ON SAINT FORANNAN,
ABBOT OF WAULSORT, IN BELGIUM, OF THE ORDER OF SAINT BENEDICT.
YEAR 982
PrefaceForannanus, Abbot of Waulsort in Belgium, of the Order of Saint Benedict (Saint)
By D. P.
We treated on March 6 of Saint Cadroe, the first Abbot of the Scottish monks at Waulsort in Belgium, then at Metz in the monastery of Saint Clement; and showed that he with Saint Maccallan, who is venerated on January 21, came to these parts a full twenty-three years before Saint Forannan came to the same place: who Order of Prelacy was indeed the fourth Abbot of Waulsort, yet is said to be first in dignity and merit. For, having laid aside the bishopric of his homeland and become a monk, he first established and increased the state and affairs of the monastery, and restored regular discipline: which under the brief presidency of the aforesaid Saints had taken such small root, that with them transferring Pastoral care elsewhere, it soon failed. Moreover, the cause of bringing this Saint to light all foreigners, especially the professors of the Benedictine Rule, owe much to John Molanus, who renewed the knowledge of him, now nearly extinct, in the Natales Sanctorum Belgii, writing thus of him: "That holy Bishop and Abbot, most vigilant Shepherd, father of the poor, adorned with the flowers of all virtues, rested in the fifth year after Eilbert, in the year 982, and in the left of the Waulsort basilica honorably received his deposition, not without the working of notable miracles. Whose Birthday, with the canonical Office, was celebrated by the Waulsort monks up to the year 1526. But then the Bursfeld Reformers removed him from the catalogue of Saints, and cult at Waulsort. which they used for the divine Office; because there was no report of his being numbered among the Saints by the Roman Church: which reason displeased some Waulsort monks, because many Saints are celebrated who have not been canonized at the Roman court. And therefore they thought the divine office should be given up of their own Saint, whom it is established shone with many miracles on the annual celebration of his deposition and otherwise: of which some are handed down in most faithful writings and pictures, but some have perished through negligence. He is still annually invoked with Saints Eloquius and Nuncius on the day before Easter in the Litany. Also his holy body, except the arm which is kept in the sacristy, placed in a leaden sarcophagus is warmed in the bosom of the earth, with a monument constructed above with the title: 'Saint Forannan, pray for us.' There is also kept in the sacristy almost whole, with silver bells, his own holy stole, with whose blessing he healed the bite of a mad dog; with which also many afterwards have been healed."
[2] Thus Molanus, from whom Hugo Mainard and Gabriel Bucelin took the torch to enroll this Saint, a product of their own, who was trained in the Gorze monastery, the Life was written there, in the Benedictine Fasti; Benedict Ghini to join the same to the Natales Canonicorum, since he had before been a Bishop; Philip Ferrarius his General Catalogue; André Du Chesne the Gallican Martyrology; Bartholomew Fisen the Flowers of the Church of Liège; Aubert Miraeus the Fasti Belgicos to augment with his name. But especially did that matter profit in the case of John Davin, Bishop of Namur, who under his newly created diocese numbered Waulsort, to insert an epitome of the Life into the proper offices of his Cathedral church published in 1619; and to renew the ancient rite of venerating the Saint. The Life itself, which we give from the Waulsort Ms. Codex, was written by a certain Robert, a monk of Waulsort, who committed it to the censure of Abbot Wibold of Stavelot, using this letter: "To the illustrious, and distinguished with the splendor of all prudence, Lord Wibold, excellent of Abbots, Brother Robert, would that he were the least of his clients, whatever is fitting to a subject preceptor.
"We, O illustrious ruler, dare to manifest to your dignity the little notes of our humbleness, offered to the censure of Wibold, Abbot of Stavelot: yet let not the dignation of your piety judge this to have been done with the presumption of temerity. So in this work do not inquire the ornament of bright verbosity, nor notice as from an unskilled one, how it is enucleated; but look with what intention it has been brought forth. That therefore this may be strengthened by the judgment of your examination, confident in the magnificence of your piety, I present it to your sight. Whereby let there flourish in something the correction of your judgment, if it displeases; and let it be strengthened by the decree of your helping, if it pleases."
[3] When these had been read together with the Life, Wibold writes back to the Abbot of Waulsort in these words: "Brother Wibold, by the grace of God servant of the Church of Stavelot, to Lord Theodoric the venerable Abbot of the Church of Waulsort and the reverend Convent of the Brothers, his judgment of it, always to be zealous in divine studies and to be advanced with gifts. We give thanks, most beloved, to the invaluable grace of the Creator Lord, who, at certain times with wondrous order, through great authors, being Himself ever new and perfect Artificer, does not cease to adorn the beauty of his universal Church; that each church throughout the globe, which sometimes suffers the waves of the sea, yet sometimes rejoices in the firmness of the shore, with the disciples arousing Christ sleeping in the little ship, and Christ commanding the waves. Christ indeed, Brothers, has also stirred you in your little ship after the Apostolic example, while you show honor and devotion to your Patrons, by whom your Church is ruled: while you desire to bring forth to the notice and edification of many the miracles which He Himself works in them. You wrote to us, through our Brother and your son, Robert, the Life and miracles of the Blessed Confessor Bishop and Abbot Forannan, composed with his own not slight zeal; with this intention, as he himself has reported to us, that if anything should seem less composed or superfluous, our humbleness might polish or take away, and our cooperation might strengthen the whole little body of the work. Wherefore, to the work, if I saw it necessary, I would not indeed refuse to attempt to take away what he has joined and you join; but because in all things it is proved praiseworthy we return it to you untouched. and an exhortation to perseverance in venerating the Saint. For the rest I desire to obey your precepts" (namely in that which moreover the Waulsort monks seem to have asked, that he might wish to come to make the elevation of the body from the sepulchre into a special little case) "if our labors for the Church, if the affairs of the kingdom in which we are entangled, have prosperous outcomes, and some leisure is at some time indulged to us with cares laid aside. You meanwhile with the same zeal you have begun, take care to embrace and commit to memory the miracles of the Blessed Confessor. Because if your devotion perseveres, if zeal does not slacken, if religion grows, they will merit to see with bodily eyes the glorification of the sacred body, to whom it is given only to see manifest miracles. At whose festivity of time may our presence deserve to be present, our humbleness to serve; that the glorification of the sacred ashes may be the confirmation of our faith about the hope of resurrection, may be in the present time consolation about our tribulations, may be transition from exile to homeland, from death to life."
[4] The Life was written after the year 1130, Theodoric, the second Abbot of Waulsort of this name, created about the year 1130, is believed to have died in 1145: Wibold presided at Stavelot from the same year 1130 to 1158, according to the Catalogue which is held in Bartholomew Fisen with the elogium of Saint Remaclus: whence concerning the age of the writer Robert it is easy to judge: who, if he does not merit the highest credit in those things which he narrates as done before the Saint's death; he merits it in the miracles, closer to his time, and heard from more certain report or even seen. That earlier monk of Waulsort wrote a booklet, on the deeds of the Abbots of his monastery, beginning with Saint Forannan (as far as we can judge) and ending with Abbot Godescalc, which booklet when the author of the Chronicle had transcribed, he continues the matter begun by him and perhaps augmented by himself not in one place, then from a booklet, compiled around the year 1080, with certainly a Prologue and the whole history of the foundation of Waulsort placed at the beginning: but he continues thus beginning: "It happened about the same time, namely about the year 1080, that Lord Abbot Godescalc passed from the present to the Lord: whose and others' actions this booklet contains, briefly and clearly written with diligent style, it seems not incongruous, if something he has not yet set forth, because it had not yet happened, with the faith and truth with which I have received it from religious men, who are still surviving, I commit to letters and transmit to posterity to be read for the notice of things done." And so continuing the Chronicle, he brings it down to the election of Abbot Henry, the chronicle was published in the year 1243 "who," he says, "even now presides over us happily for 13 years." To this Abbot also when another abbreviator of the aforesaid chronicle had come, who moreover at the end added the names of the following Abbots, and wrote in the year 1625; he speaks thus: "In whose" (namely Henry's) "13th year of rule the booklet of our foundation was brought to light, which in this year, namely 1243, has come to the navel."
[5] The last compilation Thomas Luytens, afterwards most worthy Abbot of Liessies monastery, transcribed for our Rosweyde about the year 1631, whence are extracted the other Acts of the saint, to whom Bolland inscribed the general preface to these Acta Sanctorum: yet it was worth more to have obtained the old Ms. of the older Chronicle, and written two hundred years ago. From this we excerpt three chapters, containing the Acts of Saint Forannan: for the booklet of the first writer, which is entirely transfused into this chronicle, is perhaps nowhere extant genuine and pure. Would that the author of the said chronicle, besides the Life of Saint Forannan, which he cites; and certain domestic fables of the noble family descending from Eilbert, which he would better have despised; had had those more ancient writings, which it is credible were composed both before and after Forannan; some things needing correction. but we judge them to have been consumed in the lamentable fire of the whole monastery and church around the year 1015. Then indeed he could have written more distinctly about the time that preceded Saint Forannan, and about the very Acts of the Saint: now we complain of not a few things narrated confusedly, and correct them with our Annotations. Fewer of them would there have been, if he had had at least the Life of Saint Cadroe, such as we have published; for he would have known that Cadroe did not succeed Forannan, and Maccallan him: but that first Maccallan then Cadroe gave the beginning to the Waulsort Prelacy; but that to Forannan, long after those brought, when he departed from life, succeeded Immo, whom from a more recent Ms. Fisen calls less correctly Ivinio. See the other successors in order in vol. 7 of the Spicilegium of Acherius; where you can read the whole Waulsort Chronicle, as we have it written down, and in the Preface to the same volume page 17 you will find Molanus and Miraeus refuted, wrongly thinking that the same Robert, who composed the Life of Saint Forannan, as we have seen, was also the author of the chronicle.
[6] his name in the sacred fasti. Molanus, who first, as we have said, made mention of Forannan to be commemorated among the Belgian Saints, was followed by Wilhelm Gazet in the Ecclesiastical History of Belgium, adding that "his head is kept in the sacristy: the rest of his body in a leaden little chest, within a marble mausoleum, with this inscription: 'Saint Forannan, pray for us.'" Each since they say he died on April 30, I do not know whom unknown to us David Camerarius may have been able to follow, in book 3 On the Piety of the Scots, when he placed his elogium on January 14. More consultive in this, Gabriel Bucelinus, author of the Benedictine Menology, preferred to tread in the footsteps of those from whom he had drawn the first knowledge of this Saint, for whom he wove a prolix elogium. The same, as to be celebrated on the 30th day, is mentioned by Colgan in the Lives of the Saints of Ireland at the Life of Saint Forannan the Abbot on February 15: but in such a way that he expressly says he is different, both from many others of similar name, and from the aforesaid Waulsort Abbot. Which I therefore mention, that the error may be corrected which crept in for us there among the Pretermitted, as if Colgan had said he seemed to him the same; and let posterity understand in the future Supplement to the work, that the Life of that Irish Forannan is to be called to examination again; if perhaps, with this distinction now certainly known, they shall judge it should be inserted on the said day in February.
LIFE
By Robert the Waulsort Monk
From a Ms. of the same monastery.
Forannanus, Abbot of Waulsort in Belgium, of the Benedictine Order (Saint)
BHL Number: 3080
By ROBERT FROM MS.
PROLOGUE
[1] Since upon the summit of the candelabrum, lest it seem to be darkened beneath the covering of a bushel, the lamp of Christ is to be raised; I have arranged to pluck the virtues of the venerable man Forannan, not with composed speech indeed. But since, less supported by the adornment of the art of philosophy, we cannot enucleate these things with beautiful words; after the manner of boys we preferred rather to stammer, than to hide the knowledge of the holy man's miracles under the covering of obscurity. Yet with what intention I have taken up this work to be enucleated, however much it may be clear to all, I have decided to make manifest clearly. There is therefore in the monastery of our dwelling a certain one existing in the advanced age of old age, From the faithful narration of a long-lived monk who with the understanding of ancient remembrance had prudently placed in his prudent little breast the monuments of ancient things. From this narrator of antiquity therefore, taking material, before human fragility, overtaken by death, should slip, and such a flashing of the miracles of our Patron, I have striven to embrace all things in a brief article. Meanwhile there is another reason intent on our narration. With our elders sitting in accustomed little councils, and mention having been made of our Patron's virtues, the sacred Convent greatly complained the Acts are described. that men excelling in the greatest ingenuity, and living under his suffrage, have left these of the most skilled man in the lurking place of obscurity. Wherefore, animated by the admonition of this Convent, I desire to commend these published little notes, so that in the future, to those reading, they may shine to succeeding posterity. But since without the aid of divine grace I cannot be effective in this work, I demand the breath of the kindly Spirit, that, by the breathing of His inspiration, I may be able to intimate the truth with harmonious word.
CHAPTER I.
Birth of Saint Forannan, the Bishopric abdicated by him, the sea crossed by a miracle, the Abbatial dignity of Waulsort received, the sick healed, death, etc.
[2] The glorious Priest of the Lord Forannan, therefore, sprung from the noble stock of the Scotinenses a, Born of a noble family in keeping off the first impulses of wantonness, determined to put aside the world with his own deeds; and adorning his nobility with notable virtues, devoted he strove to prepare himself as a sacrifice worthy of God, supported by His help. Placed at length within his boyish years, to be instructed in letters under the norm of scholastic education, he was honorably handed over by his magnificent parents: in which divine clemency going before, he is imbued with liberal disciplines. which had foreseen him to be for itself a vessel of election, he was filled with the art of all disciplines, in a short time. With what increments, clinging to divine meditations, as a young man he augmented his most pleasing youth; or how, relying on divine suffrage, he trod down the storms of the troubled sea, that is, worldly tribulations; and how as the hope of the wretched, father of orphans, refresher of the poor, most merciful to the afflicted, of widows, mourners, and of all
those living piously, he stood forth as a pious consoler; the end of his consummation evidently showed, because as is said by a certain Wise Man:
The rewards of the just hang upon the end of their labors.
And the Prophet David thunders saying: "I have seen an end of all consummation." Ps. 118:96 Indeed the most glorious Confessor of Christ Forannanus saw an end of all consummation, who by loving his God strove to love his neighbor. But to seem to keep the broad commandment, with sincere heart and with all the intention of mind for God, and by embracing, he strove to love his enemy.
[3] a friend to enemies, Wherefore the Repayer of all good, who according to each one's merit for the gain reported from the talent recompenses each one by granting a reward; wishing our venerable Bishop to be honored with worthy gifts, established him as a fit steward of His house: so that, with the chaff being winnowed from the wheat, that is, the filth of vices being purged from the hearts of neighbors, he might distribute the measure of wheat, namely the fodders of sacred doctrines. What more? With the magnificence of nobility therefore requiring, and the innocence of greatest purity, chosen by a crowd of peoples, he is created Bishop. in the city which is called in their barbaric speech Domnachmor b, which is the metropolis of all Hibernia, in the basilica of the Mother of God, which he had founded from his own revenues and possessions c, sublimely he is placed in the Pontifical d chair: so that he who without the weight of rule before flourished in the uprightness of humility, afterwards should become, with the mastership of sacred erudition, a norm to many. But when he reached the summit of honor, he ceaselessly bewailed the prolongation of his stay, recalling the verse of this Psalm: "Woe is me! how greatly prolonged is my pilgrimage." Ps. 119:5
[4] And when he was revolving such things in his breast with long thought, and desiring to follow the footsteps of the ancient Fathers, making himself far from his own thought, he was admonished from heaven by a divine vision, that leaving the summit of honor, he should go to the place of e "Speciosa-vallis" (Beautiful Valley), where, in veneration of the Mother of God, a basilica of the apostolic assembly had been founded, on the bank of a river, divinely commanded to leave his homeland, which is called in common speech Meuse. Having therefore received this admonition of the heavenly vision, and the honor of lowest ambition laid aside, desiring to fulfill the command of the most sacred order, he chose twelve venerable companions f: that coming with these to the place of the aforesaid dwelling, he chooses 12 companions; as an armed soldier of the highest Commander, fighting with the invisible and visible enemy, he might wage the wars of the Lord. Therefore leaving their own land, they began to seek the heavenly homeland, and, supported by angelic guidance, came to the seashores; with whom, no ship being found where looking around, they found no nautical aid. But He who under the guidance of Moses dried up the sand of the Red Sea, that with dry foot the people might pass through the fords of the deep sea by a wondrous journey, and who under the footsteps of Peter offered the liquid element to be trodden upon; He Himself, for the showing of His own merits, to this our venerable Patron with his companions afforded a similar way, by which he could reach the port of quiet salvation, by His wondrous dispensation.
[5] For behold, four timbers, joined together in the manner of a cross, suddenly appeared before their sight: upon which, with God's power having been called upon, fortifying themselves with the banner of the holy Cross, mounting four timbers joined in the form of the Cross. they ascended in this order. Therefore the companions being divided and set up in four parts (for the number three drawn four times makes twelve), he ordered them to ascend upon the four parts of the cross; and he himself being placed in the middle of the cross, chanting with glad mind and clear voice, was saying: "In the sea is your way, and your paths in many waters." Ps. 76:20 So with such a vessel and the wondrous banner of the venerable cross, leading through trackless ways, God's protection worthily defended them; because, where the bearers of his cross seemed to be, they denied themselves; he crosses the sea: and leaving their own will, under the command of another's mastership they resolved to complete the course of their contest. At length they began to leave the sea and take to earthly paths: and following where the kindly Paraclete Spirit had drawn them, he is led by Count Eilbert to Waulsort where it went before, they walked together. When they were not far from the place of the aforesaid dwelling, they met its builder, the illustrious and most noble Count Eilbert h. By whom, when asked where they wished to direct their step, they answered that they wished to go to the place of Speciosa-vallis, situated on the bank of the river Meuse. And he answering, "Happily," he said, "Now meanwhile strive to direct your steps after me by following: for I leading you will show the dwelling of the aforesaid place to your eyes." And when in the fatigue of their pilgrimage they had received from so great magnificence of nobility so kind a response of consolation; with the affection of the heart they directed the gaze of the body to heaven, and praising the mighty deeds of God, together came to the dwellings long desired.
[6] But that they might be instructed in the precept of monastic education, they were led to Rome by the aforesaid Count: where the aforesaid Confessor of Christ, taking up with the dignity of Episcopal honor the name of Abbot, received such a command from Lord Benedict i (who in the governance of the whole world, and at Rome confirmed as Abbot: had fixed the anchor received of hope from the key-bearer of the heavenly kingdom in the knowledge of this name, the seventh), that returning to his own, he should turn aside to the monastery which is called Gorze; he turns aside to the Gorze monastery to be instructed: and there with his own he should be instructed in divine commands. For they had determined to subject their necks under the norm of the monastic religion: and eager to be observers of the Apostolic institution, they came together to the aforementioned monastery. Where in a very brief time fully strengthened in divine institutions, they obtained what they had long desired: because, as the sacred sentence of Blessed Gregory testifies, "there is no delay in learning where the Holy Spirit the Teacher is present." These things having been treated, with the greatest request the aforementioned Count obtained from the Bishop of Laon, that the memorable pledge of the venerable Confessor of Christ Eloquius k should be given to him: which as soon as it entered the walls of the said dwelling, he translates the body of Saint Eloquius. with the memory of the Lord's Passion having been recalled by Blessed Forannan, many virtues of healings were worked. Which, since they are more fully enucleated in his deeds l, on account of the great prolixity I have deferred recalling.
[7] What then else did these things signify, most beloved, except that upon the gleaming stones notable gems coming from the parts of the world, within the spaces of one house of God, shone with the clear brightness of virtues? Saint Forannan, with his stole But that I may relate a few of many; among other gifts of spiritual grace, this virtue of healing was eminent in him, that if anyone had been touched by the bite of a mad dog or wolf, and the place on the edge of the scar were covered with his stole or maniple m, soon, health being recovered, he would return with joy. O wondrous dispensation of God! Who also once by the fringe of His garment in a woman restrained the flux of blood, Himself now in a similar manner, to the praise of His Confessor, through the fringe conferred the relief of health to those being sick. and by blessing he heals diseases. What more? No one at all, a sick person pressed by the calamity of infirmity, came to him, who after the suffrage of the received blessing and the touch of the most sacred oily liquid would not return with joy, having received the counsel of health. These and similar works the power of the divinity manifested in him; which, since they are not written down by the hand of a writer, are unknown to us and known to God.
[8] But because he had run with happy step, and had kept the faith of the ecclesiastical institution untiringly, and against the arms of spiritual wickedness had stood forth strong in the course of his contest, as about to hear, for the ministry of good dispensation, from the Shepherd of shepherds the voice of most merciful meekness, "Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few, I will set you over many, enter into the joy of your Lord God," he stood secure of the hope of his recompense. he dies in the year 982 Therefore, the weight of human corruption being laid aside, in the 982nd revolution of the annual circle from the Lord's Incarnation, on the day before the Kalends of May, under the time of Otto n the Roman Prince, from corruption to incorruption, and from the way to life he merited to pass, for whom temporal death was life, and the exit of the present was the way to the palaces of the heavens.
NOTES.
CHAPTER II.
The body of St. Forannan, by his command more decently buried, the possessed and other sick persons healed at it.
[9] But when his holy burial had been made apart on the left side of the monastery, some from the community of the Brothers frequently approached the tomb of the same bountiful one, begging suffrages for their sins. In which place, when many healings were seen to be frequently effected by them, by common counsel the chief men of the church decreed, for reverence of his honor, Buried in a damp place that the relic of the most holy body be transferred to a higher place. While they were at work on this, placing the sarcophagus-tomb at the entrance of the sanctuary, they carelessly carried water from the torrent in a disorderly vessel for the building of the tomb, and in it they laid the memorable most holy body. At length, when on a certain night they had given themselves to the sleep of rest, because of the weariness of the body, thinking that that translation had been made with the utmost diligence, and being ignorant of what had happened, to one of the brothers who had been established in care of the church, the venerable Confessor Forannan appeared; he commands his body to be transferred elsewhere: and warning him, commanded that, since in that muddy tomb he could not lie in the peace of rest because of the offense of the stench, he should command the Brothers to transfer elsewhere the relics of his body. But he concealed the revelation of the first vision, and neglecting to make it manifest, kept silent until the third vision. Therefore at the time of the third night, with the fury of very great threatening, he deigned to manifest himself again to the said Brother, and foretold that unless he should report to the Brothers the admonitions of the precept, he would fall into the judgment of a most grave vengeance.
[10] When therefore the darkness of the sky was dispelled by the flashing brightness of the sun, the aforesaid Brother called the Brothers together, and by intimation revealed whatever he had noticed with penetrating gaze. They therefore, considering the cause of his negligence from his account, with the diligence of highest care and with the honor of devotion built another tomb near the altar of Blessed Nicholas; and casting him out from that place, wrapping him in a bright linen cloth, they transferred him to it. It happened furthermore that a certain noble matron, vexed by a grievous infestation of a demon, was brought by her servants into the presence of this tomb, to which a possessed woman is brought and freed. and they begged for their Lady that divine assistance of healing might be present to her. While therefore they continued in this constant supplication, divine mercy deigned to manifest itself. For emitting from her nose in its cleansing two bright little worms, she was restored to her former health: and with the remedy of health and together with her servants, she returned safely to her own.
[11] Another miracle of divine working, not to be hidden under the dark blackness of concealment, but as it was manifested by the venerable Forannan himself, we have judged to be declared to all, to the end that God may be told of as wondrous in his virtues. For there was a certain woman in the district b of Famenne, whom, for seven full years, without any remedy had beset the grievous ailment of the prison-house: likewise a woman sick for seven years to whom the bountiful Forannan appeared, commanding that for the gift of her vow she should place upon the tomb of his sepulchre a rope brought by her own hands. And when she, having cast off the disturbance of fear, most diligently inquired of him by investigation the place of his resting, she was granted to receive from him such signs as these. Coming, he said, into the village which is called Fair Valley, and entering the gate on the right side of the monastery, advance by a straight path before your own gaze, and looking upward, beside one altar you shall find the memorial of my tomb. Desiring therefore to fulfill the command of the most sacred revelation, she betimes performed her vow with the accomplished work; and without the support of any guide she came all the way to the place. And when before the doors of the temple she found its officials, and bidden by the Saint himself to approach thither. she quietly entered through the doors of the church, directed her steps by the straight path according to the command of the Bishop; and according to the signs she had received, she found the Saint's tomb. When, having presented her vows for the benefit of the wished-for deliverance, she had risen from prayer, she received the salvation of health: and going out from the walls of the monastery, she manifestly made the revelation of the miracle known to all. These things done, the Health of human salvation added another miracle to be glorified to the name of his Confessor, by which, as the radiance of the sun shining upon the world illuminates it, so this excellent gem, polished by various flashings of signs, might illuminate the parts of the world with various virtues.
[12] There was therefore in the district c of Lognu, in the village which is called Chauvemont, under the constitution of the aforesaid Lord's dwelling, a certain cowherd named Warnerus, engaged in the business of that land, who, vexed by the grievous infestation of a demonic legion, had fallen into grave peril of sickness. A possessed man also furious, When those around him could not endure his disturbance, because of the cruelty of its perverse atrocity (for he savagely tore those whom he was able to touch), they bound him with various chains, and, laden with an immense weight of iron, they brought him to the Saint's tomb. While, awaiting the aid of divine mercy, the keepers of the church lay before the Saint's tomb, the birthday of one Confessor of Christ occurred, on which, when the Brothers were rendering the accustomed duty of service, after the reading of the twelfth lesson was ended, the chant of this Responsory, "He magnified him in the sight of Kings," was begun by the Rector of the choir. But when the end of it came, the possessed man, uttering a wondrous voice, took up the beginning of the following Verse d; and as though he had been perpetually trained in the chanting of it, he made the end of the chant with the singer. A wondrous thing! He who had been accustomed to relieve the toil of oxen with unarticulated song of voice, resounded the modulation of articulated voice as though fully instructed. What more? The day came: on which, while the celebration of the High Mass was being solemnly performed, the possessed man, laying his head upon the Saint's tomb, fell asleep: and after the end of the same, risen up, he was made whole, and he who had been brought with the strength of others, departed free, loosed from his chains.
[13] Supported therefore by such suffrages, let the assembly of our community, with the devout people, magnify God, because he has given us as our illustrious Patron in our infirmity that magnificent Forannan whom Scotland brought forth, on account of which the saint is rightly to be praised. and whom Gaul, with regard to his humility, most devotedly received. Let likewise the Bride of Christ, the Church of Waulsort, rejoice, which has retained within the walls of its temple such a friend of the Bridegroom, coming from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; of whose virtues he is continually preached as wondrous in the assembly of the peoples. For rightly and with gladness of mind the assembly of the same church ought to exult in divine praises; since on account of the virtues of this same Patron, with the greatest reverence, and with great honor, this place is unceasingly frequented by the crowds of peoples. Hence it is that we judge we should make public another miracle of divine working, not to be hidden under the vile blackness of a bushel, but rather to be set upon the branch of a candlestick: so that, whereas through the sloth of our inertia we have omitted many things, we may yet somehow narrate, though with sluggish pen, the few which we have learned by faithful telling from those who saw with their own eyes.
[14] It happened meanwhile that from a small hamlet which lies close to our monastery, and is called by name Porinaca e, a certain sick man named Berengarius, oppressed by various infirmities, while above others he was grievously fatigued by the falling sickness, came before the Saint's tomb, An epileptic there meets death if he cannot be healed, hoping that the protection of the divinity would be there present to him, and that an end to his pain might soon be set. Which so happened. And when he was present beside the most holy tomb, turning to the Saint's patronage, he thus began to pray: I beseech you, he said, Forannan, Confessor of Christ, that if I cannot be freed from this present infirmity, I may in no way be able to depart by my own step from the entrance of this church. And when he had made an end of prayer, laying down his head, with the same he breathed forth his spirit.
[15] he is suddenly extinguished, What therefore? Is there perhaps, as the Apostle says, iniquity with God, who through the power of his virtue did not restore health to this man along with the present life? Rom. 9, 14 God forbid. But since his judgments are hidden, ceasing to weigh this man's death, let us leave it to be examined by the divine judgment of Him who said, "Therefore I will kill and I will make to live, I will strike and I myself will heal": who perhaps took the body for this reason, that
he might quicken the spirit; he struck, that he might heal the wounds of the soul; since whom he loves he chastises, and every son whom he receives he scourges. Deut. 32, 39 Wherefore let us have recourse to the help of our Patron, imploring his suffrage; that as he loosed this man from the bonds of bodily torment, by God's inscrutable counsel. so by his intercessions he may loose us from the contagion of the ancient old state; and may the Lord, at his entreaty, mortify our carnal things, and quicken the spiritual; may he strike our vices and raise up our virtues; and thus may he ever draw us on, so that we may be able with confident speech to say with the Apostle, "We are the good odor of Christ"; and may we ever be able to run after him in the scent of his ointments. 2 Cor. 2, 15 But in what manner the power of the most high Virtue disposed to magnify his excellent Confessor, no verbosity of any discourse can obscure. Wherefore, that we may unfold the operations of divine virtue which Christ deigned to manifest in him, I shall not pass over another miracle fitting for our narration: for while I was still under the rod of a teacher, I noticed it happening before my own eyes.
[16] Namely, in the community of this church, there was a certain monk, teacher of our schools, and called by name Lambert, who frequently suffered pain of the head. A certain man afflicted with grave headache, When he was grievously fatigued by it, on a certain night, turning to his Patron, he began to beg for a remedy; but so that the intention of his wondrous simplicity might be made manifest, throughout the whole rest of the following night he was vexed by him: for he was very simple in his manners, but in literal knowledge he was most effective. And when the Brothers heard the matin signal from their night vigil, exhorting one another, they prepared themselves to perform the accustomed task, and in the name of the triple Deity in the usual way concurred together in the three prayers. These done, when the first station of the choir was being occupied by the aforesaid Brother, suddenly a heavy pain gripped his head; and deserting his station in choir, laying aside the sacred care of his due service, coming again before the Saint, he cast himself upon the memorial f. While he was intently begging with long waiting that the end of his pain might come, and impatiently bearing that he was not heard, fatigued by the aforesaid pain, through excessive simplicity he began to reproach Christ's Confessor with such words: "Dead, while you lie in dust, with what remedy can you come to our aid? But since you are seen to bring help to many, led by their example, I am come crying out to your stopped ears, deaf old man, and I have sought assistance, you who are accustomed to come to the aid of others: and until now, alas, by you I have felt no relief. on striking the tomb he is healed." Uttering these and similar things with head lifted up on his stiff neck, striking the sacred tomb set over the bones of the bountiful body with a great sound, he rose up; and thus with that blow he joyfully received the remedy of the health he had desired, so that he asserted he felt no further recurrence of the pain afterward. And when he was again joined with his companions at the voices of the Brothers, who were occupied in divine meditations, some began to investigate from him what sound had been heard near the Saint's tomb which had interrupted their voices: and he evidently made known to his questioners what had happened, and what things he had uttered toward the said Confessor, and in what way, by long waiting, he had obtained the health he had begged for.
[17] Yet omitting these things, that the saying of the sacred discourse may be strengthened, Another likewise placed far off, namely that the just man may be still more justified, let us by articulate and literary skill put our hand to another, that the great works of Christ may be proclaimed as often as through his excellent steward such prodigies are shown forth to the peoples. Apoc. 22, 11 A certain townswoman, suffering grievous pain of the head together with the teeth, was constantly beset by frequent torment. Who, when she was separated from her confines by the situation of the lands (for she had come from the small town g of Bouvignes to the great city h of Gostarath, where she was seeking the remedy of her pain), was deprived of all consolation. At length, since by hearing she had perceived in the said regions the fame of the glorious Confessor, making a vow to him, she promised a candle, which when she had returned home and received her health, she gave with a willing mind. When she arrived with the great candle, from whom a candle offered as a vow the keeper of the church, Theodoric by name, looking at it as it was large, desired it; and quickly seizing the desired thing, and having seized it in his usual manner, taking his usual path, he arranged to place it in its usual receptacle. But since it had been promised by the supplier that she would not take away the aforesaid candle, he, conscious of such a promise, taking it up and advancing two steps in walking, was suddenly seized with a grievous headache. the monk who carried it off incurs the same pain. For in the presence of the said woman, he had wished upon his own head a like pain, if anyone should try to carry it off. Wherefore, with great haste summoning a servant, he kindled the aforesaid candle again, and having kindled it, he placed it back; having placed it back, he declared it once more renounced by himself; and the health which by rash use he had lost by his own violence, by his help he at once deserved to receive back.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER III.
A certain sick man healed by the merits of St. Forannan, a shipwrecked man saved, Epilogue.
[18] And because, as the Angel testifies, it is honorable to reveal and confess the works of God, it is worthwhile to insert into our reading what things have been contributed after these to the glory of this Confessor of Christ. In the days of Lothair the Emperor, born of Saxony, A monk suffering from toothache and headache, while Alexander the prelate was governing the chair of Liège, there was a certain Brother, Goselin by name, who was entering the years of puberty, performing the office of the Levitical Order, nurtured from boyhood in this house under the protection of the Mother of God, and afterwards by the grace of God made a Priest, who related these things—that every year for a long time, in the month of May, he suffered grievous infirmity and pain of the teeth and head, so that he spent sleepless nights. He was admonished by his teacher and master Richer, and by the other Brothers and Lords, who compassionated his pains, and to whom it was given to see stupendous miracles which were divinely worked through the Blessed Pontiff and Confessor Forannan, that he should beg his mercy, that from the present evil and infirmity, by his most holy intercession from Almighty God, he, like very many others, might be freed. But he, doubting nothing, but faithfully believing that all things are possible to those who believe, hastened with tears and prayers to the tomb of the excellent Confessor: and taking hold of the linen cloth after the vow of a yearly offering he is healed: with which the venerable Shrine was covered, he began with fear and reverence to bind it around his head and face, praying thus: "O blessed father Forannan! O most beloved friend of God, pillar and provider of this church, have mercy on me, your lowest servant, and deign to help me laboring in burning and anxiety: for as I feel it, and as a certain man says, truly pain of the head harshly scorches all the limbs. Glorious one, if you shall make me well, I vow a vow, that henceforth on the night of your deposition I will render you a candle of such length that it may surround my head in a circle." The prayer finished, he recognized no pain or burning in himself: and so rising at that same hour, praising and glorifying God, he returned unharmed to the assembly of the Brothers, reporting how he had been healed. They, hearing these things, blessed the Lord, and honored the holy Confessor with great praises.
[19] Thus made well, for four years he paid to God and the Saint his vow as he had vowed, and always remained in his former health. But in the fifth year it happened that on the appointed night, forgetting his promise, on account of a certain festival, having set out to a certain village of his nativity, which was two miles distant from the monastery, he was not present. on the neglect of which he suffered a relapse, Who, when at the hour of evening he was standing in the church before the altar of the Mother of God, suddenly a very great pain and torment of the head and teeth seized him, so that now he was unable to stand upon his feet; but bowed down from excessive anxiety, acknowledging his guilt, and that he was most deceitful in the sight of the Saint, with a prayer of this kind he prayed to the Lord: "Lord Jesus Christ, by your piety and by your wonderful name, and acknowledging his fault, have mercy on me, I beseech you, and do not suffer me to remain longer in this calamity. I have no consciousness of good works nor confidence of a right life; only in you is my refuge: and therefore succor me, through your servant Blessed Forannan: most glorious God, the things in which I have sinned with respect to him I will faithfully henceforth correct, and when I shall have returned to our place, by your bounty I will pay my vow." And weeping, binding his head, and invoking the holy Confessor, he rose from the ground; and immediately all pain and torment fled away. On the morrow, returning to the monastery, he related to the Brothers all that had happened to him, he is healed again. he heaped joy upon joy, paid his vow, remained safe, blessed the Lord working magnificently in all things and above all things. Let no one doubt that these things are so: for this is most truly set forth by him who suffered these things, to the praise of God and of the Confessor.
[20] Therefore, because a city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden, but is seen by all; and because there is no place where God is not; let us put our hand to writing how in far-off parts and unknown regions the Lord glorified the oft-to-be-named Blessed Confessor and Pontiff Forannan. There is a certain town in the parts of Saxony beyond the Rhine, which in the barbaric speech of that nation has the name Rhees b, in which place the memory of this Saint is venerated by many, From a recluse of Resensa, made manifest by such tokens. A certain recluse named Walburgis, having among us an only son a monk, leads a solitary life there: who once staying with us some days for love of her son, saw and heard many stupendous miracles wrought by the Saint. Who, returning home and embracing the contemplative life, announced to her friends and kinsmen and others, who flocked to the place where she was enclosed, the things she had seen and heard, and how great was the virtue of St. Forannan; and the faithful woman admonished them to invoke him in perils: a certain nephew of hers hears of the Saint's miracles, among whom a certain nephew of hers, a merchant, heard her speaking, who was sweating at buying and selling and at the cares of this age. He, having taken up his wealth and varieties of diverse ornaments, entered the English sea with others for the sake of trading. and suffering shipwreck, Straightway the sea was troubled, and the ship was in peril of being crushed; but they, set in the fear and anxiety and narrowness of the impending death, began to cry out with loud voices, and each one to confess the sins which they had committed. While they were shouting, suddenly the ship was submerged, and not only did the ship and the cargo perish, but also all the men that were there, except this one alone of whom we are speaking.
[21] How, however, he escaped, or by whose help he was snatched from that dire death, he himself, returned to his country, afterwards related in this order. "When," he said, "the ship was in peril, and we all who were within, in fear of imminent death, were in panic; I at length, mindful of the words of the handmaid of God, which I had heard about the virtues and miracles of Blessed Forannan of the Church of Waulsort, invokes him, in the sight of all, weeping, cried out, 'O Blessed Forannan, if what I have heard of you is true, I truly beseech you, deign to free me from this death, and I will give you a vow for my safety, namely a candle according to the length of my body, in the place where you rest.' While I was still praying many such things, the ship was submerged, and with the others into the depths of the sea, sad and groaning, I slipped. Then, as it was the will of God, at once springing back above the waters, and crying out those things which I had begun, 'St. Forannan, help me,' behold, my own cargo, in which I had bound up all I had in the ship, came between my arms. Which when I had held, knowing it to be mine, and he is saved, and feeling the help of God and of the Saint over me, unexpectedly I returned to hope, and thus swimming with my feet, holding the cargo between my hands, I came all the way to shore; praising God and blessing the Saint in my salvation among the greatest wonders." Such things did that man relate concerning himself, and the vow which he had vowed he transmitted not long after to our place by the hands of faithful men, from whom we heard that these things we have related had been so done by the Saint.
[22] A certain Irishman, These are the prodigies of divine operation, which Christ unceasingly manifests to us through his beloved servant Forannan, adorning the dwelling-place of his habitation: which if the writer's pen were to set down all of them, the day would end before the discourse would be closed. Therefore the venerable worshipper of God, Forannan, is worthily to be venerated by all, since, as we have learned from the faithful narration of a certain qualified teacher, the land of his nativity is adorned through him with outstanding miracles and honors. says also that in his homeland various churches are held dedicated to him. For he related to us, as an inhabitant of the place, that in Christ and in his name, most great and honorable in the bounds of that province from which he came forth to come to us, basilicas have been founded c, in which a faithful choir of monks and clerics daily serves Christ.
[23] Let us therefore venerate, most beloved, our venerable Patron, and with our whole mind's intent, Forannan who is to be embraced: since, despising the appetites of this world, Epilogue, he kindled a lamp, not under a bushel, as I foretasted briefly in the aforesaid preface; but fixing it upon a lampstand, and scattering in the house the rays of its splendor, he became known to the whole world. What therefore is prefigured by the name of the bushel, except the commodity of human life? He therefore disdained to cover the lamp under the bushel, when he avoided human profits as a pestilence. But upon the lampstand he placed it, when he preferred the care of preaching to the body. Here, if he brought anything out of Egypt, he left it with the Egyptian cloak; and stripped of the garment, with virtues in readiness, he is known to have followed the footsteps of Christ. What more? For doing battle with human enemies, not with roses and purple violets did the contender of the faith proceed; but trumpets in his right hands, pitchers in his left, he steadfastly bore. comprising various encomia of the Saint. With the sword of the word of God then girded about his loins, he was bearer of trumpets in the right hand; for by the word of preaching, spurning the way of error, he proclaimed the souls of the depraved to the way of the true light: but he bore pitchers in the right hands, because although he did not succumb by the pouring out of his own blood, yet we in no way believe him deprived of the glory of martyrdom: for with the trumpets sounding in preaching, the lamps flashed forth: because after the release of the glorious Confessor, no small miracles shone brightly. Hence it may not undeservedly be assigned what one of the Prophets says of the holy Preachers, "They went down to the sea in ships, d plundering alien ships and the sea." For the holy Forannan of the Lord went down to the sea in his ship, because, placed in this surge of human life, he repressed the luxuries of the flesh; and being deprived of the tunics of skins, he was clad in a linen garment having nothing of death in itself, running rejoicing to meet Christ the Bridegroom. "Plundering alien ships and the sea": he became a plunderer of the sea of alien ships, because all sinners and unbelievers, surrounded as if with a garment by the mass of sins, by the word of his preaching he despoiled of the garment, and with the stole of immortality rendered them not naked but clothed, while, as a strong contender, he kept his own forecourt unharmed from the assaults of demons. Therefore let us faithfully implore him whom we know to have been adorned by the Lord with such and so great gifts, that he, who is known without ambiguity to have had a commendable end, may deign by his sweet intercession to lead us to the sure end, which is Christ; and may we so strive to love our neighbors, that we may fulfill the broad commandment by loving even enemies; and thus may we come to the kingdom of him who lives and reigns, God, through ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
OTHER ACTS
From a very ancient manuscript Chronicle of Waulsort.
Forannan, Abbot of Waulsort in Belgium, of the Order of Benedict (S.)
BHL Number: 0000
FROM A MS. CHRONICLE.
PROLOGUE.
[1] For the benefit of posterity, It pertains to the common utility and to the firm stability of future times, to write faithfully for the succeeding generation the certainty of past and present things, and to intimate to it the reason of the prudent discretion of illustrious men, and their worthy and renowned operation of sagacious virtue. For when by the zeal of such a description and by the revolving of this worthy recollection a kindling of that same long-continued meditation is made, by which the succeeding progeny is unceasingly inflamed, and the general succession of all upright men is also made firm by the same meditation and by the recollection of wise deeds. Therefore we resolve to communicate to future posterity these things, which the ancients and industrious men of probity have left us by most true and most certain relation, and confirming them by the authorities of prudent writing, have hidden away very many things in our archives. But since they are not contained as bound together in one uniform material, the circuit and revolving of diverse authorities generate weariness also to their investigators. the ancient monuments of the monastery are gathered into one history: Therefore, that these things may be opened more clearly to all the simple, although in work and speech the slowness of my inner spirit constrains me to advance sluggishly, we have determined to rewrite them in a series of one composition, and faithfully to leave them composed for those who come after. Nor let any one in this work seek the ornament of brilliant verbosity by curious meditation, but rather let him, looking at the effort of the composer, about to find the utility of future posterity, laying aside his supercilious frown, meditate along with us, if he recognizes himself to be a son of our part, born of the same womb. For I have not easily lent my ear to my own opinion in believing and obeying, but, as I said before, I resolved to obey the worthy sayings of our elders, revolving their opinions: and thus the obstacle of wavering has been taken from us, and a doubtful opinion removed from our breast, by the speech of those elders and by the authority of the scriptures.
[2] of its foundation, And that our labor may not seem empty and unfruitful, we strive to show our successors how at the place of Waulsort, with a wondrous edifice of beauty, a basilica of the venerable Mother of Christ was constructed by the noble Count Eilbert, and how from his own right of inheritance he faithfully endowed the same church, and how by testaments granted apostolic and regal he subjected it to the right and dominion of the same basilica. The Abbots, We strive also to show to posterity what each Prelate in the same church did according to the course of his time; and by the succession of long antiquity, in whose Abbot's time the church had increase of amplification, and in whose prelacy's time it suffered the loss of diminution. We have also arranged to reveal and comprehend in a faithful account, what after the gift and bounty of the venerable Count Eilbert was acquired from what industrious and noble men, and under what Abbot's time it performed or acquired an exchange, and the successors, an alms, a gift, or a purchase, and from what persons—designating places and names—the aforesaid confirmations have been authorized.
[3] with the help of the Mother of God, But because the dryness of our breast, without the irrigation of a nourishing river, cannot of itself comprehend that which is required in this work, let us implore our advocate, namely Blessed Mary, in whose honor we have undertaken these things; that from the dew of the heavenly fount, by the intervention of her aid, a droplet
of spiritual renewal may deign to fall upon us: so that, filled with the breath of the heavenly breathing, I may be able to leave a faithful account to those who faithfully come after. May the prayers of her faithful help us with their intercessions, that advancing briefly and faithfully under the guidance of the nourishing breath in the beginning of the present work, I may be able to bring it to its certain end, and to terminate what has been begun with a faithful account.
[4] Thus far the prologue, which the Chronicle follows, from which we shall here give only those things which concern St. Forannan; and would that they were as easily to be discerned from interpolations as it is easily observed from the prologue that he is not the first author, who did not deliver so many things as are here promised; but a continuator, who flourished around the year 1250. Of this one also seems to be the whole first part on the Genealogy of Count Eilbert, who is said to be the son of Count Ebroin, and to have had as ancestors Count Nainmericus of Narbonne, The suspect genealogy of Eilbert is omitted, and Countess Ermengard, sister of Boniface, the great Prince of Pavia: but immediately, by a shameful anachronism, the same Ebroin is asserted to have been enriched with certain fiefs in Condroz and Famenne by King Louis, the last of the stock of Charlemagne, who only began to reign nine years after, according to this very chronicle, Eilbert his son ceased to live. Moreover, among the seven sons of Ebroin (of whom the firstborn was Eilbert; the last Marcuard, Bishop, unknown to all catalogs of Gallican Bishops), in the third place is counted Heribert, Count of the Vermandois, whom others commonly derive from Pippin, King of Italy, son of Charlemagne, by a very different series of generations. Then it is described how these same brothers, about to avenge themselves on a certain Canon of Rheims, who had received a precious necklace as a pledge for the price of a noble horse, and, when the price was exhibited, denied that the pledge was with him—how they took the city of Rheims by stratagem; and that they might bring under their power the enemy who had fled, they burned the church; and conquered King Charles, who came with an army to avenge the crime, in battle, and held him captive at Péronne in the year 922; until, the necklace being restored, peace was made and the King honorably dismissed: who nevertheless, mindful of the injury done him, after Heribert's death permitted that a certain Rudolph, Count of Cambrai, should invade the possessions of Heribert's sons. Having received power, and using it, he burned the town of St. Quintin, where with her monastery a noble woman, converted there, burned to death, and the fabulous occasion of the monasteries founded. once beloved of Count Eilbert, and made by him under the pretense of matrimony the mother of a certain Berner; who, when grown up, killed Rudolph in single combat, but shortly afterwards himself also died in the flower of youth. All of which things are more like to some romance by a noble, such as the vanity of flatterers has fabricated concerning the origins of each of the chief families, than to history. Certainly, about the captivity of Charles the Simple we have all other things in more certain histories: namely, that the Princes (among whom was Heribert), induced by hatred of Hagano, too powerful with the King, having abjured him, substituted and crowned Robert: fighting for whom, in the year 923, they indeed lost their King, but remained victors, and, with Charles put to flight, chose Rudolph, Duke of the Burgundians, and raised him to the kingdom. That nevertheless Charles was so simple, that deceived by the promises of Heribert he trusted himself of his own accord to him; who after several times changing the custody, shut him up at Péronne, and held him until his death, which he underwent in the sixth year of his captivity. Meanwhile the same Heribert, who had contrived that his five-year-old son be elected Bishop of Rheims, under the guise of guardianship occupied the city. I omit what followed, which contains the wars born from these causes and various successes: I only say that nowhere occurs any mention of Rudolph of Cambrai, none of Berner; and if there was some Berner born of Eilbert, his immature death could well have moved the father, lacking a proper heir, to begin to turn his mind to founding monasteries: on which matter we seem able to give some credit to the author of this Chronicle, and to excerpt these things, concerning the foundation of Waulsort and others earlier. But whether Eilbert had some share in Herebert's crime, which by his penitence he might expiate, I have no grounds for affirming or denying. I fear that the burning of the Church of Rheims is a fable, since Flodoard nowhere mentions it.
CHAPTER I.
The foundation of St. Michael's and other monasteries, and finally of Waulsort, and the pious life of the founders.
[5] Count Eilbert, attempting endeavors of the noble arts above all the contemporaries of his lineage, became industrious, strenuous, and a warlike man, to such a degree that from his own estate, to avoid uncertain accidents, while still in his early years he built seven castles… After this, beset by various misfortunes, and remembering the excesses of his youthful way of life, The monastery of St. Michael at Tirasce is founded, he humbly turned the action of his intention toward the Lord; and in zeal for this good will, out of his own private property, together with his most illustrious wife Herinsindis, he founded a basilica at Tirasce in honor of the Archangel Michael, and in that place having gathered brothers serving God under the rule of Blessed Benedict, setting an Abbot over them, he established not small provisions for the uses of daily sustenance, and placed that place under the subjection and ordering of the Bishop of Laon. a But his venerable wife Herinsindis, subjecting herself b to those serving Christ in the same place, began from motive of piety to frequent it, and not sluggishly, according to the loftiness of her probity, strove to provide necessary things for the same. And since it was rumored that a little dwelling for her own body would be made there for her, not far from the same place she took care that a monastery of virgin nuns be constructed by the aforesaid Count with the greatest concern: so that he, who had raised the height of a sacred edifice to the chief master of heaven and leader of souls, the holy Archangel Michael, might with his own endeavor and proper labor compose a venerable temple for Blessed Peter, key-bearer of Paradise, in which the handmaids of Christ might by the frequency of their prayers expiate the guilt of their past misdeeds. Compelled therefore by her entreaty, and near it another of virgins of St. Peter and by veneration of Blessed Peter, at the distance of two miles from the monastery recently constructed by him, in the place called Bocileis c, he laid foundations; and raising it up, with the work completed he set up a temple, in which by the same was constituted a congregation of virgin nuns, and whatever the order of such requires. But with many dwellings being constructed in order, giving them a pastoral staff, he set over them an Abbess, and he constituted the same place, as a superior one, under the rule of the Prelate of the Church of Laon d. Therefore, as the sacred sentence has it, "Let the just man strive to grow from virtue to virtue, that he may be more justified," this venerable Count devoted himself wholly to the works of mercy, and striving to establish his patrimony in a safe place, enriching the mother of mercy with the dignity of lofty honor, then the church of St. Mary at Homblières namely Blessed Mary, he built an excellent basilica, and subjecting to that monastery the village of Homblières e, where it was seen to have been founded, he endowed it with great honors of estates. From the aforesaid patrimony of his, at the same time he constructed three monasteries along with the former ones, to which he assigned as much of the revenues of the estates as seemed sufficiently sufficient for the uses of their necessity, while they in these monasteries rendered to God the due of their service.
[6] Having at length ordered the monasteries, and prepared them to live regularly according to the institution of St. Benedict, the Brothers in them being gathered together; that the rule of justice might be more strengthened in the rigor of its tenor; he established that the same places be under the ordering and protection of Abbots, giving definitive privileges of right; and so to fit successors and spiritual sons, who could reap their carnal things and sow spiritual things for themselves, he left the abundance of his inheritances. With these things arranged congruously and prudently for all, according to the dominion of his greatness and with the authorities of the magnificent chief honor, as was fitting to his nobility, he made an end of these works, and wholly devoted himself to God, serving divine contemplation. At that time, while on a certain day he was residing in the castle which he had built at Florennes f, he began to remember the time spent in his action, and silently turning it over within himself, he began to shudder not a little at that rash crime, what had been done to the basilica of St. Mary of Rheims. For, remembering, he began to meditate at length, a seventh, that by the strongholds of the seven castles, he was making eternal citadels of curses for himself. He resolved also that this structure of malediction be remedied by the antidote of benediction: for he had built seven dwellings of malediction, of which he resolved to make seven dwellings of benediction and of the Holy Spirit. And because often in sacred speech universality is designated by the septenary number, so that he might seem not partially but fully to fulfill the divine law, and might deserve by the grace of the same Holy Spirit to multiply in himself the drop of spiritual renewal from the rivulet of the sevenfold Spirit; to the senary number of constructed churches, he added a seventh in honor of the Mother of God, and in recompense for the destroyed church of Rheims.
[7] in a solitary place, But being about to describe the quality of the place, in which the structure is known to have been, let us first see from wild and wooded what it was made, and from unshapely and slanting into how great a beauty it passed. At that time this place was uninhabitable, except that the house of the Count was somewhat less than invisible among the density of the grove, where, according to the discretion of his body, with the common people removed from him, he frequently dwelt in solitude. For the general habitation was then in the place called Prireriis g, where there was a church, and the common necessary things of the inhabitants were prudently and congruously composed in the manner of a town, with honorable cultivation. And the castle of that town was surrounded not far from the same place with suitable fortifications, by which a battalion of an opposing party could be driven completely far off, if its inhabitants were alarmed by some infestation—Waulsort is constructed, as the traces which still stand to this day show. Therefore, having gathered artisans of manual works, at that time by his order the grove near his house was cut down, and little by little, from slanting and uninhabitable, the place is rendered adorned and wholesome. Hence, as the matter required, all things being prudently acquired which would be fitting for the necessities of the ensuing work, and artisans skilled in stone and wood being gathered together, near his house he constructed a temple, around which convenient habitations are composed by the industry of artisans, and a cloister-dwelling of spiritual Brothers is put together.
[8] In the year, namely, from the incarnation of the Lord, nine hundred and forty-four, in the year 944, in the ninth year of the reign of Otto the First h, the foundations of the aforesaid temple were laid by Count Eilbert, and within the space of three years all were completed with beautiful work. And when he had regularly completed all in order, he built a church in honor of St. Patrick i where now is seen to be the cemetery of the brothers, and thus prudently and honorably, along with the memorable work, he completed the rest. With the temple at length constructed according to the greatness of his nobility, desiring to benefit the utility of the Brothers who would come after, he tore down the castle aforementioned, and the village which was situated in its vicinity and seemed to lie under him, he ordered to be removed from thence, and to be rebuilt again near the habitation of the monastery. But at that time he began carefully to meditate, by what increases and how the church might be multiplied through him, and the worship of religion in it be extended, and it might retain the liberty of its right, and acquire for him the name of an eternal blessing. At length, having entered wholesome counsel, he approached the aforesaid King, and to him
disclosing the secrets of his counsel, and intimating the whole intention of his action, he prayed that the help of his grace might be with him in the present business. And so by the mutual ordering of King and Count alike it was decreed, with Otto I confirming, that whatever of donation and gift was conferred by both parties upon the aforesaid church should from that day and thenceforth be protected by the protection and help of the King; and not only the gift of present things, but also whatever should come to it by the offering of the faithful.
[9] But with the church placed under the dominion of Roman majesty, from the same Roman King the aforesaid Count received the gift of the investiture of the place itself and of the Abbacy: and having designated the things which were conferred upon the church by him (for the following discourse will declare all these things) by his providence, with the King's censure urging it on, he sustained it for twenty-three years k. Then by mutual ordering, whatever his father Count Ebroin had acquired in Antinum l and Heidra from King Louis m by feudal dowry, he deposited; and in the presence of that same King, he stripped himself of the dignity of the aforesaid fiefs, and it is endowed with great possessions. on this condition, that the mutual consent of King and Count—that is, the King's concession and the Count's donation—should be firmed up by royal decree, and this free exchange should pass without scruple into the lawful power and perpetual possession of the church of Waulsort. But the Count himself recounted there again the things which were conferred upon the same Abbey from him, and designating ninety-five "mansi" of land, nineteen "culturae," very many meadows, ten villas with great revenues and their churches, and with an immense household, and those things which because of the difficulty of counting (since it is contained more fully elsewhere) we have deferred to report, he showed, and assigned all things under royal testaments. Then he applied no small care of his action regarding the place, but he also gave the necklace n aforementioned, which had once been the cause of sedition and controversy, and for which many untoward things happened, to the same church, and among the other ornaments, he ordered that it, being of principal and more excellent rank in it, should be not sluggishly guarded in perpetuity through succeeding times.
[10] Herinsindis dies, At that time the Countess Herinsindis, persevering in pious works, and from day to day advancing in holy conversation, continually adhered to the aforesaid basilica of Blessed Michael the Archangel by frequenting it; in which not long after, having laid aside her flesh, she received the receptacle of burial. After her death, however, the venerable Count, meditating day and night on the divine law, and going about by frequenting the precious basilicas dedicated to God by his wisdom, and by his counsel bestowing upon them assistance and solace; The Count takes another wife. he arranged to cleave to God and to serve him with all the affection of the mind, and taking up the contest by struggling against the craftiness of the invisible enemy, he composed for himself defenses by which the fraud and deceit of the envious tempter might be torn down, namely charity, and the badges of virtues which spring from its root. But while in such sacrifices with continual meditation he was sacrificing and offering himself to God, a multitude of his relations rose up against him, who, gathered together in one onset, suggested to him that they would by no means endure that his lands be inherited by others after him. Since therefore he was in a way compelled to yield to their importunity, they sought for him a wife fitting in lineage and dignity, to whom he again clung in conjugal union. But the resolve of human striving avails nothing against the decree and counsel of the divine majesty: and this same wife remaining sterile, he lived without children. o
ANNOTATIONS.
The King of the noble English gave this to him, Whom he hoped to be favorable, giving many things freely, Among which, such a share of the giver's pleased him.
CHAPTER II.
The coming of St. Forannan, under whom the monastery is subjected to the Archbishop of Metz and is increased by the accession of the monastery of Hastière.
[11] With the course of twenty-three years passed, a the venerable Archbishop Forannan, admonished by angelic command, Forannan, coming from Scotland with companions, leaving his own soil from the parts of Scotland, seeking the place of the fair valley designated to him by the Angel, came with twelve companions, and coming he met the venerable Count; and being asked by him whither he was going, he soon showed him the angelic tokens, and thus with the greatest honor he was brought by the same Count to the aforesaid habitation. His coming indeed and the service of his reception, in how great a veneration it was held by the Count and by all the natives, whoever fully desires to know, let him read the book of his deeds, for there he will find a sufficient search of this matter. For having entered the dwelling, not long after b both, the Count and the man of God, approached the presence of the King, to whom the Count laid down the gift and investiture of the Abbacy, and by prayers with the King obtained c that the worshipper of God should be invested by the same King with the aforesaid gift. He is constituted Abbot But the sanctity of his life being known and the integrity of his manners ascertained, the King willingly granted the Count's petition, and humbly and devoutly announcing to the holy man that the support of his service and counsel would be at hand, and commending himself everywhere in his prayers, he gave the gift of the Palatines and the Abbacy by decree of the nobles, and by royal decrees established that the same Abbacy, without scruple of any controversy, should thenceforth at all times be protected by royal and imperial protection. And that this constitution might remain fixed and unshaken and immovable in perpetuity, namely from the village of Heidra and from the domain benefices he retained for himself a ninth part, and as a monument of the royal decree, lest in succeeding times imperial protection should be lacking to the Abbacy, he ordered it to be paid each year in the Church of Aachen. under imperial protection: Wherefore it was there decreed by the judgment of the nobles of the court, in the presence of the same King, that the Major-domo, namely the Provost of the Church of St. Mary which is at Aachen, with the other more powerful Canons, should rise up as advocates for the same Abbey in the time of its tribulation; and should bring forward its importunity, as their own, in the presence of the King and of the Princes, wherever the said King should be. At length the worshipper of God, returning from the King, with his companions began to inhabit the place, and according to the angelic response to name it "Fair Valley": which name, as it remains in common speech even now, some wrongly think was drawn from a certain Tisiodorus, who (as they say) inhabited that very valley. Certainly, Waulsort was not named from the name of Tisiodorus, but from the angelic proclamation, who called it a fair valley; Walciodorus, that is, is named as "fair valley": indeed, this place, once uncultivated and overwhelmed by the density of trees and brambles, had been adorned with beautiful ornamentation by the industry of the aforesaid Count Eilbert. For by the Scots themselves, according to the idiom of their own and our language, that name could not be adapted; but as has been said, they called it Walciodorus, that is, "fair valley," according to the property of each language d.
[12] In those days a certain Deodericus ruled the infulae of the Pontificate in the Church of Metz, Deodericus Bishop of Metz: a man of honest life and distinguished by elegance of manners. For this man, with both Kings, father and son, namely the father
Henry, and son Otto, because of the religion of his name and the excellence of his sanctity e seemed so dear, that they used his counsel, discretion, and prudence in all the business of their affairs: this man, however, by the closeness f of consanguinity adhered to Count Eilbert, and both often enjoyed mutual conversation of each other. When, however, they spoke with one another, and words were strewn between them on many things, by event it happened that the Count had speech about the church of Waulsort, in which, as he himself said, with Eilbert he speaks to Deoderic about Blessed Forannan, a certain religious man served in pastoral care, who for love of Christ's service had left with his own soil the dignity of his honor, and there recently had come with noble Companions under angelic guidance. But the venerable Pontiff, learning of the rule of sanctity and justice of the excellent Prelate Forannan from the report of illustrious men, and himself desiring to adhere to him with his whole mind, suppliantly asked the Count to bring him with him to the palace. But when, coming there, they saw one another, they mutually saluted each other, and each humbly asked a gift of blessing from the other, refusing in this kind of office to be first. But because Blessed Forannan, and with him brought to him, for the double honor of heavenly grace, was Archbishop and Abbot, and therefore was recognized in this respect as superior, he yielded to the venerable man and religious Bishop, and with hand lifted up, with the triumphal banner of the holy Cross he fortified with the head the whole body of the said Bishop. Then sitting and unrolling the mysteries of the sacred pages, they had mutual conversation; and after manifold colloquies of sacred proverbs, they betook themselves to the suffrages of prayers. It happened, however, while these things were being treated, that from both parties in common a word was made about the place of Waulsort, and the Bishop brought forward a speech about the village of Hastière, taking occasion of reasoning from the aforesaid word.
[13] When therefore the Count learned the will of the said Bishop, He hands over the Monastery of the Virgins of Hastière, that through the church of Hastière he wished to transfer the house or Abbey of Waulsort to the Church of Metz; he began to turn over in his mind how, with the honor of the church being preserved, according to what had been done, it could be disentangled from the royal hand. For Hastière g, because it is situated near in the confines of the monastery of Waulsort, seemed to the Count to be suitable and profitable for the church of Waulsort. But since that church was known to have been built by his predecessor Lord Adalbero, prelate of Metz h, and by the same given to St. Glodesindis and to the nuns there serving God, and confirmed by testament; the Count began to hesitate; and seeking counsel from him, asked how these things might be done, with the dignity of both parties preserved. And when the Bishop understood the Count's hesitation, he strove straightway to remove it from his breast, and opened the course of the following reasoning, how it could be done. For with an exchange deliberated upon, which would be assigned to the nuns of St. Glodesindis for Hastière, he insinuated his purpose to him, and so, the obstacle of wavering being removed from him, he persuaded the Count to proceed in the proposed plan. At length, having entered upon counsel with equal consent, they approached royal magnificence, and intimating to Blessed Forannan the action of their counsel, by the deliberation of concordant will they came to the court. Then by mutual will it was decreed, that they should have as patrons of their proposal the chief men of the court of sounder counsel, and thus, the matter set in motion, relying on the assistance of the Princes, they might investigate the counsel and assent of Royal authority for the aforesaid business.
[14] But the King, hearing the petition of the venerable Deoderic, Pontiff of Metz, and so with the consent of Otto, and considering no less the devotion of Blessed Forannan, and noticing also the sagacity of good will of the Count, for the advancement of the churches, inquired the cause of each matter. Whence also by the same Pontiff, and by the other Princes of the royal court, he was plainly instructed how, with the dignity of the Royal censure preserved, the transfer could be made of the Royal decree, and the gift of the Court assigned by legitimate right could be detached. Wherefore it was decreed with counsel that the advancement of the churches should remain under the protection of Imperial authority, and the convenience of the Royal Court should be had, provided however that all things should hang upon his nod. When, however, the King understood the edict of this constitution from the princes, the right of Patronage of Waulsort passes to the Bishop of Metz, he immediately yielded to the will of the religious man Forannan and to the petition of the venerable Pontiff Deoderic and of Count Eilbert, and divesting himself conditionally of the aforesaid gift of the said Abbey, according to the promise of the prior condition, by legal decree he constituted the gift and Abbey of the church of Waulsort under the power of the Church of Metz. But how this constitution was authorized, we shall open in what follows. For the venerable Pontiff showed in the presence of the Princes to the King the exchange which he had assigned to the nuns of Saint Glodesindis for Hastière, and thus the aforesaid Hastière with all its appendages, by the consent and deliberation of the greater convent and of Saint Glodesindis of the Church of Metz, placed for the uses of the church of Waulsort into the power and hand of the King, and was freely, by the decree of the Princes, from the same King, and by the Pontiff from the elders of the churches of Metz, assigned to Blessed Forannan; that he, as Abbot of the same church of Waulsort, might hold it without scruple and controversy and any opposing motion; and that his successors, who should hold the rule of the same church, might hold it forever through succeeding times; and it, remaining in perpetuity under the rule of the same church of Waulsort, might be defended. in the year 969, But lest the composition of this Royal and Imperial decree and the deliberation of the same majesty be frustrated by any effort of nefarious audacity, by any clerk or layman, noble or ignoble, violating it, it is confirmed by the authority and judgment of the Princes by the testament of Imperial munificence; and so Hastière is placed to serve the right and dominion of the church of Waulsort, in the year from the incarnation of the Lord nine hundred and sixty-nine, Indiction XIII, Otto the First reigning, in the 34th year of his reign i.
[15] But lest at any time the church of Waulsort be vexed by the motion of any man; for the protection, advocacy, and defense of the aforesaid Abbey of Waulsort, he retained the ninth mentioned above, on the aforementioned condition, and granted it defined in this order, that the church of Metz, advancing by a straight path against Waulsort, on honest conditions: should do it justice from all ecclesiastical right; and lest, withdrawing from that same justice, it should transgress outrageously against it, he sanctioned that if from the same church of Metz or from its Bishop any scruple of controversy from the same Hastière should arise for the church of Waulsort, and monks are established at Hastière. the church of Waulsort should revert to its former state, and again receive the aforesaid gift from the King's hand. But the utility of this emancipation and the deliberation of each thing, by the gift of the Abbey of Waulsort being withdrawn from the royal hand, and from the village of Hastière, with all its present and future things, and all its appendages, subjected to the monastery of Waulsort, let it be read, authorized by the decree of the princes of the court under royal testaments, and confirmed by the witness of Lord Deoderic and of Blessed Forannan and of Count Eilbert and of the chief men of the court. At that time, indeed, the nuns of Saint Glodesindis held the village of Hastière, and in the church of the same village, under the command and rule of the Deaness, certain of them in that same cell, serving the place, lived, and under the yoke and obedience of the Abbess of Saint Glodesindis, all walking alike, all things were ruled. Then by the bidding of the Abbess k, having returned to their monastery, they left the place; and so afterwards each one, holding what was of his own right, disposed of it from that according to his own judgment. Therefore, after counsel taken, in the same church of Hastière by Blessed Forannan and the Count, with the nod of the Emperor and by his counsel, four Priests were constituted, who, from the office of divine service, ruled that same church, according to their order, for many days.
[17] Meanwhile it was decreed by both parties, by Blessed Forannan and the Count, with the Saint and the Count setting out for Rome, with the nod of the Emperor and by his counsel, that they should make known to the Roman Pontiff, in order, the weight of the matter and the action of past business, and from the aforesaid things should seek the help of his counsel and the strengthening of his protection. Applying action to this definition, they undertook the labor, and with companions appointed, and things fitting for the necessities of the journey prepared, by a hastened journey they came to Rome. For coming there, they were honorably received by the same Pope and by ecclesiastical men: by Benedict VII who, inquiring the cause of the journey, and asking who they were, and why they had undertaken the vexation of so great a journey, learned that they were men flourishing with probity of manners; whence also, looking upon the countenances of their well-mannered conversation, they were held with the veneration of greater dignity, and promoted to a more worthy cultivation. At length the purpose of his mind being revealed, and declaring the cause of his journey to Lord Benedict the Pope, who seventh in the knowledge of this name was at that time governing the Pontificate of the Roman Church, they sought the guardianship and strengthening of his authority. And when the probity of life and laudable conversation of Blessed Forannan had become known to him, and he had been instructed how, leaving his own soil, he had deserted the honor of the Archbishopric by angelic order, and had come to the habitation named for him by the angel; he was regarded with the greatest honor by the aforesaid Lord Pope and also by the whole Clergy. At length hearing him, he gave his assent to his will and petition, not only on account of the intervention of royal authority and the entreaty of the illustrious Count, but also on account of the veneration of his sanctity and religion.
[18] the acts concerning both monasteries are confirmed, Therefore, with the things declared for which the business was being conducted, by the censure of the Roman court, all things which are in the present and can in future succeed to the church of Waulsort, are constituted in the protection of the same Roman majesty. And that this constitution through succeeding times may be firmly kept, and the Apostolic authority with Royal and Imperial firmness may more strongly prevail, he established that the village of Hastière, with all its things and appendages, present and future, should serve the church of Waulsort, and without scruple, as one of its other estates, should be subject to it in perpetuity. Lest therefore the firmness of this institution of Roman majesty, and the strengthening of the Apostolic decree, be at some time violated by any person today constituted in any order, Layman or Clerk, King or Bishop, or any other person whatsoever, by rash audacity, it is established by the decree of the religious men of the court, that from that day and thereafter whoever shall have dared to infringe the strengthening of the defined aforesaid constitution, shall be subject to the bond of perpetual excommunication, nor shall receive absolution from any Priest or Bishop under any condition, except the Roman Pontiff, and the Episcopal right is preserved for the Saint. who will make absolution for his guilt on this condition, if he shall have repented with worthy satisfaction, and restoring what he had wrongly usurped, shall have ceased from the detriment of the church. Then by the decree of each deliberation, namely of the Lord Pope and of the religious men of the court, it was sanctioned that Blessed Forannan, departing from them, should retain the privilege of his Archbishopric in every office and action and divine worship; and also that he should carefully exercise the rule and care of souls entrusted to him and the Pastoral care in his monastery, and that the same monastery, under the protection of Apostolic authority, should forever be defended with firm stability. But so that the testament by so great witnesses
authorized as fixed and unshaken might be rationally preserved in perpetuity, a privilege l of the Roman Church is sent back through Blessed Forannan. m
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER III.
The testament and pious death of Count Eilbert and of St. Forannan.
[19] Since, as noted above, after the death of the Countess Herinsendis, Count Eilbert, by the persuasion and counsel of his relations, had again been bound in carnal wedlock, with this second wife remaining sterile he lived without children. Nevertheless, living lawfully with her, he subjected himself to the services of divine ministry, as far as he was permitted by the requirement of his condition and calling. But this noble woman had borne and nurtured from her former husband The Count using the filial service of stepsons, two youths of good disposition: who, clinging familiarly to the Count in the manner of sons and not stepsons, by the zeal of long-continued service subjected themselves to him in ministerial fashion: then, showing through the service of their attendance, in a certain way filial love for him, they served him not as a stepfather, but as a true father. It happened, however, at that time that, as it fell out, the Count was present at the royal court with these young men; who, since he was lame in his feet, so that he could not walk without supporters, he was accustomed to use their help and aid wherever he wished to go, leaning on the shoulders of each. And when in the presence of the King a and the Princes they subjected themselves to him in such service; before the King himself, the King began to gaze upon the diligence of the service of the youths and to praise them in manifold ways: moreover, their well-mannered conversation being investigated, they were extolled by the voice of all the Princes. When, however, standing before the King, the Count was leaning upon each youth, the King, wishing to know the cause from the stature of the youths, inquired by investigation their names, the line of their descent, and who they were, and for what cause they clung to him so familiarly. He, however, opening in order to the King the descent of the boys, designated their names. And therefore the King, considering the constancy of their kindly service, said: "Truly, Count, they deserve to be rewarded by you with a worthy prize: since they have served you faithfully thus far with such obedience of service."
[20] The Count therefore, encouraged by this royal counsel, in the sight of him and of the Princes, removing both stepsons from his right and left hand, and placing them before the King, said: "To the Ruler of ages and to you, Lord King, I give thanks, because the judgment of your discretion in this action is joined to my judgment, and the dignity of your benign moderation persuades our humanity to do these things. He hands over to them the dominion of Florennes Wherefore to you, Godfrey, and to your brother Arnulph, on account of the favor of my Lord the King, which he has benignly opened in showing it to you, and also as a reward for your service, which you have faithfully rendered to me by your long labor, in his testimony and that of the nobles of the court, I freely hand over the district of Florennes with its entire ban, and the domanial benefice from the same ban. And that you may freely and legally and without any adverse movement possess all these things, I grant to you the castle there built by me, with its fortifications, and the town; and also I establish that as many as have been subject to me in it by paternal succession, in right and nobly, be subject to you; except that the rights assigned by me to the Church of Waulsort from the ban of Florennes, shall be preserved by you and your successors without scruple and contrary movement. and the right of burial at Waulsort: But your burial, you and your successors doing good to that same place, know that it has been perpetually constituted for you by me in the same monastery, and this constitution, on account of the honor of the Mother of Christ and our memory, whoever shall be Lord of the house of Florennes will keep unbroken through every succeeding time, lest he be subject to the perpetual curse, to which they will be subject who shall commit fraud against the same church in its revenues, constituted there by the faithful of Christ."
[21] whose Abbot may also reside at Florennes, But he decreed there in the presence of the King and the Princes, and in the sight of the aforesaid Godfrey and his brother Arnulph, with their witness, that the Chief of Waulsort, namely the Abbot or Provost, with his spiritual Brothers, from that day and thereafter, according to his will when it should please him, should reside for his right in the castle of Florennes, and with the ministers of the same castle, namely the steward and the aldermen, should bring forth his case judicially by discussion, and without anyone's violence up to the rebellion and contradiction of the peasants, freely with his own and with the aforesaid ministers exercise his judgments concerning his things. so that the subjects of both parties may be joined in equal right. He constituted moreover that from these two parts and powers, as one nation and one people, their households should cleave together mutually, and without contrary exaction and without the claim of bathinodium b, a man of Florennes from the power of Waulsort taking a woman, should marry her lawfully as an equal; as conversely likewise a man of Waulsort, taking a woman from the power of Florennes, should do. But if any man or woman of Florennes should pass to the power of Waulsort, or of Waulsort to the power of Florennes, he should be protected by the Rector of the power in which he had chosen to dwell; yet plainly so that the chief rights, and according to the decrees of their laws, that which is owed to each power, at certain and assigned times they should not neglect to render. But that the decree of this constitution may remain fixed,
by the judgment of royal authority and of the Palatine nobles, it is confirmed by royal testaments; and with the assent and grant of the noble young men, the settlement of the action proposed is terminated also by the oath of royal disposition, and by the honor of its own right, of inheritance and nobility, to be preserved both by him and by his successors. But from the immensity of so great a benefit the aforesaid Brothers rendered worthy thanks to the Count according to the measure of their eloquence, and faithfully adhered to his service throughout the whole course of their life, on account of the greatness of the honor by which they had been loftily promoted by him.
[22] The same Count having a tomb constructed Then, having returned from the King, he adhered to the Church of Waulsort by frequenting it, and with the greatest zeal prepared a burial place in it for his relatives and faithful friends. For he himself, opening up and digging out the earth from the entrance of the choir to the altar of the tower, built two walls in it, and composed the height of each at the measure of two cubits, and the width at the measure of one and a half cubits. There then he reburied honorifically the bodies of noble men of his family, with his father c and mother, and his son d Berner, and his brother Boso e. Those bodies, I say, were translated by his care from the places in which they had formerly been buried, on account of the fervor of love and the closeness of mutual consanguinity. transfers the bodies of his kin to Waulsort, Henceforth, since he continually clung to the meditation of divine service, and willingly took in the speech of divine contemplation, he made no small progress in the way of the Lord: whence it came about that sometimes he was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame, and his door lay open to the traveler. He truly rendered what was Caesar's to Caesar, and what was God's to God: and so by his industry, deluding and trampling upon worldly arts, he did not forget what subjection he owed to his Creator: and thus in his right hand he kindled the light of faith, so that the lamp of his simple eye was not extinguished by the darkness of sinister thought. Therefore, passing the remaining course of his life in holy conversation, advancing from day to day, like a strenuous contestant he indefatigably prepared himself for the contest, and by this drove away the snares of the crafty tempter: whence also in the struggle of this contest he manfully fought, that he might not be found as it were sleeping at the meeting of his Lord. Therefore he strove to prepare an entrance to the knocking Judge and his Lord, he devotes himself to continual prayer, so that they might not make confusion for him in the gate of his enemy. Striving therefore with heartfelt vows toward his Creator, he commended his own dissolution to him through continual victims of prayers, and prayed daily that the aid of divine mercy and consolation would be at hand to him, that with his faithful he might deserve to hear, "Come, my beloved, to me: for the time is at hand that you may receive from your labor the wage of perpetual reward and inestimable glory." So he followed by embracing his Glory, namely Christ, and ran in his commandments by meditating according to the measure of his conversation. Indeed, having attained from the lawful contest and from the course of his happy consummation the unfading crown, he went round the holy places in his accustomed way, and continually commended to Christ the pearl committed to him.
[23] It happened therefore, while on a certain day he was arranging to hasten to the basilica of Blessed Mary at Homblières for the sake of a visit, that, going out from Waulsort, he came to the village called Fleurus f, and there entered, as if into his own, for the cause of hospitality. But when he had entered, he was seized by a grave sickness, and, the illness growing stronger from day to day, he came to death itself. And when he saw the time of his calling to be at hand, he piously dies immediately sending a messenger from himself, he summoned to himself Blessed Forannan at the monastery of Waulsort: and through him, with the mysteries which befit this vocation performed, he commended his own dissolution to the Lord. Thus therefore, the course faithfully run, he migrated from this world to Christ, about to receive, with his work perfected, the denarius of his wage. Therefore Blessed Forannan, with servants sent on every side, from the monasteries built by him, summoned the Abbots to this funeral service. By hearing this report also, no small multitude of monks was gathered with clerks and nuns: and is honorably buried by Blessed Forannan, innumerable bands also of relations and noble men, having learned of his death, assembled, uttering lamentation and groaning; so that the affect of their mourning produced sorrow also for the nations of other peoples. Blessed Forannan therefore, with crowds of monks, clerks, and noble men, and with an innumerable multitude of both sexes, transferring the venerable body of the excellent Count from that place, led it to the basilica of the monastery of Waulsort; and there in the fitting place he honorably buried him: namely in that where he had arranged to be buried.
[24] So Blessed Forannan, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord nine hundred sixty-nine, in the aforesaid manner going forth from his own land, entered into the monastery of this habitation: which, ordering it regularly according to ecclesiastical laws with the Count, he magnificently adorned in all things, as our slender wit has written down by making it plain. In the seventh year after his arrival, in the said order, the venerable Count, laying aside his human frame, passed from this world, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord nine hundred seventy-seven, the fifth Indiction, in the third year of the Lord Otto the second Emperor g, on the fifth of the Kalends of April. who enriched the possessions of the monastery After this it happened that in the confines of the Bishopric of Metz Blessed Forannan by his industry acquired one village Gruthen for the church of Waulsort, and lest the inhabitants of the same church should suffer a want of wine, he assigned it for the uses of wine; but in the same city he acquired a house with two vineyards; and one of these, in memory of the church of Waulsort, he called Waulsort: for from that time until now, that same vineyard retaining the name for itself, is called Walciodorus. And because from the day in which the church of Waulsort was placed under that of Metz, it had been defined by the ordering of royal censure and of the Princes, that the Abbot of the same should assemble each year at Metz on the Invention of Blessed Stephen, to render the service of honor to the same church and to pay due subjection which the same church of Waulsort in recognition of its dominion ought to show; lest the aforesaid Abbot should suffer there a want of lodging, and with the manner of subjection to Metz defined, he prepared a house for him, and sufficiently assigned revenues to the same house for the uses of those coming. For no other contrary exaction, and no other service ought the church of Metz to demand from that of Waulsort, nor ought Waulsort to render to Metz, except the presence of the aforesaid day, on which the aforesaid Abbot ought to confess to his Lord, namely the Bishop, his prosperous successes, and to complain of dangerous turns and contrary motions; and if the Bishop should be absent, on that same day in the same church of Metz he ought to perform his duties, serving in all things after the Episcopal manner, except for the Episcopal insignia. But these things accomplished according to custom, the Abbot is to be inquired of by the Bishop concerning the state of his church, and having received his response, to give thanks to God for his felicity; he concluded his holy Life but to grieve over its tribulation, and to commit to him a fit procurator. For with respect to this same tribulation, as for his own, he ought to stand up as advocate, and for whatever occasion of necessity, as for his own, to be solicitous.
[25] Then the excellent Prelate Forannan, happily striving in holy conversation to consummate the course of the present contest, and desiring to multiply the talent committed to him, girding himself with the arms of justice, defeated the craftiness of the invisible enemy; and as a true and faithful reckoner, he strove not only to be of profit to himself, but, solicitous about his own salvation and that of others, for the sheep committed to him he implored the aid of divine mercy. Adhering to these and such meditations, he subjected himself to the Lord; and with all the desire of his mind contemplating divine things, he cast all the intention of his mind upon God; desiring with Paul the Apostle to be dissolved and to be with Christ. And when with such violence he desired the entrance of the heavenly kingdom; by example and work and by the pious mercy of the needy, he sought through sincerity of heart him whom he had loved with all eagerness. Therefore, as has been said, through daily compunction, with a blessed death. seeking on his bed at all times him whom he had so loved, he called him by a long-continued supplication: and thus by seeking and calling, having obtained the inheritance of eternal felicity, he is joined to the heavenly choirs, stripped of the coverings of human frailty. Nevertheless, whoever desires to know his life more evidently, let him study to read the book of his deeds and of his deposition: for there he will find the signs of his miracles, which Christ deigned to work in him before his deposition and after his passing; and also the time of his exit, in which he went forth from this prison of the flesh.
ANNOTATIONS.
distant from Florennes where the Count dwelt, and twelve leagues from Bavai, which village was made famous in the year 1622 by the slaughter inflicted, under Duke Tilly, upon the forces of Frederick the Palatine under Halberstadt and Mansfeld wasting Hainault: but from Bavai to Homblières there remains a space of about 14 leagues.