Placidus of Subiaco

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Filippo Lippi : Benedict instructs Maurus to save Placidus (around 1450)

Placidus (* around 515 in Rome , † around 545 in Messina ) was a Benedictine monk , disciple of Saint Benedict of Nursia , abbot and martyr . His feast day as a saint is October 5th.

biography

Maurus and Placidus on a frieze in the Maurus chapel when he miraculously saves the young Placidus from drowning

The father of Placidus is said to have been a Roman patrician named Tertullus. Similar to his brother Maurus , who was five years his senior , he was entrusted to Benedict of Nursia for upbringing at the age of seven, while the latter had settled in Subiaco .

One day, according to the legend, the young Placidus fell into a pond and threatened to drown. His brother Maurus was sent by Benedict to pull the boy out of the water, which he succeeded. Only afterwards did Maurus notice that he had walked on the water, which Placidus attributed to the blessing of her spiritual father.

Around 528 Placidus moved to Monte Cassino with Benedict and the other brothers . His father Tertullus is said to have been one of the main founders of the monastery , his foundation also included lands in Sicily , where Placidus became abbot of a daughter monastery in Messina around 541 . His siblings, the brothers Eutychius and Victorinus and the sister Flavia, followed him to Messina four years later. Shortly after their arrival, a pirate is said to have attacked the port city and brutally murdered the members of the monastery community, a total of 33 people.

Tradition and Effect

After 1133 Petrus Diaconus wrote a series of life stories of the first monks of Monte Cassino, which are considered by today's research as fakes. This also includes the story of Placidus and his 33 companions.

Many Benedictines chose “Placidus” as their religious name , including Plazidus Vogel , the first abbot of Münsterschwarzach Abbey after it was re-founded in 1914. One of the bells on the monastery church in Münsterschwarzach is therefore called St. Placidus .

literature

  • Walter Kasper (Hrsg.): Lexicon for theology and church. 3., completely reworked. Ed., Vol. 6., Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1997.

Web links

Commons : Placidus von Subiaco  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Andreas Räß, Nikolaus von Weis, Franz Joseph Holzwarth: Life of the Saints of God . Volume 2, Kirchheim 1855, p. 418 f.
  2. ↑ Placidus von Subiaco in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints , accessed on July 2, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Placidus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Benedictine, saint
DATE OF BIRTH at 515
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH at 545
Place of death Messina