Hugh

ON SAINT HUGH, MONK OF AUTUN AND PRIOR OF ANZY-LE-DUC, OF THE ORDER OF SAINT BENEDICT IN GAUL.

ABOUT THE YEAR 930.

Hugh, Benedictine monk of Saint Martin at Autun and Prior of Anzy-le-Duc in Gaul (St.)

By G. H.

[1] In various monasteries of the Order of Saint Benedict Saint Hugh lived his life; and first by pious parents at the age of seven he was placed in the monastery of Saint Savinus in the diocese of Poitiers, He lived as a monk in the monasteries of Saint Savinus nine leagues distant from the city itself towards the east on the river Gartempe: where he grew up in holiness, and emerged into a man, ordained Deacon and then Priest. Thence with seventeen others he was translated to the monastery of Saint Martin, once built in the suburb of Autun. Afterwards, having become companion of Blessed Berno, Saint Martin's he went to the monastery of Baume in the diocese of Besançon, Baume and helped him so that due discipline might be restored: and then the two of them began the monastery of Cluny: where, when Blessed Berno had been ordained Abbot, he himself was sent to Anzy, commonly Anzy-le-Duc, on the little river Arroux, which a little later flows down into the Loire: where, appointed Prior, he lived until the end of his life, and, as Bartholomew Chassaneus testifies in the Catalogus gloriae mundi, part 12, Consideration 60, he adorns the same place in modern times with his most holy clod. For that there is still there a conventual Priory, depending on the Abbey of Saint Martin of Autun, the general Register of benefices of the diocese of Autun printed in the year 1648 indicates.

[2] The Life is published from manuscripts The Life of Saint Hugh, dug out from the ancient manuscript Legendary of the Abbey of Saint Martin of Autun, was sent to us in the year 1638 by André du Chesne, most known to the world for his learning, since a portion of it had been previously published in the Cluniac Library page 6, where in the title is written "Saint Hugh, Abbot of Saint Martin of Autun," although there he had only been a monk: and the title of the Life has only this. Which we received again from Autun, with this subscription at the end: "This Life of Saint Hugh was transcribed from the ancient Legendary of the Abbey of Saint Martin of Autun, of the Order of Saint Benedict, of the Congregation of Saint Maur: in witness of which thing Dom Major Prior and Subprior have signed below, and had it sealed by the undersigned Secretary with the seal of the Convent, on the ninth day of September, in the year from the Nativity of the Lord 1663. Fr. Aleboucher de Flogni, Major Prior; Fr. Jean-Baptiste Saulnier, Subprior; Fr. Baptiste Coeur-de-Roy, Scribe, at the command of the Lord Major Prior." These things from there, which we here recall with grateful mind for the benefit bestowed.

[3] Saint Hugh died on this April 20, worn out with old age: but in what year of Christ is nowhere indicated. Time of his death Blessed Berno his companion, when he had presided sixteen years over the monastery of Cluny, died in the year 926, and Saint Hugh seems to have reached to that year, or even to have lived some years longer. His body, of translation on December 13 in the year 1001, was elevated with solemn veneration, and placed in a chapel, and in the following years was often translated to the councils or assemblies of Bishops; and of the writing of the Life then in the said 11th century the Acts which we give were written down.

LIFE

From the manuscript codex of the Autun monastery of Saint Martin.

Hugh, Benedictine monk of Saint Martin at Autun and Prior of Anzy-le-Duc in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 4003, 4004, 4005

FROM A MANUSCRIPT.

CHAPTER I.

The Order of Saint Benedict translated into Gaul. Saint Hugh's monastic life, his Priesthood.

[1] With regard to the Trinity creating man after its own image The most benign Author of the universe, remaining Three in simple Deity, formed man by the instinct of his own goodness, lest the world, bereft of so great a cultivator, should exist without understanding of him. For as the fulfillment of man is the inspiration of the threefold Divinity, so the completion of worldly dignity is the setting up of the human form… From the opulent essence of the Highest Divinity, which eternally consists in itself in a threefold effigy, he has imparted to the mind of man the form of his own image, or idea: who indeed from the very beginning of his creation, above other worldly things, by the configuration of the Author, is preeminent without distinction in threefold moderation; namely to know, to will, and to remember. and mercifully reforming through grace For with as many gifts the Creator is glorified in the same man, that is, by faith, gift, and work: by the work of creation, the gift of amelioration, the faith of knowledge of good of his proper Author: of whose ineffable grace those who perish are empty, and by the mercy of his same benignity those who are saved flourish. And since he shall not forget to have mercy, nor shall hide his mercy even to the end of the world (as the very Truth promised his own, namely to remain with them, and to work always with the eternal Father and the holy Spirit), therefore, informed and strengthened by the traditions and examples of the early and venerable Catholic Fathers, the author proposes to write the Life of Saint Hugh we desire, with whatever speech, to make public to those living piously in Christ the life and way of life of Dom and most religious man and outstanding in holiness, Hugh, and of some of his brothers and companions.

[2] led according to the rule of Saint Benedict It is known therefore by truthful relation and supported by no mean authority, that the most holy Father Benedict, most known throughout the world, was the pedagogue of those Brothers, monks, whose line of upbringing nourished the holy and venerable Hugh, monk, and his companions, and directed them to the height of perfection, in the most regular and most holy discipline: since indeed we have set these things forth, that we might instill in the ears of the religious from how great a perfection his same beginning originally began.

[3] Moreover, at the same time in which that most excellent Father, the already mentioned, presided over the monastery of Monte Cassino, certain distinguished men from the parts of the Gauls, moved by the divine spirit, out of love of holy religion,

which they had learned by the spreading fame of all to be in him, ^b directed a legation to the same Father, that he would send some of his monks, imbued with regular discipline, to the Gauls, in order that they might in some measure reform the monastic institution, from whom Saint Maurus was sent to the Gauls which in those parts had almost perished and been annulled. Which most holy Father kindly assenting to their petitions, forthwith chose from his own twelve Brothers, whom he also placed under his most beloved foster-son; namely the most holy monk Maurus. They also immediately, with the benediction and grace of so great a Father, taking the road, though with some difficulty and burden of labor, came to the Gauls. Then indeed it is known to have happened to them far otherwise than they could hope. At length indeed, a monastery having been established in the territory of Angers, in the place which is surnamed Glanfeuil, there, in a short time, a most great congregation of many Brothers flowing to him was formed; to whom also, he erected the monastery of Glanfeuil as the most blessed Benedict had instituted, their Father was the most holy Maurus: for there the institution of holy religion flourished as long as he lived, and ^c long after his death.

[4] In following time also, after the courses of some years, by the hidden judgment of God, or for the vengeance of a sinful people, ^d the nation of the Normans came forth from parts overseas; and this destroyed by the Normans which, with bestial ferocity most cruel, depopulating a very great part of the Gauls, wrought the widest slaughters. Then also the said monastery, with many other holy places, despoiling it of all the honesty of its own furnishings, they reduced to eremitic solitude. Seeing this, the monks of the same monastery the monks fleeing to Saint Savinus's propagated the order took the refuge of flight, with all they could carry with them, until they arrived in the territory of Poitiers, namely at the monastery of the holy Martyr Savinus ^e; in which place, their strength recovered, God helping them, the regular norm began to be propagated far and wide by the same Brothers in diverse monasteries with good fruit many times over ^f; and many also at the same time, whom secular life and ambition had once ensnared and detained, to bring under the yoke of the holy rule: who, as if from most fierce beasts, were suddenly changed into the most gentle little sheep of Christ, about happily to receive his kingdom with the saints and faithful. kings and bishops helping them The very kings of the Franks and the most devoted Bishops of the whole realm, from the first ^g Childebert King, who received Blessed Maurus most devotedly above all, always cherished them with the highest veneration.

[5] Saint Hugh at age seven placed in the monastery Moreover, since to the same place from diverse parts of the world the divine call gathered men of every condition, out of love of the heavenly kingdom, it happened then that a most distinguished man, namely Dom Hugh, his parents, while he was a boy of nearly seven years, devoutly and honorably applied to the service of God almighty there. For his father was a man of distinguished station, and notable for military industry, and a large possessor of wealth and estates; his mother, however, excellent among matrons, preeminent in like dignity; both, however, citizens and by nation of Poitiers. he advances in learning and virtue The boy, of best disposition, was most apt for the learning of letters, most luminous also in humility and all probity. For the marks of sanctity shone in him with the growth of his body, and he was dear to the elders as well as to his contemporaries, and lovable to all. Retaining by heart the deeds and institutions of the holy Fathers, he applied himself to reading and prayer, assiduous rather than frequent; for he yearned to live not so much for himself as rather for God, publicly and privately, for the love and likewise the fear of Christ, honestly and sweetly obedient to all: for the buskin of secular pomp he so fled, as if a livid serpent with its bite had sought him. No less also did he avoid the javelin of most wicked detraction, he flees pride from which he so turned away his hearing, as if he had felt a deadly poison stalking against him. he hates detraction From noxious and idle words he so guarded his mouth, that his speech, moderated by the balance of discretion and seasoned with spiritual grace, was to all dear and benevolent. In abstinence, then, such was for him the measure of sobriety, devoted to abstinence that he was laudably preferred to three-day fasts: likewise the love of common life and participation in lawful things was such ^h, that in no way did he love in permitted things the portion of his income more than the whole. He also exercised without ceasing, as a tireless worker, cleanness of mind and chastity of body, and to almsgiving and at the same time the bestowal of alms, without interruption: and on whatever matter, asked by anyone, he gave such counsel that it was rightly believed to be the medicine of souls.

[6] he is decreed to be promoted to sacred Orders In the course of time, his excellent merits requiring it, he is decreed to be promoted to the ministry of sacred Orders, both by the Father of the same monastery and by the other Brothers; he, however, humbly resisting, declared himself unworthy, fearing that which has befallen very many, who, while in themselves they desire secular gain, fall into the damnation of their own soul; and since blessed is the man who is always fearful, although the same lesson says that the just man, trusting in God, shall be without terror. Both things indeed can come to be in one and the same man: that is, the fear of human frailty, and the confidence of pure and sincere faith. Prov. 28:14 and 1 At length the most devoted man, mindful of that true example which says, "I came not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me," obediently obeyed in all the precepts of his elders; and so, according to ecclesiastical custom, he proceeded gradually in holy orders up to the office of ⁱ Acolyte. John 6:38 And though still placed in minor grades, yet he was admirable to the most reverend Priests themselves. Not long after, having become ^k vesticeps (clothed in the toga), he was promoted to the Levitical grade, in which, having functioned most strenuously for some years, he is ordained Deacon, then Priest he attained the Priestly dignity; and at last he was so adorned with every decoration of virtues, that none in that province at that time was found second to him.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

Habitation at Autun in the monastery of Saint Martin. The monastery of Baume reformed. Cluny built. The sanctity and miracles of his companion Odo.

[7] In the time of Charles the Bald There ruled therefore in those days the kingdom of the Franks King Charles, called by surname and figure the Bald, with Queen Chrodechildis his consort: both alike endowed with the gift of fear and love of God almighty, wherefore the utmost peace and tranquillity governed the parts of their whole kingdom. The infestations of the Pagans also, which once had ravaged the country, were stilled on every side. The King therefore alike and the Queen zealously insisted on restoring the churches and monasteries which the hostility and rage of the barbarians had desolated: for they spent almost the whole revenue of their realm on expenses of this kind. There was in the palace of the same King at that time a certain Count, named Badillo, Badillo the Count who, coming from the parts of Aquitaine, a man, though placed in the secular life, yet of corrected and religious morals and conversation, in all things most like to sacred men: for he had been most opulent in wealth, and very rich in gold and silver. He, seeing the King and the Queen serving with all their effort in restoring the Churches of God, led himself by divine zeal, began to be in this part their devoted and pious emulator. He, among the other slaughters by the Pagans, noticing at the city of Autun the monastery of the excellent Confessor of Christ Martin, The monastery of Saint Martin at Autun destroyed by the Pagans once most excellently and honorably built by Queen Brunhilde, but at that time most miserably destroyed, and stripped of all furnishings and dishonored: this Count, approaching without delay to the King, humbly asked that the aforesaid monastery might be given him to restore. He also said, promising, that he had in vow, after the restoration of the monastery, to dedicate himself there to the Lord, leaving the cares of the world and the solicitudes of honors: which indeed afterwards, Christ consenting, the event of the matter proved. This, therefore, the King alike and the Queen hearing, most willingly gave their assent, and granted as he had asked; moreover they promised to bestow on him their help in all things which they saw would be of service to him. Immediately therefore the most devoted man he restores it collected together, with the greatest haste, the apt implements of this work: and insistently applying himself to the labor, until he brought it to completion, as he could he restored the whole work of the basilica.

[8] Brunhilde the Queen had once endowed it Which, as he was able, having been reformed, and again consecrated by the hands of the Pontiffs, he began carefully to inquire after the possessions of the same place, which once most liberally by the liberality of Queen Brunhilde

or by the privileges of other Kings had been granted. For it is reported that originally the sum of the possessions of that monastery had been up to ^b one hundred thousand mansi. For the aforesaid Queen had been most abundant in constructing the basilicas of churches, in the memorials of very many Saints, and of Blessed Mary ever Virgin, and of Saint Peter, Prince of the Apostles, as many other things and also of the blessed Levite and Martyr ^c Vincent: although the rumor of the common people has obscured her in some points. Meanwhile she had in vow always to extol the most blessed Martin the Confessor above all; and in honor of God and in the name of the same Confessor, she ordered more churches and monasteries than the rest to be built, and more honorably endowed them with her own treasures and estates. She had finally set before her mind's eye devoted to Saint Martin, that Martin, who gave part of his garment to a poor man, had clothed Christ. Yet she had exalted this monastery above all, in which she had decreed to have the mausoleum of her burial: for among the other gifts which she had conferred on it, ^d with marble columns and beams of fir she fittingly instituted it, and adorned it wonderfully with mosaic work. The same Queen had devout and most holy Bishops, aided by Saints Syagrius her near kin by blood, to wit her own brother ^e Saint Syagrius, Bishop of Autun, distinguished among the Pontiffs; and also her nephew, the most blessed Desiderius, Bishop of Auxerre, Desiderius of Auxerre and Gregory the Great a most noble Pontiff among the Prelates; and finally the most holy Pope of the city of Rome, Gregory, had her in such love and attention that he sent her very many ^g Letters, and through her he admonished the Bishops and Primates of the realm about the state of the Catholic faith and ecclesiastical religion, greatly rejoicing in her devotion and liberality, which she most liberally expended in the honor of God almighty. To Lupo, also, the first Abbot of the same place, the Pontiff directed a proper ^h Letter, exhorting him how he should guard the religion of the flock committed to him; and, walking the way of justice, should strive to please both God and men. The royal precepts also and the privileges of the place the Pontiff strengthened by sealing them with the impression of his ring; and the place itself, as the Kings of the Franks had established, he decreed to be most free from all human subjection; then under anathema he execrated every invader of the things of the place and transgressor of the same decree. Which statute indeed was kept most fittingly by all, until the depopulation of the barbarian invasion: for then, together with the rest of the furnishings, the devouring fire consumed whatever could come down to the notice of later generations. For it is clear that, just as the light of the sun makes the day and drives away the darkness of gloom, so letters illuminate the antiquity of past ages, and drive away oblivion.

[9] But now let us return to the order of the narration. After the illustrious man Badillo had carried out the restoration of the place as he was able, he began anxiously to seek men imbued with holy religion, who in the same house of God might worthily perform the offices of service. While he was diligently doing this, eighteen monks are brought from the monastery of Saint Savinus he brought to mind the monastery of the blessed Martyr Savinus, in which he knew that once, more honorably and more strictly than elsewhere, the institutions of the monastic rule flourished. Going thither forthwith, he brought from there eighteen most religious monks, among whom also the most excellent in merits, the holy and venerable Hugh, on whom depended the care of all the other Brothers and the whole moderation. Two others also, among whom Saint Hugh monks of no unequal sanctity among the rest: namely Dom Odo, a sagacious and most gentle man, Odo, John and John, exceedingly humble. When they had come to the aforesaid monastery of Autun, the regular workshops having been set up, as though the laws of a most fertile soil, they began, God tilling them, to bring forth a hundredfold fruit: to wit, the bounty of the cloisters, the silence of taciturnity, the parsimony of fasts, and the largeness of alms, the reception of pilgrims with cheerfulness, perfect men and the hospitality of all; then indeed in all their acts and the gesture of their bodies, in the speech of the mouth and the moderation of their words, so that through all and in all these God might truly be glorified: so that whoever should behold any of them would in no way doubt that the divine spirit was in him.

[10] Then also the fame of the place itself began to be spread around, and to be sought by the faithful with thirsty heart. Meanwhile they unanimously chose for themselves as Father and Abbot one most tested in life and manners, Arnulph is made Abbot acceptable to God and men, namely Dom Arnulph (with the consent however and will of that protector, namely Dom Badillo), a man in all things (as afterwards appeared, and as was expedient) most useful; who, as long as he led life in the body, both in divine and human things so profited all in common, making use of Saint Hugh's counsel as the best father to his sweetest sons. This man, however, in all he did, used Dom Hugh as his director and counselor before all, who, by the grace of humility, obeyed the father in the place of a most humble ⁱ teacher. These things being so done, the man of God Badillo began afterwards to be more keenly solicitous for his own salvation, how he might set aside the ambitions and enticements of this world; by whose exhortation Badillo the Count became a monk and he arranged to be tonsured in the monastery and to become a monk. Hearing this, the Brothers, whom he himself had led thither from the province of Poitou, and especially Dom Hugh, by whose exhortation he had been converted, rejoiced greatly. When he had completed this, of how great humility and patience and obedience he was, cannot be told by anyone. The venerable Hugh, with special love kindly instructing him with regular admonitions, rendered him a most perfect soldier of Christ. Now the same Badillo had a nephew of the same name, of rather kindly disposition; whom also, drawing him away from secular affairs, he dedicated with himself in the same monastery to divine service. And no less indeed, this second Badillo, was in divine worship devoted and perfect. whom many followed Then finally, as the fame of the good works of the place itself was spreading far, many, leaving the vanities and pomps of this world, taking the way of the commands of perpetual life, were converted there: in whose spiritual gymnasium the most holy Hugh was given as the chief guide and instructor, and remained always assiduous. The very Kings of the Franks and Austrasians and the Nobles of all Gaul (as in the ancient time of the monastery's foundation, as is recorded by the testimony of the blessed Pope Gregory) held that monastery with such veneration and reverence, they held with all things which seemed to belong to it; that if any man whosoever should act against it contrary to law, he was reckoned guilty of majesty and sacrilege. The things which had been originally handed over to the place, collected from everywhere on both sides of the kingdom, as well beyond the Saône as before the Loire, and within the space of two leagues?, as much as it could be inquired, were most fully restored.

[11] Odo, Saint Hugh's companion, praying after Matins Meanwhile it happened that one of those Brothers of those mentioned above, namely Dom Odo, friend and concordant companion of Saint Hugh, had as his use, after the completion of the matutinal synaxis (as blessed Benedict permits), to linger in the oratory by way of silent prayer. While he was diligently doing this, and with showers of tears and sighs of a compunct heart was beseeching the Creator of all things for the loosing of both his own and others' sins' bonds, a miracle wonderful to tell and remarkable was shown. It happened, then, on one of the days, that coming, as was his custom, before the sign of the saving Cross and the image of the Savior himself, which is known to have been fittingly erected in the midst of the monastery, while with outstretched hands in the jubilation of his mind he was directing his eyes to heaven, he was seen by certain persons (who for the purpose of observing had followed him) elevated into the height of the air, he is raised into the air, before the Cross bowing to him to the space of about three ells' height, and to remain there alertly motionless for the space of one hour: and at the same hour the very icon of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, affixed to the cross, was seen by those observing to bow itself humbly towards the same man of God. Both the said Abbot himself and the others who had beheld these things were exceedingly afraid, and terrified by deep wonder, had nothing to say. For before they had hurled at him the darts of many reproaches and mockeries, saying in whispers that, for the glory of vain boasting, after the observances of the common performance of the Brothers, he remained alone in the oratory; but thereafter all the fallacious opinions and tongues of the envious were silenced, and all afterwards venerated the man worthy of sanctity with the highest honor and reverence, as was fitting. For also the Lord conferred healing on very many sick through him, and he works many miracles and he shone with many miracles of virtues until the end of his life, which, if they were noted, would take up the greatest part of a volume.

[12] Then through various distant lands and in neighboring monasteries, humbly asking, they begged that from the monks of the same monastery, which they knew to excel all others in the sanctity of religion, some should be given them for the governance of their own and the correction of their manners. ^k The monastery of Baume therefore among others was at that time destitute of all regular strictness; to whose governance being invited, by common counsel the said recruits of Christ chose one, Blessed Berno is set over the monastery of Baume as Abbot most keen from the tenor of his regular vigor and endowed with sanctity, by the name of Berno; who, as the outcome of events proved, was divinely chosen. He, made Abbot, in the government of the aforesaid monastery, always having the things of God before his eyes, applying himself more to the gains of souls than to transitory things, in a short time gathered together a manifold flock of Christ's sheepfold. To whom, in the usual manner as in the rest, Dom Hugh, being a most faithful helper in all things, strove to increase the talent entrusted to him by the Lord, as a most sagacious merchant. Then indeed, this monastery having been filled both at home and abroad with diverse abundances of goods, very many monasteries after its example were either newly founded or reformed to a better state through the same men.

[13] called by William the Duke At that time William, Duke of the Arverni and most liberal of the chief men of Aquitaine, of the Celtic province, ruled; whose household knights often frequented that Baume place; who were affectionately received by the aforesaid Abbot and by the Brothers of the same place. But they, returning to their lord, whatever good or honesty they had seen there, reported to him with diligence. And he, as he was a man conspicuous for all goodness, began to think in his mind, if somehow he could find a place congruous to the uses of such religion. He at once, sending to the man of God Berno, commanded him to come to him as soon as possible. He indeed at once running to meet him, came to him in a place indeed preelected by God the giver of all goods, and predestined to eternal salvation, by the name of Cluny. To which when he had come, with Saint Hugh having with him the most distinguished Hugh, by whose counsel he did all things, at once the said Prince, receiving them with the utmost love, disclosed to them the desire of his mind: namely concerning the construction

of a monastery, which he desired to complete, if Divinity should grant it him. When they had on every side led to Cluny carefully viewed the surrounding places, they found none as fit for this purpose as Cluny. But when the same Duke said that on account of the infestation of the dogs of hunting-industry which always dwelt there, it could not be done, the Abbot is said to have given, facetiously and jocosely, as he was a most prudent man, this answer to the same Duke: "Take away the dogs from there, and send in monks. For you yourself well know what reward of dogs awaits you from the Lord, or what recompense of monks." And he, with utmost exultation rejoicing, received the words of the man of God, and said: "By a sounder, Father, and prudent counsel you have used, and without the dye of pretense; now also let it be done with Christ cooperating, as your benignity exhorts." Then at once the work was begun, there he builds a monastery and in a short time completed, and consecrated in honor of the prince of the Apostles Peter. ^l Yet at first a very small little meeting of Brothers was established in the same place, since the same Prince had not ready to give the domain in his possession. But what huge and copious harvest grew up from that very small seed, is known to God alone and not to any of mortal men; yet its excellent fame the whole world has illustriously known:

Belgian and Celt, Aquitanian, Western and Southerner.

But now let us return to the order of the account. Meanwhile, ^m Gigny, and ⁿ Vézelay, and very many others being brought under their authority and strenuously amended, they were alertly advancing in divine worship.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

Anzy-le-Duc. Saint Hugh the Prior. His life there, his death, his miracles.

[14] In the following time, while Dom ^a Arnulph the Abbot still lived in the body, a certain distinguished man dwelt in the diocese of Autun, Leobaudus by name, having a wife of honest race and manners, by the name of Altasia. Both feared God and were dear to men (for they had the most copious possessions from their ancestors, and a manifold revenue of wealth); who joined in divine love, approaching together the monastery of Blessed Martyr Confessor, gave to it in the place which is called ^b Anzy-le-Duc a hereditary possession, to be held in perpetuity; and also their own house, honorably built there, transferring it along with the rest from themselves, At Anzy-le-Duc they took care to have consecrated to almighty God as the Basilica of the Church. For the completion of this ministry, then, was chosen Dom Hugh, most officious in all good; going thither at the Abbot's command and the Brothers' entreaty, Saint Hugh appointed Prior about to scatter, as was his custom, the seed of divine merit: which also the surname of the place, well fitting the future reality, explains: for ^c "Enziacus" can be called as if "praiseworthy" or "laudative." For enzia in Argolic means "praises" in Latin: since both the situation of the ground itself and the fertility of the soil fittingly assert the name of the place. It was therefore worthy that in such a place a herald of the Divinity should stay, who should be rightly praiseworthy to God and to all men. he dwells in the place All hereditary right therefore, as we have said, was transferred to the Sanctuary by the most devoted man, with all things pertaining to the same place; which by increments of time began little by little to be enlarged through the most holy Hugh, and by whatever goods to be reformed for the better. The most devoted man himself, laying aside the cares and ambitions of other places, he constructs workshops and a xenodochium more especially bestowed on this place the labor and intention of his devotion. For he built there, according to his ability and the mediocrity of the place, regular workshops, truly apt in every way for the uses of the monks; and out of all the resources of the place a xenodochium (guest-house) was prepared for the poor of Christ. There was also, for the man of God, among the other benefits of the Bestower, one certain singular gift of specialty, attributed by custom to his proper name: for if anyone by chance named him in his life, it was the custom at once to add, "Dom Hugh, good and lover of the holy rule." The said place is distant from the river Loire by two miles, and from the city of Autun by forty miles.

[15] At length many of both orders and sex from various places flowed to the same place, he is visited by many asking humbly and devoutly the consoling words of the most holy man, imploring that they might be made sharers in his prayers and in the most copious and spiritual abundance of his other benefits. If in the surrounding provinces the ordinations of places or of Abbots or of Provosts were pressingly needed, they were accomplished by his counsel, nod, and will, when he had been consulted; and whoever approached him, as from a rock of salt, went away seasoned. Therefore if in the time of this theologian of Christ it happened that any tempest arose from a troubled disturbance of the air (which is manifestly known to happen very frequently in that province on account of the ferocity of the hearts of men and their brutal conversation), ^d recourse was had at once to the man most devoted to God, he drives off storms as to a refuge of true Divinity: who forthwith, taking up the Cross with the relics of the Saints, went forth to meet the threatening disaster. And as soon as the man of God had expressed the sign of the Cross, at once that wintry coagulation of the air, Christ the Lord having mercy, was dispersed in different parts and melted, so that not a trace of any gathered storm-cloud appeared; and very often the very tumults of hailstones are found to have been turned by him into a most pleasant shower. No less meanwhile was good, conceded by the Author of all good, both in the various infirmities of men, and in the many kinds of calamities of animals. Whatever misfortune therefore befell a man or any animal, if his right hand imposed the sign of the Cross on it, or water sanctified by him was brought, at once, the languor being cast out, all pain or infirmity departed. Many also brought seeds to the same man of God to be sown, for the sake of improving them; and he sent them back with blessing imparted: who afterwards receiving a copious abundance from the same seeds, gave thanks to God almighty and his servant. he returns the seeds more fertile He also so abhorred the charms of enchantments and the apotelesmata ^e of illusory words (which a multitude of foolish people used to commit both on the Kalends of January and on the nativity of Saint John the Baptist), he destroys sorceries that under anathema he forbade this to be done by any mortal. As a certain proverb says:

However much you have striven in many things, however justly tenacious you may be, Yet it is not virtue, unless you refuse what is worse.

But what more? He was laboriously stocked with all gifts of virtues, and from various parts recourse was had to him, as to a remedy of divine salvation, for every necessity. Greatly to you, O Lord Creator of ages, may every order of creatures give thanks of honor and praises of blessings, who so adorn your servants, to the honor of your name, with the splendor of miracles.

[16] But now we wish to turn our point to the passing of the same holy man. the aged man aspires to heaven For the gatherings of Brothers, both distant and near, in monasteries around and about, having been composed and decently ordered at the nod and counsel of the venerable Hugh, he, now worn with age, adorned with a swan-like head, and as though set in array for the journey of all flesh, secure awaited the departure of his mortality; intent also upon fasts and constant prayers, he frequently looked to heaven, whither, following the Lord Jesus, he believed himself about to go after a little. Yet he bestowed the words of salvation on whomever he could. He admonished all with paternal affection to do penance for past misdeeds, he admonishes his own to live in the present free from sins, to provide against future excesses of human frailty; but especially concerning the incorruption of the Catholic faith, he inculcates the faith which at times he feared to be wavering in the hearts of some, especially on account of the oracle of the Apostolic presage which says: "There shall be in the last days perilous times, and iniquity shall abound, and the charity of many shall grow cold": then to withdraw from vices, especially from cupidity and pride, flight from cupidity and pride from which almost all other crimes arise, just as on the contrary from true humility and perfect charity the copious multitude of virtues abounds. Matt. 24:12 Most often he inculcated to the memory of the Brothers the acts and precepts of the most holy Father Benedict, and also the example of his most obedient disciple Maurus, observance of the rule as the most faithful indicators of the heavenly way. For he asserted, on the showing of the common and true faith, that if in whatever place the tenor of the regular institution of the said Father should be observed, those who dwelt there should suffer the want of no indigence: adding the temporal blessing which even in very many places in which it is kept, is today known to be experienced; and no less meanwhile in those in which, growing cold, it has become tepid, want and unquiet have placed their couch. Many things indeed the illustrious man, both in the order

monastic as in certain orders of this world, foretold future things, which the event in the following time afterwards proved.

[17] In the space of three years before his death, then, he confined himself from every secular matter, enclosed in the aforesaid cell, in the last three years he shuts himself in his cell devoting himself to tears and prayers, more constant than frequent. There truly, poor in a narrow triumph he reigned, ^g awaiting in the jubilation of his mind the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, after the departure of this mortality to reign with him in the glory of blessed perpetuity. As the time of Lenten observance approached, with his limbs growing faint from cold, his mind was strengthened by the fire of the holy Spirit: for he so comforted the Brothers dwelling with him and dreading his funeral, that from sadness he gradually rendered them joyful. He promised, pledging himself to pray constantly for them, at the end he encourages his own that at some time, Christ granting, they might together enjoy the glory of paradise. When the sacred Lenten time had been completed, and the joys of the Lord's resurrection coming on, more attentively he awaited the day of his passing; and with hands frequently stretched to heaven, his lips slightly moving, his eyes suffused with tears, he appeared wholly to be in ecstasy. On the twelfth day before the Kalends of May, he dies April 20 his happy and blessed soul, leaving the clod of the body, migrated to Christ. His most holy body was buried by the most devoted Brothers of the same place, whom he himself had devoutly educated in the virtues of spiritual warfare, he is buried in the precinct of the cell within the precinct of the aforesaid cell, which he himself had caused to be consecrated to God for the attainment of the way of life. In which place, of what holiness and merits he had been in life, shone forth by God's bounty in signs and virtues manifold. For after his death a manifold multitude of infirm and devout people, he is famous for miracles flowing most devoutly to his tomb, whatever they would ask there for their benefit, without any difficulty joyfully carried away. For they sought, as it were by debt, from the sweetest Father, after the manner of sons, the help of salvation, whom at once he consoled by the merits of his intercession. With such and with like marks of virtues was the most holy Hugh endowed, Priest and monk; so that it is worthy to believe that he remains alive after the putting off of the flesh in God almighty. Now, then, in part his life and acts and passing are explained.

EPITAPH. ^h

Here the bones of the Blessed testify to life after death; Here the ashes betray life after death. Epitaph While bodies in better manner are repaired by the hope of dying, Bodies, while being better, than they formerly had been. Having performed the love of God, giving pious gifts to the one who asks, He gives good things to the believer, having performed the love of God. With these riches the most noble Hugh adorns the tomb: All that they ask of him with these riches he adorns. Glory, which cherishes him, gives him praise as a gift, Whom the exulting glory of the Almighty cherishes; Speak good words to God, you who behold the tomb of Hugh, As becomes every man, speak good words to God.

[19] It happened, then, after the death of the most holy Dom Hugh, the signs of miracles becoming clear, that a multitude of the whole people of both sexes and orders flowed to his sepulchre for the healings of various infirmities. Then a certain man was brought in a cart, drawn by two oxen, as far as the little river ⁱ Arroux: at that time the same bed had so overflowed and swelled, that it was not passable for any pedestrian without a boat. Now the aforesaid man had the muscles of his knees contracted to the buttocks down to his heels, nor had he for three lustra (15 years) been able to fix his steps upon the ground as he walked. When, as we have said, because of the flooding of the water, he could not cross the bed, he sent one of his attendants a cripple is healed who should take a candle of the measure of his body to the sepulchre of Saint Hugh: and he himself often invoking the name of Saint Hugh, earnestly beseeched the Lord to restore his health. The next day, when morning came, he felt the power of Christ working in him, through the merit of Saint Hugh: for, his knees loosened and his legs extended, he received his body from the middle whole, and knocking at the little door ^k of the andron (enclosed seat) which was on the cart, he asked to have it opened; and with what voice he could, invoking the help of God, he repeated the name of Saint Hugh. Going out, then, he stood with erect body, showing the progress of his health, and joy to his own. He at once sending gave to the Saint one of the oxen by which he had been brought thither, as recompense or thanksgiving for the health received: which, having been led to the monastery, the Brothers of the same place, moved by piety, commanded that it be restored to its lord. Immediately also by divine nod, the animal understanding what they wished or what was most expedient, taking the road without any leader, returned, coming to its own lord. He, recognizing the benignity of the Brothers and the mercy of God almighty, joining it with its companion, and giving thanks to the Divinity, cheerful and glad returned to his own.

[20] At the same time also a certain man, Theobertus by name, for blasphemy against the Saint, he is injured an inhabitant of the same place, having a hatchet in his hand, was cutting wood, placing his foot on the stone of Saint Hugh's sepulchre. When he was admonished by bystanders to remove himself thence and proceed elsewhere, and to show reverence to the holy man, he, angrily answering, said: "For I have never known that this Saint whom you speak of ever wrought the virtue of any matter; therefore, what I have begun to do I will instantly complete. Yet if any power of avenging is found in him, it will be easy to demonstrate." Saying these things, with his right hand immediately raised, with all his force he struck the hatchet into his left shin, wounding himself so that he was almost maimed at once. The bystanders, stupefied and terrified with wonder, as was fitting, gave suitable witness to the holy man. He who had received the wound by whose benefit he is cured lay idle for the space of six months; and at last afterwards, by the intercession of the holy man his health recovered, he gave thanks to the Lord, and honored the holy man as was fitting. It was also shown forth in many ways in the holy man, by the miracles of diverse virtues, that there had been the most evident grace of Christ almighty.

[21] the keeper of the church A certain monk of the same monastery, for the sake of obedience, had been given custody of the church itself: who, as if providing for the future but in part improvident, appeared negligent in regard to the Saint, and tenacious or greedy: his name was Hademarus. When therefore from diverse parts to the same place a multitude of men and women flowed, bringing most copious lights of candles, and the other offerings fitting to the uses of human necessities, there crept upon this monk, as we have said, an excessive zeal for tenacity. For at once, as soon as the candle brought to the holy man was placed, out of greed extinguishing the candles offered at once seizing it, he swiftly extinguished it. And this he strove to do day and night, as a most faithful guardian of the things, without any interruption. It happened on one of the nights that candles were being offered by the faithful as usual; but he, greedily receiving them and having shaken out the flame from all, the place and the monk himself remained in darkness: who, at once struck with blindness, and as he was blind in mind, so in body also, began to palpitate with his hands, wandering in his step, not knowing in what part he should seek the entrance of the church. At length, so blindly groping, finding the door he went out thence, calling some of the servants; he becomes blind relighting the candle, again he ordered himself to be led to the sepulchre of the Saint: coming where, he began most devoutly to pray with tears for the mercy of the Lord and the intercession of Saint Hugh; and to rebuke himself that he was guilty and a sinner, and had acted negligently in the office of due service; promising moreover that, if he lived long, he would in every way amend. While he was doing this, suddenly he saw, as through the thinnest little crack, above the sepulchre of the Saint a most brightly shining star: by whose rays his gaze was dulled. He, intent, was beseeching the Lord that, through the intercession of the present Confessor, he would have mercy on him. But the merciful Lord, deferring what he desired, brought on him fullness, that he might give him full remission. and after a year is healed For remaining for a whole year with weak eyesight, he was unable to see perfectly what he wished. Thenceforth knowing how fearsome and of what merit the most holy man was, and amended by the reproof, and gladdened by the restoration of the sight of his eyes, he strove to tell the rest what he himself had proved by experience. as also another, called Hugh In a similar way also it happened to a certain one of the same name as this Confessor, when he incautiously took away the due lights which were owed, that, for the vengeance of the same, he should lose his own. But divine mercy, after the sanctity of the man of God had been proved, and the negligent one corrected, restored to the devout what he had taken away by noxious means.

[22] There are as witnesses both those whom we have described above, and very many others, because in these days such a multitude of the sick and weak for the recovery of health had flocked there, that an incredible number of stools and ^l oscilla (crutches), after health received, remained there from those returning. Then finally among the other multitude, a certain woman moving from the territory of Bourges, to go thither, came as far as the river Loire: she was however a lunatic, and, to speak more truly, demoniac. a demoniac is freed Whom, since none of those crossing dared to take with her into the boat, all fearing lest they should be put in danger on her account, she herself entering the boat, without helmsman or oarsman, pushed the skiff into the waves. Going out, she in a straight course pushed to the other bank: straightway, however, returning backwards, she came to the original place; again from there going forth, she as she desired passed over, and taking the road she came to the sepulchre of the holy man. Where when she had fallen, the malignant spirit began within to lacerate her, and to stir her with raging mind. Crying out in alternate voices, she was saying: "For Martinulus I will not go out, nor for little Hugh will I retreat"; this frequently she repeated, so that it was no doubt to anyone but that she was agitated by the unclean spirit. The next morning, fatigued for a long time, she vomited out in the manner of beetles three reptiles; of which nevertheless the form was sufficiently fitting to the wicked spirit which possessed her: for divine grace shows in such effigies of what vileness is the species or form of demons. After this the woman, sound mind recovered, glorifying God, gave thanks to the excellent Confessor; and to the wonder of all, whole, she was restored to her own. Innumerable also are the signs and prodigies of virtues of any kind of mortals, which the Lord deigned to work through his most holy servant Hugh, both in men and in women; very many miracles are wrought with healings of diverse infirmities granted, to the glory and honor of his name, many beholding. Now however how it happened that his bones, from where they were first placed, were translated, in the following work by the Lord's bounty we are about to relate.

NOTES.

CHAPTER IV.

The body elevated, carried to various gatherings or Councils of Bishops. Miracles wrought.

[23] We are taught by the pages of the holy volumes, and instructed by the miracles of very many Saints, that we should recollect their translations with sincere affection. For while through the bones of the Saints miracles are wrought, there stands an effective witness that their souls live with Christ in eternal glory. It is therefore worth the trouble to relate more evidently the translation of the holy and most blessed Confessor Hugh, While he continued to shine with miracles which at present the devout people celebrate and venerate. He was shown forth, therefore, by many signs of miracles. For he was asked by many, though buried in the ground, in all necessities, as though he were living in the flesh. And truly he lives for God, whose ashes and bones afford many benefits to those piously asking, and refresh souls and bodies alike.

[24] About the year one thousand of the incarnate Word, under the man of God ^a Heldegrinus the Abbot, there was in the same monastery, namely Anzy, in which the most holy Hugh rested, a certain Brother, about the year 1000 a monk in life and conversation, ^b Emirardus by name, a man of holy life, who also had once gone to Jerusalem for the love of the sepulchre of the Lord Savior, dwelling there for the space of nearly seven years; appearing often to Emirrardus he converses with him and thence returning, chose for himself the aforesaid monastery, to dwell there to the end. For he was graced with the priestly office, and distinguished by devotion to divine service; prone by the obedience of humility to the command of his superiors; most friendly by pure love to his equals and inferiors. To this man the venerable Hugh most frequently showing himself in vision, used familiar converse with him, as he was accustomed with tears ^c to relate. As the day of the Lord's solemnity approached, alone and more frequently the venerable Hugh began to appear to the aforesaid Brother in vision. He himself, more attentively, as befitted the time, afflicting himself with fasts and prayers, besought the Lord that what was most expedient should come about. So three or four weeks having passed, they came to the most sacred night of the Nativity of the life-giving Word; and the solemnities of that night having been solemnly completed by the Brothers as is the custom, and the Masses most devoutly celebrated, the aforesaid Brother reported that he had seen Dom Hugh present, chanting in the praises of God with them.

[25] What more? then lamps spontaneously kindled When all the obsequies of the offices had been duly performed, they came to the hour of dinner; who, by custom, regularly assembling into one, took the food of the body with the food of the soul of sacred reading. After the refreshment, giving thanks concordantly to God, they returned to the Church. When they entered, they found all the lamps of the same church cheerfully kindled, since no mortal had remained in it, about whom there could be any doubt that he had kindled them: for all the doors of the church had been carefully shut with bolts and key during the whole hour of dinner by the key-bearers. Seeing which, the Brothers who had assembled, filled with great joy, praising the Lord, had nothing more to say. Then afterwards the said Brother, namely Emirardus, approaching the sepulchre of his fellow-priest and familiar friend, namely Dom Hugh; and the sepulchral stone is moved away he found the stone which had been set above, removed on all sides, and leaping up to about a foot and a half in height. Then calling the others, he showed them the event of the thing, intimating what they thought of it. They, terrified with stupor, were anxious in mind over the twin and most evident signs of miracles shown to them in so distinguished a solemnity. These things were divulged all around the whole province, and it became a matter of the highest wonder to all.

[26] When ^d Walterius or Galterius, Bishop of Autun, had learned this, by the Bishop of Autun he called to himself Heldegrinus the Abbot with some Brothers, diligently inquiring how the matter stood, whose fame he had heard. They recounted to him in order how, by the most evident miracles, the merciful Lord had deigned many times to glorify his servant, namely Saint Hugh, the Abbot of Saint Martin and others The venerable Bishop then, and the most reverend Abbot, with the other Brothers of both orders, unanimously decreed that the bones of the holy man, whom so many signs proclaimed, should thence be raised up; and, as was fitting, that they should be honorably buried where they could be in the open. Hearing which, everyone in the whole province, both nearby and far off, judged it worthy to be done. Thence after almost a year had elapsed, on the Ides of the month of December, with the greatest apparatus and the gathering of all the people, the bones of the most holy man were uncovered, the bones are elevated December 13 and thence elevated, and washed with wine and balsam; and also in a little place, where they are now adored, they were carefully placed. And a most sweet odor flowed from them, and placed in a chapel as long as they were handled, which the whole assembly of the people sensed by smell. those with fever are healed Then also a multitude of the feverish and other infirm, who had gathered, having received their former health, praising God and glorifying Saint Hugh, returned home. and other sick From the wine with which his sacred bones had been washed, many of the infirm having taken in drink, at once recovered. Then from far-off provinces, afflicted with various diseases and infirmities, together with those nearby to the place, coming there, and spending the night for two or three days, thence with the greatest exultation, what they had faithfully desired, without difficulty they obtained.

[27] But after this, in the following time, there were ^e gatherings of Bishops in many places, for the study of reforming peace, but sometimes also for reintegrating the state of the Catholic faith: in which gatherings of councils it was beseeched by the faithful the bones are brought to the Gatherings of Bishops that the body of the holy man might be brought thither. Being brought thither by the Brothers, it was always clear of what merit the holy man was in sacred virtues. You might hear from the roads and houses and fields, while going and returning he passed through places, men and women crying out with pious voice, saying with exultation: "Most holy Father Hugh, have mercy and beseech the Lord for the salvation of all the people, that by your merits and prayers he may snatch us from pestilence and famine, and that after death we may more clearly receive with you the joys of eternal life." with all invoking him But when they came to the gathering of the Council of Bishops and people, it was seen that all received, praised, and entreated the blessed man with the sweetest voices as a kindly Angel, all as an Apostle of God, all in common as a friend of Christ. Let us therefore also, although inferior to them in merits, imitate as we can their faith; and following their footsteps, Christ helping us, let us worthily recollect the memory of the holy man, praising in him together with harmonious voices the God and Lord of all; and let us with most humble prayers beseech him who deigned to bestow on us, of our nation and order, such a Patron. For he, after many other benefits to the Churches of God, has consecrated this place by his habitation, and blessed it by his example: by whose suffrages may we be fortified amid the strivings of the world, that we may at some time attain the joys of eternal life; our Lord Jesus Christ granting, who with the eternal Father lives and is glorified God through all ages of ages. Amen. ^f

[28] In the diocese of Lyon, at a castle called ^g Ansa, it was customary for a Council of Bishops to be held. The body brought to the Council in the diocese of Lyon At a certain time therefore, when the same Council was being prepared to be held, many relics of Saints in various ^h apophoreta (reliquary coffers), as was the custom to do, were brought there by the faithful, so that by the grace, merits, and prayers of the Saints there might arise profit for all the people. It happened also that the body of the most blessed man Hugh was brought thither with the rest; where, when it had been placed becomingly enough, the greatest part of the whole people who had assembled flowed most devoutly to him. it shines with various miracles Then whoever were afflicted with any weaknesses either came themselves, or were brought by the hands of others. It cannot be told what voices, what groans with tears the whole people gave, acclaiming Saint Hugh. Then by divine clemency having mercy, many from fevers

were freed, others cleansed from vexations, and many more restored to health in their weak limbs: whose individual persons cannot be numbered one by one. And to others withdrawing more came in place of the earlier ones, for whom ⁱ a place to reach the Saint was scarcely found; yet all were helped divinely.

[29] asking to die in the presence of the body There was in that multitude of the people a certain man, exceedingly great and full of pious devotion: who, seeing the power of the Lord in the sick of diverse infirmities, compunct in heart, came before the presence of the body of Saint Hugh; and standing there with hands outstretched to heaven, weeping with his eyes, uttered these words: "O Saint Hugh, Confessor of Christ, worker of pious virtues, I beseech thee by the grace of the almighty Creator, which thou hast merited, that thou mayest obtain for me from Him, that if I am by his decree to have the end of the present life within the space of this year, he may not permit me to depart hence, but that it may happen to me in the presence of thy body, as I desire." The same man, standing and repeating such words, remained immobile; after the space of two or three hours, his knees lightly bent, falling to the ground, he breathed out his spirit: he expires there which seeing, the whole multitude of the people present, men and women, all terrified with stupor, glorified God in praise of his holy servant Hugh. But what ought to be understood by this deed, except that which is proverbially said: he could not die ill, who lived well? For it is not to be thought that this man so obtained the exit of his life at his wish, unless he had first so lived that this was granted him by the Lord: and as far as can be conjectured, it was more desirable for this miserable life to be ended so, than to rise to it from the common death. For our holy fathers, interpreters of sacred Scripture, assert that the Lord Savior wrought a greater miracle in the remission of the interior sins of Mary Magdalene, than in the resuscitation of the body of her brother Lazarus. Meanwhile it was decreed by the wise men, and especially by the venerable Odilo, ^k Abbot of Cluny, who was there present, and by Saint Odilo and others he is buried there that in the same place the body of this man (for his name was Andrew) should be committed to burial, where by the intercession of Saint Hugh and the command of God he had received the end of his life: judging it worthy that he await that blessed resurrection there, where he had lost the present life. When he had been buried according to the judgment of all, the faithful men set up a little cell over him, so that there might be a memorial of this miracle most evident for a long space of time to the coming age. Thence each returning home magnified God, and preached Saint Hugh his servant everywhere.

[30] After the completion of the said Council, when the bones of the blessed man had been carried back, his fame growing more widely, many infirm ones were anguished with regret, chiding their delay in coming thither too late. Then a certain blind man, deprived of all sight, coming from afar, began to call upon Saint Hugh, Christ's Confessor and friend of God, with most frequent cries. While he was doing this, he asked in what place the most holy Hugh at present rested. Coming there, with knees bent, striking his breast with his fists, and at the same time fixing his sightless eyes on the ground, he rebuked himself with these words: the blind man is illuminated, visiting the place where the body had been before "Woe is me wretched and negligent of my own salvation, who have not succeeded in finding in this place the friend of God almighty: for I believe from the innermost affection of my heart that through his intervention the merciful Lord would have restored the light of my eyes." Saying this, he looked up to heaven, and by the mercy of the Lord his eyes were opened, and light received, he began to see most clearly. And rising thence with continuous outcries he magnified God, wonderful in his Saints, and proclaimed Saint Hugh his wondrous intercessor. These and infinite other miracles, which for brevity's sake are omitted, our most pious and most benign Lord Jesus Christ has wrought, and even to this day daily works, for the praise and glory of his most holy name: who with the eternal Father and the holy Spirit lives and reigns God, forever and ever. Amen.

NOTES.

ON BLESSED WILLIAM THE PILGRIM, IN BAVARIA BEYOND THE DANUBE.

ABOUT THE YEAR 1140.

William, pilgrim, in Bavaria beyond the Danube (B.)

By G. H.

The most ample monastery of the Premonstratensian Order is seen in Bavaria beyond the Danube, on the side toward Bohemia, called Winburgum, commonly Windperg, not far from Pogen; Near Winburg the monastery whose Counts Albert and his children Albert, Berthold, Hartwig, founded the said monastery in the twelfth century of Christ, Pope Eugene III approving, by a Bull about the foundation and privileges signed in the year 1166. These things may be read at more length in Wiguleus Hund and Christopher Gewold in tome 3 of Metropolis Salisburgensis page 488 and following. "In this neighborhood," says Matthaeus Rader in tome 1 of Bavaria sancta page 128, "as though carried by a tempest and shipwreck of a long pilgrimage William, he dwells in the County of Pogen escaped from chains and endured with greatest labors and dangers, found here a grateful haven of rest, being liberally aided and relieved with provisions by Luicarda, whom some have called both Hedwig and Hadewige, wife of Count Albert of Pogen. Assiduously devoted to divine things alone in those places, he learned many things from the heavenly ones, which were impending over the Emperor and the Empire. He foretold the war and slaughter of Henry III he foretells various things (who among the Germans is the fourth) with the Saxon race. He restored health to Count Albert; he heals the Count he foretold his own death as about to follow. After death, he appeared to the same as author that in the place where his body was preserved, he should erect a chapel as a sostra (thank-offering) for the health received, and as the nemosynon (memorial) of a grateful soul. This Albert was also the founder of the monastery of Winburg. William had as his companion of pilgrimage Blessed Junanus, from whose limbs, after his death, they recall that there exhaled a fragrance of a certain divine odor above all the perfumes of Arabia. he dies April 20 William lived until the 13th day before the Kalends of May in an uncertain year, yet not long before 1147, when Albert died."

[2] Thus Rader. Hundius adds that the said year of Albert's death is found on his tomb with "the 5th day before the Ides of January." Meanwhile he notes that the Bull of Eugene III, published in the year 1146, testifies that the founder himself was then already deceased. These things can stand together, if the Bull was signed not long after his death, before Easter or the feast of the Incarnate Word: namely when, according to the custom of the Roman curia, the year 1147 had not yet begun, which however had begun from the Kalends of January among the Bavarians. The same William the Pilgrim, with the title of Blessed, Ferrarius inserted in his General Catalogue on this day. A distinguished effigy of Blessed William, in the habit of a pilgrim, surrounded by heavenly rays, sculpted effigy and appearing to Count Albert sick unto death, has been published in the said Bavaria sancta of Rader with these verses subscribed:

Through a thousand chances and a thousand perils of things, The Bavarian land, to the escaped one, furnished a place. Albert, whose name comes from a bent bow, Abandoned by all physicians, had felt his help. a temple erected At whose warning he built a noble temple as thank-offering, Kindled, O William, for the divinities as you were kind. The place is Winburg: at which Thessalian Tempe might envy; A saint from the sacred shrine, holier than its natives.

ON THE VENERABLE ODA, OF THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ORDER IN HAINAUT.

IN THE YEAR 1158.

Venerable Oda of the Premonstratensian Order, in Hainaut (St.)

By G. H.

Among the monasteries of the Premonstratensian Order founded while Saint Norbert was living, the sixth is reckoned the one which exists in Hainaut near Binche, called Bonne-Espérance, which began to be built about the year 1126; whose first Abbot, Odo, about the year 1130, Lietard, Bishop of Cambrai, is said to have imparted his blessing to. Oda a religious of the Premonstratensian Order Not far from the said men's monastery was built another of religious of the same Premonstratensian Order, as we have shown was commonly done at the beginning of the Order on April 5 at the Life of Blessed Juliana the Virgin, Prioress of Mont-Cornillon at Liège. under Abbot Odo and Philip of Eleemosine, the writer of her life In this monastery of religious lived, under the said Odo the Abbot, the Venerable Virgin Oda, Prioress of the said monastery, of whom we treat here. Under the same Odo flourished among the men of the same place Philip Harvengius, afterwards successor of Odo in the monastery of Bonne-Espérance and second Abbot, a most eloquent and wonderfully learned man, pious and holy, and a familiar of Saint Bernard, whose works were published together at Douai in the year 1620, among which are various Lives of Saints and in them inserted the Life of the Venerable Oda, who died in this Philip's time: which, as he says in his Prologue, "shone distinguished by virtue in his times, under his eyes; commending himself to her merits, he undertakes out of devotion to stammer her Life"; and in the epilogue he hopes that she "will give pardon to him who, out of zeal of love and devotion and at the request of the Sisters, undertook to write her Life; and will obtain ampler grace, and lead him to the desired harbor, that he may deserve to please God with her in the region of the living." John le Paige in the Library of the Premonstratensian Order, book 2 page 486 and following, presents, as he says in the title, "the Life of Blessed Oda the Virgin, Prioress of the nuns of Rivroelle, Called Blessed near the monastery of Bonne-Espérance, drawn from that which was faithfully written by the venerable Philip Harvengius, second Abbot of Bonne-Espérance, in the book of certain Saints."

[2] and inscribed in the calendars This Virgin Oda died on April 20, the day of Easter, in the year 1158, in the cycle of the moon 19, of the sun also 19, with Sunday letter E. Aubert Miraeus, who spent his first studies in illustrating monastic antiquities, and published a Chronicle of the Premonstratensian Order in the year 1613, after then ten years, in his Belgian and Burgundian Fasti composed this elogium of her: "On the 20th day of April, Blessed Oda Virgin and religious, of the Premonstratensian institute in Hainaut, born in Hainaut of noble parents Wibert and Thescelina, and confirmed by Odo Abbot of Bonne-Espérance in her purpose of preserving her virginity, spurned carnal nuptials. That she might not be dragged to them unwilling by her father, she cut off her nose herself, on which account she is to be rightly numbered among the Martyrs. She took therefore the monastic habit of the Premonstratensian Order from the said"

Odo, and entered the monastery of Virgins formerly situated not far from the Abbey of Bonne-Espérance (which now has ceased to be), in which as Prioress, on the 12th day before the Kalends of May in the year 1158, she ceased to live. She is buried in the said monastery of Bonne-Espérance: yet the certain place of her tomb is today unknown. Her Life was elegantly written by Philip, Abbot of Bonne-Espérance, etc." John Chrysostom Vander Sterre, in the Natales Sanctorum of the most pure Premonstratensian Order, adorns her with this elogium: "The 12th day before the Kalends of May. At Binche, a town of Hainaut, near the monastery of Bonne-Espérance, the natal day of Blessed Oda the Virgin of the Premonstratensian Order. She, by a wondrous stratagem having eluded the loves of the world, and for the faith of her integrity having endured very many things, given to her heavenly spouse, after various crowns of patience had been woven for her, when she had presided with sacred Virgins with distinguished sanctity, migrated to receive the laurel of inviolate virginity." Philip Brasseur in the Origins of the monasteries of Hainaut page 181 calls her "Blessed Oda the Virgin, who by a wondrous stratagem eluded a bridegroom, she is honored by us with the title of Venerable that she might be joined to another, upon whom the Angels desire to look." We, though we see her honored by the cited authors and others with the title of Blessed, yet prefer with Arnold Raizius, who in the Appendix of Molanus has some compendium of her Life, to use only the title of Venerable Virgin, but without prejudice to the other writers. Saussay also in his Gallican Martyrology places her among the Pious and gives her the appellation of blessed memory. Balduinus finally Willotius, in the Belgian Hagiology, names her Blessed Virgin Oda for the sake of honor.

LIFE

By Philip Harvengius, Abbot of Bonne-Espérance.

Venerable Oda, of the Premonstratensian Order, in Hainaut (St.)

BHL Number: 6262

BY PHILIP THE ABBOT.

PROLOGUE

If the Poets, conjecturers of silly and old wives' fables, who, covering the truth with a cloud of lying, have resolved to cultivate vice for virtue, Beyond the pagan Poets the blind error of the Gentiles strove to commend with great praises, and to extend their names with more illustrious titles, much more does it befit us to exalt our own philosophers, assertors of truth, lovers of justice and virtue, with special encomiums, who have more diligently consigned by the bond of writing whatever anywhere either in the sentences of Doctors was praiseworthy, or shone clear in the deeds of illustrious men, Christian writers to be praised and have derived it by celebrated memory to the knowledge of posterity, to be read and not neglected. The prudent intention of whom, by the succession of gliding ages, has watched even down to us; so that not only of men, but also of women who shone wonderful in virtue above their sex, a worthy catalogue of memory should be woven: so that if anyone has been blown upon by the healthful breath of such report, he may be provoked by pious zeal to live similarly; and so, in the night of this world, in the slipping times, wherever such a lamp has been kindled and shone, it should not be hidden under a bushel, but that it may give light to all in the house of God, especially those who compiled lives of the Saints be raised upon a candlestick. Moreover, just as he who, either puffed up with knowledge, or corrupted by envy, or pressed by sloth, chooses to know only for himself what he has learned, rather than to extend it to the ears of many, incurs no little note of reproach; so he who exalts men worthy of praise in the Churches, and preaches them at the head of every thoroughfare, makes himself praiseworthy and adds grace to his head. Which the first of the Apostles took care to do, when the Scribes and Pharisees forbade him to speak in the name of Jesus, he elegantly met them with this kind of response: "We cannot," he said, "but speak the things which we have heard and seen." Acts 4:20 For, as someone has said, he in some way seeks the fellowship of praise, who first announces the well-spoken or well-done things of others. For the possession of no good is joyful without a sharer.

[2] Wherefore, although the file of literary learning has not polished the grossness of my wit; although the author writes out of devotion the Acts of Oda although I have in no wise attained the sophistic conclusion of Socrates, or the enthymeme of Demosthenes, or the opulence of Ciceronian eloquence, yet relying more on devotion than on knowledge, I shall undertake as best I may to stammer in pedestrian speech the Life of a certain Virgin, who in our days, under our own eyes, shone distinguished in virtue: commending myself to her merits, that she may deign to open my mouth in her praise, so that a better fortune may follow the weak beginning; nor shall I fear the poison of an envious reader, commending himself to her merits nor dread the garrulous judge, while in the veiling of her prayers, secure from such whirlwind and rain, I lie hidden.

CHAPTER I.

Birth: love of chastity, flight from secular things.

Just as at midnight, with shining stars, the pole is adorned with pleasing variety, and the rough fleece of shadows is gradually wiped from the world by the benefit of light, so in the deep blindness of this pilgrimage, the Saints compared to stars the congregation of the Saints is wondrously invested with the diverse splendor of merits: which, while it sends forth manifold rays of virtues through the world, is found brighter than all the beauty of the stars. By the grace of this diversity, the variety feeds the eye of the beholder, since it knows nothing confused, receives nothing dissonant in itself, but always recurs to the same. Just as in that habitation of the heavenly city, whose participation is in the same, there are many mansions, distinct orders, diverse brightnesses; yet one God is all in all, the inextinguishable light, the undying life, the unfailing peace, the unwithering beauty. In this order of eternal seats certain ones excel the rest with more illustrious titles, gifted with a greater gift of blessedness: namely those who, in the pressure of this wine-press, crushed their bodies for the testament of God, or those who, denying themselves, fried flesh and spirit in the frying-pan of temptations, some brighter than others sweating in many fastings, vigils, and labors. Over all these, virginal chastity by a higher grade and a certain prerogative of dignity rightly presides: it accompanies the King of glory, the Lamb without spot, the more closely as the more like. as the Virgins are This height of life the venerable Virgin Oda desired to undertake: in which the very author and consecrator of the same virginity, and among these Oda kindly favoring her vows, kept her unstained to the glorious end of her life.

[4] In the time when Pope ^a Innocent was steering the chariot of the universal Church, ^b Lothair was administering the Roman empire in the western parts, ^c Louis son of Philip was holding the royal right among the Franks, the venerable man ^d Rainald was overseeing the metropolis of Reims, ^e Liethard the diocese of Cambrai, and ^f Baldwin of Jerusalem held the principate of Hainaut, in the aforesaid region, in a village which is commonly called Allodium, ^g this Virgin proceeded from distinguished birth: her father Wibert, her mother by name Thescelina: who shone both with the piety of divine worship and with the nobility of their origin. The wise Virgin therefore, drawing her noble carnal origin from both parents, born of pious and noble parents would not obscure her native brilliance by a degenerate life: but cutting back in its very germ the itching of the flesh, which powerfully enervates feminine softness, she utterly banished from herself the tractable allurements of the world and illicit affections; and devoting herself wholly to the school of virtue, she fittingly adorned her first age with the flower of chastity and the title of modesty. For she felt, according to a certain [h] pagan, that "she would rely without cause on her parents' titles, she loves chastity unless she were helped by her own." Whence also Boethius: "The glory of another does not make you splendid, if you have not your own." She consecrates herself to Christ as her spouse She purposed therefore in her mind, and vowed while still a young girl, to dedicate the privilege of her virginity to that heavenly Spouse: and daily meditated like a dove how, leaving the marshy places of earthly pleasure, she might the more fittingly and freely swim to the mountain of a holier life, and place her little nest in the cleft of a humble rock.

[5] And now with all vows she aspired to that of the Song of Songs: "I will go, she said to me, to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hills of Lebanon." Cant. 4:6 For she saw many in the plain of secular life, with noxious liberty, more licentiously unbridled through the declivities of morals; and knowing that perverse things are not corrected except by the rule, she desired to be raised to the mountain of myrrh, that is, to the arduous discipline of the regular formula. And because the lily of chastity is very often forced to be swallowed among the thickets of transitory vanity and the overflowings of a miry valley, she longed to be transported to the hills of Lebanon, that is, to the assemblies of religious women, which were blooming again with the most agreeable whiteness of all sanctity. she aspires to monastic life Indeed, after her vow was made, she lay hidden under the custody of her parents until the years of puberty; and with her mind at leisure from the things of the world (which is the first argument of a composed mind), she determined to withdraw into herself, and to dwell with herself. And lest the fame of her innocence should in any way be envied as a stepmother, she shunned as vipers the gatherings and conversations of girls whose hearts were set on luxury and idleness: admitting to herself only those ⁱ Sabine (modest) women whose talk was of honesty and friendship, she avoids wanton girls whose public testimony their private action would not obscure. Although her native color wondrously adorned the outer aspect of her countenance, and with virginal moderation she imparted honeyed cups to those conversing with her, she loves honesty yet all her beauty and glory was from within: because her Beloved was delightfully tarrying between her two breasts, with whom in the secret of her conscience, as in a nuptial chamber, she continually conversed. Therefore she feared, or rather despised, the wanton addresses and looks of young men, she despises the company of young men whose eye announces impudent things and mouth speaks vanity; who walking with supine chest are emptily lifted up over themselves, and are rolled headlong into every pleasure of lust.

[6] While therefore nothing earthly sat in her mind, while she daily resolved to satisfy her vows, while she burned with love unyieldingly but happily conceived, she reveals the secret to one alone she called to her a certain kinsman of hers, more familiar to her than the rest, and, though fearful, explained to him to a nicety her holy ardors: imploring him and testifying with many tears, that the secret she had entrusted to him should with the utmost study be concealed from her parents, and that through his suffrage she might deserve to come to the desired effects. But because to a desiring mind nothing is hastened enough, she repeats her prayers that the present vow should not be deferred to tomorrow, but that she might be taken as quickly as possible to Dom Odo, then Abbot of Bonne-Espérance: so that from him and under him she might without delay deserve to obtain the habit of holy religion. But because "nowhere is trust safe, nor can a friend easily be guarded against, if he wishes to plot," while the Virgin in her dove-like simplicity thought her vow was being more secretly taken care of, he turned backward; and not fearing to wound a friend's breast, went to disclose the secret to her father and mother, and on the contrary and in perverse order, strove to impede the journey he ought to have prepared. When her parents had perceived such a thing about their daughter in their ears, they were troubled, and moved upon this word, they grievously grieved; and, counsel having been taken with their kin, they determined to weaken the purpose of chastity with the marital fetter.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

Nuptials prepared by her parents. The consent asked before the Bridegroom and the Priest.

[17] A bridegroom was therefore sought for the virgin, She is destined for nuptials who was found fitting for her nuptials in race, morals, wealth, and honor: and a multitude of friends and relatives having been gathered from this side and that, they treated of the joining together in marriage of their children. That young man, Simon by name, received with prone favor the bride offered by her father and parents, with the equal assent of his own, and boasted, on a good hope indeed, that he would be happy with such nuptials; and he urges that pledge be given to the promises as soon as possible, which was also confirmed without delay with the sacrament of an oath. A pact therefore having been given by both sides, at length the day for celebrating this joining is fixed and named.

[8] Meanwhile, while the sacred virgin hovered suspended between hope and fear, and her mind was held by diverse and doubtful thought, she was terrified by the sad and unexpected auspice of this rumor; for the secret, which she had committed to be concealed in the ear of one, she heard spread to all in public: and she who had resolved not to know the bed of a man in offense, allowed to be tempted received that her nuptials must be celebrated immediately: and she who had now prepared to go out of her father's house, and with ready journey to proceed to the place of her proposed holiness, is impeded by a grave stumbling-block, and is shaken by a new fear, lest she lose the seal of her virginal chastity. that her virtue might shine forth But he who has not been tempted, what does he know? Further, that is not virtue, or does not appear to be, which the diligent athlete in the gymnasium of temptations does not compel to sweat by frequent exercise; which either the shameless South wind does not press with all its force, or the Thracian Boreas does not more frequently strike with a free blast; which pressed down by harmful torpor, does not bravely repel from itself the poisoned arrows of the enemies. For virtue is named from this, that relying on its own strength, it is not overcome by adversity. But virtue, having nothing contrary in itself, does not shine out, nor is it made splendid without examination: but not proved or examined, it is not virtue, nor can it bring great spirits to the contest, who has never been bruised. Therefore the Lord of virtues, who so allows his fighters to be tempted, yet so that the temptation can be sustained by a successful outcome, willed his handmaid (whom he was arranging to fight with the enemy in a triumphal contest, that she might have the custom of fighting) to be more diligently exercised in this wrestling-school: for custom makes the endurance of labors easier. He permitted, I say, and willed her to be tempted, not that she, fainting under the load of feminine weakness, should be hurled about by the enemy, but that a wondrous spectacle might be given to all: while an unarmed and humble girl was sent into single combat against that armored and lofty Goliath, and by manly engagement bravely vanquishing the enemy, she might worthily obtain the palm of victory for her merit.

[9] Feeling, therefore, that various whirlwinds of temptations were being stirred up against her, and that the enemy was preparing wars against her with all his force, the virgin has recourse to herself, and awakens the beloved, prayers being poured forth delightfully lying down in the humble inn of her heart; and lays her plaintive voices before him, and announces the enemy lurking before the doors; and asks that help be sent her from the holy place, and that her loins be girded with fortitude, and having invoked Christ as her spouse knowing that there is need of fortitude against one fighting valiantly. She also more attentively commends to Christ the privilege of her chastity, which she consigned to him when still of tender age; and that she may run the way of truth which she has chosen with unoffended foot and unpolluted path, she prays that the bonds which Satan has prepared for her for ruin and scandal may be broken. While she so stands at the friend's door with pleasing importunity, repeating her prayers, he awakes, and inclines the ear of piety to the voice of his bride, and opens to her, and benignly consoles the tender soul of the loving one, impressing the kiss of inner love. And lest she fear from the nocturnal terror or start at any encounters of temptation, he refreshes her with the bread of strength, having every delight and every savor of sweetness; and he promises himself to be a protection to her in the day of tribulation. Receiving this divinely inspired oracle, and as though receiving in a fertile field a certain most strong seed, the virgin shuts out empty fears: she is strengthened and she who a little before could be inclined by the slightest breath of any breeze, now standing fixed laughs at the wraths of the ether, the sounds of the sea, the whirlwinds of the winds. While around her the enemy sets many snares, that the virginal flower might incur inevitable detriment, she proposes to fulfill with more ardent vow the purpose once well-conceived of living well; and with free flight she swims out to the defense of the solid rock. In the most fortified places, therefore, her tent fixed, she now does not fear the thousands of people surrounding her: but skilled in fighting if camps stand against her, in this hope she glories; she provokes the enemy rather than is herself provoked; now secure to say with Paul, that neither tribulation, nor sword, nor death, nor any creature will be able to lead her from the love of Christ. Rom. 8:3

[10] At length the day of the nuptials presses on, and by celebrated fame is spread to the ears of very many; the house is adorned with various decoration and painted tapestries, the household walks more neat and glad than usual, the manifold adornment for the virgin's attire is procured with the utmost care, the utmost zeal: yet she herself does not walk in great things nor in marvelous things above her, nor is the gravity of her face changed in any way. For she had put on a manly spirit, "beyond which," as one has said, "nothing is wonderful; to which, when great, nothing is great." Her father, noticing that his daughter was by no means inclining to the purpose of his desired will, is pressed by excessive fear, lest, while he insists with all his force that she be betrothed unwilling, excessive sorrow may occupy her mind and she be forced to fall into an incurable illness, or certainly attempt to take flight, from which she could not easily be recalled. While he revolves these questions of opinions in his plaintive breast, he resolves at length to meet them with a false argument: and with evening coming on, which was setting on the day of betrothal, he addresses a flattering speech to the virgin's ears, She learns from her parents that the day of nuptials was set covered with the veil of lying. "It is not seemly, daughter, that the flower of your youth should fall and wither in its very rising, lest your native color be tinged with the ink of any sadness: but rather rejoice in your adolescence, and enjoy much possession and many riches, and, the cloud of sadness wiped away, clothe yourself with the adornment of gladness. Drive away, I beg, from your mind all gravity, and do not wound with sad countenance your parents' piety. And do not fear what is not to be feared: I have, because of some affairs in which I am occupied, postponed the day of the nuptial union, which you think is to be celebrated tomorrow, to another time, when it can be more conveniently fulfilled." Hearing that word which the father spoke to her "in a heart and a heart" (i.e. deceptively), taking it as though for an omen, she not knowing embraces the false for the true: and unknowing of what the coming day would bear, she glories as though the first horn of the battle were broken off.

[11] And indeed, the night having passed, when with the revolving axis the sun had shone forth the morning of the day, the bridegroom is present at the appointed time with a great retinue of his own; and the parents of the girl arrive, and many noble virgins and matrons, she is led to the church adorned with much care and shining with costly arrangement of garments. And because the church was not near, the multitude of the guests is gathered in the court of the girl's father, and she too is ordered to come. She, knowing she must obey her parents, does not delay to obey the commands, and proceeds not as one about to marry into a hall, and after consent given by the bridegroom to the Priest but as one about to fight in a theater; about to show more evidently not only in words but also in works how great a love of chastity remained in her breast. And when the Priest (as is the custom) questioned Simon the bridegroom with a threefold interrogation, whether he consented voluntarily that Oda the Virgin should be lawfully joined to him, he answered that he had come for this, and promised that he would with all zeal fulfill what the conjugal law commanded. But when they came to the virgin, asked, she is silent and she was asked according to custom whether she would accept the aforesaid bridegroom, she with her face suffused with blush and her tender brow bent down, considering whatever sounded in her eyes or ears as empty and proud, did not answer the Priest with any word. When, of the bystanders, some assigned this silence of hers to arrogance, others to modesty, and were lacerating her pure conscience with diverse sentences, one of the matrons, who more familiarly joined to her side, consulting the virginal modesty, blandly and gently thus addresses her: "Do not fear, O noble virgin, with lawful response to send forth to those things of which you are asked the assent of your will: because as it was of honesty and modesty, to be silent once and again when admonished, so you will be noted of ignorance and contempt, if, where and when it is fitting, you neither know how nor wish to open your mouth. Ecclus. 32:11 For there is a time to speak, and a time to be silent. And though wisdom advises a young man that even in his own cause he should scarcely speak, yet lest he incur the worthy reproof of excessive silence, she teaches that when questioned a second time, he should begin his response. Lest, therefore, you too modestly confound the faces of so many and so great men; lest in your contemporaries you pour forth an example of silence, nay rather contempt of responding: to the interrogation of the Priest already uttered a third time, I pray, open your generous mouth, and bring forth a pleasing reply."

[12] To this the virgin: "Since," she said, "you so much ask whether it be settled in my mind to have this bridegroom whom you name to me; know most certainly that I wish neither to receive him, nor any other; because I am joined in love to Him, to Him alone I keep faith, to whom, Virgin, I willed the title of my virginity to be consigned while I was still a little girl; she spurns carnal nuptials from whose embraces neither by the love of another, nor by gifts, nor by the threats of my parents or scourges, shall I in any way be separated."

CHAPTER III.

Out of love of chastity her nose is cut off.

[13] At the novelty of this response all the multitude that was present stupefied wonders. But Simon blushes vehemently at being scorned, and seeking to cloak his confusion under the supercilious air of some objection, falsely boasts that he is unwilling to have her who, being mute, lacked the benefit of speech. the bridegroom withdrawing When he had turned away with suspended brow and departed indignant, and as an enemy pressed on from the rear, with a swift horse returned home with his own, the Virgin's parents and those who had remained with her, thinking themselves no less confounded, were gravely angry against her; and the word which had been uttered from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unfeigned faith, they try to infect with the ferment of a sinister suspicion. Thus indeed the human eye, while it is gladly clouded with the lippitude of envy, less diligently investigates the sentence of truth in doubtful matters: and those things which very often are done with a good mind, it chooses to incline to the reprobate side, rather than, keeping a sound eye, to judge nothing rashly of hidden things. Whence when Anna in the temple prayed to the Lord with poured-out tears, and no voice of hers could at all be heard with her lips slightly trembling, the priest Eli, whose eye already in his reprobate old age was dim, watched more attentively, as is written, the mouth and face of her praying; and the foolish old man judged her not so much to be pouring out the groaning of speech as belching forth too much drink: "Put away," he said, "the wine a little with which you are moist." 1 Kgs 1:12 But a mind cohering to itself by firm reason is not easily moved from the rectitude of its state; and a pure conscience cannot be deterred by the tongues of barking enviers: whence the Apostle says to the Corinthians: "With me it is a very small thing that I am judged by you or by man's day." 1 Cor. 4:3 The prudent Virgin therefore stands, with mind placid and serene aspect, in the midst, so to say, of Babylon, nor can the vehement blast of the North wind shake the citadel of her virginity; because a daughter of Jerusalem, surrounded with the rampart of all sanctity and chastity, to be forced to them by her father she spurns the swine of luxury and the eye of petulance, nor has anything in common with the daughters of Askalon. But her father, fearing lest he be accused of lying or perjury, lest a mark of blame be brought upon his name, takes with him some of his necessary ones, and goes to recall as soon as possible the confused young man, and to join his daughter to him, whether she would or not, by the promised marriage. But in vain is the net cast before the eyes of the winged.

[14] Now when she learned what her father was planning against her, while the crowd that remained was murmuring at what had happened and was disturbed, in her chamber finding occasion, she secretly withdrew; and coming home, retreated into her mother's chamber. The door secured behind her, she prays God to come to her aid: and seizing the sword which she sees hanging at the head of the bed, she hastens to cut off her nose. But her hand, trembling and not skilled in striking with the sword, when she cannot with her feminine stroke prevail to cut the upper hardness of the sinews, indignant, said to herself: "O sword, how dull is your edge, she cuts off her nose which cannot with biting keenness destroy the beauty of my face!" Saying these things, she erected herself against herself, and pressed the iron more hardly, and with an oblique wound cut off her nostrils, and distilled a precious little stream of rosy blood into a basin; and thus very greatly disfigured the native splendor of her face. O wondrous breast of the Virgin! That she might not be fit to be conformed to this wicked age, she chose to live with a crooked nose; and that her seductible beauty should be deformed, rather than be painted with adulterine dye of false beauty, and have wanton eyes lustily cast upon her. She preferred, I say, Christ's handmaid, with dirty skin and humble cultivation, to remain abject in his house, and among his handmaids to be reckoned even the last, rather than with superfluous adornment to wipe the dust after the manner of fox-tails, and to cherish her body with whorish unguents, by which the nausea of adulterers is usually provoked.

[15] We read of certain holy women, both married and virgins, when their chastity was assailed by impudent men, some to have cast a sword upon their breasts with strong stroke, others to have plunged themselves into deep waters, some to have perished in fires or by precipice, and to have forestalled the rash attempts of those men by self-sought death, and thus to have purchased the venerable name of martyrdom by the price of glorious death. And I seem to see Oda the Virgin no less enduring martyrdom than those: who though she did not put off the tunic of her flesh by her own or her persecutor's momentary blow; though the penal hardness of torments did not wear her out, on account of this wrestling of the flesh overcome yet she washed herself in the blood of the Lamb, and kept her white garments, until it should be taken out of the midst. But how, if necessity came upon her, would she avoid to die for Christ, who so disfiguring herself for love of him, went forth beyond the flesh in this body? For I think this kind of martyrdom greater, and to surpass all matters of torments, if someone live in the flesh beyond the flesh, if he has castrated himself for the kingdom of heaven. Finally, a general sentence is laid on all, that when the reason of faith demands, they should lay down their souls unto death; and to this foundation should not prefer houses, wives, sons, or themselves. But this is not prescribed by any law or drawn into a precept, but is set forth as supreme and best, nor is it argued as a transgression, save in him who has obligated himself by vow, or has spontaneously violated what has been undertaken. "He that is able," says the Lord, "to receive, let him receive." Matt. 19:12 And the Apostle says: "Concerning virgins, I have no command; but I give counsel." 1 Cor. 7:25 Blessed Fulgentius also, in a certain sermon commending virginity, says: "Virginity cannot be commanded, but is to be desired." Further, we find many magnificent men to have bravely overcome many powers of vices, to have taken many fortifications against themselves by strong impugnment, whom afterwards the native heat dried up from all the greenness of sanctity, whom the itching of the loins almost wearied, whom feminine softness basely subjugated to itself as weak and unwarlike. But he who, aided by grace, prevailed against this filth, against this enemy, and did not give place to corruption in his flesh or in his mind, is worthy of praise, since he has done marvellous things in his life. Oda therefore is both Martyr and Virgin, because virginity cannot be without martyrdom, She is to be judged a Martyr who repressed the inciting rebellion of the belly with the cincture of strong chastity, and, abhorring as noxious that beauty which in her displeased her, signed her face with a sword-like cautery, saying, not by voice but by deed, that of Agnes: "I have set a sign on my face, that I may admit no lover except Christ." But let us now return to the matter.

[16] When those who were then at home were suspected of what secret thing the girl was doing in her chamber, and were more curiously seeking the matter now with ears, now with eyes, they perceived with their ears a voice murmuring to itself, and knocking on the door, the door being broken open they asked with much entreaty, much insistence, that it be opened for them. And when she returned no answer, nor wished to open, they, suspecting that she was dying either by the sword or by excessive pain, all pushed at the door together, and threw it down with ax and adze. And seeing how cruelly she had savaged herself, she is found drenched in blood and that a great effusion of blood had rendered her nearly exsanguine, and that an icy pallor had already fully tinged her face, they roared out with a vehement cry, and were held in wonder more than can be told. And her mother, seeing the face of her daughter deformed, the mother lamenting falls on her face, beats her breast, stooped with skin loose from old age; and drawing long sighs from the depths, she pours forth heavy waves of tears; and weaving a tearful tragedy, proclaims herself the most unfortunate of all women. It flies to the father's ears, who was then in that place; and stricken with grief of heart within, he returns home on a swift horse: and beholding the wave of blood flowing from his daughter's face, and the old woman, her companion, plucking with bitterness of weeping the grey hairs of her head, and the father bursting into tears and the whole house spending the office of mourning with tearful voice as for the dead, not able to bear it, he bursts into tears, and is overwhelmed with inconsolable sorrow, nor does he soften his grief by the temperament of a manly mind, or moderate his tears. The cithara is turned into mourning, and the voice of gladness into sorrow; that jocular applause claps sad hands, and a grave sigh intervening doubles the new pain; the chorus of virgins also, preparing to lead festive dances, lays aside the song of sweet melody, and is forced to enter upon sad measures; and all that splendid array of the nuptials becomes dark with foul soot, and is covered with mourning garment: and, what is more wonderful, while all weep, she remains without weeping; she herself constant without weeping as though possessed of her vow, with deaf ear she passes over the sad complaints about herself, nor is shaken by any fear.

CHAPTER IV.

Entry into the Monastery.

[17] When the aforesaid Abbot Odo of Bonne-Espérance had learned these things by a sure report, and the virtue of the woman so celebrated had moved him, she is visited by 2 religious of Bonne-Espérance he summoned to himself two of his own, religious men, and sent them thither under the pretext of lodging: to whom he with the greatest diligence entrusted that they should cherish her with the hand of pious consolation, and find out what she intended to do. When these men, coming to him, the virgin's father most liberally received, he imparted cheerful countenance above all things: and she, venerating those sent as though messengers from a heavenly seat, served them with devoted ministry. And when to them secretly asking she had fully declared her vow and purpose, and had heard with believing ear that their aid was at hand for her in this, she asked her father that he would no longer impede with any bonds of conjugal union the way of chastity which she had chosen, but that he would, with kindly favor, grant permission to go out of the world to her, now useless and as though already cast off. He in no wise accedes to this petition, but interposes the bar of contradictory denial; and reckons it frivolous that she should seek to undergo the narrow hiding-place of voluntary poverty and the strictest religion, when, as heir of many possessions, she ought rather to be adorned with illustrious name, and, in her flowery and green youth, be joined to a man by the conjugal law of her puberty. Then she said: "If you will not hear the voice of my entreaty, again tempted by her father, she persists constant nor let me go, that with free foot I may now set out to the place of the heavenly calling; if the prize, for which I intend to run in this stadium, by your hindering I cannot attain; the flower, which you call the flower of my youth, I will so destroy and cut down that it ought not to be desired, not only by any noble, but not even by any plebeian: and I will add to your head a grief which, even if you wished, you could not forget. Why do you strive with such and so vain solicitude to join me unwilling in marriage? Why do you not more diligently consider that, dead to the world, I cannot live again to the world? Truly, father, know that, if no other hope at all smiled on my vows, if, I say, no other condition would grant me a favorable outcome of the way, than that, namely, you, subjected to my feet in some mire, should furnish me a bridge with your body, if for me to cross, you should bow yourself down; with free brow I confess, I would not delay to cross over you; and, you being despised, nay trodden under foot, I would hasten rejoicing to the place I have chosen."

[18] When, in these or similar words, she contended in pious strife with her father, and he despaired of profiting at all, his heart was vehemently troubled in him; and at length, though sad, and she receives permission he assented to her vows. Having received permission, she meets with the aforesaid guests,

and indicates to them the whole series of her affair. They, rejoicing, give thanks to God, who by a new and unusual example preserved this Virgin from the shipwreck of carnal corruption, and commit the matter completed to their Father. Oda meanwhile, wishing to join herself as soon as possible to the holy society of religious women, was distressed by sorrows and impeded by delays: and because she had been too suddenly drawn away from the bonds of the nuptials which she had refused, she had not yet been able to prepare a fitting attire for the journey. Meanwhile her mother, watching diligently, and seeing her daughter, though disfigured, still noble, and fearing that her purpose might fail her, ceased not with tears and entreaties to urge her again to nuptials, and though she saw her unmoved, did not depart from her importunity. But when she saw that she was unmoved, she was overcome with great grief; and, weeping, blessed her and permitted her to depart. The Virgin, having put off secular garments, humbly put on the habit of religion, and, with the guidance of certain matrons, was led to the monastery of Bonne-Espérance, where she was received with great joy by Abbot Odo, and by him was sent to the monastery of virgins, which was not far off. There she was received by the Prioress and the Sisters with the greatest favor, and was clothed in the habit of the Order of Prémontré, and was numbered among the handmaids of God.

CHAPTER V.

Life in the monastery: humility, obedience, charity.

[19] Now when she had been received in the monastery, she leads a religious life she began to give herself wholly to the divine service, with such fervor of spirit, with such diligence of body, that all who saw her marveled. For she watched that nothing might escape her of those things which the rule commanded, and with the utmost zeal strove to fulfill whatever was enjoined upon her by her superiors. She was assiduous at the divine praises, attentive in reading, fervent in prayers, humble in obedience, punctual in works of charity. She did not seek her own, but the things of Jesus Christ; nor did she presume to do anything without the counsel of her superiors. In her mouth was the word of God, in her heart his love; her speech was seasoned with the salt of wisdom, her silence fruitful of holy thoughts. She treated the Sisters with such reverence, as if she were the least of all; and if anyone spoke a harsh word to her, she received it as coming from God, and repaid it with a meek and gentle answer. She was always the first to the church, the last to depart; she was always ready for the humblest offices of the house, and thought nothing beneath her dignity which could contribute to the common good.

[20] her abstinence In abstinence she so disciplined herself that she was content with the poorest food, and that in small quantity. She fasted frequently, and when she ate, took no pleasure in the taste, but only what was necessary for sustaining life. She drank water or very weak wine, and avoided all delicacies. In vigils she was so constant that she rose before the others to prayer, and after the others had gone to rest, she remained watching and praying. Her bed was hard, her clothing rough, her couch ever the floor or a bench. She afflicted her flesh with hair-shirts and disciplines, and did not spare her body in anything that might serve for the perfection of the spirit.

[21] her humility In humility she so excelled that, although she was of noble birth and distinguished learning, she reckoned herself as nothing, and delighted to be reckoned so by others. She shunned praises, and if anyone commended her, she was troubled as though hearing some ill word. She was always ready to serve the lowest of the Sisters, and gladly performed the meanest offices. If anyone was sick, she was the first at her side, ministering with her own hands. If anyone was sad, she consoled her; if any were tempted, she strengthened her with holy exhortations. Her charity extended to all, to friends and strangers alike; she loved her enemies, and prayed for those who persecuted her.

[22] she is chosen Prioress When, after some years, the Prioress of the monastery died, all the Sisters with one voice chose Oda as her successor. She, though she strove by all means to refuse, was at length compelled by obedience to accept the office, and entered upon it with such prudence and such diligence that, under her government, the monastery flourished more than before. She was the mother of all the Sisters, the guardian of discipline, the example of virtue. She so governed that all willingly obeyed her, and found in her not so much a superior as a most loving mother.

CHAPTER VI.

Miracles: her death.

[23] Her miracles in life The Lord willed to glorify his handmaid even in this life with signs and miracles. For at her prayer the sick were healed, the demons were driven out, the afflicted were consoled. Many who came to her with various infirmities departed whole; and her fame spread far and wide, so that from diverse places people came to her to obtain her blessing and her prayers. She however, hiding these things as much as she could, attributed nothing to herself, but all to the Lord, whose handmaid she confessed herself to be.

[24] Her final illness When, therefore, she had lived many years in the monastery, worn out with labors and vigils, and made ripe for the heavenly harvest, she was seized by a grave illness, and understood that the end of her pilgrimage was at hand. Having called together the Sisters, she exhorted them to perseverance in the service of God, to mutual charity, to observance of the rule; and she commended them all to the Lord with tears and prayers. Then, having received the sacraments of the Church, with eyes and hands raised to heaven, she rendered her blessed soul to her Creator on the 12th day before the Kalends of May, in the year of the Lord 1158, on the day of Easter. Her holy body was buried with due honor in the monastery of Bonne-Espérance, where it was for a long time venerated with great devotion by the faithful.

[25] Epilogue Thus we have run through, as we could, the Life of Blessed Oda, praying that by her merits we may deserve to attain the same glory to which she attained. For she, leaving the joys of the world, spurning carnal nuptials, disfiguring her beauty, bearing the insults of parents and kinsmen, shut herself up in the cloister, and there, by prayer, fasting, and works of charity, she prepared for herself a place in the heavenly mansions. May she, by her intercession, obtain for us that we may follow her example, and that we may deserve to have part with her in the kingdom of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God, forever and ever. Amen.

ON BLESSED DOMINIC VERNAGALLI, OF THE CAMALDOLESE ORDER, AT PISA IN ETRURIA.

IN THE YEAR 1217.

Blessed Dominic Vernagalli, of the Camaldolese Order, at Pisa in Etruria (B.)

By D. P.

[1] The ancient and noble city of Pisa in Etruria, once head of a republic flourishing by sea and land, then brought under the dominion of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, has had in every age distinguished ornaments of sanctity, among whom is numbered Blessed Dominic Vernagalli, of the Order of Camaldolese, whose memory is celebrated on April 20. Acts from Camaldolese sources The Acts of this Blessed, gathered from ancient records of the Order, and from the traditions preserved in the monastery where he lived and died, are given us by Silvanus Razzi in his Lives of the Saints of the Camaldolese Order, and are touched upon also by other writers of the same Order. From them we draw the following summary of his life and virtues.

[2] He is born of noble parents at Pisa Dominic was born of the noble family of the Vernagalli at Pisa, in the middle of the twelfth century. From his tender years he was drawn to divine things, and despising the pomp and allurements of the world, he resolved to embrace the monastic life. Entering the Camaldolese Order, he distinguished himself in humility, obedience, and the observance of the rule. He was a man of great zeal for souls, and often exhorted his brethren to the love of God and the contempt of the world. He was dear to all for his sweetness of manners and the sanctity of his life, and was regarded as a model of perfection in the monastic state.

[3] He founds a hospital at Pisa for foundlings Moved by compassion for the many infants who were exposed at Pisa, Dominic founded a hospital where these little ones might be received and nourished. This hospital, called the Hospital of the Holy Spirit or of the Foundlings, became famous throughout Italy, and was the first of its kind. Dominic himself gathered the abandoned children, and with his own hands cared for them, serving them as a father. He obtained benefactors to provide for their sustenance, and set over the house pious women who should nurse and instruct them. In this work he is said to have been assisted by divine revelations and by the help of heaven, which did not fail him in any necessity.

[4] His prayer and penance Besides this work of charity, Dominic gave himself wholly to prayer and penance. He passed the nights in vigils, the days in labors; he macerated his body with fasts, hair-shirts, and disciplines; and yet with all this austerity, he was cheerful of countenance and sweet of speech to all who approached him. He frequented the sacraments of the Church with great devotion, and celebrated the divine mysteries with such reverence that he moved all who beheld him to piety. Many miracles are said to have been wrought by him in life: the sick were healed at his word, the demons fled from his presence, the afflicted were consoled by his counsels.

[5] His death and burial At length, full of years and merits, he was seized by his last illness, and having received the sacraments with the greatest devotion, he rendered his soul to God on the 20th day of April in the year 1217. His body was buried in the monastery of Saint Michael in Borgo at Pisa, where it was honored with great veneration by the faithful, and where many miracles were wrought at his tomb. His cult, handed down by ancient tradition, was approved by the Holy See, and his memory is celebrated in the Camaldolese Order and in the city of Pisa on the anniversary of his death.

[6] Testimonies of authors Of this Blessed treat, besides Silvanus Razzi, Ferrarius in his Catalogue of Saints of Italy, Fortunatus Olmi in his Prosopographia Camaldulensis, Thomas Mini in his Chronicle of the Camaldolese, and others. All agree in praising his sanctity, his charity, his prayer, and especially his zeal for the welfare of the foundlings, which has made his memory illustrious at Pisa. His hospital endured for many ages, and became the model for similar institutions in other cities. Thus, by the merit of its founder, a twofold benefit was conferred on posterity: the rescue of many innocent souls from perishing, and the example of an admirable work of mercy, worthy to be imitated by all who love Christ in the least of his brethren.

and prays that by their guidance or patronage she may deserve to go out from Egypt in haste. They, inclining a kindly ear to her petition, returned as quickly as possible to the monastery, and undertook to relate the matter in order to the Abbot. At his message the Abbot rejoicing applauds, and taking some Brothers with him, festively meets the virgin. She, seeing him, humbly runs to his feet, admitted by Odo Abbot of Bonne-Espérance and with eloquent mouth recounts her purpose to him. After they had mingled pious conversations together, and arranged the cause for which they had met, she bidding farewell to her parents and the world, went out from her house and her kindred; and receiving from the same Abbot the habit of holy religion, she entered under him the cloister of obedience, and usefully set about the discipline of monastic profession with the devout women there.

[19] With what fervor of sanctity and zeal she in a short time advanced, She receives the habit of Religion how great was in her the perfection of humility, obedience, and the rest of the virtues, I am not sufficient to tell, poor in sense, life, words, and wit. For that a best end might succeed a good beginning, she sat and first computed the expenses which were necessary, before she set foot to build the tower: lest, if perchance the expenses or material were wanting to the begun work, it should move laughter to those passing by, and the material begun but not finished should suffer a laughable defect; nor would the foundation, laid improvidently, so much correspond to the construction of the tower, as seem to afford a den to thieves, or a monument fit for burying the corpses of the dead. Therefore, avoiding the high mountain top and the thirsty sands, she applies herself to humility she first placed her feet in the ditch of deep humility: and that the construction of her edifice might rise straight up and grow into a holy temple in the Lord, she strove to direct her steps by the line of the Evangelical institution. Because, then, she placed on herself with bent neck the light and sweet yoke of Christ's burden; because, singing the song of degrees, she disposed in her heart ascents in the vale of tears; the Lord put into her mouth a new song, which no one can sing in a strange land, except those in the Apocalypse led under the number of a hundred thousand Virgins. For this song is of Virgins alone, only of those who follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes. Further, she subdued her flesh with such abstinence of food and drink, that the motions of native rebellion, in her dried-up belly, so to say, found no place of rebelling; she tames her flesh so that neither delicate softness nor distended corpulence could soften her chaste and sober mind to venereal intemperance. Whence a certain pagan said: "Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus grows cold." If ever against her the warlike tumult of vices grew hot, if ever a contrary wind swelled up, she did not give her hands to impatience, but with the ram of strong patience dashed her little ones upon the rock; and bravely crushed to earth the head of the serpent lying in wait for her heel. With what diligence she strove to sweat in the workshop of this virtue, the following indication can clearly show.

CHAPTER IV.

Separated life on account of the appearance of leprosy. Election as Prioress.

[20] For when, the allurement of worldly glory spurned, she had still newly subjected her flexible neck to the yoke of obedience, and, laying aside the softness of garments and the sweet enjoyment of foods, had placed her willing foot as in certain fetters of poverty and parsimony, the rough cultivation and scantiness of food weakened her tender and delicate body, and reduced it from the strength of her former health. For that green and robust compaction of her limbs was dissolved by the undigested crudity of foods; and, the humors being corrupted, the surface of her shining skin was infected with spotted tumors. The virgin Sisters therefore, noticing the appearance of her face so quickly changed into an icy pallor; and her skin, which had been clearer than glass, now wrinkled in certain places with faulty swelling, suspected her of being afflicted with the contagion of leprosy, and began to murmur among themselves that she ought to be sequestered from the company of the rest, as from the midst of the camp. Thought leprous, she is separated When this was now openly discussed by all; and by some, who seemed to themselves more prudent in this, after diligent inspection of the place, she was judged leprous, a little hut was ordered to be built for her on the side, and, by dim-sighted human judgment, pure in mind and body, as though unclean, to dwell outside the rest. But the humble handmaid of Christ by no means took ill the reproach of this contempt; nay rather, knowing virtue to be perfected in infirmity, she gratefully bore the unjust reprobation of her name; and passing over in some way the things which false suspicion lied about her, she did not delay to withdraw to the place named. When a certain one of the Sisters of mature age was chosen as companion for her, to console the young woman with maternal affection and to provide necessities for her, the ill-omened woman, though wrinkled in brow, but with irreverent and foolish mind, refused to obey the commands; saying that she was so pusillanimous, or rather, to speak more truly, so feeble-minded, that she could in no way bear the touch of this uncleanness; and that she preferred to incur the offense of disobedience rather than to bring solace to her infirmity. Her rebellious contumacy was castigated by a worthy sentence of regular censure; and to her, whom white-haired maturity had denied its service, the girlish age of virgins afterwards showed prompt attendance. Further, among so many crashes of adversities, she was not moved; most patient in tribulation nay rather, from the difficulty of things her mind grew, and was promoted through the tolerance of sufferings to the summit of the highest sanctity: and made the refuse of all and as it were the useless sweeping of the house, she bore always before her eyes the form of him who for us, being struck, had no comeliness or beauty, nor refused to undergo the torment of the cross. This she said to herself, this she diligently revolved, to this she had turned her thoughts: often looking at and kissing the hand which the reprobate swelling had occupied. For the prudent Virgin knew that whoever has professed this warfare has need of patience; because, as a certain pagan says, "Whatever is wrong to amend, patience makes lighter." And the Apostle says: "Tribulation works patience, and patience trial, but trial hope, and hope does not confound." Rom. 5:3 For, as Symmachus says, hope, which always persuades patience in adverse things, is in safety. For the more devoutly she, in as secret a manner as possible, besought the Lord that, at his good pleasure, he would grant her to emerge from so many dangers with the ship sound, the less did she count, for his love, if she should endure anything heavy or harsh, certain that the fruit of her labor and patience would bring eternal life.

[21] But after she had been much winnowed in the threshing of this floor, Healed she is recalled to the community after her hoof had been well hardened in its harshness, he who does not permit his own to be tempted beyond what they can bear, tempered the scourge of his chastisement; and, the filthiness of the vicious humor removed, recalled her whole and sound to the camp with the rest. But she with such diligent skill, such skillful diligence, frequented the auditorium of obedience, that she suffered herself to be inferior to none in this discipline; whose keeping of the laws she so embraced, that she reckoned nothing harsh, nothing unbearable, but pleasant and light, whatever she was ordered to do. Whence not long after her conversion, a period of time having elapsed, she was chosen by the Father of the already mentioned monastery as Mistress over her fellow-disciples; and because she went before her companions in the merit of virtues, she was set before the rest as a mirror or rule. But, having been made Prioress, she did not swell with the empty blast of pride She is made Prioress on account of the height of the Priorate; rather, the task imposed and the debt of more extensive service rendered her more humble and more devoted. She, acknowledging herself rather as mother than mistress, so cherished her daughters with affection, and advanced them to such a lofty height of religion, that they all embraced her unanimously with filial fear and love, and with her as leader and guide, rejoiced to be drawn by willing progress to better things. she is an example of good Her life was, in some way, a sermon, so ready with mature discretion for the wise and the foolish, that while everywhere remaining equal to herself and the same, yet she conformed herself to each; not that noxious lukewarmness or dissolute slackness should in any degree weaken the tenor of her proposed rigor, but that she might draw them by love, bind them by affection, and, by the welcome impression, more fully form Christ in their hearts. And because, as one has said, it is base to speak one thing and mean another, her works answered to her words, and as though struck into one mold, agreed with each other; and so, in the faults of her subjects, she was carried by magisterial authority and exercised regular discipline, so that, the vicious putrefaction having been scraped out by the roots, she applied a kindly plaster, and added healing medicine to the inflicted wound.

[22] Towards the sick and the poor, herself poor and sorrowing for Christ, she comes to the aid of the sick and the poor she so flowed with such bowels of mercy, that she not only provided necessities for those over whom she presided with maternal solicitude; but also if she knew anyone placed around her to be laboring under the inconvenience of poverty or any invalidism, through a certain faithful vicar of this her secret, she strove somehow to relieve their want out of her little. For she said to him, that this was a pious theft, by which she mercifully succored the infirm, by which she clothed Christ in the naked poor. At length, to use a brief compendium, she shines forth among others in every kind of virtues so great a sanctity shone in her countenance, such honesty in manners, such maturity in counsel, such usefulness in words, such integrity in flesh and spirit, such overflowing charity in loving all, that the magnitude of her virtue exceeded the measure of frail nature, and stretched out in a mortal body the norm of that heavenly conversation. Nor was it wonderful, if she savored of the imbibed liquor which she had drawn from a full vessel: for she could say with the Apostle that her conversation was in heaven. Phil. 3:20 Whose splendor of grace could not be confined within the hiding-places of walls, but, belching forth vast rays, gleamed far and wide; and the best unguent of her name, broken in the house of obedience, was diffused around with such an odor, that it invited many of both sexes to run the good way in the odor of its unguents. Nor did popular favor make her celebrated, or the favorable voices of the crowd, which perish with their very sound; but her proved virtues of mind, which, even if the possessor be placed in a corner, be hidden in a rock, through arbiters of virtues, carry her to the eternal knowledge of ages.

CHAPTER V.

Last sickness, death, and burial.

[23] When therefore she had fulfilled the number of her days, and now the crown of righteousness was laid up for her, for the merit of her labors, it pleased him who called and justified her to terminate the way of her pilgrimage after the due course, and from the shipwrecking dwelling of the world, to transport her by this glorious assumption to a place of placid mansion. For she is seized by her last fever, and wearied by a long-standing languor, Ill with fever and deadly pain within the chamber of her chest rages with frequent stabs: and now, gnawing with hard tooth, as it were certain remains of her body already exhausted by long penance, it weighs more heavily upon her vital spirit: a vicious humor continually enveloping the little tube of the upper instrument,

with asthmatic cough frequently intercepted the passage of breathing: and exercising the tumult of a dire tyranny within the vastness of her stomach, cast forth an importunate cough: and thus the disease, little by little fastening and extending its roots, daily increased. For so indeed, so it was fitting, that in this forge her slag should be refined to purity, so that, thus proved, thus refined, she might deserve to be worthily engraved in the diadem of the supreme King. Wherefore, though having less strength, patiently she bore this pressure with great spirit; giving thanks to God that he had inflicted on her such a buffet, that he had willed her to undergo this threshing. Therefore she applied herself more earnestly to prayer day and night, and praying and anticipated the face of the Lord in confession: and setting herself before herself, she judged her cause by diligent discussion under the eyes of that strict judge; and whatever displeased her in herself, correcting with rigorous invective, she watered his feet with tears like Mary.

[24] And when the oppressive languor had now wearied her for half a year, and with all her strength contracted had bent her wholly upon the bed of sickness, the revived pain, pulsating more sharply within her heart, indicated that she must soon be dissolved; and her vessel, which hitherto she had possessed in sanctification and honor, must be involved in the common lot of mortals. For her natural power, whether of appetite or of retention, had so denied her that she desired no food anymore; nay rather, her stomach refusing, she cast up at once what had been taken. Anointed therefore with the liquor of sacred oil, she is anointed with sacred oil with the offices of nature now lulled, nay buried, her holy soul in her half-living body was wholly intent on heavenly things; and forgetting those things behind, she stretched forth to those before: and by continual prayers and tears commending herself to Christ, whom in her life she had perfectly striven to serve as handmaid, she awaited her agony to be consummated with a glad exit. When her daughters stood sorrowing around their holy Mother, and with tearful prayers asked that she would deign to care for them even when translated to the heavens, she, declining the disease of boastfulness, was troubled by this speech; and bursting into tears met them with such a response: "Why," she said, "O daughters, do you accost me, a sinner, with such words? why do you ask of me, who am of no moment, who am scarcely conscious to myself of any good, those things which belong to the Apostles and the rest of the Saints? Spare yourselves, I beg, such words; and rather implore that pardon may be given to my faults: and that as I pass from here the bosom of Abraham may receive me, commend my end by your prayers more attentively to him for whom and by whom all things live."

[25] on the day of Easter When at length the solemn day of Easter came, when her course was finished and she had now approached the last space of the palm, when the ancient leaven of her body the long languor had purged to purity, the sacred mysteries of our redemption being celebrated, she received that saving Viaticum: strengthened with the Viaticum and the day sinking to evening, the Abbot, Brothers, and Sisters being placed before her, and commending her exit by prayers and psalms according to custom, on the 12th day before the Kalends of May, she dies April 20, year 1158 in the year of the Incarnate Word one thousand one hundred fifty-eight, she rested in peace. When the sacred Virgins had known that she had fallen asleep, they were moved with such affection, weighed down with such sorrow of heart, that their faces were obscured with a very sad pallor, and they bewailed their desolation with tears and sighs unceasingly; and spending devout vigils with prayers and tears over her holy body, they led her holy soul with psalms and hymns to the mount of the Lord and his holy tabernacles. When the day dawned on the morrow, her holy body was borne by the Brothers to the Abbey, and there, in commemoration of her, the most holy Hosts being offered to God, by the venerable Gregory, Abbot of ^a Aulne, Philip ^b Abbot of the place itself, and Odo already aforementioned, on April 21 she is buried and by priests and with a great crowd of Brothers, it was committed to burial with great honor, as was fitting. Which, though sown in weakness, I believe will rise in power; sown in corruption, will rise in incorruption; sown in mortality, will rise in immortality; sown in ignobility, will rise in glory.

[26] Happy therefore and blessed her soul, which deserved that day to go out of Egypt, on which that true paschal Lamb restored liberty to the true Israelites; on which Christ rose from the dead, no more to taste of the bitter offspring of this vine. Happy, I say, and blessed, who deserved on that day to migrate into Galilee, on which first the glory of the new resurrection became known to the world; who then deserved to see King Solomon in his beauty, when his mother crowned him on the day of solemnity and gladness, on the day of his espousals. Happy, I say, Virgin Oda, and according to her name is worthy of praise—nay, Oda ^c emphatically is praise: as the Psalmist, mindful of God's benefits, calls him not merciful, but Mercy by excellence; saying, "My God, my mercy." Ps. 143:2 Now indeed the pious Virgin sees and tastes how sweet the Lord is, not so much through a mirror and in a riddle, which things are past; but she walks in the light of the face of God, and in his name exults all day with those choirs of the Blessed who remained in the contest of combat. She sleeps a happy sleep among the embraces of the heavenly Spouse, inebriated from the plenty of God's house, nor does she suffer anyone to rouse her or make her wake, as long as she wishes to indulge in the sleep of so blessed rest. And though she is secure of the lot of her blessedness, and prays for her own yet her pious care watches always for her Brothers and Sisters, for whose peace and safety she entreats divine clemency; praying that all the impugnments of adversaries may be driven far from their senses and seats. Whence I hope that also to me, who have undertaken to write her life somehow out of zeal of love and devotion, and at the request of the Sisters, what the writer of the Life hopes to be done for himself if anywhere in word I have offended, if I have transgressed the allowed manner of writing, she will grant pardon and obtain ampler grace for me: and me laboring still in the waves of the great and spacious sea, by the oar of her prayers will lead to the desired harbor with easy course, though borne on a fragile wood. That therefore at length, death being swallowed up in victory, we may deserve to please God with her in the region of the living, let us confess to her holy name, and glory in his praise, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

NOTES.