Two Paths of the Ascetic Life
The sources draw a deliberate contrast between the two monks. Eutychius is presented as an active evangelist who, in Gregory's account, laboured much by his exhortations to gain souls to God; persuaded by the brethren of a neighbouring monastery, he accepted the office of superior and led that community for many years. Florentius, by contrast, embraced a quieter, more contemplative discipline, characterised by simplicity and devotion.
This pairing of an active and a contemplative vocation became part of the saints' enduring memory, and they are venerated together rather than as isolated figures.
Traditional Accounts
According to the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, Florentius, left alone after Eutychius took up his abbacy, prayed for companionship and found a bear at his door. He set the animal to shepherd his sheep, and the tradition relates that it tended the flock, carried water, and obeyed his commands. Four monks, said to be envious of his renown, killed the bear; the account holds that they were afterwards stricken with leprosy and died, and that Florentius mourned them for the remainder of his life.
Eutychius, who is said to have worked no miracles while alive, was credited with posthumous wonders. The garment (described as a cloak or hair shirt) preserved as his relic was associated with healings, and tradition connects it with the relief of a drought at Nursia in 1492, when it was carried into the fields and rain was said to follow.
Relics & Shrines
The monastic site linked to the saints developed into the Abbazia di Sant'Eutizio near Norcia, which long preserved the cult of Eutychius. A gilded reliquary commissioned by Abbot Giovanni Mensurati in 1544 is reported to have contained Eutychius's hair shirt. The reliquary was stolen from the abbey in 1883 and later recovered without the relic, and was subsequently moved to Spoleto.
Local observance at Norcia kept the memory of Eutychius on dates distinct from the August 23 commemoration shared in the Orthodox calendar.
