“He was a man of love for his neighbor,” Pope Benedict XVI wrote. “Full of the hope and joy of faith, Basil shows us how to be true Christians.”
By Kimberly Bruce
“One day, like a man roused from deep sleep, I turned my eyes to the marvelous light of the truth of the Gospel … and I wept many tears over my miserable life.”
So wrote St. Basil of Caesarea, one of the designated “Greats” of the Catholic Church and one of its holy Doctors (exceptional teachers of the faith) whose feast day we celebrate on Jan. 2.
Pope Benedict XVI called this fourth-century bishop “a luminary of the Church.” Saint Basil opened monasteries, cared for the poor, educated the faithful, and defended Church teaching. He bravely stood against Arian heretics who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ.
Extended family of saints
Born in Caesarea in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) in 329 A.D., St. Basil was one of 10 children. A virtuous family, several of his immediate relatives are declared saints: St. Macrina the Elder (his grandmother); St. Basil the Elder (his father); St. Emmelia (his mother); St. Macrina (his sister); and Sts. Gregory of Nyssa and Peter of Sebaste (his brothers).
Saint Basil excelled in school and was a pious young man. In 352, after moving to Athens to continue his studies, he met and befriended St. Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 A.D.). These two future saints and Doctors of the Church (they share the same feast day, Jan. 2) shared a primary goal: to consecrate themselves entirely to God and to aid one another in the process. Said St. Gregory of their time together:
We chose not to keep company with those that were impious, rude, or impudent; but with those that were the best and the most peaceable, and those whose conversation brought us much profit; being persuaded that it is an illusion to seek the company of sinners … to reform or convert them: it is far more to be feared they will communicate their poison to us.
Forsaking the world
After his schooling, St. Basil opened an oratorical school in Caesarea and was highly esteemed by his countrymen. Tempted to vainglory due to his popularity, he renounced the life he was living, gave away the greatest part of his estate to the poor, and entered a monastery.
“After having forsaken the world,” he wrote, “I have reserved only eloquence … This alone remains of what I once possessed; and I offer, devote, and consecrate it entire to my God.”
Saint Basil established monasteries for men and women. He undertook intense acts of self-denial, spiritually offering them up for souls and for the Church. He possessed only one tunic and one coat; he slept on the ground; and did not even allow himself to be warmed by a fire, even in bitter cold. He survived on bread and water, and suffered many illnesses.
Opposing heresy
Ordained to the priesthood in 363, he was consecrated an archbishop in 370 after personally feeding and caring for the poor during a terrible famine. When drought fell upon the land, the new archbishop prayed, and the drought ceased.
Saint Basil vigorously opposed the Arian heresy that the Emperor Valens was forcefully implementing in all churches. On the day he was banished, the emperor’s only son, age 6, developed a deadly fever. Empress Dominica told her husband that it was God’s punishment for his banishment of St. Basil. The holy archbishop was summoned to the palace, and the moment he arrived, the boy began to improve. He declared that if they promised to raise their son in the Catholic faith, he would be cured. They agreed. Saint Basil prayed for the boy, and he recovered.
Valens did not keep his word, however. He had his son baptized by an Arian bishop, but his son instantly relapsed and died! Valens ordered Basil back into exile, but each time he tried to sign this order, his writing reed broke in his hand. With fear and trembling, Valens decided to leave St. Basil alone.
Saint Basil died in 379, at the age of 49. “He was a man of love for his neighbor,” Pope Benedict XVI wrote. “Full of the hope and joy of faith, Basil shows us how to be true Christians.”
Saint Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church, pray for us!
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