Earning a Name

Quaeritur igitur, cur, aut quo jubente, vel antiquum nomen amiserit, vel novum sumpscrit. Ut ex Abram, Abraham diceretur, Dei jussione perfectum est; ut ex Sarai, Sarae vocabulum fieret, aeque Dei imperium fuit. Et ut ad novum instrumentum veniam, ut Simon, Petri nomen acciperet; et filii Zebedaei, Bane Reem, hoc est, filii tonitrui vocarentur, Domini nostri Jesu Christi voce praeceptum est. Quare autem e Saulo Paulus dictus sit, nulla Scriptura memorat. Audacier itaque faciam, sed forte vere de Actibus Apostolorum suspiciones meas affirms, Legimus in eis, quod sanctus Spiritus Antiochiae dixerit: Separate mihi Barnabam et Saulum, in opus ad quod assumpsi eos. Tunc jejunantes et orantes, imponentesque, eis manus, dimiserunt illos. Qui cum Seleuciam Syriae descendissent, et navigantes Salaminam Cypri, quae nunc Constantia dicitur, pervenissent, haberentque secum in ministerio Joannem (propter quem postea aedificatorium Ecclesiae jurgium concitatum est) et omni insula peragata, Paphum usque venissent, invenerunt quemdam magum pseudoprophetam nomine Bar Jeus, cum proconsule Sergio Paulo viro prudente. Qui accitips Barnaba et Saulo, desiderabat Dei sermonem ab eis audire. Resistente itaque magno, et a fide recta Sergium depravante, Saulus qui et Paulus, repletus Spiritu sancto, intuens in eum dixit: O plene omni dolo, et omni fallacia, fili diaboli, inimice omnis justitiae, non desinis subvertere vias Domini rectas? Et nunc ecce manus Domini super te, et eris caecus, non videns solem usque ad tempus, Confestimque cecidit in eum caligo et tenebrae, et circuiens quaerebat qui ei manus daret. Tunc Proconsul, cum vidisset factum, credidit, admirans super doctrina Domini. Et cum a Papho navigassent Paulus, et qui cum eo erant, venerunt Pergen Pamphyliae. Diligenter attende, quod hic primum Pauli acceperit. Ut enim Scipio, subjecta Africa, Africani sibi nomen assumpsit; et Metellus, Creta insula subjugata, insigne Cretici suae familiae reportavit; et Imperatores nunc usque Romani ex subjectis gentibus, Adiabenici, Parthici, Sarmatici nuncupantur; ita et Saulus ad praedictionem gentium missus, a primo Ecclesiae spolio proconsule Sergio Paulo, victoriae suae trophaea retulit, erexitque vexillum, ut Paulus diceretur e Saulo Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentairorum In Epistolam Ad Philemonem

Therefore, one may ask, why, by what command, an old name was lost and a new one assumed. From Abram Abraham was named by the command of God, Sarai become Sarah by the command of God, in the new Testament Simon received the name Peter and the sons of Zebedee were to be called the Bane Reem, that is, the sons of Thunder, by the command of the voice of Christ. Why from Saul Paul was renamed Scripture does not mention. But I shall be bold to say that perhaps it is to be found in the Acts of the Apostles, wherein we read that the Holy Spirit said in Antioch: 'Separate for me Barnabas and Saul for a work to which I will send them. Then fasting and praying and laying on hands they sent they away.' 1  They went down to Seleucia of Syria and sailed to Salamis in Cyprus, which is now called Constantia, and coming there they had John Mark as a minister (after which the building of the Church is entitled) and across the whole isle they travelled. When they came to Paphos they encountered a certain famous false prophet by the name of Bar Jesus in the company of the Proconsul Sergius Paulus, a wise man. He received Barnabus and Saul and he wished to hear them speak. They were opposed by the false prophet, he who sought to deprive Sergius of the right faith, and Saul who would be Paul, full of the Holy Spirit, seeing this, said, 'O full of malice and every deceit, son of the Devil, enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to subvert the ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun,' 2 and instantly he fell into blackness and darkness and wandering off he sought someone to lead him by the hand. Then the Proconsul, who had seen all this, believed, amazed at the teaching of the Lord. And when Paul and those who were with him sailed from Paphos, they came to Perge in Pamphyliae. Attend carefully that he is here first named Paul. And indeed Scipio who conquered Africa took on the name Africanus, and Metellus who conquered Crete is reported to have assumed the name Creticus; and Roman Emperors have been named from the peoples they have subdued, as Adiabenicus, Parthicus, Sarmaticus. And so it is with Saul, who was sent to preach to the Gentiles, that on account of his first spoil, the Proconsul Sergius Paulus, returning with his trophy of victory, raising the sail, Saul was named Paul. Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Epistle of Philemon 1 Acts 13 2-3 2 Acts 13 10-11

Pondering Disagreement

Numquid sine Deo vel secundum carnem Hiberione veni? Quis me compulit? alligatus sum spiritu, ut non videam aliquem de cognatione mea. Nunquid piam misericordiam ago erga gentem illam quae me aliquando ceperunt, et devastaverunt servos et ancillas domus partis mei? Ingenuus fui secundam carnem: decorione patre nascor. Vendidi enim nobilitatem meam, non erubesco, neque me poenitet, pro utilitate aliorum. Denique servus sum in Christo Jesu Domino nostro, etsi mei me non cognoscunt. Propheta in patria sua honorem non habet. Forte non sumus ex uno ovili, neque unum Deum patrem habemus, sicut ait: Qui non est mecum contra me est, et qui non congregat mecum spargit. Non convenit, Unus destruit, alter aedificat. Sanctus Patricius Hibernorum Apostolus, Epistola Ad Coroticum

Was it without God, or according to the flesh that I came to Ireland? Who compelled me? I have been bound by the Spirit, that I may not see any of my family. Do I not perform acts of holy mercy among a people who once captured me and destroyed the servants and handmaids of my father's house? According to the flesh I am a freeman, born of a decurion father, but I have sold my nobility, and I am not ashamed, nor do I regret that it might have been to the profit of others. In short, I am a servant in Jesus Christ Our Lord, even if my own people do not acknowledge me. 'A prophet has no honor in his own country.'1 Perhaps we are not from the same sheepfold, nor do we do have one and the same Father for our God. As He says, 'He who is not with me, is against me'2 and 'He who does not gather with me, scatters.'2 We are not in harmony: 'One destroys; another builds.' Saint Patrick Apostle of the Irish, Letter to Coroticus 1 Mk 6.4  2 Mt 12.30

Remembering Faults

Restat itaque, frater charissime. ut inter ea quae operante Deo exterius facis, semper te interius subtiliter judices, ac subtiliter intelligas et temetipsum qui sis, et quanta sit in eadem gente gratia, pro cujus conversione etiam faciendorum signorum deus percepisti. Et si quando te Creatori nostro seu per linguam, sive per opera reminisceris deliquise, semper haec ad memoriam revoces, ut surgentem corda gloria memoria reatus premat. Et quidquid de faciendis signis acceperis vel accepisti hac non tibi, sed illis deputes donata pro quorem salute collata sunt. Occurit autem menti ista cogitanti quid de uno famulo actum sit, etiam egregie electo. Certe Moyses dum Dei populum ex Aegypto educeret, mira, sicut tua fraternitas novit, signa in Aegypto operatus est. In Sina monte quadraginta diebus et noctibus jejunans, legis tabulas accepit, inter coruscos et tonituros, per timescente omni populo, omnipotentis Dei servitio solus familiari etiam collocutione conjunctus est; Rubrum mare aperuit; in itinere ducem habuit nubis columnam; esurienti populo manna de coelo deposuit; carnes desiderantibus usque ad sitentatem nimiam in eremo per miraculum minstravit. Sed cum jam sitis tempore ad petram ventum fuisset, diffusus est, seque de eadem aquam educere posse dubitavit, quam jubente Domino largis utique fluentis aperuit. Quanta autem post haec per triginta et octo annos in deserto miracula fecerit quis enummerare, quis investigare valeat. Quoties res dubia animum pulsasset, recurrens ad tabernaculum, secreto Dominum requirebat, atque de ea protinus, Deo loquente, docebatur. Iratum populo Dominum placabat saue preces intervetione; surgentes in superbia atque in discordia dissidentes dehiscentis terrae hiatibus absorbebat, victoriis premebat hostes, signa monstrabat civibus. Sed cum jam ad repromissionis terram ventum fuisset, vocatus in montem est; et quam culpam ante annos triginta et octo, ut dixi, fecerat audivit quia de educenda aqua dubitavit. Et propter hoc quia terram repromissions intrare non posset agnovit. Qua in re considerandum nobis est quam timendum sit omnipotentis Dei judicium, qui per illum famulum suum tot signa faciebat cujus culpam tam longo tempore adhuc servabat in cogitatione. Igitur, frater charissime, si et illum agnoscimus post signa pro culpa mortuum, quem ab omnipotente Deo novimus praecipue electum, quanto nos debemus metu contremiscere, qui necdum adhuc novimus si electi sumus?  Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, Registri Epistolarum, Liber XI, Epistola XXVIII, Ad Augustinum Anglorum Episcopum

So it remains, dearest brother, that among the things which by the operation of God you do outwardly, you should carefully judge yourself within, and carefully understand both what you are yourself and how great is the grace among the people for whom the conversion of which God has given the gift of doing signs. And if at any time you should recall having offended our Creator, whether it be in tongue or deed, always be mindful of these things, so that the rising glory of the heart may be suppressed by memory of guilt. And whatever for the doing of signs you may receive or have received, it is not for yourself, but as gifts for the salvation of others that they have been given to you. Indeed it comes to mind, while I think on these things, what happened with one of the servants of God, even one eminently chosen. Certainly Moses, when he led the people of God out of Egypt, as you know, worked signs in Egypt. Fasting forty days and nights on Mount Sina, he received the tables of the law, among lightning and thunder, and while all the people trembled he alone was associated with the service of Almighty God, even entering into conversation with Him. He opened the Red Sea; on the journey he had a pillar of a cloud as leader; to a hungry people he gave manna from heaven; flesh to those who desired it he supplied beyond satiation in the desert by a miracle. But when in a time of thirst they had come to the rock, he was distrustful, he doubted being able to draw water from it, that which at the Lord's command he then opened into copious streams. But how many miracles after these he did during thirty eight years in the desert who can enumerate or seek out? As many times as a doubtful matter struck his soul, he had recourse to the tabernacle, and sought out the Lord in secret, and, God speaking, he was immediately taught. The anger of the Lord against the people he appeased by the intervention of his own prayers; those who rose in pride and dissented in discord he consumed in gulfs of a gaping earth; he crushed enemies with victories, and showed signs to his people. But when the promised land had been reached, he was called to the mountain and a fault which he had committed thirty eight years before, one which I have spoken of, when he doubted about drawing water from the rock, he heard. And on account of this he was told that he could not enter the promised land. So we must consider and fear the judgment of Almighty God, who made so many signs through that servant, yet whose fault was kept in remembrance for so long. Therefore, dearest brother, if we find that he after many signs perished for a fault, he whom we know to have been especially chosen by Almighty God, with what fear should we tremble, who do not yet know whether we are chosen? Saint Gregory the Great, Registry of Letters, Book 11, Letter 28, To Augustine Bishop of the English

With God Guiding

Longum est autem totum per singula enarrare laborem meum uel per partes. Breuiter dicam qualiter piissimus Deus de seruitute saepe liberauit et de periculis duodecim qua periclitata est anima mea, praeter insidias multas et quae uerbis exprimere non ualeo. Nec iniuriam legentibus faciam; sed Deum auctorem habeo, qui nouit omnia etiam antequam fiant, ut me pauperculum pupillum ideo tamen responsum diuinum creber admonere. Unde mihi haec sapientia, quae in me non erat, qui nec numerum dierum noueram neque Deum sapiebam? Unde mihi postmodum donum tam magnum tam salubre Deum agnoscere uel diligere, sed ut patriam et parentes amitterem? Et munera multa mihi offerebantur cum fletu et lacrimis et offendi illos, nec non contra uotum aliquantis de senioribus meis, sed gubernante Deo nullo modo consensi neque adquieui illis. Non mea gratia, sed Deus qui uincit in me et resistit illis omnibus, ut ego ueneram ad Hibernas gentes euangelium praedicare et ab incredulis contumelias perferre, ut audirem obprobrium peregrinationis meae, et persecutiones multas usque ad uincula et ut darem ingenuitatem meam pro utilitate aliorum et, si dignus fuero, promptus sum ut etiam animam meam incunctanter et libentissime pro nomine eius et ibi opto impendere eam usque ad mortem, si Dominus mihi indulgeret.  Confessio, Sanctus Patricius Hibernorum Apostolus

Long it would be indeed to narrate all my labour, or even parts of it. Briefly I will tell how often the most pious God liberated me from servitude, and from twelve dangers which threatened my soul, as well as from many ambushes and from things I do not have the strength to describe (I would do no injury to those who read this.) But I have God as authority, He who knows all things even before they are, that to me, a poor little orphan, He frequently gave warnings in heavenly answers. From where did this wisdom come to me, a wisdom which was not in me, to one who didn’t even know the number of days, much less God? Where, then, did such a great gift come from, to know and love God, even that I would leave fatherland and parents? And many gifts were offered to me with sorrow and tears and I offended them, even against the wish of some of my elders, but with God guiding, I did not consent nor acquiesce to them. It was not by my own grace, but God who conquered in me and resisted them all so that I could come to the peoples of Ireland to preach the gospel, and I bore insults from unbelievers so that I might hear hatred for my journey, and I bore many persecutions even to chains so that I might give up my free-born state for the benefit of others, and, if I should be worthy, I am prepared even to give up my life most willingly for His name. It is there that I wish to remain until death, if the Lord should be so kind to me. Confession, Saint Patrick Apostle of the Irish