ON ST. HUGH, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,
AT AUXERRE IN GAUL.
In the year 1136 or 1137.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Hugh, bishop of Auxerre in Gaul (St.)
BY J. P.
§ I. The Saint's public cult, and his illustrious birth.
Although for establishing the public cult of this Saint I have not at hand all those monuments which I could wish; yet sufficient ones, Various in my judgment at least, are ready, that satisfaction may be made both in asserting his sanctity from immemorial time before the decrees of Pope Urban VIII, and to the obedience which we owe and profess to the Apostolic See, as also to the honor and veneration of our Prelate. And they are these. In the History of the bishops of Auxerre, which is found in Labbe, volume 2 of the New Library of manuscript books, page 460, there exist the Acts or eulogy of Hugh, embracing his chief deeds, and among other things this is said of him to our purpose: The provost .. and certain canons with him .. resisted the election of the HOLY Man. And presently: Of whose holy manner of life it was as it were a certain presage, etc. Page 461: The truth followed the word of the holy Man. That title occurs elsewhere in the same eulogy; of which, how much weight it has, I shall say in its place.
[2] In Martène, in the most ample collection of Ancient writers and monuments, volume 6, column 715, to his sanctity, in the Martyrology of the distinguished church of Auxerre, at the day XI of August the following are inserted: There died Hugh, the venerable bishop of this church, whom holiness of life and probity of morals adorned, and how piously and religiously he lived, the end of this life sufficiently proved. But among other things which are noted concerning that Martyrology in the Preliminary Observation at column 637 are these: To the Martyrology there was joined a Necrology, from which we judged that only those departed should be reviewed who are of some name, or who by certain gifts deserved well of that church. But the text of the Martyrology is expressed in Roman letters; that of the Necrology in running or, as they call them, cursive letters; in which last also the death of our Hugh is set down with a eulogy; and therefore from that Necrology the things which I just cited were added to the Martyrology, and consequently inserted into it, as I said. But why he is there marked at the day XI of August, see below at number 4. In the Chronicle of Auxerre these words exist: In the year 1136 there died the lord Hugh of holy memory, bishop of Auxerre. Of that Chronicle there will be speech below.
[3] and for establishing his public veneration Trithemius, on the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, book 4, chapter 249, says: Hugh, abbot of the monastery of St. Germanus of Paris (rather, of Auxerre), nephew of blessed Hugh of Cluny, and afterward bishop of Auxerre, a man venerable no less for sanctity than for learning. But in the Chronicle of the monastery of Hirsau, in Volmar, at the year 1137, he says: In the same year there dies the bishop of Auxerre, formerly abbot of the monastery of St. Germanus of our Order, a man of great sanctity and religion. And he immediately subjoins: The holy man rested in peace. Among the Ms. Calendars which are preserved in our Museum under the letter S 19, there exists a Calendar of the church and diocese of Auxerre, which, as is noted at the end, Louis Noël d'Amy, priest and senior canon of Auxerre, sent to our Elders in the year 1662: where on the X day of August blessed Hugh, bishop and confessor, is announced. To this is added that the monastic hagiologists inscribe him in their sacred Calendars with the title of Saint. For Wion, part 2 of the Tree of Life, book 3, page 265, thus records him: At Auxerre, the deposition of St. Hugh the bishop, who, from abbot of St. Germanus of Paris (he ought to have said of Auxerre), being consecrated bishop of that same city, wonderfully fed by word and example the sheep entrusted to him. Dorgan is a little briefer: Of St. Hugh the bishop, who by word and example wonderfully fed the sheep committed to him. Ménard also reports him, but with the title of Blessed. Bucelinus adds a eulogy to this announcement: At Auxerre, the deposition of St. Hugh, bishop and confessor.
[4] To the monastic writers add Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology, testimonies are brought forward. Saussay, and, most recent of all, Castellanus, who also present our Hugh with the honorable idiom of Saint. Lastly, in our French Ms. book which contains the deeds of the Pontiffs of Auxerre, and of the abbots there of St. Germanus, etc., the collector being George Viole, a Benedictine monk, as is prefaced to that book; in those documents, I say, at page 153, under this title, Of Saint Hugh de Montaigu, LIV bishop, his acts are reviewed at length. To those monuments there is subjoined, from page 1 to page CIV, a Calendar of the holy Martyrs and Confessors of the territory of Auxerre, according to the order and months of the year, observed and extracted from the Martyrology of Auxerre; which was done, as is subscribed, by Master Bargede, archdeacon of the cathedral church of Auxerre, and which is added to be at St. Germanus' there; unless perhaps the author of this collection be the same as of the former, the praised Viole; but however this may be, from page CV there is given another Calendar of other Saints in some way pertaining to the said city or diocese, by the same author of whom above, where under the day X of August there is noted St. Hugh of Semur (de Semur) or of Montaigu (de Montaigu), who for his rare virtues was bishop of Auxerre. Some hours before his death he admonished them to pray for him, adding that, the Office of the day being said, he would render up his spirit: which happened on this day, in the year 1136. But because on this same day the feast of St. Lawrence is celebrated, his anniversary is noted in the Necrology on the following day. Add that the Benedictines of St. Germanus invoke him in their local litanies, as Master le Beuf, canon and succentor of the church of Auxerre, writes hither on the XX day of June of this year 1734 in a letter given at Auxerre; in which he also testifies that he has at other times seen his tomb adorned and illuminated, as also on another day, the VIII of November, on which occurs the feast of all the Saints of the abbey of St. Germanus. And these are the things which, saving the decrees of Pope Urban VIII, appear to us sufficient that, not gainsaying so many testimonies concerning the sanctity of his life and his public veneration, we should assign to him also, among the other Saints who are given and illustrated by us on this day, his own place, in our judgment not undue. The cult therefore of St. Hugh being thus established, it remains that we now illustrate his deeds, beginning with his birth.
[5] His Acts, to be subjoined to this Commentary, narrate this: For he, born in the territory of Cluny at the castle of Montaigu, Notice of the place in which the Saint received his birth; came forth from noble parents: and his father was called Dalmatius; but the name of his mother … These things, with the addition of his mother's name, are thus said in the Sainte-Marthes among the bishops of Auxerre, volume 2 of the Gallia Christiana, page 272: Hugh of Semur II, of the ancient and famous Burgundian stock of the lords of Semur, surnamed de Montaigu, son of Dalmatius of Semur, lord of Montaigu, who was begotten of the marriage of Dalmatius with Aremburgis de Vergy. The place of his birth therefore that fell to the Saint was Montaigu: concerning which it is well to hear Hadrian de Valois in the Notitia Galliarum, page 344: Every mountain whose summit ends in a point, he says, was called by our people Mons acutus (Sharp Mountain): by which name there are many places in Gaul: for a village or castle set for example's sake upon a sharp mountain, our people called by the same name as the mountain itself, Mons acutus. There is before all others in the district of Lyons the town of Montaigu, where count Tetbald is said to have built a fortification; from Frodoard, whom he cites; where there is more besides concerning the said place. Besides this, There is on the farthest borders of the Poitevins (so Valois proceeds) the castle Mons-acutus, still today called Montaigu, and the castle Montacutus next to Gaillac, mentioned by Peter, monk of Vaux-de-Cernay, as Montagut. Another also in the County of Burgundy commonly called Montagu; another too in the district of Bourbon called Montagut from its situation. But that of so many places of the same name only and solely the Montaigu in Burgundy is designated above in the Acts, from which St. Hugh sprang, is concluded from this, that the Acts expressly add "in the territory of Cluny," a characteristic mark indeed by which it is distinguished from the other places of the same name. But now, since the district of Cluny is situated in the region of Mâcon; and since Montaigu and Semur (of which we shall presently treat) are marked at some distance from Cluny on the geographical map which I have before me (according to our Annotations on chapter 1 of the Acts, letter a, Montaigu is about a league and a half distant thence), that is knowledge enough for the reader to form an idea concerning these places, in one of which the Saint, as has been said, was born; but from the other, of which we shall now speak, he drew the splendor of his race, from .. the stock, I say, of the lords of Semur.
[6] and of the other, from which he drew the splendor of his race. Valois at page 526 says: Sinemurum has its name from the fact: for it was so called because it was without a wall (sine muro). It is commonly called Semur en l'Auxois, with the name truncated; because it is situated in the district of Alesia on the river Armançon. A certain monk of Fleury, who five hundred and seventy years ago wrote a book on the Miracles of St. Benedict, in chapter XLIII of that book mentions another castle of Semur in these words, which are there recited. This castle is in the district of Charolles, Semur surnamed Brienense, Semur en Brionnais or Brionnois; so that this district of Brionnais seems formerly to have included the district of Charolles. But from the texts of the writers whom he cites I cull this one, altogether suited to our purpose: Hugh calls Dalmatius, the father of Hugh, abbot of Cluny, a distinguished prince, Lord of Semur .. Each castle was formerly called by the Latin name Sinemurum and Sinemuro: each is now called Semur: each is situated in the diocese of Autun; but the one in the district of Alesia on the river Armançon not far from Flavigny; the other in the district of Brionnais on the river Arconce (Verbinche), which flows into the Loire above Marcigny: which latter, whether castle or town, is now called Semurum and the castle of Samur; now Semmurum, and the town Semmurum, corruptly called even by ancient writers for Sinemurum, or Sinemurus, or Sinemuro. And this latter castle or town seems, rather than the other of the same name mentioned before, to be designated above in the Acts of our St. Hugh the bishop; and what makes me think so is, 1. the much greater nearness of this one than of the other to Montaigu and to the monastery of Cluny; 2. Hugh, abbot of Cluny, of whom we have just spoken, and of whom more will presently be said.
[7] His illustrious The Life of this holy abbot was illustrated in our Work by Papebroch at the day XXIX of April, volume III of that month from page 628; where at page 636 in the Annotations, on occasion of his mother Aremburgis, to whom the Sainte-Marthes add the surname de Vergy or de Versiacum, as is there observed, you will read that this name was thereafter often woven into Burgundian marriages. What is there found concerning the mother of Hugh the abbot might be applied to the parent of the same name of this our Hugh the bishop, concerning whom above at number 5, if it were established that she was truly such a mother to him as she was there called. What we there said of the ancient and famous stock of this man Bucelinus expresses in these words: He was born of a most illustrious family, a prince of Semur. Our Ms. monuments of Auxerre affirm that he was sprung from the ancient Dukes of Burgundy, and was the great-grandson of Hugh, count of Chalon, and the fiftieth (to the Sainte-Marthes he is the forty-ninth) bishop of Auxerre; and that Dalmatius, lord of Semur in the territory of Brionnais, and of Montaigu, was his grandfather; and Aremburgis de Vergny his grandmother; but that the name of his mother is unknown. Guy the abbot also says: I know not the name of his mother. Whence the Sainte-Marthes received it above is hidden from us; certainly we saw in the text of the Acts of our Saint in the same place that it too was unknown; whence someone might perhaps suspect that the name of the grandmother and of the mother was confounded by the Sainte-Marthes. Yet nevertheless the name Aremburgis could have been given to both; if, as it was thereafter, so also before it was often woven into Burgundian marriages. But let us go on with the praised monuments of Auxerre; from which we have that one of the Saint's paternal or maternal aunts was Ermengardis, wife of Robert of France, duke of Burgundy, who for his great age was called the Old (le Vieux); that two of his paternal or maternal uncles set their minds upon the ecclesiastical state, and appeared in it as two most illustrious luminaries of the Gallican church; namely Rainald, archbishop of Lyons, formerly abbot of Vézelay, and Hugh, abbot of Cluny, who educated our Hugh in that monastery of his; concerning which matter, before we treat of it, we shall explain the foregoing by the following observations.
[8] In the newest edition of the Gallia Christiana, volume 4, column 114, among the metropolitans of Lyons is marked Rainald I, kinsmen the LXIX in order, with this eulogy: Rainald, a man of the first nobility, son of Dalmatius, lord of Semur in Burgundy, and of Aremberga de Vergy, not the brother, as the Sainte-Marthes were pleased to say, but the nephew of Hugh, abbot of Cluny, as everywhere in the Cluniac Library, and by Peter the Venerable,
letter 2 of book 3, is asserted in set terms. He was first a monk of Cluny; then abbot of Vézelay, and a notable restorer of that monastery, and at last archbishop of Lyons in the year 1128, and legate of the Roman Church. He held the see until the VII of August of the following year, in which he was cut off by an untimely death, illustrious with a great reputation for sanctity among all: whence in the Gallican Martyrology he is called Blessed. Since therefore, from what has been said, that prelate was not the brother, but only the nephew of Hugh of Cluny; how the same could be called the paternal uncle of our Hugh, as the Monuments of Auxerre would have it, is not sufficiently persuasive to us; especially since the latter survived him by only about eight years, as is concluded from what is to be said below at number 24. Whether therefore they were brothers or cousins on the father's side, we leave to be discussed by the genealogists. For the rest, that nepotism, so to speak, asserted above, is expressly stated by Rainald himself, praised above, in our work at the day XXIX of April, in the metrical synopsis of the Life of St. Hugh, abbot of Cluny, page 655, in these words:
Receive kindly, I pray, father Hugh, these words Of thy nephew Rainald, and protect me, father.
Moreover there may be consulted what is contained in the same place at page 633: where you will find the Sainte-Marthes long since corrected on this point.
[9] are reviewed, What we said at number 7 from the Monuments of Auxerre concerning Ermengardis and her husband Robert is not so ascertained and clear that it ought to be passed over without discussion. André du Chesne, in the History of the kings, dukes, and counts of Burgundy published in French, book 3, chapter 4, page 269, treats of that Robert, the first of this name, as he sets it down, duke of Burgundy, and prince and founder of the family of the dukes of Burgundy, left to him by Henry I, his brother, who was raised from the duchy of Burgundy to the kingdom of France, in the year 1030 or 1031; and the same author at page 270 cites two charters issued by that same Robert in the years 1040 and 1043; whence it appears that his wife's name was Helia, and not Amengardis or Armengardis, against Du Tillet and Paradin, whom he mentions; and he says that this is confirmed from the ancient obituary book of St. Stephen of Auxerre, and that it is there written that she died on the XXII day of the month of April, leaving great regret for her among all. But of her family I find nothing there; and therefore nothing whence I may with certainty either confirm or weaken the degree of consanguinity between her and our Hugh, as the Monuments of Auxerre above asserted.
§ II. His ascetic life among the Cluniacs; his government of the monastery of St. Germanus of Auxerre; various notices concerning the same; the episcopal dignity in that city.
His pious education among the Cluniacs under his uncle Hugh, and monastic life: Since his parents loved him tenderly enough, not only carnally but also spiritually; by the will of God, by which all things are disposed, being destined for the Church, he is given over to letters: and while still remaining in boyish innocence, he took the monastic habit in the monastery of Cluny; where under St. Hugh his uncle, then abbot of that monastery, he lived several years, and wisely learned the rule of blessed Benedict in the cloister of that monastery: since, as is reported of him, he ever remained without complaint, humble and obedient to his superiors, as befits a monk. So his Acts record, giving occasion for the following comments. As regards therefore his education, our Saint is rightly declared by Saussay to be in the flesh the nephew of St. Hugh of Cluny; in the spirit his son. Bucelinus says: Whose heir as he was in name, so he was the strenuous emulator of his sanctity. Very brief also is that of Mabillon, volume 5 of the Benedictine Annals, at the year 1100, number 131, where it is read that Hugh of Montaigu, his nephew, was educated from boyhood at Cluny under the most holy discipline of his uncle. Which things, although they are touched upon only summarily, yet suffice to form at least some idea with what rudiments of the virtues our Saint under so great a master gave a prelude to the sanctity of his riper life.
[11] But although it is certain that he was taken from the monastery of Cluny to the government of the monastery of St. Germanus of Auxerre; yet it is well to hear Ménard, in the observations on his Martyrology, page 298 and following, thus confirming this matter: [whence he is raised to the abbatial dignity of St. Germanus of Auxerre, not of Paris.] In the Martyrology of the Tree of Life (of which above at number 3) this blessed Hugh is called abbot of the monastery of St. Germanus of Paris: which I judge not like the truth. For there was no Hugh, abbot of St. Germanus of Paris, who was bishop of Auxerre, as is established from the Supplement of Aimoin, and from the Catalogue of the abbots of St. Germanus of Paris. Then St. Hugh, bishop of Auxerre, died in the year 1136 according to Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau. But no Hugh is found among the abbots of St. Germanus of Paris to have died in this year: for the first Hugh, who was a monk of St. Denis, died in the year 1145; as the Supplement of Aimoin teaches, book 5, chapter 52. Wherefore when Trithemius at the cited place says that this Hugh was abbot of the monastery of St. Germanus, this is to be understood of the monastery which is at Auxerre, under the patronage of that great Germanus, formerly bishop of that city. Hence also is to be taken Robert, canon regular of St. Marien, in the Chronicle at the year 1120, when he says: At this time the lord Hugh governed the church of Auxerre — the pious abbot of St. Germanus, nephew of St. Hugh abbot of Cluny, a man ever to be remembered for the marks of his virtues: for that author often speaks of the monastery of St. Germanus of Auxerre; but almost never of the monastery of St. Germanus of Paris.
[12] The Acts which we illustrate narrate this below in our work at number 1 concerning our Hugh: the abbatial dignity. After the decease of the lord Guibert, abbot of St. Germanus of Auxerre, he was elected and blessed abbot in the same church, etc. How this happened, learn from Mabillon already designated: Nearly four years before (he writes at the year, as we have said, 1100), Guibert of St. Germanus of Auxerre had been removed from his prefecture in the council of Nîmes by Pope Urban; and a mandate was given to bishop Humbald that he should substitute in his place a worthy and fit man chosen from La Chaise-Dieu, or from Cluny, or from Marmoutier, on this condition however, that he who should be designated to that office should be exempted from the yoke of his superiors. Since the Cluniacs opposed this condition, and others by their example, for more than three years, Humbald striving in vain, the abbey lacked a governor: but at last the venerable Hugh, abbot of Cluny, suffering himself to be prevailed upon by the prayers of bishop Humbald, of Stephen count of Champagne, and of William count of Auxerre, appointed Hugh of Montaigu .. to the vacant abbey.
[13] But what manner of man he showed himself in that dignity, the Acts record: He was not indeed made more lofty on account of the name of abbot; It is set forth but was a humble monk like one of the rest: and, as befits a good master, he began to do and to teach, showing by example what he taught by word. Add from Mabillon that in this office he so bore himself, in repairing and advancing things both spiritual and temporal, that after fifteen years of abbatial government he deserved, Humbald being dead, to be promoted to the episcopal dignity. In his time the Cluniacs left nothing untried whereby they might subject the monastery of St. Germanus to Cluny against the decree of Pope Urban. This Ivo, prior of Cluny, chiefly took care of, with fifteen monks who had been sent thither by Hugh (abbot of Cluny), that they might be helpers to the new abbot in restoring the regular discipline, which was altogether neglected. But the monks of St. Germanus resisted their efforts, nor suffered the liberty of their monastery to be lessened. In the fourth year of abbot Hugh, Hugh, count of Troyes, came to the monastery of St. Germanus, and made certain donations, that he might be a sharer in the fellowship of that place. Besides this, Paschal II, in the year 1107, when he was staying at Souvigny, confirmed the institution of abbot Hugh: as one who had restored that monastery, wholly destitute of regular discipline and religion, and reduced to the utmost poverty by the injuries of secular persons, to its former splendor.
[14] [how] But since his Acts touch very briefly upon what was accomplished under his abbatial government in favor of his monastery; it is well to supply these from Guy the abbot in the Deeds of the abbots of St. Germanus of Auxerre, to be indicated afterward; in which, at chapter 9, which is on our Hugh the abbot, the following are recounted at page 576: Although he was simple, yet so far as he could he took pains to increase his church temporally. For he obtained the churches of Taix and of Alodia from the reverend father Hervey, bishop of Nevers. In his time Hugh, count of Troyes, gave to the church of St. Germanus the safeguard, and many customs which he had at Brécenay. Hugh also, surnamed Wolf-breaker, gave to that same church whatever he had in the said lordship of Brécenay, in the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and four, in the fourth year of the second coming of the Cluniac monks to St. Germanus. The customs also which the Duke's officers had in the land of St. Léger, he obtained from Duke Hugh to be moderated. He entered into fellowship with the monks of Vézelay. In his time the principal altar of St. Germanus, because it was decayed in several places, was destroyed by the mandate of the Lord Richard, bishop of Albano, and in a certain stone sarcophagus the relics of blessed Germanus were found in the altar. Here, reader, thou hast what happened under our Abbot's prefecture. But at what time he began to administer that office, learn from what follows.
[15] he bore himself in it, and when he began it: In Labbe, volume 10 of the Councils, column 506, the Council of Clermont is noted as held in the year of Christ 1095; concerning which Mabillon, writing at the year 1095, number 22, among the abbots known to him who were present at it, names Guibert of St. Germanus of Auxerre. But that Guibert, according to what I premised above at number 12, was the immediate predecessor of our St. Hugh. But for what cause the former yielded his place to the latter, the same author of the Annals reports among the acts of Pope Urban at Nîmes, at the year 1096, number 42: In the same council (of Nîmes) Guibert, abbot of St. Germanus of Auxerre, was accused of various crimes by Humbald, bishop of that city, and convicted; and therefore deprived of his dignity: whose pastoral staff Urban gave to the bishop, to be delivered to the future abbot. But the bearing of that staff was vacant for three years and more, on account of the difficulties which we set forth at number 12; and thus our Saint was advanced to the use of it about the year 1100, as was there indicated; until (when he had governed the monastery, as Guy, of whom afterward, reports at page 576, for XVII years) he exchanged the abbatial staff for the episcopal in the year 1115 or 1116: concerning which matter, before we say more, it has seemed good in this place to supply certain notices concerning the celebrated monastery of St. Germanus of Auxerre, of which mention now so frequently recurs.
[16] various afterward That monastery, moreover, maintains ascetics of the Order of St. Benedict, and is commonly called Saint Germain d'Auxerre. Mabillon, of the Benedictine Annals
volume 1, at the year 510, number 20, among other new monasteries which he records to have arisen while Clovis reigned over the Franks, names in the first place St. Germanus of Auxerre. In our volume VII of the Month of July, at the day XXXI of the same month, the Life of St. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, was illustrated, and at page 205, upon these words of that Life, In sight of the town of Auxerre, the river Yonne lying between, he placed a monastery, we said that this is reckoned the first of the diocese of Auxerre, once placed toward the summer sunrise of the city; but long since destroyed; and that while St. Germanus survived it was called the monastery of SS. Cosmas and Damian, in whose honor it had been founded; but that, he being dead, it had the name of St. Germanus: until in the VI century it began to be called St. Marien, from the sepulchre of that saint, most frequent there in miracles; from the history of the bishops of Auxerre, chapters 7, 8, and 19. Mabillon also may be consulted in his Annals, volume 1, at the year 578, number 73.
[17] At the place just now cited in our work, page 206, we gave warning that care must be taken concerning the monastery of St. Germanus of Auxerre lest it be confounded with another monastery of Auxerre, which afterward was most celebrated for the name and tomb of St. Germanus: concerning which those words exist in Mabillon in the Annals at the year 525, number 27: The monastery of St. Germanus in the city of Auxerre was from its beginnings a small oratory, which the most blessed Germanus, prelate of that city .. had built on his own estate under the patronage of St. Maurice, and had assigned to Saturninus his disciple under a priestly title. Thither the body of the blessed Pontiff was brought from Ravenna, where he had died, and was there buried. Is not then that place confounded with another by the Sainte-Marthes, volume 4 of the Gallia Christiana, page 477, where this is contained? Of St. Germanus in the city of Auxerre, the celebrated monastery of the Order of St. Benedict, otherwise called of St. Maurice: concerning which Pope Innocent III, book 1, letter; where the professed monks Heiric and Remigius, praiseworthy for piety and learning. In the collection of that Pontiff's letters published by Baluze, volume 1, book 1, there exist letters 181, 184, and 286, inscribed to the abbot and convent or brethren of St. Germanus of Auxerre. Of St. Ericus or Erricus there is treatment in our Work at the day XXIV of June, page 829; and also at the day XXXI of July, page 192; but of Remigius in the Benedictine Annals at the year of Christ 842, number 57.
[18] But that the foregoing may shine forth more clearly, it is well to add to these the words of the History of the bishops of Auxerre in Labbe, in the New Library of manuscript books, volume 1, notices are supplied. chapter 7, page 415: He (St. Germanus) made a monastery in honor of the holy martyrs Cosmas and Damian; where he also appointed monks to be .. where afterward St. Marianus was sent by the brethren of that monastery to guard the cattle .. He made also a basilica in honor of the holy Martyrs of Agaunum, namely Maurice and his companions .. In which oratory also he ordained priest St. Saturninus, of most approved life and his own disciple, that under the profession of a priestly title he might there serve the memorials of the Martyrs. Besides, chapter 8, page 417, and chapter 19, page 421, may be consulted. Hence indeed I conclude that the monastery of which we here treat had first the name of SS. Cosmas and Damian; then of St. Germanus; and lastly of St. Marien; and that by that very one is understood the monastery of St. Germanus of Auxerre of the Order of St. Benedict; but how these things can be said of the oratory of St. Maurice, I do not sufficiently perceive, nor can I sufficiently combine with the foregoing the words of the Work On the deeds of the abbots of St. Germanus of Auxerre, the author being brother Guy, abbot of that place, in the year of the Lord 1290, which exists in the praised Labbe from page 570; where the author in the proem says: For although I know that this church was founded by blessed Germanus in honor of the blessed martyrs Maurice and his companions, and have read that several abbots before Heldricus (from whose deeds he begins his narration) presided there, etc.
[19] Its abbots. As regards the abbots of the often-mentioned monastery, Guy just cited confesses that he was never able to find when monks were first established there, or abbots elected, or any continuous series before the time of the aforesaid Heldricus, before whom for a long time provosts had ruled in place of abbots. But the series of those abbots is given in the Sainte-Marthes at the cited place, from the Commentaries of the affairs of Auxerre of Dom Georges Viole, a Benedictine monk; where in the first place is set, in the year 560, St. Aunarius (who to Le Cointe in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks, volume 2, at the year 586, number 38, seems to be struck out of the catalogue of abbots), and at page 478 our Hugh, the fifth of this name, the XXXI in order, thence bishop of Auxerre in the year 1116: of which matter there will presently be treatment. Robert, to be indicated at length below, in the Chronicle at folio 79, when he says, At this time the lord Hugh, the first abbot of St. Germanus, nephew of St. Hugh, abbot of Cluny, governed the church of Auxerre; I explain "first" as meaning that he first then restored that monastery, wholly destitute of regular discipline and religion, and reduced to the utmost poverty by the injuries of secular persons, to its former splendor, according to what was said above at number 13; or that he was the first abbot of the second coming of the Cluniac monks to St. Germanus, from number 14.
[20] The Saint's presage concerning the episcopate is explained. Our Monuments of Auxerre anticipate his episcopate by one year: for at page 154 they record that he was consecrated by the hands of Paschal II himself on the V day of March in the year 1115; and they add that on the same day the church called of Billy was granted by him to the canons of his cathedral. But Mabillon attaches his sacred mitre to the year 1116, as will presently be said. Of the difficulties raised against the pontificate of Hugh, and happily removed, his Acts treat. But concerning those prosperous things which are there reported to have befallen him as he returned from the thresholds of the Apostles, namely, of whose holy manner of life there was as it were a certain presage in the prognostic divinely appointed for him, which was this: Hail, full of grace, etc.; concerning those things, I say, since at first sight they suggest no clear notion of what they mean, it is well to hear Mabillon in the Annals at the year 1116, to which he attaches his episcopate, number 120, who thus explains the matter: It was the custom of those times, used also in the first centuries, as is clear concerning St. Martin, bishop of Tours, that, the sacred books being opened, from the verse which first occurred a certain presage was conceived concerning the quality of the future life of a new bishop. When this had been done concerning our Hugh, the book being opened, this verse occurred: Hail, full of grace, etc.; by which it was believed that his most continent life was signified.
§ III. His hospitality and beneficence, his death, an account of the Acts and of a certain other author.
The Saint is praised To the other virtues of St. Hugh, of which his Life treats, the Ms. Monuments of Auxerre at page 162 add hospitable benevolence, commended to bishops by the Doctor of the Gentiles, with which they indicate that he was excellently endowed; and among other persons they record as received by him at Auxerre Pope Callistus II in the year 1119, and also Pope Innocent II in the year 1131, driven from Rome by the Frangipani, then hostile to the Apostolic See: of whom the first, at his request, dedicated the chief altar of the cathedral church of St. Stephen on the XIV day of December; but the latter another altar, distinguished with the title of St. Germanus, in that same church of SS. Cosmas and Damian across the river Yonne; in which same church also the same Supreme Pontiff celebrated the sacrosanct mysteries of the Mass, and there preached before the people of Auxerre on the sanctity of the place, taking as the subject of his sacred sermon these words of the patriarch Jacob: Truly this place is holy, and I knew it not. That deed of Pope Innocent is confirmed from the Chronicle of Robert, where it is also read at folio 79 verso and the following. Besides this, the author of the said Monuments says that he holds it ascertained on good titles that that Pope Innocent II on this occasion stayed at Auxerre for at least six months, allured without doubt, as he adds, by the liberalities of Hugh of Montaigu, which he employed, together with Hugh, abbot of Pontigny, in composing the controversy of the abbots Herbert of St. Pierre-le-Vif, Renatus of St. John of Sens, and also of St. John des Prés in the year 1132; and that moreover the business was committed to him of erecting the priory of Crisenon into the title of an abbey of Religious women of Jully.
[22] Nor indeed does he affirm that he only detained these two exiled Pontiffs for some time at Auxerre, but that he also accompanied them through divers places of Gaul; for his hospitable courtesy toward the Supreme Pontiffs, especially Callistus II, when, the archbishop of Trier assisting him, and Stephen, bishop of Autun, and also Hugh of Nevers, he translated the bodies of SS. Felix and Thyrsus from the place of their sepulchre, which is in the subterranean chapel of the collegiate church of Saulieu in the district of Auxerre, to the high altar of that same church. The author of those Monuments which we designated above heaps together here many facts at once; which, since he writes them without witness or surety, and we copy them from him, we would have the credit of this narration rest with him.
[23] For the rest, that singular beneficence which we exhibited above at number 14 in our Saint when he was abbot, he did not afterward, when raised to the episcopal see, blot from his heart; [and also for his beneficence toward the church of Auxerre. The interpretation of a vision:] as becomes clear from his Acts. To which add, from the Martène Collection assigned above at number 2, the favors conferred upon his church by the praised Prelate. Who, namely, for the love of God, and that his memory might be yearly renewed, gave to this church the church of Ausiacum for the refection of the brethren on the day of his anniversary. He gave also to the same other churches; namely the church of Bacerna and of St. Brice, and of Indunicum, and of Veniosa, and the tithes of Visiacum. Moreover, being rich, he himself enriched that church with many copes of pall, and two carpets, and many priestly vestments, and other ornaments. To this is added the interpretation of a vision which the Chronicle of Auxerre reports, to be designated by us at length below at number 27. The transaction is as follows: About the same time there was in the mother church of Auxerre a certain clerk by name Iterius, devoutly serving there .. and of honorable manner of life. Now there was near that same city, across the river Yonne, a place which blessed Germanus had formerly built into a monastery of monks and had richly endowed .. That place therefore, where once sacred religion had famously flourished, had then come, being ruined, to such desolation that thickets grew up there .. Further, the aforesaid man, while he read in the Life of blessed Germanus, or heard it read, with how great a proclamation of sanctity this place had shone in ancient days, being devout of mind, was moved to the marrow .. While therefore he persisted in this desire, he deserved to be admonished by a wonderful vision concerning the restoring of the place
which is there narrated. And when he awoke, he began to consider more earnestly what he had seen. And going to the lord Hugh, then prelate, a man of great virtue, he makes known to him the order of the vision. To whom he said: It is the will of the Lord and of His glorious Mother that thou shouldst restore that place, repair what is destroyed, rebuild what is ruinous. For truly the place is holy, and the ground holy, as being a most ancient dwelling of the Saints. On this occasion therefore the man of God began to visit the place more frequently, etc. For the rest, the religious monasteries of which our holy Prelate deserved well are great in number, as our Ms. Monuments of Auxerre testify at pages 160 and 161; their names and the favors conferred upon them we do not transcribe here.
[24] The year of his death To say briefly a few things of the Saint's death: the authors so far agree about the time in which it happened that the difference of one year, in which some differ from others, does not deserve a long rope of contention. The anonymous author in the Acts, as also abbot Guy, mark indeed the day of his death as the fourth of the Ides of August, but not the year of it; which Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau notes as having happened in the year 1137; Bucelinus, 1137, al. 1136; the Sainte-Marthes above at number 19, from the Chronicle of Auxerre, and Wion, 1136. Let us set forth the matter from chronological calculation. Our Ms. Monuments of Auxerre at page 154 place the death of Humbald, who immediately preceded our Hugh in the bishopric of Auxerre, on the road to Jerusalem, on the XX of October of the year 1114; and then, some things being interposed (concerning which the writer of the Life of St. Hugh in our work may be seen), they affirm that Hugh was substituted for him on the V day of March of the year 1115, as we saw above at number 20; but in the Sainte-Marthes designated in the same place the fact is bound to the year 1116; where also for the same we gave Mabillon. From what has been said therefore it is clear that some prefer the year 1115, others 1116, for the beginning of his episcopate: but since our Prelate sat XXI years, as is in his Acts in our work below at number 1; it follows that, according to the various beginning of his pontificate already assigned, a various end of it and at the same time of his life can be marked, corresponding namely to the year 1136 or the next following; and, since we lack the means of determining it with certainty, it has seemed good to us to leave to the reader's judgment which of the two it was.
[25] An account of the Acts But now what shall we report concerning the Acts so often already mentioned? For there are many things which commend their credit. I divide the matter into various heads which may be inquired about this subject. First therefore let it be spoken of its author; then of its age; then of its worth; and lastly of the edition long since printed, and to be reprinted here by us. To the first. Concerning the compilers of the History of the bishops of Auxerre, from which the Acts of St. Hugh have here been extracted by us, this is prefaced in Labbe at the beginning of that History: The Deeds of the Pontiffs of Auxerre, written by anonymous writers at divers times. And immediately it is added: The first part begins from St. Peregrinus, bishop and martyr. And it embraces the deeds of sixty-four prelates, distributed into as many chapters, and therefore the Acts of our Saint, who is marked at chapter 54, as being in the same order and number bishop of Auxerre. But that first part ends in the year 1277. Further, although in that History in the cited editor at page 434 Rainogalla, Halagus, and Heiric are noted as its authors at least up to their own times, that is to the ninth century; and although it is said at page 452 that Geoffrey, bishop of Auxerre, renewed this volume; yet that it was not afterward continued by one author, nor at the same time, the things contained in the note there at page 454 are an argument, likewise those which we shall presently give.
[26] To the second, which we just premised concerning its age: that the deeds of the Prelates which are reported in the first part of the History are reported by contemporary writers, we conclude for this reason, that the writer thus begins the second part at page 507: A most ancient and praiseworthy custom of the church of Auxerre has hitherto held, from its first pontiff, namely blessed Peregrinus, onward, that the notable deeds of each pontiff of that same see should, after the death of each of them, be written and registered in a book providently and perspicaciously ordained for this, that from the frequent recital of their deeds praises might be rendered to God, and their successors be the more amply stirred to strenuous acts, imitating the examples of their predecessors. Yet through carelessness, or the lack of historiographers, the aforesaid custom has been eclipsed from the time of the death of the lord Herald de Lusignan of good memory, exclusive; whose day of death was in the year of the Lord 1277. If therefore, on that writer's testimony, each of those bishops had, each of them after his own death, his heralds of his deeds; St. Hugh also had his own; and for that reason, and on the credit of the praised author from whom we have drawn these things, we have thought it lawful for us to preface the Acts of that Saint as written by a contemporary.
[27] To the third and fourth. It follows from the premises and their credit. that those Acts deserve full credit, being sincere and genuine; and that their writing is of as great worth as the writer deservedly ought to be esteemed, both on account of its age and on account of the simple manner, not at all painted or bombastic, in which he sets forth his narration. To the fourth. Our Labbe has them in his New library of manuscript books, volume 1, page 460 and following; but in publishing them anew we have, after our manner, divided them into chapters and numbers, and illustrated them with notes. For the rest, that abbot Guy alleged before had them before his eyes is beyond doubt to me, both from other indications and from these his words in Labbe at page 576: But in how great a purity of mind the said Hugh lived in his episcopate, the book of his deeds more fully declares. But before we lift our hand from the tablet, since the words of the Chronicle of Auxerre have above been produced more than once, it pleases us to subjoin some notion of it. Its author (who on the title-page of the copy printed in the year 1609 is called anonymous, but in the dedicatory, as they call it, Robert, monk of the monastery of St. Marien at Auxerre, of the Premonstratensian rule) wove it out down to the year 1211; whence you may gather that he lived nearly contemporary with our Saint of whom he writes, and therefore is worthy of credit. It remains that we now exhibit the Saint's own
ACTS
Written by an anonymous contemporary;
From the first part of the History of the bishops of Auxerre in Labbe, in the New library of Ms. books, volume 1, from page 460.
Hugh, bishop of Auxerre in Gaul (St.)
BHL Number: 4006
BY AN ANONYMOUS CONTEMPORARY.
CHAPTER I.
His birth, education in the monastery of Cluny; the government of that of Auxerre; his episcopate, virtues, and prophecy.
His birth, education, monastic life among the Cluniacs; Hugh sat XXI years. For he, born in the territory of Cluny at the castle of Montaigu a, came forth from noble parents b. And his father was called Dalmatius [*]; but the name of his mother .. c. Since his parents loved him tenderly enough, not only carnally but also spiritually, by the will of God, by which all things are disposed, being destined for the Church, he is given over to letters, and while still remaining in boyish innocence he took the monastic habit in the monastery of Cluny: where under St. Hugh d his uncle, then abbot of that monastery, he lived several years, and wisely learned the rule of blessed Benedict in the cloister of that monastery: since, as is reported of him, he ever remained without complaint, humble and obedient to his superiors, as befits a monk.
[2] But the almighty Lord, who beholds the lowly in heaven and on earth, and the abbatial life in the monastery of Auxerre. beholding the humility of this man as about to profit many, did not permit him to remain long in the cloister. For after the decease of the lord Guibert, abbot of St. Germanus of Auxerre e, being elected and blessed abbot in the same church, he was not made more lofty on account of the name of abbot; but was a humble monk like one of the rest, and, as befits a good master, he began to do and to teach, showing by example what he taught by word.
[3] From abbot, the difficulties being overcome, But when it was known that the lord Humbald, venerable bishop of Auxerre, had departed this life on the road to Jerusalem, the Clergy of that same church, for the greater part, after a short enough interval, elected the aforesaid abbot as pontiff. But the provost of that same church, Hulgerius by name, and certain canons with him, who had named that same provost in the election, resisted the election of the holy Man, and they also had king Louis f, son of king Philip, then reigning, as a helper of their opposition: so that he wholly refused to grant him all the regalia pertaining to the bishopric. Then he himself, compelled and drawn by his electors, and his adversaries, went to the thresholds of the Apostles, that there judgment might be given by the Supreme Pontiff concerning the election.
[4] But the most kindly Lord, the distributor of all good things, he is made bishop, against whom there is no wisdom or counsel, gave so great favor to the reverend Abbot in the eyes of the Supreme Pontiff, who then sat by the name of Paschal, that he deserved to receive from him the grace of episcopal consecration: and with the peace of his adversaries he returned to his own see with great alacrity, the clergy and also the people coming to meet him. He also found the Count of the land g, who at that time was held captive by Mansellus, who afterward took the habit of religion in the Carthusian order, rejoicing at the confirmation of his election; and the king of the Franks also, who before had opposed him, he visited on his arrival as speedily as possible, and found appeased.
[5] Lastly, in how great a purity of mind and how humbly he lived in his episcopate, a prognostic being published for his integrity. the following pages will declare, though not in all things: of whose holy manner of life there was as it were a certain presage in the prognostic divinely appointed for him, which was this: Hail Mary, full of grace, etc. h. Nor is it strange if the Son of the Virgin, without whose will not a leaf falls to the earth, willed that in the prognostic of the Servant of His Mother, whom He had known would remain a virgin, that singular salutation of admirable grace should be found, that He might give to be understood of what sort his life would be.
[6] The Cistercian Order, which at that time was still new i, He deserved excellently of the Cistercian Order. hedged about with glad and voluntary poverty, he frequented with a most sweet visitation, and according to his means supplied it in many things with necessaries. In his time also the abbeys of that same Order, Reigny k, La Roche l, Bouras m, had the beginning of their foundation, and through his hands, both by ministering to their necessities and by acquiring possessions, no small increase. For before the times of his consecration the monastery of Pontigny n had been founded; the sick also of that same Order he did not forget, but cherished them with sweet address, and often supplied refreshment at his own expense.
[7] The city and the crowds of peoples he gladly avoided at a fitting time, His love of solitude, frequenting the cloister of monks with glad simplicity of mind, among them
not desiring to be called or to be seen a bishop, but a monk, not forgetting that evangelical precept: He that is greater among you, let him become as the lesser; and he that goeth before, as he that serveth; ever turning over in his mind also that saying of blessed Jerome, who was both a monk and a teacher of monks: To me a town is a prison, solitude a paradise: if thou desirest to be what thou art called, a monk, that is, alone, what dost thou in cities? In the cloister of the monks of La Charité o, who lived according to the Cluniac order, he frequently stayed: and from his castles of Varzy and Cosne [p] he often ordered corn and wine to be carried thither for his own use and the refreshment of the sick, lest he should burden the church.
[8] It is believed also of him that he had the spirit of prophecy: the spirit of prophecy. wherein he left a certain token of truth to the clerics of his church. For there was in his time a certain cleric by name Stephen, most cautious in acquiring and providing, who had been much loved and familiar to the abbey over which he had presided, and especially to Gervase, his successor as abbot, as being of the household of that same church. When therefore the monks of that church, and especially the abbot, frequently interceded with the bishop on his behalf, that he would make him a canon in the church of St. Stephen [q], and he was unwilling to hear them in this, and they did not cease to knock daily with assiduous prayers, he is reported to have given them this answer: In vain do you pour forth prayers for him; for in my time he shall never be my canon. For I believe this of him, that as soon as he shall be made a canon in the church of St. Stephen, he will be an excessive exactor of his own advantage in regard to the goods of the church. And what more? The truth followed the word of the holy Man: for after his death his successor made the aforesaid cleric a canon in the church of blessed Stephen, and held him most familiar, and what the holy Man foretold concerning him, the event proved in that same cleric.
[9] He takes pains that his people be not burdened with expenses. The archdeaconry, which in his time came into his hands, he retained in his own hand during the days of his prelacy, not on account of avarice, but lest the priests should be burdened, knowing that the revenues of the archdeaconry were very small, and could not suffice for the expenses which the name of this honor requires. But it happened once that for a certain necessity he wished to visit the Roman Pontiff: whence also, by the counsel of those about him, he was compelled to ask help from the priests of his diocese for the expenses of so great a journey. The priests each gave according to his own judgment, nor was more sought from anyone than proceeded from his own free will. All things therefore being prepared which were necessary for him, he set out upon the journey proposed, and, crossing Mont Cenis [r], came to Cluses [s], and there understood that the way was not safe. Counsel therefore being taken, he returned to his own see, and, not forgetting that he had received money from his priests for the journey undertaken, the writing being seen of how much each of the priests had given, so much was returned to each.
[10] Even the smallest There was also a certain familiar of his, upon whom he conferred an ecclesiastical benefice. But he, not unmindful of the benefit received, after some space of time had passed, came with a certain sum of coin to a certain monk who carried the Bishop's purse and was steward of his whole house: he offered him those same coins, saying thus: The lord Bishop spends much, and needs much; receive this gift, and reserve it for the expenses necessary for him. The monk with thanks received the gift, and, having received it, laid it up. And after no long space of time, calling to mind the money received, and not knowing whether any scruple lay hidden in the gift which might offend the Bishop's conscience, whose purity he was not ignorant of, like a provident and wise steward he revealed to the Bishop what kind of gift had been given him and by what kind of man.
[11] shadow of the Simoniacal stain he abhors. Hearing which, when the Bishop considered whence such and so great a gift proceeded, it came at once into his mind that he had done him a kindness in an ecclesiastical benefice; and, being angered, he is reported to have said thus to his steward: Brother, it is not of our purpose to hold that which was said by a heathen, Care not whence thou hast it, but thou must have it; so send back the gift entire to the giver, just as he gave it thee, lest my conscience be defiled in the conferring of an ecclesiastical benefice. The monk at once obeys, and, as had been enjoined him, sent the gift back to the giver.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. This place is not altogether ignoble: for among the abbeys of the diocese of Auxerre in the Blaeu Geography, volume 7, page 224, that of St. Lawrence of Cosne is noted. In the same place, among the chief towns and citadels of the domain of Auxerre are noted Cosne and Varzy.
q. It is the chief church of the city of Auxerre.
r. Mont Cenis (le Mont Cenis) is a most well-known mountain in Savoy, part of the Alps on the border of Piedmont.
s. Cluses, a town of Savoy (so Baudrand briefly describes it) in the district of Faucigny, on the river Arve, hedged about on every side with mountains, seven leagues distant from Annecy toward the east. There may be consulted what was said above in this volume, page 532, number 58.
* al. Dalmatius and Dalmacius
CHAPTER II.
His munificence and mercy; fair weather obtained by prayer, a wonderful preservation in the fall of a tower, peace composed among those at variance, his care in ecclesiastical matters, the foretelling of his death, his death, and burial.
His wondrous charity It happened also that, from the failure of the vineyards in a certain year, wine was sold somewhat dearer than usual; but he, considering that the houses of those living under a rule in his diocese had, among their other necessities, chiefly for the use of drink either no wine at all or too little, appointed that wine should be supplied to the monks of La Roche, and to those of Bouras, and to those of La Charité, from Varzy and Cosne, according to the quantity of wine which he had there, and as was fitting for each church. But to the convent of Pontigny, of Reigny, and to the Virgins of Christ of Crisenon a he distributed it in this manner. On a certain day, the cellarer of Auxerre being called, he entered his own cellar, and, learning that the casks were full of wine, he is reported to have said thus to his cellarer: Let this vessel be for the convent of Pontigny; that one for Reigny; that one for the poor Virgins of Christ, designating each with a little rod which he had in his hand. But the cellarer, knowing that the wine was from Migraine b, which he had destined for the Virgins of Christ, and that the cask of forty measures would be of great price, wished as it were by counsel to turn the bishop's mind away from so great a gift, saying: My lord, that wine is from Migraine, and the vessel of forty measures of great price, reserved for the pruning of the vineyards and other necessities: may it please you to give wine of lesser price; because you have another at hand, which they will receive with great charity of mind. To whom the bishop: Thou savorest not the things that are of God. What I have said, I have said. Knowest thou not that the word of God ought never to be idle? What more? He spoke, and it was done.
[13] in relieving the poverty of Religious families; But let us further hear what the Lord added to this Man for the increase of this charity. The steward of the nuns was called: it was enjoined him that he should carry away the wine given for the use of the virgins; but he, when he understood that the wine was so good and of so great a price, offered it for sale, that from the price of the wine he might buy cheaper, and reserve the remainder of the price for other necessities. The Bishop, hearing this, orders the monk his steward to be called; he inquires why he wished to sell the wine. The monk sets forth the cause: which the Bishop understanding, he says: I wish that the wine which I gave should return into my power at the same price at which it would be given to another. The monk complies with the Bishop's will: the price given to the monk was no less than he could have had from a stranger. Which being done, the Bishop to the monk: Now thou hast the price of the wine; behold, this wine, as before, I again give to the spouses of Christ, and I command that they have it and drink it.
[14] as also the need of other poor. It is believed also of him that once, and a second and a third time, feeling infirmity of body, he so distributed all that he had for the love of God that he retained nothing movable except the garment which could scarcely suffice him. But in a certain sickness, when he had ordered all things to be given away, there was brought to him a certain box with an electuary and a small silver spoon: but he at once ordered the spoon to be given away, that he might retain nothing for himself which could offend the purity of his conscience.
[15] It happened also that at a certain time he was at Clairvaux; Fair weather where he often stayed with great willingness of mind for the counsel of his soul: because at that time the venerable lord Bernard c, an abbot of great name and merit, whose life and doctrine, famously spread abroad in the universal Church, drew many with him to Christ, was there; and there on a certain day, when the abbot and the convent of monks, whose custom it is to reap with their own hands whence they may live and give to him who suffers need, went into a certain field to reap; the Bishop with a sickle set himself among the convent, expecting great fruit whenever it fell to him to be their companion in labor.
[16] They came to the field where the corn was: all cut it: he prays with St. Bernard for the reapers of the corn, and obtains it. the corn is gathered into sheaves; and, behold, a dark cloud full of many showers overclouding the sky and rolling round the field where they were. Which when the venerable abbot lord Bernard saw, undaunted and ever having the faith of Christ in his breast, of which it is written, All things are possible to him that believeth; turning to the Bishop he said: Father, say the word, that the impending flood of rains may pass by. He, ever regarding humility, thus answered: I am not of this merit: do thou pray; and I trust that the Lord will grant it to thee. On the other hand the abbot: Do thou also, Father, pray, and I with thee. This being said, both prayed, and immediately the ears of the Lord were toward their prayers: the darkness of the clouds withdrew, fair weather followed, and in dryness the holy reapers gather in their harvest.
[17] At a certain time also, through a certain unusual excess of winds, In the fall of a tower he is wonderfully unhurt. a certain wooden tower of the church of St. Stephen, its beams and timbers penetrating from the foundations through the roofs of the house, fell about the Bishop's bed on this side and that, and even athwart it, all injury being kept away from the holy Man. What shall we say to this? It is clear that He alone and He only kept the sleeping Bishop, who slumbers not nor sleeps, and keeps Israel: for He has always kept all who love Him, of whom alone it is truly written: Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.
[18] But when concerning the customs of his church a discord had lasted a long time between the provost and the canons, He composes peace among those at variance: the customs being for the greater part written and sworn upon the oath of witnesses, both canons and laymen, he set peace between the provost and the brethren, and confirmed the writing with his seal, and caused it to be fortified with the authority of the Supreme Pontiff, looking in the peace of his church to that fruit which he had read of in the work of blessed Martin, who before his impending death took pains to restore peace in the church of Candes, which fruit of peace the author of peace promised through the Psalmist, saying: There are remnants for the peaceable man.
[19] And whereas among all prelates of the church, of whatever order they be, scarcely one can be found who does not exalt his kinsmen, even if they be not worthy, with honors and benefices of the churches, this man, singular among an infinite number, never in his life would give a prebend to a certain nephew of his. [he refuses to promote a kinsman: he takes care of ecclesiastical affairs and persons:] And although he was not much assiduous in his church, on account of the quiet of spirit which he found among the cloistered; yet he showed much solicitude about his church. To increase therefore the service of his church, considering that nothing was so useful in the church for the common good of the brethren as if he should yield to them the provostship of the church for common use, on a certain day, counsel being taken not from man but from God, by the hand of St. Stephen upon his altar he offered the provostship, and granted and gave it to be held in perpetuity by the community of the brethren, and d especially for their refection, and caused that same gift, that it might not be broken by anyone, to be confirmed by the authority of Pope Innocent: yet nevertheless what was done concerning this donation was not observed in the time of his successor.
[20] Buildings constructed by him. He gave also to the church of blessed Stephen the church of Oysi, and to the church of St. Germanus the church of St. Ferreolus: he built anew an episcopal house of stone, spacious, and roofed it with tiles, and in that part of the same house which looks toward the east he built a certain gallery, which in the vulgar tongue is called Logis, exceedingly delightful in aspect, adorned with most beautiful columns, above the wall of the city, whence both the river below can be seen, and the vineyards and fields.
[21] He is seized with sickness, As therefore the term of his life drew near, appointed by Him who then gives sleep to His beloved, when He would give them His inheritance, an unnatural heat seizes all his limbs: but he, though the flesh labored, compelled his spirit to serve his Creator in Psalms and prayers. And when the last day had come, he admonished the brethren standing about him with what diligence he could, about the ninth hour of the day, in these words: Let us pay to the Lord the Hours of the day which remain and which we owe; because, the Hours being ended, I shall at once rest. They therefore sang to the Lord, and, the Hour of Compline being completed, the term of his life was completed, and thus the effect of truth followed the word which he had foretold.
[22] and dies the death which he had foretold, on the 10th day of August. Which Hours being ended, he rested in the Lord, which the bystanders then, and not before, understood. For they had thought that his word had been of the rest of the body. Now his death is on the fourth of the Ides of August, and from the episcopal seat, where he rendered up his spirit to the Lord, his body was borne with due reverence to the church of St. Germanus, as, by his will while he yet lived, it had been arranged, and there in the chapter-house of the same church, where the brethren are disciplined, by the Lord's providing, he had his burial e. Nor did the bishopric lack the election of his successor for a week.