“In Thebais, the birthday of
St. Paul, the first hermit, who lived alone in the desert from the sixteenth to
the one hundred and thirteenth year of his age. His soul was seen by St. Anthony carried by angels among the
choirs of apostles and prophets. His feast is celebrated on the 15th
of this month.”
That is the description on
the 10th of January in the old Roman Martyrology.
On the 15th it
says:
“St. Paul, the first hermit,
who was carried to the home of the blessed on the tenth of this month.”
St. Jerome’s Life of Paul the First Hermit provided
much of what is known of the man, and various subsequent accounts have offered
further amplification. According
to them, Paul was young Christian man of wealth and education in Upper Egypt,
when he was orphaned at the age of fifteen, during the persecutions of
Christians under Valerian and Decius.
Fearing that he would not be able to withstand the tortures inflicted on
Christians to make them apostatize, he moved his abode to the desert, trusting
God to supply his needs. There he
stayed for the next ninety years.
In the Middle Ages, a
favorite part of Paul's story pointed to the certain temptations of the flesh and
the painful way that such temptations can be overcome. As recounted in The Gold Legend, Paul fled to the desert when he saw two Christian
men “cruelly tormented.” The first
was covered in honey and allowed to be bitten by wasps and flies, while the
other was ordered to be put “… in a right soft bed between two sheets, among
flowers and delectable roses and herbs sweet smelling, and therein was he bound
so that he might not move." The
judge then sent a harlot “to him alone for to touch his members and his body,
to move to lechery. Finally, when
the voluptuosity of his flesh surmounted him, and he might not defend himself
nor his members, he bit off a piece of his tongue and spit it in her visage,
which always enticed him to lechery by touching and by kissings, and so he
voided the temptation fleshly, and the ribald also, and deserved to have laud
and victory.”
Saint Anthony Abbot makes
his appearance here as well.
Saint Anthony, who thought
himself a pretty hot stuff as hermits go, learned that there was one greater
and holier than himself, and set out (at the advanced age of 90) to visit Paul,
who “has served God in solitude and penance for ninety years.” After receiving directions from a
centaur (above), a satyr, and a she-wolf, he found the cave which served for Paul’s
hermitage. They had long
conversations together, and then Paul said that Anthony was destined to bury
his body, and desired him to bring the mantle given Anthony by the holy bishop
Athanasius, to be used as his shroud. The abbot made his arduous way home, found the mantle, and
once again set out to find Paul in the desert. Before he arrived at the cell, he saw a vision of the
shining soul of the venerable hermit ascending into heaven surrounded by
angels, prophets, and apostles, and knew that the good man was dead. Since he had only brought the mantle as
a winding sheet, but nothing with which to dig a grave, two lions came and dug
out a hole just large enough to contain the corpse. Anthony then took Paul’s coat and wore it with great
reverence.
St. Jerome ends his tale by
contrasting the humble and simple life of Paul with the wealthy, materialistic
citizens of his own day: “… poor
though he was, Paradise is open to him; you with all your gold will be received
into Gehenna.”
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The cookies called HERMITS would be a good treat today,
especially if it is a dark and dreary and cold day. There are lots of different recipes for these cookies – pick
your favorite. Here’s one of mine
(because it uses sour milk):
Preheat the oven to 350°
F.
Grease cookie sheets.
Dissolve ½ teaspoon of
baking soda in ½ cup of sour milk or buttermilk.
In a large bowl, cream
together 1-½ cups of dark brown sugar with ½ cup of butter or shortening. Drop in 2 eggs, one at a time, and beat
until light after each addition.
In another bowl, sift
together 3 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon EACH of ground
cloves and ground nutmeg. Stir in 1-½ cups
of raisins and 1 cup of chopped nuts. Add flour mixture to the batter alternately with the milk until well blended.
Drop by rounded teaspoons
onto greased cookie sheets. [A sprinkle
of white sugar on each is optional].
Bake for 10 to15 minutes.
Remove immediately from sheet and allow to cool on a baking rack.
Makes an awful lot of
cookies, about 4 dozen or so.
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Artwork:
“St. Paul receiving his
daily provision from God” from Pictorial
Lives of the Saints by John Gilmary Shea (1889)
Jean de Limbourg. “St. Paul
sees a Christian tempted”. The Belles Heures of Jean, Duc de Berry
(c1405). Paul turns away in horror
at the cruel torment inflicted on the young man. Look closely, and you can see the brave young Christian spit
his piece of tongue in the harlot’s face. (the white spot in the center is from
the original)
Jean de Limbourg. “St.
Anthony directed by a Centaur”. The Belles Heures of Jean, Duc de Berry
(c1405). The centaur points to the
Red Sea (really red, so you know what it is), beyond which St. Paul sits reading beside a sarcophagus, unaware that a really big centipede is crawling his way.
