SAINT PARDULFUS, ABBOT

SAINT PARDULFUS, ABBOT - 16 OCTOBER

SAINT PARDULFUS, ABBOT

Saint Pardulfus (French: Pardoux),was born near Gueret (Varacte) in Sardinia. According to popular legend, his parents were wealthy peasants and Christians. As a boy he had the misfortune of going blind. God gave him the inner light of the Spirit instead,so that he could show others the way to the heavenly fatherland. What he had he gave to the poor, keeping for himself only what was absolutely necessary. He healed many of the sick and possessed who were brought to him by the application of consecrated oil or by the mere laying on of hands.

At that time Count Lanthar of Limoges had built a monastery in Gueret and endowed it with land so that the monks could be provided with food and clothing. Pardulfus, who had meanwhile become abbot there, although blind, directed the affairs of this monastery with zeal and prudence.

As abbot, he redoubled the severity of his penitential life: he ate food only once a week, but never meat, nor did he bathe or use linen, except when advised by the brethren at the time of illness. He dealt with his flesh with unprecedented severity, and at Lent he humbly allowed a pupil to beat him with rods. In winter as in summer he slept on the bare ground with his arms outstretched. The Psalms, Antiphons, and Responsories, which he had impressed on his memory through frequent listening, formed the content of his reflections.

He had reached the age of 80 when an illness struck him. Archangel Michael appeared to Pardulfus in a vision and showed him a ladder to climb up to heaven. Blessing his monks, he expired on October 6, about the year 740. His body was buried in the monastery of Gueret, but later transferred to Sarlate, and placed next to the relics of Bishop Sacerdos of Limoges. From there he was taken to the nearby Church of Saint John, and around the year 1000 to Arnac, where many miracles took place, until he returned to Limoges to the Church of Saint Martial. An altar was dedicated to him in the main church in Clermont (Boll. Jan. II. 629). Church art shows an angel next to Pardulfus, instructing him to climb a ladder that reaches to heaven. This holy abbot is also commemorated on December 21 (III. 422–438).

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Pardulfus may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org

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