ON ST. LUDOLF AND BL. DRUTHMAR, ABBOTS OF CORVEY,
IN WESTPHALIA
The first in the year 983, the other in 1046.
A HISTORICAL COLLECTION.
The immemorial cult of these abbots, and certain of their deeds from various monuments.
Ludolf, abbot of Corvey in Westphalia (St.)
Druthmar, abbot of Corvey in Westphalia (Bl.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. C.
Although these two Abbots flourished at different times, and the first died on this day, the other on the fifteenth of the Calends of March, yet we join them here, because they have many arguments of lawful cult in common, as will appear from what is to be said. In the monastery of Corvey, which for distinction from Corbie in France is sometimes surnamed New or Saxon Corvey, both are honored from immemorial time Both these abbots are honored in Saxon Corvey, as Saints or Blessed, as I gather from the letter of our John Kloppenburg, who in the year 1686 wrote from Neuhaus to our Papebroch among other things thus: "I was lately, namely at the end of October of the past year 1685, with our most exalted prince at Corvey, which famous and imperial monastery your Reverence knows to be founded on the Weser; at which time in their elegant church I saw the following statues of Saints with the title of Saint or Blessed, as I subjoin: Of St. Ludolf, abbot of Corvey… Of Blessed Druthmar, abbot of Corvey."
[2] Then at the end of the same letter that eye-witness adds the following to our purpose: as an eye-witness wrote to us, "At the same time of which above, I was in a chapel or as it were crypt joined to the church, in which are religiously preserved the relics of the blessed Ludolf and Druthmar, abbots of Corvey, once raised by Marquard, from abbot of Corvey made bishop of Osnabrück, in the year 1100, and laid again before the altar of the holy Cross; then, by Christopher Bernard von Galen, bishop of Münster and administrator of Corvey, when he was building the new church, they were found, the frame of the bodies entire, in gilded coffers, in the year 1662, in the month of October; thence they were translated to the chapel of which above, where also I venerated them." Finally, the praised Kloppenburg in another letter notes the day of death or of cult of those Saints whom he had seen in the monastery of Corvey. But since he did not know the day of Bl. Druthmar's death, he advised us to join him with St. Ludolf the abbot, with whom his relics were raised. Castellan in his universal Martyrology likewise did not know the certain day of his death, and therefore places Bl. Druthmar among the Saints without a fixed day.
[3] and from the ancient translation of their bodies we gather, Although we have learned from the Annals of Corvey and the Necrology of Lorsch that Bl. Druthmar died on the 15th day of February, nevertheless we have joined him to St. Ludolf, with whom he has also an epitaph in common, which Mabillon in the Acts of the Saints of the Benedictine Order, century V, page 726, thus reports:
"Rejoice at the blessed Fathers translated hither, Of this church, which each fitly ruled At a distinct time, with words and with good deed. Druthmar on the right (let not the reader neglect these things), Ludolf, an illustrious Abbot, lies in this part. And thus among thy Saints, O God, regard the heart of the venerating Father Marcward, together with that of Godfrey the craftsman, Whose vows, with devout prayer, may be pleasing to thee."
Mabillon received this information from Adolf Overham, a Benedictine monk of the abbey of Werden, who in the notes on the Life of Bl. Meinwerk, page 366, indicates the time of this translation from a Fragment of the Annals of Corvey, which at the year 1100, in the VIII Indiction, runs thus: "Luidolf and Druthmar, abbots, were translated, and shone with miracles." We in the Annals of Corvey, which Christian Franz Paullini published in the year 1698 in the Syntagma of German Affairs, read at the same year 1100 these few words: "Our Dietmar together with Liutolph our abbot shines with miracles." But in the same Annals of Corvey at the year 1086, concerning abbot Marcward, under whom this translation was made, the following are read: "He raised the bones of Lieutholph and Dietmar our abbots, and set them before the altar of the holy Cross with the greatest reverence." But in whatever year this translation was made, from the same Annals it is clear that St. Ludolf shone with miracles not long after his death, as the ancient author there indicates at the year one thousand in these few words: "Liutolph our abbot shines with miracles."
[4] that that cult began from immemorial time. Further, the praised Overham in the Notes just cited, at page 367, after reporting the same verses which he had before communicated to Mabillon, adds of his own the following: "In the year 1662, in the month of October, the bodies of these Abbots were found, with the series of the bones entire, wrapped in silken cloths, in gilded tombs or wooden chests before the altar of the holy Cross, beneath a huge stone, into which a ring had been inserted whereby it could be lifted with a lever, in the middle of the old church, which was afterward pulled down in the same year, the sacred bones being first removed; but by the carelessness of a certain man,"
"whose name I now spare, they were mingled and confounded." Since from these ancient verses, and from the diligent preservation of the relics, and from the other things hitherto said, the immemorial cult of these Abbots seems abundantly established, I do not judge that the announcements of more recent Martyrologists should here be heaped up, which without more ancient testimonies would not prove the lawful veneration of these Saints. Wherefore it only remains that we first gather from various authors some deeds of St. Ludolf which occur here and there, and afterward say something also of the few deeds of Bl. Druthmar.
[5] The chronographers of Corvey do not agree in what year St. Ludolf obtained the abbatial dignity, To St. Ludolf, abbot of Corvey, some marking the year of Christ 965, others 966. We do not wish here to use the testimony of Johann Letzner, who in the Chronicle of Corvey, chapter 24, number 12, asserts that Ludolf was elected abbot in the year of Christ 975, and governed the abbey of Corvey for eighteen years: for this author's German Chronicle swarms with anachronisms and other historical errors. Wherefore only from the Annals of Corvey which Christian Franz Paullini published, and which Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz caused to be reprinted in volume 2 among the Writers of the Affairs of Brunswick, we shall bring forward in some chronological order certain deeds of our holy Abbot, and shall try to illustrate them from other monuments.
[6] And so in the Annals of Corvey in Leibniz, volume 2 of the Work just cited, page 301, at the year of Christ 966 these things are reported: William, prelate of Mainz, "Abbot Gertnus dies. May he rest in peace. William, archbishop of Mainz, on that night on which he died appeared in a vision to abbot Luitholf." By this name of Luitholf and by other like appellations near to it our St. Ludolf is indicated, as Thietmar, a contemporary writer, testifies, who in book 2 of his Chronicle, in Leibniz, volume 1 of the aforesaid Work, page 334, thus more clearly sets forth the aforesaid apparition of William of Mainz: "Moreover William, archprelate of holy Mainz, to whom the care of ordering Magdeburg and of governing the other necessary affairs of the kingdom had been committed by the emperor, his own lord and father, while he was awaiting the end of the sick queen Mathilda, dies at Redulveroth on the VI of the Nones of March. His death the venerable queen, oppressed with the excessive infirmity of her body, made known to all present, being as yet certain by no messenger, saying: 'My son William, alas, now expiring, needs a saving remembrance.' And Ludolf, the excellent abbot of Corvey, seeing him meeting him bodily [*] on the very night on which he passed away, was astounded, and announced to his brethren that he was dead."
[7] The praised Thietmar in book 3 of his Chronicle, in the same Leibniz, page 343, narrates another apparition, of count Gero, and count Gero appeared after their death, whose head had been cut off by the emperor's command, and on that occasion thus praises our Saint: "It is well to set forth in few words the merit of Ludolf, father of Corvey, to whom, laboring much in vigils and fastings, the Lord deigned to reveal very many things. He, on the day of the aforesaid contest, when at daybreak he was humbly and reverently celebrating Mass, as he was always wont, saw upon the altar the head of count Gero, and when this was ended he sang another for the dead. And the priestly vestments being put off, he went out in silence, and, the Brethren being gathered, he made known his death, and humbly asked that prayer be made for him."
[8] and other revelations were made to him, The aforesaid Annals of Corvey thus briefly record the things done from the year 967 to the year 971 under this holy Abbot: "Most flourishing discipline under him, and a school, the first in Saxony; he establishes and exalts the monastic brotherhood, and enrolled in it many noble men both near and far, archbishops, bishops, prelates, counts, soldiers, and others, with great advantage to the monastery. He went for devotion's sake to Cologne; but from this to Rome to our most holy Father. A fellow-monk of ours is wretchedly punished for having irreverently handled the relics of Crispin [] and Crispinian." What is here indicated in passing about the punishment of a monk of Corvey, Thietmar again in book 4 of his Chronicle, or in Leibniz, page 362 and following, declares more fully in these words: "But the reverence of the aforesaid Martyrs (namely Crispin and Crispinian, of whom he had treated above), which lies neglected enough [] in the older books, that thou, reader, mayest learn it from me, I bring forward one matter which my brother Bruno, brought up in new Corvey, and a servant of that same altar, indicated to me from the report of his pious brethren."
[9] as is reported from Thietmar, That testimony of his brother being premised, he thus narrates the matter: "In the time of the aforesaid abbot Ludolf, exceedingly memorable in all good things, there was a certain young man, his fellow-brother and a regular monk, who, when, dwelling then in the office committed to him, he carried with him after the wonted manner the relics of the above-named Martyrs, and handled them carelessly, perceived in the punishment which swiftly followed that he had sinned against the Martyrs of Christ: for he dies carnally who neglected spiritually to serve the Saints of the Lord. And that these things might become known to the aforesaid Abbot, they met him by night before the doors of the church as he was going out. Whom as soon as he beheld, struck with great fear he stood still and kept silence. To whom straightway they say such things: 'Why dost thou not ask, Father, who we are, or for what thing we have come hither?' And when he had replied to them that he dared not, he presently heard from them their name and the cause, and that this would not be left unavenged.
[10] a contemporary writer, "But as they departed, the Abbot indicated these things to his fellow-brethren, saying: 'That young man who was now in our obedience is dead, on account of the reverence not kept toward the Saints whom he had with him. Alas for me, who never consented to such things!' And not long after came a messenger who should affirm that these things were true, and should announce that his body was being brought. But the venerable man neither would go out to meet it, nor allowed the Brethren to receive it after the wonted manner; but, being angry, he says such things to the corpse: 'Why didst thou, insolent one, dare to carry with thee negligently those who, with the only-begotten Son of the living Lord, should be held with great honor?' But the dean, excusing the dead Brother as far as he could by pleading in some manner for pardon, received from his Father such an answer: 'My Brother, I love thee; thou knowest what the servant did to the eye in thy sight, but what he did in absence thou knowest not. But I weigh it best, who now understand him to be in grievous torments; and now as a suppliant I ask the intercession of our patrons, that through this the divine loving-kindness may make known to me when it may be lawful for me a sinner to grant absolution to him whom they have released, and to give him communion. It is too harsh to kick against the goad, and unseemly for men, when majesty is angered, to show indulgence.'" After this word the pious Abbot came with bare feet to his special oratory, his refuge in anxious matters, and after his wont, bewailing human frailty in himself and in others, appeased the Lord, and forthwith rising with many thanksgivings, by divine power, before all the Brethren, he remitted the offence to the dead man, and gave him the communion of the body of the Church, and burial [*].
[11] That this holy Abbot also shone with the spirit of prophecy and from a Saxon manuscript Chronicle, we gather from a Saxon manuscript Chronicle, which in Adolf Overham in the notes on the Life of St. Meinwerk, page 394 and following, has it thus: "Wal, abbot of Corvey, being first suspended from his charge, is deposed, and the privileges and customs of the monastery which they had had by the gift of Louis the Pious are by the emperor's power changed, and from the monastery of Lorsch Druchmar is appointed abbot without the consent of the Brethren; and when he came to his see in that week, the whole congregation, except nine, bewailing that their life, which had shone as an example to almost all monks, was becoming cheap, went away weeping: for so the venerable abbot Luidolf had foretold that it would be. But many being again converted by God's grace, it pleased them to submit themselves to the rule rather than to wander miserably in the world." Thietmar in book 7 of his Chronicle, in Leibniz, page 403, makes mention of the same prediction of St. Ludolf, and the Annals of Corvey at the year 1016 make mention of this very dispersion of the monks of Corvey, as we shall see below.
[12] Now let us go on to report the chief deeds of our Saint from the Annals of Corvey, to which some actions of the same Saint which in Leibniz's edition distribute all these things by years thus: "973. The emperor Otto confirms our privileges. The Pope does the same, calling this church a faithful and devout daughter of the Apostolic See, subject to it alone and to be subjected to none… 976. An abbot of another monastery, unjustly removed by the malice and envy of his Brethren, comes to us, to whom Luitholf committed the care and inspection of the younger Brethren with good profit. 977. Luitholf visits and corrects his schools and churches; gives a new altar at Gadelhem, repairing and enlarging the whole church in the same place. 978. The piety, learning, discretion and liberality of Luitholf conferred much on the monastery; he himself in great honor with princes and nobles, who vied in sending their sons to our school… 980. An exchange is made between the emperor Otto and Luitholf our abbot. 981. Pope Benedict confirms to Luitholf all his privileges… 983. The emperor Otto restores to our monastery Ponteburg in the diocese of Bremen with many tithes, unjustly taken away before." The exchange and privileges here recorded are confirmed from the authentic diplomas of Pope Benedict VII and the emperor Otto II, which have lately been published in the Ecclesiastical Spicilegium of the imperial archive, and which may be consulted in part 3 of that collection, chapter 5, page 79 and following.
[13] But those things are not fitly enough divided into their own times contrary to right chronology the Annals of Corvey add, which are thus subjoined in the cited Annals of Corvey: "987. Luitholf again buys and exchanges divers goods and estates, farms, plots, pastures and woodlands. 988. The same built in Solling an oratory in honor of St. Bartholomew the apostle, whose first stone was laid on his vigil. 989. Pope John solemnly confirms all our privileges. 990. Abbot Lieutolph dies: Thiatmar succeeded." At least all the things which are here recorded of St. Ludolf after the year of Christ 986 were done at another time: for in the diploma of the emperor Otto III, which was given in the month of June of the year 987, "the venerable man Thiotmar, abbot of the church of Corvey," is expressly named. Besides, in the bull of Pope John XV, who in the year 989 confirmed the privileges of the men of Corvey, the same successor of St. Ludolf is called by the name of abbot of Corvey, as may be seen in the Ecclesiastical Spicilegium of the imperial archive, page 82 of the aforesaid part. Nay rather, we think it more probable that St. Ludolf died in the year of Christ 983 on the Ides of August, because in certain ancient instruments of Corvey and in the Necrology of Fulda, which Leibniz published in volume 3 of the Brunswick Writers from page 762, this year and day are assigned to his death. Certainly his death must be deferred until this year, since in the diploma of Otto II, by which that emperor in the month of June of the year 983 restored the place Ponteburg to the men of Corvey, "Liudulf, venerable abbot of the church of Corvey," is named, as from the praised Ecclesiastical Spicilegium of the imperial
archive, page 79 of that same third part, appears. And these are the things which we have been able to find concerning St. Ludolf.
[14] from which also a few deeds of Bl. Druthmar Now there remain a few things to be gathered concerning Bl. Druthmar from the often-cited Annals of Corvey, which from the year 1016 narrate that he was made abbot of Corvey from a monk of Lorsch, and substituted for the deposed Wal, in these words: "There is substituted by king Henry II Drutmar from the monastery of Lorsch, called or elected by no one. Yet he was pious and learned; therefore the Brethren bore what they could not change, the king's authority standing in the way, and the favor with him of the neighboring bishop" (namely Bl. Meinwerk, prelate of Paderborn, who had taken care that Bl. Druthmar should be set over the monastery of Corvey). "He cultivated a great friendship with Meinwerk at Paderborn; which when the murmuring Brethren bore ill, he changed his mind and manners, and devoted himself to his monastery. He cares diligently for spiritual and temporal things, as abbot and steward. Never was the feast of St. Vitus celebrated more pompously and splendidly since his translation to Corvey than in this year, and most ample alms were collected. The very beggars were liberal. He builds the church of St. Magnus at Horohusen."
[15] we have summarily gathered. Then the same Annals report the remaining deeds of our Blessed one from the year of Christ 1023 to the year of his death 1046 thus: "Druthmar went to our metropolitan, to those of Cologne and Trier, for the public good. He was present with bishop Barward at Hildesheim in his metropolis, who a little after died with the grief of all, even of our Brethren… He was present at the solemn consecration of the church of the holy Cross at Hildesheim founded by blessed Godehard. The village of Gadelhem, given by Gerold the deacon to his mother, but taken away by the injury of the times, he restores to the monastery by the help of king Conrad… Drutmar assigned to our Brethren one portion more than usual on the more solemn feasts, being liberal toward the poor from the patrimony of St. Vitus. He promoted the studies of the Brethren with all effort, being a familiar of learned men… He ordered the porter to be at the gate day and night, but to keep the gate shut during the sacred rites. Which when it seemed troublesome to Brother Conrad, who spoke too bitterly, he fed him on bread and water in a solitary cell for a month as a penance… Drutmar, visiting his monastery of Gröningen on the Bode, receives a golden cross from the bishop at Halberstadt as a token of special friendship… Our Drutmar dies on the XV of the Calends of March." The diplomas which Bl. Druthmar obtained for his monastery of Corvey from the emperors Conrad and Henry may be read in the aforesaid third part of the Ecclesiastical Spicilegium from page 85. For the rest, the day of his death is confirmed from the Necrology of Lorsch, which the most learned Johann Friedrich Schannat lately inserted into his Literary Vintage, and in which at the XV day of the Calends of March there is made the yearly memory "of Drutmar the abbot," and there the following are added: "He, being made prelate thence of new Corvey, composed for the congregation a sermon and a chant in honor of St. Nazarius." From these few things which we have been permitted to find concerning Bl. Druthmar, anyone will not with difficulty gather that he shone with abbatial vigilance, with singular beneficence toward his subjects, and with other monastic virtues, and therefore that not undeservedly his relics have from immemorial time to our age always been honorably preserved with those of St. Ludolf, as we showed at the beginning of this collection.
Annotations* elsewhere "apparentem"
* read "Crispini"
* elsewhere "lucentem"
* elsewhere "sepulturam"