Jermaine of Capua

Germanus of Capua, known in Italian as Germano di Capua and sometimes rendered in English as Jermaine of Capua, was a sixth-century bishop of Capua in Campania and a saint of the Latin Church. Almost nothing can be established about his origins. No contemporary source records his parentage, birthplace, or year of birth, and later medieval notices do not supply this information on any reliable basis. He enters the historical record as Bishop of Capua in the early sixth century, during the pontificate of Pope Hormisdas (514–523), at a time when Capua lay within the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy. Capua, an ancient city on the Appian Way north of Naples, was then an important ecclesiastical see. The date of his consecration is not precisely fixed in surviving documents; he is firmly attested in office by 519.

The most securely documented episode of his public life is his role in the papal embassy of 519 to Constantinople. Pope Hormisdas charged Germanus, together with other Roman envoys, with presenting to Emperor Justin I and the church of Constantinople the Formula of Hormisdas, a profession of faith intended to end the Acacian schism that had divided Rome and Constantinople since 484. The mission succeeded: the formula was accepted, Patriarch John II of Constantinople entered into communion with Rome, and the names of those condemned in the dispute were removed from the diptychs. Germanus thus took part in one of the major acts of ecclesiastical diplomacy of the early sixth century. After the embassy he returned to his see. Surviving sources do not describe further political missions or give a detailed picture of his pastoral administration in Campania.

In later Catholic tradition Germanus is remembered above all through his friendship with Benedict of Nursia. Pope Gregory the Great, writing the Dialogues toward the end of the sixth century, reports that Benedict, then at Monte Cassino, was granted a vision at the hour of Germanus’s death. Standing at a window, Benedict saw the soul of the Bishop of Capua carried to heaven by angels in a globe of fire. He at once sent a messenger to Capua, who confirmed that Germanus had died at that same moment. Gregory’s account, composed within living memory of the events and based on testimony associated with Benedict’s disciples, is the principal narrative source both for Germanus’s reputation for holiness and for the circumstances of his death. It also indicates that Germanus died at or near Capua while still occupying the episcopal office.

Later martyrologies and Capuan tradition assign his death to 30 October, with the year given in reference works as 540 or, more often in modern notices, 541. He was venerated as a saint from an early date. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on 30 October as bishop and confessor, explicitly recalling Benedict’s vision of his soul. No medieval vita of independent historical value survives, and details of his burial, any possible monastic affiliation, and the inner life of his diocese remain unknown. His cult was primarily local to Capua and Campania, though Gregory’s story ensured that his name was known wherever the Dialogues were read in the Latin West.