ON ST. PETER BISHOP CONFESSOR
AT OXOMA OR UXAMA IN SPAIN.
The Year 1109.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Peter bishop, conf. at Oxoma in Spain (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
§ I. The Saint's cult, country, and profession.
Although Tamayus very often errs in his Spanish Martyrology, yet on this day at least he has rightly noted and illustrated St. Peter of Oxoma, or of Uxama (Burgo de Osma), bishop, of whose cult, even if it did not otherwise wholly appear (inasmuch as he is announced by Menard, Not sufficiently known in the Fasti, Ferrarius, and Saussay alone), he himself suggested those things whence we may be secure about his ancient celebrity, as will soon be plainer. Now let us first hear Menard himself: In Spain, of St. Peter bishop of Oxoma, of the Cluniac Order. But he notes in his Observations page 653, That Peter was a Gaul by nation, sprung from Bourges: that he came into Spain called by blessed Bernard, who was then abbot of the monastery of Sahagún, afterward archbishop of Toledo. He took the habit in the said monastery from the aforesaid blessed Bernard, where he lived according to the institutes of the Cluniac Order, which then flourished in that monastery. He was afterward archdeacon of Toledo, by the benefit of the same blessed Bernard. At length bishop of Oxonia: he meant to say of Oxoma. Ferrarius in the general Catalogue: At Uxama in Spain, of St. Peter bishop and patron. Why he repeats the same Saint again at the 4th day of this month, will be easy to understand from what follows.
[2] Saussay in the Supplement page 1154 thus also speaks of him on this day: In Spain, the birthday of St. Peter, he is illustrated by Tamayus bishop of Oxoma, of the Cluniac Order, who, on account of the shining lights of grace, was called into Spain by St. Bernard archbishop of Toledo, Aquitanian by birth, and fed the people committed to him by word and example; and, the Lord's interest being multiplied from the salvation of the sheep, entered into eternal joy. Tamayus cites another Spanish Martyrologist, whose words are these: At Uxama of Spain, of St. Peter, bishop of the same city, who first had been a monk of Cluny, afterward of Sahagún, archdeacon of Toledo, a man singular in doctrine, virtues, and miracles. Here too Tamayus himself deserves to be heard: At Uxama of Spain, of St. Peter bishop of the same city, who from Aquitaine of Gaul, called by Bernard archbishop of Toledo, received the cowl of the Benedictine Order in the monastery of Sahagún, afterward made archdeacon of Toledo, ascended to the infulae of the prelacy, in which, illustrious by example and doctrine, the distinguished confessor migrated to the eternal gain. About the Benedictine habit received in the monastery of Sahagún or Saguntum, or rather in Gaul itself, we shall inquire below: the things which pertain to the cult are here first to be pursued.
[3] from many Breviaries This too Tamayus clearly proves from various ancient Breviaries of Spain, relating the Office of this St. Peter, among which he cites first the Toledan Breviary of the year 1483; that in this church his festivity is even now kept on this second day of August is clear from the Kalendar, or Order of the divine Office, printed at Madrid in the year 1718. There is adduced also the Breviary of Compostela of the year 1569, then that of Ciudad Rodrigo of the year 1555. Likewise the Palentine and Salamancan of the year 1538, in which the feast is thrown back to the 12th of October, perhaps of November, on account of the translation made on that day. But in the Conchense it is put on the 4th of August. Of the Carthaginian of the year 1536 we shall soon give the proper lesson. Let this stand for all: the Kalendar of the very year 1718 of the church of Oxoma itself, in which is most expressly read on this day the 2nd of August: Of Peter bishop confessor and patron, double of the 1st Class with an octave in the whole diocese. You see that there is by no means to be doubted about the solemn cult of St. Peter, at least in Spain; that I may now pass over the elogia which are profusely bestowed on this holy Prelate by the Spaniards. Let it here suffice, as I promised, the lesson of the ancient Carthaginian Breviary:
[4] The venerable prelate and pious pastor Peter, by nation of Bourges, especially from the Carthaginian of Christian parents, when he was a youth of good disposition, diligently watching among the scholars, meditated day and night in the law of the Lord. Being therefore made archdeacon of Toledo, in that same church he handled ecclesiastical affairs diligently and opportunely, and a provident watchman in the house of the Lord, he dispensed not only temporal but spiritual things. At the same time the church of Oxoma lacked the solace of a pastor, which by the incursions of the Saracens, with many other churches and cities of Spain, had been depopulated; and through many courses of years, bereft of a rector, remained, its inhabitants failing. Yet by the nod of God the city of Oxoma was rebuilt by a few inhabitants. To this city the aforesaid praiseworthy Man is set over as pastor, and is constituted rector of the ruined church overthrown from its very foundations (of which neither signs nor traces could be found by reason of age). He therefore, neither surrounded by affluence of things, nor by the circumstance of servants, nor finally enlarged by the beauty of palaces, began to be a new builder: and to reform not only the walls, but also the morals of his subjects. These things being duly accomplished, the Man of God is forthwith seized by a fever, and, his strength failing his body, after the receiving of the Sacraments, rendered his spirit to the Lord on the 4th of the Nones of August.
[5] Let there here also have place the hymn from the Office of the church of Uxama, described by Tamayus in this manner: and from the Oxoman hymn.
Let the angelic phalanx applaud The feast of so great a pontiff, Whom Bourges to Oxoma Sent forth at heavenly commands.
That he might root out the thorn-bushes, The thorns, and the briers of the bramble, And engraft the shoots Of coruscating virtues.
First he flourished at Toledo In the archdeaconry: He submitted himself to the metropolis Under the dominion of Bernard.
Afterward he restores the basilica Of Uxama, and in spirit Teaches the nations how The Lord is to be venerated.
And thus much of the cult hitherto; now let us subjoin what can be said of his country or origin and profession.
[6] In the general Benedictine Chronicle Yepes refutes certain Spaniards, That he was a Gaul and a monk, is certain; who, because they understood the Saint to be everywhere called Peter of Osma, had persuaded themselves that he was Spanish by race, as though St. Martin, to whom the surname of Tours adhered, ought to be called a Gaul, whom it is commonly most well known was born in Pannonia: or as though anyone should believe St. Anthony of Lisbon an Italian, because everywhere from the place of his death and the deposition of his sacred body he is surnamed of Padua. So, he says, St. Peter is not on that account to be called Spanish, although he is commonly named of Oxoma or Uxama. Among those erring, who make St. Peter almost a Victorian, Yepes cites and refutes Villegas, Trugillo, and Marieta, who could have been better taught from Roderic of Toledo lib. 6 cap. 27, so most eloquently testifying, that Bernard archbishop of Toledo, returning from Rome through Gaul to his see, chose from divers places honorable and lettered men, and also docile youths, whom he could have, and led them with him into Spain. From Moissac he led blessed Girald, whom, first cantor in the church of Toledo, he afterward made archbishop of Braga. From Bourges St. Peter, whom, first archdeacon of Toledo, he afterward made bishop of Oxoma.
[7] it does not equally appear, It is not sufficiently distinctly here expressed by Roderic, whether he of whom here is treated, St. Peter, when he was led from Gaul into Spain, was then already a monk, or first put on the cowl in the monastery of Saguntum itself, as above Menard and others intimated. But if the words of Roderic be rightly weighed, he did not number St. Peter among the docile youths who should afterward take the habit, but among those whom he calls honorable and lettered men, and whom he continually promoted to dignities; which from the Life to be given below can be gathered not too obscurely; but more clearly in Davila on the Bishops of Oxoma cap. 3, and in others, against Menard and the very announcement of Tamayus, whom it is altogether wonderful not to connect his first assertions better with his last: for where in the said announcement he most clearly pronounced that our Saint received the cowl of the Benedictine Order in the monastery of Sahagún, as if forgetful of himself, he impugns Menard's opinion in his observations, in these most formal words: Which opinion is pleasing even to some of our writers (he might say, and to me), but I believe truer that which the Acts relate. And we too should judge it to be preferred, did not the express opinion of Roderic already related above seem to oppose it.
[8] whether he took the habit among the people of Saguntum. Yepes saw the conflicting opinions; but the manner, at least opportune, by which he might reconcile them, he did not find; nay rather he deflected into a worse one, by which namely he too contends, that St. Peter, summoned from Gaul, not already a monk, but in the very monastery of Saguntum of SS. Facundus and Primitivus put on the Benedictine habit. But he will have Roderic above so to speak, that he treats not only of those monks whom Bernard then led from Gaul into Spain, from the choice then made, but of all who had already at divers times come thither; which what else is it than to cut the whole knot of the difficulty rather than to loose it? But what he there discusses, from I know not what Saguntine monuments, more ancient than Roderic himself, would certainly never persuade me that we should depart from Roderic, whatever be so manifestly asserted in the Life, that St. Peter went with Bernard himself into Spain, when from Cluny Cluniac monks were so solicitously requested by king Alfonso: which of so celebrated a Saint Mabillon, I think, would not have been silent, when in the Annals of the Order at the year 1081, tom. 5, lib. 66, he mentions many things about Bernard's coming into Spain and his deeds on page 172, where nevertheless of St. Peter there is the deepest silence; also in other places, in which nevertheless he mentions Bernard of Toledo often. Now let us dispatch the rest.
§ II. His age and deeds.
As we have shown the things which about St. Peter's country and profession have already been disputed to be doubtful and entangled, Likewise the writers vary so also I find intricate the things which about his age can be recounted, of which the decision would chiefly depend on the coming of Bernard, from the Cluniac monastery or another of the same Order to the Spanish one of Sahagún, over which, after the Arabic ravages, restored by king Alfonso, he was constituted first abbot; whence, I say, the decision would depend, if it were sufficiently established that St. Peter was the companion of the said Bernard, when he first landed in Spain. If I rightly conjecture, Bernard came into Spain before Toledo was snatched from the Moors, which according to the more probable chronology did not happen before the year 1085: so that we may suppose that from about the year 1080 or 1081 Bernard with his companions came to the monastery of Saguntum or Sahagún; whence a little after, summoned by the same king Alfonso the tamer of the Moors, he was given to the church of Toledo as archbishop, metropolitan and primate of all Spain. Which is the very opinion of Mabillon, who in his Benedictine Annals in the place already cited above, namely tome 5, page 172, treating of the affairs of Sahagún, thus narrates the whole matter, as I have said, so that of St. Peter, neither there nor in what follows, he mentions even a word.
[10] Let us hear what things about the deeds of Bernard, from which our narrative is in some way illustrated, in determining the time he there deduces
in this manner: Who that one was, whom Alfonso suggested to Gregory as to be set over the church of Toledo, is uncertain: but it is certain that Bernard, a monk of our Order, was at length imposed upon that see. He, sprung from the territory of Agen, namely from the town of Salvitas [*], on the testimony of Roderic of Toledo, when from infancy he had been imbued with letters, gave his name to secular soldiery; but afterward, compelled by infirmity, in the monastery of St. Orientius of Auch, of the Benedictine rule, the monastic habit being taken, devoted himself. Thence called to Cluny by abbot Hugh, he led with him a praiseworthy life for some time. Then, when king Alfonso wished to augment and amplify the monastery of Saguntum of SS. Facundus and Primitivus, where once, for the sake of avoiding captivity, he had put on the monastic habit not willingly, he asked from abbot Hugh a religious man, who should there discharge the office of abbot, that, as Cluny excelled the other monasteries of Gaul, so also this one might excel all the Spanish. Hugh sent Bernard thither with other monks. But he, made abbot, so showed himself amiable and acceptable to all, that, Toledo being reduced into the power of the Christians, soon he himself was elected archbishop of that see.
[11] These things seem almost to agree with those which the Life to be given by us from Tamayus relates at no. 2, when the Saint came into Spain: where, the prior life of our Saint in the monastery, as he calls it, of Auricum (perhaps Auch) or of Cluny being premised, he narrates that king Alfonso besought by assiduous letters the abbot of Cluny (whom he does not name), that he would send into Spain some monks from Cluny, illustrious both in doctrine and virtues, who should erect and illustrate the royal monastery in spirit, and mark the whole compass of the region with illustrious morals and virtues. Therefore the abbot of Cluny, convinced by the humble petition of the renowned king, destined twelve monks, strengthened by the proof of illustrious morals, to the king, among whom Bernard, who afterward was archbishop of Toledo, and Peter, his nephew according to the bond of flesh, though by merit his son by profession. Who at the aforesaid monastery of Sahagún passed the monastic life through some course of time, where in prayer, nightly watchings, fastings, and similar exercises, he persevered an assiduous minister of the Lord. Everywhere out of order the man of God, after his custom, applied himself with the brethren to the meditation of the divine law, that he might better and more effectually flee from idleness, etc. Which things in the Life itself are more fully deduced.
[12] whether while Bernard of Toledo went thither, Behold here St. Peter the companion of Bernard, when he about the year 1080 or 1081 first went into Spain. But again who shall sufficiently reconcile these things with the words of Roderic, cited above no. 6, where he most eloquently testifies that St. Peter was first led by Bernard from Gaul, when the archbishop of Toledo was returning from Rome through Aquitaine to his see, which does not seem to have happened except when the eleventh century was already verging to its end, namely when the Crusaders were going to Jerusalem, whither Bernard, himself also inflamed with pious zeal, had resolved to accompany them. If it be permitted in any way to dissolve the things which among the Spaniards are entangled, it is manifest: I shall say that these things happened about the year 1096, when our Saint was not so much led to Saguntum, as declared archdeacon of Toledo by Bernard; namely at that time when most of the monks of the Benedictine Order were compelled to supply the offices of canons in the church of Toledo: and further that the Saint, having discharged the office of archdeacon for a few years, say four or five, was about the year 1100 or 1101 promoted, without any man's envy, to the restoring, or shall I say the inaugurating, of the bishopric of Oxoma, and administered the same church up to the year 1109, in which on the 2nd or 4th of August he was happily called to the reward of his labors.
[13] or when he returned from Rome. That therefore by conjectures at least verisimilar the series of St. Peter's life may in some way be ordered, I shall not fear to assert that he about the said year 1096 came to Saguntum and thence to Toledo, being then mature in age. But if he can be called seventy years old when he died bishop in the year 1109, it will follow that he is said to have been born about the year 1040, and further to have put on the monk's habit, after a brief secular soldiery, about the year 1070, and so to have been a veteran in that year 1096, and accordingly fit, not only that in the monastery of Saguntum he might shine before the brethren by example, but also that he might be promoted to the dignity of archdeacon, in which both as a perfect monk and at the same time a canon he fulfilled all the parts both of a holy and of a learned and prudent Man, and accordingly the fame of his virtues, so dispersed through all men's mouths, so increased, that it seized the king, the archbishop, the clergy, and the people into a profound admiration by the frequency of his illustrious deeds, as you have more fully in the Life no. 5; whereupon soon followed his unanimous election as bishop of Oxoma, where by what most singular virtues and miracles he was illustrious, you will find excellently explained in the same place. In this the praised Legend seems to fail, that it has not aptly enough placed the end of his life in the year 1108, as remains now to be explained in a few words.
[14] A well-nigh equal controversy about the year and day of his death. And indeed both the year and the day of his death the writers involve almost equally with the rest. Certainly, against the most express assertion of the Life, which places the death of the Saint in the year of the Lord 1108, I am compelled to think that he wholly survived to the following year, since he was present, from the same Life no. 9, at Alfonso oppressed by a grave infirmity, and at his death and funeral. But since it is established that that king died in the year 1109, and since shortly after followed the holy bishop of Oxoma, of whom here we treat, it seems certain enough that the writer of the Life erred, when he anticipated his death by a whole year. Whether he labors under the same fault when he notes the 4th of the Nones of August, against those who, otherwise, noted the fourth of the same month, or the day before the Nones, I do not dispute: on this day especially the Martyrologists whom I cited above announce him; so that I judge it more verisimilar that this was the very day of his death, on which in his own church of Oxoma his annual memory is celebrated with singular solemnity, as we noted above from the Kalendar. And thus much about the day and year of St. Peter's most happy death, which in this way seem abundantly placed beyond controversy.
[15] To what pertains to his illustrious deeds, he who composed the Legend, His deeds better illustrated. now not once praised, prosecuted them so studiously, that he allowed almost nothing to be desired, furnishing a source from which both Sandoval, and Yepes, and the rest almost all who have mentioned the Saint seem to have received their material. One thing there is which Lucius Marineus Siculus suggests, On the Saints and Martyrs of Spain lib. 5 f. 25 v, not here to be passed over. He there describes the famous miracle of the spring gushing from an oak, of which the Life also makes mention at no. 9. But then he subjoins what here follows: The same Pontiff, when, on emerging affairs, led by the prayers of many, he had come to Palencia, deeming it reprehensible that he should be entangled by continual solicitude in secular affairs and necessities, amid worldly varieties, kindled with the desire of the abiding city, proposed to pass the night in the church of blessed Antoninus in vigils and prayers, and carried his purpose into effect. Wherefore I, relating both the great works of God, and the sanctity of this most blessed man, for whose memory divine clemency deigned to show these and other things, describing the miracle which I foretold, have resolved to commend it to the memory not only of those present, but also of future posterity. Behold now the Legend itself.
Annotata* la Sauvetat
ACTA
From Tamayus, from an old manuscript Legendary of Astorga.
Peter bishop, conf. at Oxoma in Spain (S.)
BHL Number: 6762
From Tamayus.
Peter, born in Celtic Gaul among the people of Bourges, had a father William and a mother Neymira, most noble not only in blood, A Gaul, from a soldier a monk, but also in morals. From infancy adorned with the sacred rudiments of the faith, and nourished in the fear of God, he came to youthful age compacted with the perfection of virtues. In that age (as those times bore), allured by the din of arms, having put on the belt of profane soldiery, he follows the standards of kings, as the occasion of the times allowed. These, through some courses of years, the strenuous youth defended, until, a prudent reflection exploring the peril in the exercise, a sagacious consideration left the standards of war. Then, seeking what was to be done, sighing after the Order of St. Benedict with his whole inmost frame, having trodden down innumerable windings of contradiction, in the monastery of Auricum a he put on the cowl. There the holy Man for some years lived as a monk, until king Alfonso of Castile, who took Toledo, resolved to rebuild the monastery of Sahagún, and to destine it among the rest the head of the whole kingdom.
[2] sent with others into Spain, Who, that the foundations of that populace should rest upon illustrious preceptors, besought by assiduous letters the abbot of Cluny, that he would send into Spain some monks from Cluny, both celebrated in doctrine, and illustrious in virtues, who should erect the royal monastery, and illustrate it in spirit, and mark the whole compass of the region with illustrious morals and virtues. Therefore the abbot of Cluny, convinced by the humble petition of the renowned king, destined twelve monks, strengthened by the proof of illustrious morals, to the king, among whom Bernard, who afterward was archbishop of Toledo, and Peter b, his nephew according to the bond of flesh, though by merit his son by profession. Who at the aforesaid monastery of Sahagún passed the monastic life through some course of time, where in prayer, nightly watchings, fastings, and similar exercises he persevered an assiduous minister of the Lord. Everywhere out of order the man of God, after his custom, applied himself with the brethren to the meditation of the divine law, that he might better and more effectually flee from idleness.
[3] at Saguntum he shines before all: All by his example, and by the sweetness of his eloquence, whether monks or laymen, he inflamed to the love of God; who, when they had his holiness proved, prosecuted him with greater honors; which gave to the servant of God an occasion of greater humility, according to that saying of Solomon: The greater you are, humble yourself in all things, and before God you will find grace. And so, because the Lord had already prevented him in the blessings of sweetness, he was frequent in fastings, constant in vigils, continual in prayer, insisting on divine reading, sweet in morals, sweet in speech, but before all solicitous to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace: finally chastising his body, and reducing it into servitude, he performed all the common exercises of the brethren, and meditated many penal things besides, outside the choir, that thus he might be strong in better morals, by which he might please his Christ.
[4] thence archdeacon of Toledo, After these things king Alfonso received the royal city, which for three years he had besieged with strenuous constancy, by the surrender of the Saracens; who, as he had been most devoted to the reparation of ecclesiastical worship, forthwith resolved to constitute a prelate of the Holy Church of Toledo, who should dispose the ecclesiastical offices and canonical ministries, even by the designation of priests, and the nomination of ministers. To this Bernard the abbot of Sahagún was elected, who by provident reflection arranged the several things necessary to the church, and constituted the ecclesiastical order with so great disposition, that by royal authority he reduced it to the former state of metropolitan dignity. Among others therefore, whom Bernard led with him from the monastery, to the new work,
one was Peter, whom he deservedly exalted into the archdeacon of that holy church.
[5] then he is created bishop of Oxoma, In that height therefore the holy Man being placed, he was not more elated, nor did he relax anything c of the monastic rigor: for that whole immense burden of the divine office, to which the Cluniacs are bound in choir, he strenuously performed daily. He could scarcely be torn from the temple, except when in the office of the archdeaconry he was free for judicial ministries, and for affairs. So great therefore was the fame of the holy Man's virtues, dispersed through all men's mouths, that it increased, so that it seized the king, the archbishop, the clergy, and the people, into a profound admiration, by the frequency of his illustrious deeds. It happened then, when these things were being done, that the city of Uxama was snatched from the jaws of the Saracens, in which it was fitting to restore the ancient cathedral church. But when about choosing forthwith a pastor, who should repair the city, and construct the church, it was debated, at once the one most blessed Peter, who should perform that work more perfectly, occurred to the minds of all; and therefore, consigned by the king and the archbishop, they enjoined this office on him as soon as possible; and although the holy Man refused to put on the infula, at length he acquiesced in the king's pleasure, and Bernard's prayers, by whose ministry consecrated, he admitted the burden imposed on his shoulders, and to his see with great fervor of setting forth, a humble and distinguished Prelate, arrived.
[6] Soon therefore he resolved to erect the fabric of the ruined church, overthrown from its very foundations, and restored that overthrown church. which he so, by assiduous helps and assistance, in a short time constructed, that such a lofty work was reckoned almost a miracle. In this dignity therefore, as in a very lofty citadel, Peter being placed, extolled to his own people as it were some sign of all piety and perfection. He deemed nothing more ancient than the contemplation of divine things, he subdued his flesh by fastings, nightly vigils, and a knotted hair-shirt. The clergy and people committed to him by God he ruled with the greatest diligence applied. He procured to bear the care of the poor, the infirm, and guests. Toward the honorable and docile he was mild and kindly. The erring he more severely restrained; upon the proud and contumacious he animadverted more atrociously; so that to all he was a most upright pastor. He was also a most keen defender of the rights, goods, and things pertaining to his church and dignity; so that whatever he found taken away by the more powerful, and incorporated among their faculties, he took care by ecclesiastical censures, the law conceding it, to reduce by restitution to the former use of the church.
[7] Hence against the holy Prelate arose no moderate persecutions, He escapes a peril of death by a miracle. by which sometimes set in the greatest peril of life, he scarcely escaped free save by the aid of God's mercy. For there was at that time a certain very rich soldier in the city, who, as much as he abounded in his own and more opulent possessions and riches, so much the more, rash and avaricious, gaped after the more useful goods of others, especially of the church. Many ecclesiastical possessions therefore this knight detained, which he could not relinquish. Then against him the holy Pontiff, previous interpellations of humanity and peace being made, exercised the arms of ecclesiastical strictness; whose force when the sacrilegious detainer ought to have obeyed, as he was inflated with nobility and wealth, he threatened to snatch away the life of the holy Prelate. Which that he might more conveniently carry out, knowing that Bl. Peter was proceeding to the town of St. Stephen, for the sake of visitation, he went to meet him, that he might reduce his sacrilegious attempt to accomplishment. But scarcely had the violator beheld the holy Man from afar, when, possessed by a demon, he began to sustain the weights of grievous torments. Then the servants resolved to bring the half-dead soldier back to his own home, who, knowing the cause of the event, related all to the Bl. Prelate.
[8] But he, constrained by holy piety, a prayer being uttered, With a fish he heals a sick man. freed the soldier from the bond of the demon. These things thus dispatched, Bl. Peter proceeded to further matters in his episcopal visitation, and when he had come to the village named Lagan, on the bank of the river Douro, for the washing of his hands he approached its shore, where he beheld a very great multitude of fishes leaping upon the waters, and approaching to him. Then upon the waves, a sign being made with the point of his staff, he commanded them in God's name to come nearer to the sands of the shore. Forthwith the little fishes, obeying the command of their pastor, exulting, filled the bank of the whirlpool. At length, all being dismissed with the episcopal blessing, the Prelate reserved one for himself, which sending to a sick man laboring with a quartan fever, scarcely had the infirm man eaten of it, when, free from his sickness, joyful, not without tears, he rendered thanks to God and to his servant.
[9] From an oak water is drawn. Then when the Man of God had come to the village which was called Fresnelo, in his own territory to be visited, and after the consecration of the church of the same town, the penury of houses compelling, under an oak placed nearby, with his company sat down to refresh themselves: and when they had no water for the washing of hands, water at once gushing from above out of the aforesaid tree, against nature, descended, which with the great admiration of all offered itself both for the washing of hands, and for the thirst of those asking. Which admirable thing both did not lie hidden from their eyes and, fame flying, filled the surrounding regions, so that that oak, still gushing waves, marvelously perseveres to the solace of the sick. Therefore the visitation, with these and other marvels and prodigies dispatched, the office being fulfilled, he went back to his own church, from which he betook himself to Toledo, where he found king Alfonso, who took Toledo, oppressed by a grave infirmity, at whose death, and funeral, and the translation of his body to the royal monastery of Sahagún, he was present an inseparable companion. Hence when he had resolved to come to his own church, impeded by a lethal disease, he was not able to accomplish that journey, save as far as Palencia, where, weighed down by a prolonged sickness, unwilling he ceased from the prosecution of his journey.
[10] The funeral of king Alfonso being cared for, he dies at Palencia. Here charitably received by Peter the bishop of that city of Palencia, cherished in his infirmity, and strengthened in bearing these labors, the sickness offered a little respite. But the Man of God, recognizing the hour of his passage approaching, said to the bishop of Palencia: "Venerable brother, now from this life I depart to immortal glory: from your charity I humbly beseech, that this my little body, clothed with the sacred infulae, be carried to the Holy Church of Oxoma, of which, though unworthy, I am bishop, that in it may be granted to me an ecclesiastical sepulcher." Which said, and with devout sobs, all the Sacraments being received, and having bidden farewell with a blessing to his brethren and clients, as well present as absent, his eyes lifted up to heaven, he delivered his spirit to his Creator on the 4th of the Nones of August, in the year of the Lord 1108, in the presence of Peter of Palencia, Peter of Segovia, and Bernard of Zamora, bishops. His body, as he had commanded, honorably carried to Uxama, and placed in the cathedral church, for a time rested there in a humble place, until, translated to a higher one, miracles pressing, it succored the necessities of all the faithful. Our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through infinite ages of ages. Amen. In his first sarcophagus they placed this sepulchral song:
Under the hard marble lies here he who with a pure Epitaph. Heart offered gifts to God Christ, the nourishing Hero. Uxama receives in its heart the body of its Pastor, After the many duties of honor owed to the Pontiff. Therefore this writing of praise with meter and song It set for Peter, which one faith gave. The noble temple which the good Patron erected under the law, Here to the catholic Man is granted this urn.