教牧守則·對話錄與書信 第 132 章

For when I was still a youth and settled in lay dress, I heard it related by my elders and by knowledgeable men, that Paschasius, a deacon of this Apostolic See — whose most correct and lucid books on the Holy Spirit exist among us — was a man of wondrous sanctity, given especially to works of almsgiving, a cherisher of the poor, and a despiser of himself. But in that contention which arose between Symmachus and Laurentius, the zeal of the faithful being inflamed, over the order of the pontificate, he chose Laurentius; and though overcome afterwards by the unanimity of all, he nevertheless persisted in his own opinion until the day of his departure, loving and preferring the man whom the Church, by the judgment of the bishops, refused to have preside over her.

So when he had died in the times of Symmachus, Prelate of the Apostolic See, a man possessed by a demon touched his dalmatic laid upon the bier, and was straightway healed. But after a long time, the physicians had prescribed to Germanus, bishop of Capua — of whom I have made mention above (Book II, ch. 35, and Book IV, ch. 7) — for the health of his body, that he ought to bathe in the baths of Angulus. Having entered those same baths, he found the aforesaid deacon Paschasius standing and rendering service in the heat. Seeing this he was greatly terrified, and inquired what so great a man was doing there. To whom he answered: For no other cause have I been assigned to this place of punishment, except that I sided with the party of Laurentius against Symmachus.

But I beseech you, pray to the Lord for me, and by this you shall know that you have been heard, if returning here you do not find me. Whereupon the man of God, Germanus, bound himself in prayers, and after a few days returned, but did not at all find the said Paschasius in the same place. For because he had sinned not through malice, but through the error of ignorance, he was able after death to be purged from sin. Yet this is to be believed: that from that abundant almsgiving of his he obtained this — that he could then merit pardon, when he could no longer do any work. PETER. What is this, I ask, that in these last times so many things concerning souls become clear, which before lay hidden;

so that by open revelations and manifestations the world to come seems to bring itself in and open itself to us?