Saint Placid
Saint Placid
8 min read
A disciple of Saint Benedict of Nursia, Placid was a young Roman nobleman who joined the monastery of Subiaco in the sixth century. He is celebrated in Benedictine tradition for having been rescued from drowning by Saint Maurus. Venerated as a martyr, he is one of the earliest disciples of the Benedictine order.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- 6th century: Placid joins, as a child, the community of Benedict of Nursia at Subiaco (Italy)
- Famous hagiographic episode: rescued from drowning by Saint Maurus at Benedict's command
- A later tradition holds that he was sent to Sicily to found a monastery there
- Venerated as a martyr alongside his companions; feast day on October 5
- The Saint-Placide metro station in Paris (line 4) perpetuates his name in urban place names
Works & Achievements
Placid embodies the practice of oblature: a noble child entrusted to an abbot for spiritual formation. His life is in itself a foundational 'work' that illustrates the transmission of the Rule from generation to generation.
The account of the lakeside miracle, passed down orally and then recorded by Gregory the Great, became a reference text for teaching monastic obedience throughout medieval Europe.
Late tradition attributes to him the founding of a Benedictine community in Sicily — the order's first establishment on the island — even though this foundation is not attested by contemporary sources.
Placid's inclusion in the Roman Martyrology and the celebration of his feast on October 5 constitute a 'work' of collective memory that perpetuates his spiritual example within the Benedictine liturgy.
Anecdotes
The most famous scene in Placidus's life is his miraculous rescue from Lake Subiaco. Still a child, he had gone to fetch water when he fell into the lake and was swept away by the current. Saint Benedict, at prayer in his cell, suddenly had a vision of this danger and immediately sent the monk Maurus to his rescue. Maurus ran across the surface of the water as if on solid ground and pulled Placidus out by the hair — a miracle recorded by Gregory the Great in his Dialogues.
When Maurus was asked how he had been able to walk on water, he replied that he had not known it while he was doing it: it was his obedience to his spiritual father Benedict that had carried him, not his own virtue. This account became a foundational example of the Benedictine ideal: immediate, unquestioning obedience is presented as a supernatural force capable of overcoming the laws of nature.
According to a later hagiographic tradition (12th century, considered apocryphal by the majority of historians), Placidus is said to have left Subiaco as an adult to found a monastery in Sicily, near Messina. He is said to have been martyred there along with his brothers and sisters by Saracen pirates around 541. This version, absent from contemporary sources, was long venerated before being called into question by modern historical criticism.
Placidus was the son of Tertullus, a wealthy Roman patrician closely connected to Rome's aristocracy. His father had entrusted him at a very young age to Benedict at the monastery of Subiaco, following the practice of oblature — the offering of a child to God by placing him under the guardianship of an abbot. This custom, inherited from Late Antiquity, was a gesture of piety but also of social prestige for noble Christian families.
Placidus is mentioned in the second book of Gregory the Great's Dialogues, written around 593–594, roughly half a century after the events. This text, though hagiographic rather than strictly historical, is the only credible ancient source on Placidus. Gregory presents him as a gentle and obedient child, an emblem of noble youth placed under the Benedictine monastic rule.
Primary Sources
While Benedict was in his cell, he saw in spirit that Placid, who had gone to draw water, had fallen into the lake. He immediately called Maurus and said: 'Run, for young Placid is drowning.' Maurus obeyed without delay and ran across the water as though he were walking on solid ground.
On October 5, the memory of Saint Placid, monk and martyr, disciple of the blessed Benedict, whom tradition honors among the first sons of the Benedictine Rule.
Tertullus, a man of senatorial rank, presented his son Placid to the man of God, so that he might be educated in spiritual disciplines and formed in monastic virtue according to the Rule.
Placid, sent by the blessed Benedict to Sicily to establish a monastery there, suffered martyrdom along with his brothers Eutychius and Victorinus, and his sister Flavia, put to death by the impious.
Key Places
The place where Placidus joined, at a very young age, the community founded by Benedict in the gorges of the Anio. It was here that the miraculous rescue on the lake took place, a central episode of his legend.
Abbey founded by Benedict around 529, where the Benedictine Rule was written and where some disciples, perhaps Placidus among them, accompanied their master.
The city of origin of Placidus's patrician family. His father Tertullus, a Roman senator, lived there, and it was from Rome that he brought his son to the monastery at Subiaco.
The site of Placidus's legendary martyrdom according to the apocryphal 12th-century tradition. His relics were venerated there and a monastery was dedicated to him, although the historicity of these events is disputed.