:''"Barontius" is also the name of a martyr associated with Saint Crispoldus.'' Barontius (Barontus) (french: Baronce, it, Baronto, Baronzio) and Desiderius (french: Dizier, it, Desiderio) were two 8th century

hermits A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

who are venerated as

saints In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Orth ...

by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. They were hermits near

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a ty ...

, in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Barontius had been a Frankish nobleman of

Berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, rasp ...

who had, with his son, been a monk at Saint-Pierre de Longoret (Longoreto, Longoretum, Lonrey) (

diocese of Bourges The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Bituricensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Bourges'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The Archdiocese comprises the departements of C ...

), now the monastery of Saint-Cyran-du-Jambot. Barontius was a former member of the court of Theuderic II.

''Visio Baronti Monachi Longoretensis''

According to the text known as ''Visio Baronti Monachi Longoretensis'', a 4700-word long text dated 25 March 678 or 679 purportedly written by Barontius himself, Barontius received a vision of heaven and hell around 678.Caroline Walker Bynum, Paul H. Freedman, ''Last things: death and the Apocalypse in the Middle Ages'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000), 54. Barontius, described by one scholar as “a middle-aged former public servant with three marriages and far too many mistresses on his conscience,” claims that he fell into a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

and had a vision that he was flying through the air above the Bourges region as demons clawed and kicked at him. Accompanied by the

archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...

, Barontius journeys through the four levels of

heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

, although he continues to be tormented by the demons, who want to pull him down to hell.Eileen Gardiner, ''Medieval visions of heaven and hell: a sourcebook'' (Published by Taylor & Francis, 1993), 43-44. Barontius meets people he has known, including fellow monks from Longoreto. Raphael asks another angel to bring

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

to them, so that Peter can judge Barontius. The demons bring their evidence against Barontius, going “over all the sins that arontiushad committed from infancy onwards, including those which ehad totally forgetten.” However, the demons get so annoying that Peter whacks them with his keys, sending them away. Peter then decides to send Barontius back to earth via

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

, where Barontius sees all of the souls in torment before returning to earth. When he recovers, he is asked to tell of his vision.

At Pistoia

This vision led to Barontius' decision to become a hermit in

, and he established himself near Pistoia with Desiderius, also a former monk. They lived an austere life, and were joined by disciples. They died around 725 AD. Their names appear in the ''Martyrologium Romanum''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barontius And Desiderius 725 deaths Hermits 8th-century Frankish saints Italian Roman Catholic saints Year of birth unknown Angelic visionaries