(ABOUT A.D. 566.)
[There is great uncertainty whether there were one or two bishops of
Canosi of this name, as it is impossible to fit all that is recorded
of the Acts of S. Sabine into the life of one man; as a S. Sabine of
Canosi was certainly present, in 493, at the dedication of the
Church of S. Michael, on Mount Gargano; and a S. Sabine of Canosi is
mentioned as meeting Totila, K. of the Goths, in 549, fifty-six
years after. That there were two is, therefore, most probable, the
name being that of the great and wide-spread Sabine family, occurs
repeatedly among the bishops and saints of Italy, and has led to
much confusion. It is impossible to distinguish, from the confused
Acts of S. Sabine of Canosi, which events belong to the first, and
which to the second, bishop of that name. S. Sabine is the second
patron of Canosi, and also of Bari, after S. Nicolas. His life was
written by an anonymous writer of the eight century.]
This saint belonged to a noble family at Canosi, in the present
arch-diocese of Bari, in Italy. He was elected to the see of his
native city, and distinguished himself by his zeal in building and
adorning churches, as also by his learning. He was one of the prelates
present at the consecration of the Church of S. Michael, on the scene
of the apparition of the archangel, on Monte Gargano, journeying
thither in company with the blessed Roger of Canosi. And as the sun
was hot in the heavens, and they fainted with the burning of its rays,
Sabine raised his eyes to heaven, and prayed that a cool breeze might
spring up and fan their fevered brows. But his prayer was heard and
answered in other sort, for a great eagle came between the travellers
and the sun, and floated over their heads with wings expanded,
accompanying them, so that they walked on in the shadow. Now, Sabine's
ardour in prosecuting his studies raised the suspicion of the
multitude, and they denounced him as addicted to the arts of magic; so
this report came to the ears of the Pope, and he summoned him to Rome,
to clear his character from the aspersion cast upon it. Then Sabine
hasted and went to Rome, and arrived in the evening, and was lodged in
the palace of the Holy Father, who, prejudiced against him, received
him coldly, and harshly bade him not set foot outside the house till
his case were heard. And at midnight, a strange, unearthly music
resounded through the courts, and men started from sleep to listen.
Then they were aware of chanting, as of a multitude, and they rose,
and the Pope also, and they followed the sound, and till they came to
the door of the hall in which the Bishop of Canosi lay. And beneath
the door was a streak of dazzling light. Then they burst in, and
beheld the accused prelate standing in a blaze of heavenly radiance,
amidst angel forms, chanting the Psalms of David. So the Pope cast
himself at his feet, and acknowledged his complete innocence.
Now, on his way home, the holy bishop doubtless visited S. Benedict,
at Monte Cassino, for between them there existed a warm friendship;
and we find that S. Placidus, the loved disciple of Benedict, often
visited and was entertained by the Bishop of Canosi, for the love he
bare to the great Patriarch of the Monks of the West.
A pretty incident of his life is as follows,--it is but a trifle, but
these trifling anecdotes give the character of the man. He was walking
in his garden one day, among the flower-beds, reciting psalms and
hymns, when a bright smile broke out over his face. Those accompanying
him were surprised, and asked the reason of that smile. "Listen to
those sparrows," said he, "there is a wagon upset yonder, which was
laden with corn, and they are all eagerly communicating to one another
the joyful news of an abundant feast. Oh! the charity to one another
of those dear little birds!"[30]
In the year 535, Pope Agapetus sent an embassy to the Emperor
Justinian at Constantinople, of which the bishop of Canosi was a
member. Agapetus was himself obliged to follow his embassy, the
following year, on a deputation to the emperor from Theodatus, the
Gothic king. Theodoric, king of the Goths, had been succeeded by
Athalaric, son of his daughter Amalasvintha, but he, being a minor,
the public affairs were administered by his mother, who did not spare
any pains in the education of her child. But the young king fell a
victim to intemperance, before he had attained the age of manhood. On
the failure of issue in the male line, Amalasvintha, in order to
maintain herself on the throne, gave her hand to Theodatus, her
cousin, and allowed him to participate in the sovereign power. But
Theodatus grasping at supreme sovereignty, suffocated his wife and
benefactress in a bath, and then, in abject terror for the
consequences, sent off Pope Agapetus to Constantinople, to deprecate
the wrath of the Emperor Justinian. Agapetus arrived in
Constantinople, when that see was vacant, Epiphanius, the patriarch,
being dead. He found the Empress Theodora in power, favouring the
Eutychian heretics, and encouraging Anthimus, bishop of Trebizond, a
ringleader of the sect. Agapetus at once deposed Anthimus, and
ordained one Mennas, a Catholic, in his place; then, feeling his end
approach, he exhorted Sabine and his companions to stand by and
maintain the new bishop of Trebizond. Agapetus died in 536, and the
same year a council was held against Anthimus the heretic, at which
Sabine was present, and the anathemas of which he subscribed. In
consequence of this decided action, the bishop of Canosi suffered much
from the anger of the Empress Theodora. In 537 he returned to Italy,
and according to some accounts, died on his way, and was buried at
Tripalta on the Sabbato, above Benevento, near Avellino, where his
body, entire, still rests enshrined. But at Bari is the body of S.
Sabine, bishop of Canosi, and it is believed that there were two
saints of this name, and that the first Sabine, bishop of Canosi, is
at Bari, and that the events we are about to relate, occurred to the
second bishop of this name, who lies at Tripalta. That there were two
is most probable, as it is hardly possible that he who was bishop in
493, could have sat till 566, which would give an episcopate of over
seventy-three years.
Totila, king of the Goths, the seventh of that race who had governed
Italy, swept Campania and Samnium with his barbarian army, occupied
Naples, and in the midst of his victorious course, visited S. Benedict
on his rock of Cassino. The incident of the meeting between the
barbarian king and the ascetic patriarch shall be recorded in the life
of S. Benedict. S. Gregory relates in his Dialogues, (lib. iii. c. 5),
that Totila, hearing of S. Sabine of Canosi, now blind with age, that
he was endued with the spirit of prophecy, visited him and invited him
to dinner, and to prove the old bishop, when the page brought wine
round, the king took the goblet from the boy's hand, and himself
offered it to the prelate. Then Sabine, taking the goblet, and turning
his darkened eyes on the royal bearer, said, "May that hand that
offers live long!" And the king blushed, joyous at receiving this part
blessing, part prophecy. S. Gregory relates another story of this
saint. The Archdeacon of Canosi, a man full of ambition and pride,
desiring the episcopate, and impatient of the long life of Sabine,
bribed his butler to poison him. The deadly cup was offered him, and
the aged prelate drank it off, but instantly the Archdeacon was seized
with all the symptoms of having been poisoned, and died in agony,
whereas the bishop remained unhurt.
It is unfortunate, that owing to the carelessness of the historian,
who wrote two hundred years after the death of S. Sabine I., the
records of the two bishops of that name should have been so run
together as to render it almost impossible to dissever them.
There seems also to have been a third S. Sabine of Canosi, bishop of
Lesina, a ruined and deserted city, on the lagoon of the same name in
the Capitanta. Lesina, in the 10th century, was the seat of a bishop.
No records of this saint exist, but in November, 1597, the cathedral
and second church of Lesina being thoroughly ruinous, officials were
deputed to remove from the deserted churches such relics as could be
found, and works of value that remained. They found the roof of the
cathedral fallen in, doors and windows broken and open, and grass
growing on the sacred floor. The crypt was in better preservation, and
there they found altars standing, containing sacred relics. In one of
these they found a marble sarcophagus, on which was inscribed, S.
Sabinus Canusinus, "S. Sabine of Canosi." Within was a leaden coffin,
on which was engraved, S. Sabinus Canusianus, pontifex Lesinensis. "S.
Sabine of Canosi, bishop of Lesina." The skeleton in this was perfect.
This body, together with others there discovered, was removed to
Naples, where it now reposes in the church of the Annunciata.