Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/287

ON Tllli BRONZE DOORS OF THE CATHEDRAL OF GNESEN. 217 slaves and captives to the Jews."* A vision is said to liavo appeared to him, of our Saviour complaining that he was again sold to the Jews in the persons of these the members of his body. (Vita Prior, p. 181.) Worn out at length by liis contests against these iniquities, he determined on abandoning his diocese, and in the year 98.9 he undertook a pilgrimage on foot to Jerusalem. In the prosecution of this journey he came to Rome, where he found Theophania,^ daughter of the Greek emperor, Romanus, and widow of Otho the Second, who entreating his prayers for her deceased husband, bestowed upon him a mighty mass of silver,^ which he forthwith distributed to the jDoor. From Rome he proceeded on his journey, taking the great Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino in his way. Here, however, the abbot and the principal monks dissuaded him from his pilgrimage, representing to him that it was more profitable to lead a holy hfe in some settled abode than to waste his years in useless wandering, and that God was in every place propitious to him who lived well. Struck with the truth of this advice, he proposed to become a member of the com- munity which the Greek St. Nilus^ had established at Grotta Ferrata, about four leagues south of Rome. St. Kilus, however, being unwilling to receive him, recommended him to Leo, abbot of the convent of SS. Boniface and Alenius in Rome. His brother Gaudentius, who had accompanied him into Italy, also took the cowl. Here he remained for five years in the sedulous practice of all monastic virtues. It is related of him that as a work of obedience he was accustomed to carry daily to the kitchen, or the refector}^ the water or the wine which was required for the use of the brethren, and that the enemy took occasion to tempt him to sin by causing him often to slip and break the earthen pitchers and spill their contents. On one day, however, as he was bringing wine to the table of the refectory, he stumbled and fell with so mighty a crash upon the vessel he carried, as to excite the attention of the abbot and all the ' This is a curious testimony to the Gaudentius vix levare posset." early settlement of the Jews at rra<;ue, '• He was abl)ot ot the convent of where a nuniei-ous colony exists to tiie Rossano in Sicily, hut was driven from present day. Their old synagogue is a thence by the incursions of tlie Saracens, building of the 13th or 14tli century. A remarkable doorway (probably of the ^ " Pulchnmi latum, Grseca Impcratrix 11th century), with a Greek inscription, Augusta." — Vita Sccunda. remains in the chui'ch at Grotta Ferrata. " Ingcntcm niassam, qunntum juvcnis — Gailhabaud.