St. Barbatus, holy Confessor and Bishop of Benevento (+682 AD)
St. Barbatus was born in the region surrounding Benevento (to the east of Naples, in Southern Italy) toward the end of the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great. At this time, nearly the entirety of Southern Italy was held by the Lombards, a tribe of Barbarians, and Benevento was their royal governing city. His parents gave him a Christian education and from an early age he displayed an eminent sanctity. Devout mental prayer and daily meditation on the Holy Scriptures occupied the majority of his youth and led to his great innocence, simplicity, and purity of manners. (Note, how these virtues are in direct opposition to the vices which Our Lady of Good Success prophesied would grip the 20th century – irreverences, a complete deterioration of good customs, and a loss of innocence so great even among children that there would hardly be any virgin souls left. Thus, in our fight to save our soul, we can pray for St. Benevento’s aid and imitate his example of meditation in order to counter the evils of our age.)
St. Barbatus’ extraordinary progress in all the virtues qualified him for service at the altar, and he was ordained a priest at the earliest age permitted by the customs of the Church of the time. His bishop immediately recognized his talents, especially in his ability to preach, and entrusted to him an office of preaching throughout the region. Naturally this was a great honor - and quite unusual in someone so young.
St. Barbatus was then made curé of a town called Morcona where the people were vice-ridden habitual sinners and utterly lukewarm in their Christian piety. These unruly sheep were strongly opposed to any discipline or order that St. Barbatus encouraged or tried to implement. They resisted him at every turn. He tried to awaken in them a sense of repentance, but they only persecuted him, even with violence. Yet our saint remained patient and humble, which in turn caused the malevolent flock to slander him in vile ways. It was by these terrible and difficult trials that God was purifying St. Barbatus' heart from all earthly attachments and crucifying him to the world. He heroically bore all these sufferings and made a few converts. Yet from a human standpoint, he would surely have been considered a failure as the parish priest of Morcona.
The bishop then recalled him to Benevento, the Lombard Duchy and major city of the area. Yet here the duke (or king) of the Lombards, Grimoald I, and his Christian subjects retained many idolatrous superstitions of their barbaric heritage. For example, they prostrated themselves in worship of a golden viper! They also venerated a tree as divine and sacred and held special archery games in its honor. These games were purported to be guided by spirits and supernatural powers. St. Barbatus preached zealously against these grave abuses - but to no avail. Instead of despairing and falling into disillusionment at his repeated 'failures', St. Barbatus turned to fervent prayer and rigorous fastings. Well did he know our Lord's teaching that certain demons can only be cast out by penance and fasting (Mt 17:20). Finally, the priest got his people's attention by predicting that their city would suffer great calamities at the hands of the Emperor Constans II. Nevertheless, once the initial novelty of this apparently impossible event wore of, he was effectively ignored.
That is, he was ignored until the Emperor from the Eastern Empire crossed the sea, landed in Italy, and did indeed laid siege to Benevento.
Since 640 AD, Constans had been involved in many battles, mostly against the growing threat of the Moslems to the east, but also rebellions in the Balkans, in Egypt, and internal divisions by other claimants against his throne. The Emperor had also involved himself in Church matters, and seeking to support neither the heretics nor the orthodox, chose a 'middle ground of compromise' which only served to antagonize both sides. His empire was further weakened and his popularity was further eroded when he had Pope Martin I arrested, extradited from Rome to Constantinople, and then condemned and banished the Pope to a small island. Clearly, Constans II was a ruthless man who respected neither man nor God. Eventually in order to escape the plots and machinations of court at Constantinople, Constans moved his imperial seat to Sicily. It was from here that he launched his attack against Duke Grimoald I and the Lombards of Benevento. St. Barbatus assured his people they would be delivered from the hands of this evil man, only if they would heed the words of the prophet Joel:
"Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil. Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly." (Joel 2:12-15, Epistle from Ash Wednesday).
With the imperial armies laying waste to the countryside and surrounding the walls of Benevento, the people at last turned to God. They repented, abandoned their superstitions and with docility, and obeyed their priest, the alter Christus in their midst. Duke Grimoald lead the penances and invited St. Barbatus to enter his royal home in order to cleanse it of all that which was hated by God. His people followed suit and the entire city raised a great cry of prayer to the Lord of Heaven and Earth. The siege was miraculously lifted when a Lombard army returned to Benevento after having been engaged in battle against the Frankish forces to the north. While Constans moved his army back towards Naples (his return route to Sicily), he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Count Mitolas of Capua. Recouping his losses, the Emperor launched another attack against the Lombards, but was defeated by the Beneventani. Thus ended the military threat of Constans II against the flock of St. Barbatus. (Note the leadership role fulfilled by the religious and secular leaders in setting the example – for this pattern has often been imitated and is greatly desired by Divine Providence.)
Following this victories for the Catholic Faith and growing enthusiasm for the Truth, St. Barbatus publically felled the "sacred" tree with his own hand. He ended the superstitious archery games and he melted down the golden viper, fashioning it instead into a chalice to be used at the altar of God. The bishop died shortly after the siege was lifted and with great popular support, Barabtus was elected to succeed him.
Barbatus was consecrated bishop of this See in 663 AD. This particular See had a glorious history, for its first bishop, St. Potin, had been sent there directly by St. Peter in Rome. St. Benvento brought tranquility to his land and increased the ascetic practices in his diocese. He also destroyed every remaining vestige of superstition within his diocese and the surrounding territory, thus winning many more sheep to the one fold of Christ. He ruled there with great humility and piety for nearly twenty years, always growing the number of Catholic faithful. Yet more importantly he increased their zeal and fervor for the Faith. Under him, lukewarmness for the Faith greatly diminished.
St. Barbatus supported Pope St. Agatho in a local synod, and then in 680-81 AD, he participated in the Third Council of Constantinople. This was the seventh great ecumenical council of the Church. It condemned the Monothelite heresy (the error that Christ only has one will), which Emperor Constans II and other imperial forces had supported. This Council was even more important because the previous ecumenical council, the Second Council of Constantinople (586 AD), had decreed doctrinal matters in an ambiguous fashion. That ecumenical council had sought to strike a middle ground of confusion and ambiguity in order to reconcile opposing groups of heretics and faithful Catholics. Yet what remained unclear was precisely what needed to be illuminated: "What is the one true Faith?" This in turn led to a century long battle within the Church. That matter was not finally clarified until the Third Council of Constantinople. It took even longer to root out all the errors which had proliferated during a century of confusion. Constantinople III was also the Council at which Pope Honorius was condemned posthumously as having held a heretical position regarding the true nature of Jesus Christ. The proceedings and proclamations of this Council were ratified by Pope St. Agatho and confirmed by his successor, Pope Leo II. (Note, this is an extremely important historical fact, because it sets a precedent that in the past a pope did hold and teach heresy. However, Pope Honorius never used his infallible power to define and declare these heresies as binding on all the Catholic Faithful. Many Catholics are unaware that the Pope can err, yet this precedent is set by the highest possible authorities – an ecumenical council and several popes ratifying the decision – and so it cannot be contravened).
Shortly following this great defense of the Faith, and a great victory of Catholicism at Constantinople III, St. Barbatus died. He remains the chief patron of Benevento. He is also a saint particularly well suited to the Lenten Season on account of his strict ascetic disciplines and great call to penance and conversion.