# Matins Nocturn 2 reading for St. John Gualbert, Abbot (Jul 12). No
# genuine SanctiM match: the only SanctiM file for this date,
# `SanctiM/07-12Moct.txt`, belongs to the Octave of St. Benedict (Jul
# 11-18 is the Monastic calendar's own octave of its patron's Mar 21
# feast) — a missed pre-1955-pool candidate rather than a genuine
# SanctiM case (see memory vu-matins-pre1955-saints,
# vu-matins-sanctim-saints).
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/07-12.txt, English/Sancti/07-12.txt.
# Lectio4-6 combined into one reading, one continuous vita, no genuine
# source break. No responsory given in the source.
id: st-john-gualbert
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Joánnes Gualbertus, Floréntiæ nobili genere ortus, dum patri óbsequens rem militarem
        sequitur, Ugo, únicus ejus frater, occíditur a consanguíneo. Quem cum solum et inérmem
        sancto Parasceves die Joánnes, armis ac milítibus stipatus, óbvium haberet, ubi néuter
        álterum poterat declináre, ob sanctæ crucis reveréntiam, quam homicida supplex, mortem
        jamjam subiturus, brácchiis signabat, vitam ei clementer indulget. Hoste in fratrem
        recepto, próximum sancti Miniátis templum oratúrus ingréditur, ubi adoratam Crucifixi
        imáginem caput sibi fléctere cónspicit. Quo mirábili facto permotus Joánnes, Deo exínde,
        étiam invíto patre, militare decernit, atque ibidem propriis sibi mánibus comam
        totondit, ac monasticum hábitum índuit: adeoque piis ac religiosis virtútibus brevi
        coruscat, ut multis se perfectiónis specimen ac normam præbéret; ita ut, ejusdem loci
        abbate defuncto, communi ómnium voto in superiórem eligerétur. At Dei famulus, cupiens
        subesse potius quam præesse, ad majora divina voluntáte servatus, ad Camaldulénsis
        eremi íncolam Romualdum proficíscitur, a quo cælicum sui institúti vaticinium áccipit;
        tum suum ordinem sub regula sancti Benedicti apud Umbrosam vallem instituit.


        Deínde, plurimis ad eum ob ejus sanctitátis famam undique convolántibus, una cum iis
        in socios adscitis, ad hæreticam et simoníacam pravitátem exstirpandam et apostolicam
        fidem propagandam sédulo incumbit, innumera proptérea in se et suis incommoda expertus.
        Nam, ut eum ejusque socios adversarii perdant, noctu sancti Salvii cœnóbium repénte
        aggrediúntur, templum incendunt, ædes demoliúntur, et mónachos omnes lethali vulnere
        sauciant; quos vir Dei único crucis signo incólumes prótinus reddit, et, Petro ejus
        mónacho per immensum ardentissimúmque ignem illæso mirabíliter transeúnte, optatam sibi
        et suis tranquillitátem óbtinet. Inde simoníacam labem ab Etruria éxpulit, ac in tota
        Italia fidem prístinæ integritáti restituit.


        Multa fúnditus eréxit monasteria, eademque et alia ædificiis ac regulari observántia
        instaurata, sanctis légibus communívit. Ad egénos alendos sacram supelléctilem véndidit:
        ad ímprobos coërcendos eleménta sibi famulari conspéxit: ad dæmones comprimendos crucem
        quasi ensem adhibuit. Demum abstinentiis, vigiliis, jejuniis, oratiónibus, carnis
        maceratiónibus ac senio confectus, dum infirma valetúdine gravarétur, Davídica illa
        verba persæpe repetebat: Sitívit ánima mea ad Deum fortem vivum: quando véniam et
        apparébo ante fáciem Dei? Jamque morti próximus, convocatos discipulos ad fraternam
        concordiam cohortátur, et in brevículo, cui consepeliri vóluit, jussit hæc scribi: Ego
        Joánnes credo et confiteor fidem, quam sancti Apóstoli prædicavérunt, et sancti Patres
        in quatuor conciliis confirmavérunt. Tandem, triduano Angelórum obsequio dignátus,
        septuagesimum octavum annum agens, apud Passinianum, ubi summa veneratióne cólitur,
        migrávit ad Dóminum, anno salútis millesimo septuagesimo tertio, quarto Idus Julii.
        Quem Cælestinus tertius, innumeris miraculis clarum, in Sanctórum númerum rétulit.
      en: >-
        John Gualberto was the son of a noble family at Florence. In accordance with the wishes
        of his father, he became a soldier. While he was in that profession, his only brother,
        Hew, was slain by a cousin. On a certain Good Friday, John, armed and accompanied by
        soldiers, met the murderer, alone and defenceless, in a narrow way, where neither could
        turn aside. As he was at the point to kill him, the wretch fell on his knees, and
        stretched out his arms in the form of the Cross, adjuring him, for the sake of that sign,
        to forgive him; and out of reverence for the Cross he had mercy on him and spared his
        life. After pardoning his enemy, he went into the Church of St. Minias, which was hard by,
        to pray. And there he saw the image of Jesus crucified, which had that day received the
        worship of the faithful, bow its head to him. By this miracle John was so moved, that he
        laid aside soldiering, even against his father's wishes, cut off his hair with his own
        hands, at the Convent of St. Minias, and clad himself in the garb of a monk. In a short
        while he so shone with all godly and monkish graces, that he became a pattern of
        excellency to many. When the Abbat of that house died, the monks all chose John to
        succeed him. But the servant of God desired to obey, more than to command, and, being
        kept by God for greater things, he betook himself to one Romuald, a dweller in the
        hermitage at Camaldoli. Through Romuald he received a revelation from heaven, and
        forthwith founded an Order of his own under the Rule of St. Benedict, in the valley
        called Vallombrosa.


        Many gathered themselves to him, drawn by the fame of his holy life. Them he took for
        his comrades, and laboured earnestly among them to cleanse the Church in those parts from
        the pollution of heresy and simony, and spread abroad the Apostolic Faith. He and his had
        to fight with almost countless hardships. Certain enemies broke by night into the
        monastery of San Salvi, to destroy John and his monks, set the church on fire, pulled down
        the huts, and mortally wounded all the monks; but the man of God perfectly healed them
        all by the sign of the Cross. One of his monks named Peter also passed unhurt through a
        vast and raging fire. At length John and his disciples got the peace which they longed
        for. He purged Tuscany of the pollution of simony, and restored the faith throughout all
        Italy to its first purity.


        He entirely built several monasteries, and furnished them and others with buildings. He
        restored in them the strict observance of the Rule, and gave them holy laws. He sold the
        furniture of the Church to feed the poor, and found the very elements subject to him to
        bend stubborn hearts withal. He used the Cross like a sword to drive out devils. In his
        old age, worn out by abstinence, watching, fasts, prayers, and punishing of the flesh, his
        strength utterly gave way, and he often repeated the words of David: My soul thirsteth for
        God, for the mighty God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? When
        he was at the point of death, he gathered his disciples together and exhorted them to
        love one another, and, after a little while, ordered the following words to be written
        down, which he wished should be buried with him: I, John, do believe and confess that
        Faith which the Holy Apostles preached, and which the Holy Fathers have ratified in the
        four Councils. At length, at Passignano, where he is held in the highest reverence, after
        a vision of angels which lasted three days, he passed away to be with the Lord, upon the
        12th day of July, in the 78th year of his own age, and in that of salvation 1073. He is
        illustrious for countless miracles, and Celestine III. enrolled his name among those of
        the Saints.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
