ON BLESSED GUNDECHARUS, BISHOP,
AT EICHSTÄTT IN GERMANY.
The Year 1075.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Gundecharus, bishop and confessor, at Eichstätt in Germany (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR P. B.
§ I. His cult and relics among the people of Eichstätt.
Eystadium, Eustadium, Aichstadium, etc., commonly Eychstett, is a city of Germany in the Franconian circle situated on the river Almo or Altmühl, three German miles from Ingolstadt toward the summer sunset northwest. His cult, though unknown to the Fasti, More about this we have said, in July tom. 2, page 483; where of St. Willibald, its first prelate, whom, after others, blessed Gundecharus followed (elsewhere Gundekarus, Gundakarus, Gundekardus, Gunzo), bishop eighteenth in order, second by name. He had as heralds of his virtues Kaspar Bruschius, and, much more illustrious and copious than this, Jakob Gretser, theologian of the Society of Jesus, both in the Catalogue of the bishops of Eichstätt; and at last also our Matthäus Rader, Bavaria Sancta tom. 2 from page 206. But not to mention anything more here of Bruschius (as one who wrote on this subject inspired, as Gretser speaks in his Preface, by the genius of a fifth Gospel), between Gretser and Rader there is this difference, that the latter does not hesitate to recount Gundecharus, addressed now with the title of Blessed, now of Saint, among the heavenly ones openly acknowledged in the Church; but the former, although he affirms the holiness of his life proved by several miracles after death, and calls the relics of his body sacred, yet constantly abstains from ascribing to his name the epithet either of Blessed or of Saint. Hence we began to doubt the more about the public veneration of Gundecharus, that we knew it attested neither in the ancient Fasti anywhere nor in the recent, whether on this day, which he consecrated by his death, or on any other whatever. And so we thought the church of Eichstätt must be consulted through our people staying there. The business was undertaken by the Reverend Father Franz Steinhart, rector of the Eichstätt college; who soon, having obtained the most ready will and help both of his most exalted prince and prelate, and of all the canons, in this matter, sent us hither from both archives, namely the episcopal and the capitular, in the year 1731 on the 7th day of May, those documents, and each duly and authentically subscribed and sealed, which left no doubt about the public cult of Gundecharus.
[2] it is proved however from the elevation of the body made in the year 1309 For it is established from them, first, that his body was raised from the subterranean tomb, and carried higher and more honorifically by Philip, thirty-ninth bishop of Eichstätt, and that two hundred and thirty-four years after it had been buried: for the manuscript Pontifical of Eichstätt, begun by our Gundecharus himself, and continued by his successors, and still kept in the episcopal archive, has thus: This Philip, whom I mentioned, and whose life is there described also elevated the bishop Gundecharus, the second bishop of Eichstätt of this name, flashing with miracles, in the year of the Lord 1309 in the chapel of St. John the Evangelist to a stone table; and preached to the people the very many miracles which were done through him, and provoked men to the devotion of the aforesaid Saint; who is still adored by many as a saint out of devotion; although he is not yet described and canonized in the catalogue of the Saints. So that fragment, as I lately received it: for in Gretser page 484 it differs somewhat. Of this same elevation it will be treated below in the history of the Miracles, where both on what day, month, rite, with how great a concourse of people, with how many preceding, accompanying, and following prodigies, it was accomplished, will be explained. Lo for thee meanwhile an accurate delineation of each sepulcher, that is, both of the subterranean one, from which it was raised, and of the marble one built over the subterranean, into which the body of the Blessed was placed, as it was sent hence.
[3] These sepulchers are situated in the chapel of the cathedral church, which Gundecharus himself once built and consecrated in the name of St. John the Evangelist; from the subterranean sepulcher to the higher marble one. where he had ordered himself to be buried, not under the altar, but nearly in the middle of the chapel; as Reverend Father Steinhart asserts. The letter A designates the place of the former sepulcher, from which the body was taken: B the lofty marble sepulcher, into which the bones of the Blessed were carried by bishop Philip, washed with wine and enclosed in a leaden reliquary. C the little iron door, closed with three locks, within which is placed a little vessel, into which the oil once flowing from the bones through iron tubes was received, no otherwise than on the opposite side, where in the middle of the base of the sepulcher all the same things are.
[4] It is established from the same documents, secondly, that the title of Blessed, or Saint, or Glorious commonly obtained for Gundecharus among the people of Eichstätt both before the said elevation, and especially after it. [likewise from the title of Saint, Glorious, Blessed used everywhere and publicly:] Before it, in the most ancient Register of the present offerings (praesentiae), as they call it, whose beginning is drawn from the year in which the Blessed died, of Christ 1075, in the month of December, these things are read noted in rubrics: At second Vespers of Stephen candles are given to all the presbyters; namely to the lord bishop, the canons, the vicars, and all the priests of the city, who go in procession to St. Gundecharus. Where you see that the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, whose festal light is kept from the second Vespers of St. Stephen, and in whose honor therefore, as I at least interpret, this supplication was instituted, already then began to be called At St. Gundecharus's. To what end, pray; unless because Gundecharus, holy in the opinion and voice of all, had been very lately buried there? That Register is kept in the capitular archive. But that afterward the use and custom of titles of this kind prevailed among all, is clear from the Life of bishop Philip cited above, from the history of the miracles, from the juridical and public monuments of the cathedral archive, of which one, under the letter C, pertaining to the year of Christ 1387, has this: At the altar of St. John the Evangelist, in the chapel of St. Gundecharus, at Eichstätt: another exhibits a contract of purchase concluded in the year 1453, At St. John the Evangelist's, in the chapel of blessed Gundecharus; a third in the same place under the letter E num. 20 and num. 28, regarding the year 1519 the 20th day of October, in which is read: I John Lilgenbaum, vicar and chaplain of the altar of St. John the Evangelist, in the chapel of St. Gundecharus, at Eichstätt. I pass over the rest, which agree.
[5] It is established from the same, thirdly, that at least from the time of the elevation assiduous pilgrimages were undertaken out of vow to the same sepulcher from villages, furthermore from the pilgrimages to the sepulcher with votive gifts: cities, and dioceses lying round about on every side, sometimes with so great a concourse of those flowing together; that a rustic, marveling at it from the hill which he was furrowing with the plow, silently indeed within himself, but yet by no means with impunity (as will be narrated below in miracle 17), once exclaimed: O what a trowel the clerics of Eichstätt find for obtaining money! By which words he also openly signified, that pilgrims were not then wont to come thither empty, but laden either with coins or with other votive gifts; which certainly is an argument of an exceptional public devotion toward Bl. Gundecharus.
[6] It is established finally from them, fourthly, that lights kindled once at his tomb burned perpetually: from the lights there perpetually kindled: witness the foundation of Ludwig the Bavarian, emperor, whose authentic instrument sounds thus: King Ludwig, concerning men given for the light of the chapel of St. Gundekar the bishop. We Ludwig, by the grace of God king of the Romans ever augustus, wish it to come to the knowledge of all, both present and future, that for the remedy and salvation of the souls of ourselves and our progenitors, Conrad the bailiff at Nassenfels, the bailiff called Engilbrecht at Egweil, and also Berchtold, Dotarius, residing there, who hitherto belonged to us and our heirs by title of property; FOR THE SUBSIDY OF THE LIGHTS, in the church of Eichstätt, BEFORE THE GLORIOUS PONTIFF Gundekar to be newly instituted by us, to the venerable Philip bishop of Eichstätt and his successors, and also to the aforesaid church, to be possessed henceforth by it by right of simple property and full dominion, no right or service being at all reserved to us or our heirs in the same, of our certain knowledge and special grace we have given and give. In testimony of which matter we have caused the present letters to be fortified with the seal of our Majesty. Given at Ingolstadt on the 2nd of the Nones of October in the year of the Lord 1316, but of our reign the second.
[7] To this copy is subjoined this testimony: I affirm that this foundation, transcribed with its original, diligently kept in the episcopal archive of Eichstätt, most faithfully revised and recognized, altogether agrees, by my own hand, and the seal of the Vicariate general of Eichstätt affixed, at Eichstätt on the 5th of May 1731, Sebastian Joseph Ziegler, Doctor of Sacred Theology, Vicar general of the church of Eichstätt, and capitular canon at St. Vitus of Herrieden. all which preceded by an immemorial time the Decree of Pope Urban VIII. Moreover, since all these things were begun and continued three hundred and more years before the so-often-mentioned decree of Pope Urban VIII, there is no reason why anyone should now deny to Gundecharus at least the title of Blessed; although he is known neither to have been solemnly enrolled in the register of the Saints, nor to have ever been venerated with a peculiar feast or Office, even among the people of Eichstätt: for this is common to him with very many other Saints and Blessed.
seems long ago somehow to have grown obsolete and even so far to have lapsed, that few now knew where his tomb, where his sacred remains lay hidden: for this came not to pass by the authority of any ecclesiastical power suppressing or disapproving the ancient cult, but by the mere injury of the times and of the wars. For as the Swedes in the last century shook all Germany; so they defiled Eichstätt in a wretched manner with flames, plunderings, and sacrileges, and above all its cathedral church; not even its sepulchers, which might give some hope of a hidden booty, did they leave untouched: yet with the Gundecharian one they were content, the upper stone being broken open, to survey it laid bare to their eyes, easily disregarding the bones, which they were by no means seeking, just as they had found them. Thus that treasure was thereafter found safe and entire, and, in so great a perturbation of affairs, was indeed guarded carefully enough; yet not with the honor which was fitting: for when, that Swedish tempest having been dispersed, it was the first care of the people of Eichstätt that divine worship in their church should be restored as speedily as could be; and there was lacking a sacristy where those about to celebrate the Sacred rites might be vested and unvested in their attire; nothing among so many ruins seemed more opportune than that the chapel of St. John should for the time be turned into a sacristy, and the tomb of Bl. Gundechar into a table, destined for laying the priestly vestments upon; or at least be so enclosed within the cabinet-work of that table, that no sign of it appeared without. Thus indeed it came about, while the construction of another building was neglected, that, its monument being withdrawn from the eyes of all, little by little even its memory and cult declined.
[9] and of what kind it now is. But yet, however much that former devotion toward this blessed Prelate may seem to have languished for a while; so far is it from having been abrogated, that rather the exceptional piety of the present bishop and prince has resolved not only to revive it with all his powers, but even to augment it; as indeed we were permitted to gather from the letters of Reverend Father Steinhart; of which that one, which he sent back to our inquiries from Eichstätt on the 7th of June 1731, resolved our second doubt in these words: To the second question: the Blessed's body was after death buried in the chapel of St. John the Evangelist (which while living he had requested); not under the altar, but nearly in the middle of the chapel. But after 234 years the sacred bones were raised from the earth by bishop Philip into the sepulcher whose likeness Your Reverence has. Although the upper stone of this sepulcher was broken by a Swedish soldier; yet the bones were left there entire. The stone should then have been repaired, that the sacred bones might again be covered; but a long and broad slab, or table, was laid over the sepulcher; in such wise indeed that it was covered on every side, and scarcely anyone knew thereafter whether, and what, lay hidden under the table. But lately, in the presence of the prince, the dean of the chapter, and other clerics, and myself, the slab was removed; that the sepulcher might be repaired, and thenceforth be again always open to veneration. Sacred rites are said in the chapel almost daily, both by the Gundecharian beneficiary and by others: and at the same time also other priests vest themselves there, inasmuch as it is a sacristy; into which, the sepulcher having been broken and set upright at the time of the Swedish war, it was fitted… I also saw the sacred bones in the sepulcher enclosed in a leaden coffer. A new upper stone is now being prepared, which a little afterward will be laid upon the sepulcher. Thus far of the cult and relics; now we proceed to the Acts.
§ II. The Acts up to his obtaining the see of Eichstätt.
The few things which can be affirmed with certainty about the Acts of Bl. Gundechar, these for the most part he either dictated himself, or at least ordered to be written, Most of the Blessed's deeds dictated by himself in the manuscript Pontifical, especially in the work which at the beginning of the historical Catalogue of the bishops of Eichstätt Gretser thus praises: Gundackar, the eighteenth bishop of Eichstätt, deserves no small thanks, a man conspicuous for the greatness of his deeds and the holiness of his life; who strove, as much as was permitted, to repair and preserve the memory of his predecessors by a work partly pictorial, partly written. I call it pictorial; because he had the patrons of the church, and each of his predecessors, painted, with a painting (as that age bore) rude and much departing from the elegance of this age, a little verse being added to each effigy, and the day of election and of death noted, with almost no mention made of their deeds. This book and labor of Gundackar is extant at Eichstätt in a manuscript codex, which they call the Pontifical. What is beyond these times (of Bl. Gundechar) is by the continuators of Gundackar: for each of the successors took pains that the image of his predecessor, with a brief history of his life, should be entered in that book; and the series of prelates has been carried down in a perpetual tenor almost to our own times. From this Pontifical, which is kept in the archive of the bishop of Eichstätt, both the miracles of the Blessed, to be set forth below, and certain fragments of his deeds have been sent to us, fortified, as we before noted, with the subscription and seal of the Vicar general; before we use them, it is pleasing to exhibit the exordium of the whole book, no little illustrating the piety and humility of the Author: Thus therefore it runs:
[11] Gundechar a sinner, of the holy church of Aureatum, not by his own merits, but by the divine clemency so ordaining, of which the exordium is here given. the eighteenth bishop, had this order profitably enough compiled, and written out at his own expense; and the writing he handed over to the altar of St. Willibald, that is, bishop and confessor, resting bodily in the same place, and to the service of the holy Savior, for himself and for the remedy of all his debtors, but especially for the refreshment of his predecessor bishops; for whose sacred reverence and worthy memory he took care here to note their images, and names, and the time that they lived in the episcopal order, and the days of their departure; that they too may deign to aid him before the Lord with assiduous prayers. And this was solemn with him, that in public writings he called himself a sinner, and bishop most often of the church of Aureatum, rarely of Eichstätt: namely, at Aureatum, a city once overthrown by the Huns not far from that place where after many years Eichstätt began to be built, the old name passed over to this new and neighboring town; as Gretser observes on page 238. But let us come to the matter itself.
[12] In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1019 Gundechar a sinner was born on the feast of St. Lawrence the martyr. So he himself of himself in the manuscript Pontifical. But of what stock was he born; of what house; of what parents? His birthday and year, the name of his father, He would have added, I think, the humble Man, had he not preferred to be heard called a sinner, than noble. Surely the rank which, not yet a bishop, he held in the imperial court, argues an illustrious lineage not obscurely. In the Kalendar indeed of the same Pontifical the name of his father is expressed, but equally simply, at the 17th (not the 21st, as Gretser has on page 460) of October, in these words: Regingerus died, father of Gundechar the bishop. Nor is there any doubt but that these pertain to this second Gundechar; since the rest regard him, which in the same little tablet are without any interruption thus set before: On the 17th of October, on the feast of St. Tryphon *, of Florentius the bishop, the Dedication of the chapel of St. John the Evangelist (see below no. 22;) in which bishop Gundechar the second ordained beforehand his burial. Bishop Gundechar first entered the episcopal see. Regingerus died, etc. Then Gundechar the first, dead in the same year in which the second was born, had parents so obscure and proletarian, as Gretser shows on page 434, that it is by no means likely that their names were known to our Gundechar when he was dictating these things. The like I think must be judged of Tuta, the sister of bishop Gundechar (for of his mother we know nothing):
[13] and of his sister; whence Rader makes a conjecture about his family. For in a copy, as it appears, of the same Kalendar or Necrology, a passage which was not lately excerpted for us from it, because perhaps not noticed, Gretser read on page 460, at the 21st day of November: Tuta, sister of bishop Gundechar, died. And so this Tuta the sister not of the first, but of the second Gundechar, Rader also makes her, cited above at no. 1; and adds: From her (Tuta) I understand that he (Bl. Gundechar) sprang from the most noble and most ancient family of the Nassau dynasts and princes. For this very Tuta (unless all conjectures nearest the truth deceive me) was the sister of Gundechar, the wife of Otto I, petty king of Scheyern, Count Palatine of Bavaria, from whom our Wittelsbachs, who today rule the Bavarians, descend. He received from Tuta, daughter of the Nassau dynast, Otto II, Arnulf the founder of the nobles of Dachau, and Conrad, from whom the counts of Falkenstein. The reckoning of the times entirely agrees: for Otto lived in the same times, and died in 1140: Gundechar was born in 1019; nor could the sister have been born much either before or after. Thus he; whether rightly or otherwise, it is neither ready to us, nor is there leisure, to inquire.
[14] From a canon of Eichstätt, and chaplain of the empress Of things done before the episcopate, this only is handed down in Bruschius fol. 185 verso, Rader tom. 2 page 206, and in a certain German manuscript of the chapter of Eichstätt authentically approved, namely that he was both of the intimate counsels of the emperor Henry the third (to others the fourth), and chaplain to his most august parent Agnes; which last the Blessed himself confirms in the manuscript Pontifical, where, having set forth, after the other seventeen of his predecessors, his own image with this little verse subscribed, Gundekar present now directs the church itself, he thus proceeds: But after these, Gundechar of the same holy church of Aureatum, the last of the Brethren (that is, of the canons of Eichstätt), but yet at that time chaplain of the lady empress Agnes, was on the 13th of the Kalends of September (these subscribed bishops being present: Luitbold archbishop of Mainz, Wido archbishop of Milan, Gunther bishop of Bamberg, Anselm bishop of Lucca, afterward, the Pope being dead, named Alexander) invested with the ring at Tribur:
[15] And on the 3rd of the Nones of October (with these subscribed bishops present, he is made bishop of Eichstätt Luitbold archbishop of Mainz, Anno archbishop of Cologne, Eberhard archbishop of Trier, Wido archbishop of Milan; Gebhard bishop of Regensburg, Adalbero bishop of Würzburg, Arnold bishop of Worms, Chuonrad of Speyer, Hecil of Strasbourg, Rumald of Constance, Dietmar of Uri, Dieteric of Verdun, Ermenfrid of Sitten, Udalric of Pavia; (abbots excepted, and much other clergy) he was honored with the pastoral staff, by the common praise and vote of his own clergy and soldiery and even household, at Speyer: and on the 16th of the Kalends of November was by the grace of God enthroned in the episcopal see: and on the day of St. John the Apostle, beloved of the Lord above the rest, in the place which is called Pföhling, was advanced to the highest degree of the priesthood.
[16] There was present also at his consecration his lord, Henry the fourth king, and his beloved mother Agnes, in the year 1057, the august empress, disposing all things necessary for his ordination on behalf of the chaplain, as though she owed it on behalf of a son. There was present also at the same consecration the lord Hildebrand, subdeacon Cardinal of the Holy Roman and Apostolic See, at that time performing an Apostolic legation into these parts to king Henry, who afterward succeeded Alexander
Pope Alexander. Moreover there were present also the aforesaid bishops as confreres, lending fraternal and kindly aid in the ordaining: Luitbold archbishop of Mainz, Engilhard archbishop of Magdeburg, Adalbert archbishop of Bremen; Rumald bishop of Constance, Chuonrad of Speyer, Cuntheri of Bamberg, Hecil of Hildesheim, Immeto of Paderborn, Silo of Verdun, Brun of Meissen, Woffo of Merseburg, Anselm of Lucca, Ermenfrid of Sitten, and one from the region which is called Bolani, that is Poland, as Gretser explains on page 455. All these things are repeated briefly in the same Pontifical, but with the years appended, in this manner: In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1019 Gundechar a sinner etc. as above no. 12: and in the year 1057 he was elected bishop: and in the year 1058 he was ordained bishop, being indeed of the age of 38 years. At the designation of the same bishop Gundechar four bishops were present; at the receiving of the pastoral staff fourteen; and at the ordination fourteen. On the 13th of the Kalends of September was the designation: on the 3rd of the Nones of October the receiving of the pastoral staff: on the 16th of the Kalends of November the enthronement: on the 6th of the Kalends of January the episcopal consecration.
[17] Observe that the years of the Incarnation are here numbered, after the manner then usual, when by the death of Pope Victor II that see was first vacant. from the feast of the Lord's Nativity; and therefore that year 1058, in which he was ordained bishop on the 6th of the Kalends of January, is according to the usage now received to be numbered 1057 up to the very Kalends of January; so that all the things which here are divided into two years happened in the same Julian year. Besides it must be noted that, since Bl. Gundechar is known to have succeeded Gebhard in the see of Eichstätt, and that only in the year of Christ 1057, no fault of chronology is here to be feared, nor can a long vacancy of the same see between the two bishops be established: for although Gebhard was raised to the chair of Peter and, taking the name of Victor II, was crowned on the 13th day of April 1055; yet he yielded the bishopric of Eichstätt no sooner than his life: and he died on the 28th day of July of the year 1057, that is, only twenty-three days before the designation of Gundechar. Whence rightly Lambert of Hersfeld, who then flourished, notes these things in his Chronicle at the year 1057: Gunzo obtained the bishopric of Eichstätt, from which Gebhard, made Pope, had not abdicated. This same will be plain from the instrument of foundation, which I shall subjoin to the Commentary.
[18] What has been written in particular about his deeds in the episcopate. What he did privately after being made bishop, by what virtues especially he exercised his daily and domestic life, no one, so far as we know, has committed in particular to the memory of posterity. These things in general Bruschius observes: that he was endowed with a most humble mind, as one who in public letters was wont to write and profess himself no otherwise than a sinner and the least among the brethren of St. Willibald: likewise, that he presided faithfully and profitably. Gretser notes besides on page 458, from a certain Necrology of his, that the memory of death seems to have been very familiar to him: but indeed these very things, and if any others are reported, are gathered rather from his public works than drawn from any particular record of the actions by which, keeping them by fixed rule, he doubtless promoted his whole life at home to a greater holiness day by day. What we know are therefore for the most part public, and done by him but once; although we do not deny that from these an easy conjecture can be made of his chief virtues; which accordingly we leave to the sagacity of the readers; while we recount only the things we find written, keeping, as far as could be done, the order of the times.
Annotataread: Heronis*.
§ III. His deeds in the episcopate, and his happy death.
He builds a bridge, finishes the towers of the cathedral church restored by him: Of this Prelate's public works these two only are recounted by Bruschius, about which we have nothing from the Pontifical; He finished, he says, the towers of the chief temple, begun by his predecessor. He joined the banks of the Altmühl with a most firm stone bridge: which things, because they are narrated without any certain note of time, it seemed good to set forth here at the beginning. Both Gretser page 240 also asserts, and the German instrument of the chapter of the church of Eichstätt, which about the towers adds that they had been begun before not by the Blessed's immediate predecessor Gebhard, as Gretser supposed; but by Heribert, who had died in the year 1042; which is much more likely: besides, that Gundechar undertook this work as soon as he had obtained the bishopric. But what is meant by what is below in our transcript of the Gundecharian Foundation, thus: The same our lord bishop Gundekar… when he was rebuilding with all care and diligence the monastery in which our most holy lord Willibald rests bodily, which he found destroyed, willed a certain most delightful altar… to be made in the choir of the same monastery? Certainly these things must be referred to the beginnings of Gundechar, as will soon be seen; and by "monastery" the cathedral temple itself is manifestly designated. What then? Had Heribert not built the monastery or temple at all up to the beginning of the towers? Or had he so built it, that within so short a space of years it had fallen? Or did Gundechar find destroyed only some altars of that church, or chapels, which Heribert had not been able to erect? This last certainly appears nearest the truth from what follows. But however it be, it seems that at that time our Prelate did not merely put a top upon the towers, but besides restored the church, at least in some part of it still fallen or ruined: since nothing weightier can be brought forward than the instrument already cited.
[20] The things which followed thereafter are noted with the times accurately distinguished in the manuscript Pontifical, in the year 1060 he consecrates his church, and the altar of the Holy Savior: with this admonition prefixed: Gundechar a sinner, eighteenth bishop of the holy church of Aureatum, ordered this description to be made; that whoever sees it may know that these churches and altars noted below were consecrated by him. Then under this title, First over the Principal altar of the holy Savior, it is thus written: In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1060, and in the 316th year * of the constitution of this bishopric, in the 13th Indiction, Henry IV reigning as king, this altar was constructed and consecrated, and at the same time the church was consecrated on the 5th of the Kalends of November by Gundechar the second, the 18th bishop of this holy see, in the 3rd year of his ordination, in honor and name of the holy Savior, and of his most sacred nativity, salutary passion, most glorious resurrection and ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, and of the life-giving Cross, and of the holy Mother of God Mary, ever Virgin; and of the nine orders of the blessed Spirits; of the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins; but especially of those Saints whose relics are here placed. He who did not judge that those relics should be inscribed in our transcript, added only this of his own: There follows a catalogue of 156 sacred relics. But I scarcely doubt that in this place the matter concerns the altar of the holy Savior erected in the cathedral church; and by the "church," which is said to be consecrated at the same time, may be understood the particular chapel in which that altar was built: just as also below the chapel of St. John the Evangelist in the same cathedral temple is called a church. This too must here be observed, that since the year of the instituted bishopric of Eichstätt signifies 316, the beginning of that see fell in the year of Christ 744; whereas according to the following texts it fell in 743: it seems therefore that the year 317 should have been written here. But let us proceed.
[21] Under this inscription, Over the altar of St. Willibald, which is in the middle of the choir, are added there these things: likewise the altars of St. Willibald and of SS. Udalric and Gunthildis: In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1061 , and in the 317th year of the constitution of this bishopric, in the 14th Indiction , Henry IV reigning as king, this altar was consecrated in the middle of the choir by Gundechar, by the grace of God the venerable 18th bishop of this holy see, on the 11th of the Kalends of August, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in honor of the most victorious Cross, and of the holy Mother Mary, ever Virgin, and of all the blessed Angels, Archangels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins; but especially of the holy ordination to the degree of the presbyterate of our patron St. Willibald, most precious confessor of Christ, and of those Saints whose relics are contained in this altar. And there were contained in all 74 diverse relics, which will be enumerated one by one in the Gundecharian Foundation below; in which also this consecration will be said to have been made in the same year as the former; which the Pontifical too seems to assert: for in our copy I noted that the year 1060 and Indiction 13 had been written by a first hand, but that these were changed by a later hand; whether because in the original codex the numeral letters were ambiguous; or because someone thought them faulty for this reason, that this consecration, since it happened in the month of July, is noted after that which occurred in the month of October of the same year. There follows moreover soon in our transcript another consecration under this title: Over the altar of St. Udalric, confessor of Christ, and of St. Gunthildis virgin. The first words of the text are: In the year of the Lord; the rest are omitted by the transcriber, because they agree with the preceding text; but it is added that the relics here placed were 88 in number.
[22] [likewise in the year 1062 the altar and chapel of St. John the Evangelist; where he offered his pectoral cross,] Then again from the Pontifical these are recited (which I should wish to be compared with the text of the Kalendar above §2, no. 12:) Over the altar which is in the chapel of St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist. In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1062, and in the 319th year of the constitution of this bishopric, in the 15th Indiction, Henry IV reigning as king, this altar was constructed and consecrated, and at the same time the church was consecrated on the 16th of the Kalends of November by the venerable Gundechar, the 18th bishop of this most holy see, in the 5th year of his ordination: on which day also he first entered the episcopal see, with the aid and cooperation of the lord Eliseus bishop of Mantua, in honor and name of the holy Savior and of his most sacred nativity etc., as above no. 20; but especially of the holy Mother of God Mary, and of St. John the apostle beloved of the Lord above the rest; on whose most sacred festival this our bishop was promoted to the highest degree of the priesthood; and at the same time of those Saints whose relics are placed in this altar… Besides these relics, the lord bishop placed in that same altar his silver cross, which he was wont to have hanging on his neck at Mass; in which cross various relics noted below were placed, namely, as is recorded, one hundred and seventy-two. You see that in this place the year of the bishopric of Eichstätt 319 is joined with the year of Christ 1062: therefore above, with the year of Christ 1060, likewise through the month of October, the year of the bishopric 317 ought to have been joined, not 316; as will again be plain below.
[23] engraved with pious verses, and a humble inscription, He who excerpted these things for us added to the text already given: This cross is still kept in the cathedral church of Eichstätt. The same the Information sent by the most illustrious cathedral chapter teaches us; and Rev.
Father Steinhart in the letters given at Eichstätt in the year 1731, on the 7th day of June, That pectoral cross, he says, I held in my hands these days, and I saw these words engraved on the outside: Gundechar a sinner ordered me to be made; as also those verses, familiar to him: The Cross is my refuge: the Cross is my sure salvation, etc. From which words we gather that it was engraved on the exterior with the same verses, and in almost the same manner, with which within the extreme lines another is marked, which the same blessed Prelate ordered to be painted in that same manuscript Pontifical book; and which we shall soon exhibit here in a more contracted form than we received. Above was written: The form of the cross of Gundechar, marked with alphabetical letters in the same ancient book. This cross these three verses surround, which are not said to be on the silver one already mentioned:
By this sign of the Cross let all that is malign flee far off: In which in very truth Quiriacus and Helena rejoice, To whom it was given to have found the blessed grace.
Within the form of the cross two little verses are read often and variously, beginning from the capital C placed in the center of the cross, and thence first ascending upward, then descending downward; then to the left arm; thence bending to the right; and they are these:
The Cross is my sure salvation: the Cross is that which I always adore. The Cross of the Lord be with me: the Cross is my refuge.
Both of these, unless I am mistaken, Reverend Father the Rector intimates, are read thus engraved on the silver cross; yet with this difference, that in the painted cross both the lineaments of the cross and the alternate letters are painted in red, the rest in black ink: which difference indeed we willed to be observed here also by the engraver, who cut out entire whatever was black; but what was red he expressed only in the outermost strokes, so that the white shines through; as you here see.
[24] Furthermore, since that silver pectoral cross was not of such bulk that it could suit an altar, Gundechar had inserted it into another and larger one, [and inserted into another larger and precious one; to which he also added a third most precious.] made partly of gold, partly of silver, and glittering with gems. This one was dissolved, as the Extract of the capitular Protocol of the date 26 November 1655 has it; where it is said that the weight of the separated gold was estimated at two hundred and eighty crowns; and that the mass of silver equaled about five marks. The faculty of disposing also of the gems of the same cross is said there to have been granted to the custodian of the cathedral church on the 30th day of August 1658; but the price is not added. Whatever came from it was, on the testimony of Reverend Father Steinhart, employed to cast a silver lamp and other ornaments of the temple. About a whole century before, another had perished, of value, I think, not a little greater, which the same distinguished worshiper of the Cross had once bequeathed to his church; for it was, according to another capitular instrument sent here, all of gold and set with diamonds: it had perished, I say, long since; as the same Reverend Father taught me in these words: The other (this cross about which I had asked), as also other gold and silver vessels, after the Smalcaldic league (by which the Lutheran princes had conspired to defend by force their new gospel against Charles V the emperor and the Church) was consumed in the expenses of war. But let us return to the Pontifical; in which follow these consecrations:
[25] Over the altar to SS. the Apostles Peter and Paul and the rest. In the year 1064, on the Kalends of August, in the 6th year of his ordination. In the year 1064 he consecrates four altars: Then with his own hand the transcriber adds: And the rest, as above. Relics here placed are fifty-four. There are subjoined three titles of the same year: the first is: Over the altar to the Holy Cross. In the year 1064, on the 18th of the Kalends of October, by Gundechar the second, in the 6th year of his ordination. Then in another hand: And the rest. Relics here placed are forty. The second has thus: Over the altar of St. Boniface, archbishop and martyr, in the crypt. In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1064, in the 2nd Indiction, Henry IV reigning as king, this altar was translated from a dark place to a light one, and was consecrated on the 9th of January by the venerable Gundechar, the 18th bishop of this holy see. And in another hand: Sacred relics here placed are twenty-six. The third is this: Over the altar of St. Vitus the martyr in the crypt. In the year 1064, in the 2nd Indiction, this altar was translated from a dark place to a light one, and was consecrated on the 17th of the Kalends of July. It is added: And the rest. Here are placed sacred relics gathered into one, twenty-four.
[26] [in the year 1065 the church of Augsburg; and in the year 1071 another there, etc.] In the year 1065, at Augsburg the matricular, that is cathedral, church is dedicated, says the Chronicle of Augsburg in Gretser in the Catalogue of the bishops of Eichstätt page 456, by Embrico bishop of that see, and by Gunzo (Gundechar) bishop of Eichstätt. The same Chronicle there adds: In the year 1071 the church of St. Afra and St. Udalric was consecrated by bishop Embrico, and by Gunzo of Eichstätt. In the same year, in the month of August, both these bishops with others were present at the second council of Mainz in the cause of Charles, bishop of Constance; as is plain from the Acts in Labbe's Councils tom. 9, col. [ ]. What both did upon returning thence, the Pontifical indicates under this title: Over the principal altar of the Haseren (or Herrieden, in the diocese of Eichstätt, toward the sources of the Altmühl) CHURCH. In the year 1071, in the 9th Indiction, and in the 328th year of the constitution of the bishopric of Eichstätt, Henry IV reigning as king, the principal altar of the Haseren church was consecrated, and at the same time the church, on the Kalends of October, by Gundechar II, the 18th bishop of the holy church of Eichstätt, in the 14th year of his ordination, with the aid and cooperation of the venerable bishop Embrico of the holy see of Augsburg, in honor and name of the holy Savior… but especially of those Saints whose relics were placed there: of the basin in which the Lord washed the feet of the disciples: of the palm which he carried: of the linen cloth of the Lord: of the sudarium of the Lord: of the table of the Lord; of the manger of the Lord: of the sepulcher of the Lord: of the garment of St. Mary: of the rod of Aaron: of SS. Peter, Andrew, Stephen the protomartyr… All these portions being gathered into one, they make forty-nine.
[27] in the year 1072 two chapels built by him; Over the altar (we proceed from the same Pontifical) of St. Michael in the southern tower. In the year of the Lord 1072, in the 10th Indiction, this chapel was constructed by Gundechar II, the 18th bishop of this holy church of Aureatum; and consecrated on the 6th of the Ides of July by Richard, by divine providence disposing it the venerable patriarch of the holy church of Aquileia, the aforenamed bishop Gundechar standing by and cooperating… Then without a title these are read there: In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1072, in the 10th Indiction, the chapel of the holy Mother of God Mary, ever Virgin, and of St. John the Baptist, and of St. John the Evangelist, and of St. Mary Magdalene, and of St. Mary of Egypt was constructed in the tower by Gundechar, the 18th bishop of this holy church of Aureatum; and consecrated on the 6th of the Ides of July by Gebhard archbishop of the holy church of Salzburg, the aforenamed bishop Gundechar standing by and cooperating, etc.
[28] Over the altar of St. Willibald in the crypt. In the year 1075, in the 12th Indiction, Henry IV reigning, his other consecrations and pious structures; his death. this crypt and this altar were consecrated on the 17th of the Kalends of July by Embrico of Augsburg and by Gundechar, the 18th bishop of this holy see. Over the altar of St. Kilian Mart. in the crypt. In the year 1074, in the 12th Indiction, Henry IV reigning as king, this altar was constructed and consecrated on the 8th of the Ides of July by Gundechar, the 18th bishop of this holy see. These are the things which were excerpted for us from the praised Pontifical about his episcopal Acts, as sufficient for a specimen: for the rest he who selected these for our use signifies that he passed over of set purpose; since to the last text he adds this of his own: For brevity's sake it is to be noted that this bishop Gundechar consecrated one hundred and twenty-six temples and chapels; whence the number of altars can easily be gathered. The same asserts Gretser in the Catalogue page 456, subjoining this exclamation: Which indeed is a memorable and admirable number. The same exhibits a double catalogue written by the same Prelate; the one under this title: These are the names of the bishops always holy in Christ and of happy memory who died after our ordination: the other under this: These are the names of the brethren who from the congregation of Eichstätt, in the time of our recollection, were made bishops. Both can be read there on page 459 and the following; where he also mentions a third, of which he brings forward only this inscription: These are the names of the canon brethren who died in the time of our recollection. There follows the death of the Blessed, described in the Pontifical in these words: He sat 18 years. In 1075, on the 4th of the Nones of August, he died. Where he willed to be buried, I have already said above from the same book at no. 12.
[29] No one but sees that in all these things, besides the notable humility of the blessed Man, Of his virtues; and of the monuments soon to be subjoined. and his present memory of death, there shine also a singular accuracy and diligence in the episcopal office, an exceptional piety toward his predecessors, an ardent love and cult of the Cross, a liberality lavished on every pious work, a solicitous love of comeliness everywhere in the house of the Lord, an unwearied zeal of religion in promoting the public veneration of God, of the Virgin Mother, of all the Saints by so many sacred edifices and altars: which virtues indeed and others of his, and his merits, the divine kindness after his death approved by very many miracles; as it is easy to gather even from those which we think happened solely in the time of Philip, the thirty-ninth bishop of Eichstätt, and were by his command entered in the oft-mentioned Pontifical, and that to the number of fifty-six. For who would doubt but that many others preceded these, many followed, which either no one has noted, or at least no one has yet found noted? These meanwhile, divided into three chapters, we shall now give, after we have exhibited, by way of appendix, the instrument of foundation, which the blessed Prelate himself signed with his own hand, and which is kept at Eichstätt in the archive of the cathedral church.
Annotata* perhaps: 317.
* perhaps: 1060.
* perhaps: 13.
EXEMPLAR
Of the Instrument by which Bl. Gundechar instituted the prebend which they call the "circulating" one. From a manuscript of the cathedral church of Eichstätt.
Gundechar bishop conf. at Eichstätt in Germany (S.)
FROM A MS.
Bl. Gundechar, the contract begun by his predecessor being rescinded, In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. We wish it to be known, and certain, and even most manifest, to all the sons of the Church, not only to those present and now living, but also to all who shall be born, how Gebhard, of most blessed memory ever in Christ, the pious prelate of the holy church of Aureatum, but afterward the same most glorious Pope, and named Victor, began a certain precaria a with a certain noble man, Rutpert [] by name, giving to him a certain manor [] called Wihenmihel, with all that right, and all those advantages, with which right, and with which
advantages the same prelate and Pope of happy memory held this same manor, only the cleric there serving God and his Saints, and all those serving in the same manor and having benefices, being excepted: but he himself receiving from the same Rutpert a certain other manor, called Tulis, with all its appurtenances, and moreover all those goods which the same aforenamed Rutpert had in fields and in vineyards on the other side of the river which is called the Inn b. This precaria, after the same blessed prelate and Pope had well begun it, as we have said, was intercepted by the envy of death c, so that he neither brought it to an end, nor firmly confirmed it.
[31] he founds a new one; restores his church, and the altar of St. Willibald bishop; But indeed, as soon as the venerable Gundechar the bishop succeeded him on the throne (since the same our Lord was most prudent in all things), when he had heard of the same precaria, how it stood, and it did not please him; he broke up the whole matter, and calling to himself Rutpert, the co-sharer of the same precaria, he began with him to treat the matter diligently from the beginning, and to establish, or confirm [*], the matter treated firmly according to his will. These things being thus fitly and suitably performed, the same our lord bishop Gundekar, a man of complete prudence, whose whole intent always was to turn all his own into the use of his church; when he was rebuilding with all care and diligence the monastery in which our most holy lord Willibald rests bodily, which he found destroyed; willed a certain most delightful altar, which appears there to this day d, to be made in the choir of the same monastery e.
[32] to which altar Moreover, the lord Woffo the dean, a most reverend man, departing from our midst, when the canonry or prebend, which he had held by rule, lay open by rule, our aforementioned and ever-to-be-remembered Lord did not wish to claim this same for himself by episcopal power (as he could) or at least by however easy a petition: but, looking to the salvation of his soul in the future, he handed over perpetually to the use of the brethren, of whom he was not lord, but most kindly father, in place of this same prebend, the tithe of all that wine which yearly came to him from the aforesaid precaria.
[33] And so, this prebend having been thus redeemed from the brethren, consecrated by himself when on the 11th of the Kalends of August he was consecrating the aforementioned altar in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in honor of the most victorious Cross, and of the holy Mother of God Mary ever Virgin, and of all the holy Angels, Archangels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, but especially of the holy ordination to the degree of the presbyterate of our patron St. Willibald, most precious confessor and bishop, and of those Saints whose relics are contained in the same altar, that is, first of the wood of the Lord, of the sepulcher of the Lord, of the linen cloth [] of the Lord, of the manger of the Lord, of the sponge [] of the Lord: and relics of St. John the Baptist: and relics of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of St. Andrew, and of St. John the Evangelist, and of St. James, and of St. Philip, and of St. Mark the Evangelist, and of St. Matthew [] the Evangelist, of St. Thaddeus []: and relics of the holy martyrs St. Clement the Pope, Stephen the Pope, Lawrence, Pancras, George, of SS. John and Paul, Cyriacus, Lampert, St. Boniface, Emmeram, Pantaleon, Sebastian, Leo [], Christopher, Vigilius, Amo, Longinus, Alexander, Adrian, Cosmas and Damian, Adalbert, Theodore, Eustace, Fortunatus, Evagrius []: and relics of the holy confessors, of our patron St. Willibald and of St. Wunibald, Martin, Nicholas, Gregory, Hermagoras [], Basil, Udalric, Benedict, Corbinian, Wolfgang, Erhard, Servatius, Simeon, Theodegarius [], Parthemius, Anatolius [], Epiphanius: and relics of the holy virgins, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Walburga, St. Cecilia, St. Gertrude, Margaret, Julina, Agatha, Otilia, Glodesindis, St. Gunthildis, Genevieve, Digna, Bathildis [] the queen:
[34] He handed over f the same tithe to this very altar in the stead of an endowment for the salvation of his own soul, he founds the prebend and for the souls of all his predecessor bishops, from the time of St. Willibald up to that time, having their names thus: Gerhoh, Aganus, Altuni, Adaluno, Utcher, Gotescalc, Erchanbolt, Udalfrid, Starchant, Reginolt, Megingol, Gundechar, Walther, Heribreht, Gozzeman, Gebhard g, who also, his name being changed, and his power augmented, was afterward called Victor, likewise also for the salvation of the souls of all his successor bishops, from whatever part of the world God shall deign to elect them into this sacred see; that they too may become partakers of this little alms [*] and of the prayers. And this prayer is, that as long as our lord Bishop himself live in the flesh, daily between Terce and Mass the 119th Psalm (God, come to my assistance) be chanted for him: but when, at God's command, he shall have entered the way of all flesh, De profundis (which we are wont to sing for the repose of souls) be likewise chanted at the aforenamed hour.
[35] This Constitution our lord Bishop willed to be made thus, the "circulating" one, in the year 1060. and so ordained, that every week the prebend itself, thus, as we before said, procured for himself, and so relinquished to him, should fall by turns to the ministers of the altar performing the same dominical service at the principal altar, divided over five days; namely [*] on the first and second weekday to the lord presbyter; on the third and fourth to the deacon; on the fifth to the subdeacon; on the sixth to the poor and any pilgrims whatever; and on the seventh to the custodians of the church, that on that day the pavements of the church may more surely be purged and cleansed. And these things were done in the year from the Incarnation 1060, in the 13th Indiction, the 19th moon, Henry the fourth reigning, in the fourth year of his reign, in the third year of our lord Bishop.
[36] under the clauses then usual, But this useful Constitution of our father bishop Gundekar, established with pious intention, whoever should wish utterly to cut asunder, or destroy, or take away any part therefrom, may the angel of the Lord cut him, and cleave him in the midst, and destroy all his counsel, and may he have neither part nor place in the council and congregation of the just, unless he repent; but with the devil and his angels may he perish in eternal punishments forever, and beyond; and may his habitation always be made desert, and in his tabernacles may there be none to dwell, and may sudden death come upon him, and may he descend living into hell, and may his eyes be so darkened that they see not in the day of vengeance the glory of God and the glory of the Saints. But whoever should premeditate and be zealous to confirm, or augment, or consolidate [it]; may the Lord confirm and strengthen him in all works holy and worthy of God; and grant him a thousand rewards, and concede to him many happy times, and after the happy course of this fleeting life, lead him to the unspeakable joys of the heavens; where may his soul, received by the Patriarchs, and [*] led by the angels into the pleasantness of paradise, with all the Saints and Elect delightfully live and rejoice and be glorified, and praise the Lord unto ages of ages. Amen.
[37] and with the subscriptions. ✠ The sign of our lord Gundechar, 18th bishop of the holy church of Aureatum, and a sinner, which he himself subscribed. The lord patriarch of Aquileia [*], the lord bishop of Ohenburg, the lord Eliseus bishop of Mantua. But the following signs were subscribed by the common vote and joint praise of the brethren:
✠ I Megingaud the Provost subscribed, and gave my assent.
✠ I Eliseus the Dean subscribed, and gave my assent.
✠ I Leodegarius the presbyter subscribed, and gave my assent… In the same manner after him subscribe nineteen presbyters, whom here for brevity's sake we omit. Then the Deacons in this manner: I Eceman the deacon subscribed, and praised. This one thirteen other deacons follow; whom the subdeacons succeed, writing thus: I Meginhard the subdeacon praised. This one eight subdeacons follow; to whom the juniors thus subjoined close the array:
The junior brethren praise the same: Meginhard, Gebeno, Reginolt.
This Charter we therefore ordered to be marked with the impression of the seal of St. Willibald, as is seen below; (L. S.) that no one looking within, or hearing from anyone what is subscribed below, terrified by the fear of God and of St. Willibald, may dare to dissipate it; and if he premeditate to dissipate it, may he be pierced through by a two-headed sword and destroyed, and delivered to the powers of the demons on the day of judgment, unless by God's prompting he repent, and amend what he has sinned h.
ANNOTATA.
* for Rutpert.
* i.e. a village.
* for "&", as below.
* read: linen cloth.
* sponge.
* read: Matthæi.
* read: Thaddæi.
* perhaps: Leonis.
* perhaps: Euagrii.
* perhaps: Hermagoræ.
* perhaps: Theodegarii.
* perhaps: Anatolii.
* perhaps: Bathildæ.
* read: eleemosynæ (alms).
* read: id est (that is).
* read: &.
* read: Aquileiensis.
MIRACLES
OF THE GLORIOUS PONTIFF GUNDEKAR,
By the Author, as we suppose, Philip bishop of Eichstätt the 39th. From the manuscript Pontifical of the episcopal archive of Eichstätt.
Gundechar bishop conf. at Eichstätt in Germany (S.)
BHL Number: 3700
FROM A MS.
CHAPTER I.
The elevation of his sacred body, and the twenty-four prodigies preceding, accompanying, and shortly following it.
In the year of the Lord 1309, on the sixth weekday before the Exaltation of the holy Cross a, beside the sepulcher of the glorious pontiff Gundekar these miracles were seen and done. [Before the elevation of the body two women bent double, and one one-eyed man, are healed,]
I. A certain girl, by name Leukardis, who
was 13 years old, well enough known to all the people of Eichstätt, from the hospital of the city of Eichstätt, humpbacked, bent, and as it were inclined down to her knees, who could in no way raise herself upward; was healed, so that immediately she walked upright, the burden of her hump daily decreasing.
II. A certain boy from Chaldorf b, who for two years had been blind in one of his eyes, was in that same blind eye given light that same day.
III. Likewise a certain woman from the aforesaid hospital, by name Irngardis, who likewise was known to almost all the people of Eichstätt, being about 30 years old, who on the feast of the Holy Cross c had for four years been humpbacked and swollen, so that she could go nowhere; was healed at the sepulcher of the aforesaid Pontiff, and wholly freed.
[2] [a deaf-mute, a contracted man, a demoniac woman. The bones of the Blessed are elevated.] IV. A certain little boy of ten from Vorchheim d, of the diocese of Bamberg, contracted in feet and hands, deaf and mute from infancy, was that same day freed from all impediments of this kind.
V. On the following Sunday e the stone of the sepulcher of the aforesaid pontiff Gundekar was raised, and on account of the excessive pressure f was set back. On the same day a certain demoniac woman from Ingolstadt g, led to the sepulcher, and beyond measure afflicted by the demon himself, was freed.
On the following second weekday the bones of the same Pontiff were exhumed in the place in which they had been less becomingly buried; and, the Office of the dead having been celebrated for the obsequies of the Pontiff himself, the bones themselves, reverently and becomingly washed with wine, were transferred to another more honorable sepulcher; and then on the same day were done the miracles written below:
[3] [In the very elevation a salutary oil flows forth; a lame man, a one-eyed woman, a blind woman are healed,] I. Before his bones were laid in the second sepulcher, oil so visibly flowed both from the same bones and from the upper marble stone of the sepulcher, that by the venerable father Philip, the 39th bishop of this place, it was from time to time caught with two chalices, and kept for the weakness of the infirm.
II. A certain man of Regensburg, having a crooked foot, who was on the journey of visiting the thresholds of the Most Blessed Virgin at Aachen, and coming to the sepulcher of the blessed Pontiff, was healed that same day; so that he fulfilled the vow of that journey with a joyful mind.
III. A certain woman before the eastern gate in Eichstätt, Bertha by name, daughter of Berngerus, in one of her eyes, in which she had been blind for nine years, was given light that same day.
IV. A certain woman in the same place, the widow [*] of Applin the butcher h of Eichstätt, who on account of the excessive dimness of her eyes could for about eight years see nothing at all, that same day received sight.
[4] three lame persons, one woman contracted; V. In the aforesaid hospital a certain woman, by name Mechtildis, who was very well known to many in Eichstätt, and whom a certain door had struck on one of her legs, so that for four years she was wholly lame; that same day was so healed that she walked with the leg extended.
VI. A certain man by name Hermann, of the parish of Schwabach i, limped most severely in one foot; so that without the support of a staff he could not go: beside the aforesaid sepulcher he was wholly healed.
VII. A certain man in Buechenbach k, by name Werner Textor, who was lame in both feet, so that within the space of one year he could not visit the church, was in the same place so healed that he could walk most excellently wherever he wished.
VIII. A certain woman of Adelschlag, about sixty years old, called Wezume, was by a certain storm so grievously struck that for almost a whole year she went bent and inclined down to her knees; to whom on a certain night it was seen in a vision, that if she should pass under the stone in which the bones of the aforesaid Pontiff are laid, she would be healed of such a stroke. Which on the aforesaid second weekday she did, as had been seen by her in dreams; and at once rising, she walked upright.
[5] IX. A certain boy of ten, son of one called Bizmullnarius, [on the same day and the following, a deaf-mute; three demoniac women; a lame woman.] the Crier of Pullensheim, deaf and mute from his birth, was freed from these impediments and healed that same day.
X. A certain demoniac woman from Mohrn, about 30 years old, was freed.
XI. Likewise a certain woman possessed on the day of St. Matthew the apostle, about the supper hour, at the same sepulcher was likewise freed.
XII. Likewise a certain demoniac woman, from Eychbach, of the diocese of Augsburg, coming afterward for some days to the sepulcher of the same Pontiff, was freed.
XIII. A certain woman, Adlhaidis by name, of Altorf, servant of the bailiff at Schafhausen l, having a crooked foot, in which for about 15 weeks she could not go, was there wholly healed.
[6] On the fourth weekday after the feast of Michael, from the hour of Matins until after midday, [Again the oil bubbles up from the sepulcher; and a deaf man, a contracted woman, an ulcerous woman are healed.] the oil began visibly to bubble up from the upper marble stone of the sepulcher in various places here and there.
XIV. On the same day a certain boy from Heidenheim m, who from the past feast of St. James could hear nothing, received hearing.
XV. A certain woman from Rohr, contracted in the leg, vowed, if she were healed, to visit the aforesaid Pontiff; who, being at once healed, visited him: and this by the testimony of the Provost of the monastery in Rohr, of the Order of St. Augustine.
XVI. On the Saturday nearest after the feast of St. Michael, a certain girl from Berolzheim, by name Adlhaidis, who for many years had had a great swelling in one of her jaws, and was so wounded on the inner part of the mouth in one jaw, that both the tongue and the jaw were pierced through by continual pus, so that the pus came out of her mouth as if continuously and none the less pierced the jaw, under so great a stench and horror that no neighbor could endure her. When she had come to the sepulcher of the glorious Pontiff, and had tasted of the wine in which his bones had been washed, from the hands of the lord Rud, priest chaplain of St. Willibald, soon returning home, within a few days all that wounded matter fell from her mouth, and immediately, all swelling and stench ceasing, both inwardly and outwardly the tongue and jaw, which had been wounded by the pus, were entirely healed and cured.
[7] XVII. When on the feast of the dedication of the cathedral church, both because of the dedication itself, An unbeliever is punished; but soon repenting is healed: and because of visiting the sepulcher of the aforesaid Pontiff, men flocked in troops to the city of Eichstätt, a certain rustic from Mohrn, by name Ludwig, standing plowing on a hill, when he saw the multitude of men passing, thought within himself: O what a trowel n the clerics of Eichstätt find for obtaining money! Who at once was wholly deprived of sight. But he, exceedingly compunct at such a thought, besought the Lord that through the merits of the same Pontiff he would deign to restore his sight; and immediately his eyes, smeared with the earth in which he stood, received their former sight. Which miracle, that it was so done, he publicly and solemnly approved, by the testimony of his parish priest, and by his own oath, in the presence of more than a thousand men.
[8] the film of an eye is wiped away; a fire is stayed. XVIII. A certain priest of the Order of Friars Minor of Ingolstadt, by name Brother John, who in one of his eyes had a cloth or spot so drawn over it that he could see nothing with it, and feared perpetual blindness in it; smeared himself with the wine in which the bones of the aforesaid Pontiff had been washed, and at once the eye, the spot receding, was clear; as the same Friar related, by the obedience of his Order, that it was so done.
XIX. The same Venerable Friar related under the same obedience, that, when fire once began so to burn the house Zuggeringen, of the diocese of Augsburg, at night-time, that the villagers there feared the whole village would be burned on account of the force of the wind; and when they invoked the suffrage of the aforesaid Pontiff, at once the fire, a contrary wind coming, was suffocated.
ANNOTATA.
* i.e. a widow.
CHAPTER II.
Another two-and-twenty prodigies then done by the patronage of the same blessed Prelate.
XX. On the aforesaid day of dedication, at the supper hour, a certain demoniac woman from Trautlingen, of the diocese of Eichstätt, [A demoniac woman, a fever-sick woman, a lame woman are healed: the flesh of the Blessed turned into wax:] whom the devil had long afflicted with pitiable torment, was freed.
XXI. A certain woman laboring with a quartan fever, washed with the aforesaid wine, was healed.
XXII. A certain seamstress of Pleinfeld carried off with her to her home a part of the burnt-to-ashes a flesh of the Pontiff himself; which to her, as to many
others it happened, was changed and converted into pure wax material: which wax indeed she presented to the aforementioned bishop b.
XXIII. A certain girl of Illchdorf, of the diocese of Augsburg, by name N., to whom the rector of the same church, as to a beggar-woman, had given sustenance for one year, was compelled to go on crutches with one crooked leg; who when she came to the sepulcher of the aforesaid Pontiff, his suffrage being invoked, was so far healed that, the crutches being cast away, she made her way freely without any impediment whatever.
[10] XXIV. Arnold of Rhelingen, of the same diocese, deafness removed, a contraction, a pain of the womb: of military condition, who in one of his ears, in which for twenty years, as he declared by an oath bodily rendered, he could hear nothing, fully received hearing.
XXV. A certain woman, by name Adlhaidis, of Berolzheim, of the diocese of Eichstätt, had her arm so knit at the elbow, that she could not extend it from her breast: which by the suffrage of the aforesaid Prelate was loosened and extended so far, that now the woman herself could spin c and weave and exercise all operations of this kind without any impediment whatever.
XXVI. A certain poor little woman, well enough known to certain people of Eichstätt, at the time of childbirth (with the discipline of any hearers preserved) was so grievously affected in the womb, that for about twenty years, wearied by pain of this kind, she could not, without a binding of the belly, render due service to those whom she served: who likewise, this defect and pain being removed beside the said tomb, her womb being restored, was brought back to her former health.
[11] XXVII. A certain man of Kutzingen, of the diocese of Würzburg, again deafness, the protrusion of an intestine, lameness; by name Conrad, while he labored in a sickness of fevers, was deprived of hearing in both ears: who, when he had approached the sepulcher of the aforesaid Pontiff, by his intercession recovered the grace of hearing withdrawn.
XXVIII. Likewise to a certain man, of Windesheim d, of the same diocese of Würzburg, that intestine through which the greater evacuation is wont to go out protruded outside the anus; and remained outside so long, that from this, tormented with great pain, he desired rather to die than to live: who, when he had vowed to visit the aforesaid sepulcher, forthwith, the intestine itself returning into its due place, was healed; as he proved by an oath bodily rendered by him, when he had come having fulfilled his vow.
XXIX. A certain little servant, of Rhelingen, of the diocese of Augsburg, by name Henry, having a crooked foot, so that without crutches e he could not go, having made a like vow, was likewise healed at home; who this too afterward, when he had come, proved by the testimony of very many who had seen him have that crooked foot.
[12] again deafness taken from two; XXX. The Reverend father and lord Andreas, bishop of Würzburg, for a certain youth, servant of his chamber, by name Henry [*], who in both ears had been wholly deprived of hearing, sincerely vowed that he would send him, for the taking away of a defect of this kind, to the sepulcher of the aforesaid renowned Prelate: and when he had told the same youth the vow which he had made for him, the defect of this kind began to decrease and diminish; so that, when the same bishop had directed the same aforesaid weak one to the venerable father and lord Brother Philip bishop of Eichstätt, to be promoted with his letters of supplication, immediately beside the said sepulcher the hearing of both ears was most fully restored to him.
XXXI. Marquard, once a carpenter, of Worthe, of the diocese of Augsburg, about seventy years old, while beside the aforesaid sepulcher he devoutly asked that the withdrawn grace of hearing be restored to him, and had not there been heard; while afterward he passed the town of Hochstetten g, received hearing.
[13] [a stone is healed; to a dying man is given the power of confessing and receiving the Viaticum:] XXXII. Henry, son of Hertivicus, bailiff of the honorable man lord Conrad dean of Eichstätt in the village of Walnsdorf, about ten years old; who while on account of a stone, by which he was grievously pressed, he could not urinate for some time, on that day on which his father and mother invoked the suffrage of the Pontiff for him, having gained the grace of his former passage, was healed of the same impediment.
XXXIII. A certain man of Gemphingen, set in the bed of sickness, became mute; to whom when the parish priest had come to hear his confession and to administer the Sacrament of the Eucharist, he found him deprived of the office of the tongue; but he exhorted the faithful of Christ standing by to ask the Lord, that through the intercession of the renowned prelate Gundekar he might merit to obtain the grace of speaking: and while they devoutly besought the Lord, the office of the tongue being most fully restored to him, he confessed, and having received the Sacrament of the Eucharist, again became mute, as before.
[14] a half-deaf woman, a dropsical woman, a demoniac woman are healed, XXXIV. Lutta, a certain woman, of Upper Eichstätt, was wholly deaf in one of her ears, and after a vow made, while she visited the sepulcher of the oft-named Gundekar the pontiff, and put her deaf ear to the sepulcher, forthwith a certain crash sounded in her head, and immediately she received her former hearing.
XXXV. Gisella, a certain woman of Regensburg, who for five years had been dropsical, and could be cured neither by physicians nor by medicines, promised to visit the sepulcher of the same Prelate; and forthwith about the greatest swelling of the belly a certain skin burst, so that immediately, the swelling ceasing, she was restored to her former health.
XXXVI. Isentrudis of Schrobenhausen, a woman of the diocese of Augsburg, was freed near the sepulcher of the same Prelate from a certain demon, which had vexed her for four continuous years.
[15] as also a woman at once contracted and blind. XXXVII. Cunegundis, of the nation of Meissen, called of Nuremberg, being bent both in the leg and in the arm, and blind in both eyes, visiting his sepulcher at the exhumation of the same Prelate, was healed both in the arm and in the foot. But since she still remained blind, she was unwilling to make manifest the grace done to her; and departing, she carried with her some of the earth of the aforesaid sepulcher; and on a certain night, when she wished to go to bed, so great a pain of head and eyes invaded her, that she did not hope to live until morning. At length her sister smeared her head and eyes with the earth of the aforesaid Pontiff; and forthwith, the pain ceasing, the woman herself took sleep. When in the morning the woman herself, who for five years had been blind, awoke; she perceived the light of day, and thus through moments of time so advanced in clearness of sight, that she swore she sustained no defect at all of the eyes.
[16] XXXVIII. A certain husbandman, of Ottingen, through many times had contracted so great a weakness of legs and feet, and persons weak in their limbs, and one seized in one eye, that he had wholly lost the office of walking. After a vow made of visiting the aforesaid sepulcher, within eight days he so recovered, that he visited the same sepulcher with bare feet without pain or any defect whatever.
XXXIX. Conrad Merulus, of Horburg, of the diocese of Augsburg, in one of his eyes had so copious and continual a flux, that the sight of the same eye wholly vanished from this; nay almost the whole jaw, through which the dripping descended, became ulcerated: whom when his parents had devoted to the aforesaid sepulcher every year under a yearly rent of five Haller h, the flux forthwith ceasing, he received the former clearness of sight.
XL. Adlhaidis, a girl of six years, of Hobingen, had been so weakened and destroyed on one side from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, that she could neither sit nor walk, but was compelled only to lie upon her belly and face, her back being erected upward: whom her parents promised to carry to the said sepulcher; and immediately through some moments of time she so recovered, that, receiving the use and office of all her limbs, she walked upright, nor did any traces of her former infirmity afterward appear in her.
[17] XLI. Bertha, a woman, born of Heideck i, had withdrawn herself from the other side of the city of Bamberg [] some four miles; A woman under a vow is punished for negligence; where she drank of a certain spring; and forthwith a wen began to grow in her throat: and when for two years it received continual increase so far, that on single days [] and nights she feared to be suffocated, and destined iron and wax wens to divers Saints, and profited nothing; at length her mother still residing in Heideck, hearing the miracles of the aforenamed Prelate, made a vow for her daughter, unknowing and absent, that she ought to visit his sepulcher within a certain space of time: and forthwith, before this became known to her daughter, the wen began to decrease successively.
[18] But in process of time, when the mother herself intimated to her daughter by a messenger about rendering this [] vow, she answered, but repenting she is healed. that she was now in such convalescence, that she esteemed the discharge of the vow less necessary; and thus showing herself for some time negligent in the execution of the vow, she incurred so vehement a pain of teeth and head, that she even feared to be alienated from her mind []. On account of which she promised to fulfill her mother's vow in her own person: and immediately, both maladies ceasing, she came sound and unharmed to the said sepulcher; so that, her throat being bared before the people, no traces at all of her former defect appeared; although about the excrescence of her wen several honorable persons in the castle of Nassenfels k, who had seen her wenned as one known to them, bore sufficient testimony.
ANNOTATA.
* read: Henrico.
* i.e. of Bamberg.
* perhaps: days.
* perhaps: of this kind.
* perhaps: mind.
CHAPTER III.
The remaining ten miracles of the same Blessed.
XLII. Mechtildis, a girl of 13 years, of the diocese of Freising, Epilepsy is healed. often and very often at divers times had the access of a certain infirmity, by which she was so weakened, that she fell to the ground; and both her feet and hands and arms, and also her other limbs, grew stiff, so that by almost all who saw her she was said to labor with the epileptic disease. At length indeed the father and mother of the same girl, hearing the divers miracles of the renowned Gundekar, made a vow, that they would present their same daughter to his sepulcher,
as soon as they could, in their own person: and forthwith, this infirmity ceasing, she was healthfully healed, and thereafter had no access, nor felt any suffering at all.
[20] [An iron ring inserted indissolubly into an arm and deadly, is loosed by a miracle.] XLIII. Godfrey, seventy years old, born of Cutis in the kingdom of Bohemia, on account of a homicide which he had committed on the person of a certain uncle of his, had had his arm enclosed and girded round with an iron ring; so that he could not free himself from a bond of this kind. And when for three years and a half and ten weeks he had borne a ring of this kind, and his flesh from the excessive tightness of the iron had been gnawed away to the bones, hearing the miracles of the most pious Gundekar, he took up the journey to visit his sepulcher; and prostrating himself at the sepulcher, from which the body of the same Prelate had already long before been transferred, and putting his fettered arm into the same sepulcher, in the presence there of certain priests and other honorable persons, he began to cry out with a great voice: then forthwith, when he drew back his hand to himself, the ring fell from his arm; and the nail, by which the same ring had been closed, was found in the sepulcher; and recent signs of cutting appeared in the nail itself, as if it had been cut by a smith's instrument: and that no fraud intervened in this case, he himself, who was healed, by his own oath, and the priests, and others who were present, declared by sufficient testimony.
[21] XLIV. One called Ellenbruner, residing outside the gate of the city of Eichstätt toward the western gate, A girl submerged and held for dead, when on the vigil of the Lord's Ascension he was absent from the city of Eichstätt, Mechtildis, his daughter of seven years, fell from a certain piece of wood into the river which is commonly called the Altmühl, beside the lodging of her parent, and being submerged was carried by the flow of the water down to the tenth threshing-floor, which are there continued in a row: and when all and each of the inhabitants of the same place, continually crying out, ran up, and could not help her, at length a certain fisherman coming up with a little boat drew out the little girl, and cast her upon the land as if dead; whom the neighbors lifting up upon their arms, found no signs of life in her for a long time.
[22] Condoling with the mother, who from excessive distress had begun to swoon a, she is at once restored to her former health. all with one accord invoked the Prelate himself, that he would restore to her her former life: and after a little space of time blood and water flowed from the mouth and nostrils of the girl in great quantity, and immediately she began to move one of her fingers: and the neighbors seeing this, stripping her of her garments, in which she had been submerged, laid her upon a bed: and within a short space of time, after she had been warmed, she so recovered her strength, that entirely sound and unharmed she visited the sepulcher of the aforesaid Pontiff, together with her mother and her other neighbors, in her own person; as all these things were sufficiently declared, and publicly and clearly proved before the people, by the fisherman himself and fourteen other trustworthy persons, who had seen the whole course of the deed, and had been present.
[23] XLV. Mechtildis of Finfbrun had so failed in sight, and had sustained her defect through the whole winter now past, A blind woman, and a paralytic, are healed. that without a guide she could not go in places known to her: who after she visited the sepulcher of the aforesaid Gundekar, as she knew how, in the week before the day of the next Easter, and returned home; on the very day of Easter, and as it were in a moment, received her former clearness of sight; as she clearly proved by fit and sworn witnesses.
XLVI. Mechtildis of Neustadt [*], of the diocese of Bamberg, wholly struck on one side by the paralytic disease, so that for 30 weeks she could not move herself from her place without the aid of others, making a vow that, if before the coming feast of the Lord's Nativity it should befall her to be freed from an infirmity of this kind, she would visit the sepulcher of the same Pontiff every year, forthwith was relieved, and from day to day so recovered, that on the feast of the Lord's Nativity she discharged the vow made, wholly healed and freed, by herself.
[24] XLVII. Henry, servant of the honorable man master Udalric, Provost of Spalt b, when on a certain Saturday, A deadly angina after the feast of Easter now past, he felt no weakness of body at all, and healthy in the night laid himself down on his bed, his throat that same night contracted so great a swelling and pain, that in the morning he could neither rise from bed, nor speak without the greatest difficulty: and when the lord Rudiger, the sub-parish-priest, called by a certain precaution, had come to him with the Eucharist, and the servant himself had with much difficulty confessed his sins; the same parish priest and others who were present, fearing lest perhaps in a short while it should befall him to be suffocated; with what speed he could, administered to him the Sacrament of the Eucharist; but on the following day, namely on the second weekday in the morning, the aforesaid swelling in his throat had so prevailed, that the same servant wholly lost all power of speaking, nor could his words be understood or heard by anyone, so that only by a movement or nod of the head he in some way signified his will.
[25] is at once wholly taken away. Hearing which, the Provost himself ordered some of the wine, in which the bones of the glorious pontiff Gundekar had been washed, to be poured into his mouth in a small quantity; and immediately the servant himself, feeling a certain pain from this, began to speak; asserting that by the drink which he had taken he was wholly freed: and when it was told him by a servant standing by, that he had taken of the wine of the washing of Gundekar the prelate, forthwith with great devotion he promised that he would thereafter visit his sepulcher as frequently as he could: and he who before could neither move his tongue nor raise himself from bed, asked that food be given him: and still visiting the said sepulcher that same day, on the morrow, that is on the third weekday, sound and unharmed he went to perform his accustomed labors.
[26] A demoniac woman is freed. XLVIII. Gisilla, a woman, of Edelhusen near Pfaffenhofen, for 12 years, less five weeks, had a certain demon, which drove her through woods, fields, and every out-of-the-way place, and compelled her, against the will of all belonging to her, to come to the land of Austria, and for three years, like a wandering and untamed animal, to run about there: who on the day of Pentecost before the morning hour was brought to the oft-named sepulcher by her natural brother, and violently drawn, many cries and vociferations being uttered, was so miserably afflicted, that all present there were provoked to weeping. After many sufferings of this kind, while that same day the evening Office was being chanted, beside the sepulcher of the aforesaid pontiff Gundekar, in the presence of all the people, she was, by the divine clemency favoring, wholly freed from a demon of this kind.
[28] A leg direly affected is suddenly healed, XLIX. Engelmar, of military condition, called Chuengesfelder, of Wolfersdorff, had in his leg a very great and dangerous swelling for about the space of one year; on account of which also the skin in divers places of the swelling was burst, nor did any matter flow forth from it; but rather grave corrosions arising here and there were from day to day enlarged, so that there was fear lest at length the disease itself should infect his whole leg: and when the sick man himself on a certain night, set in the greatest distress, reckoned himself on this account destroyed in goods and person, and from excessive sadness lay as if drowsy on his bed, behold, someone appeared to him in sleep, saying: Go quickly to the church of Eichstätt, and place your weak leg upon the sepulcher of Bl. Gundekar, that you may be healed. He forthwith coming to himself, made a vow, with the fervor of much devotion, of visiting the sepulcher itself: and suddenly, from day to day, from moment to moment, the inflammation and every corrosion and injury of the same leg decreasing, after on the third weekday nearest after the feast of Pentecost he had visited the sepulcher of the same glorious Pontiff, and had placed his leg there; he was so healed, that he proved, by an oath bodily rendered, that he was stronger in that [leg] in which the disease had been, and more agile, than in that which had remained sound.
[29] L. Conrad of Neussen for 13 years had a lame hand, so that the same hand, contracted to the arm itself, and a contracted hand, could not in any way be separated from it; and all the fingers of the same hand were curved and enclosed up to the fist; and the nails of those fingers had so grown out, that they several times inflicted injury on the fist itself: and when for eight years he suffered the defect of this disease [], on a certain night he dreamed, that if he should come to the Bishop of Eichstätt, his hand would recover its former health. Who coming to the church of Eichstätt, when he placed his hand [] at the aforesaid sepulcher, many clerics and laymen there present first examining and finding the defect of this kind, the hand, which had been joined to the arm, and the fingers curved up to the fist, were little by little disjoined and loosed, so that at length he had both the hand itself, and the fingers, extended; and none the less a certain knob, which had grown out near the joint nearest after the little finger on the outer part of the arm, and had, through length of time, been hardened like a horn, forthwith vanished and receded.
[30] LI. Ulric of Ellingen had a certain kind of palsy, and palsy. which, running with most vehement pain through all the parts of the body here and there, afflicted him miserably at divers hours of the day. Who coming to the sepulcher of the same illustrious Pontiff, and staying there for some days, when the pain came on, cried out miserably and clamored so, that all standing by were moved to the mercy of compassion: who from day to day, by the frequenting of the sepulcher, was better, and at length, after about 12 days, was wholly healed c.
ANNOTATA.
* commonly Newstatt.
* rather: of this kind.
* read: hand.