Bandaridus

CONCERNING ST. BANDARIDUS, BISHOP & CONFESSOR,

AT SOISSONS IN GAUL.

6th Century.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

The Saint's name, cult, age, Acts, relics, elogium.

Bandaridus, conf., of Soissons in Gaul (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.

Not among all, nor even among the Gauls, was the Saint of whom we here treat held in the same price, variously inflected variously formed by various writers, I will bring it about that presently you may clearly perceive. That he is to be called Bandaridus, not Bandaricus or Bandaredus, the very Gallic pronunciation Bandry or Bandriz seems to insinuate, whence, I know not by what reasoning, Saussay in his Martyrology formed Bandarinus; & indeed on the following day (perhaps from the Breviary of Soissons;) although certainly on this

day he died, & on the same day he is certainly announced in whatever Fasti, whether under the form Bandaridis, as Castellanus calls him, or under another quite similar one, concerning which we do not judge that one must dispute here at greater length. Bandaridus is to us he who, under Chlothar, son of Clovis the great, king of Soissons in the division made by his parent, succeeded to St. Lupus (which name we know to have been rather common), prelate of the same city, concerning whom there will have to be treatment on 19 October, about the year 538, not, as others, 540; by no means inferior to his predecessor, nay distinguished by those virtues which, offending the eyes of rivals, of the envious, let us say of the impious, brought upon him exile, upon the city all but ruin; as the Life itself a little more fully will unfold below. These things, that concerning the name enough may be established.

[2] But this is especially to be marveled at, that such & so great a Man was so passed over by all the ancient Martyrologists, he is the same who is certainly venerated. that he must have been unknown to all the Classical ones. For, that I may name even the numerous Usuardine codices, in none of them have I found him marked, except in the Lübeck-Cologne edition & in another edition, procured there by Grevenus, with these simple words: Of Soissons, of St. Bandaridus bishop & confessor; which very words, unless I am vehemently mistaken, were taken from our Florarium of the Saints, Ms. of the 15th century, in which on this day, in the margin, but by the same hand, he is inscribed; elsewhere, whether in Mss. or in printed editions, at least the more ancient, sought in vain; inasmuch as he is not known even to Surius: so that it may the more easily be understood that he was passed over by the more recent Gallic Legendist, in whom he is not even designated by name, although he doubtless did not fail to know that he was praised by Saussay & Cointius. But neither he himself, nor the Sammarthani, nor other more scrupulous writers will deter us from proclaiming the deeds & virtues of so illustrious a Man, since his cult at Soissons is set beyond controversy. Whence one may explore the Saint's age, you will understand from what is presently to be said.

[3] The occasion of defining the times of his predecessors has not yet offered itself, From the burial of St. Medard, 545, since SS. Edibius, Principius & Lupus pertain to the later months of the year. This the historian of Soissons, Claudius Dormay, hands down, in book 3, chapter 32, that he succeeded St. Lupus about the year 540, to which the author of the Legend that survives seems almost also to incline, when he designates the times of Lotharius (he meant to say Chlothar), most noble king of the Franks: this at least is certain from the Acts of St. Medard of Noyon, illustrated at 8 June, chapter 4, number 25, page 92, that St. Bandaredus, as he is there called, bishop of Soissons, with the due procession reverently went to meet, & received honorably, as was fitting, the most holy body, namely of the already-said St. Medard. You have besides, at number 28, that that same most holy body was, in the pre-ordained sepulcher, at Soissons most decently committed to the earth. From the year of that most celebrated translation the epoch of St. Bandaridus is altogether to be fixed, whom it is certain to have then lived & flourished, inasmuch as he was the chief performer of that most solemn ceremony. Here, then, the hinge of the matter turns, that one should certainly define in what year the most renowned St. Medard died, & was buried near Soissons.

[4] These things, moreover, are fixed both by Cointius & in our Acts at 8 June, his age is defined; not in the year 565, as it seemed to the Sammarthani, or in the year 560, as Dormay will have it; but some years earlier, namely 545; whence, concerning the age of St. Bandaridus, whom he calls Bandaricus, explaining his mind, the praised Cointius in tome 1, at the year 538, thus has: Bandaricus bishop of Soissons, when he had ruled the people, after the death of St. Lupus, whom the people of Soissons venerate on the 14th day before the Kalends of November, for some years by the singular example of a blameless life & by most salutary institutions & counsels, began to be torn by various speeches of the impious, of whom some charged him with imprudence, others with madness, others cast it about among the common people that he was a prodigal & squanderer of his own things, others called him a disturber of the brethren. By the order of king Chlothar, no council being held upon his life, nor any judicial order made, he was compelled this year, at the tumult of certain malevolent men, to depart from the city & the episcopate. He crossed into England, where in a monastery for seven years he lived humble & most patient, discharging the mean office of a gardener; as is read in the Breviary of Soissons on the 4th day before the Nones of August. But the certain epoch of the exile is gathered from this, that, a little after his return, he celebrated by his presence the funeral of St. Medard, with many other bishops, namely in the year of Christ 545: whence you may correct those who write that B. Lupus, predecessor of Bandaricus, died in the year of Christ 543.

[5] the time of the exile Further, that St. Bandaridus was in exile in Britain a whole seven years, our said Legend so distinctly expresses in more than one place; that if it errs in this, the whole must necessarily fall to ruin. But since, returned from exile, he certainly took care of the celebrated burial of St. Medard in the already-said year 545, what follows more evidently than that fully seven years before he must have ascended the chair of Soissons, & so, at the least, in the year 538, nay, if he ruled that church some years earlier, he obtained the sacred fillets much sooner: & since he seems not to have long survived the already-said burial, again Dormay & the Sammarthani are to be corrected, when they prolong his life to the year 556 or 566. Let us hear again Cointius at the already-said year 545: Bandaricus bishop of the people of Soissons, when he had been in exile for seven years, & through his absence sterility & a diseased inclemency of the air had greatly afflicted the whole diocese, messengers being sent into England by king Chlothar, was recalled. On the return, when he had come to the place which is called Arthesia, & is distant from the city of Soissons six miles, there, for the thirsting people, he obtained by his prayers a fountain of water, &, a little after his return, celebrated by his presence the funeral of St. Medard, with many others, & a few days after, seized by a fever, on the Kalends of August departed from life.

[6] & the year of the death. These things are read in the Breviary of Soissons on the day after the same Kalends, on which day is venerated the holy Bandericus, by some called Bandaridus, Bandaredus & Bandarinus, corruptly Bodardus. In both editions of the Gallia Christiana & in the Gallican Martyrology Bandaridus is said to have been present at the obsequies of king Chlothar, whose death we shall assign to the year of Christ five hundred sixty-one. The arguments on which this opinion rests are of no authority. The first, which we have abundantly refuted, supposes that Medard the bishop & Chlothar the king died in the same year. The other, which we shall dilute below, acknowledges as true & indubitable the privilege which is circulated as granted to the monastery of St. Medard on the fifth day before the Ides of March in the year of the Lord's Incarnation five hundred sixty-two by Pope John the third. Until stronger reasons occur, which would recall us from the opinion first adopted, we shall publish that the most holy prelates Medard & Bandaricus were taken from this life in the same year, the former on the sixth day before the Ides of June, the latter on the Kalends of August. And here we shall subscribe to Cointius, until clearer things somewhere shine forth, which you would scarcely dare to hope.

[7] The Acts a little too free Lastly it is asked what is to be judged of the Acts, deduced in a somewhat too free & liberal phrase, which could easily have been contracted into far fewer words. That the writer was several centuries later than the deeds performed, is gathered even from his own confession, which you have at number 23, where thus is read: Many things, moreover, worthy of record, not entitled to this work, could have been said concerning the deeds & virtues of the blessed man Bandaridus, if they had not been passed over by the carelessness & negligence of the writer. But lest anyone think me to be blamed, that concerning the manifold heap of virtues I have woven this work so scanty: I profess that, of the many things which are not handed down by writing to the memory of men, we have, as we could, scarcely touched a few. But we wish it to be made known to Your Paternity that a certain small material of this work was found, as it were, in a little scrap of a certain membrane, briefly noted as under an epilogue, which afterward, sought out by sagacious study, has been somewhat amplified by us through exaggeration. Of these things which we say there is witness that old little sheet, which if anyone shall have wished to look at attentively, all the things which we have written above or below he will be able to find gathered together in a clause of the theme so subtle.

[8] It is sufficiently clear, therefore, that the whole Legend was collected long after the death of St. Bandaridus: written in the 12th century. nay, if Nicolas Belfort rightly noted, by whose study & diligence we obtained our apograph from the Ms. of the cathedral church of Soissons, there was set thereto the name of the bishop of Soissons Joslen, who held that see from about the year 1126 to 1150, as the Sammarthani note, or, as Dormay, to the year 1152, to whom, doubtless, is to be referred the name of Paternity, which we have already shown the writer to have used, so that consequently the work itself must be judged to have been dedicated to Joslen, of whose faith & integrity you have already heard the author testifying. Whence, further, we have judged that those things must be cut away which he confesses to have inserted into his narration from the Acts of St. Medard, published by us long ago; so that it has been enough to subjoin those alone which, to prove the frequent miracles of St. Bandaridus, he repeats & inculcates more than once, not now from scraps or traditions, but from sight, there as also in all the rest of the Life a little more verbose, & amplifying many things, as he candidly confesses, through exaggeration; which same style the 32 lessons of the Mss., received from the very source, savor of, which therefore it was not worth the while here to describe, & for which we have preferred to substitute the neat compendium of the whole history from Saussay, then subjoining the whole Legend.

[9] Nor indeed are those things here to be passed over which, concerning the deposition of the sacred body, the historian of Soissons, Dormay, already praised more than once, recounts accurately enough, in book 6 chapter 43; The relics happily preserved. in that, namely, so often by us deplored, madness of the Calvinists, in which, at Soissons as also in almost all the rest of Gaul, they raged with monstrous fury against the most precious relics of the Saints, the Prior of the monastery of St. Crispin, dom Lespaulart, used such industry that he wonderfully deceived the iconomachs, no less crafty than raging. For, the favor of the prince of Bourbon being obtained, having received the faculty of transferring his wines into the monastery & elsewhere, he filled some vessels both with sacred relics & with the more precious silver sacred treasures, ornaments, charters & other things of that kind, & happily snatched them from the hands of the harpies, the guards being first so made drunk that they could not observe what was being done. And, all being deluded by this art, that the sacred body of St. Bandaridus was preserved altogether, there is witness in the same place the said Dormay, so that there even today his relics, intact & entire, are exposed to the constant veneration of the faithful. Lo now the elogium of Saussay, which we have judged opportune to shine before the Acts themselves.

[10] At Augusta of the people of Soissons, of the holy Bandarinus bishop & confessor. Saussay in the elogium He, in the time of Chlothar I, the most Christian king, St. Lupus being called to the heavens, appointed in his place by the harmonious votes of all, powerful at once in work & speech, strove earnestly to open to the flock committed to him the way of justice & piety:

that which he taught in words, showing first by deeds, so that he might more effectually move his subjects to the culture of divine religion. But since he excelled in purity of mind, chastity of body, brightness of morals, he was no less commendable for abstinence, but also assiduous in vigils, intent on prayers, & so given to almsgiving that he consumed almost all his substance in feeding the poor. Wherefore, held in derision by his own, & marked with the reproach of folly; by the king, as a squanderer of the ecclesiastical patrimony, ordered to depart from his see, & by his own citizens ignominiously expelled from the episcopate, he was driven into exile with great reproach.

[11] neatly enough But the blessed Man, trusting in the Lord, showed a distinguished example of patience in that temptation, & excellently exercised the study of humility, which he had ever cultivated. Crossing, namely, into England, there made a gardener in a certain hospice of a monastery, for seven years, with great tranquillity of mind & feeling of piety & profit, serving Christ in [his] members, he served as a soldier under a mean guise. Meanwhile the people of Soissons are afflicted by famine & pestilence; who, perceiving the wrath of God provoked, remembering the innocence of their Shepherd, whom they had unjustly persecuted, as suppliants approached the king, asking that, sought out & found by heavenly aid, he would recall the holy Prelate to his see: at whose return (as of old at the sight of Aaron, the priest beloved of God) the divine vengeance forthwith ceased; & the Man of God, aiding his enemies with fatherly affection, renewed the miracles of the apostles, with whose spirit & virtue he was strong: for whoever, being sick, sought a blessing from him, as a gift, the name of Jesus being invoked, & the sign of the cross being made, was by him endowed with health.

[12] he brought his Life to a close. But while the holy Prelate was adorning his recovered chair with these splendors, the blessed Medard, glorious pontiff of Vermandois, died, whose most sacred body king Chlothar took care to have carried to Soissons, that he might bestow on it a fuller honor, & commanded that it be buried with worthy funeral rites by the blessed Bandarinus: who, with censers & crosses & candlesticks, & with all ecclesiastical decorum, discharged the obsequies for the prelate altogether apostolic, the man himself wholly apostolic; & the pious Prelate, forgetful of injury, with every sign of charity, a little after buried Chlothar himself, likewise deceased, in that same temple of St. Medard which that king had begun. And having discharged these & other pious offices, enriched with the interest of divine grace & the fruits of justice, he flew away to the fellowship of the heavenly citizens. His body, moreover, laid up at St. Crispin the greater, on the right side of the altar of St. Mary, afterward shone with most illustrious signs of divine magnificence.

LIFE

From the Ms. of the cathedral church of Soissons. Transcribed by Nicolas Belfort, the distinction of chapters in the autograph being preserved.

Bandaridus, conf., of Soissons in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 0912

FROM THE MS.

To write the deeds of the holy Fathers is, to the pious & religious, an honor & a desirable vow: as, on the contrary, to the reprobate & envious, a dishonor &, as it were, a certain execrable detriment of the soul. ^a The Lives of the Saints please the good, but not the wicked. Hence, indeed, the mind devoted to God, made more eager by hearing, is as it were fattened with richer foods: but the wretched one, as if placed in famine, is tormented & too much agitated by the venom of envy. Hence the mind of the faithful, kindled with divine love, burns for the seeking of heavenly things: but the hearts of the reprobate, as if affected with weariness, waste away with the too great torpor of envy, & thereupon are plunged downward to the deeper places of hell. The table of God is here set before the faithful, abounding with all good things, when the life & acts of the Saints are recalled to memory either by writing or by reading: whence the mind of the elect is more nearly joined to God through contemplation, & meanwhile the greatest praise is ascribed to God, while it is assigned to his grace that the Saints, with his help, overcame the cupidities of the world. At this table, of which we speak, everyone can find what he may take as salutary for himself, & what he ought, for the grace of charity, to set before others; not, however, the proud & envious, not the contumelious & perverse of mind; but he, I say, who desires to imitate humility, meekness, patience, & the rest of this kind. But concerning the envious, whose hearts rust consumes, ceasing to complain too much, we turn our pen to those whose acts it is praise to confess, & whose examples it is pious to imitate, whom we trust will be our patrons in the recompense of the just judgment of God. And because, concerning all the Saints, even if we wished, we cannot commonly & competently weave a discourse; we take to ourselves one out of many, namely Bandaridus the pontiff of Soissons, of whose Life & virtues, as much as the Lord shall grant, we shall treat in the following work.

CHAPTER I.

A Shepherd most perfect in all things, accused before the king by the calumnies of the impious, is driven into exile: but the people of Soissons, pressed by calamities, are compelled to seek him back.

Chapter I.

In the time of Lotharius, ^b most noble king of the Franks, while the commonwealth, as was fitting, was ordered by the skillful industry of himself & of his most excellent princes: it happened, as is wont, that, death intervening upon Lupus of blessed memory, venerable bishop of Soissons, A Shepherd absolute in every number Soissons ^c remained for some time desolate, without a shepherd. Which, when the countless multitude of the great city bore too grievously, as being destitute of the protection of so great a patron: at last the supremely good Shepherd, who by singular privilege is called & is good, grieved; & by his divine grace inspired that all the people of Soissons should with unanimous vow acclaim & elect Bandaridus, an industrious man & distinguished by surpassing merits: & that the royal dignity might satisfy their votes, should with concordant voice proclaim & obtain [it]. Ordained, then, & consecrated pontiff, the blessed Bandaridus began to instruct the people committed to him, so that what he taught in words he himself should first show in his own deeds. He ever revolved in his mind what a burden he had taken up, & greatly feared lest the adversary, as a roaring lion, should devour anyone of the flock entrusted to him; whence, that they might resist him bravely, he incessantly admonished. But to these things he himself first went before his subjects, namely assiduous in prayers, in fastings, in almsgiving, in vigils continuous, in all holy & chaste conversation provident & chaste.

[3] watching sedulously over his flock, Patience, moreover, & humility he kept, with purity of mind: & to all coming to him he showed every kind of meekness & benignity. He also bestowed the divine seeds of the Scriptures on all conversing with him, congratulated those going before, applauded those weaving a discourse concerning God, rejoiced together with all persevering in good action. He was also glad within himself, while, remembering the mercies of the Lord, he might serve the miseries of very many, &, for the love of God, might commend whatever he could to the needy. Of whom truly it is sounded forth with the Davidic voice: He has dispersed, he has given to the poor; his justice remains unto the age of the age. So intent, indeed, was he upon the necessities of the poor, that, himself needy among them, out of all his stipends he reserved nothing at all, save so much as could scarcely suffice for daily sustenance; taking no thought for the morrow. So, then, this Saint conformed himself to all; that the rich believed him rather than themselves to be rich, & the poor discerned him equal to themselves both in habit & in countenance; & so he was content with every meanness, that he was discerned to be a guest in the world, who, otherwise excelling in probity of morals & as if exempt from the world, drew near to heaven.

Chapter II.

[4] Who, then, would believe that to so great a Man, for so great goods, evils could be repaid? with many calumnies But the ancient enemy & every foe of justice, who, as if through revived fires, incessantly repairs the torches of his envy, hurled also against this Servant of Christ the javelins of his malice. Since indeed from the court of the king through the empty air a thousand lies fly against him. There arises among the people an ambiguous din, a confused clamor. Some who were burning with envy said that the man of God was branded with the infamy of folly: & that he who ought to be the faithful & provident dispenser of the substance of the house of God, was a prodigal & squanderer, & a disturber of the brethren subject to him. So great, in fine, was the madness by which his ambushers were seized: that what he seemed to expend on the poor for the divine love, they imputed to hypocrisy; adding, moreover, that he served rather certain trifles & vanities than God. But others, whose mind was sounder, as fit witnesses of the things which he wrought in the midst of his people, professed that this was a shepherd & truly a ruler of the house of God, holy & just, sober, & a refresher of the poor; a just judge of orphans & widows.

[5] But because, the more the fire in the furnace is kindled, so much the purer is the gold approved: he is torn even before the king; the Lord willed the more to approve his elect, now placed in the fire of tribulation. Seeking, therefore, occasions against the father of the family, again from the palace the recruits blew forth the voices of blasphemy, like sparks, against the Servant of God, & suggested such things to the royal majesty, saying: Lord king, we have often seen, & have received from our predecessors, that all the pontiffs who preside in your kingdom after you ought to send or bear to you royal gifts, such as beseem so great a man. But there is Bandaridus, bishop of the people of Soissons, who seems to be separated from this custom, & withdraws his presence from the royal court, & sends royal gifts in no way, though you have set him over so great a grace of honor ^d gratis. Let therefore your majesty command that we may go to him & suggest to him how it behooves him to be subject to your dominion, & to obey in all things the royal edicts, as his co-bishops also obey. But these things are to be intimated, lest perhaps tomorrow he pretend the excuse that he never heard such things.

[6] So, by the king's order, going to the man of God, who, instigated by many lies, they intimated to him as they had suggested to the king: whose words, furiously hurled against him, ^e the excellent Priest hearing, is reported to have answered words of this kind, with great humility: My lord ^f the king commands according to that which is his will; indeed I would willingly & promptly fulfill his commands, if the possibility were present to me according to [my] will. But he knows, whose is all power in heaven & in earth, that I have nowhere gifts worthy of a king, nor can I so suddenly prepare the things which you demand as if by extortion: unless the Lord, to whom nothing of good is lacking, & who to all seeking him & trusting in him gives abundantly & upbraids not, deign divinely to minister to me his servant. But those, not bearing these words & raging against him with indignation, return in haste to the king, &, adding falsehood to falsehood, in returning compose a new calumny. To the king, then, they thus say: King, live forever. We have done what you commanded, we approached that stolid bishop Bandaridus: but we found him delirious in words & fretting in his answers, & we heard from him many unfitting things, which it would be base to utter into the ears of the common people.

[7] Moreover, he even affirmed under oath, that he would never frequent your palaces, he orders the Saint to be driven into exile: nor render any honor to you or to yours. Great care, therefore, is to be taken: because if you permit these things to go unavenged, as if patient & meek, & consent to grow soft,

your kingdom, divided against itself, will be made desolate, & subjugated to the dominion of another nation. One counsel (as it seems to us) is present to you in this matter, that he himself, the contemner of your precept, as contumacious be delivered into a workhouse, or as a defrauder be driven into exile. Stirred up by these reports, the king commanded that those who had been the reporters, being also the judges & avengers of that guilty deed, should send the holy Bishop, as they had before decreed, into exile, as one condemned by kings. Wherefore, the king's consent being received, at a hurried pace, on horses spurring [*] returning to the Bishop: Come (they say), bishop, from your bishopric, the guilt going before, being emptied out, withdraw. Though we ordained you shepherd, yet by the royal permission we depose you, as a contemner of all good [men]. And so, without a synodal assembly, & without any episcopal judgment, by the tyranny of laymen he was driven into exile.

Chapter III.

[8] Sent into exile, since his heart was having confidence in the Lord & not departing from the purpose of humility & patience, but he, having set out for England, he began to revolve in mind what he should do; namely whether he should remain among his own countrymen, or should cross over to foreign nations. And when it seemed to him more convenient to pass to the more remote places, where no one might know who or whence he was; no one might calumniate, no one might upbraid him for the misfortune which had befallen: he arranges, if the Lord should permit, to go to lands across the sea, that so his sojourn might be prolonged from his fatherland, &, on account of the difficulty of the more perilous journey, no one of his own might pursue [him]. Having set out abroad, then, at last he came to a port of the sea, which was said to be placid & quiet; where, while he anxiously awaited the coming of some skiff, among the multitude of rocks which abound in those places, he found one crag, as it were turned in the manner of a column, fit enough for that which he was arranging to do, & soon, an agreement being made with the shipmaster concerning the ship by which he was to cross the sea, he carved on the aforesaid crag the year of the Lord, the Kalend, the weekday, & the hour of that same weekday so openly, that any literate person could without difficulty recognize at what time he had crossed the waves of the sea. Then, the sea being happily traversed, he began to survey the English places, in every way foreign to him, & while he went about the walls of very many cities, he inquired of the inhabitants whether there were held near at hand any dwellings of monks. But at last, the heavenly clemency being propitious, as it were he takes a happy augury, that he had come to certain monks: from whom, while by prayers he obtained the long-desired hospitality, he understood forthwith that God was present & propitious to him, who had snatched him from the hand of those lying in wait, &, drawn out from the filth of this world, had led him to the tranquil hospice of the monks.

Chapter IV.

[9] The fellowship of the monastery, then, being obtained, the Man full of God, rejoicing, rendering immense thanks to the bestower of all goods, there he acts as the monastery's gardener. sang continually in his heart that of David: The Lord ruleth me & nothing shall be wanting to me, in the place of pasture there he hath placed me. But living in it, in that canonical habit with which he had come, & serving devoutly under the abbot's command, he chose it to be more blessed for himself to eat the labors of his own hands than to be free for idleness: whence for the space of seven years he was occupied only with the office of gardener. By whose diligence & study about the garden there was so great an abundance of vegetables, that, with the good favor of all, he abundantly satisfied his charge. But that the Lord might manifest how pleasing to him was his obedience, he conferred the virtue of his power upon his Servant in those very vegetables. For whoever, growing worse with any disease, came to him, as soon as he received, in the name of God, a potion compounded by his hand from the herb, was cured of every languor: & as many as were the kinds of herbs, so many kinds of diseases were driven away by the hand of the Man of God. His name, then, became celebrated among the peoples about the maritime regions: & innumerable people flocked to him, who, either by a potion, as we said, or by the imposition of hands, were made whole from whatever infirmity they were held by. But he himself, lest so great a virtue should be ascribed to him, contended that there was in the vegetables the providence of God, which wrought such health in men. He exhorted, in fine, all coming to him, that they should ever render thanks to God their creator, who saves all hoping in him, & humbles those glorying in their own virtue: because all virtue & wisdom is from the Lord God, & to him alone are thanks to be rendered in all generations.

Chapter V.

[10] But when, with these & other so great insignia of virtues, he was held celebrated in the parts of the English: But the divine vengeance raging against the ingrate, the Lord would not, however, that his Servant should remain there longer: nor that his lamp should lie hid any further under the bushel. For in that peregrination, a full seven years being nearly completed: that the people of Soissons might be admonished to recall their Shepherd solicitously, so far did the divine vengeance rage in the district of Soissons, & so did the sterility of the earth & the inequality of the pestiferous air conflict among themselves, that by the excess of famine very many were endangered even to death; & the nature of the air, changed by the judgment of God, suddenly, thousands of men were dissolved by death. By which terror too greatly stricken & in a manner troubled in mind, all the townsfolk, the suburban & the rest of the diocesans, wailing, send forth tearful voices even to heaven: Lord, have mercy upon us. ^g We have sinned, we have acted unjustly, we have done iniquity: our fathers have sinned & are not: but we have borne their iniquities. We are made orphans without a father, we have erred like sheep without a shepherd, nor is there one who seeks [us]. There is none who consoles us, who by prayers redeems: therefore we perish, therefore we are afflicted with death all the day like sheep of the slaughter. Most merciful Lord, king of heaven & earth, our corpses are left unburied, & for the too great stench there is none who buries. Be appeased, O Lord, & spare our sins for thy name's sake, & be propitious to the lot & cord of thy inheritance.

Chapter VI.

[11] These & other such prayers being poured out with groaning to the Lord, they are compelled to seek a healing Shepherd. they return into themselves &, counsel being taken, unanimous they come to the king's palace, &, raging & horribly clamoring, as if turned to sedition, said to the king: Ho, our king—but not truly a king, but a cruel tyrant, who without mercy & justice art seen & called—in what have we sinned against thee, or in what matter have we offended, that thou hast brought this great sin & the scourge of death upon us: that thou shouldst, through thy tyranny & thy men's, take away from us without cause our Shepherd, the teacher & governor of our souls & bodies; & not only expel him from thy kingdom, but even drive him across the sea, as a defrauder of the kingdom? O enemy of all justice, & sacrilegious contemner of the divine & human laws, by what rashness didst thou dare to shut out the Saint of God from his bishopric? Nay even, as at present thou seest, on account of his absence thou hast destroyed us by a cruel death. For this is the cause & this the sin, wherefore we are consigned to death. Render, therefore, to us him whom thou hast violently & fraudulently taken away. For this pestilence will not depart from us: unless the elect of God Bandaridus be recalled to his see, from which by an unjust judgment he was deposed. But if thou wilt do none of these things with an obstinate heart; either, condemned by the divine sentence, thou shalt perish, or, as thou hast done to the Saint of God, it shall redound upon thy head.

NOTES.

* Should it not be "sudantibus" (sweating)?

CHAPTER II.

Found in England, he is honorably brought back to his see; he frees the flock from calamities, and, illustrious for many miracles, buries St. Medard, & full of merits is crowned with the reward of his labors.

Chapter VII.

Hearing these things, the king feared exceedingly in a twofold manner; Happily found, namely on account of the disaster of death which he saw impending, & on account of the savagery of the people raging too greatly against him. Calling therefore his servants, he sent them in every direction, with other men of the city, to seek out the Man of God. Who, when after many days they had come to the sea, & had found on the crag, of which mention was made above, the title written, in which long before the holy man Bandaridus had noted the year of the Lord, the Kalend, the weekday & the hour of his navigation: cheered with immense joy, & certain of the journey undertaken, ascending into a ship they fly across the sea. And when, the ship left behind, they ran hither & thither on the shore, seeking the Man of God through towns & villages: at last by chance they come to that monastery in which the Man of God was performing the office of gardener. But while there they were insisting on prayer, & for the manifestation of their Pontiff were pouring out solicitous prayers to the Lord, it happened suddenly, by God's disposition, that one of the brethren called Bandaridus by name, & admonished that they should proceed together to the garden, because now the time was pressing of gathering the vegetables which were to be ministered to the brethren for refection. Which calling being recognized, that they might the more certainly find what they were seeking, they prick up their ears, rejoicing: & understand their prayers to have been heard by the Lord ^a, strengthened in faith. Rising therefore from prayer, they look about on every side, if perchance they might recognize among the others him who was called by name, & as the brethren came mingled in threes or fours, while he himself wished to hide among the others; he is recognized by his own; & straightway they closely embrace his knees, kiss his feet, & bathe them with tears; & with suppliant vow entreat that he return to his fatherland.

Chapter VIII.

[13] But he to them: What (says he) have I & you in common, little sons? Depart, I beseech, & be unwilling to disquiet me, he at first refuses to return, but permit me to attend to that which I have begun: because it is better for me to remain than to return to my fatherland & to be subject to your tyranny with grievous command & violence. But they subjoin with all meekness & humility: Lord father, the king of the Franks has sent us to thee, greatly desiring & beseeching thee, that thou be not mindful of the injury of himself & of his citizens. All the Franks await thee, the whole people committed to thee longs for thee ^b, & implores that thou return as quickly as possible. But he said: It is impossible, little sons, what you ask, namely that him whom the Lord by provident dispensation destined to me as a father, & who mercifully received me, a sojourner & wandering pilgrim, & through the course of seven years sustained [me], him I should desert & return to you, who drove me from your borders like a rabid dog, &, as you well know, in all things ill-treated [me]. It is not so fitting, sons, not

it fitting. But they: Be unwilling, Father, they say, to cast up these things to the injury of thy citizens. For it repents all, & they profess that without cause they provoked thee to anger, & thence humbly they ask pardon.

[14] To whom the Man of God says: You, as is of your will, pretexting the command of the abbot to whom he was subject: & as has been enjoined upon you, you speak: but I will disclose to you in few words the truth. Know for certain that I am not of my own right, but am altogether made bondman to another's dominion: whence it is not lawful for me to do anything or to go anywhere, without the permission of the abbot of this place. Whatever, therefore, he shall command me to do, it is expedient that I do to my power. At these things the legates fell silent. And straightway, rising from the place, they proceed to the abbot with haste: to whom they narrated all in order, namely how the man of God Bandaridus had been honorably ordained bishop in France, & for certain misfortunes had crossed the sea; for which cause again, by royal command, they were seeking him, & by what order they had found him called by name, & had recognized him hiding among the others, & what conversations they had had among themselves; finally, that unless by his command he could in no way be led back into France. The abbot, therefore, weighing these reasons with wonder, was terrified, affirming under oath that he had never heard anything like this. But he ordered the Man of God to come to him: to whom, reproving him, he thus says: O man, what is this which thou hast wished to do? Why hast thou imposed upon us? We do not judge to be the counsel of a sound head, that which thou hast arranged to do. For when thou wast, God's grace disposing, ordained & consecrated bishop, why didst thou introduce thyself to us as a pilgrim? And when thou wast honorably instructed in the study of letters, why didst thou feign thyself a rustic & unskilled in letters? For thou saidst that in no art at all didst thou know any mastery, save only the ministry of a gardener.

[15] Give therefore glory to God: & say why thou hast done this. Why hast thou withdrawn the blessing granted to thee by God, but he, the matter being explained, obeying the wishes of the legates, while thou hast concealed it from us? We do not adjudge this to be worthy & just: since indeed the gift which is from God ought to be manifest to all; all ought to acknowledge & seek it, all ought to venerate & cultivate it. To these things the Man of God, as he was ever mild of mind & patient, answered such things with soft words with humility: Be unwilling to be troublesome to me, father, & do not be saddened against me too much: because whatever of these things it is that thou reproachest me with having done against authority, I profess that I have acted before God & his Saints in purity & simplicity of heart: chiefly on this account, that if God, by the mercy of his loving-kindness, had germinated in me some seeds of a good conscience, I acted lest I should be defrauded by any envy of the devil, being frustrated of the vain glory of this age. Then, therefore, the abbot understanding that the man of the Lord Bandaridus had done all things with a pure conscience & unfeigned faith, prostrates himself before his feet, saying: I know thee to be a holy & just Man: & truly I believe that, from the time thou didst enter to us, the blessing of the Lord has entered with thee, which copiously overflows upon all our goods. But I ask that thou pardon me & our brethren, that we have not served thee until now as we ought to have done, as a servant of God; but thou rather, as the servant of us all, hast ministered to us. Satisfying, therefore, their petitions, the Man full of God thus says: May almighty God have mercy on you, & if you have committed anything against me negligently, may he spare you mercifully: & for your benefits, which for the divine honor you have charitably bestowed on me, may you receive a hundredfold from the Lord & possess eternal life.

[16] he bids the Saint return home again: Which said, the Man of God subjoined: Command at last, father, what I must do henceforth: because, as thou well knowest, our secret has lain hidden until now; but since it now becomes manifest to the world, if thou biddest me stay, I stay; if that I return, I return. To whom the abbot said: I would greatly wish & desire that thou shouldst remain with us all the days as long as the vital spirit rules thy limbs: that on account of thy presence the Lord might bestow on us the abundance of his blessing. But I see that thou canst not nor wilt resist the will of God, & I understand that thou art greatly necessary to the people committed to thee. Go in peace to thy fatherland, whither the Lord recalls thee. So, the license of returning being received from the father, he began to wish to go with his own. But the abbot said: Not so shalt thou set out without our company: for neither is it fitting. Leading him therefore by the hand, the abbot & the monks together followed him even to the sea: & bidding farewell & imprecating prosperous things, & associating themselves in a holy kiss, a blessing being sought & bestowed by the bishop, they returned. Nor is this to be passed over, that before they returned, they made a prayer for the voyagers, chanting psalms in turn & sending before this verse: Hear us, O God our savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth & in the sea afar off: after which followed the prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, who once with dry feet didst walk upon the sea, & Peter, tottering amid the very waves of the sea agitated by a strong wind, didst will, lest he should sink, to raise up: Grant, we beseech, to this thy servant & to all who are with him, to cross this sea with a prosperous voyage, & without any tempest deign to bring them safe & unharmed to the dry land: & wherever thence they shall go, may thy good angel accompany them & well dispose their journey, lest they incur any grievous peril of soul or body.

Chapter IX.

[17] The blessed Bandaridus, therefore, again with a happy furrow the sea being crossed, who, [refreshes his own, failing with heat,] when he had come into France, & the peoples had learned of his arrival: they straightway run to meet him with great exultation, thronging him for the honor's sake, a countless troop of horsemen & footmen. The divine power too walked with him; so that whoever, sick with divers infirmity, sought a blessing from him, soon, the sign of the cross being made over them, all were restored to health. And so, with the number of the faithful gradually increasing, both through the admonitions of the divine Scriptures & also through the incitements of holy virtues, with miracles flashing, everywhere the Lord magnified the Saint. But when the blessed Man began to draw near to the borders of the people of Soissons, forthwith to him flowed together an immense multitude of the people, animated from heaven: which, already before taught by the holy Man with salutary precepts, since it still doubly burned, namely with thirst of hearing the word of God & with bodily thirst before the intolerable fervor of summer; nor were any streams of water at all found there: after the manner of the Israelite people of old crying to Moses in the desert, they cried together to the Man of God, all who had assembled in the place called Aidisius, ^c distant six miles from the city, & said: Holy father, what shall we do? Thou indeed offerest us, thirsting, a draught of the divine word: but on account of the too great heat & the penury of water, being in perplexity ^d we fail. By thy merits, therefore, & prayers obtain water for us, lest we fail on the way.

[18] At these things the Man of God groaned in heart, & compassionating the thirsty people, as another Moses he consoles them with a fountain brought forth; said: Let us pray, little sons, small alike with great, that God & our Lord may deign to show us the abundance of his loving-kindness: & as, when Moses & Aaron his servants prayed, he willed once to bring forth water from the rock in the desert, so to us sinners, asking his mercy, may he deign to minister water from the bowels of the earth. Then all prostrated themselves on the earth, devoting themselves to prayer: with whom also the man of the Lord, fixing his hand-staff in the earth, lay upon prayer. And when for a little while prayer had been made & they had risen from prayer: the Man of God, raising his eyes, suffused with tears, to heaven, fortified himself & all his own with the sign of the holy cross. When therefore, after the prayer & the impression of the cross, he had drawn the staff from the earth: soon there followed a bubbling wave of a fountain so clear & so ample, that most fully all were refreshed & most abundantly recreated. Straightway so great a Shepherd is lifted up with immense exultation, & with marvelous voices they magnify such a man & proclaim him another Moses, equal in virtues & merits. But the aforesaid fountain, growing up abundantly by the prayers of the blessed Bandaridus, is passable to those going & returning hither & thither, offering to the faithful an indication of charity, & ministering solace to pilgrims & natives, as even to this day is manifest: whose refluent course of water shall not fail unto the age.

Chapter X.

[19] After these things, when he had begun to return to Soissons, surrounded by a countless troop of the people; there rushed to meet him the whole multitude of men & women, saying, & he frees the afflicted people from all miseries. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. There proceeds thereupon all the clergy, of the monastic & canonical order, in white vesture, with the ecclesiastical apparatus itself fittingly enough congruent: there follows afterward the choir of virgins devoted & dedicated to God: then afterward advances the huge company of nobles, & finally the throng of matrons radiant with tawny gold: & so with immense dancing so great a shepherd was received. Which being so honorably restored, forthwith the sterility of the earth was turned into most abundant fertility, & the pestilence of the corrupted air routed. Whatever, therefore, it is that with a pen we should wish to write out to the full, this we embrace in one: that at the most salutary arrival of this Man of God, every disease of bodies, all the malice of diabolical fraud is driven far off, & continual health, opulence in things, gladness in offspring, tranquillity in peace, is entrusted ^e to everyone dwelling in whatever direction in the district of Soissons.

Chapter XI.

[20] These things being thus performed in order, it happened that the excellent confessor of the Lord Medard, by the divine grace cooperating bishop of Vermandois, The burial of St. Medard follows, full of days & replete with the works of holy virtues, migrated to heaven. Concerning whom a certain relator of his deeds, while he writes of his passing, among other things thus says: To the excellent confessor of Christ Medard, the time of his dissolution impending, divinely lights shone forth to all present. But this light flashing for the space of nearly three hours, the most holy soul of the Saint, leaving the perishable, borne up by the angelic assembly, sought the heavenly places. And deservedly did he ascend the lofty summits of heaven, who accounted the glory of this world as mire: & therefore he pressed toward heaven secure, whither the Lord had called him. Blessed are they who dwell in thy house, O Lord, unto the age of the age they shall praise thee. And so king Chlothar, who was present at this spectacle, seeing so great a miracle from heaven, namely the soul of St. Medard to have gone forth with an immense light, is cheered with inestimable joy. These things come to the notice of almost all Gaul: & suddenly there assembles from divers parts to so great a spectacle a countless multitude of men & women. ^f

Chapter XII.

[21] But because it is fitting that to the preceding we should join the following things which are of the same man of God Bandaridus: the deliverance of the king's daughter from a demon it is not to be passed over what was procured by his prayers, concerning the king's only daughter,

whom a pestiferous demon, horribly invading, was even atrociously tearing, nay rather often miserably casting either into the fire or into the water. For this kind of thing there was a great lamentation, & alas the clamorous crowd raised up ^g wailing even to the heavens: for that a malignant spirit seemed to possess [her], over whom (had not the divine predestination brought this about) the Holy Spirit ought to have presided. The father himself, now troubled & anxious, that no solace came divinely, thence burned in mind exceedingly, that he dared not ask the man of God Bandaridus; whom before, provoked with injuries, he had more bitterly cast out from his own see. Yet, solicitous concerning his only-begotten daughter, & confident of the piety of so great a Man, he sends his servants to him, praying with inestimable humility, & with much entreaty demanding, that for the name of the Lord Jesus, who suffered reproaches for the human race, he himself, forgetful of injuries, would deign to have mercy on him, & to pour out prayers for his daughter, by which he might put the demon to flight from her with a powerful hand. He, not unmindful of the Lord's precept, saying: Pray for those who persecute & calumniate you, remitted the reproaches inflicted on him, & poured out a prayer for his daughter to the Lord. Which completed, & a potion, compounded from the usual herb, being received in the name of the most high God, soon by the imposition of hands he restored her to health, & rendered her unharmed to her father. But he said that the virtue was in the herb, ascribing nothing to himself for his own merits, but to the divine power alone, a true Nathanael, a true Israelite, in whom was no guile, nor any dissimulation of heart: & therefore, without any little delay, he deserved to be heard by the Lord.

Chapter XIII.

[22] The king, therefore, rejoicing over the virtue of so great a miracle celebrated through him, & the gratitude of the king himself. offered very many talents of gold & silver: but the Man dedicated to God & beloved: Far be it (says he) from me, that the gift of God, which is unspeakable, chief & incomparable, I should, goaded by avarice, hold cheap, & that what has been granted to me gratis by God, no preceding merits of mine going before, I should, money being received from the king's treasury, sell off. It is not of our right, it is not of our custom, that we should commit so great a crime. But if it is of your will, for the divine love, out of the revenues of your estates through our hands to confer some things on God & his Saints, for the washing away of the burdens of your sins, we do not refuse. The king, therefore, perceiving the salutary counsel, the recorder being summoned, orders a royal precept ^h to be written concerning the royal fiscal lands, that is, he noted down the cell, the measure & the "amiacum," & signed it with the royal seal: that the holy man might, to whatever of the Saints it should please him, by royal permission bestow those things. And since above the river Aisne there was a certain noble monastery, contiguous enough to Soissons, constructed in honor of the holy martyrs Crispin & Crispinian, in which he had predestined the place of his burial: with a solemn donation he delivered to him the above-said royal precept, to remain there by perpetual right.

[23] The writer's testimony concerning himself Many things, moreover, worthy of record, not entitled to this little work, could have been said concerning the deeds & virtues of the blessed man Bandaridus, if they had not been passed over by the carelessness or negligence of the writer. But lest anyone think me to be blamed, that concerning the manifold heap of virtues I have woven this work so scanty: I profess that, of the many things which are not handed down by writing to the memory of men, we have, as we could, scarcely touched a few. But we wish it to be made known to your Paternity that a certain small material of this work was found, as it were, in a little scrap of a certain membrane, ⁱ briefly noted as under an epilogue; which afterward, sought out by sagacious study, has been somewhat amplified by us through exaggeration. Of these things which we say there is witness that old little sheet, which if anyone shall have wished to look at attentively, all the things which we have written above or below he will be able to find gathered together in a clause of the theme so subtle. But because an end must now be imposed on the work begun, let us return to that which is consequent.

Chapter XIV.

[24] Now, therefore, the time was impending in which the faithful Servant & excellent dispenser of the house of God should rest from his labor: The Saint's death & obsequies. when lo, he is sharply seized with excessive fevers, & bids a burial to be prepared for him on the right side of the altar of blessed Mary in the above-said monastery of the holy Martyrs of Christ, & the sepulcher in which he was to be entombed to be placed. And after no long time he began again to be vexed with a sharp pain of fevers: & so, the Lord calling, that holy soul on the first day of the Kalends of August was translated to the high secret places of the heavenly ones. ^k But to the lifeless body those who were present at so great an obsequy rendered worthy funeral rites, & both the clergy & all the people deputed the whole space of the night to vigils, psalmodies, & readings: but with the dawn of day flashing, with due honor they carry [him] to the place of the holy Martyrs ^l destined for his burial: where, honorably received, most honorably composed, & most decently (as is at hand) he is delivered to be entombed, on the first of the Kalends of August.

Chapter XV.

[25] But lest fierce death, which knows to spare none, should be thought to have taken away with the body the munificent memorial of so great a Man: Miracles performed in the following ages. almighty God did not cease to magnify the Shepherd of the holy church, even after the death of the flesh, with many miracles. For the same Lord of virtues, unceasingly increasing virtues with virtues, among the throngs of peoples flowing together hither & thither, consolidates some with a wondrous alacrity of mind & body, relieves also others who come sick, with swift soundness. And that we may bring forth more manifestly into public some things which we have perceived with our own eyes: in the above-said place of the Saint's sepulcher, so great & so evident miracles are wrought, that whoever shall have assembled there, to ask the Lord & the holy Bandaridus, without doubt obtain whatever they shall have sought with a votive heart. For if any, agitated by a strong fever, shall have taken by drinking, from his sepulcher, with good faith & devotion toward God, & reclining their head upon the very tomb of the Saint shall have received the slumber of sleep: they feel that they have had a salutary antidote, & sound & unharmed they withdraw from that place: which we have many times learned by certain experiment. For the rest, most dear fathers & brethren, to whose notice these things shall in any way come, know & believe for certain, that what we know to have been done in truth, this we speak to you, & what by our own gaze in seeing we have recognized, or by the relation of many have learned, with a humble indeed but faithful pen we announce: although not even to the full have we yet pursued [it]. But he who desires to know more, there is nothing that he should seek outside: since to anyone desiring to investigate other things like these, many offer themselves of their own accord: as the multitude of the languishing testifies, coming at all hours & moments, by day & by night, to his precious mausoleum. In which place, entire health of bodies being received, each returns to his own with thanksgiving, the same most high God aiding, who sustains all with his benefits, & heaps the just with pious vows: whose praise, honor, & power remains forever. Amen.

NOTES.