Prayer to Saint Germanus of Capua
God, Light and Shepherd of souls, You established St. Germanus as Bishop in Your Church to feed Your flock by his word and form it by his example. Helps us through his intercession to keep the Faith he taught by his word and follow the way he showed by his example. Amen.
Bishop Saint Germanus of Capua (Italy) was a great friend of Saint Benedict. In 519, Pope Saint Hormisdas sent Germanus to Constantinople as papal legate to heal the 40-year-old Acacian schism. Although the schism was abolished, Germanus appears to have met with ill-treatment at the hands of the schismatics, but escaped. At the hour of Germanus's death, Saint enedict saw his soul being carried to heaven.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great relates (Dialogues, 4, 40):
"While I was young and still a layman, I heard told to the seniors, who were well-informed men, how the Deacon Paschasius appeared to Germanus, bishop of Capua. Paschasius, deacon of the Apostolic See, whose books on the Holy Spirit are still extant, was a man of eminent sanctity, devoted to works of charity, zealous for the relief of the poor, and most forgetful of self.
"A dispute having arisen concerning a pontifical election, Paschasius separated himself from the bishops, and joined the party disapproved by the episcopacy. Soon after this he died, with a reputation for sanctity which God confirmed by a miracle: an instantaneous cure was effected on the day of the funeral by the simple touch of his dalmatic. (outer liturgical vestment of the deacon. It is worn at Mass and at solemn processions)
"Long after this, Germanus, bishop of Capua, was sent by the physicians to the baths of Saint Angelo. What was his astonishment to find the same Deacon Paschasius employed in the most menial offices at the baths! "'Here I expiate,' said the apparition, 'the wrong I did by adhering to the wrong party. I beseech of you, pray to the Lord for me: you will know that you have been heard when you shall no longer see me in these places.'
"Germanus began to pray for the deceased, and after a few days, returning to the baths, sought in vain for Paschasius, who had disappeared. He had but to undergo a temporary punishment because he had sinned through ignorance, and not through malice." (Benedictines, Husenbeth, Schouppe).
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