ON ST. EBBO AND BL. GERICUS, GUERICUS, OR GOËRICUS, BISHOPS AND CONFESSORS,
AT SENS IN GAUL,
About the year DCCXLIII or DCCL; and about DCCX.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Ebbo, bishop and confessor, at Sens in Gaul (St.)
Gericus, Guericus, or Goëricus, at Sens in Gaul (Bl.)
BY J. S.
§ I. The cult of both proved: the beginning and end of Bl. Gericus's episcopate.
Although the memory of St. Ebbo, from monk and abbot archbishop of Sens, is not found in the ancient Martyrologies, nor even in the Roman one of today, yet his cult is certain and beyond doubt. The cult of St. Ebbo, For in the Breviary of Sens, which we have printed in the year 1625, there is extant concerning him at the XXVII of August an Office of nine lessons, which are drawn from his Life. He is announced on the same day in Saussay's Gallican Martyrology, in the new Paris one, and in Castellain's Universal Martyrology. Menard in the Benedictine Martyrology records the same Saint at the XXVI of August, as also our manuscript Florarium, and Mabillon notes the same day for his cult. But we have in various places referred St. Ebbo to the XXVII, on which he is chiefly venerated in the church of Sens, as has already been proved. A translation of the same Saint Saussay records at the XV of February in these words: At Sens, the translation of St. Ebbo, bishop of that metropolis and confessor, whose deposition is venerated on the day XXVII of August. The same in his Supplement at the XX of March wrote this: At Sens, the commemoration of the holy bishops Gerricus and Ebbo; which words give occasion for further inquiry concerning Gericus.
[2] and that of Bl. Gericus proved Our elders in the Passed Over at the XX of March, on the occasion of this announcement, reviewed other martyrologists who have made mention of Bl. Gericus together with St. Ebbo, namely Greven in the supplement to Usuard, Canisius in the German Martyrology, Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints; and — whom they deservedly name first, as older than the rest — the author of our manuscript Florarium. The words of the latter I subjoin: At Sens, of the holy bishops and confessors Ebbo and Guericus. The same at the XXIX of March has this of Gericus alone: Likewise of St. Guericus, bishop of Sens and confessor. This author lived in the fifteenth century, and finished the Florarium in the year 1486, as he himself indicates in the conclusion. From which it seems to follow that Gericus was venerated more than a hundred years before the bull of Urban VIII, and therefore can be inserted into this our Work with the title at least of blessed. And so, since our elders promised that he should be treated on this day together with St. Ebbo, I have recorded both in the title, and shall endeavor to set forth whatever occurs among writers concerning Bl. Gericus.
[3] The Sainte-Marthes in Gallia Christiana, volume 1, page 618, bring forward only this about Gericus: Bl. Gericus succeeded St. Vulfrannus in the episcopate; Gericus, born of a noble stock at Tonnerre, obtained the chair (of Sens) from Vulfrannus when he resigned it, and, having held it for some years, dying, was buried in St. Peter's. Claude Robert, in his archbishops of Sens, page 141, records the time more distinctly, and has this: Gericus, from being count of Tonnerre and abbot of Sens, in a manuscript Chronicle, about the year DCC, by the resignation of St. Vulfrannus, becomes prelate of Sens. He adds concerning his burial: he lies at St. Peter the Living's. What is said about his native place, Tonnerre, is likely from his blood relationship with St. Ebbo. It is not equally established to me on what foundation it rests that he is said to have been count of Tonnerre and abbot of Sens: for these things suit St. Ebbo better, from whom perhaps they have been transferred by error to Bl. Gericus. Then it is sufficiently established that Gericus succeeded St. Vulfrannus in the episcopate: for the Acts of St. Vulfrannus in Surius at the XX of March, although they are interpolated, and chronology cannot be established from them, yet obtain credit from the learned at least in this, that it is confirmed from elsewhere. Hear Clarius in the Chronicle of St. Peter the Living, volume 2 of the reprinted Spicilegium of D'Achery, page 464: In his times (those of Pepin of Herstal) holy Vulfrannus, archbishop of Sens, having left his bishopric and ordained in his place lord Gericus, a most illustrious man, uncle of blessed Ebbo the excellent confessor, and who succeeded him in the episcopate, sought the monastery of Fontenelle, and, having become a monk there, preached to Frisia. This therefore we hold as ascertained.
[4] But the learned have disputed much about the time when St. Vulfrannus left the episcopate to Bl. Gericus, but about the time of this succession there is much dispute: and they differ vehemently among themselves. Le Cointe in the Annals of the Franks at the year 682, after a very long disputation about St. Vulfrannus, judges at number 50 that he betook himself to Fontenelle about the said year 682, having laid down the bishopric of Sens, and that at the same time the pontifical insignia were conferred upon Gericus. But this opinion seems to stray very far from the truth. Mabillon in the Annals, volume 1, page 593, ascribes the said succession to the year 690; but he alleges no reasons, and in his preliminary observations on the Acts of St. Vulfrannus, third Benedictine century, part 1, page 356, he begins St. Vulfrannus's episcopate only from that same year 690. Henschen in volume III of March, page 144, in the treatise on St. Vulfrannus, thinks that his journey into Frisia happened about the year 700: but neither will this opinion be able to stand from what is to be said. And so, leaving the opinions of all these, which they themselves saw rested on foundations not firm enough, since the authors whom they allege either erred in many things or have been corrupted and interpolated, I shall set forth in a few words what appears to me more likely.
[5] Mabillon in the Annals, volume 1, page 603, has this: Gericus seems to have been made bishop not before the year 695 In the first year of king Childebert, Ragnacharius, abbot of the monastery of St. Columba and St. Lupus in the suburb of Sens, took care that the privilege granted by bishop Emmo should be renewed and confirmed by the bishops. And having reported the names of the other bishops, he subjoins this: Vulframnus, bishop of the church of Sens, is also found to have subscribed the same privilege: but it is uncertain at what time, before or after the first year of king Childebert; in which year, as is more probable, he had already resigned the bishopric of Sens to Goëricus. These latter things Mabillon adds because he saw that they were contrary to his own opinion reported above. But indeed I do not see why one should doubt of the time of Vulfrannus's subscription, since Gericus is not read as subscribed: from which it seems to follow that Vulfrannus subscribed at the same time as the others. For, since the matter concerned a privilege granted by the bishop of Sens, the bishop of Sens above all was bound to confirm it: if therefore Vulfrannus had at that time already abdicated the bishopric, if Gericus had obtained his place, why did not that same Gericus confirm the said privilege? Wherefore I am altogether persuaded that these things were done before the times of Gericus, while Vulfrannus still sat, and therefore that Gericus did not obtain the bishopric before the year 695.
[6] nor long after 696: but about that same year 696: But neither does Bl. Gericus seem to have been advanced to the government of the church of Sens long after the year 696, as is proved from the same Mabillon. In the second year of Childebert, on the VI day of March, Agirardus, bishop of Chartres, granted a privilege to the monastery of blessed Mary, as the praised Mabillon reports in the Annals, page 605. Goëricus, metropolitan of Sens, subscribed with many bishops. Hence Mabillon thus infers, and rightly: From which it is plain … that Vulframnus had by then already left the government of the church of Sens to Goëricus. With these Longueval subscribes in the History of the Gallican Church, volume 4, page 173. This privilege Mabillon published from the original itself, as he asserts, in De Re Diplomatica, book 6, chapter 23, that is, page 478. But from both these privileges it seems to me to follow that Gericus was raised to the chair in the first or second year of Childebert III. Moreover Childebert began to reign in the year 695 before the XXIII of March, as Pagi shows in the Critique of Baronius at the year 692, number 18. But now, since the privilege was confirmed on the VI of March, it remains uncertain whether that confirmation falls in the year 696 or 697: for if Childebert obtained the kingdom before the VI of March, the privilege was confirmed at the beginning of his second year, and in the year of the Lord 696. But if he began to reign between the day VI of March and the XXIII of the same month, the confirmation
of the privilege must be referred to the end of the second year, and to the year of Christ 697. Hence about the beginning of Bl. Gericus's episcopate nothing more certain can be determined than that he was made bishop about the year 696.
[7] an answer is given to the chief argument of the opponents. Against this epoch of ours some things indeed can be objected, but nothing solid, nothing which has not already been broken down and refuted by others. Yet it is worth weighing one argument of Le Cointe, because it pleased Pagi also, although it has been neglected and confuted by others. The author of the Chronicle of Fontenelle, chapter 2, reports that the bodies of the holy Wandregisilus, Ansbert, and Vulfrannus were translated into the church of St. Peter in the year 704; he adds that the body of St. Vulfrannus had lain eleven years before this translation in the church of St. Paul, from which Le Cointe infers at the year 704, number 3, that St. Vulfrannus died in the year 693, with whom Pagi agrees at the year 700, number 1. But what Henschen in the treatise on St. Vulfrannus, pages 144 and 145, had adduced from Clarius, from Odorannus, from the Acts of St. Vulfrannus, and from others, which strongly contradicts this epoch, they charge with error. But indeed I do not see why we may not with the same ease accuse the Chronicle of Fontenelle of error, as they reject the authorities opposed to them. Certainly Mabillon has already done this in his notes on the Life of St. Vulfrannus, page 364, and again in the Annals, volume 2, page XI, where, having recorded the translation of the two preceding, he subjoins this: What is read in the Chronicle of Fontenelle about the translation of St. Vulframnus likewise made at the same time was done later, since Vulframnus was not yet dead in this year (704), the tenth of king Childebert, in which year this translation was made. That the translation of St. Vulfrannus was made separately various Martyrologies cited by Henschen on page 144 confirm, as may also be seen in the treatise on St. Wandregisilus, volume V of July, page 262. By this authority therefore our epoch cannot be weakened.
[8] It now remains to inquire in what year Bl. Gericus laid down his bishopric with his Life. The end of Gericus's episcopate, and the succession of Ebbo. That this was done while Childebert III still reigned the Acts presently to be published have at number 3. The same is confirmed also by Mabillon in the Annals, volume 2, page 5, from the fact that Ebbo, Gericus's successor, subscribed as already bishop the letters of his sister Ingoara on behalf of the monastery of St. Peter: for those letters, which he published in the Acts of the Benedictine Saints, volume 4, page 616, are dated in the first year of king Dagobert, the son and immediate successor of that same Childebert. It may indeed be objected that perhaps he was made bishop in that same year, a little before the donation: but that is little likely; and at least it necessarily follows that he was not made bishop after the first year of Dagobert. Clarius in the Chronicle of St. Peter the Living, in D'Achery, volume 2 of the Spicilegium, page 464, has this of Ebbo: In the times of that Dagobert (III) shone holy Ebbo the archbishop, famous for miracles and nobility. Hence Le Cointe at the year 711, number 15, infers that Ebbo was bishop under Dagobert. Moreover Clarius does not indeed deny that he was made bishop under Childebert: yet, since he writes that he flourished under Dagobert, he hints that he did not long administer the bishopric under Childebert. Whence I judge that Ebbo succeeded Gericus in the later years of Childebert's reign; and since he died in the year 711, as the learned commonly hand down, I set Gericus's death and the beginning of Ebbo's episcopate about the year 710, although I do not deny that it may have happened some years earlier.
§ II. The chronology of St. Ebbo's Life: the elevation of his body, and his relics: his Acts.
St. Ebbo becomes a monk under abbot Aigilenus, The foregoing about Bl. Gericus being dispatched, I set about arranging as best I can the deeds of St. Ebbo. St. Ebbo was without doubt born after the middle of the sixth century, but in what year is uncertain. He was made a monk in the monastery of St. Peter the Living in the time of abbot Aigilenus, whom the Life at number 2 says he succeeded, and Clarius, volume 2 of the Spicilegium, page 464, reckons no one between abbot Aigilenus and St. Ebbo, although he does not clearly say that the latter succeeded the former. Aigilenus, or Aghilenus, was already presiding in the year 658, as is proved from the privilege recorded in Mabillon's Annals, volume 1, page 450, which in that year St. Emmo, archbishop of Sens, granted to the monastery. Yet I do not see why the same abbot could not have prolonged his life almost to the end of the sixth century, and then have St. Ebbo as his successor, after the latter had for some years given excellent proofs of his virtues in the monastic life. Mabillon indeed did not add his own reckoning to these: but he judged that the author of this Life, and Clarius, a monk of the same convent, had erred. His reason is drawn from the letters of donation by which Leotheria, otherwise Mummia, sister of St. Ebbo, bestows her goods on the monastery of St. Peter the Living. He published these letters in the Acts of the Order of St. Benedict, second century, part 2, page 615; and from them in the Annals, volume 1, page 602, he argues nearly thus. These letters are dated in the 5th year of king Clovis, that is, of Christ 695; and Viraiboldus was then abbot of the convent of St. Peter; Ebbo therefore did not succeed Aigilenus, but Viraiboldus, and the latter Aigilenus.
[10] whom he more probably succeeded as abbot before the end of the sixth century: I do not deny that these things are rightly deduced, provided the said letters of donation are free from every fault. Le Cointe examined them at the year 750, number 2, and objects in the first place to the fifth year of Clovis, because the ancient authors do not attribute five years to Clovis III. Then Clarius, volume 2 of the Spicilegium, page 464, writes things much at variance with these when he records the donations of St. Ebbo's sisters in these words: In those days the lady Ingoara, consecrated to God, sister of holy Ebbo, made a testament concerning her inheritance in favor of blessed Peter, which lies round about in the district of Tonnerre, lord Chrodolinus being then abbot. Her letters Mabillon published in the Acts, third century, part 2, page 616; and they are dated in the 1st year of Dagobert, that is, of Christ 711, as we have already said: nor is there any difficulty about this donation under abbot Chrodolinus, Ebbo's successor. But what follows is against Mabillon: But when Chrodolinus was dead, Viraibodus succeeded him, in whose time another sister of blessed Ebbo, Leotheria, and Mummia, likewise consecrated to God, gave all their inheritance to blessed Peter, blessed Ebbo their brother being still alive and confirming it. These two sisters lie in the convent of blessed Peter, in the oratory of holy Mary; where holy Ebbo himself was buried with them, and shone after death with innumerable miracles. Certainly it can hardly be believed that Clarius went so far astray in reckoning up the abbots of the convent in which he lived and whose Chronicle he was writing, as to place Viraibodus, or Viraiboldus, after Chrodolinus, Ebbo's successor, if he had preceded Ebbo. For this cause I should prefer to think that Leotheria's letters are faulty, and were given much later, perhaps in the 5th year of Chilperic III or of Theodoric IV. But now it is not yet established in what year St. Ebbo was made abbot: but this seems to have happened before the end of the sixth century, and perhaps by not a few years: for we do not know how many years he presided as abbot.
[11] made bishop about the year 710 he drives the Saracens from the city about 732: Having been made bishop about the year 710, as we have said, he became greatly famous for his virtues: but most of his deeds have remained obscure. In the year of Christ 723 the chronographer of Fontenelle mentions him in D'Achery, volume 2 of the Spicilegium, page 270, when he reports that he was present with other bishops at the assembly gathered in the fortress of Zülpich, where Benignus the abbot in the presence of Charles Martel claimed a certain estate against count Bertharius. Afterward he drove the Saracens from the city by divine power rather than by force of arms, as the Life reports at number 5. With the Life Clarius agrees in D'Achery, page 464, in these words: In his time the nation of the Vandals began to lay Gaul waste; churches were destroyed, monasteries overthrown, cities taken, houses made desolate, fortresses cast down, slaughters of men made; the Vandals crushing all things through all Gaul with sword and flame. And coming to the city of Sens, they began to assail it with javelins and engines. Seeing which, holy Ebbo gave himself to danger for the sheep committed to him, and going out of the city with his people, relying on divine power, he put them to flight from the siege of the city. And so great a fear invaded them that they utterly despaired of remaining alive unless they sought the protection of flight. And as they fled he pursued them until they were driven from our borders, a multitude of them being cut down. For, being blinded through the merit of the holy Prelate, and turning upon themselves, they slew the greatest part of their own, and the few who escaped returned in confusion to their own land. And so almighty God delivered the people of the city from the persecution of the Vandals through the merit of holy Ebbo. The same things Orderic Vitalis narrates in his Ecclesiastical History, book 7, near the beginning, as may be seen in the Writers of Normandy which André du Chesne published, page 633. The aforesaid writers do not indeed record the year in which these things happened: but Le Cointe at the year 732, number 22 and following, shows that the Saracens, who are signified by the name of Vandals, came at that time through Burgundy as far as Sens; which Mabillon in volume 1 of the Annals, page 88, further confirmed. Le Cointe sets the year at 732, Mabillon at 731 or 732; but Pagi narrates the matter at the year 731, number 14. And indeed their proofs leave no doubt that the thing happened in the year 731 or 732: nor is it of consequence to inquire too scrupulously which of these two years seems preferable.
[12] Clarius after the words recited above subjoins the following: then he withdraws into solitude, After this the man of God Ebbo, desiring to please God alone and loving the eremitic life, began to dwell alone in the place which is called Arcea, where there are two churches, one in honor of holy Mary, the other of St. Michael. And there, serving Christ day and night, he stood forth admirable to the world. With these the Life agrees at number 6: but nowhere is it explained in what year the Saint withdrew to that solitude. Of this place Odorannus the Monk, in Du Chesne, volume 2 of the Writers of French History, page 641, wrote thus: In the year MCCXXXII archbishop Leothericus died. He gave to St. Peter the village which is called Arcia, with two churches, namely that of St. Michael and that of holy Mary and of holy Ebbo, with their appurtenances. From which words we learn that St. Ebbo was honored with a most ancient cult in that place of his solitude, and that the other church bore his name also. Mabillon adds in his notes: Near that village, which in the vernacular is called Arce, and belongs by right to the archbishop and to the abbot of St. Peter's, there is still to be seen on a low hill the trace of a cave in which St. Ebbo is believed to have hidden: at whose foot flows a vein of water, famed among those who suffer from fever. The parish church of that village is dedicated to St. Michael,
where St. Ebbo is also venerated, whose image is seen set upon the altar. The oratory of Bl. Mary lies overthrown.
[13] Moreover that the Saint did not at that time altogether leave the care of his flock the Life proves, and Clarius agrees in the following words: But often returning to the city, he enlightened the people committed to him by word and by miracles. Hence I cannot agree with Le Cointe, who at the year 750, number 1, affirms as certain that another prelate was substituted for St. Ebbo while he still lived. [without wholly leaving the care of his flock: Artbertus succeeded him in the year 744,] Certainly neither can this be gathered from what Clarius subjoins: And the same shone not only in divine eloquence but also in miracles, which through negligence were not written down. But those which were written perished in the persecution of the pagans. For he gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, walking to the lame, speech to the dumb, and did not delay to bestow with alacrity upon all who came to him the help of relief. Nevertheless from the epoch of his death which the same Clarius hands down, if it be correct, it necessarily follows that another was made bishop of Sens in Ebbo's place. For from a twofold letter of Zacharias the Roman Pontiff to St. Boniface, in Labbe, volume 6 of the Councils, columns [ ] and 1504, it is established that Artbertus (others call him Ardobertus) was appointed archbishop of Sens about the beginning of the year 744: for in those letters the Pontiff approves the election, and the earlier of them is dated the X Kalends of July of the year 744. Hence we learn, first, that the Sainte-Marthes in Gallia Christiana, volume 1, page 618, must be corrected, where they set Artbertus before Ebbo, though he succeeded him. Secondly, it remains to inquire whether at that time St. Ebbo was still living.
[14] [but it is not established whether he died at that time, or lived until the year 750.] Clarius on page 465, at the year 750: And St. Ebbo died. Odorannus in Du Chesne, volume 2, page 636, at the same year 750 has this: In these times the most holy Ebbo, archbishop of Sens, passed to the Lord; and he was buried in the monastery of St. Peter the apostle, where to the present day he shines with glorious miracles. Add the Life of St. Ebbo, as it was published by Mabillon, in which this is read for the epoch of his death: In the year of the Lord seven hundred and fifty. But these words are not found in our manuscripts, so that I suspect they were added by someone who had read Clarius or Odorannus. From the said authors Le Cointe infers at the year 750, number 1, that St. Ebbo exchanged life for death in that same year, and that Artbertus was substituted for him while he lived; although otherwise he attributes so little to those same writers that in marking the death of St. Vulfrannus he differs from them by all of forty-eight years. But Mabillon in his notes on this passage observes that St. Ebbo died before the year 744: yet in the Annals, volume 2, page 127, he leaves the year of his death uncertain, so that he attributed little to the chronology of Clarius and Odorannus. Certainly it does not seem improbable that Ebbo, a lover of the solitary life, laid down the burden of the episcopate; nor yet is it certain enough on the authority of Clarius and Odorannus, who often stumble in arranging dates. I judge therefore that the matter must be left undecided, and Ebbo's death set down doubtfully about the year 743 or 750.
[15] The elevation of his body: relics kept elsewhere: Mabillon in the appendix to the Acts brings forward from the manuscript booklet of Gaufridus de Collone on the relics of St. Peter the Living the following concerning St. Ebbo: On the VI Kalends of September he departed from the world, and was buried in the monastery of St. Peter the Living near his sisters in the oratory of the Bl. Virgin Mary. In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord MXXXIV his body was raised from the place in which it had lain for CCXXVI years, in the time of archbishop Sevinus and abbot Rainardus. Afterward lord abbot Gaufridus laid the aforesaid holy body in a silver casket. The priestly vestment of silk with which St. Ebbo was buried was found nearly entire when the body was raised, which is still becomingly kept, and on his feasts Mass is celebrated at the high altar with that same vestment. The time of the first elevation of the body is not correctly expressed, Mabillon observes, and he says from Clarius that that elevation happened about the year 970, when Sevinus was archbishop of Sens and Rainardus his nephew abbot of St. Peter the Living. But since Clarius on page 472 begins Sevinus's episcopate only from the year 976, according to his mind the elevation must rather be placed about the year 980. Take the words of Clarius at the said year, page 473: In those days holy Ebbo still rested in his first tomb, in the oratory of Bl. Mary beside the altar on the right, shining with innumerable signs: wherefore by common counsel the aforesaid archbishop Sevinus, ordained in the year 976, as he had premised, and abbot Rainardus raised him with great honor, an innumerable people being called together. Clarius subjoins below concerning Sevinus: Then, obtaining with much entreaty from abbot Rainardus and from the brothers of the monastery of St. Peter the arm of St. Leo the Pope with the fingers of St. Ebbo, he adorned them with gold and gems, and offered them to the same house of God (that is, to the monastery of Melun). Finally Mabillon concludes the appendix with these words: The relics of St. Ebbo, apart from the head, which the Celestines of Mantes possess, are still preserved in the monastery of St. Peter at Sens, together with his vestment, or priestly garment, which they call a chasuble.
[16] The Acts of St. Ebbo the oft-praised Mabillon published in the third century, The Life, whose author is anonymous. part 1, page 649 and following: the same we have in manuscript in a twofold transcript. The first is noted as taken from volume 5 of the Legendary of Sens, which Father John Nicholas Domvalle of the Society of Jesus testified that he had collated with the Legendary itself. The other was transmitted to us by Brother Louis Nicque, librarian of the Celestines of Soissons, in the year 1666: but in it there is no note whence it was copied. These manuscripts agree exceedingly well with one another, and differ only in a very few little words which change nothing in the sense. But they do not so well agree with the Life published by Mabillon, in which whole sentences are found which are absent from our manuscripts: and on the contrary in the manuscripts some things are read which are lacking in the aforesaid edition. The studious reader will be able to judge from a comparison of our edition with Mabillon's which of us had the purer and more orderly manuscripts: to me certainly ours are more pleasing. Of these I shall put the Sens one to the press, noting, where there is need, the differences of Mabillon's edition. Moreover that the author of the Life was not contemporary with St. Ebbo is sufficiently gathered from the Life itself, but in what age that anonymous writer lived cannot be exactly determined. Mabillon in his preliminary observations, number 1, rightly has this concerning him: That the writer of that Life lived after the storms of the Normans we gather from number VI (with us, 4), where he complains that the writings about St. Ebbo's deeds were destroyed by flames in the raging madness of the pagans: by which name of pagans the Normans seem to be designated. Hence he conjectures that that writer lived in the tenth century, which does not appear altogether certain: for he could have lived even later.
LIFE
by an anonymous author
From the manuscript Legendary of Sens, collated with the Soissons manuscript and with Mabillon's edition.
Ebbo, bishop and confessor, at Sens in Gaul (St.)
Gericus, Guericus, or Goëricus, at Sens in Gaul (Bl.)
BHL Number: 2360
By an anonymous author.
[The Saint's country, his pious parents, to whom a promise is divinely made, his upbringing, his studies;] Holy Ebbo therefore, as has been handed down by the fathers, took his origin from the fortress of Tonnerre a, famous no less for his virtues than for the nobility of his parents. For his father and his pious mother were of the chief men of the said district: who, leading their life in the service of almighty God, being set in a lay state, by divine dispensation obtained by merit the grace of sanctity: whose whole living was nothing else than to fear Christ with a firm compliance of love, and with fear to embrace him. And when they were now held by these rays of the virtues, they received a divine answer from a holy Angel, that they should shortly have a son who, for the obtaining of the victory of the Church's peace, should endure many and various insults of adversaries and of unbelievers b. Presently at last the flowering womb of the angelic promise appeared, and after a few days the fruit of magnificent sanctity, by God's gift, came forth at once to birth. Who, when he was seen by the aforesaid parents to be teachable, as he was of excellent disposition, was by their decree given over to liberal studies, to be consecrated to Christ. And so, excelling all his companions in eminence of genius, and drinking in the streams of letters with a most lively fire of mind, he earned celebrity by merit, not only by report but by the truth of the thing.
[2] the lordship of Tonnerre: the monastic life, and his virtues: Then, having left his leisure, and the people being by chance destitute of a prince, he took up the government of that district c, which, falling to him by hereditary right, he could not avoid. And thus, raised on high by worldly glory and in a manner engaged in deceptive delights, he did not lose the fire of the love from above, remembering with fear that Scripture which says: No man serving God entangles himself with worldly business, that he may please him to whom he has approved himself. Often indeed turning this over in his mind, lest he should lose Christ's warfare, he pondered a time for laying down the burden which he had taken up not willingly but compelled by the people's acclamation. For the love of the people and the desolation of his household strove against his mind, that he should not desert as strays those whom he cherished as his children. At last, touched by the holy breathing , he brought to this dispute that word of the Lord which is read: He who does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple.* He sought the monastery of St. Peter at Sens d, committing there the abundance of the riches of his inheritance, and lawfully served under an abbot's command, having set behind him the world with its momentary delights e. And thus he escaped the world naked, choosing Christ f, who shall never be taken away from him g. But while he still seemed a novice, being consigned (as is the custom) to the charge of a guardian, inspired by the holy Spirit he taught those by whom he was supposed to be taught h. For in him it was not lawful for idleness to have a place, who, if he had ceased at all from good work, would judge that he had inflicted a great loss upon himself.
[3] chosen abbot he most excellently teaches his own by words and by examples: And thus, having become to his companions a pattern of every virtue, when the procurator of that place, the man of God abbot Aygilenus, died, by the requirement of his merits he took up, though protesting, the citadel of rule; in whose time, as we have learned by many signs, the church of St. Peter flourished in great honor: for at that time the aforenamed monastery of blessed Peter was almost without equal in these regions for holy religion and sanctity. Having therefore taken up the charge, he strove so to live that he might be able to water the hearts of his subjects not only with teaching but also with the examples of his deeds. And when his virtue had spread far and wide, the lamp could not lie hidden under a bushel which God had determined to set upon a lampstand, that it might shine to those who dwelt in the house of God.
[4] afterward as bishop he shines with many virtues; In those times indeed of the kingdom of the Franks
king Childebert, father of Dagobert the younger, held the scepter. And it happened at that same time that the venerable Gericus, uncle of blessed Ebbo, who then seemed to hold the government of the church of Sens, having finished the course of the present life, departed from the world, and left the people in mourning at his death. And not long after, the people of Sens, bereft of their parent, were gathered into one place to deliberate about the succession of a bishop . But they differ too much among themselves, while each, taken with private affection and putting merit aside, chose according to his own mind. At last, inspired from heaven, with one voice they demand of the aforesaid king, urgently asking for him, Ebbo, abbot of the monastery of St. Peter, whom they knew to be dead to the passions of the flesh and already to live spiritually. When this came to his ears, he refused with every effort of mind, and proclaimed himself unworthy of the citadel of so great a height. But when they persisted in what they had begun and earnestly declared that they would never leave him, he, scarcely bending to the piety of the desolate people and to the tears of those who prayed, promised that he would yield to their supplications. And on the appointed day he was taken up with the dancing and eagerness of the people, and, raised on high with the pontifical mitre and adorned with the gems of the virtues, beloved by God, he shone forth illustrious to the world. For blessed Ebbo was the consoler of the sorrowful, the restorer of the poor, the recaller of the straying, and (so to speak) made all things to all men; a most zealous provider for the people both of city and of country. For being set as pastor over the clergy, he did not seek to lord it: but being made a pattern to the flock, he was among them as one of them. And although the miracles which the Lord worked through him — many of them worthy of the pen — were partly, through the rarity and unskillfulness of writers, not written down, and partly, though set down on pages, destroyed in the flames of the pyre in the raging madness of the pagans i, yet one which we have learned by the report of very many we have judged should be brought forward, to make his power known to the peoples.
[5] At that time therefore the nation of the Vandals k, having gone out of their own borders, he drives the Saracens from the city with great slaughter: rushed forth to lay Gaul low, and, spreading through the world, wrought no small slaughters with hostile savagery. For it broke open cities, plundered spoils, cast down towns, overthrew monasteries, and reduced the greatest part of Gaul to desolation. At length, having wrought the slaughter of many, it came to the city of Sens, blocked the walls with its camps, and with watchful care guarded the gates lest an easy passage should be opened to the citizens. And not long after it set in order engines, ballistae, catapults, and all the instruments of this business, and attacked the walls with every assault. But on the other side the citizens, fearing the destruction of their city, fortify the weaker places, mount the battlements, hurl missiles, and, piercing the enemy's engines with fire-vomiting darts, cast them down. Wherefore the barbarian nation, as madness is, being the more sharply stirred with gall, grieved vehemently that it was so repulsed. Straightway it sends men round about, and orders whatever can be gathered for a pyre to be burned without delay in the flames. Nor is it a wonder if the citizens, seeing their goods ruined, bore it ill: sorrowful they come together to the Bishop, and ask of him wholesome counsel; and he at once in prayer entreats Christ with deep groans that the people committed to him might not be given over to plunder. And when he had made his prayer, and his people had been raised up by God's help with a holy blessing, teaching that a trophy is not wrested by numbers, but that it belongs to the Lord to deliver even by few, he ordered the bolts to be opened, and, while the rest remained in mourning, he with a few, certain of victory, set himself against the doubtful lot. For, the mercy from above regarding him, which never takes away the aids once granted * to believers, the enemy's squadrons seize upon the comforts of flight, and, after the manner of raving men, stab one another with their own javelins. At length the Christians, returning from the slaughter, enriched with spoils and made glad by the victory granted from heaven, render praise with all their affection to the Savior, who deigned thus to work through the merits of his Servant.
[6] Afterward, while he lived in much peace and shone with a brighter light of virtues than before, he seeks solitude, without wholly leaving the care of his church: he purposed in his mind to seek solitude and to shun the throng of the citizens, that he might be more freely at leisure for prayer. And since he could not fulfill this in the city, and was unwilling to desert the flock which he had undertaken to rule — because he desired one day to appear before the sight of Christ with the talent gained — he chose a place at such a distance from the city that he might both obey his mind desiring solitude and revisit his sons if the cause required. Which place, named Arcea l by the men of old, distant sixteen miles from his see, is girt with great densities of woods. There indeed a small plain is made bright by two churches, consecrated in honor of blessed Mary and of St. Michael the archangel: where we have both learned from many that his manner of life was eremitic, and countless traces are shown to the inhabitants. In which place Ebbo, given to abstinence and prayer, so mortified his limbs and withdrew from his body all the delights of the world that even the very affliction of his flesh confessed that he lived together with Christ in heaven. And although he thus gave himself to contemplation, yet, lest the people committed to him should feel a famine of the word, he always returned to his see * on Sundays, that he might both celebrate the office due to the altar, and enlighten the people with heavenly doctrine, and confirm them with holy blessings.
[7] dying he is buried in the basilica of St. Peter. For the rest, when the Lord had now determined to set an end to his labor, and to establish his faithful Servant over many things, being seized with a great fever he began to gasp toward his end. At last, his brothers being called into his presence and strengthened with heavenly admonitions, he charged them not to be sad at his death, since he was being transferred from calamity to glory. But while they remained in grief and could scarcely bear humanly the loss of their merciful Father, on the sixth of the Kalends of September, loosed from the body, he received as a gift the heavenly palace which he had long desired with burning love. The clergy and people were present m, gathered in veneration of him: they carried his body to the basilica of blessed Peter to be buried, with hymns and tearful praises n.
ANNOTATIONS.
Mabillon: affamine*
in Mabillon archiepiscopi*
in Mabillon VI*
in Mabillon parca*
elsewhere quam*
Mabillon: luce ac talento*
Mabillon: protestantur*
Mabillon: mirificavit*
the other manuscript ad sedem*