The (Medieval Texts in Translation) book of pontiffs of the Church of Ravenna

Maximian

Your hand! We have foreseen all these things, earthquakes in places, and signs in the sun and the moon. But just as it says, we do not know the hour of the end, which is not revealed to the holy angels; but we know that it is near, and we recognize it, as when an old man is just about to die, and we see the sign of death in him. We do not know on what day or hour it will happen; and thus although all the signs which truth predicts are coming forth, the day or hour is hidden from us.10 But to You, Who understands thoughts and scrutinizes hearts,11 all things are known and possible.12 This most blessed man, after he finished his life on the February , was carried out to the casket, and then, with linen cut, he was buried in the church of San Vitale in the monasterium of St. Nazarius next to his predecessor. He sat six years, eleven months, eleven days. CONCERNING HOLY MAXIMIAN, 546–57 . Maximian, the twenty-sixth bishop. Of venerable stature, with a thin body, lean of face, bald of head, he had few hairs, grey eyes, and was adorned with all grace. He was not from this flock, but an alien sheep from the church of Pula, ordained as a deacon by its bishop.1 . But I will explain why this foreign-born man held the episcopate of this city;2 I will not conceal it, but will publicly reveal it just as I heard it from those telling it from the distant past, and it is the truth beyond any doubt. One day when Maximian was digging in the earth, when tonsa          . Cf. Matt. :–. . Cf.Wisd. of Sol. :. . Cf. Matt. :. z . The church of Ravenna owned land in Istria and thus had close connections with the Istrian city of Pula (Croatia), throughout the Middle Ages; see Fasoli, “Il patrimonio,” –. . Cf. Agnellus’s account of the election of Peter Chrysologus, c. , where he must also justify the presence of a foreign bishop who was particularly illustrious. cesalis was first putting forth its seeds,3 he suddenly found a large vase filled with gold and many other kinds of riches. He, thinking to himself that it could not remain hidden, ordered a great cow to be brought and killed, and he commanded that its stomach, emptied of muck, be filled with gold coins. Likewise he summoned the cobblers, who made foot coverings, and commanded them to produce great boots from the skins of goats, and he filled these with gold solidi. He brought the remainder with him when he went to the city of Constantinople, and gave it to the Emperor Justinian. When the emperor saw it, after thanking him he inquired searchingly if there was more. But Maximian, under oath, answered the emperor: “By your health, lord, and by the salvation of your soul, I do not have more of it than what I lavished on stomach and boots.”The emperor thought that he spoke of food for the body and coverings for the feet; Maximian of course was referring to that which he had hidden. Justinian considered what sort of reward he should give for such faith as Maximian had shown him. It happened at that time that Victor, bishop of this city of Ravenna, died, and the citizens of Ravenna, the priests together with people, went to the emperor, seeking the pallium for their candidate. After hearing them, the emperor ordered the petitioners to wait. Having considered the matter, he ordered blessed Maximian , the deacon from Pula, to be consecrated by PopeVigilius in the city of Patras in Greece,4 on October  of the tenth indiction, five years after the consulship of Basilius the younger,5 in the fortyeighth year of Maximian’s life, and having given him the pallium sent him to Ravenna. Since the Ravennate citizens did not want to receive Maximian so speedily, he waited outside the gates of St. Victor, not far from the stream that is called fossa Sconii, in the basilica of St. Eusebius, in the episcopal palace which the bishop Unimundus had built in   .The meaning of tonsa cesalis is unknown. . PopeVigilius was on his way to Constantinople, having been arrested by Justinian ; see Roman LP, Life of Vigilius. .The year . the time of King Theodoric; and also in the episcopal palace of the church...