ON ST. SEBALD, HERMIT,
AT NUREMBERG IN GERMANY,
Eighth Century.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Sebald, hermit, at Nuremberg in Germany (St.)
BY G. C.
§ I. The ancient cult of this Saint proved from various monuments, and confirmed by the Roman Pontiff himself.
Nuremberg, that most ample and best known mart of Franconia in Germany, From the Supplements to Usuard, before the rise of Luther's heresy, pursued St. Sebald with the greatest veneration, as we shall see in the course of this Commentary. His annual festival was formerly kept there on the XIX day of August, on which day also, in the Supplements to our illustrated Usuard, from the Lübeck-Cologne edition of the Martyrology, he is thus recorded: In the city of Nuremberg, of St. Sebald, pilgrim and confessor, son of the king of Denmark. Greven in the same place announces him in more words thus: Of Sebald the confessor, son of the king of Denmark. He, having obtained a most noble bride, after the example of blessed Alexius left her, his parents, and all his goods. Rendering to God the purest service in the solitary life, he shone with many miracles, among which he obtained by prayer bread baked under the ashes for his companions of the journey, and, placing his hair shirt upon the waters, crossed a river. At last, full of good deeds, he rested at the town of Nuremberg.
[2] For brevity's sake we here omit Galesinius, our venerable Canisius, by a historian of the eleventh century, Wion, Menard, Bucelinus, and other more recent martyrologists, even though afterwards on another occasion we shall bring forward certain Benedictine Menologists, in order to discuss the more probable institute of this holy Confessor. Meanwhile it suffices us to know the immemorial cult of that holy Man, of which Lambert of Hersfeld in his Chronicle at the year of Christ 1072 (he flourished at that time) gave the following testimony: The memory of St. Sebald at Nuremberg, and of St. Hemerad in Hessengau, was in these times very renowned and celebrated throughout Gaul, and they were daily frequented with a great concourse of peoples, on account of the aids which were divinely conferred there very often upon the sick. Here therefore we have a witness of the eleventh century, who informs us of the public veneration of St. Sebald and of frequent miracles.
[3] I do not know when or where a proper Mass of St. Sebald began to be recited, and by a proper Mass which I found among our collected papers, since nothing was noted there about the time or the place. Nevertheless I suspect that it was anciently in use in the church of Nuremberg. This doubt of ours will be able to be resolved by those who have at hand the old Missal of that church, which we lack. Wherefore we offer for examination to learned investigators of such matters this Mass, whose order is thus prescribed: Introit. Os justi, etc. Prayer. Almighty and everlasting God, who didst cause the life of blessed Sebald, thy confessor, to pass praiseworthily through the toils of this world, we beseech thee that by his intercession thou wouldst cherish in the present solemnity the people who make supplication to thy clemency, and after
the course of this life wouldst lead them to the heavenly kingdoms. Through our Lord, etc. Lesson from the book of Wisdom. The just man his heart, etc. Gradual. Os justi, etc. Verses. O Sebald, servant of Christ, lead us to eternal joys, that we, mingled there with the choirs, may live through everlasting hours and rejoice in perpetual glory.
SEQUENCE.
Let us sing together, And let us praise God; Let us eagerly invoke Sebald with our vows.
He, born among the Franks, Turns his back upon \* his kinsfolk; Though of renowned birth, Lest he fall into wickedness.
Deservedly he chose The wilderness of Vincentia, That he might conquer malice, And subjected himself to God.
He takes a few companions Into the wilderness with him; He lives for the Lord alone, Apart from whom he presumes nothing.
God visits him often With miracles, And made him known fittingly By manifest deeds.
To those suffering hunger He brings refreshment; To those enduring thirst, A wondrous drink.
He turns water into wine That was to last long; He furnishes nourishing \* bread At the needed hour.
Dead, he is drawn along By untamed beasts of burden; He is brought to Nuremberg By divine encouragements.
They stand still in a humble place And do not depart thence, Until the people of the place Declare the spot holy.
He had begun to be translated, But nothing followed thereby; From the Scots the body Had returned, turned back.
To the place divinely He was first carried; That deed from heaven Is published abroad to all.
The face of a mocker Is marked with a blow; The woman's countenance, Having suffered, is changed.
O Sebald, hasten To guard your own here, And to endow the devout With the face of the true God.
To thee we render praises, Threefold in Persons, Whose BEING we declare To be of pure act.
[4] Gospel. At that time Jesus said to his disciples: the ancient cult of this Saint is shown, No man lights a lamp, etc. Creed. Offertory. The desire of his soul, etc. Secret. Be favorable, we beseech thee, O Lord, to us thy servants, through the glorious merits of St. Sebald, thy confessor, that by his pious intercession we may ever be protected from all adversities. Through our Lord, etc. Communion. Thou hast set, O Lord, etc. Postcommunion. Hear, O Lord, our prayers, that by the merits and prayers of St. Sebald, thy confessor, whose feast we celebrate today, we may obtain the glory of eternity. Through our Lord, etc. That obscure Sequence, or half-barbarous rhythm, will receive some light from the fuller Acts of this Saint, which we shall put to press after the Preliminary Commentary.
[5] For the rest, whether this Mass be ancient or more recent matters little to our purpose, whom Pope Martin V, the Roman Pontiff, since from other ancient instruments the immemorial cult of St. Sebald is sufficiently established, and Pope Martin V confirmed it by his approbation. Christian Erdtmann, in the little book which he published in the year of Christ 1629, Nuremberg in the Flower of her Ancestral Roman Catholic Religion, Graphically Delineated and Portrayed from the Most Ancient Libraries of Various Monasteries and from Old Monuments, furnishes us with the diploma itself of this Pontiff, which runs thus: Martin, bishop, servant of the servants of God, for the perpetual memory of the matter. The circumspect kindness of the Apostolic See has been accustomed to assent to the just wishes of the devout, and readily to interpose the good offices of its duty in those things whereby the divine worship and the state of all churches and of other pious places erected for the propagation of the divine name may be increased, so that thereby also the fervor of the Christian religion may grow in them; and those things which it has found to have duly proceeded, for devotion's sake, by the authority and ordinance of the Roman and other Pontiffs, it gladly binds with the firmness of Apostolic protection, that they may remain inviolate.
[6] Now on behalf of our beloved sons the consuls and proconsuls and the community of the town of Nuremberg, at the request of the people of Nuremberg, of the diocese of Bamberg, a petition lately presented to us set forth that blessed Sebald, who was begotten of the stock of the kings of Denmark, shines forth in that town — which is imperial and among other towns of other regions exceedingly solemn and distinguished and famous — and in its neighborhood with many and countless miracles, so much so that he has for five hundred years and more been openly reckoned by all as Saint and patron of that same town, as he is daily reckoned in it and its neighborhood; and that the glorious body of the aforesaid Blessed one is honorably enclosed in a certain solemn sarcophagus, adorned with gold and silver, in the church of the said town, which is the chief parish church; and that this and several other churches, chapels, and altars in the aforesaid town and in other places, founded and erected sumptuously and magnificently to the praise and glory of almighty God and of his Mother, the glorious Virgin Mary, and of all the citizens on high, under the name of that same blessed Sebald, are venerably beheld; which also are endowed with manifold revenues and adorned with other gifts of indulgences and graces, by the authority of divers Roman and other Pontiffs our predecessors, and of Legates of the Apostolic See, and also of the local Ordinaries, for those visiting the aforesaid churches, chapels, and altars, and for those lending helping hands there to their preservation and construction; and that in the church of the said Bl. Sebald in that same town, every year upon the day on which the present life brought him forth, after the world had been conquered and triumphed over, into everlasting eternity — namely the XIV Kalends of September, the nineteenth day of August — his feast, with a proper and special Office together with a Legend or history also special, as for a confessor not a bishop, has been instituted to be celebrated every year by the authority of divers local Ordinaries, as it is also devoutly and solemnly celebrated concerning him by the faithful of those parts: so that on that account his glorious name is found inscribed in very many Breviaries and other books of prayers among the other names of the Saints.
[7] by the authority of the Apostolic See Wherefore on behalf of the aforesaid consuls, proconsuls, and community humble supplication was made to us, that for the propagation of the divine name, and for the more fervent devotion of the Faithful of those parts toward the said Blessed one, and for the state of the churches, chapels, and the other things aforesaid, and also for their visitation, preservation, construction, and erection, we would deign of our Apostolic kindness to add to all and each of the aforesaid, for their firmer subsistence, the strength of Apostolic confirmation. We therefore, who with inmost affection desire that the propagation of the divine name, and the state and communities of churches, chapels, altars, and ecclesiastical places whatsoever, should above all in our times be increased, and being informed of the aforesaid by public report and by the accounts of trustworthy persons, supported by the truth itself, have declared the aforesaid blessed Sebald to be a saint, and to be held and reckoned as such, and his feast to be celebrated and kept every year by all the Faithful of Christ throughout the whole world on the said day, namely the XIV Kalends of September, and his name to be inscribed in the catalogue of the other holy fathers; and moreover, holding as ratified and pleasing all and each of the aforesaid, and the concessions, indulgences, privileges, and indults granted to the parish and other churches, chapels, and altars aforesaid, erected under the name of the said St. Sebald, by whatsoever Roman and other Pontiffs before the death of Pope Gregory X of happy memory, our predecessor, and thereafter following, by Apostolic authority and of certain knowledge we confirm and approve them, and have fortified them with the protection of the present writing, supplying all defects, if perchance any have occurred therein: and that a multitude of the Faithful of Christ may flow together more ardently and more abundantly to the venerable sepulchre of that Saint, and the festival of that same Saint may be more solemnly kept, and his name more solemnly recalled, by the aforesaid authority to all who are truly penitent and have confessed, and who shall devoutly visit his sepulchre at the said church on the day of his feast, we mercifully relax yearly seven years and as many quarantines of the penances enjoined upon them.
[8] And moreover all and singular movable goods for uncertain causes, and for those causes for which no true heirs survive, nor are lawful successors found for the time being, found, deposited, or left in any way in the parish or with the rector and parishioners of that same church, and also those which, for like causes in the aforesaid parish in the said preceding time, in the aforesaid manner, may happen to be left, deposited, assigned, or found, afterwards kindly confirmed. we assign to the fabric of the aforesaid church of St. Sebald; and we will and ordain that the rector and others ministering for the time being in divine things in the aforesaid church and parish shall grant, by Apostolic authority, by the tenor of these presents, of a special gift of grace, to all of either sex with whom the aforesaid goods are or shall be found, the faculty, in the forum of penance, to hand over and assign them for the fabric of the aforesaid church, in remission of their sins; notwithstanding Apostolic constitutions and ordinances and any others whatsoever to the contrary; provided nevertheless that goods thus to be handed over and assigned be converted wholly to the fabric of the aforesaid church. Let it therefore be lawful to no man at all to infringe this page of our declaration, confirmation, approbation, fortification, supplying, relaxation, assignment, will, and concession, or with rash daring to go against it. But if anyone shall presume to attempt this, let him know that he will incur the indignation of almighty God and of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. Given at Rome at the Holy Apostles', on the VII Kalends of April, in the eighth year of our Pontificate. Since all these things abundantly demonstrate the lawful cult of our Saint, let us proceed to indicate the copies of the Acts.
Annotations\* That is, he flees or leaves behind his back.
\* That is, "that which nourishes," unless I am mistaken.
§ II. A manuscript copy of the Acts, and a metrical summary of the same, which are vindicated from the calumnies of the heterodox.
Notice is given of the longer manuscript Acts, John Gamans, a most obliging priest of our Society, and deservedly often praised by us for the services he rendered, in the year 1638 sent to the hagiographers of Antwerp the Acts and miracles of St. Sebald, excerpted from a manuscript codex of the Charterhouse of Gaming, which monastery of the Carthusian Order is situated in Austria. The writer of these Acts is anonymous and of uncertain date, so that I cannot attain even by conjecture of what institute he was, or in what place or at what time he collected them. He seems, however, to have lived long after the times of St. Sebald, since he blunders grossly in chronology and is inconsistent with himself, as will be shown below on another occasion. For the rest, in the Gaming manuscript itself there occur certain lacunae and rather obscure and perhaps corrupt phrases, as Gamans noted in the margin of our copy, which we shall try to supply or to explain in the annotations.
[10] Perhaps Hartmann Schedel, who in the year 1493 published at Nuremberg the Book of Chronicles, from which Schedel had this very copy of the Acts, or at least a similar one, before his eyes, when there, in the sixth age of the world, in our copy folio 162 verso, he wove the following synopsis of the Life: Sebald, a most worthy and most holy confessor, at this time (as some report) flourished in learning and sanctity in Germany. He was sprung from most noble parents, the son of the king of Denmark and of a most chaste queen, who by vows and prayers obtained this offspring from God. Given over from his earliest age to studies and letters, he sought Paris in his youth to acquire the liberal arts. When he had become most learned, a most beautiful maiden of the family of the kings of the Franks was joined to him in marriage. But, the pomps of the world being spurned, having left
his kingdom, he forsook by night his most elegant bride and withdrew into far countries and into the wilderness: where, when he had lived most holily for fifteen years, coming thence to Rome for devotion's sake, he was sent by Gregory II, supreme Pontiff, to the Germans for the sake of preaching, and had the brothers Willibald and Wunibald as companions of his journey. And first among the Lombards, then at Ratisbon, he was renowned for learning, virtues, and miracles. Finally near Nuremberg, in the solitude of the woods, he passed a most religious and most perfect life to the end; where, besides the teaching afforded to the people, he became most famous for the glory of miracles.
[11] drew a summary, At last, full of days, he came to the oratory of the Brethren dedicated to St. Martin at Nuremberg (where now stands the monastery of the Order of St. Benedict called after St. Giles), and, seized by infirmity and old age, most holily passed to the Lord: whose holy body was drawn by untamed oxen to the place of burial, where a notable basilica has been built in his name. Whom afterwards the supreme Pontiffs, on account of his frequent miracles, added to the number of the holy confessors; and especially Pope Martin V ordered his feast to be celebrated throughout the whole world on the XIV Kalends of September. Wherefore among the people of Nuremberg he is honored every year with the highest honor, since Nuremberg, an illustrious city, has abundantly felt an increase in all honor and glory by the merits of this most worthy Patron.
[12] which the Magdeburg Centuriators corrupted. The Magdeburg Centuriators in Century 8, chapter 10, briefly report the Acts of St. Sebald from Hartmann Schedel; but they have defiled them after their manner with impious gibes and reproaches. I would here treat those sacrilegious despisers of the Saints and of sacred things as they deserve, had not our James Gretser, in book 2 of his Observations, chapter 9, on the Work On the Tutelary Saints of the Church of Eichstätt, abundantly done so a hundred and more years ago, and expressly vindicated St. Sebald from their mockeries. Moreover those shameless botchers of Centuries craftily dissembled and passed over in silence the ancient piety of the citizens of Nuremberg toward this holy Patron of theirs, which from time immemorial constantly persevered until their city was infected with the Lutheran heresy, as our Matthew Rader in volume 2 of Bavaria Sancta, page 61, sets forth in these words: St. Sebald was always held in the highest veneration and cult among the people of Nuremberg, until Luther, the enemy of heaven and of all the Saints, invaded the city of Nuremberg and a great part of Germany. The citizens had built, shortly before that plague seized the most noble city (in the margin he assigns the year of Christ 1519), a renowned mausoleum for St. Sebald, which, as is clear from the accounts of a Nuremberg manuscript codex, made of brass with singular workmanship, is valued at seventy-eight thousand six hundred and forty-five gold pieces. Of that precious sepulchre of the Saint, which was afterwards destroyed, we shall treat more fully below.
[13] Meanwhile let us hear Conrad Celtes Protucius, the first poet laureate of Germany, who flourished before the contagious sect of Luther, A German poet in honor of St. Sebald and described the deeds and miracles of St. Sebald in a not inelegant Sapphic poem. Even though Christian Erdtmann in his Nuremberg, and other Catholic writers of Germany, have published this metrical eulogy in print, nevertheless, for the greater glory of that same Saint, I shall not think it a burden faithfully to transcribe it in this place and again put it to press, so that this testimony of the ancestral religion need not be sought elsewhere by the curious reader; and it runs thus:
Offspring of royal stock, Sebald, Much venerated in the Norican city, Grant us to record your holy Life in song.
Your parents begot you by sacred vows, When they had long lain in a barren bed; And, having received you, they resolved To lead a chaste life.
Born therefore, a Boy, of these holy vows, You hasten to the famous city of Gaul, Adorning your mind with sacred arts And with cultivated manners.
When you had drunk in the holy laws with your mind, Returning to your father's court a Doctor, They soon seek to join to you a comely Royal bride.
[14] When the day had been spent in joyful Nuptials, a maiden of modest countenance composed a Sapphic poem, Is led, radiant, to be joined to you Upon the lofty bed.
And when now the chamber had been shut, And a deep quiet lay upon all things, You speak to your chaste bride These words:
"Born of a great king, my bride; I will not violate your chaste body, If it pleases you to join with me the pious vows Of a chaste life."
The maiden assented with tender modesty, And gave great thanks to God with her lips, Preserving, noble woman, an unbroken chaste Life in her body.
He himself soon, leaving his father's lofty court, Admonished by the Holy Spirit, Enters the rough woods and the wilderness \* With its vast glades.
And along the hollow rocks of the eaten-away cliff, Stretched out, you prayed with upturned hands, Enduring the burning sun, the North wind, the snows, And the rains.
And resting in the midst among wild beasts, Often satisfied with mountain herbs, You drank the pure water flowing From clear springs.
[15] When with these feasts you nourished the body, Refined into the pure air of the mind, Often with shining breast you beheld in which he briefly narrates Divine countenances.
Thus, three lustres being silently accomplished, Thence you hasten to the Roman city, Where the Pastor bade you scatter the word Of God throughout the world.
You yourself receive the fatherly command, And, wandering, you traverse divers lands, Until, a stranger, you came joyfully To the boundless Danube.
Here, when the swollen river lacked boats, Your cloak, kindly Father, with which then Your chaste body had been covered, Furnished a safe ship.
And soon, through the vast recesses of the wood, Coming joyfully to the Norican city, You teach it by sacred admonition to leave Its profane worships.
And you preach that God dwells in the lofty Heaven, and will give punishments to vices, And will bestow on virtue the rewards Of the blessed life.
He, born of a chaste Mother, Had endured a bloody death of the body, And, buried, returned victor from those shores At the third dawn.
16] You approve your words with many signs, [his deeds and miracles,Which I have found written in a faithful book; Nor do you today shine with any less Renowned signs, O illustrious one.
And when now you had been wearied with long Labor, and had deserved the blessed seats, God commanded you, an old man, To leave our lands.
When your spirit left your holy limbs, Soon wild oxen bore your body To where we now sound forth your holy Praises in song.
Therefore, now deservedly placed in heaven, May you be willing to help this city \*, Founded amid the sands, Praying diligently with holy prayers.
May the earth be moist with fruitful rain, And have wholesome warmth, Bearing the eared crown of Ceres With much increase.
And may ruddy Bacchus foam with full Clusters, and relax gloomy brows, And may the numerous flock crop Joyful pastures in the meadows.
May the radiant stars keep their prosperous Courses, nor threaten sudden diseases, And may peace remain through our lands For a lasting time.
May the fates favor German triumphs, While the Turk \* assails with bloody swords The youthful strength of our prince Maximilian.
Hence, when God shall summon forth our souls, The bonds of our bodies being loosed, Grant that with you we may take the joys Of high heaven.
When you shall have obtained these things for us, Father, Before the face of the supreme Thunderer, Here may we ever heap your altars With kindly incense.
[17] which are mocked by the impious Magdeburg Centuriators, From that poem I gather that this poet laureate probably had before him the longer Acts of St. Sebald, such as we shall publish after this Preliminary Commentary from our manuscript copy. Moreover from this metrical summary of the Life it is plain that before Luther's pernicious dogma there was among the people of Nuremberg and other Germans a public report of frequent miracles of St. Sebald, so that even the heretical Centuriators are compelled to confess them, however much they have added to this confession of theirs a malicious and futile insult, when in chapter 10 of the eighth Century they write thus insolently of our Saint: He went therefore to the Lombards, and afterwards to Ratisbon, and lastly lived near Nuremberg in solitude; he was renowned for learning and miracles, by which in the wilderness he perhaps profited the trees and the wild beasts: for as a solitary he rarely came to men. Thus indeed those impudent scribblers mock a distinguished benefactor of their own country as a useless man, although that holy Man imbued their ancestors with the Catholic faith and confirmed his saving doctrine with miracles, as even against their will they do not dare to deny.
[18] But, to omit other things, our Gretser long ago in chapter 9 of the above-mentioned Work solidly answered these turbulent haters of the monastic or solitary life in this manner: whose boldness is beaten back. But others ran to the solitaries, and indeed in troops, to whom by the example of his holy and hard life, and by miracles and saving exhortations, he profited very greatly. Examples of such running to the dwellers in the wilderness, if you seek them, the Philotheus or Religious History of Theodoret will supply you; as also other monuments which are inserted in the book which we call the Lives of the Fathers. But those anchorites who wholly removed themselves from the company of mortals are by no means to be reckoned as useless burdens of the earth, since by their prayers continually poured out to God they bring the very greatest advantages to the human race, as St. Augustine himself acknowledged and openly proclaimed in his book On the Manners of the Catholic Church. Would that heterodox despisers of monks would weigh these things with attentive mind, and imitate the Catholic piety of their forefathers! Now let us examine severely some of St. Sebald's deeds, that those deserters of the ancestral religion may understand that we do not blindly admit all the Acts of the Saints which are commonly circulated, although we invoke these friends of God on account of the authority of the Church and their evident miracles, and venerate their sacred relics after the ancient manner.
Annotations\ elsewhere and the Hercynian forest*
\* That is, Nuremberg
\ Elsewhere he assails the Turks*
§ III. An examination of the Acts, the Saint's precious tomb now destroyed, the present state of his relics, and a wholesome admonition to the people of Nuremberg.
The Saint's age, The older biographer asserts at the beginning of the Acts that our Saint was born in the time of the glorious Pippin and of Charles his son, kings of the Franks, of the most Christian kings of Dacia or Denmark. In this brief assertion there occur some things which seem improbable, and which we shall afterwards examine. Meanwhile in this place we shall discuss the chronology alone, in which that writer is inconsistent with himself: for he then affirms at numbers 7 and 8 that the excellent prelate Gregory the Second, supported by the Papal dignity, sent our Saint to preach the Gospel truth, and that he on his journey then found the holy brothers Willibald and Wunibald. But Pippin only began to reign in Gaul in the year of Christ 752, when Pope Gregory II had already departed this life twenty years before. If therefore St. Sebald was first born in the time of the glorious Pippin and of Charles his son, kings of the Franks, how could he have been sent by Pope Gregory II to preach the Gospel?
[20] If it were worth while, we could tighten this knot still more from the ancient Acts of St. Willibald, about which the authors are in doubt, which have been illustrated in our Work at the VII day of July. But from what has been said it is abundantly clear that either the birth of St. Sebald must be put many years earlier, or his Gospel preaching must be deferred longer. Perhaps Conrad Celtes Protucius saw this chronological difficulty, and therefore in his Description of the City of Nuremberg, chapter
8, treating of the chief churches of that city, deferred St. Sebald's stay in Germany until after the times of Charlemagne, who was Pippin's son, in these words: The first and more honored (namely church of Nuremberg) is dedicated to Peter the Apostle, and famous for the body and burial of St. Sebald. He, when a little after the times of Charlemagne, as the Britons, Gauls, and Irish had brought the Christian religion into Germany, flowing in with others, first invited the inhabitants of that hill and wood to the Christian religion by the sanctity of his life and manners, the old gods being cast out, whom the simplicity of men of former times supposed to be the presidents and guardians of their fields and places.
[21] and they disagree among themselves, Not a little at variance with this opinion of Conrad Celtes is Peter Cratepolius the Franciscan, when in his little Work On the Saints of Germany, in our copy page 133, he writes thus: Sebald, a most holy confessor, in the year of the Lord 717 flourished in upper Germany in learning and holiness of life. Others relate that the same Saint flourished under Charles Martel and Pippin, this prince's son, as our Rader in volume 2 of Bavaria Sancta, page 55, testifies in this manner: About the years it is not sufficiently established; they judge that he lived when Martel was prince of France and Pippin king, the father of Charlemagne. Even though we do not know which of these chronological systems is to be preferred, nevertheless, because most writers agree that St. Sebald preached the Gospel by order of Pope Gregory II, we noted at the beginning of the Preliminary Commentary the eighth century, both because on this hypothesis he most probably died in that century, and because certainly several of that Saint's deeds belong to that century.
[22] his native soil But whichever chronology may please the learned reader more, no one will easily persuade us that St. Sebald at that time drew his origin in Dacia or Denmark (among writers of the middle age Dacia is everywhere taken for Denmark) from most Christian parents: for in that century Denmark had not yet received the Christian faith. Moreover Dacia strictly so called, which lies about the Tisza and the Danube, those best-known rivers of Europe, at that time had no kings of its own, from whom nevertheless St. Sebald is said to have sprung. You see here everywhere thorns and rough places, which if anyone can remove, he will do us a great favor. Hence certain writers, entangled in these difficulties, thought that that Saint was sprung from Britain, Scotland, or Ireland, as again our Rader indicates in the place just cited, in these words: Some make Sebald a Dacian by nation, some a Dane, some either a Briton or an Irishman or a Scot; so much do most writers divine rather than narrate. Almost all with one consent report that he was of royal birth; nor meanwhile does anyone name his parents or his forebears, because the simplicity of the age attended less to these matters, or because the antiquity of times, which consumes all things, has effaced even the names. That he was not a Dane the reckoning of times shows, since Denmark came under the laws of Christ long afterwards. To these I add further that the same Saint, in the rhythm or Sequence of the proper Mass which we exhibited in §1 of this Commentary, is said to have been born among the Franks. We doubt which of those various regions is more probably to be assigned to St. Sebald's birth, if you except Denmark, which for the reason adduced above can with no probability be assigned as his native country.
[23] and the arena of his studies at Paris are examined, Our Acts at number 3 narrate that St. Sebald was sent in his youth to Paris, that he might there give his effort to letters. The aforesaid Rader of ours, in the place just cited, observes the following about this arena of studies: They say he was instructed in his first boyish years in the best disciplines of letters at Paris, which must have happened before the founding of the university: for it was only in the year 791 that the university of Paris was founded by Charlemagne, as James Middendorp shows from various writers. Then there he reports from Middendorp that letters had been taught by public doctors at Paris even before. César Egasse du Boulay, in the History of the University of Paris, proves this very thing by very many arguments, and in volume 1 of that Work, page 88, thus concludes from them: From what has been said, therefore, we understand that from the first centuries of Christ, but especially from the establishment of the monarchy of the Franks to about the year 600, there was a continuous exercise of letters at Paris — not indeed with that splendor which it had after Charlemagne, but certainly with some and that praiseworthy; and so that the Parisians were not so barbarous as the English proclaim: since, as their own Annals testify, they were wont to migrate to Paris, to the chief seat of the Frankish kingdom, that they might be imbued with the more pleasing disciplines, with civility of manners, with sound doctrine, and with the understanding of the divine Scriptures. Therefore this arena of studies in no way conflicts with the credit of the Acts, even though we can affirm nothing certain about it.
[24] Dorganius, Menard, and other Benedictine martyrologists everywhere reckon that holy Hermit in their Order, To his Benedictine profession, which some maintain, and among them Arnold Wion in the Tree of Life, part 2, book 4, chapter 24, page 504, writes thus: St. Sebald, son of the king of Denmark, his bride being left and the pomps of the world renounced, lived first in the wilderness for fifteen years, content with the roots of herbs. Then at Ratisbon, and lastly at Nuremberg in the monastery of St. Martin, choosing the monastic life as safer, he held to it to the end of his life, which took place on the XIV Kalends of September. He flourished about the year of the Lord 716. But Benedict Gonon, in the Lives of the Fathers of the West, book 4, page 224, after a summary Life of St. Sebald, on that account refutes Wion there in his Notes thus: He is convicted of erring when he says that he led the monastic life in the monastery of St. Martin, since from his Life faithfully described it is found that, seized by old age and infirmity, and divinely informed of his death, he came to the said monastery that his body might be committed to burial. Gonon in the same place alleges Schedel and Cratepolius, whom we have praised above, as witnesses of this matter.
[25] I confess indeed that similar things are reported by both those writers; our older Acts, but our older Acts make no mention of St. Sebald's coming alive to that Benedictine monastery. Nay rather they suggest that only the relics of that same Saint were translated from another church to that monastery, and rested there for a time, as is narrated at number 16 in these words: But it happened that over the dead holy body a little church was made in the manner of a hostel, which, when it had been consumed by lightning, the holy body was carried by men to the church of St. Giles (this was earlier called the church of St. Martin), of the Order of St. Benedict, until another solemn building should be made. Our Rader too observed this discrepancy of narrative, when in the volume of Bavaria Sancta cited above, page 57, he writes thus: When he had set forth the heavenly law to the dwellers in the wood and to the neighborhood, and had abolished the remnants of the idols, broken by years and old age and labors, he took refuge with the brethren of St. Martin at Nuremberg, and there closed his last day. Although there are other authors who relate that he died in the wood itself, and that his body, placed upon beasts of burden unaccustomed to the yoke, was carried to the place which he had appointed for his rest and there laid, and became famous by frequent miracles of benefits. But whether he died in the very wood of his dwelling, or came at the end of his life to the monastery of St. Martin, I set before the fair reader the following arguments: If St. Sebald had belonged to the Order of St. Benedict, and had died in the monastery of St. Martin, why would the Benedictine monks have permitted his sacred body to be buried in another place? Why do our longer Acts say not a word about St. Sebald's Benedictine profession and his stay in the monastery of St. Martin?
[26] and Mabillon seem to be opposed. Doubtless Mabillon weighed these and other difficulties, and therefore perhaps in his Work On the Saints of the Benedictine Order, century 3, part 2, placed St. Sebald in the preliminary Index among those Passed Over. Now indeed that most learned Benedictine writer inserted in the Preface of the first century, number 10, this admonition: But because it sometimes happens that the Lives of certain Saints, whether by the failure of writers or by the injury of the times, cannot be found; either we weave them together from the sayings of ancient authors gathered here and there, which we call HISTORICAL EULOGIES; or, more rarely indeed, we express them from more recent writers who have written about them. But if anywhere we could obtain nothing sound or ascertained, uncertain accounts being passed over, we give the reason of our silence after the first Index at the front of the Work. Then, before the Index of those Passed Over of the same century, he notes that he has deliberately passed over the Acts of certain holy monks who are usually set down in the Benedictine Calendar, either because they were not monks, he says, or at least are falsely attributed to our Order, and their deeds contribute little to the illustration of our affairs; or because their Lives are sprinkled with errors and fables, or because they have utterly perished. But no reason for this omission seems more probable than the prudent opinion of the most sincere Mabillon, who probably judged that St. Sebald did not belong to his Order: for at least he could have found some of this Saint's deeds in Schedel, Cratepolius, and his own colleague Gabriel Bucelinus, who on this day in the Benedictine Menology reckons St. Sebald in his Order and adorns him with a longer eulogy. Now let us pass to the posthumous glory of our Saint and to its present state.
[27] It is plain from the old sepulchre, which is here described, In how great honor St. Sebald formerly was among the people of Nuremberg is indicated by the magnificent tomb which the citizens, then still Catholic, built for him at great expense. Eobanus Hessus, although already then sprinkled with the soot of the Lutheran heresy, described in his Nuremberg that illustrious monument of piety and munificence in the following hexameter poem:
There stands in this church a notable monument of Sebald, Whom a great part call a Saint; he first, coming From a foreign world, is said to have taught those who dwelt In our places the faith of Christ; for the honor of whose Office and pious merits the pious care of our fathers Adorned him with these observances, attesting the salvation Prepared, by this first teacher, for itself and its own: And therefore, mindful of that service, they set up for him This notable sepulchre, than which none more excellent, Whether by hand, or by genius, or by masterly art, Has been striven for; the whole is of shining bronze, Chased by the craftsman's hand, a most beautiful mass Of works of varied nature; the whole form rises from below Broken by projecting epistyles, among The shapes of serpents, elaborate reliefs of flowers. At the summit it comes together, and draws in the gables Of the fair roof, itself also chased with varied figures. Not narrow, however, lest the topmost point make A sharp pyramid, although it resembles three Pyramidal cones; round about, capitals are set Upon the columns, and short spirals, and rounded moldings, And smooth abaci, on which stand either images of gods Or of men; you may see the fashioned figures of girls Sporting by art, and the countenances of the shapes Ever renewed, snakes creeping up, naked forms Of girls standing as far as the loins, until They pass, for more than half their length, into dragons' tails. Why should I recall the other statues of matrons and men, These naked, those fitted with arms and garments? Why so many forms of four-footed beasts, so many sculpted Bodies of lions, why the thousand figures of naked infants?
Nor could any Muse suffice for so great a labor, Nor match in words a work that shall be immortal; Which neither Praxiteles, nor Myron, nor Polycletus, Nor Cares, nor Scopas could find fault with: Although the noble fame of sculpting bronze Commends them, a better glory has come down To our years: for as that earlier age was more ignorant And rude, so it was fitting that we, as the years increase, Should increase too, and add better things to what was invented, And that the arts of the ancients should be happily surpassed.
[28] At least we owe thanks to this Lutheran poet, because he candidly confesses in how great honor St. Sebald formerly was among the people of Nuremberg, that the people of Nuremberg, mindful of that service, erected that notable sepulchre for their benefactor, and that this monument was the pious care of our fathers, attesting the salvation prepared, by this first teacher, for itself and its own. But from this pious care of their fathers the people of Nuremberg gradually fell away, when the heretical sect of Luther crept into their city, which by degrees took the place of the Roman Catholic religion; and concerning which sorrowful change the aforesaid Erdtmann on page 36 of his Nuremberg writes thus: The overthrow of the Catholic religion was caused by a certain impious Augustinian monk, Wolfgang Volprecht, a disciple of Luther, who, when he had secretly seduced the two provosts and parish priests of St. Sebald's and St. Lawrence's, and infected them with the Lutheran plague, was cited together with them by Wigand, bishop of Bamberg, as ordinary of the people of Nuremberg. These, being examined, were found incorrigible heretics. Wherefore, whatever they might vainly protest through their proctor Andreas Osiander, and appeal to the divine tribunal, they were condemned by the sentence of excommunication which follows, transcribed from the printed copy. After this he reports the Latin sentence of the bishop of Bamberg, and then subjoins to it a German instrument of the year 1524, by which those three obstinate heretics appealed from their lawful judge to the pure word of God, or to sacred Scripture alone.
[29] But, the heresy increasing daily, the people of Nuremberg not only fell away from the ancestral piety of their fathers, who afterwards, having embraced heresy, stripped it of its silver, but even, against the articles of the treaty of Passau, despoiled the Catholic churches of the gifts of gold and silver which their pious forefathers had offered to God and to the Saints. Further, the treaty of Passau, which was concluded at the beginning of the month of August in the year 1552 between Catholics and heterodox, may be read in the recently published Diplomatic Corpus of the Law of Nations, volume 4, part 3, page 42 and following; and on account of it the aforesaid Erdtmann in his Nuremberg, page 45, bids it be noted that that despoiling of the relics, and likewise the melting down of the silver and gold in which they were kept enclosed, was done after the Passau agreements: for the transaction of Passau was concluded on the day after the Kalends of August in the year 1552; but the alienation, dispersal, and sale of those relics was first made in the same year, partly in the month of October toward the end, partly in the month of November, as the very hand of the destroyer and seller N. N. attests. Hence in the same place he thus concludes: Therefore the church of the most blessed Virgin, otherwise the Royal Chapel, in the market of the lords, and the collegiate churches of St. Lawrence and St. Sebald, violently taken from the Catholics, can by right be reclaimed by his Imperial Majesty and other Catholic princes.
[30] although his body is thought still to be preserved in the same city, Erdtmann subjoins to these things the very account of the seller, who drew up in German exact reckonings of receipts and expenditures. Then that Catholic writer, after setting forth the sum of money which came from the sacrilegious despoiling of these three churches, discourses in the German tongue in about this manner: From so great a treasure of a threefold church it may easily be conjectured how much money the heterodox of Nuremberg drew from the various monasteries of both sexes and from other churches which they afterwards despoiled. Lastly he indicates there that he does not know what became of the body of St. Sebald. But Rader, in volume 2 of Bavaria Sancta, page 57, suggests that the relics of that same Saint still survived at Nuremberg in his own day, when he there writes thus: His sacred pledge, formerly most religiously honored at Nuremberg in the chief church of Peter and Paul, today, like all the ashes of the Saints (which you may set down to the impious sect of Luther), lies neglected, until a more favorable heaven look upon the German lands. Moreover our Papebroch in his manuscript Itinerary testifies that at Nuremberg in the year of Christ 1660, in which together with Henschen he set out through Germany into Italy, he saw the church of St. Sebald already occupied by the Lutherans, and that there was shown to him in it a bronze canopy of Gothic workmanship, rising in the shape of a roof, beneath which the body of that same Saint was said still to rest.
[31] with the exception of certain relics translated elsewhere beforehand, Even though on account of those testimonies of Rader and Papebroch we can pronounce nothing certain about the quality and present state of these relics, nevertheless from the Phosphorus of the Metropolitan Church of Prague we know that a rib and two other parts of St. Sebald the confessor were brought in the year 1361 from Nuremberg to Prague by the emperor Charles IV, as is noted there in the Diary of relics at the XIX day of August, or page 516 of that Work, which the most illustrious Thomas John Pessina de Czechorod published at Prague in the year 1673. Moreover from the Theatre of Human Life, which Laurentius Beyerlinck laboriously compiled, page 284 of the letter R, under the word reliquiae, we also learn that some remains of St. Sebald are preserved in the monastery of Andechs in Bavaria. But whether certain other remains of this Saint were translated before the rise of Luther's heresy and rest in neighboring churches of Catholics, we do not as yet know.
[32] Wherefore we conclude this Preliminary Commentary with the moving exhortation which the aforesaid Erdtmann, among the beneficent diplomas of the Roman Pontiffs and the bishops of Bamberg, addresses to the people of Nuremberg, in which Erdtmann exhorts them to resume the ancestral faith. where on page 72 of his little work he addresses them in these words: Here again, O Nuremberg, take a most brilliant token of how great favor the holy Roman Church, and the successors of St. Peter and the visible Vicars of Christ on earth, the supreme Pastors of the Lord's sheepfold, once bestowed upon you. Ah, what have you done, in forsaking so pious and sweet and so kindly a mother, and, at the instance and persuasion of a single wanton monk, Wolfgang Volprecht, corrupted with the leaven of the Lutheran heresy, in falling away so basely from the old religion both of your forefathers and of your ancestors? Was it not in that same Catholic faith, when you were nothing more than a bare fortress and a small village, and at last in the course of time a little town, with the most holy apostle of the Noricans, St. Sebald, as your patron, that you grew to so great greatness that scarcely your like is found in the whole Roman empire? Return, I beseech you, to the fold of Christ; acknowledge and embrace your sweetest mother the holy Roman Church, the cataract being removed by which you are blinded, unless you wish to go to ruin. These things, perhaps unpleasant to the people of Nuremberg to hear, but nevertheless wholesome, we shall transmit in their place on this occasion, and we shall also bring forward some diplomas of the bishops of Bamberg. Since those diplomas do not here belong to our purpose, we shall now first print the deeds and miracles of St. Sebald, and shall try to illustrate them with the customary annotations.
THE ACTS
By an anonymous author of uncertain date.
From a manuscript of the Charterhouse of Gaming in Austria, a copy of which our John Gamans sent to us in the year 1638.
Sebald, hermit, at Nuremberg in Germany (St.)
BHL Number: 7535
BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.
PROLOGUE.
The author, prefacing a few obscure words, If we are bidden by the Prophet's mouth to praise the Lord in his Saints, then certainly a greater occasion of praise grows for us in proportion as a more evident ground of anyone's sanctity is established for you: for a noble mind is more affected there where it recognizes what is honorable, that is, acceptable to God, however little known to itself, than toward what is hidden and altogether concealed. Because there at least it has something to which it may take refuge; but toward what lies hidden on every side it has no defense. But among the good pleasures of almighty God, who knows or has known the mind of the Lord? Or, that he might make known to us wherein we ought to praise him, who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to him, that recompense should be made him? And so from the high and eternal counsel of the Godhead it flows that God should grant us and all the faithful to make known his way and his will in his glorious confessor Sebald, and has set him forth as an impregnable tower to the true sons of Abraham. And he indeed is a most strong tower. Wherefore to it all nations ought to flee; because from this without doubt there is given honor, grace, and power and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.
CHAPTER I.
The Saint's wonderful birth, pious upbringing, his marriage dissolved, his eremitical life, his preaching of the Gospel in Lombardy with various miracles.
narrates the Saint's wonderful birth, In the time of the glorious Pippin a and of Charles his son, kings of the Franks b, the royal throne and the commonwealth in Dacia c were then governed by a most Christian king, who had a wife noble in manners and Christian in religion, but nevertheless barren; whereat the illustrious king was not a little saddened, desiring an heir for his paternal succession and royal dignity. Nay, the queen too was not without experience of a weight of sighs and of very many anxieties thereupon: who at last by mutual consent promised God, and by an indissoluble vow vowed, a life of unblemished chastity, if only the divine clemency would deign to grant them the offspring they desired, which also they promised to bring up in the precepts of the most high King and to his praise. And God, kindly inspiring \* their devotion and hearing their pious prayers, bestowed upon them the offspring they desired, an only son named Sebald; for which gift they rendered thanks to almighty God, and thenceforth alike kept the vow of chastity. The infant Sebald is born therefore, the ornament of his family, the glory of his parents, the joy of his kinsfolk, the honor of his household, the hope of the inheritance, the token of the longed-for offspring. At his birth all rejoice, all are glad, all things being wholesomely weighed: for out of a barren woman there is made a fruitful mother in a son, and an age as it were withering is repaired by youth; and while due age holds sway, youthful things are done by the mother.
[3] his pious youth, The boy Sebald is therefore sweetly nurtured, and in that tender age the tokens of virtues are planted. To God he shows fear alike and love, to his parents obedience and reverence toward them, clemency toward all; and so the lovable little child profits by the flight from vices. And as God is wonderful in his Saints, so he works wonderfully in his elect. No wonder. As the boy grew in age, so he took increase in the solidity of virtues. And when he had reached his fifteenth year, after the laudable custom of princes he is sent to Paris to adorn himself with sacred sciences: in which the youth began to profit as it were beyond human measure, so that he surpassed all his contemporaries and many of riper age: so that thereby he was held a spectacle and a marvel to all who dwelt there. At last the glorious youth Sebald so multiplied his virtues that he was held not a disciple but an approved master. Therefore, the desired virtues having been attained, he returns happily to his native land, no small joy arising thereupon for his illustrious parents; whom they behold in manners
grave, in speech shrewd, provident in things to be done, good in things done, cautious in avoiding vices, and thus in all things rich in prudence.
[4] his marriage, But when the pious king and his consort the queen, the father and mother of the glorious youth Sebald, had bound themselves by a vow of continence, they strove with all their might, honorably and laudably, to increase their noble line more numerously, not in themselves, but in their Son. Principalities and kingdoms therefore are searched through; by the father's command the regions of the world are visited, to see whether some noble maiden may be found who might be joined in marriage to the king's son. And so, after long inquiries, a magnificent embassy d brings to the father, the most Christian king of Dacia, the daughter of a certain Count in the kingdom of France, who had also descended from the most illustrious stock of the house of France, a maiden very beautiful and adorned with good manners, who pleased the king; and he honorably joined her in marriage to his son Sebald, the dowry being prescribed and the espousals laudably made beforehand.
[5] On the first night therefore of the nuptials, before midnight, the beautiful maiden felt him to be not a husband and man, but the most chaste guardian of her virginity. and its dissolution, After midnight the chaste Bridegroom addresses his bride honorably, after the manner of a shrewd teacher, saying: "Noble maiden, you have been joined to me in marriage; it is not fitting that you be ignorant of the laws and rights of Gospel marriage. A good thing in marriage is the fruitfulness of bodies, because thence offspring is born: but by far — nay, by an inexplicable excess — better in Gospel marriage is the fruitfulness of minds, without pollution of bodies or any manner of contact of members. For in Gospel marriage counsel is given to virgins, virginity is proved, virginity is perfected, and it gathers the wages of merits. Wherefore, my most beloved bride, we ought to strive and to fight for God, and with the highest zeal to keep in our virginity the Apostolic saying: The virgin thinks on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and in spirit in Christ Jesus."
[6] This teaching being given to the virgin bride for a farewell e, his bride being left. he enjoined silence upon her, and, after the manner of blessed Alexius, withdrew from the virgin. And so in the night time he renounced whatever of riches, whatever of delights and honors of this world he had, and chose the strait eremitical life. For he chose a dense wood, remote from men, for the exercise of his dwelling, in which he persisted alike in long and devout prayers by day and by night; he performed divine and daily fasts, and passed many nights sleepless. Meanwhile, while by reason of that strait life he bore his body as it were a corpse for its heaviness, nevertheless the malignant spirit in no way ceased to renew the livid sparks of the flesh; so that in the thorny wood he had to fight not a little less than a worldly recruit would have done amid the joys of the world. But a greater victory grows where a more excellent adversary is overcome in the fight: for as often as the goads of the flesh (whether he triumphed rarely or often over the perverse enemy) strove to fight against the law of his mind, so often did he search out inwardly chosen briars, and, rolling bitterly upon them, extinguished by the wounds of his body whatever of delight of the flesh, coming from whatever source, had arisen.
[7] But then his reward was heaped up as often as, from his good work, more men gained the amendment of their life. After a life passed for some years in the wilderness Accordingly, when for three lustres f he had fought as a monk for the highest King in the wilderness, the hermit Sebald burned to converse among the people, that he might sow the seed of doctrine g in the Lord's field, and that from the effect of his work there might follow the fittingness of his praiseworthy name h — vain glory being nevertheless driven off, because thus the Gospel spirit was working in him, by whose lasting gift he had been enlightened. Now leaving the pious timber of the woods and embracing the thresholds of the Saints, out of deep devotion he visited the sarcophagi of the Apostles at Rome, where at that time the excellent Prelate Gregory the Second i was supported by the Papal dignity. To whom, when the good report and praiseworthy life of so great a man had borne witness to the virtue he had heard of, he enjoined the office of preaching the Gospel truth, and of comforting the weak, and of strengthening the good; and he established in him boldness to rebuke the wicked by teaching. The confessor Sebald embraces the charge laid upon him, and, as was fitting, as he ought and as he was able, hastened to carry it out.
[8] The Saint by order of the Roman Pontiff But when, being sent to evangelize the poor, he went on his way, he found as companions of his journey pilgrims of holy life and approved for the uprightness of their manners, Willibald and Wunibald k, with whom, over rough hills and hard stones, by a straight path and with cheerful mind, he spends the rolling time to the praise of God. But nothing is spent unduly where recourse is had to the action of nature. Therefore, when they were wearied from the journey, exhausted by a stormy wind, and were creeping along faint with hunger, they expressed to holy Sebald their desire to eat. And when the holy Confessor had made them cheerful with a word of teaching, he withdrew from them a little while, and, prayer being made, an angelic spirit sent from the supercelestial hierarchy brought bread baked under the ashes. Taking which, he rendered thanks to God, and so returned joyful to his companions, and duly distributed to them the bread which he had received. Having drunk at a brook nearby, they thereupon proclaim that he is an Elijah, and praise the Savior, because they had happily found one to whom they might render the honor of sanctity.
[9] preaches the word of God in Lombardy, The man of God therefore hastened, as a professor, to bestow spiritual nourishment upon the Lombards l, whose speech m he had learned in his father's house, after the laudable custom of princes. And when he had found a small woodland spot near the city of Vicenza n, being certainly touched by God, he put off going further. And when his glorious fame had resounded through the neighboring places, it flew also to distant cities, so much so that the people of Milan and of Pavia o, and men and women of the other cities, flocked to the Man of God himself for the sake of hearing him; whom he received with kindly love, and diligently instructed in the Catholic faith. But then on one occasion, when after his preaching they were holding a feast [p] of charity with him, he ordered his disciple, named Dionysius, to serve them the drink of Bacchus. But since he had none — because on the preceding night, when he was suffering from thirst, he had drunk it up, and had left nothing from which to serve to others — he did not obey the command of holy Sebald, not so much from shame as from the impossibility. But when he had been admonished twice or more, by the insistence [q] of the holy Father and out of obedience to the command he went to the vessel, and found wholly full what he had left wholly empty. Approaching it incautiously, he spilled the wine, leaping out with a rush, all over his lap. Whence those invited were soberly refreshed, and the miracle which, God working, had been wrought through St. Sebald, was plainly manifest to them. Thereupon they approve his teaching, and confess him a hero, and so received his blessing, and each returned to his own home with great joy.
[10] and confirms it by miracles. On another occasion also, when he was preaching the word of God to many men, and with devout mind was building up the truth of the Christian faith, from the midst of the hearers there rose up a certain heretic, who with obstinate mind asserted that all that St. Sebald had preached was false, and so in public uttered wicked and criminal words. Seeing which, Sebald besought God that he would make plain to men by an evident sign that the Catholic faith alone is that ladder upon which the Lord leaned. Straightway, in the sight of all who were present, the earth swallowed him up to the neck; but when the gulf was sinking him further to the mouth, he called upon St. Sebald with a loud voice to intercede for him, and promised that he would renounce all heretical falsehood and cleave with sincere mind to the Christian faith alone. And so it came to pass at St. Sebald's prayer that he who before was sinking in body to the depths was now, being renowned in faith, raised on high. At the astonishment of this miracle many of the unbelievers were then converted to the faith.
ANNOTATIONS.
o. Milan
and Pavia, the latter of which is also called in Latin Ticinum, are very well known cities in Lombardy, so that it is not needful to supply further notice about them here. So likewise hereafter I shall note nothing about the renowned cities of Germany, such as Ratisbon and Nuremberg.
p. Encenium or excenium is more often taken for a gift or present. But in this place it seems to signify a banquet.
q. Per improbitatem, that is, by importunity or by the perseverance of the one commanding, in that sense in which St. Luke writes in his Gospel, chapter XI, verse 8, of the man who importunely at midnight asks his friend to lend him three loaves: If he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his IMPORTUNITY he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
\ perhaps beholding*
CHAPTER II.
His preaching and miracles in Germany, his death, and the place of his burial marvellously assigned.
The Saint comes in a wondrous manner to Ratisbon, Leaving therefore the regions of Italy, he journeys as a pilgrim into Bavaria, where the city of Ratisbon holds the primacy, beside whose side there runs a huge and unfordable river, where then the unstable element obediently offered itself to holy Sebald, and, laying aside its slipperiness and fierceness, put its neck under his command: for since that water lacked a bridge, and he could not come to the aforesaid city save by means of some boat — either perhaps because he was poor in temporal goods and had no fare to pay; or in order that those men might put their necks under the yoke of his teaching, seeing him humble in a stupendous miracle — he therefore took off the sheepskin cloak a with which the hair shirt he continually wore was covered, and placed it upon the water, and stood upon it; and presently it so came about that no weight seemed to be in his body; but, as though supported by the dowry of subtlety, after the manner of a skilled sailor b he happily reached the harbor; and the water, made as it were of stony nature, thus afforded firm steps and a way to him who trod upon it. Seeing which, a certain inhabitant of the city brought him to his lodging. But when he wished to treat him hospitably, and had no clear vessel in which drink might be seen, he borrowed a costly c glass from a neighbor, which, when he was offering it filled with wine to St. Sebald, holding it incautiously he let fall to the ground, and it was broken. But that mourning might be turned into joy, St. Sebald gathered the pieces, and so joined together the broken fragments that, without a mark of injury, he restored the borrowed vessel whole after the needful use.
[12] When therefore a short time had been fulfilled which he had devoutly spent in that city, he was zealous to adorn with his presence the town of Nuremberg, and then to Nuremberg, to which a great wood lies adjacent, and lest that people, who with blind minds were fulfilling their perfidy in the good pleasures of the infernal spirits, should so miserably perish, he led them by the hand to the light of the true faith, and prescribed to them by word and deed the rule of fighting for the highest King. For he kindly fulfilled the busy d active life in the town; but he exercised the quiet and contemplative life in the wood; in which it happened that a certain man lost his oxen, because he had driven them out for pasture; and when he had gone about seeking here and there all day long with sorrowful heart, with long sighs and great wailing, at the hour of twilight he met St. Sebald; being sweetly called by him, he said: "Seek more diligently, and you shall find what you have lost." To whom the countryman e: "Night will straightway overtake me, and, having lost the light, I do not know where I ought to go." And so he uttered words of anxiety with weeping. Sebald therefore, moved with brotherly compassion for the countryman's loss, gave himself to prayer. And how sincerely he poured forth prayers to God for him, let each weigh from the work and the deed, from the astounding greatness of the thing: for, the prayer being ended — during which meanwhile the rapt f furrow-man g reckoned the time short — St. Sebald said with a nod h: "Raise your joined hands." When this was done, the fingers of his hands radiated a bright light without burning, so that it seemed not the darkness of night but midday light. To whom St. Sebald said: "Praise God the Savior, and see quickly that what you lost in sorrow you shall bring back in joy." And he went briskly, and quickly brought back the lost oxen when he had found them.
[13] But while he was liberally bestowing on the people of Nuremberg the benefit of saving doctrine, where, teaching the people, it happened that one of them, a poor mechanic and maker of machines, received him into his lodging. Now it was winter, and the signs of charity did not shine much in the host. Then St. Sebald told the hostess to bring wood and make a fire, that he might restore his frozen body at the fire. She, because of the stinginess of her husband who forbade her, did not do what St. Sebald bade her, though bidden several times. At last with tranquil mind, but with vehement words, he said: "If you will not or cannot bring wood, bring ice from the street." And she, to clear herself of inhumanity, indeed brought ice and icicles in abundance: which being put together, St. Sebald gave himself to prayer; and when it was ended, out of the ice there was made an abundant fire, as though a pile of dry wood had been kindled. At the sight of this astounding business, the cold host became liberal toward him.
[14] But miracle follows upon miracle, that it may be shrewdly weighed and confirming his teaching by miracles, with what dire punishment mercilessness is smitten, and how sweetly heartfelt charity is rewarded. For the host ran to the market, and there of his own accord bought fish that had been laid under a curse on pain of the loss of his eyes; and being caught, he lost his eyes. To whom St. Sebald said: "It is just that every fault should pay its own penalty: for you forbade your wife to furnish me with wood, whence I might have had fire and light; therefore you are now shut out from the light of the body. But since out of piety you have fallen into this bodily evil, you shall receive the benefit of healing"; and gathering his eyes from the ground, about to restore the desired light of his eyes, he, prayer being first made, [i] set them in their proper places. But St. Sebald did more than nature, so that he who was grieving at the loss of his eyes now glorified God and St. Sebald for the restoration of his sight. At the working of this miracle the life and fame of St. Sebald then became renowned among all the people of Nuremberg; for they considered, and justly, that such a man, who by works performed gave light to a man in body, would by his holy teaching give them light in mind.
[15] he piously dies, and being marvellously buried, In the course therefore of his good works it came about that on the XIV Kalends of September he paid the deadly debt of the human condition, which he himself also had beforehand foretold with certainty to many devout men; and he indicated by a manifest miracle the part of the ground where his dead body should receive the rest of burial. For when he had closed his last hour, his bier was drawn on a cart by untamed beasts of burden to where he now rests. And when the beasts were assailed with many goads to go further, by kicking back they showed that this alone was the place where he had chosen his renowned sarcophagus. But when his obsequies were being devoutly celebrated, with fragrant incense and with candles k, it happened by chance that one of the candles, not firmly set, fell from its base; seeing which, a devout woman, who was now leading the life of penitents, since she wore an iron ring on her arm in mourning l, with prayers and humble mind lifted it up and firmly set it in its due order. Then the iron ring, being broken, leapt with a crash from her arm into the midst. Now let the devout mind consider how great a merit he shares who religiously stands by the bodies of the dead.
[16] and famous for miracles, he is honored. But it happened that over the dead holy body a little church was made in the manner of a hostel m, which, when it had been consumed by lightning, the holy body was carried by men to the church of St. Giles of the Order of St. Benedict, until another solemn building should be made n. Where one of the men touched the beard of the dead body at the head of the bier, and with shameless words and insolent mind broke out into wicked blasphemy, saying: "You inveterate one of evil days, you have seduced very many." Straightway the holy body, to show itself free of the reproach, raised its right hand and, striking violently, tore out one eye of the reproacher. Who, at once conscious of his fault, having obtained mercy through the chastisement of many days and devout prayers, received back from him the eye that had been struck out. Perhaps for this reason that dead body would not have its place of rest in that church; but it was carried by angelic spirits to the place of its burial which it had chosen. Nay, when it had several times been reverently brought thither, it was always at once found in its own place, where then a solemn basilica was begun, and has now been honorably completed and dedicated in his honor. On account of the hearing of these miracles and of trustworthy persons, Cephas [o] and supreme Monarch of the Church militant ordained that he be reverenced with devout mind, and commanded the cult of superdulia [p] to be shown him, as befits a Saint. And so by the people of Nuremberg he is honored as patron, and by them his day is celebrated as their highest festival.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. The biographer wrongly compounded this word from a Latin preposition and a Greek noun, since that cult is everywhere wont to be called among the Latins too by the entire Greek name hyperdulia. Moreover that writer, in using the word superdulia, does not sufficiently accurately distinguish between the veneration which Catholics show to the Mother of God and to the Saints: for with the cult of latria they venerate God, with that of hyperdulia the most blessed Virgin, and with that of dulia the Saints. But this last cult alone belongs to St. Sebald.
\* That is, he borrowed.
CHAPTER III.
Miracles which happened after his death.
When St. Sebald, already dead, punished the blasphemy of a woman, But in modern times it happened that a certain woman, a newcomer, on the day of his solemnity, was busy with spindle and distaff a. Then she was forbidden by her household: and she, garrulously excusing herself, accused the Saint, saying: "Five miles off no one knows who St. Sebald is; wherefore I will finish the work I have begun." For she had been a dweller at such a distance. Then God with the hand of justice showed the sanctity of St. Sebald in her: for at that same hour it came about that with no small pain she lost her sight. And so God brought it about that she who ought spiritually to have rejoiced in honor of St. Sebald was bodily saddened over a mechanical work on his day. She was admonished thenceforth to strive to venerate his feast with a solemn vow first made and with a special offering; and that then St. Sebald would show his clemency, so that the unbelieving blind woman should become a seeing believer. Which also was done: for, cleansed by a saving penance and a vow of love being made, at the intercession of St. Sebald she received her lost sight more clearly.
[18] and the avarice of a certain man, But let us serve with a single mind: for as, while he was a wayfarer, he always reproved a double heart devising evil, so now, being a comprehensor, he betrays it: for a certain countrywoman, perhaps by vow, at least out of devotion, was zealous to bestow as an offering in honor of St. Sebald one cheese of notable size. But being hindered by sickness, since she could not fulfil her honorable desire in her own person, she chose to do it through another person. For she gave her cheese to a certain countryman, her neighbor, that he might offer it for her at the sepulchre of St. Sebald: who, having received the cheese, and considering its size with greedy love, substituted for it by an evil exchange b a smaller and different one. And so the countryman went to Nuremberg, and offered the crooked offering of the good woman his neighbor above the tomb of St. Sebald, and in a crooked manner too. Then straightway iniquity lied to itself; because that cheese, while the onlookers still watched, was turned into a stone. And thus the duplicity of the heart in the man was made plain by St. Sebald through the changing of the cheese into a stone.
[19] pious pilgrims But he kindly lends his ear to the devout prayers of those who groan and are set in tribulation, and is constantly at hand to bring help to the needy. For not long ago it happened that pilgrims who were journeying to Rome came to Nuremberg; who, having heard of his life and fame, and how he shone with astounding miracles, by mutual consent and deliberate mind promised St. Sebald that, if he would be their good guide and pious protector on the journey, on their return they would come back to him barefoot for one day's journey. And so they departed from Nuremberg. And they suffered no misfortune on the way, except that near Rome robbers attacked them, desiring to take away their goods. Whereupon then the pilgrims began to invoke St. Sebald, and, manfully resisting with their pilgrims' staves, they prevailed over the robbers, and so compelled the robbers, bound, to go with them, until they were brought to that place from which they went on further with them to Rome.
[20] twice snatched from the hands of robbers, The good Pilgrims return briskly and prosperously as far as this place, where they were to fulfil their vow; which when they had devoutly begun, and had come barefoot to a small wood, two mounted robbers, one with a crossbow d, the other with a two-edged sword, attacked them. And they, defending themselves in the former manner, were so hostile to the robbers that the crossbow fell from the one, and the twice-sharpened sword from the hand of the other. Which being lifted from the ground, they carried them as an offering to St. Sebald, and related the order of events to the parish priest, who had also invited them, several trustworthy persons being present; and so, venerating holy Sebald, they returned to their own homes.
[21] succored those in peril at sea, But not only did those set in earthly perils feel his help; but also those suffering shipwreck on the waters: for it happened that a certain pilgrim devoted to holy Sebald sought parts beyond the sea, and boarded a ship on the great deep. And when he had already passed with prosperous course the greatest part of the sea, suddenly, thick winds rising on every side, a dreadful tempest stirred up the sky and the waves. The lookouts e therefore being wearied and desiring to turn back, the mast being broken, the sail torn, the ropes snapped, hope of safety is lost. For nothing but a token of drowning was miserably awaited. In so great peril the devout pilgrim, as far as he could, with exceeding anxiety invoked holy Sebald, and urgently exhorted the rest to implore his help; and when all committed themselves to holy Sebald, asking help and promising that every year a special reverence should be shown him, straightway St. Sebald appeared to them in the form of a pilgrim, and with his staff struck the wind on this side and on that, and so the sea was made calm, and he at once disappeared. Soon the pilgrim also returned to his own parts, and to those whom he could he related what St. Sebald had done at sea.
[22] The mind is stirred, and we have recourse to him the more eagerly in proportion as we know that we suffer the less repulse from him. a servant from the peril of death, For from deeds of the past we are armed with hope for the future. For thus it came about that a certain grown servant, a maker of furs, was sewing skins and held a needle in his mouth. When he was rolling the skins over his knee, that he might go further with his work, it happened by chance that the needle, by the force of suction, was plunged into his throat, and threatened him with a dreadful death by swallowing. To whom it was at once counselled that he should run to the tomb of St. Sebald and there devoutly ask help; who wisely clung well to the counsel and swiftly hastened to the sepulchre of St. Sebald, and there, prostrate, devoutly, though with great pain, sent tears and prayers to St. Sebald, that he would deign to snatch him from pain and imminent death, promising him a special service every year. His prayer being ended, as soon as he returned home, by vomiting violently the iron came out of his throat, and he was at once made whole. And he, not ungrateful, returned to St. Sebald and publicly promised to keep more firmly what he had before wished to do. Of this matter there are also many witnesses still living g together with him who received the cure from holy Sebald.
[23] But in divine benefits no sex of men is set apart. and freed a maiden from a long paralysis, Therefore, as St. Sebald showed a generous power in delivering the male sex from perils, so also in the female sex he shone with a marvellous power of healing: for a certain maiden spent six years paralytic in a hospital; to whom God gave the inspiration, when she had heard of the noble miracles of St. Sebald, that she should visit his sepulchre in person. But since she had not the use of her limbs for walking, the paralytic woman, being set down from her pallet by the help of healthy men, humbly crawled along the ground until she came to the place of the holy body: where then, with tears poured forth and devout prayers, she obtained abundant health. And she, rising after giving thanks, glorified God and St. Sebald before all the people, disclosing what had happened in her, who before had been a paralytic.
[24] But the virtuous think liberality little unless it passes into magnificence. a certain matron's nephew near to death, Therefore this too was done: for a certain honorable matron, having an only beloved orphan nephew who was sick, and so laboring under infirmity that it could not be known whether he were alive or dead — she, having long devoutly served holy Sebald, implored his help for her nephew, promising to offer at his sepulchre, together with her nephew, so great a quantity of wax by weight. But a devout and honorable request suffers no repulse from him. Therefore he heard the devout prayers with the vow of the good matron, and suddenly established her nephew in firm health. And she paid her vow to St. Sebald, and made known to all for whom it had been made.
[25] and healed another woman's paralytic daughter, At the hearing of this miracle another matron also had a beloved daughter sick, who had already begun to become paralytic. She too gave herself to prayer for her daughter, and devoutly with a stream of tears implored the help of holy Sebald, promising to offer him a special gift. Whom holy Sebald kindly heard, and soon cured her daughter of her infirmity; and she at once paid her vow, and with a loud voice published the deed then present.
EPILOGUE.
the biographer exhorts all to the veneration of this Saint. Where then does the wayfarer now grow sluggish, weighed down with the burden of his sins? Why, desiring to be unburdened of his load, does he not implore the help of St. Sebald? For if you are blind, why do you not ask of St. Sebald to be enlightened? If cold, why not to be warmed? If dry, why not to be watered? If sick, why not to be healed? If guilty, why not to be protected? If innocent, why do you not desire to be saved by St. Sebald? He prescribed for you a rule of living in his life, which if you cannot imitate, know that he is at hand to stretch out a helping hand to one who desires it; and if you despise his help, or with wandering mind utter a light word about him with your tongue, without doubt you will feel the scourge of vengeance: for so it came to pass. When certain devout men had woven a long discourse about the life and miracles of St. Sebald, a certain priest smiled in mockery; who was struck with a great infirmity, and bore the weight of the sickness so long until he recognized the gravity of his offense, and obtained pardon from holy Sebald. Therefore with a special proclamation
and with special devotion venerate him, and then in your affairs you shall always feel a glorious outcome. We venerate you therefore, holy Patron, and with prostrate mind we pray that you would deign to obtain for us the dew of heavenly grace, that with clean minds we may pass in this world a life pleasing to God, and that after this exile we may stand without blushing before the Son of God and of the Virgin, and may enter with you into the blessed life with glory and honor; which may the Holy of Holies deign to grant us; to whom be praise and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
\ That is, an* whether