, in which, such was their
virulence and success, that he was obliged to withdraw his charitable
endeavors among them. By these fiery trials, God purified his heart from
all earthly attachments, and perfectly crucified it to the world.
Barbatus returned to Benevento, where he was received with joy by those
who were acquainted with his innocence and sanctity. The seed of
Christianity had been first sown at Benevento by St. Potin, who is said
to have been sent thither by St. Peter, and is looked upon as the first
bishop of this see. We have no names of his successors till St.
Januarius, by whom this church was exceedingly increased, and who was
honored with the crown of martyrdom in 305. Totila, the Goth, laid the
city of Benevento in ruins, in 545. The Lombards having possessed
themselves of that country, repaired it, and king Autharis gave it to
Zotion, a general among those invaders, with the title of a duchy, about
the year 598, and his successors governed it, as sovereign dukes, for
several ages. These Lombards were at that time chiefly Arians; but among
them there remained many idolaters, and several at Benevento had
embraced the Catholic faith, even before the death of St. Gregory the
Great, with their duke Arichis, a warm friend of that holy pope. But
when St. Barbatus entered upon his ministry in that city, the Christians
themselves retained many idolatrous superstitions, which even their
duke, or prince Romuald, authorized by his example, though son of
Grimoald, king of the Lombards, who had edified all Italy by his
conversion. They expressed a religious veneration to a golden viper, and
prostrated themselves before it: they paid also a superstitious honor to
a tree, on which they hung {432} the skin of a wild beast, and these
ceremonies were closed by public games, in which the skin served for a
mark at which bowmen shot arrows over their shoulder. St. Barbatus
preached zealously against these abuses, and labored long to no purpose:
yet desisted not, but joined his exhortations with fervent prayer and
rigorous fasting, for the conversion of this unhappy people. At length
he roused their attention by foretelling the distress of their city, and
the calamities which it was to suffer from the army of the emperor
Constans, who, landing soon after in Italy, laid siege to Benevento. In
their extreme distress, and still more grievous alarms and fears, they
listened to the holy preacher, and, entering into themselves, ren