reproved a hermit who had chained himself to a rock, in these words, "Brother, be bound only by the chain of Christ!" The character of the Benedictine Order, by the specialities which have always distinguished it from other religious orders, attest the sagacious and liberal character of its founder. Fleury thinks he was not ordained, although he preached (Eccl. Hist. xxxii. 15). The idea of his being a priest is modern (Mab. Ann. O.S.B. v. 122; Murat. Scr. Ital. iv. 27).
Some, probably not all, of the remains of St. Benedict were transferred from his shrine at M. Cassino to the Benedictine abbey at Floriacum (Fleury), on the Loire, in the 7th cent. or at a later date (Mab. Acta, ii. 339). The question is discussed at length in AA. SS. Boll. 21 Mar. iii. 299‒301, and in Mab.AA. SS. O.S.B. Saec. ii. 337‒352.
For his life, see Greg. M. Dial. lib. ii. in Migne's Patr. lxvi., also in Mabillon's Acta Sanctorum O.S.B. Saec. i., in Muratori, Script. Rer. Italic. iv., and elsewhere. Vita S. Benedicti (in verse), by Marcus Poeta, said to be a disciple of St. Benedict, in Mab. AA. SS. Saec. i.; cf. Pauli Diac. Histor. Langobard. i. 26; see also Grégoire le Grand, la vie de St. Benoit, etc., par Jos. Mege, Par. 1734, 4to; Mab. Ann. O.S.B. i. viii., Acta Sanctorum (Bolland.), 21 Mar. iii. Bened. Haefteni, Commentar. in Vit. S. Bened. For a more complete catalogue of hymns, sermons, etc., on St. Benedict see Potthast s.v. Among modern biographies see Le pitture dello Zingaro nel chiostro di S. Severino in Napoli pubblicate per la prima volta a dilucidate da Stanislao d’Aloe (Napoli, 1846, 4to); also Tosti St. Ben., historical discourse on his life from the Italian (Lond. 1896), and Essays on Tosti's Life (Lond. 1896). In a new ed. of the English trans. of Montalembert's Monks of the West (Lond. 6 vols. 1896) is an introduction by Dom Gasquet on the Rule. A convenient ed. of the Rule, by D. H. Blair, with Eng. translation, was pub. at Lond. and Edin. (2nd. ed.), 1896.
Benedictus I., pope, called by the Greeks Bonosus (Evagr. Sc. H. E. v. 16), son of Boniface, a Roman, was elected successor to John III. on June 3, 574 (Jaffé, Regesta Pont.; the dates given by Baronius are erroneous; cf. Clinton, F. R. ii. 543, on the causes of discrepancy in the pontifical chronology). During his pontificate Italy was harassed by the invasion of the Lombards. Though they never actually penetrated into the city of Rome, they ravaged the suburbs, violated the cemeteries, and persecuted the Christians. Misery and famine ensued, and Rome was only relieved eventually by a corn fleet from Egypt, dispatched at the pope's request by the emperor Justin. Benedict died in July 578, and was buried on the last day of that month in St Peter's. He was succeeded by Pelagius II. (Anastas. Liber. Pontif.; cf. Paul. Diac. de Gestis Long. ii. 10, ap. Muratori, i.). According to Ciacconius (Vitae Pont. Rom.) his memory was eulogized by Gregory the Great. His restoration of certain lands to the Abbot of San Marco at Spoleto rests on the same authority (Greg. Op. ii. 950, ed. Bened.); see generally Baronius, sub annis 575‒577; Labbe, Concil. vol. v.).
Bertha (Bercta), wife of Ethelbert, king of Kent. She was daughter of Caribert, king of Paris, by his wife Ingoberga (Greg. Turon. iv. 26, ix. 26), and lost her father in 575, her mother in 589. The date of her marriage is unknown, but it was probably after the death of her mother, although Bede speaks of the king receiving her "a parentibus." Ethelbert was still a heathen, and on his marriage it was made a condition that his wife should be allowed to enjoy the exercise of her own religion, and should be attended by a bishop. Liudhard, or Letard, who is called by the Canterbury historians bp. of Senlis (Thorn, ed. Twysden, 1767), was chosen to accompany her, and the remains of the church of St. Martin, at Canterbury, were allotted for Christian worship (Bede, H. E. i. 26). It was partly, no doubt, by her influence that Ethelbert was induced to receive the Roman mission and to be baptized. Pope Gregory, in 601, when sending Mellitus to reinforce Augustine's company, addressed a letter to Bertha, in which he compliments her highly on her faith and knowledge of letters, and urges her to make still greater efforts for the spread of Christianity. He also ascribes the conversion of the English mainly to her, and compares her to the empress Helena (St. Greg. Epp. xii. 29; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, iii. 17, 18). The date of her death is unknown. She was buried in the porch of St. Martin, in the church of SS. Peter and Paul (Bede,H. E. ii. 5). Ethelbert seems to have married again after her death. She was the mother of Eadbald, who succeeded to the throne on Ethelbert's death, and of Ethelburga, who, in 625, was married to Edwin, King of Northumbria. As her son was unbaptized in 616, it is probable that she found considerable difficulty in promoting Christianity in her own family, or else that she died whilst her children were very young. Elmham (ed. Hardwick, p. 110) says she took part in founding the monastery of St. Augustine, at Christmas, 604, but this is merely traditional; and the latest trustworthy trace of her is St. Gregory's letter of 601.
Beryllus, bp. of Bostra,[1] in Arabia, known in his day as one of the most learned teachers of the church. He conceived heretical views as to the person of our blessed Lord, to consider which a synod assembled at Bostra, A.D. 244. The bishops unanimously condemned his teaching, and declared that Christ at His Incarnation was endowed with a human soul (Socr. H. E. iii. 7), but were unable to convince Beryllus of his error. Origen, however, who, having been recently degraded from Holy Orders and excommunicated at Alexandria, was then residing at Caesarea, had been invited to the synod, and by his intellectual superiority, dialectical skill, and friendly moderation succeeded in proving to Beryllus the unsoundness of his tenets, and in leading him back to the orthodox faith. For this, according to Jerome, he received the thanks of Beryllus in a letter extant in his time. Our only authority as to the tenets of Beryllus is a somewhat obscure passage of Eusebius, H. E. vi. 33, and a fragment of Origen's commentary on the Epistle to Titus, found in the
- ↑ Socr. H. E. iii. 7, erroneously makes Beryllus bp. of Philadelphia.
