Barbatus of Benevento

Infobox Saint
name= Saint Barbatus of Benevento
birth_date=c. 610
death_date=682
feast_day= February 19
venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church


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birth_place= Cerreto Sannita, Italy
death_place=
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attributes=Crozier
patronage=Benevento
major_shrine=The Duomo of Benevento, where his relics have been preserved beneath the main altar since 1687
suppressed_date=
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Saint Barbatus of Benevento ( _it. San Barbato; c. 610 — February 29 682), also known as Barbas, was a bishop of Benevento from 663 to 682. He succeeded Ildebrand in this capacity. He assisted in a church council called by Pope Agatho in Rome in 680 and in 681 attended the Third Council of Constantinople against the Monothelites.

Biography

He was born in the village of Vandano, near Cerreto Sannita, then part of the Duchy of Benevento, toward the end of the pontificate of Gregory the Great. At that time, Benevento had recently (in 590) been captured by Germanic Arian Lombards from the Trinitarian Romans.

According to his saint's life (which was written later), he received a Christian education, and spent a good deal of time studying the Christian scriptures. He took holy orders as soon as allowed to do so, and was immediately employed by the local bishop as a preacher, a task for which he had considerable talent. Shortly thereafter, he was made the curate of St. Basil's Church in nearby Morcone. The parishioners there objected to Barbatus' remarking upon their falling short of the Christian ideal, and persecuted him to quiet him. He continued in the same vein, causing these same people to slander his character. He was eventually obliged to cease his charitable works because of these slanders.

He later returned to Benevento, where he was welcomed back by those who remembered him from earlier. At the time, the people of Benevento indulged in many idolatrous behaviors, including veneration of a golden viper and a local tree, and also held games to which Barbatus strongly objected. The local Lombard prince, Romuald I son of the Arian Lombard King Grimoald I, was himself seriously involved in these activities. Barbatus regularly preached against them only to be ignored.

Later, he told the people of the city the great trials they would soon suffer at the hands of the East Roman Emperor Constans II and his army, who shortly thereafter landed in the area and laid siege to Benevento. The people, in their fear, renounced the practices Barbatus had criticized. He then cut down the tree the locals had worshipped, and melted the viper into a chalice for use in the church. As Barbatus had foretold, the siege ended with the defeat of Constans.

It is also believed by several parties that Barbatus was himself directly responsible for a more practical form of resistance to Constans. In 1903 the foundations of the Temple of Isis were discovered close to the Arch of Trajan in Benevento, and many fragments of fine sculptures in both the Egyptian and the Greco-Roman style belonging to it were found. They had apparently been used as the foundation of a portion of the city wall, reconstructed in 663 under the fear of an attack by Constans, the temple having been destroyed by order of Barbatus to provide the necessary material (A. Meomartini, 0. Marucchi and L. Savignoni in "Notizie degli Scavi", 1904, 107 sqq.).

The presiding bishop of Benevento, Ildebrand, died during the siege. After the withdrawal of the invaders, Barbatus was made bishop on March 10, 633. Barbatus took advantage of his new position and quickly destroyed the remaining superstitious artifacts hidden by the prince and the local population. In 680, he assisted in a council held by Pope Agatho, and took part in the sixth general council held in Constantinople in 681 regarding the Monothelites. He died shortly after the end of the council, at roughly seventy years of age.

He is recorded in the Roman Martyrology as one of the chief patrons of the city of Benevento.

External links

* [http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0219.htm#barb Saints of February 19: Barbatus of Benevento]
* [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90353 San Barbato di Benevento] it icon
* [http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/BARBATUS.htm St. Barbatus]