IT is observed by the judicious Tillemont, with regard to the life of
this saint, that we might doubt of its wonderful circumstances, were
they not supported by the authority of a Paulinus; but that great
miracles ought to be received with the greater veneration, when
authorized by incontestable vouchers.
St. Felix was a native of Nola, a Roman colony in Campania, fourteen
miles from Naples, where his father Hermias, who was by birth a Syrian,
and had served in the army, had purchased an estate and settled himself.
He had two sons, Felix and Hermias, to whom at his death he left his
patrimony. The younger sought preferment in the world among the lovers
of vanity, by following the profession of arms, which at that time was
the surest road to riches and honors. Felix, to become in effect what
his name in Latin imported, that is, _happy_, resolved to follow no
other standard than that of the king of kings, Jesus Christ. For this
purpose, despising all earthly things, lest the love of them might
entangle his soul, he distributed the better part of his substance among
the poor, and was ordained Reader, Exorcist, and, lastly, Priest, by
Maximus, the holy bishop of Nola; who, charmed with his sanctity and
prudence, made him his principal support in these times of trouble, and
designed him for his successor.[1]
In the year 250, the emperor Decius raised a bloody persecution against
the church. Maximus, seeing himself principally aimed at, retired into
the deserts, not through the fear of death, which he desired, but rather
not to tempt God by seeking it, and to preserve himself for the service
of his flock. The persecutors not finding him, seized on Felix, who, in
his absence, was very vigilant in the discharge of all his pastoral
duties. The governor caused him to be scourged; then loaded with bolts
and chains about his neck, hands, and legs, and cast into a dungeon, in
which, as St. Prudentius informs us,[2] the floor was spread all over
with potsherds and pieces of broken glass, so that there was no place
free from them, on which the saint could either stand or lie. One night
an angel appearing in great glory, filled the prison with a bright
light, and bade St. Felix go and assist his bishop, who was in great
distress. The confessor, seeing his chains fall off, and the doors open,
followed his guide, and was conducted by heaven to the place where
Maximus lay, almost perished with hunger and cold, speechless, and
without sense: for, through anxiety for his flock, and the hardships of
his solitary retreat, he had suffered more than a martyrdom. Felix, not
being able to bring him to himself, had recourse to prayer; and
discovering thereupon a bunch of grapes within reach, he squeezed some
of the juice into his mouth, which had the desired effect. The good
bishop no sooner beheld his friend Felix, but he embraced him, and
begged to be conveyed back to his church. The saint, taking him on his
shoulders, carried him to his episcopal house in the city, before day
appeared, where a pious ancient woman took care of him.[3]
Felix, with the blessing of his pastor, repaired secretly to his own
lodgings, and there kept himself concealed, praying for the church
without ceasing till peace was restored to it by the death of Decius, in
the year 251. {148} He no sooner appeared again in public, but his zeal
so exasperated the pagans that they came armed to apprehend him; but
though they met him, they knew him not; they even asked him where Felix
was, a question he did not think proper to give a direct answer to. The
persecutors going a little further, perceived their mistake, and
returned; but the saint in the mean time had stepped a little out of the
way, and crept through a hole in a ruinous old wall, which was instantly
closed up by spiders' webs. His enemies never imagining any thing could
have lately passed where they saw so close a spider's web, after a
fruitless search elsewhere, returned in the evening without their prey.
Felix finding among the ruins, between two houses, an old well half dry,
hid himself in it for six months; and received during that time
wherewithal to subsist by means of a devout Christian woman. Peace being
restored to the church by the death of the emperor, the saint quitted
his retreat, and was received in the city as an angel sent from heaven.
Soon after, St. Maximus' dying, all were unanimous for electing Felix
bishop; but he persuaded the people to make choice of Quintus, because
the older priest of the two, having been ordained seven days before him.
Quintus, when bishop, always respected St. Felix as his father, and
followed his advice in every particular. The remainder of the saint's
estate having been confiscated in the persecution, he was advised to lay
claim to it, as others had done, who thereby recovered what had been
taken from them. His answer was, that in poverty he should be the more
secure of possessing Christ.[4] He could not even be prevailed upon to
accept what the rich offered him. He rented a little spot of barren
land, not exceeding three acres, which he tilled with his own hands, in
such manner as to receive his subsistence from it, and to have something
left for alms. Whatever was bestowed on him, he gave it immediately to
the poor. If he had two coats, he was sure to give them the better; and
often exchanged his only one for the rags of some beggar. He died in a
good old age, on the fourteenth of January, on which day the
Martyrology, under the name of St. Jerom, and all others of later date
mention him. Five churches have been built at, or near the place where
he was first interred, which was without the precinct of the city of
Nola. His precious remains are at present kept in the cathedral; but
certain portions are at Rome, Benevento, and some other places. Pope
Damasus, in a pilgrimage which he made from Rome to Nola, to the shrine
of this saint, professes, in a short poem which he composed in
acknowledgment, that he was miraculously cured of a distemper through
his intercession.
St. Paulinus, a Roman senator in the fifth age, forty-six years after
the death of St. Damasus, came from Spain to Nola, desirous of being
porter in the church of St. Felix. He testifies that crowds of pilgrims
came from Rome, from all other parts of Italy, and more distant
countries, to visit his sepulchre on his festival: he adds, that all
brought some present or other to his church, as wax-candles to burn at
his tomb, precious ointments, costly ornaments, and such like; but that
for his part, he offered to him the homage of his tongue, and himself,
though an unworthy victim. [5] He everywhere expresses his devotion to
this saint in the warmest and strongest terms, and believes that all the
graces he received from heaven were conferred on him through the
intercession of St. Felix. To him he addressed himself in all his
necessities; by his prayers he begged grace in this life, and glory
after {149} death.[6] He describes at large the holy pictures of the
whole history of the Old Testament, which were hung up in the church of
St. Felix, and which inflamed all who beheld them, and were as so many
books that instructed the ignorant. We may read with pleasure the pious
sentiments the sight of each gave St. Paulinus.[7] He relates a great
number of miracles that were wrought at his tomb, as of persons cured of
various distempers and delivered from dangers by his intercession, to
several of which he was an eye-witness. He testifies that he himself had
frequently experienced the most sensible effects of his patronage, and,
by having recourse to him, had been speedily succored.[8] St. Austin
also has given an account of many miracles performed at his shrine.[9]
It was not formerly allowed to bury any corpse within the walls of
cities. The church of St. Felix, out of the walls of Nola, not being
comprised under this prohibition, many devout Christians sought to be
buried in it, that their faith and devotion might recommend them after
death to the patronage of this holy confessor, upon which head St.
Paulinus consulted St. Austin. The holy doctor answered him by his book,
_On the care for the dead_: in which he shows that the faith and
devotion of such persons would be available to them after death, as the
suffrages and good works of the living in behalf of the faithful
departed are profitable to the latter. See the poems of St. Paulinus on
his life, confirmed by other authentic ancient records, quoted by
Tillemont, t. 4, p. 226, and Ruinart, Acta Sincera, p. 256; Muratori,
Anecd. Lat.
Footnotes:
1. S. Paulin. Carm. 19, 20. Seu Natali, 4.
2. De Cor. hymn 5.
3. Paulin. Carm. 19.
4. _Dives egebo Deo; nam Christum pauper habebo_. Paulin. Carm. 2.
Natali S. Felicia 5.
5. ________________ _Ego munere linguae,
Nudus opum, famulor, de me mea debita solvens
Meque ipsum pro me, vilis licet hostia pendam._ Natal. 6
6. Nat. 1, 2, &c.
7. Nat. 9, 10.
8. St. Paulin. Ep. 28 & 36. Carm. 13, 18, 21, 22, 23, 29, &c.
9. St. August. Ep. 78, olim 137, lib. De cura pro moritus, c. 16.