Saturius of Soria

Little-known Saturius was 40 when his parents died, in the year 533. He cut off his blond hair, donated his family’s possessions to the poor, and moved into a hillside cave above Spain’s Douro River, where he lived alone for three decades — the same time it takes the black poplars that once lined the banks to grow from seeds to 100 feet. In his cave and the surrounding countryside, Saturius battled temptation and hallucination; once, a shepherd came upon him in a field, covered in wounds and smashing his testicles with two rocks. The shepherd gave the poor saint a drink and encouraged him to no longer seek God with suffering but through prayer and the study of sacred texts — and that’s what Saturius did.

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