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From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints
HE lived in the same diocess, in a solitary hut, made of wood in trellis, like windows, says Theodoret, 1 exposed to all the severities of the weather. He was clothed with the skins of wild beasts, and by conversing continually with God, he attained to an eminent degree of wisdom, and knowledge of heavenly things. He left his wooden prison by the order of the patriarch of Antioch, giving a proof of his humility by his ready obedience. He studied to imitate all the practices of penance, which all the other solitaries of those parts exercised, though of a tender constitution himself. The fervour of his soul, and the fire of divine love, supported him under his incredible labours, though his body was weak and infirm. It is sloth that makes us so often allege a pretended weakness of constitution, in the practice of penance and the exercises of devotion, which courage and fervour would not even feel. See Theodoret, Phil. c. 22. t. 3. p. 868, and c. 27. 1
Note 1. This passage of Theodoret shows that the windows of the ancients were made of trellis or wicker, before the invention of glass; though not universally; for in the ruins of Herculaneum, near Portichi, were found windows of a diaphanous thin slate, such as the rich in Rome sometimes used. [back]
HE lived in the same diocess, in a solitary hut, made of wood in trellis, like windows, says Theodoret, 1 exposed to all the severities of the weather. He was clothed with the skins of wild beasts, and by conversing continually with God, he attained to an eminent degree of wisdom, and knowledge of heavenly things. He left his wooden prison by the order of the patriarch of Antioch, giving a proof of his humility by his ready obedience. He studied to imitate all the practices of penance, which all the other solitaries of those parts exercised, though of a tender constitution himself. The fervour of his soul, and the fire of divine love, supported him under his incredible labours, though his body was weak and infirm. It is sloth that makes us so often allege a pretended weakness of constitution, in the practice of penance and the exercises of devotion, which courage and fervour would not even feel. See Theodoret, Phil. c. 22. t. 3. p. 868, and c. 27. 1
Note 1. This passage of Theodoret shows that the windows of the ancients were made of trellis or wicker, before the invention of glass; though not universally; for in the ruins of Herculaneum, near Portichi, were found windows of a diaphanous thin slate, such as the rich in Rome sometimes used. [back]
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