Virgins

ON THE HOLY VIRGINS,

BOVA THE ABBESS AND DODA THE NUN,

AT RHEIMS IN GAUL.

7TH CENTURY.

Bova, Abbess, Virgin, at Rheims in Gaul (St.)

Doda, Nun, Virgin, at Rheims in Gaul (St.)

By G. H.

The most ample city of Rheims, of old called Durocortorum, and the metropolis of Belgic Secunda, among others and very many saints on this April 24 venerates Saints Bova and Doda the Virgins: whose notice is inscribed in an ancient and trustworthy Martyrology bearing the name of Usuard in these words: "At the city of Rheims, the birthday of the holy Virgins Bova and Doda." Name in the sacred fasti: The very same is read in the manuscript of Ado of the monastery of Saint Laurence at Liège, and in the Additions of Molanus to Usuard, and, citing them, in the modern Roman Martyrology. The manuscript Florarium Sanctorum, Grevenus, Maurolycus, Felicius, Galesinius, Canisius also mention them, and with a long encomium Saussayus in the Gallican Martyrology. We have two Breviaries of the Metropolitan Church of Rheims: Veneration in the Breviaries of Rheims: the earlier, published by the authority of Charles of Lorraine the Archbishop in the year 1557, in which the Office of Saints Bova and Doda is permitted to be recited out of devotion; the later, published by the authority of Louis of Lorraine the Archbishop in the year 1614, in which the Office is prescribed to be recited by precept under the rite of a semidouble, with three proper Lessons for Matins in the second Nocturn.

[2] Her Life, formerly written, is said to have been burned by flames; and then, at the request of the nuns The Life is given from MSS. who suggested what they had known, and what they had received from others already dead, other Acts were composed, which we here give entire, having found them at Rome in an old manuscript codex of the most serene Christina, Queen of Sweden, marked number 141; and we nevertheless gratefully acknowledge that a part of them had previously been sent from a manuscript Breviary of the nuns' monastery by Henry Marcellius of the Society of Jesus.

[3] Flodoard, Priest and Canon of the Church of Rheims, in his History of the Church of Rheims written in the tenth Christian century, book 4, chapter 38, hands down these things concerning these holy virgins and their monastery: "Formerly there were among us many basilicas of Saints, Eulogy from Flodoard, and also monasteries within or around this city of Rheims, which are proved not to be had now. Two, however, monasteries of maidens still survive within the city: one of which, called 'Superior' from the situation of the place, Saint Baldericus the Priest with his sister Bova, afterwards Abbess of the same monastery, is said to have built in honor of Saint Mary or Saint Peter. These are related to have sprung from royal stock, namely with King Sigebert as their father, having a niece named Doda, a most chaste girl: who is said to have been betrothed to a certain Magnate of the same King Sigebert. Her, Bova the aforesaid aunt, instructing her to serve God and to preserve her virginity perpetually, turned her away from the love of her earthly bridegroom. And he, being adverse to himself, striving to seize the Bride and carry her off, mounting his horse — while he tries in whatever way to accomplish this — is said, falling from the furious horse with broken neck, to have perished. At length blessed

Doda, remaining in her purpose of chastity, succeeded her aunt in the government of the same monastery: which obtained afterwards from Prince Pepin a precept of immunity for that monastery. Whose bodies, buried in the church outside the walls of the city, where the monastery of the maidens had first been, rested long until afterwards, being raised up by revelations, they were brought to this new church, and there venerably placed; and they are there honored by the continual reverence of the maidens serving God."

[4] Then in chapter 44 the same Flodoard has these things: "In the aforesaid monastery of the maidens, and miracles indicated, in which we have said above that the bodies of the aforesaid Saints Bova and Doda were translated, some miracles are proved to have been afterwards performed. Where those vexed by fever and various sicknesses, coming, deserve to be given the health desired, especially on the day of their solemnity. On which day a certain girl lately, deprived of hearing — so that the sense of this infirmity with closed passages — by the intervention of the same holy Spouses of Christ, deserved to receive again the long-lost function of her ears." Thus Flodoard; from whom the author of the Life differs concerning the government of the monastery, which he says Doda always refused; and concerning her spouse, who, having taken up the monastic life, is said to have rested in a holy end. But this monastery of nuns, where their relics are preserved, still remains under the name of St. Peter of the Benedictine Order, to which these Virgins are also ascribed in the monastic fasti of Wion, whether of the Benedictine Order? Dorgani, Menardus, Bucelinus. But Mabillon, in the second Benedictine century, or the seventh Christian century, preferred to place them among the Saints Passed Over, but so that he prefixed an asterisk * to their names, indicating that they seem to be German Benedictines; perhaps intending by this means to decline the arbitration of a doubtful cause, with the good grace of his Benedictines.

LIFE From a manuscript codex of the most serene Queen Christina of Sweden.

Bova, Abbess, Virgin, at Rheims in Gaul (St.)

Doda, Nun, Virgin, at Rheims in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 1435

FROM MSS.

THREEFOLD PROLOGUE.

Whoever earnestly desires to offer any little gifts of the orthodox faith in the temple of God, ought to strive with all his efforts that his gifts be worthy of God and profitable to many. If they prove to be such as these, we desire that they may remain through the ages, profiting posterity. And that each devout person may be able to accomplish this, He must be invoked and humbly entreated from whom, through whom, and in whom all votive things are sanctified — that is, Christ Jesus, the power of God and the wisdom of God, the Word without end and without beginning, by whose name closed things are opened and secrets laid bare: who, while He was before time in the bosom of the Father — that is, in the unthinkable nature of the highest Divinity — that He might make us partakers of His brightness, remaining through all what He was, did not disdain to take the nature of our mortality, conceived by the Holy Spirit; by which we should not remain what we were, Perfect works are to be offered to God, namely, offspring captured by wrath and perdition. Wherefore it behooves each of the faithful to bring to God the Father, through His Son in the Holy Spirit, whatever benefits he is able, devoted and worthy of His praises, filled with the offerings of prayers, adorned with the gifts of virtues, supported by the efforts of prayers; that God, invisible by nature, may through the increases of good works appear visible in His faithful, and that those things may be in most holy recompense for Him by whose gift they came to be votive. This, however, we have taken care to speak a little of the sweetness of the Christian faith, that the light of the following work might gradually be made known to the faithful, and that it might more diligently be opened to them to what parts this discourse of faith is directed: namely, to the life of the holy virgins Bova and Doda, by the example of Saints Bova and Doda, who, holding the same faith in their heart, and fulfilling in work the precepts of this faith, came to the joys of the highest felicity. Whose actions and offices we propose to posterity, with God's aid and their intercessions, to make known; that they may know that Jesus has placed in their minds gifts of no lesser treasure than of others whose deeds and divine benefits are manifoldly narrated, which will become plain in every particular as one proceeds. Their Life is being written, Moreover, we shall not delay to show at whose exhorting we have dared to attempt to reach so arduous a height, supported by no grace of sharper talent: namely, two holy Virgins of the same monastery in which these blessed relics lie — Eva and Gertrude — who made the life of these Virgins known to us, as related to them by several Sisters now dead, to whom also, often admonished, we could deny nothing of our proper office, weighing rather the business which love performs than trusting in our own knowledge to fulfill the dignity of so great a work. At the request of the nuns suggesting the material. For the aforesaid maidens admitted that this could have been ascribed rather to our sloth than to ignorance, if we should deny that which, according to their opinion — by the intercessions of the Sisters of the whole monastery, and chiefly the holy Virgins of whom we were to speak, and moreover aided by God's help — we could accomplish. These things therefore being thus premised, and what we desire to say being lightly tasted, let us come to the desired work ^a.

[2] Let no one marvel if we expose ourselves to many dangers, again weaving out the acts of Saints Bova and Doda, the Virgins, since we have neither seen the earlier book, which, published about their Life, had grown to the size of a great volume, A thick book on the life and miracles of Saints Bova and Doda, burned by flames, nor have we been able to find anyone — man or woman — who would testify that he had seen it. Yet we have learned by hearing from several of the Sisters that in the same monastery where the aforesaid Virgins rest, there was a certain chamber in which very many volumes of books were kept, and at the same time riches of the greatest wealth — namely, palls of entire silk stiff with gold, vessels also of gold and silver, endowed with wondrous craftsmanship and roughened with various sculptures, and hangings or curtains of various kinds, and many besides ornaments of the same monastery, which on account of the length of time have slipped from memory and have grown old with use. Among which that very book also, which contained the deeds and origins of the blessed Virgins and the signs of their diverse virtues, was burned by hateful flames: which, rather by its usefulness than by the examples of holy works it presented, inflicted a loss beyond its own valuation. Since that time, therefore, the solemnities of the holy virgins were almost widowed of proper Lessons and Responsories of their own deeds and past miracles, save that the common offices of other Virgins were recited, up to this time, in which, with the divine clemency favoring and the Holy Spirit inspiring — who once had breathed upon him who had dictated the aforesaid little book — we attempt to restore what was burned up. It is restored, Wherefore we premonish the reader not to quarrel with force with rustic words, not adorned with rhetorical flourishes, nor weighed in the pensile scales of the schoolmen, nor twisted with enthymemes or most obscure sorites, but let him know that they are set forth for the profit of simple hearers: because we preferred that the reader should be delighted with divine matters rather than cling too much to painted words. Wherefore we earnestly ask pardon, with the hams of the heart bent, that if anything less elegant offend the palate, he rather assign it to our ineptitude in a simple style for the nuns, than to the matter of the affairs — which, fit to be reserved for men of greater talent, has through love been pressed upon us unwilling. Nay more, let them know that we are by no means writing again these things for more cultivated readers, but rather for simpler ones — namely, maidens, who professed that they were not delighted with subtle speeches. Amid these things therefore let them weigh the things rather than the words, which disturb the points of their hearers; especially when whatever they have heard in words, they judge they find in things — chiefly in ambiguous ones; in which, while each word signifies many things, they follow their thoughts through a thousand meanders and innumerable windings. But so much for this. We, however, because by speaking of various things we have digressed, let us cause the office of our pen to return to the sweet relation of the matters.

[3] ^b It is praise of the highest Divinity, and the assignment of His great dispensation, when the talents or blessedness of Christ's servants or handmaids, through their works — so far as human glance estimates — divine, and approved by the judgments of miracles, The Holy Spirit is invoked. are committed to the memory of the future in writings: because whatever of holy virtues the faithful perform redounds to Him who by His command gave that they should be. Wherefore we, describing the life, manners, and acts of the holy Virgins Bova and Doda, invoke the Holy Spirit, who, dwelling in their minds from their very birth, gave them wondrously to live, and still more wondrously to work; that He who dwelt within and ruled their minds might appear outwardly by wondrous works, and that He who granted them to perform wonders may grant us to narrate them for the praise of His own.

CHAPTER I.

The noble origin of St. Bova, her education, monastic life: the admonitions given by her as Abbess to the Nuns.

[4] Therefore let the line of nobility of this holy virgin Bova now be briefly intimated, that, her noble blood being known, her fame from the origin whence she came may more clearly be clear. For she sprang from King ^a Sigebert her father, who sprang from the stock of most noble Caesars. This Virgin, from the very cradle, St. Bova born of royal blood, reborn in the font of holy baptism, called Bova by name, was so called, as it were, "helper of many" ^b, because she sent many Sisters of her flock to the eternal kingdom, with Christ as her authority. Hence sweetly, as royal offspring, nourished by human usages, she is handed over from her very adolescence to be instructed in sacred letters. She is instructed in sacred letters, In which gymnasium of letters it is not for us to explain with what ease she excelled the other maidens. For in a few short days she had so developed the strength of her own talent that in both knowledge and maturity of manners she surpassed those older than herself. You might see also her lips moderating sweet words in wondrous fashion, as though with a weighing balance; and by the very voices resounding the purity of her mind, you would confess the Holy Spirit to be the inhabitant of her heart. Nor is it strange, since the bowels of her holy mind prepared a dwelling for God, and her pure vows remained the insignia of Christ. Mature in manners, Through this age, therefore — sweet in speech to those her own age, subject to her elders in obedience, noble in her gait, affable in brief speech — she was being instructed in divine and human precepts at the same time, to such a degree that if it ever happened (as afterwards it did), she might know others, and refresh those present with food, and those to come. For now a faithful vessel was being prepared in which the Holy Spirit would lay up His doctrine, which was to be dispensed to the faithful handmaids in the opportunity of time. For there appeared in her countenance joy, in her words cheerfulness, in her eyes humility, so that modest virginity displayed in her face what she later carried out in work. But she was obedient to those older by nature, and to her equals she judged herself also an equal. Meanwhile, while these things were being done, little by little the handmaid of Christ was being formed for divine service, She chooses Christ as her bridegroom: desiring to be joined to the eternal Bridegroom, and eternally to enjoy His chaste embraces, and to join herself to Him with whole mind: a thing which the flame of Jesus, her so sweet and great Redeemer, scarcely now

could be held in her modest breast. She thirsted for Him in voice, in mind, in all her innermost parts. She drew out sleepless nights, watered her bed with abundant tears, drawing long sighs from the depths, pouring out the heaviest groans, so that you would at last confess her a living victim sacrificed to the holiest desires. Why say more? What she had first conceived in desire she afterwards made plain by example.

[5] When Baldericus had known this most chaste desire of his sister, within the walls of Rheims, not far from the gate of the basilicas, At Rheims, in the monastery built by her brother St. Baldericus, he founded a precious monastery. Of whose wonderful structure, because we hasten to other matters — or rather because in our times that work is already seen almost entirely destroyed — we omit to treat at the present time; but we shall return to it in its place, when we have first narrated what belongs to the present matter. When therefore this monastery had been built to a nicety, and dedicated with many ornaments, and a flock of holy virgins placed in it, and those things which seemed necessary both inside and outside diligently arranged, the aforesaid man Baldericus caused his sister with other girls to inhabit the place. She is placed with other virgins: In which space of time, who could tell, or note down with the pen-strokes of the office of style, how great was her strength in fastings, how great her assiduity in prayers, what her zeal in divine reading, what her nightly vigils, what her inquiry and admonition of divine letters by day — so that almost, if it could be said, in the female sex, you would have seen Paul in consolations, Jerome in reprehensions, Anna in fastings, Mary in tears, Martha in faith. And what more should I heap up for you? In all manners she conformed herself to them, and on account of her exceptional virtues that she might make them all saved. Among these things, therefore, the Sisters of more sagacious counsel, and those who were held to be of more powerful will, began to make chaste conclaves, deliberating in what way they might set the holy Virgin Bova over them, and establish her as mother of the family, so that, taught by her words, helped by her prayers, they might deserve to obtain Christ their bridegroom, to whom they had devoted themselves in holy vows, and joined to Him in heaven might fully enjoy eternal joys. She is sought by the nuns as Abbess, When the blessed Virgin heard this, she began to refuse the weight of honor; and what the others judged to be for praise, she feared to be for punishment. For she feared lest perchance the crafty enemy might secretly creep into her mind, and what ought to be done for the praise of God he might by his cunning transform to death. For the honors of this world sometimes roll over good morals, and distort most upright qualities, and pervert right judgments — as is read of Saul, who, before he was set as King in Israel, was held as a most humble intercessor: but the weight of honor no doubt emptied out the probity of his manners, and, pressed by the excess of his exaltation, he could not rise to the obedience of the praise of God. When therefore Baldericus, the brother of the aforesaid Virgin, perceived this unanimous will of the Sisters, Induced by her brother St. Baldericus, with sweet words and most holy exhortations, he began to persuade his own sister not to oppose divine counsels, and to weigh rather the will of others than her own: that with a glad heart and a humble spirit, what the Sisters with devout minds were asking, she ought to receive; and that in this she would imitate Christ Jesus, who had come to fulfill not His own will but the will of God the Father. Hearing these things, she removed her purpose from rigid obstinacy, and placed her mind — hitherto stiff-necked to this — under the yoke of obedience, striving now to carry out that precept pressed upon the Prince of the Apostles by the good Shepherd: "If thou lovest me, feed my sheep." Which is to profess, "If the love of thy mind desires to obey my service, fulfill my will and not thine own." John 21:17 Therefore, the care of Mother having been taken up by common election of the Sisters, She accepts that care, you would see her different in the affairs of the monastery and in useful precepts for her sheep — yet by no means changed in foods, fasts, prayers, vigils, and the other offices of good works, lest perhaps while she preached to others, she herself should become reprobate.

[6] For she was assiduous in reading, she continually studied the divine secrets, She impresses upon her own the pursuits of virtues, and what she could pluck from there she committed to a most watchful memory, that with purest charity she might carefully breathe forth to the most chaste Sisters what she had long ruminated. She urged them at times to charity, which is the bond of perfection, but no less to humility, which is the sanctuary of God's precepts; to obedience, through which one goes to God; to manual labor, which is the acquisition of blessedness, as David says: "Thou shalt eat the labors of thy hands, blessed art thou": which is to understand that in holy works consists eternal life — not only in faith, which without the supplement of works is idle — according to those heretics The exercise of good works, who profess to their seduced followers: "Only believe, and do whatever you will," which is the increase of death and the abolition of eternal life; whereas on the contrary the Apostle, as was said a little before, admonishes, saying: "Faith without works is in itself vain"; and the good Shepherd commands his own disciples, nay all the faithful in them: "You will be blessed," he says, "if you do my precepts, not only if you believe my words." Psalm 127:2; James 2:20, 26; John 13:17 And these things being rightly explained, she added subsequently that they should profess themselves to be unprofitable servants, The flight of boasting, lest growing insolent through good works they should be lifted up to any boasting. And she seems by divine instinct to admonish this, lest the hearts of the saints should grow torpid with heavy sluggishness, and the day of death, catching them not intent on divine works, should come upon them as a thief. And David again, perceiving the same thing, professed that God had spoken once to give to each one according to his works, but that he himself had heard twice — that is, had fulfilled the precept — that God's commanding may be once, and the working twice (which two joined together make the faithful man perfect). Or as some are seen to expound what follows, Retribution is to be expected; "That power belongs to God, and to Thee, O Lord, mercy": that power may pertain to the vengeance of the reprobate, and mercy to the glory of the saints; yet retribution of works to both, since they will receive eternal fires for evils, and these will receive everlasting rewards for good works. Psalm 61:12 Hence the blessed Virgin, humility, or rather their Mother, instructed them to go before one another in honor, testifying that the more humble each one of them should appear and be toward the others, the more worthy to God and the dearer to herself she would remain; namely, to speak with great gravity and with words sweet and reasonable, which should sound the heavenly life, and retain the precepts of Christ; free from new rumors, breathing the hope of future blessedness, Edifying conversations, so that if at any time any man or woman coming from outside should hear them, he might bless the Lord Jesus who had infused into His handmaids the dew of such sweetness, and through His most chaste vessels had poured forth the oil of His sanctification, and had illumined them with the fire of His love. For by these and many similar things the Abbess Bova, worthy of God, conformed the sheep committed to her, lest, unmindful of their own fragility, they should little by little fall from the steps of humility through which, coupled to Christ, they prepared for Him a most joyful retreat. These things we have set forth for the time, that the diligence with which this most perfect holy Mother began to feed the flock of Virgins committed to her, and how diligent she stood regarding it, might be indicated. The rest, in their place, we shall discourse of the same exhortations more fully and subtly, when we shall have treated of the carnal prickings of the worst suggestion, which are accustomed to afflict the mind and render it sluggish for divine office. Let these then in the meantime suffice for those awaiting greater things, and let them refresh their sweetest minds with these.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER II.

The origin, education, and monastic life of St. Doda after the scorning of marriage.

[7] But since we have in some way set about to note down by faithful report for the faithful of the Christian religion the life of the Virgins consecrated to God, and have already said a little about the origin, the pursuit of knowledge, and the prelacy of the holy Mother over the maidens, and the admonition of the divine precepts of God, it remains that we suggest something about the noble birth of Doda, namely the niece of the holy Baldericus and Bova, the warm-hearted Abbess. The niece of St. Doda, This blessed Doda, a most noble virgin, is said from infancy to have been betrothed to a certain most noble and most sagacious man, sprung (as is reported) from royal stock, just as she herself had also sprung from royal lineage. But in the meantime, that she might be diligently educated, she is handed over by her most holy uncle Baldericus to her aforesaid aunt Bova the Abbess, Under the care of St. Bova she is educated; so that she might be nobly trained as a noble, and a holy girl instructed in holy practices. For she is taught as a little child in letters from her first age, the divine first, afterwards the human; that she might learn through the divine to know Christ God, and to call upon Him humbly with constant prayers, and to fight bravely against the most cunning arguments of the most ancient enemy. Through the human, that she might serve the earthly husband to whom she had been promised, She is instructed in letters, and dispose of the other affairs of worldly life which awaited her, and order all things through the cunning of true knowledge, and subtly preserve her chastity under marital law; so that, although for the sake of begetting children she was to be joined to a fleshly bridegroom, nevertheless she should preserve a most chaste bond to a single husband, and guard her vessel to the honor of God and not to the passion of obscene desire. Nevertheless, what others were weighing to their joy with earthly pomp as the consolation of this world, and for the height of temporary display, Meanwhile until she should grow up to the marriage already agreed: divine providence was disposing to the praise of His own name, as afterwards it became clear by heavenly signs. She was, therefore, afterwards instructed excellently in various feminine offices, by which, being a skillful worker, she might please her most noble bridegroom, and be the dearer to so great a spouse the more learned she was found in the more subtle works of craftsmanship. But who could weave for you, in words often repeated, with what arts this virgin shone — especially since that noble Virgin herself was being instructed for royal cultivation and the elaborate arguments of the most subtle crafts? Whatever, moreover, female talents promise, it is rash to suppose she was ignorant of.

[8] For by what reason could a sanctuary of the Divinity be ignorant of anything of human knowledge; since among the company of Virgins, She is kindled with the love of virginity, having become a companion of chastity, she strove to preserve for her eternal Bridegroom the gift of sincere integrity, that she might receive the dowry of eternal reward in the court of the celestial seat? For by the light

invisible and unimaginable, the most blessed Virgin was kindled, and marvelously conquered the fires of carnal loves, remembering that word of the Apostle: that whatever such temptations of the flesh they might suffer, and sorrows in giving birth, and labors in rearing — because he who sows in the flesh will reap corruption from the flesh; he who sows in the spirit will reap eternal life. 1 Cor. 7:28

[9] Why say more, to include for you briefly her virtues: she was like to the aforesaid Abbess and to her own brother. While these things were being done, the days — naturally rolling and exceedingly swift, but for the bridegroom most lengthy, since she was bride only in name — are filled most quickly. She is sought by her bridegroom, who comes to the monastery, The time had come in which the nubile Virgin, adult in years, was being sought for her noble husband, so that the union might take place which had been for so many years put off by betrothal. Therefore the prince sought his bride, whom he thought his friend; and while he hoped to be joined to her by compact, he found her married to Christ. The dowry documents having been written, and the servants, handmaids, and many estates of the patrimonial charters diligently assigned, with a great display of attendants he enters the city. And, trusting in his friend, he comes to the place where, with the Abbess, he utters sweet words, asking with humble voice that she give back to him as quickly as possible his long-awaited bride. When these had been received, the holy Mother is said to have answered: "None of these things is her concern; those whom it concerned should rather be interpellated; that the girl was committed to her by her brother, and instructed with great exertions, and is to be given to no one without him." While the handmaid of Christ pursued these and similar things, who, when he threatened force, the soldier gnashed his teeth; and with the whole face of his humanity overturned, now with pallor, now with redness, he revealed to the bystanders what his mind was suffering within. With many assertions, he contested that he would break into the recesses of the monastery, until he should drag forth from those very sanctuaries the maiden betrothed to him.

[10] In the meantime, the venerable Abbess, using most chaste counsel, ordered the girl — veiled with the veil of religion, which the virgin herself had snatched from the holy altar and placed spontaneously on her head — to be presented to the furious bridegroom, And though he dared to touch her veiled, so that the contumacious youth might revere to touch her, now wedded to Christ and covered with garments of sanctity. When he saw this, he professed himself to be mocked, and stretching out his hand, without delay, he dragged the temple of chastity to himself by force. But soon it was shown by example to whom the most holy Virgin had dedicated herself through many desires — to her Bridegroom. For the bold hand, which had touched the chaste garment, grew stiff more quickly; and the fingers joined to the palm He is seized with a withering arm, were deserted by their offices; and so the whole arm, dried up to the shoulder, remained immobile, which had touched the future vessel of Christ. Feeling this, the soldier, with knees bent to the ground, asked for heavenly remedy through the intercession of the same Virgin, and of those who had gathered to that wonderful sight. Nor did the pious Redeemer delay the vows of the maiden and the prayers of the other faithful — nay, even of him whom He had chosen for Himself as faithful. For soon he was restored to his former health, sudden soundness being received, And when he was healed, who a little before, by his presumption, had been surrendered to a fearful appearance.

[11] Thereupon, counting this perishable world with its enticements as nothing, whatever had before been assigned by his dowry charters of his patrimony he grants to Christ God, Many gifts to the monastery adopting Him as heir, to find Him in eternal kingdoms, and devoted himself wholly to a chaste life and holy religion. For he bestowed upon the same monastery the aforesaid things, and many other gifts which the same church even now retains. And lest these, generally assigned to you, should be counted as most worthless, a few will be suggested in particular, which we have inserted in this small note only for the memory of the rest, lest too many heaped up should seem to produce disgust in the reader through their reading. ^a Noviantus, namely, a most beautiful villa, shines forth from these estates: which, as many tenant farmers as it has, And he confers estates, so many slaves does it support specially for St. Peter, the Abbess, St. Bova, and her niece blessed Doda — this seems to be distant six thousand paces from the city of Rheims ^b. And the Valley of the Monastery ^c, a great domain, does not by its vileness obscure the rest of the patrimonial gifts of the holy man, which stands out with its appearance forty thousand paces distant from that monastery. What and how great they were, which were conferred on the holy Virgin by the blessed man: "blessed man" indeed we call him, And he takes up the monastic life. because, as we have learned from the report of many, he preserved the monastic religion until the end. Of whose wondrous works it does not remain entirely ascertained to us; nor have we devoted ourselves to inserting into this little work even all those things which were told of these Virgins, lest too much reporting bring disgust to the reader by its quantity, and the weights of the said miracles seem to demand a volume. Hence what is not so clearly manifest to us concerning the holy man, we have preferred to cover with silence than to fasten down in our writings too effusively. But lest so great a gift of God the Father through His Son in the Holy Spirit granted to mortals, concerning the aforesaid Virgins, should lie hidden from the faithful for many years, with solicitous curiosity we have thought it fit somehow to note it down for the holy faithful; admonishing chiefly that they should not look to the lowly words, but should rather fix the matters of the facts more tightly in their hearts, as has been said above; and weigh the deeds, which, unless God were in the minds of the aforesaid Virgins, could in no way be done through them.

[12] These things therefore having been explained according to the occasion, how and how wondrously religious blessed Virgin Doda thereafter until her death persevered in the same monastery, St. Doda excels in monastic life: under the yoke of chaste religion, would be long to relate: how humble, namely, in countenance, how modest in words, how abstinent in laughter, how cheap in the ornament of her clothes, how ready for the offices enjoined upon her, so that almost — if it might be said — she began before the words of the one commanding could be rolled out to the fulfilling end. She meditated then assiduously the secrets of the sacred Scriptures, and laying up the depths of the divine mysteries in the mental sanctuary, she refreshed her mind with holy foods. And with holy conversations: Lastly, she fed the most chaste minds of the Sisters with heavenly delicacies in common conversation, and exhorted them in the service of God, putting this before all things: that until death they should retain their holy purpose, and at Christ's coming should carry the lamps of good works, poured over with the oil of sanctification, not plastered badly on the outside with the flattery of the praise of others; and thus, joined to the Lamb without stain, might be joined to the perpetual nuptials. Infusing these and such things into the hearts of her companions, the blessed Virgin daily increased a fit vessel, and one prepared for every good work. But refusing the honor — or rather, according to wiser men, the weight — of the Abbey all the days of her life, she She refuses to become Abbess. preferred to lie under the yoke of obedience than to excel by any exaltation of earthly pride.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER III.

Various teachings delivered by St. Bova to the nuns.

[13] But since we have related, through some digression, what was ascertained to us by the manifestation of many — namely, the nobility which stood out in her from her parents, and her zeal, life, and love toward God, and the bridegroom of blessed Doda in name only, and their divorce — it remains that we cause the pen of the narration to return to the venerable teachings of blessed Bova, which she taught the maidens committed to her. Therefore the most chaste Bova urged those older in years, St. Bova demands good example from the seniors: that they should display holy badges to the younger and those weaker in age, by which, challenged, all the weak should strive to overcome; and should exert themselves with all strivings that they should bridle the incentives of the flesh with fasts and tenacious prayers. She commends fasting and prayer for bridling the flesh: For the fragile flesh, inciter of crimes to be punished, is conquered by these twin virtues, namely fasting and prayer: since in one of these, vices are resisted, and in the other, the intention of the mind is animated. For if the virtues are united, they resist the enemy more violently, since one of them removes that by which the cunning adversary supplied the fuel of thorns; and the other supplies that by which, mocked, he most often perishes, since he is more easily worn down when that which heaped up his strength is withdrawn. Then she urged them to display humility, She inculcates humility, which is taught to be sought not only with voice or bodily gesture, but also with the whole heart and spirit: for through it God is seen with the mind, and she herself is judged to be the guardian of all souls — nay, even of all virtues; since without this foundation the others are seen, and indeed are, not such as they might be, if this had not nourished them with its proper nourishments. For through this one ascends by an easy step to the others; through them, however, to this one with difficulty. But undoubtedly their foundation will be defended above the thresholds, while this, which is the root of all goods, is present to her. But on the contrary pride, the wickedest of all vices, sometimes is wont so to cloak itself by transformation, The horror of pride, that it may be thought the greatest of all virtues — when it is in truth the worst death of all; and then especially, when the person is seen to be introduced with the veil of fury added. This plague finally cast the most sublime creature from the sight of the divine Majesty down to earth; and drove the first Protoplast from the flowery seat into this vale of tears, in which the human race still weeps for his groans and complaints; that it would rather be procreated to eternal death than to life, if the benignity of God the Father through the Son had not reconciled the world to Himself in the Holy Spirit. After this, she exhorted them to sow charity in the hearts of the younger ones, And mutual charity: and, as she herself first of all loved God with her whole heart and all her inner parts, she imparted to her pious Mother — the Abbess — chaste love with holy reverence from a pious heart and most pure mind; through which, namely — the virtue chief among all others — they should fulfill the precepts of the law, since in this both Jesus above all things and all their neighbors as themselves they would embrace. These exhortations, therefore, the most blessed Virgin and Abbess Bova very often poured forth to the Sisters of older age, that, fully refreshed by the fodder of divine admonition, they might ardently desire the eternal Bridegroom, and might rejoice to be brought as quickly as possible to His sight, and might learn to guard themselves from the crafty cunning of the most subtle enemy.

[14] Dispensing no less to those of middling status, she persuaded them by no means to show the reverence of honor only to herself as Prelate and Mother; To the nuns of middle age she commends reverence toward the seniors: but also to obey their elders in all things, and to obey them with the highest submission in whatever should be commanded them, whether in manual labors, or whatever else, even the most trifling: because through this obedience to the least things one comes to the glory of most perfect blessedness. Therefore to the adult maidens, in whom hotter blood with more atrocious stings is wont chiefly to provoke the incentives of the flesh, To the younger she forbids conversations with men, even holy ones: she declared with most constant indications that it would be the greatest honor and most pleasing praise, not to be seen by any outsider, and to be most victorious by perfect constancy

to refuse manly speeches, even most chaste ones, and the ill-persuading words (which sometimes prevail so much that they make the whole vessel tremble, even of perfect women, not to mention of tender age, and are wont sometimes to move a firm mind from the state of its uprightness) — as though the poison of consummate death, to make these things foreign to themselves. With these and similar plagues, and moreover with obscene thoughts, she persuaded them And against evil thoughts she proposes the torments of hell. to oppose the fires of Phlegethon, while the crafty serpent would bring the phantasms of his imaginations upon their minds, and, as if in ecstasy, provoke them with his illusions. Then they should consider through-and-through the torments of hell, which always renew for their inhabitants day by day groans and inextricable sorrows — in the very figures of pleasures and in the anguishes of afflictions; and should weigh such torments of the soul and affections with their original blemishes, since they carried in themselves whence temptations would be provoked.

CHAPTER IV.

Benefactions conferred by St. Baldericus. His pious death.

[15] ^a Moreover, when this came to her notice, she entreated more intently that his return, put off a little for love of her, St. Baldericus about to depart, might not deny to grant her the sweetness of his presence through that day and the next. Hearing this, he began to refuse with all his might, protesting that he had many serious matters to order, and many duties of his monastery to arrange, and that he could by no means accomplish at present what she asked. But the blessed Virgin, running to her accustomed aids, with the sails of her palms spread, placed her venerable head between them, and a sweeter river of tears being suddenly poured forth, bent the kind man to pity. For the pious Redeemer did not delay to show in deeds what He had promised to the faithful in words: "Where there are two or three gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matt. 18:20 Sudden lightnings break out, On account of a tempest stirred up at the prayers of the holy women, clouds rush, the whole air thunders, and all the heavens seem to shine with flashing flames. And what is read of Saint Benedict and his sister most devoted to Christ, ^b Scholastica — all that is found here in the charity of these three; except that here the triple Majesty of one Divinity is seen more to shine, while the undivided unity of the three persons works toward devotion. Seeing this, the most chaste deacon, on account of the sanctity of his Sister, He is kept in the monastery; and with her most holy hope in Christ extended, rejoiced in his mind; but since his proposed disposition was impeded by his Sister, he was somewhat saddened. For it is not right to suppose that blessed Doda labored less in this retention by special prayer, since she expected no less joy from the presence of the most holy man than her most blessed Abbess was awaiting.

[16] But alas! this very brief joy was soon followed by the longest groaning. For on the very following night, the sun of this day — on which these wonderful things were wrought by pious Jesus — being inclined to its setting, the unexpected occasion of death came; if that is to be called death which, taking away all sorrows, for momentary labors and most quick sweats faithfully worked at in the precepts of Christ, brings eternal life to the saints, and grants them to possess, with perpetual felicity rewarded forever, the unfailing light. He is tested with a grave illness: The blessed man began to feel himself forsaken by his accustomed strength, and to be weaned from the usual virility of human strength. For the pains were growing; and the deadly weariness rushing upon him too greatly, his most holy limbs were alienated from their proper offices; and his interiors, with a pain not usual penetrating, the body was afflicted with total anguishes. Meanwhile the Saint, feeling that the time of his recollection was at hand, was joyful indeed in the hope of perpetual blessedness, which through the mercy of God he doubtless hoped, and to which through long stretches of time he had panted with greatest desires; but he feared for the flocks of his monasteries, lest wolves invading them under the sheep's skin should entice them by hidden fraud and ruin them by clandestine deceit. Most of all for his chaste sister and most loving niece he was greatly afraid, as a pious father, He fears lest evil threaten the monasteries, lest, deserted by the helps of so great a man, they should seem to themselves to flow into the deepest calamities. For the female sex, ^c destitute of human helps, is wont the more quickly to slip into the deeper dangers, since it does not find who might provide for it the accustomed comforts.

[17] While the venerable Father therefore rolled these and other similar things in his holy breast, he commanded his sister and niece to be called. He comforts Ss. Bova and Doda: To whom, indicating that he was now being dissolved, he exhorted that they should not grieve at his absence, since rather they ought to know that they should rejoice that, through the grace of God, they faithfully believed him to be going to the desired glory, obtained by so many sweats from pious Jesus. But with utmost effort they should place their hope in Christ, and taste with all sweetness how sweet is the Lord, who would nowhere be wanting to those trusting in Him, just as He himself had promised to His faithful in the Gospel: "Behold, I am with you even to the consummation of the age." For by what reason could human frailty fight against an invisible and entirely tireless enemy, or in what order could it resist him, unless the divine goodness armed its followers with invisible armor — that is, with unfeigned faith, certain hope, most holy charity, purest humility, and the other handmaids of these virtues of Christ? Matt. 28:20 With these and many other words of human consolation and divine, the pious Father, consoling his sister and the whole flock of the monastery, animated her in many ways, and instructed her unceasingly to the service of Christ. Repeating the same things often, He stirs himself up with pious vows, and confirming her to perseverance unto the end, he urged them to hold good peace and indissoluble unanimity. He himself, as far as his strength was sufficient, forced his failing limbs to the praise of God; and confessed Christ the Lord, whom he had begun to desire from infancy; yearning with all his vows to seize that inheritance which David the venerable singer, commending it, said: "When He shall give sleep to His beloved, behold the inheritance of the Lord"; in this making plain to the faithful to what inheritance they should hasten — namely, to that which is given after death, acquired by the labors of the works of saints: which is not given except to lovers of Christ, and followers of His precepts, and those who labor for love of Him unto death in the Catholic faith, and assign to Him whatever of holy work they have accomplished, and run through the admonitions of His commands with an enlarged heart; and this also legitimately — that is, with all things of this world being postponed, which ought to be postponed. Psalm 126:2

[18] Meanwhile, therefore, the holy one of God, intent on heaven with all his strength, Beholding the crown offered to him by Christ, was gazing upon pious Jesus sitting on the throne of His Majesty, holding a crown in His hand, which He desired, when the burden of his flesh was laid down, to give to his most beloved servant — or rather, now made friend — the most holy Baldericus. While the friend of God, in the desire of that vision, panted with all his strength, his pious soul was ^d loosed from the flesh. He dies piously; An odor of inestimable sweetness followed, which those present, perceiving, judged to have breathed forth as though the kinds of all spices. Nor is it strange, if the works of his virtues displayed these clear tokens, since this Saint from infancy had ever remained an odor of Christ to many for signs of life. That the offices of this man had been of eminent virtue A most sweet odor, is made manifest with manifold presages, since the brightness of his face and the rest of his limbs displayed, by its own certain appearance, the most elegant splendor of future immortality. For the quality of his very mouth, pouring forth a most beautiful brightness, and the shining of the corpse, testifies to those who happened to be present with what splendor that most holy soul might shine in the court of the angels. The other members of his whole body were suffused with a most pleasing brilliance, so that not even a slight spot should infect with its darkening his most chaste limbs; and even a less honorable place (though not shameful in him) gave sign, by the subtlety of its guarded figure, that he had guarded from his mother's womb an angelic virginity. Why say more? Now plainly by those very prefigurations it was known that the unthinkable glory of the future resurrection They indicate his heavenly glory, would not be lacking to those who fight for the love of Christ.

[19] Seeing therefore her brother's limbs destitute of vital breath, the sister, almost herself bloodless, fell upon the lifeless body; His death is greatly lamented by St. Bova his sister, and while sadness of heart tore her vitals, she showed by no hidden signs what sorrow pierced her interior. After this, her strength being recovered a little, rendering mournful sharpness of voice, she seemed to strike heaven itself with tearful voice, doubling the complaints of her desolation. And making satisfaction in inexplicable sobs of female sorrow, with the whole face of her humanity overturned, she figured the losses of approaching death. You would indeed have thought her flesh torn from flesh; and of the same will, with death carrying off his spirit, you would testify a particle dying beforehand, though surviving. And St. Doda the niece. Being drawn out in these inextricable laments, the sweetest niece was deserted by womanly strength. And trying with swiftest step to complete the journey, she failed before the middle was crossed: her limbs collapse in sudden failure, her voice caught in her throat, and looking at the others with astounded eyes, she revealed, as much by gestures as by voice, what stupor affected her mind and what sorrow pierced her innermost parts. Being then led away by the hands of the others, with scarcely her feet supplying the service of walking, she just managed to complete it. But when she beheld the lifeless body of her father, she fell upon it. Behold what laments, or words of sorrows, in what manners and with what wonderful voices she then renewed — who could tell? No one of the bystanders, however he might satisfy human sorrows with mournful dirges, could refrain from weeping, while she often repeated what could easily bend each of them, even unwilling, to things still more tearful.

[20] These things therefore thus completed, The body of St. Baldericus exposed shines with miracles, the most holy body, arranged in Christian rite for honor, is placed in the midst to be guarded by all. And through the whole night, with the faithful of the holy religion keeping watch with pious curiosity, the Lord Jesus glorified his saint with wondrous signs of miracles, which we have not wished to note among these vigils, on account of the length of the funeral office. This only we testify meanwhile for those wishing to know, that no one of the sick touched the most holy clod who was not given a special benefit, flowing from that general one, to the praise of God, if with a faithful heart and humble spirit he had asked the same. From which it is made manifest that he is believed more certainly to live to God who, deserted by temporal life, lives to many living for salvation. Thence the venerable Father is committed to burial honorably in the church of the blessed Mother of God and perpetual Virgin Mary, outside the walls of the city of Rheims ^e on the 7th day before the Ides of October, where, laid to rest, he conferred many benefits on the faithful of Christ, He is buried October 9. to the praise of the same God through long stretches of time in which his holy limbs rested there. Which church, because on account of the oldness of years, and chiefly the incursion of pagans, is seen to be utterly destroyed from the foundations, we have omitted to speak of it more at length; and rather, because we hasten to tell of the deaths of the holy Virgins, which we cannot intimate without new groans and particular anguishes. For who with dry eyes could believe

God's creation to die, and the temple of divinity, the sanctuary of supreme reason, the dwelling of the Holy Spirit, to fall from the summit of so great a seat, and the noble form of humanity to return to the dust of its ancient mother's lodging, and to be changed again into ashes by the nefast eulogy of the first mother, seduced by the fraud of the twisting dragon — and then be able to note this down in the figures of letters? I profess that my mind shudders at these sobs, and sorrow, often repeated, scarcely permits me to approach; except that it is in Christ's cause, who, being the Son of the wiser and more inclined Virgin, placed the nature of His flesh, improved by His own divinity, and brought back to its pristine honor through obedience, in the seat of the Father, assuring the faithful that they will one day sit together in heaven, where He himself, the Head, resides.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER V.

The pious death of Sts. Bova and Doda.

[21] These things thus stated for the time, let us approach to noting down somehow the death of the holy Virgins. St. Bova lamenting the death of her brother, The blessed and venerable Abbess Bova, deprived of the consolation of so great a brother, drawing very grievous groans and very long sighs from the depths, daily remembered the fraternal sweetness; and daily, with querulous sobs and tearful laments, she satisfied her sorrows — not that she did not know that his blessed soul enjoyed heavenly joys, whom the pious Lord cherished in His bosom; but that, occupied with many affairs, she saw herself deserted of manly and paternal offices. For she was constantly thinking what should be done about the flock committed to her, what about the necessities of the whole monastery within and without; and that after her, many inconveniences and ruinous losses would not be lacking to the handmaids of Christ. Worn out, therefore, by these wearinesses and intolerable anguishes, the holy Mother often seemed to feel the delay of human death as a burdensome disgust. But that great abundance of the Lord's sweetness, which He himself mercifully hides from those who fear Him, and will perfect in those who hope in Him, She aspires to the heavenly nuptials, was most frequently conforming within her servant the consolations of the greatest joy: and these would drive her most often even to pious tears, with which she sighed for kindly Jesus. For the most blessed Virgin rejoiced to be dissolved and to be with Christ; that she might forever attain that satiety of most holy refreshment which blessed David desired, saying: "I shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall be made manifest," and might possess the unfailing light without end. Psalm 16:15 Daily immolating her most holy soul with these and such desires, she awaited that hour of final calling, desiring it at nights, calling for it by days. What need of words? The time came, not long after her brother's departure, when the venerable Virgin, now weakened with age and the sweats of a laborious life being complete, felt she was about to enter the common way. At which tidings, rejoicing, she professed to certain of the Sisters, whose minds the divine spirit inhabited, She indicates the coming death to the nuns: that she would set out to the mercy of the Redeemer in the quickest days. When they heard this, first those who had perceived it, then the whole flock, turning into laments, about to be deprived of the comfort of their Mother, awaited the heavenly deliberation: seeking the consolations of their pious Mother, and fearing the manners of another, who would still be unknown. Wherefore a clamor of great confusion and a tempest of most grievous wailings filled the places of the monastery, while each one counted the miseries of her own desolation.

[22] Meanwhile, therefore, the venerable Mother, having summoned her sweetest niece, She comforts St. Doda and the others: the most chaste Doda, exhorted her with religious discourses and words pertaining to God to true religion; often repeating that she should more carefully keep the faithful purpose of holy conversation, and persuading her to fulfill the precepts of the Lord with all strength until death. Then, comforting the other Sisters, she admonished them with pious words, always to follow Christ in all anguishes, to call upon Him with the whole heart, who testified that He would never be wanting to those calling upon Him in this world. She piously dies, These things being thus duly explained, and the whole flock consolidated with most chaste exhortations, in God, between the hands of the Sisters, that pious soul was loosed from the flesh. Seeing which, the venerable Doda and the other Sisters, heaping sorrow upon sorrow, poured forth most grievous laments; and that which before had been seen as the greatest mourning — the shepherd being dead — compared with this seemed very small; since she, as a pious Mother, stood forth dearer and more familiar: and chiefly since in the death of this Mother now dead, they were bereft of a twofold aid, and had lost the consolation of both paternities. Buried next to her brother St. Baldericus Stroking her with pious curiosity, and burying her with most sacred veneration, they laid her to rest on the right side of her brother, in the basilica of the holy Mother of God, outside the walls of Rheims, as we have said above, on the 8th day before the Kalends of May.

[23] After this, not much time later, the most chaste Doda — namely, the dwelling of the Holy Spirit St. Doda desires to be dissolved: — bereft of both parents, began to be wearied; and, worn out by these inextricable sorrows, the world with its uncertain labors became abominable to her; and Jesus, whom she had chosen as her perpetual bridegroom, invoking with assiduous prayers, she begged that He would not permit her to be alienated any longer from that blessedness which she had long desired: but in His goodness and most large benignity He would not delay in reward what He had promised her in word. The pious Lord, desiring to fulfill this for his handmaid — nay, for his dearest friend — did not delay the vows of her who desired to see Him with her whole heart and to come to Him humbly. Why say more? The day of holy calling is at hand; there is at hand the time that had been awaited for so many years with desires heaped up, and sought through fountains of many tears, desired through many sighs, acquired by fasts, vigils, and the other signs of virtues, and moreover by twofold charity; there is at hand the faithful Rewarder, who had both given her faith in the first calling, and through so many tribulations of this world the virtue of patience, and at last the perseverance of holy conversation; there is at hand, I say, He from whom the whole, through whom the whole, in whom the whole work and perfection of the saints consists; there is at hand the pious Redeemer, who was not willing that his handmaid should any longer dwell among the troubles of this age, but wished to bring her to the tribunal of His brightness and to glory.

[24] Why do I delay with words? Worn out by a very light fever, the Virgin devoted to God came to her last day; Called by Jesus, she dies, on which, having addressed the Sisters with sweet words, she exhorted them with holy consolations, and animated them to faithful purpose, repeating those things which above were touched upon concerning the blessed Mother. Then it seemed to her that kindly Jesus had stood by her, and with sweetest gesture had called her to Himself. Gazing on this vision with whole mind and whole heart, that most holy soul followed its Bridegroom, and was led into the bridal-chamber of chastity long desired, and was eternally coupled to her faithful husband. Whom at length the Sisters, bereft as they were of their three most blessed pledges, called upon with tearful voices very frequently, washed with most pious tears, honorably covered round about with most worthy garments, according to the custom of the Christian religion, and venerably arranged with the offerings of various odors — as a temple of God and dwelling of the Holy Spirit — they honorably buried next to the left side of the holy Father Baldericus, on the 8th day before the Kalends of May, in the aforesaid church of the blessed Mother of God and perpetual Virgin Mary: where the merits of the three Buried April 24, flourished for many ages, until that church was utterly destroyed for the reasons above treated by us. Let these things, therefore, concerning the most holy pledges — namely, holy Baldericus and his most blessed sister Bova the Abbess and their sweetest niece, namely the most chaste Doda, temple of the living God — related to us by the sisters of the same monastery in which they themselves lie, be said to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and is glorified as God, through immortal ages of ages. Amen.