Saint Germanus of Capua

Germanus was born in Capua in the fifth century, into a well-off family. When his father died he gave his possessions to the poor, and in 516 he was made bishop of his city. The Liber pontificalis remembers him for a very delicate diplomatic mission. In 519 Pope Hormisdas sent him to Constantinople, with other legates, to end the Acacian Schism. The issue was thirty-five years old. In 482 the patriarch Acacius had circulated a document, the *Henotikon*, which claimed to reconcile the Monophysites — who recognized only the divine nature in Christ — with the doctrine defined by the Council of Chalcedon, which recognizes two, human and divine. Rome had rejected it and excommunicated Acacius; since then East and West had no longer been in communion. The delegation succeeded: the Eastern bishops signed, and the schism was closed. It was the first great break between Rome and Constantinople, and it was also the last one truly mended. Germanus was a friend of Benedict of Nursia. Gregory the Great, in the Dialogues, tells how Benedict, on the night Germanus died, had a vision of his soul being carried to heaven by angels inside a sphere of fire, and immediately sent someone to Capua to check. He died on October 30, 540. If your name is Germanus, today is your name day.