Giacomo
di Nicola da Recanati. Sant'Elpidio invitato dall'angelo a salire sulla
nave, Polittico (Retable),1424,
Chiesa
Collegiata di Sant'Elpidio abate a Sant'Elpidio a Mare.
Aujourd’hui à Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs,
Saint Elpidien
Évêque de Lyon (Ve siècle)
Elpidien ou Elpidius, évêque, qui, au début du Ve siècle, se dévoua généreusement au service de l'Église de Lyon.
On trouve dans les martyrologes ... que Saint Elpide succéda à Antiochus; il vécut sur le Siège de cette Eglise dans une si grande réputation de sainteté et de piété qu'on lui attribua un grand nombre de miracles et qu'enfin après avoir gouverné heureusement son troupeau, il s'endormit dans la paix du Seigneur le 4 des Nones de Septembre; son corps fut enseveli dans l'église des Machabées où on célèbre sa mémoire avec celle de saint Just. (source: Histoire de l'Eglise de Lyon - page 58)
On fête le même jour, dans la Marche d'Ancône, à une époque incertaine, saint
Elpide, qui a donné son nom à la ville qui conserve son corps.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/8064/Saint-Elpidien.html
Giacomo
di Nicola da Recanati. Sant'Elpidio in carcere, Polittico (Retable),1424,
Chiesa
Collegiata di Sant'Elpidio abate a Sant'Elpidio a Mare.
Aujourd’hui
à Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs,
Saint Elpidius the
Cappadocian
Also
known as
Elpidius of Cappadocia
Elpidius the Abbot
Elpidius the Hermit
Elpidio…
Profile
Monk. Abbot in Asia
Minor. Hermit in
a cave on Mount Luca, Cappadocia for
over twenty years. Legend says that an angel convinced
him to immigrate to
the area of Ancona, Italy where
his reputation for holiness and wisdom attracted many disciples.
Born
4th
century of natural causes
relics enshrined
in the town of Cluana (modern Sant’Elpidio
a Mare), Ancona, Italy in
the 7th
century
the relics are
believed to have saved the town from a Lombard siege
when Elpidius appeared in the sky asking the inhabitants to defend the village
man with a vine leaf in
winter which recalls a story of him planting a twig in bare ground in winter –
and the resulting vine grew so fast and full and that it covered the
whole church beside
it
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
images
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
websites
in nederlandse
MLA
Citation
“Saint Elpidius the
Cappadocian“. CatholicSaints.Info. 5 February 2022. Web. 2 March 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-elpidius-the-cappadocian/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-elpidius-the-cappadocian/
Giacomo di Nicola da Recanati. Sant'Elpidio liberato dal carcere, battesimo dell'imperatore Aureliano, Polittico (Retable),1424, Chiesa Collegiata di Sant'Elpidio abate a Sant'Elpidio a Mare. Aujourd’hui à Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs,
Elpidius the Cappadocian,
Abbot (RM)
4th century. For 25 years
Saint Elpidius lived in a cave in Cappadocia. Numerous disciples gathered
around him. After his death, his relics were taken to a village in the Marches
of Ancona, which is now called Sant'Elpidio. In art, his emblem is a vine in leaf
in winter (Benedictines).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0902.shtml#elpi
Saint Elpidius (abbot)
We do not know much about
the life of Saint Elpidius (4th century). A disciple of St John Chrysostom
speaks of him. Elpidius was originally from Cappadocia and had lived
for 25 years as an anchorite in the caves near Jericho, natural shelters for
various other men eager to dedicate themselves to the contemplation of God
SAINT OF THE DAY 02_09_2020
is name comes from the
Greek Elpidios (from elpis, “hope”) and can be translated as “full of hope”. We
do not know much about the life of Saint Elpidius (4th century). A disciple of
St John Chrysostom speaks of him, i.e. the monk and bishop Palladius of Galatia
(c. 363-420), who in his Lausiac
History reports that Elpidius was originally from Cappadocia and had
lived for 25 years as an anchorite in the caves near Jericho, natural shelters
for various other men eager to dedicate themselves to the contemplation of God.
Palladius himself writes
that he lived in those caves next to the saint, who showed such self-discipline
in his asceticism “that he put everyone else in shadow”. He took food only on
Saturdays and Sundays, and he would spend the night standing up and singing
Psalms. One night, in the company of Palladius and the other hermits, he was
stung by a scorpion as he was praying, but he ignored the pain, trampled the
animal underfoot and remained standing, continuing to sing to God.
In his company Aenesius
and his brother Eustathius reached perfection, as did a disciple named
Sisinnius. According to the Lausiac History, St Elpidius died in one
of the caves near Jericho. Some believe that he may have left the Holy Land at
some point and reached Italy. In any case, his relics were kept since the first
millennium in the Marches and are still preserved today in a Roman sarcophagus
made of Parian marble, dating back to the 4th century, inside the church
dedicated to him in the municipality of Sant'Elpidio a Mare.
SOURCE : https://newdailycompass.com/en/saint-elpidius-abbot
Vitae Patrum
Book VIII (continuied)
Chapter CVI
THE LIFE OF ABBA
ELPIDIUS
This Elpidius was a
Cappadocian, and lived on Mount Luca, in the caves of the Amorites which had
been built by those people fleeing from Joshua the son of Nun when he was
laying waste the people of this foreign land. He was later honoured with the
gift of the presbyterate to serve the monastery there. He was ordained by the
excellent Timothy, a bishop of the Cappadocian region.
Elpidius lived in a cave
and gave evidence of such discipline in his way of life that he overshadowed
everyone else. For twenty-five years he ate only on Saturdays and Sundays and
stood singing the whole night through. As bees seek out their queen, so many
others followed him and populated that mountain, though you would find among
them many different ways of life.
Elpidius (= "foot of
God") lived up to his name on one occasion as a scorpion stung him when we
were singing psalms with him one night. He lived with a sure hope and was
willing to suffer for Christ's sake, so that he simply stamped on the scorpion
without moving from where he stood. So great was his power of bearing pain that
he took no account of the injury done him by the scorpion.
One day while still
living in the mountain one of the brothers gave him a bit of a twig, which the
holy man stuck in the ground even though it was not the planting season. It
grew so much and showed such vigorous life that it covered over the whole
church.
Chapter CVII
THE LIFE OF ABBA
AENESIUS
Along with this
celebrated holy athlete of God was included the servant of God Aenesius, a man
highly esteemed, and outstanding in his way of life.
Chapter CVIII
THE LIFE OF ABBA
EUSTATHIUS
And his brother
Eustathius was equal to him in honour, living out the battle of life with a
keen and eager mind.
It was his example that
Elpidius followed, punishing his body, ignoring the pain, so that his complete
bone structure became damaged. In describing his virtues his diligent disciples
also recorded that for all of twenty-five years he never once looked toward the
West, even though the mouth of his cave was situated on the top of the
mountain. From the sixth hour when the sun was overhead he never looked towards
where it was going down into the West, and for twenty years he never saw the
stars which arise in the West. From the time that he went into the cave this
great patient athlete did not come down from the mountain until he was
buried.
Such were the heavenly
exploits of the victorious unconquered athlete Elpidius, who now rests in
paradise along with many others like him.
Chapter CIX
THE LIFE OF ABBA
SISINNIUS
There was a disciple of
Elpidius called Sisinnius, a Cappadocian by race, a slave but a free man in
faith. It is important for the glory of Christ to mention his origins, for it
is Christ who exalts us from our origins, leading us to the truly blessed
nobility which is indeed the Kingdom of Heaven. He spent a long time with the
blessed Elpidius, a keen athlete in the way he trained himself in all the
virtues. He learned the virtues of Elpidius for six or seven years, the
fortitude of the way he laboured in his way of life, and then shut himself up
in a tomb. He stayed there and prayed for three years, neither sitting down or
lying down or going out. He was given power over the demons.
He has now gone back to
his native land where he has been honoured with the gift of the presbyterate
and has collected around him a company of both men and women. He bears witness
to the virtue of developing the powers of endurance by the honesty of the way his
life is lived, in that by practising strict continence he has expelled from
himself both masculine avarice and feminine pliability, so fulfilling the
Scripture, 'In Christ there is neither male nor female, bond nor free' (Galatians
3.28).
He was famed for his
hospitality though possessing little, to the shame of the rich who shared
little.
SOURCE : http://www.vitae-patrum.org.uk/page122.html
Giacomo
di Nicola da Recanati. Sant'Elpidio liberato dal carcere, battesimo
dell'imperatore Aureliano, Polittico (Retable),1424, Chiesa Collegiata di Sant'Elpidio abate a Sant'Elpidio a Mare. Aujourd’hui à
Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs : 1.Elpidio predica davanti
all'imperatore Antonio ; 2. L'imperatore Antonio ordina la distruzione degli
idoli alla presenza di Elpidio ; 3. Visione di Elpidio, incontro di
sant'Elpidio e devoto ; 4. Battesimo dell'imperatore Antonio e di Prisciano
alla presenza di Elpidio ; 5. Elpidio predica davanti all'imperatore Aureliano
; 6. Elpidio in carcere ; 7. Elpidio liberato dal carcere, battesimo
dell'imperatore Aureliano ; 8. Elpidio invitato dall'angelo a salire sulla nave
Sant' Elpidio Abate
sec. IV
Le informazioni su di lui
sono frammentarie confuse. Pietro da Natalibus lo identifica con un
eremita originario della Cappadocia e venuto in Italia dove sarebbe morto. Lo
scrittore Palladio lo ricorda come un eremita, vissuto presso Gerico per molti
anni in una spelonca. Altri pensano che si tratti del diacono di San
Basilio o dell'Elpidio ricordato nella vita di S. Carotone. Una vita redatta
verso il XII secolo, e trovata in un leggendario della Biblioteca Capitolare di
Spoleto, non ha alcun valore storico. Visto, però, che il suo culto è
particolarmente vivo nel Piceno, dove diverse città portano il suo nome,
l'ipotesi più probabile è che egli sia vissuto proprio questa regione.
Etimologia: Elpidio
= speranza, dal greco
Emblema: Bastone
pastorale
Martirologio
Romano: Nelle Marche, sant’Elpidio, del cui nome fu poi insignita la
cittadina, in cui si conserva il suo corpo.
A sud di Ancona alcune
cittadine portano il nome del santo odierno: S. Elpidio a Mare, S. Elpidio
Morico, Porto S. Elpidio. Nel Piceno questo nome è frequente anche nelle
persone, e tuttavia poco si conosce di questo santo, lontano nel tempo e nella
memoria, al punto d'essere confuso con vari personaggi. Qualcuno ritiene che S.
Elpidio sia originario della Cappadocia. Lo scrittore Palladio lo ricorda nella
sua Storia Lausiaca come un eremita vissuto per molti anni in una spelonca
presso Gerico e ne tesse gli elogi consueti per un asceta che, estraniatosi
dalla compagnia degli uomini, scelse la solitaria scalata alle vette della
perfezione cristiana.
Proprio nell'epoca in cui
visse S. Elpidio, nel IV secolo, andava affermandosi una nuova forma di
monachesimo, con S. Pacomio, iniziatore del "cenobitismo" cioè della
vita comunitaria.
Nella Tebaide, presso il
Nilo, aveva fondato i primi conventi di uomini e di donne, divisi in celle
individuali, con la chiesa e il refettorio in comune. A capo di ogni nucleo (il
futuro convento) è l'abate che ha il compito di fare osservare la regola
comune, imporre la castità, il lavoro, il digiuno e la recita dell'ufficio.
Pochi anni dopo S. Pacomio, il grande teologo e mistico orientale S. Basilio di
Cappadocia dava una regola più mitigata ma più saggia, destinata a diventare la
"magna charta", le costituzioni, di tutto il monachesimo cristiano,
sia in Oriente che in Occidente, tramite la Regola benedettina.
S. Basilio poneva
l'accento sul lavoro manuale e intellettuale e rafforzava l'autorità dell'abate
per eliminare gli eccessi delle fantasie personali. Non sempre i risultati
rispondevano alle buone premesse: molti monaci, autentici girovaghi,
abbandonavano il convento per correre nelle strade o nelle grandi città, o si dedicavano
ad esercizi ascetici tanto insoliti quanto spettacolari, come gli
"stiliti", che vivevano immobili come statue su colonne e facevano
piovere dall'alto saggi e rari consigli ai pellegrini che sostavano per
ammirarli. Anche S. Elpidio aveva probabilmente lasciato il cenobio per un
periodo di vita austera e solitaria nei pressi di Gerico, se accettiamo questa
versione della vita del santo, che in un secondo tempo si sarebbe trasferito
nel Piceno per stabilirvi una comunità monastica o comunque per esercitarvi una
forma di apostolato tra il popolo. Alcuni studiosi tuttavia sono del parere che
S. Elpidio sia stato originario del Piceno e abbia trascorso qui l'intera vita,
conformandosi a una regola ascetica del tutto personale, ma tale da imporlo
alla stima e più tardi alla devozione dell'intera regione.
Autore: Piero
Bargellini
