ON SAINT FLOREBERTUS,
BISHOP OF LIÈGE IN BELGIUM.
IN THE YEAR 746.
CommentaryFlorebertus, Bishop of Liège on the Meuse (St.)
G. H.
The Deeds of the Bishops of Tongeren, Maastricht, and Liège, written by various hands, were published by Jean Chapeaville: of these the first author
was Hariger, Abbot of Lobbes, who dealt with the deeds of twenty-seven Bishops, and put an end to his labors with Saint Remaclus, Bishop of Maastricht. Epitome of the Life from Anselm To this writer succeeded Anselm, Canon of Liège, and carried on the well-begun history down to Wazo the fifty-second Bishop. Of these, the thirtieth was Saint Hubert, who transferred the Episcopal See from Maastricht to Liège, and ceased to live in the year of Christ 727: of whose successor Saint Florebertus we here treat, and first we set forth the following, handed down by Anselm the Canon in chapter 30: "After this Saint Hubert, thirty-first to undertake the Bishopric was Florebertus. Said indeed, as is commonly reported, to have been the son of the holy predecessor, whom, if the same was a carnal son, he begot before the habit of holy religion, which can derogate nothing from the dignity of either: but if the one was a spiritual son to the other as father, it is no hindrance, nay rather a help, that spiritual sons should succeed good parents. His body is laid together in one tomb with Peter and Andoletus, who were slain with Blessed Lambert." So Anselm: to whom and to Hariger, Aegidius of Liège, and Aegidius of Liège: a religious of Orval, wrote additions, and hands down this concerning Saint Florebertus: "This man, having been made Pontiff, following the footsteps of his father, was always subject to Christ, armed with devotion, worthy of the Pontificate and furnished with doctrine, refusing the honor of the world, preeminent in humility, docile in receiving, vehement in correcting. Who, after he had faithfully governed the Church of Liège for about eighteen years, and had enriched it with many goods, rested in Christ in great sanctity on the seventh day before the Kalends of May … But many years later also were raised the bodies of Saints Peter and Andoletus, who were martyred with Blessed Lambert, and with the body of Blessed Florebertus were placed in one bier: which bier is to this day placed in the ciborium next to the body of Blessed Lambert, with other relics of the Saints." So Aegidius.
[2] That Saint Florebertus was the carnal son of Saint Hubert, that familiar writer suggests, who wrote the Life of Saint Hubert to be illustrated on 3 November, inserting this in chapter 16 according to Surius's division: He was the son of Saint Hubert, "We, going around Hubert's couch, and with us his distinguished son Florebertus, were awaiting his glorious migration," etc. And that Saint Hubert was joined in legitimate matrimony, Nicholas, Canon of Liège, writes in the Life of Saint Lambert in these words: "By the fellowship and frequent conversation with the most holy Lambert, the heart of the most illustrious Count Hubert was so changed and entirely inflamed with desire for the heavenly fatherland, that having cast aside the girdle of military service, having trampled on the glory of worldly power, he desired to be enrolled in the Lord's camps in the Clerical habit, and would have given effect to such a pious affection of holy devotion, from a legitimate marriage. had not the bond of the lawful marriage, by which he was bound, held him back." So there.
[3] Bartholomew Fisen in the Flowers of the Church of Liège, on 25 April, in the encomium of Saint Florebertus adds this: He caused the body of Saint Hubert to be translated, "The first proof he gave of his exceptional religion toward the heavenly ones was in the case of his father, whom very many were affirming to have been announced to them from heaven as worthy of greater honors. He brought forth the sacred body from the tomb for the people's veneration, and found it untouched by any decay, and God made it famous with innumerable miracles." The history of the translation of Saint Hubert is contained more fully in his Acts, but without mention of Saint Florebertus: who perhaps preferred that this matter be performed through his Clergy: as was done in the translation of Saint Oda the widow, of Saint Oda the widow, who rests at Amay on the river Meuse, one mile from the town of Huy: in whose Life, to be illustrated on 23 October, is this: "When therefore in the neighboring provinces of the lands, by frequent miracles of virtues, the fame of her name was becoming celebrated; it pleased the Most High that, for the celebrating of Ecclesiastical festivity to her name, her sacred body should be raised from the earth, and be buried in the face of the people and of the Church with due dignity … Therefore with Florebertus, the venerable Pontiff of the Church, ordaining, and with Ecclesiastical persons of the whole province gathered at her tomb, the people flowed together from every side, to receive the blessing of the holy Fathers, and to honor with worthy veneration and reverence the holy relics to be translated from the earth. The Fathers therefore, giving a blessing to the people, coming with prayers and psalms to the sarcophagus, laid down the upper stone placed upon the holy body, and under the solid and whole stone mausoleum they found the sacred and venerable Relics giving forth a most sweet odor of fragrance. Now this Translation was made on the seventh day before the Ides of July, to the praise and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ." These and other things are contained in various MS codices.
[4] We published on 19 March the deeds, translations, and miracles of Saint Landoald and his companions, and of Saints Landoald and companions, at Wintershoven then at Ghent, written by Hariger by order of Nodger, Bishop of Liège; in which, after the death of each has been related, is added in no. 7 of book 1: "After many years had passed, Saint Florebertus, third after Saint Lambert to rule the Bishopric of Maastricht or Liège, having heard there of the multitude of signs, and admonished by the responses of visions, translated them thence with great reverence, and ordered their tombs to be decorated according to his ability. Now this translation was made on the Kalends of December."
[5] Saint Florebertus presided over the Church of Liège for eighteen completed years and some months, from the year 727, died on 25 April of the year 746. when Saint Hubert departed from the living on 30 May, until the year 746, when he migrated to the heavenly kingdom on 25 April, the feast of Saint Mark: but in most Calendars he is referred to the following day, perhaps on account of the feast of the Evangelist. We have a Missal of the distinguished Church of Liège, published in 1509; He is venerated on the 25th, as also various ancient Breviaries, in which on 25 April, in the Office of Saint Mark, is prescribed the Commemoration or Collect of Saint Florebertus. But in the Breviary which was published in 1636, and 26 April in Breviaries. the feast of Saint Florebertus is celebrated on 26 April under the simple rite with a Commemoration of Saint Cletus the Pope. In the proper Offices, however, for the use of those who in that diocese use the Roman rite, is placed on 26 April the solemnity of Saints Cletus and Marcellinus, with a Commemoration of Saint Floribertus: and everywhere this same Prayer is prescribed: "Almighty everlasting God, with this prayer, whom all the elements serve, mercifully hear our prayer through the intercession of Blessed Florebertus, your Confessor and Bishop, and grant us your mercy; that whatever you command us to do, with your help we may be able to fulfill." In the Martyrologies also he is celebrated on both days, and on 25 April he is recalled likewise in Martyrologies on 25, in the Martyrology of Cologne and Lübeck issued in 1490, in the MS Florary and in the Auctuary of Greven to Usuard, in the Nativities of Belgium published by Molanus and Miraeus, in the Flowers of Liège of Fisen, and in the Gallican Martyrology of Saussay. But on 26 April, and 26 April, his memory is placed in the MS Martyrology of the Cathedral church of Liège, sacred to Saint Lambert, in these words: "On the same day at Liège, of Saint Florebertus, Bishop of the same place and Confessor." Molanus followed in the additions to Usuard and Canisius with the monastic Martyrologies of Wion, Dorganius, Menardus, and Bucelin. Of these, Wion establishes that he was Abbot of Stavelot: Whether he was Abbot or monk of Stavelot? but on what authority relying he does not indicate. Fisen published on 3 September an accurate catalogue of the Abbots of Stavelot; among whom Saint Florebertus is not counted; some however assert that he was a disciple of Saint Remaclus in the monastery of Stavelot. Having left the Bishopric of Maastricht in 660, Saint Remaclus migrated to Stavelot, and there lived a long time: but whether Saint Florebertus, on his dying, had reached such an age that he could submit himself to his discipline, is plainly not clear: better therefore are Anselm, Aegidius, Fisen, Molanus, Miraeus, and generally others silent on that matter. Mabillon also rejected the same among the Passed Over.