Theophilus and The Renounced Soul Reclaimed

Eutychian, Patriarch of Constantinople, who reports it as an eyewitness.

Theophilus was archdeacon of the church of Adana, a city in Cilicia, and so well regarded that the people wanted to make him their bishop, though his humility kept him from accepting. Some spiteful men later accused him falsely, and he was stripped of his office.

The blow crushed him, and in his bitterness he lost his judgment and went to a magician, who led him to seek help from Satan. The devil answered that he would assist him only if Theophilus renounced Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, his mother, and handed over a written act of renunciation signed in his own hand. Theophilus did this shameful thing.

The very next day the bishop, having learned how Theophilus had been wronged by his accusers, begged his pardon and restored him to his post. But now Theophilus was so tormented by remorse for the terrible thing he had done that he wept without ceasing. What did he do? He went into a church, threw himself down before an altar of the Blessed Virgin, and cried, "Oh Mother of God, I will not despair, since I have you, who are so merciful, to help me." He kept this up for forty days, weeping and praying to her.

Then one night the Mother of mercy appeared to him and said, "Oh Theophilus, what have you done? You have renounced my friendship and my Son's, and for whom? For your enemy and mine." "Oh Lady," he answered, "it belongs to you to pardon me and to win my pardon from your Son." Seeing his confidence, Mary said, "Take courage, and I will pray for you." Heartened, he redoubled his tears, his penance, and his prayers, staying always at the foot of the altar.

Mary appeared to him again, this time with a joyful face, and said, "Theophilus, rejoice. I have presented your tears and your prayers to God. He has accepted them and has already pardoned you. From now on, be grateful and faithful." "Oh Lady," he replied, "this is not enough to set my heart at rest. The enemy still holds that wicked paper in which I renounced you and your Son. You can get it back for me."

Three days later Theophilus woke in the night and found the paper lying on his chest. The next day, with the bishop and a large gathering present in the church, he threw himself at the bishop's feet, told the whole story through bitter tears, and handed over the shameful document, which the bishop at once ordered burned in front of everyone, while the people wept for joy. Theophilus went back to the church, and there, three days later, he died in peace, with thanks to Jesus and his holy mother on his lips.

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Source:

Simplified retellings of the "example" stories that St. Alphonsus Liguori placed at the end of each section of The Glories of Mary. These are paraphrased in plain modern prose, faithful to the substance of the 1888 English translation. Liguori himself, in his author's "Protest," noted that the miracles and apparitions in the book are offered on human authority only, not as articles of faith.