Sainte Thaïs
Pénitente en Égypte (IVe siècle)
Bien qu'elle fût l'une des courtisanes les plus recherchées et les plus riches d'Égypte, elle n'était pas heureuse.
Elle rencontra saint Paphnuce qui lui parla des fins dernières de toute vie. Il la convertit avec la grâce de Dieu et l'enferma dans un monastère voisin du sien où pendant trois années elle pria
"Tes lèvres ont été trop souillées pour prononcer le nom de Dieu, lui avait-il dit, tu prieras donc ainsi: Vous qui m'avez créée, ayez pitié de moi."
Puis il l'agrégea à la communauté des religieuses qu'il dirigeait. Elle y
mourut quelques années plus tard en odeur de sainteté.
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1976/Sainte-Thais.html
SAINTE THAÏS, PÉCHERESSE
Thaïs; pécheresse, selon
qu'il est rapporté dans les Vies des Pères (1), était d'une si grande
beauté que plusieurs ayant vendu pour elle tout ce qu'ils possédaient, se
virent réduits à la dernière pauvreté; ses amants, jaloux les uns des autres,
se livraient à des querelles si fréquentes que la porte de cette fille était
très souvent arrosée de sang. Informé de cela, l’abbé Paphnuce prit
un habit séculier et une pièce de monnaie, et étant allé trouver Thaïs en une
ville d'Egypte on elle restait, il lui donna cet argent pour prix du péché
qu'il feignait avoir dessein de commettre. Thaïs reçut l’argent et lui dit : «
Entrons dans une chambre. » Quand il y fut entré, elle l’invita à monter sur le
lit qui était couvert de riches étoffes, et Paphnuce lui dit : «
S'il y a quelque chambre plus reculée, allons-y » Elle le conduisit dans
plusieurs autres pièces, mais l’abbé répétait toujours qu'il craignait d'être
vu. Alors Thaïs lui, dit : « Il y a une chambre où personne n'entre; mais si
vous craignez Dieu, il n'y a point de lieu qui soit caché à sa divinité. »
Quand le vieillard eut entendu cela, il lui dit : « Vous savez donc qu'il y a
un Dieu? » Et comme elle lui eut répondu qu'elle savait qu'il y a mi Dieu, et
un royaume à venir, et même des tourments réservés aux pécheurs, il lui dit: «
Si vous connaissez ces choses, pourquoi, en causant la perte de tant d'âmes,
vous êtes-vous mise en état d'être condamnée avec justice, lorsque vous aurez à
rendre compte devant Dieu non seulement de vos crimes, mais aussi des crimes
des autres? » En entendant ces mots, Thaïs se jeta aux pieds de l’abbé Paphnuce et
lui fit cette prière en versant des larmes : « Je sais, père, qu'il y a une
pénitence, et j'ai confiance d'obtenir pardon par vos prières : je ne vous
demande que trois heures de délai, et après cela j'irai où il vous plaira
exécuter tout ce que vous me commanderez. » L'abbé lui désigna alors un endroit
où elle devait se rendre ; puis elle rassembla tout ce qu'elle avait gagné par
ses péchés, et après l’avoir fait porter au milieu de la ville, elle y mit le
feu en présence de tout le peuple, en criant: « Venez tous, vous qui avez péché
avec moi, venez voir comme je vais brûler ce que vous m’avez donné. » Or,
il y en avait pour une valeur de quarante livres d'or *. Quand elle eut tout
brûlé, elle se rendit à l’endroit que lui avait désigné l’abbé Paphnuce.
Celui-ci trouva un monastère de vierges où il l’enferma dans une petite cellule
dont il scella la porte avec du plomb. Il n'y laissa qu'une petite fenêtre par
où on lui devait passer un peu de nourriture, et il commanda aux autres
religieuses que tous les jours on lui portât un peu de pain et un tout petit
peu d'eau. Le vieillard allait se retirer, quand Thaïs lui dit : « Où
voulez-vous, père, que je répande l’eau que la nature rejette? » « Dans votre
cellule, répondit-il, comme vous le méritez. » Comme elle demandait encore
comment elle devait adorer Dieu, il répondit : « Vous n'êtes pas digne de
prononcer le nom de Dieu, ni d'avoir sur les lèvres le nom de la Trinité, pas
plus que d'élever vos mains au ciel, puisque vos lèvres sont pleines
d'iniquité, que vos mains sont souillées d'ordures ; mais contentez-vous, étant
assise, de regarder du côté de l’Orient et de répéter souvent ces paroles : «
Vous qui, m’avez formée, ayez pitié de moi. » Thaïs ayant passé trois
années recluse de cette manière, Paphnuce eut compassion d'elle, et
alla trouver l’abbé Antoine pour savoir si Dieu lui avait remis ses péchés.
Quand il eut exposé l’affaire à saint Antoine, celui-ci convoqua ses disciples
et leur commanda de passer la nuit suivante dans les veilles et la prière,
chacun de son côté, avec l’espoir que Dieu révélerait à quelqu'un d'eux le
motif pour lequel l’abbé Paphnuce était venu. Comme ils priaient sans
relâche, l’abbé Paul, le principal disciple) d'Antoine, vit tout à coup dans le
ciel un lit recouvert d'étoffes précieuses que gardaient trois vierges dont le
visage était resplendissant de clarté. Ces trois vierges étaient la crainte de
la peine future qui avait retiré Thaïs du vice, la honte des fautes commises
qui lui avait valu le pardon, et l’amour de la justice qui l’avait portée aux
choses du ciel. Et comme Paul disait qu'une si grande grâce était pour Antoine,
une voix divine lui répondit: « Ce n'est point pour ton père Antoine, mais pour
la pécheresse Thaïs. » Paul ayant rapporté le matin cette vision et
l’abbé Paphnuce ayant connu par là quelle était la volonté de Dieu,
celui-ci se retira avec joie. Etant arrivé au monastère, il brisa le sceau de
la porte de la cellule. Mais Thaïs priait qu'on la laissât encore recluse.
Alors l’abbé lui dit : « Sortez, car Dieu vous a remis vos péchés. » Et elle
répondit : Je prends Dieu à témoin que, depuis mon entrée ici, j'ai fait
de tous mes péchés comme un monceau que j'ai mis devant mes yeux ; et de même
que le souffle de ma respiration ne m’a point quittée, de même aussi la
vue de mes péchés n'a point quittée mes yeux, mais je pleurais constamment en
les considérant. » L'abbé Paphnuce lui dit : « Ce n'est pas en
considération de votre pénitence que Dieu vous a remis vos péchés, mais parce
que vous avez toujours eu la crainte dans L'esprit. » Et quand il l’eut retirée
de là, elle vécut encore quinze ans et reposa en paix.
L'abbé Ephrem voulut
aussi convertir de la même manière une autre pécheresse. En effet, cette femme
ayant excité avec impudence saint Ephrem à pécher, celui-ci lui dit : «
Suis-moi. » Elle le suivit et quand elle fut arrivée à un endroit où il y avait
une multitude d'hommes, il lui dit. « Mets-toi là, afin que j'aie commerce avec
toi. » « Et comment puis-je faire cela, reprit-elle, en présence de tant
de monde? » Ephrem lui dit alors : « Si tu rougis des hommes, ne dois-tu pas
rougir davantage de ton Créateur qui révèle ce qui se passe dans les ténèbres
les plus épaisses? » Et elle se retira pleine de confusion.
Le texte de J. de Voragine porte
400 livres, mais les Vies des Pères n'en marquent que 40. C'est sans doute une
faute de copiste qui aura mis quadragintarum pour quadragenarum.
LA LÉGENDE DORÉE de
JACQUES DE VORAGINE nouvellement traduite en français, avec introduction,
notices, notes et recherches sur les sources par L'Abbé J.-B. M. ROZE, Chanoine
Honoraire de la cathédrale d'Amiens. Édouard ROUVEYRE, Éditeur, 76, Rue de Seine,
76. Paris MDCCCCII. Numérisé en la fête de la chaire de Saint Pierre
22 février 2004
SOURCE : https://www.bibliotheque-monastique.ch/bibliotheque/bibliotheque/voragine/tome03/153.htm
Sainte Thaïs
Recluse pénitente
Égyptienne, sainte Thaïs
vécu au IVe siècle. Elle fut convertie par saint Paphnuce* qui la plaça
dans une petite cellule à l’intérieur d’un monastère de vierges.
Pendant trois ans elle y
vécut recevant chaque jour un peu de pain et un peu d’eau par une petite
fenêtre, seule ouverture de sa cellule, puisque saint Paphnuce avait scellé la
porte avec du plomb.
Vie de courtisane
Thaïs vécut ses trois
années de réclusion dans un esprit de pénitence et de réparation pour le mal
qu’elle avait commis auparavant. Connue comme une courtisane, elle avait mené
une vie de prostitution séduisant par sa beauté nombre d’hommes. Elle était si belle
que ses amants, jaloux les uns des autres, se battaient devant sa porte,
parfois jusqu’au sang.
Averti de ceci, l’abbé
Paphnuce s’habilla en séculier et se présenta à elle avec de l’argent; Thaïs le
laissa entrer. Elle l’amena dans une chambre, mais le saint moine demanda s’il
n’y avait pas un autre endroit plus discret dans lequel ils pouvaient se
retirer. Elle le fit entrer dans une pièce où personne n’entrait habituellement
en lui disant que, s’il craignait Dieu, aucun lieu ne pouvait être caché à sa
divinité.
Sa métanoia
C’est ainsi que saint
Paphnuce découvrit qu’elle connaissait Dieu et croyait en l’existence d’une
autre vie où Dieu récompense les bons et punit les méchants. Ce fut la porte
d’entrée permettant à l’abbé de lui parler du mal qu’elle commettait et combien
d’hommes se perdaient à cause d’elle.
En l’entendant parler,
Thaïs se jeta à ses pieds en pleurant et lui fit cette prière:
« Je sais, père,
qu’il y a une pénitence, et j’ai confiance d’obtenir pardon par vos
prières… »
Elle lui demanda un délai
de trois heures, après quoi elle le suivrait à l’endroit désigné. Thaïs
rassembla toutes les richesses obtenues par sa vie de prostitution et les brûla
au milieu de la ville en présence de tous ceux qui la connaissaient les
invitant à imiter sa conversion. Ensuite, elle se rendit à l’endroit où le
saint moine l’attendait.
Vie en réclusion
Dans sa réclusion, assise
du côté de l’Orient, Thaïs fit réparation de ses péchés en répétant ces
paroles:
« Vous qui m’avez
formée, ayez pitié de moi. »
Après trois ans, saint
Paphnuce ayant compassion d’elle, alla trouver saint Antoine pour savoir si
Dieu lui avait pardonné ses fautes.
Celui-ci demanda à ses
disciples de veiller et de prier toute la nuit suivante, espérant que Dieu
révélerait la réponse à l’un d’eux.
Pendant la nuit, saint
Paul le Simple, principal disciple de saint Antoine, eut cette vision:
Il vit dans le ciel un
lit recouvert d’étoffes précieuses que gardaient trois vierges dont le visage
était resplendissant de clarté. Ces trois vierges étaient la crainte de la
peine future qui avait retiré Thaïs du vice, la honte des fautes commises qui lui
avait valu le pardon et l’amour de la justice qui l’avait portée aux choses du
ciel.
Réconforté et rempli de
joie, saint Paphnuce se rendit au monastère des vierges et brisa le sceau de la
porte de la cellule de Thaïs. Même si elle avait voulu y demeurer plus
longtemps, le saint moine lui dit: « Sortez, car Dieu a remis vos
péchés. » Elle lui répondit: « Je prends Dieu à témoin que, depuis
mon entrée ici, j’ai fait de tous mes péchés comme un monceau que j’ai mis
devant mes yeux; et de même que le souffle de ma respiration ne m’a point
quitté, de même aussi la vue de mes péchés n’a point quitté mes yeux, mais je
pleurais constamment en les considérant. » Thaïs mourra peu de temps après
sa sortie de réclusion.
*Saint Paphnuce: ermite
au monastère de Pispir, disciple de saint Daïa (305-311); il assista au Concile
de Nicée et fut un ardent défenseur de la foi contre l'hérésie d'Arius; avec 47
évêques il accompagna saint Athanase, évêque d'Alexandrie, au conciliabule de
Tyr pendant lequel il empêcha saint Maxime de Jérusalem de tomber dans l'erreur
de l'arianisme.
SOURCE : https://reclusesmiss.org/wp/les-recluses-dans-lhistoire-sainte-thais/
.JPG)
Santa Taisia (Taide) Penitente.
Enciclopedia
dei Santi (Santi Beati) (In questa sezione trovate riproduzioni
artistiche, immagini d'arte, quadri e sculture d'arte, vetrate artistiche,
immaginette devozionali, reliquie e santini, opere di architettura e di
scultura.).
Also
known as
Thaisis
Thaisia
Profile
Following a long life of
sin, Thais converted to Christianity,
brought to the faith by Saint Paphnutius
of Heracleopolis in Egypt.
To avoid temptation and spend the next three years in prayer,
she moved into a closed cell and
would only communicate with her spiritual advisors Saint Anthony
the Abbot, Saint Paul
the Simple and Saint Paphnutius.
After that she moved into a convent,
but lived only two more weeks.
Modern scholarship leans
to this being a re-telling of the story of Saint Pelagia
the Penitent.
c.348 in Egypt of
natural causes
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MLA
Citation
“Saint Thaïs the
Penitent“. CatholicSaints.Info. 31 October 2021. Web. 8 October 2022.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-thais-the-penitent/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-thais-the-penitent/
St. Thais
(THAISIS or THAISIA).
A penitent in Egypt in the fourth
century. In the Greek menology her
name occurs on 8 Oct., it is found also in the martyrologies of
Maurolychus and Greven, but not in the Roman. Two lives are extant, one,
originally in Greek, perhaps in the fifth century, the other in verse, by Marbod, Bishop of Rennes, who died in 1123
("Acta SS.", IV, Oct., 223; "Bibl. Hag.lat.", II, 1161).
The saint is represented burning her treasures and ornaments, or praying in a cell
and displaying a scroll with the words: "Thou who didst create me have
mercy on me". According to the legend Thais was a public sinner in Egypt who was
converted by St. Paphnutius, brought to a convent and
enclosed in a cell. After three years of penance she was released and placed
among the nuns,
but lived only fourteen days more. The name of the hermit is given
also as Bessarion and Serapion the Sidonite. Delahaye says (Anal. boll., XXIV,
400), "If the legend is historical the hermit must have
been Paphnutius".
Sources
BUTLER Lives of the
Saints: 8 October; DUNBAR, Dict. of Saintly Women (London,
1904); Anal. boll., XI, 291, 298; NAU, Hist de Thais in Annales du Musée Guimet, XXX (1903), 51; Battifol, La Légende de Thaïs in Bull. De
litt. Eccl. (Toulouse, 1908), 207.
Mershman,
Francis. "St. Thais." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 8 Oct. 2022 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14553d.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by C.A. Montgomery.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14553d.htm
THAÏS, ST.
Portrayed by legend as a
Christian courtesan of Alexandria who was converted by the hermit Serapion and
sealed in a cell of a woman's monastery to do penance. In other versions of the
story either Paphnutius or Bessarion is credited with her conversion. After
three years of rigorous confinement, Thaïs was released; she died within 15
days. Though two mummified bodies, identified as
Thaïs and Serapion, were
discovered at Antinoë in Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century and
were exhibited in the Musée Guimet at Paris, there is not enough evidence to
substantiate the claim that these are the remains of the penitent courtesan and
the hermit of the legend. In the earliest accounts the penitent is nameless.
The story of Thaïs is a morality tale that enjoyed great diffusion in the Middle
Ages.
Feast: Oct. 8.
Bibliography: H. Leclercq, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. F. Cabrol, H. Leclercq, and H. I. Marrou, 15 v. (Paris 1907–53) 1.2:2339–40. A. Butler, The Lives of the Saints, rev. ed. h. thurston and d. attwater, 4v.
(New
York 1956) 4:61–62.
[E. Day]
New Catholic Encyclopedia
SOURCE : https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/thais-st
Golden Legend –
Life of Saint Thaisis
Here followeth of Saint
Thais or Thaisis, and first of her name.
Thais is said of taphos,
that is to say death, for she was cause of the death of many that died for her
in sin. Or she is said of thalos, that is to say delight, for she was delicious
to men, and accomplished all worldly delights, or she is said of thalamo, that
is will or affection of martiage, for at the last she had will to be married to
God by great penance.
Of Saint Thaisis.
Thaisis, as it is read in
Vitas Patrum, was a common woman, and of so great beauty that many followed
her, and sold all their substance, that they came unto the utterest poverty.
And they that were her lovers fought for her, and strove for jealousy, so that
they otherwhile slew each other, and thereof her house was oft full of blood of
young men that drew to her. Which thing came to the knowledge of a holy abbot
named Pafuntius, and he took on him secular habit, and a shilling in his purse,
and went to her in a city of Egypt, and gave to her a shilling, that is to say
twelve pence, as it had been cause for to sin with her. And when she had taken
this money, she said to him: Let us enter into the chamber here within. And
when they were both entered into the chamber, she said to him that he should go
into the bed, which was preciously adorned with clothes; then said he to her:
If there be any more secret place here, let us go thereto; and then she led him
into divers secret places; and he said always he doubted to be seen. And she
said to him: There is within a place where no man entereth, and there shall no
man see us but God, and if thou dread him there is no place that may be hid
from him. And when the old man heard that, he said to her: And knowest thou
that there is a God? And she answered: I know that there is a God, and a realm
of a to-coming world, for them that shall be saved, and also torments in hell
for sinners. And he said to her: If thou knowest this, wherefore hast thou lost
so many souls? And thou shalt not only give accounts for thine own sin, but
thou must reckon them that by thee have sinned. And when she heard this, she
kneeled down to the feet of the abbot Pafuntius, and sore weeping, she prayed
him to receive her to penance, saying: Father, I acknowledge me penitent and
contrite, and trust verily by thy prayer that I shall have remission and
forgiveness of my sins. I ask of thee but the space of three hours, and after
that I shall go whithersomever thou wilt, and shall do that which thou shalt
command me. And when he had given to her that term and assigned her whither she
should come, then she took all those goods that she had won with sin, and
brought them into the middle of the city tofore the people, and burnt them in
the fire, saying: Come ye forth all that have sinned with me, and see ye how I
burn that which ye have given to me. And the value of the goods that she burnt
was of five hundred pounds of gold. And when she had all burnt it, she went to
the place which the abbot had assigned to her. And there was a monastery of
virgins, and there he closed her in a cell, and sealed the door with lead. And
the cell was little and straight, and but one little window open, by which was
ministered of her poor living. For the abbot commanded that they should give to
her a little bread and water. And when the abbot should depart, Thaisis said to
him: Father, where shall I shed the water, and that which shall come from the
conduits of nature? And he said to her: In thy cell, as thou art worthy. And
then she demanded how she should pray, and he answered: Thou art not worthy to
name God, ne that the name of the Trinity be in thy mouth, ne stretch thy hands
to heaven, because thy lips be full of iniquities, and thine hands full of evil
attouchings, and foul ordures, but look only towards the east and say oft of
these words: Qui plasmasti me, miserere mei, Lord that hast formed me, have
mercy on me. And when she had been there three years closed, the abbot
Pafuntius remembered and sorrowed, and went to the abbot Anthony for to require
of him if God had forgiven her her sins. And the cause told, Saint Anthony
called his disciples and commanded them that they should all wake that night
and be in prayer so that God should declare to some of them the cause why the
abbot Pafuntius was come. And then as they prayed without ceasing, the abbot
Paul, the greatest disciple of Saint Anthony, saw suddenly in heaven a bed
arrayed with precious vestments, which three virgins arrayed, with clear
visages. And these three virgins were named, the first was Dread which drew
Thaisis from evil, and the second Shame of the sins that she committed, and
that made her to deserve pardon, and the third was Love of Righteousness, which
brought her to high sovereign place. And when Paul had said to him that the
grace of this vision was only by the merits of Saint Anthony, a goodly voice
answered that it was not only by the merits of Anthony, his father, but by the
merit of Thaisis, the sinner. And on the morn when the abbot Paul recounted his
vision, and they had known the will of God, the abbot Pafuntius departed with
great joy and went anon to the monastery where she was, and opened the door of
the cell. And she prayed him that she might yet abide there enclosed in, and
the abbot said to her, Issue and go out, for God hath forgiven to thee thy
sins. And she answered: I take God to witness that sith I entered herein I have made of all
my sins a sum, and have set them tofore mine eyes, and like as the breath
departeth not from the mouth and the nostrils, so the sins departed never from
mine eyes, but always have bewept them. To whom the abbot Pafuntius said: God
hath not pardoned thee thy sins for thy penance, but because that thou hast had
always dread in thy courage. And he took her out from thence, and she lived
after, fifteen days, and then she rested in our Lord.
The abbot Effrem
converted in like wise another common woman, for when that common woman would
have drawn Saint Effrem for to have sinned dishonestly, he said to her: Follow
me, and she followed. And when they came in a place where a great multitude of
men were, he said to her, Sit down here, that I may have to do with thee; and
she said: How may I do this among so great multitude of people here standing?
And he said, If thou be ashamed of the people, thou oughtest to have greater
shame of God which seeth all things hid, and she went away all ashamed.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/golden-legend-life-of-saint-thaisis/
St.
Thaïs, the Penitent
ABOUT the
middle of the fourth age, there lived in Egypt a famous courtezan named Thaïs,
who had been educated a Christian; but the sentiments of grace were stifled in
her by an unbridled love of pleasure, and desire of gain. Beauty, wit, and
flattering loose company brought her into the gulf; and she was engaged in the
most criminal infamous habits, out of which only an extraordinary grace can
raise a soul. This unhappy thoughtless sinner was posting to eternal
destruction when the divine mercy interposed in her favour. Paphnutius, an holy
anchoret of Thebais, wept without intermission for the loss of her soul, the
scandal of her vicious courses being public in the whole country. At length,
having earnestly recommended the matter to God, he formed a project, or a pious
stratagem, in order to have access to her, that he might endeavour to rescue
her out of her disorders. He put off his penitential weeds, and dressed himself
in such a manner as to disguise his profession. Going to her house, full of an
ardent zeal for her conversion, he called for her at the door, and was
introduced to her chamber. He told her he desired to converse with her in
private, but wished it might be in some more secret apartment. “What is it you
fear?” said Thaïs: “If men, no one can see us here; but if you mean God, no
place can hide us from his all-piercing eye.” “What!” replied Paphnutius: “do
you know there is a God?” “Yes,” said she, “and I moreover know that a heaven
will be the portion of the good, and that everlasting torments are reserved in
hell for the punishment of the wicked.” “Is it possible,” said the venerable
old hermit, “you should know these great truths, and yet dare to sin in the
eyes of Him who knows and will judge all things?” Thaïs perceived by this
stinging reproach, that the person to whom she spoke was a servant of God who
came inspired with holy zeal to draw her from her unhappy state of perdition;
and, at the same time, the Holy Ghost, who moved Paphnutius to speak,
enlightened her understanding to see the baseness of her sins, and softened her
heart by the touch of his omnipotent grace. Filled with confusion at the sight
of her crimes, and penetrated with bitter sorrow, detesting her baseness and
ingratitude against God, she burst into a flood of tears, and throwing herself
at the feet of Paphnutius, said to him: “Father, enjoin me what course of
penance you think proper; pray for me, that God may vouchsafe to show me mercy.
I desire only three hours to settle my affairs, and I am ready to comply with
all you shall counsel me to do.” Paphnutius appointed a place to which she
should repair, and went back to his cell.
Thaïs
got together all her jewels, magnificent furniture, rich clothes, and the rest
of her ill-gotten wealth, and making a great pile in the street, burnt it all
publicly, inviting all who had made her those presents, and been the
accomplices of her sins, to join her in her sacrifice and penance. To have kept
any of those presents would have been not to cut off all dangerous occasions
which might again revive her passions, and call back former temptations. By
this action she endeavoured also to repair the scandal she had given, and to
show how perfectly she renounced sin, and all the incentives of her passions.
This being done, she hastened to Paphnutius, and was by him conducted to a
monastery of women. There the holy man shut her up in a cell, putting on the
door a seal of lead, as if that place had been made her grave, never more to be
opened. He ordered the sisters as long as she lived to bring her every day only
a little bread and water, and he enjoined her never to cease soliciting heaven
for mercy and pardon. She said to the holy man: “Father, teach me how I am to
pray.” Paphnutius answered: “You are not worthy to call upon God by pronouncing
his holy name, because your lips have been filled with iniquity; nor to lift up
your hands to heaven, because they are defiled with impurities: but turn
yourself to the east 1 and
repeat these words: Thou who has created me, have pity on me.” Thus she
continued to pray with almost continual tears, not daring to call God Father, she
having deserved to forfeit the title of his child, by her unnatural ingratitude
and treasons; nor Lord, she having renounced him to become a slave to
the devil; nor Judge, which name filled her with terror by the
remembrance of his dreadful judgments; nor God, which name is most
holy and adorable, and comprises in one word his supreme essence and all his
attributes; but, however she had by her actions disowned him, she remained the
work of his hands; and by this title she conjured him, for the sake of his
boundless mercy and goodness, to look upon her with compassion, to raise her
from her miseries, restore her to his favour, and inspire her with his pure and
most perfect love. In repeating this short prayer, she exercised all acts of
devotion in her heart, exciting in her affections not only the most profound
sentiments of compunction, humility, and holy fear; but also those of hope,
praise, adoration, thanksgiving, love, and all interior virtues; in which her
affections most feelingly dilated themselves. When she had persevered thus with
great fervour for the space of three years, St. Pathnutius went to St. Antony
to ask his advice whether this penitential course did not seem sufficient to
prepare her for the benefit of reconciliation, and the holy communion? St.
Antony said, St. Paul the Simple should be consulted; for God delights to
reveal his will to the humble. They passed the night together in prayer. In the
morning, St. Paul answered, that God had prepared a place in heaven for the
penitent. Paphnutius therefore went to her cell to release her from her
penance. The penitent, considering the inscrutable judgments of God, and full
of deep sentiments of compunction, and of her absolute unworthiness ever to be
admitted to sing the divine praises in the company of the chaste spouses of
Christ, earnestly begged she might be permitted to continue in her penitential
state to the end of her life; but this Paphnutius would not suffer. She said
that from the time of her coming thither she had never ceased bewailing her
sins, which she had always before her eyes. “It is on this account,” said
Paphnutius, “that God has blotted them out.” She therefore left her prison to
live with the rest of the sisters. God, satisfied with her sacrifice, withdrew
her out of this world fifteen days after her releasement, about the year 348.
She is honoured in the Greek Menologies on the 8th of October. See her life
written by an ancient Greek author, in Rosweide, p. 374, D’Andilly, Bulteau,
and Villefore.
Note
1. It was a custom among the primitive
Christians to turn their faces to the east to pray. Hence in churches the high
altar was usually placed to the east. Mr. Peck, in his History of Stamford,
thinks the high altar in old English churches, was placed towards the rising
sun, according to the point in the ecliptic, in which it was at the season of
the year when the church was built, which admits a latitude. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
X: October. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/210/10/082.html
St. Thaïs, the Prostitute Who Became a Nun
This amazing and
little-known saint is a model for our broken world.
Angelo Stagnaro BlogsOctober 9, 2018
It’s said that the
Blessed Virgin Mary is the most depicted person in art in human history.
Other holy personages are
similarly the subject of more modern genres of art including novels, theater
and film. I think it’s wonderful that a Catholic saint inspires secular artists
— as in the case of Mark Twain, who was taken with stories of St. Joan of Arc
and made her the subject of his fascinating novel Personal Recollections
of St. Joan of Arc. Though it can hardly be said that Twain admired Catholics
or the Catholic Church, he held St. Joan in the highest regard and treated her
respectfully in his work and in everyday contemplation.
Such are the mysterious
workings of the Holy Spirit.
Another such case of a
Catholic saint who made her splash in the arts and held up as a moral tale was
that of St. Thaïs (pronounced “thigh-ees”).
Thaïs was a repentant
courtesan in fourth-century Roman Alexandria. She is one of the Egyptian Desert
Mothers and a contemporary of St. Augustine of Hippo.
Her feast day is Oct. 8.
Two hagiographic accounts
of her life exist. The first, is a fifth-century Greek document which Dionysius
Exiguus (Dennis the Little) translated into Latin in the sixth-century
entitled Vita Thaisis (The Life of Thaïs.)
The second is written in
Latin by Marbod of Rennes (d. 1123).
St. Thaïs also appears in
the lives of the Egyptian desert saints and hermits which were collected in
the Vitae Patrum (Lives of the Desert Fathers).
The various stories of
her life all agree that she was of unparalleled beauty and unprincipled wealth
and unrepentant immorality due to her profession ― the oldest profession.
However, when she
witnesses Christians giving away all that they have for the sake of the poor
including their jewels and makeup, she becomes fascinated by this new religion
and makes inquiries about it.
Thaïs eventually
converts. It was then that a monk, in his belated desire to convert her to
Christ, disguises himself as a “customer” and pays for entry into her chambers.
Conflicting sources
suggest that the monk was either 1) St. Paphnutius (Bishop in Upper Thebaïd),
2) St. Bessarion (one of St. Anthony of Egypt’s student) or possibly 3) St.
Serapion (a bishop in the Nile Delta).
However, to his surprise,
the monk-in-disguise finds her uninterested in her former profession. The monk
asked as to what changed her mind. Thaïs tells her that she now believes that
Jesus is the Savior of the World.
The monk then sits down
to catechize her and prepare her for Baptism.
Stricken in grief over a
lifetime of sin, Thaïs burns all of her clothes and other riches and begs the
monk to become a cloistered nun in the desert.
The monk takes her to a
hermit’s cell in the desert where she is provisioned for three years, living a
life of prayer and penance. At the end of three years, she leaves the cell and
joins a nearby community of nuns for 15 days and then dies.
This conversion of heart
story struck a sympathetic cord throughout Christendom
In the 10th century,
Abbess Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (935-1002), a Benedictine Canoness of Saxony
(northwest Germany), pens a Latin play in Thaïs honor entitled, Paphnutius―the
Bishop in Upper Thebaïd, who might be the monk who confronts the courtesan. In
it, St. Paphnutius addressing the abbess of the desert says about Thaïs:
I have brought you a half-dead
little she-goat, recently snatched from the teeth of wolves. I hope that by
your compassion, her shelter will be insured, and that by your care, she will
be cured, and that having cast aside the rough pelt of a goat she will be
clothed with the soft wool of the lamb.
Because of this play,
devotion to St. Thaïs became widespread throughout Europe.
The modern era hasn’t
been as kind to St. Thaïs portraying the monk who comes to her aid as being
smitten by her and losing his faith in the process.
Anatole France
(1844-1924) novel Thaïs was published at Paris in 1891 was
subsequently translated into 18 languages. He twists the story for his own
anti-religious purposes which shares little in common with the saint’s holy
conversion. In France’s version, the monk’s name is Paphnuce, who pretends to
be a customer to meet Thaïs and convinces her to become a Christian
and a nun. Upon returning to his desert monastery, Paphnuce finds himself
obsessed by her.
Once her leaving her cell
three years later and as she lays dying she is granted a vision of Heaven which
awaits her. Paphnuce comes to her side and tells her that her faith is only an
illusion and that he loves her ― apparently not enough to encourage her to
enter into the embrace of her Redeemer and Creator but, “love,” after a sense.
Jules Massenet's
(1842–1912) opera entitled Thaïs was first performed March 16, 1894,
at the Opéra Garnier in Paris. Louis Gallet (1835–1898) wrote the prose
libretto which he derived from France’s novel. However, the opera lacks the
cynical look at religion which typifies the novel. Massenet changed the monk’s
name to Athanaël who is shown to be a pious but flawed man. The opera compares
and contrast Thaïs’ rising faith and ardor for Christ and monk’s growing
obsession.
Paul Wilstach's 1911
play Thais wasn’t well-received in part, no doubt, because it relied
upon the same hackneyed retelling of France’s disrespectful novel. It ran for
31 performances at the Criterion Theatre in London, March 14 through April 1911
and starred Constance Collier (1878–1955) as the saint and Tyrone Power, Sr.
(1869–1931) as the monk.
Not to be outdone, Samuel
Goldwyn (1879–1974), tried his hand at reviving this tired, anti-Christian
theme in his eponymous film Thais. It too was based on Anatole France’s
novel. It also was a commercial failure.
Five other unremarkable
silent movies entitled Thaïs were filmed between 1911 and 1917 made
in France, Italy and America. Some followed the events in the saint’s life.
Some didn’t.
But probably the worst
and least necessary transformation into something completely unrecognizable
from St. Thaïs’ original Christian hagiography was in Nalo Hopkinson's
2003 The Salt Roads. The story is so convoluted that it’s simply not worth
the trouble to bother explaining anything about it herein. Suffice it to say,
it’s neither Christian nor intelligible.
St. Thaïs deserves better
than the treatments she’s received ever since Abbess Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim
wrote of the saint. The enemies of the Church have sought to degrade her story
and the general Christian message while promoting a false narrative about the
faux-freedom offered by anti-Christian secular world. St. Thaïs was simply an
easy target. We should pray for her detractors and continually present this
amazing saint as a model for our broken world.
However, not all is lost.
Christ and His followers have always inspired good art in the past two
millennia. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Ring and The Silmarillion come
immediately to mind. Mel Gibson’s 2004 The Passion of the Christ, Franco
Zeffirelli’s 1972 Brother Sun and Sister Moon, Karen Blixen’s
1987 Babette’s Feast, Ann Clare Booth Luce’s 1949 Come to the
Stable and Vittorio de Sico’s 1947 Bicycle Thieves are all
outstanding contributions to the field of art and great opportunities for
Christians to evangelize.
Most importantly, I
believe that the travesty which has overtook St. Thaïs in how she’s been
portrayed in art should be a wake-up call for all Christians. The “anti-Church,”
as the St. Pope John Paul the Great called it, is insidious, dangerous and
unrelenting. Let’s challenge each and every move the Enemy makes, for no other
reason than to show them we’re watching.
As John Start Mill
reminds us, “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
The question remains,
“What will you do to challenge the anti-Church?”
Angelo Stagnaro Angelo
Stagnaro ("Erasmus") performs as a stage magician and mentalist and
divides his time between Europe and North America. He is the editor of “Smoke
& Mirrors,” the Net's largest e-zine for professional magicians. He’s also
the Guildmaster of the Catholic Magicians’ Guild and a professed member of the
Secular Franciscans (Third Order Franciscans). Angelo has published articles in
most of the major Catholic journals in the United States and Great Britain and
had worked as a correspondent for the Catholic News Service having served as
principle liaison for the wire service to the United Nations and to the Holy
See's Office to the United Nations. Angelo has written six books on
mentalism/cold reading including Conspiracy, Something from Nothing, The
Other Side, Shibboleth and his upcoming Spur of the Moment. In
addition, he’s written an instructional book for catechists which uses stage
magic as a teaching tool for children and young adults entitled The
Catechist's Magic Kit (Crossroad). His other books include How to
Pray the Dominican Way (Paraclete) and The Christian Book of the Dead (Crossroad).
His most recent book was released through Tau Publishing and is entitled A
Lenten Cookbook for Catholics.
SOURCE : https://www.ncregister.com/blog/st-thais-the-prostitute-who-became-a-nun
ST. THAIS, THE PENITENT
ABOUT the middle of the
fourth age, there lived in Egypt a famous courtesan named Thas, who had been
educated a Christian; but the sentiments of grace were stifled in her by an
unbridled love of pleasure, and desire of gain. Beauty, wit, and flattering
loose company brought her into the gulf; and she was engaged in the most
criminal infamous habits, out of which only an extraordinary grace can raise a
soul. This unhappy, thoughtless sinner was posting to eternal destruction, when
the divine mercy interposed in her favor. Paphnutius, a holy anchoret of
Thebais, wept without intermission for the loss of her soul, the scandal of her
vicious courses being public in the whole country. At length, having earnestly
recommended the matter to God, he formed a project, or a pious stratagem, in
order to have access to her, that he might endeavor to rescue her out of her
disorders. He put off his penitential weeds, and dressed himself in such a
manner as to disguise his profession. Going to her house, full of an ardent
zeal for her conversion, he called for her at the door, and was introduced to
her chamber. He told her he desired to converse with her in private, but wished
it might be in some more secret apartment. “What is it you fear?” said Thas:
“If men, no one can see us here; but if you mean God, no place can hide us from
his all-piercing eye.” “What!” replied Paphnutius; “do you know there is a
God?” “Yes,” said she; “and I moreover know that a heaven will be the portion
of the good, and that everlasting torments are reserved in hell for the
punishment of the “wicked.” “Is it possible,” said the venerable old hermit,
“you should know these great truths, and yet dare to sin in the eyes of Him who
knows and will judge all things?” Thas perceived by this stinging reproach,
that the person to whom she spoke was a servant of God, who came inspired with
holy zeal to draw her from her unhappy state of perdition; and, at the same
time, the Holy Ghost, who moved Paphnutius to speak, enlightened her
understanding to see the baseness of her sins, and softened her heart by the
touch of his omnipotent grace. Filled with confusion at the sight of her
crimes, and penetrated with bitter sorrow, detesting her baseness and
ingratitude against God, she burst into a flood of tears, and throwing herself
at the feet of Paphnutius, said to him: “Father, enjoin me what course of
penance you think proper; pray for me, that God may vouchsafe to show me mercy.
I desire only three hours to settle my affairs, and I am ready to comply with
all you shall counsel me to do.” Paphnutius appointed a place to which she
should repair, and went back to his cell.
Thas got together all her
jewels, magnificent furniture, rich clothes, and the rest of her ill-gotten
wealth, and making a great pile in the street, burnt it all publicly, inviting
all who had made her those presents, and been the accomplices of her sins, to
join her in her sacrifice and penance. To have kept any of those presents,
would have been not to cut off all dangerous occasions which might again revive
her passions, and call back former temptations. By this action she endeavored
also to repair the scandal she had given, and to show how perfectly she
renounced sin, and all the incentives of her passions. This being done, she
hastened to Paphnutius, and was by him conducted to a monastery of women. There
the holy man shut her up in a cell, putting on the door a seal of lead, as if that
place had been made her grave, never more to be opened. He ordered the sisters
as long as she lived to bring her every day only a little bread and water, and
he enjoined her never to cease soliciting heaven for mercy and pardon. She said
to the holy man: “Father, teach me how I am to pray.” Paphnutius answered: “You
are not worthy to call upon God by pronouncing his holy name, because your lips
have been filled with iniquity; nor to lift up your hands to heaven, because
they are defiled with impurities; but turn yourself to the east* and repeat
these words: Thou who hast created me, have pity on me.” Thus she continued to
pray with almost continual tears, not daring to call God Father, she
having deserved to forfeit the title of his child, by her unnatural ingratitude
and treasons; nor Lord, she having renounced him to become a slave to
the devil; nor Judge, which name filled her with terror by the
remembrance of his dreadful judgments; nor God, which name is most
holy and adorable, and comprises in one word his supreme essence and all his
attributes; but, howsoever she had by her actions disowned him, she remained
the work of his hands; and by this title she conjured him, for the sake of his
boundless mercy and goodness, to look upon her with compassion, to raise her
from her miseries, restore her to his favor, and inspire her with his pure and
most perfect love. In repeating this short prayer, she exercised all acts of
devotion in her heart, exciting in her affections not only the most profound
sentiments of compunction, humility, and holy fear, but also those of hope,
praise, adoration, thanksgiving, love, and all interior virtues, in which her
affections most feelingly dilated themselves. When she had persevered thus with
great fervor for the space of three years, St. Paphnutius went to St. Antony to
ask his advice whether this penitential course did not seem sufficient to
prepare her for the benefit of reconciliation, and the holy communion. St.
Antony said, St. Paul the Simple should be consulted; for God delights to
reveal his will to the humble. They passed the night together in prayer. In the
morning, St. Paul answered, that God had prepared a place in heaven for the
penitent. Paphnutius therefore went to her cell to release her from her
penance. The penitent, considering the inscrutable judgments of God, and full
of deep sentiments of compunction, and of her absolute unworthiness ever to be
admitted to sing the divine praises in the company of the chaste spouses of
Christ, earnestly begged she might be permitted to continue in her penitential
state to the end of her life; but this Paphnutius would not suffer. She said
that from the time of her coming thither she had never ceased bewailing her
sins, which she had always before her eyes. “It is on this account,” said
Paphnutius, “that God has blotted them out.” She therefore left her prison to
live with the rest of the sisters. God, satisfied with her sacrifice, withdrew
her out of this world fifteen days after her releasement, about the year 348.
She is honored in the Greek Menologies on the 8th of October. See her life
written by an ancient Greek author, in Rosweide, p. 374; D’Andilly, Bulteau,
and Villefore.
St. Thais of Egypt
Commemorated on October 8
St. Thais of Egypt led a
depraved and dissolute life. She was famed for her beauty, leading many on the
path to perdition.
Stories about Thais
spread throughout all Egypt, eventually reaching even St. Paphnutius, a strict
ascetic who had converted many to salvation. Paphnutius dressed himself in
worldly attire and went to Thais, giving her money as though he wished to pay
for her favors. He pretended to be afraid that someone would see them, so he
asked her if there was a place where they would not be discovered. Thais said
that they could lock the door and enjoy complete privacy. “But if you fear
God,” she said, “there is no place where you can hide from Him.” Seeing that
she knew about God and the punishment of the wicked, the Elder asked why she
led a sinful life and enticed others to ruin their souls. He told her about the
eternal punishment she would have to face for her own sins, and for the people
who had been corrupted and destroyed by her.
The words of St.
Paphnutius so affected Thais that she gathered up all her riches acquired
through her shameful life and set them on fire in the city square. St.
Paphnutius shut her up in a small cell, where for three years she dwelt in
seclusion. Turning toward the East, Thais constantly repeated the prayer, “My
Creator, have mercy on me!”
“From the moment I
entered into the cell,” said Thais to Paphnutius before her death, “all my sins
constantly were before my eyes, and I wept when I remembered them.” St.
Paphnutius replied, “It is for your tears, and not for the austerity of your
seclusion, that the Lord has granted you mercy.”
St Thais was ill for
three days, then fell asleep in the Lord. This woman, who had been a harlot and
a sinner, entered the Kingdom of God. St. Paul the Simple saw in a vision the
place prepared for St. Thais in Paradise.
Troparion (Tone 4) –
O God of our fathers,
Do not take your mercy
from us,
But ever act towards us
according to your kindness
And by the prayers of
your Holy Thais,
Guide our lives in peace!
Kontakion (Tone 2) –
Let us praise the blessed
Thais,
The truly fruitful branch
from a corrupt root,
The sweet stream from a
salty source,
The image of repentance
and rule of patience!
Once a vessel of sin, she
is now the chosen vessel of grace!
Let us cry aloud to her:
O Venerable Thais,
entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved!
By permission of the
Orthodox Church in America (www.oca.org)
SOURCE : http://ww1.antiochian.org/node/16761
Santa Taisia (Taide) Penitente
Sec. III
Nella letteratura pagana era nota la figura di una meretrice di nome Taide, che compare in una commedia di Terenzio. Anche Dante la cita, non certo per elogio, nel suo Inferno, ma tra gli adulatori, immersa nello sterco di Malebolge.
Quasi per bilanciare la figura della peccatrice pagana è sorta, nel vivace verziere dell'agiografia medievale, la leggenda della Santa Taide cristiana, peccatrice anch'ella, ma penitente e redenta.
Sembra quasi che la pietà cristiana abbia dato un seguito alla storia dell'antica Taide, completandola e coronandola in senso spirituale e in maniera edificante. Il risultato appare così come una suggestiva " moralità ", come si chiamavano le rappresentazioni allegoriche e didascaliche del Medioevo, che ha per oggetto la rinunzia al peccato e soprattutto l'esaltazione della penitenza.
La leggenda di Santa Taide segue lo stesso schema di quelle, ancora più celebri ' di Santa Maria Egiziaca e di Santa Pelagia, e di altre donne passate dal vizio più sfrenato alla penitenza più dura. I particolari del racconto sono però sempre diversi e sempre pittoreschi, con sfumature impreviste e significative. Vere e proprie " leggende ", cioè composizioni " da leggere ", con piacere sempre nuovo e curiosità mai delusa, anche quando sia noto il tema e palese l'intenzione edificante.
Della leggenda di Taide esistono testi, abbastanza antichi, greci, siriaci e latini. Roswita, Abbadessa di Gandersheim, e Marbordio, Vescovo di Rennes, la ridussero a dramma, per le scene medievali. E più che dagli storici, è stata prediletta dagli scrittori, sian essi devoti agiografi come il Beato Jacopo da Varagine, o moderni letterati estetizzanti, come Anatole France.
Un Santo anacoreta, che vien detto Bessarione, oppure Serapione, oppure Giovanni il Nano, ma, più spesso, ha il nome di San Paffluzio, saputo dello scandalo di Taide, giunse alla casa della cortigiana e chiese d'esser ricevuto nella più segreta delle sue segrete stanze. Riconosciutolo per un monaco, la donna lo schernì: " Se è di Dio che hai paura, in nessun luogo potrai nasconderti ai suoi occhi! ".
Allora Pafnuzio abbandonò la finzione e parlò con santa fermezza: " Tu sai dunque che esiste un Dio? Perché allora sei la causa della perdita di tante anime? ". Taide cadde in ginocchio, chiedendo tre ore di tempo per liberarsi dalla donna che era stata fino ad allora. In quelle tre ore, fece un gran fuoco, sulla piazza, dei preziosi doni dei suoi visitatori, delle vesti procaci e dei monili vistosi.
Tre anni di penitenza, di preghiera e di contrizione in un monastero, resero l'anima di Taide peccatrice più candida di una colomba. Infatti, nel deserto, San Paolo, discepolo di Sant'Antonio Abate, vide nel cielo un magnifico letto custodito da tre vergini biancovestite: la Paura dell'inferno, la Vergogna per il peccato e la Passione di giustizia. Paolo credette che si trattasse del premio sperato per il vecchissimo Patriarca Sant'Antonio, ma una voce dal cielo lo dissuase. Si trattava dei premio di Taide, ormai perdonata.
Pafnuzio, informato di ciò, corse al monastero e disse alla donna di uscire
pure dalla cella oscura e maleodorante dove la sua penitenza era fiorita con
tanto rigoglio da cancellare il ricordo del male passato. Taide però non si
mosse. Seguitò a pregare per i suoi peccati, anche se ormai scontati. Quindici
giorni dopo era morta. La meretrice egiziana veniva accolta così nel letto
dell'eterna gloria, custodito dalle tre Vergini biancovestite.
Fonte : Archivio
Parrocchia
