over him as a
father, for such he had been to them during the thirteen years of his
episcopate.
[Illustration: Figure with halo surrounded by worshippers]
[Illustration: S. AMADEUS OF SAVOY. After Cahier.
March 30.]
March 31.
S. BALBINA, _V. at Rome_, A.D. 132.
S. ACACIUS, _B.C. at Melitene, in Armenia, 3rd cent._
S. BENJAMIN, _D.M. in Persia, 5th cent._
S. RENOVATUS, _B. of Merida, in Spain, circ._ A.D. 633.
S. GUIDO, _Ab. of Pomposa, in N. Italy_, A.D. 1026.
S. DANIEL, _C. at Venice_, A.D. 1411.