Fiacre

ON ST. FIACRE, HERMIT AND CONFESSOR,

IN THE TERRITORY OF MEAUX IN GAUL

In the seventh century.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Fiacre, hermit and confessor, in the territory of Meaux in Gaul (St.)

BY J. S.

§ I. The most celebrated cult of the Saint, arising from the frequency of his miracles.

Although St. Fiacre grew famous for the glory of his miracles from the ninth century at least, The Saint's name in the Calendars, and thence his veneration became most celebrated, as we shall see, nevertheless no mention is made of him among the older martyrologists: which we suspect happened because his Acts were either not yet written or were altogether unknown. The name of this Saint indeed is found in various Usuardine codices, both manuscript and printed, as may be seen in our Sollier's Usuard on the XXX of August, and on the III of the same month; but those announcements were afterward added to Usuard, we know not at what time. Take one out of them all. The codex of the Queen of Sweden marked number 428 has it thus: In the district of Meaux, of blessed Fiacre the confessor, a man glorious in life and in miracles. Our manuscript Florarium of the Saints, whose author flourished in the fifteenth century, on the same XXX day of August mentions St. Fiacre in these words: Likewise of St. Fiacre, confessor and hermit, at whose tomb glorious miracles are wrought almost continually. More briefly on that day the Roman Martyrology: In the territory of Meaux, of St. Fiacre the confessor.

[2] The Saint's posthumous glory is more fully set forth by André Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology on the said day, his frequent miracles, where, after he had narrated his deeds according to the mind of certain more recent writers, he continues in this manner: He shone at his tomb with innumerable miracles, which, since they are wrought with frequency at his sepulcher, his famous memory is strong with a perpetual concourse of devout clients. Nor is it only there, where the divine Man served God and rested, that the tokens of his merits shine forth — which also, after his body was carried to Meaux to St. Faro, remained perennial there — but also in the convent of Yerres in the country of Paris, where in the monastic sacristy of the temple of the Mother of God his jaw is preserved with becoming worship in a comely reliquary which his image holds forth in its hands, and there he glows with those glorious flashings of virtues which have made both his memory and his festival day famous there; devout suppliants flocking together from every side, who, calling upon him as their kindly intercessor, experience him there as their helper. For it has hitherto been found by experience that if anyone laboring under any disease whatever shall with faith pour in a very little of the water in which the sacred pledge is dipped, he at once obtains the desired remedy by the power of the blessed Confessor: by which also the water itself which is endowed with this blessing remains for long years clear, sweet, and uncorrupted.

[3] his oratory distinguished by pilgrimages The oratory which the Saint built, and which, when buried there, he made famous by miracles, and which afterward grew into a priory of the Benedictine Order, Mabillon describes in the Acts of the Saints of his Order, second century, page 600, in these words: The cell or monastery of St. Fiacre, distant nearly three miles from the city of Meaux, is a priory subject to the monastery of St. Faro, cultivated by our people; where, on account of the pious pilgrimages of the faithful, a village distinguished by the name of that same Saint has grown up. That the cult of St. Fiacre is ancient there is gathered from what he presently subjoins: That place, he says, somewhat neglected since St. Fiacre's age, and destitute of the due number of monks, Adam, abbot of St. Faro's, restored, as appears from these letters of his written in the year MCCCXIII. He recites them in this manner: Brother Adam, by divine permission humble abbot of the monastery of St. Faro of the Order of St. Benedict, and the whole devout convent of the same place, eternal salvation in Christ. That in our priory of St. Fiacre in the diocese of Meaux God and our Lord Jesus Christ, his most holy Mother Mary, and all his Saints, and especially that blessed confessor Fiacre, may be more devoutly, more famously, and more solemnly honored, and that the divine worship, which with our heart's desire we long to be increased, may be increased by us in our times: we, gathered in our chapter, having had diligent treaty upon this matter, with provident deliberation have judged it worthy to be ordained that henceforth in our aforesaid priory nine monks, but from the bosom of our monastery, given over to the divine services there, and together with them one lay brother and one lay sister, who under the regular habit shall attend upon their services, under a prior who shall make the tenth number (whom the abbot of our said monastery shall appoint from the bosom of the monastery itself and set over them), shall continually reside, to be governed under the regular disciplines and observances of our Order, serving the Lord by night and day, as is customary to be done in our monastery… We will and also ordain that the aforesaid prior for himself and the other aforesaid persons, for the work of their sustenance, together with the ancient revenues, proceeds, and rights of that priory, shall have and possess and receive in future all and each of the offerings which for the sake and reverence of the glorious head of the aforesaid confessor, and otherwise, shall henceforth be made in the church of that Saint. From that time the Saint's veneration doubtless took great increase, and it has persevered unbroken to our own times.

[4] and by the glory of his miracles. Certainly the praised Mabillon in volume 1 of the Annals, page 344, at the beginning of our century wrote the following of these matters: Him (Fiacre) Hildegar praises in the book on the Life of St. Faro, and Fulcoius the poet and subdeacon of Meaux; and both attest that the province of Meaux grows famous and flourishes by his signs and miracles. Indeed there is scarcely any other more famous worker of miracles even now in Gaul; scarcely any other place more frequented by pilgrims, who flock thither from every side for the sake of their vows, that is, to his oratory at Breuil, long since called St. Fiacre's, although his body, in the raging storm of the Calvinists in the last age, was translated to the greater church of Meaux, nor could ever be wrested thence from the canons. But in what disease the French chiefly implore St. Fiacre's help, Mabillon sets forth in the Acts in the place just assigned, number 13, in these words: Although the French invoke St. Fiacre as patron in any diseases whatever, and find him helpful, yet he has been chiefly wont to cure those laboring with the "viscus," whom they call "viscosi." Hence they call that affection by the vernacular name le fix de S. Fiacre, that is, the viscus of St. Fiacre. The viscus, a kind of cancer, wont to adhere to the fleshy parts, first indeed hardens like a callus; afterward the callus, being turned into pus, gradually eats away the nearest parts. These things in general about the Saint's miracles, some of which will be narrated below.

[5] From so great a glory of miracles the cult of St. Fiacre was spread far and wide through Gaul. His cult widely spread through Gaul: The same Saint, says the praised Mabillon at number 15, has various oratories in all places throughout Gaul, in which he is honored on account of his frequent miracles. And in the Annals, page 344: Many churches everywhere in the Gauls and several oratories have been founded in honor of St. Fiacre. Hence an Office of St. Fiacre, or a commemoration of him, has been inserted into many Breviaries of Gaul on the XXX of August. But since in those Offices there are read in summary those things which we shall below publish as his Acts, it is not to the purpose to recite anything from them here. Yet it is well to weave in a poem elegantly enough composed, in which nearly all the things related of the Saint's deeds are expressed. Thomas Messingham published it in the Florilegium of the Isle of Saints, page 392, where he thus prefaces it: Let there be seen also an ancient parchment at St. Mathurin's of the Trinitarians at Paris, in the chapel of the same Saint, hung on a tablet against the wall, in which is read exactly the same Sequence which follows, and it can be found explained in Josse Clichtove's Ecclesiastical Elucidary.

[6] Then under this title, Sequence of St. Fiacre the confessor, a poem in which most things are found, taken from his ecclesiastical Office, he recites the poem, but sprinkled with some errors. The same poem is found more correct in our manuscript codex, to be mentioned below, from which I set it before the readers' eyes:

By the beacon of a new lamp Ireland is made bright; The island flashes forth at Meaux By the presence of so great a light.

She sent forth Fiacre; This land holds the ray she sent; They have a common joy — This the Father, that the Son.

Sighing for a solitary life He goes forth from his country; He finds Faro at Meaux, To whom he opens his desire.

Him in a solitary place He settles on his own ground; So he is made like John, A dweller in the barren desert.

While he marks the place with his staff, By a new miracle the grove Is cast down as if felled, And the ground is girded with an undug trench.

Thus the holy Man's merit Widens the compass of the place; The matter becomes known to a woman, Who accuses [*] him as of a crime.

She condemns the work as a sorcerer's, Defames it as the art of a magician; About to be presented to the governor, Weary, he sat down upon a stone.

The stone yields and is not cut; A seat is carved in the rock; And [*] the wickedness of the woman Is greater than the hardness of the rock:

May enter unpunished the threshold of the place. This is the cause why women Are barred from his threshold.

Here is refuge for the wretched, Refreshment for the sick, Lodging for pilgrims, Hope for the fallen, joy for the sorrowful.

He straitens his life with fasting, With brief sleep, with hair-shirt; While he hides himself in hidden places, He becomes more famous to the world.

He shines with the titles of virtues, He heals blind eyes, The polypus, the fig-tumor, the stone, Fevers, and every disease.

Him who trusts in Fiacre No corruption shall harm, Whose loving devotion Cleanses from every vice. Amen.

[8] the cult of the same Saint in many other places: Thus far we have treated of St. Fiacre's fame in Gaul, in which he shone while living by his virtues and when dead by his miracles. The English also celebrate this Saint in their Martyrologies, and most of all the Scots and the Irish, who contend among themselves about his birth. The English Martyrology in a eulogy long enough mentions among other things a chapel built to St. Fiacre at Saint-Omer in Artois, and that it is frequented with a great concourse of men. David Camerarius and Thomas Dempster ascribe the Saint to their Scotland, and say he was the son of Eugenius IV, king of Scotland. In a manuscript Breviary of the church of Aberdeen in Scotland there is extant an Office of the same

Saint, from which we shall adduce some things below. But in the catalogues of the Saints of Ireland, of which I have many at hand, St. Fiacre is everywhere reckoned as sprung from Ireland. Nicholas Antoninus O'Kenny collected the proper Masses of the Irish Saints, and had them printed at Paris in the year 1736. Among these, on the XXX of August, is set the Mass of St. Fiacre, confessor, prince of Ireland, general patron of the church and diocese of Meaux in Gaul.

[9] another poem, Now that Mass before the Gospel contains a hymn in which the more certain deeds of our Saint are elegantly expressed in this manner:

Now let festive praises sound, Now let the sacred halls applaud The famous Fiacre.

He leaves the lands that lie below, He is borne to the heavenly shores Through the open bosom of God.

Born once of illustrious stock, Despising earthly things, He departs, a deserter of the world.

He both renounced his wealth And trampled honors underfoot With a hand prodigal of gold.

While he burned for retirement, While he panted for the shades, Gaul receives him.

Him too, ministering to the naked And relieving the sick, Paris took in.

To Faro the venerable, Presently offering himself to be instructed, Christ's recruit hastens.

Then the Foster-son, the shepherd's hope, Burning in his vows, full of God, Hastens [*] with a giant's stride.

By unblemished modesty, By untiring love, he is made The equal of blessed minds.

A fugitive, he loves his own; Hard to himself, he tames his limbs With harsh labors.

[10] O great Man, thou liest hid Among the woods, and shinest forth A wondrous radiance. in which only the more certain deeds are narrated.

Widely thy name is made illustrious, Thy hand is declared An unconquerable power.

Hither the neighboring folk runs [*], Hither the pilgrim hastens, Gaping at the spectacle.

Here thou didst teach the tillers, Here didst heal, here didst feed Beneath a mean shelter.

Never idle, thou dost dig the earth; Thou rejoicest in a thousand ways to rise Above thyself toward heaven.

A temple being built to the holy Mother, By word and by example thou dost warn The people to strive upward.

Christ at last with a royal palm Of heaven, immortal, Girds thee with a diadem.

Beneath the sepulcher thou flashest with signs; A distinguished power puts diseases to flight; Strength restored is plain to see.

O Fiacre, who by hiding, Who by thy deep retirement, Dost thus obscure thyself by fleeing, Make us despise the world:

Join us to Christ whom thou didst love; Make us hold the laws of life Which thou didst keep; make us seek out The glory which thou hast entered. Amen.

. Otherwise recusat*. . Otherwise O*. . Perhaps superat*. . Perhaps recurrit or concurrit*.

§ II. The elevation of the sacred body and some translations: relics held in veneration in various places.

The body of St. Fiacre, which long remained in its first sepulcher, The oft-praised Mabillon, in the second century of the Acts, page 601, illustrates the matters pertaining to the relics of St. Fiacre, and writes thus: As regards the relics of that same Saint, his sacred body remained in his own oratory until the year MDLXII, in which, on account of the fury of the Calvinists, it was carried into the city of Meaux and laid up in the greater church of St. Stephen []; although the concourse of the faithful does not cease to frequent the place consecrated by the Saint's footsteps and manner of life. Nevertheless the sacred body was not always unmoved there, but was solemnly elevated in the year 1234 by Pierre de Cuisy, bishop of Meaux, and an arm, separated from the body, was carried about in a procession of suppliants. Mabillon erred, and others have followed him, when he named that bishop Philip; but Toussaint du Plessis corrected the error in the History of the Church of Meaux*, volume 1, page 214, where he teaches that the body was elevated by bishop Peter at the request of Raynald, abbot of St. Faro's, and his monks. The whole matter is gathered from the letters of the praised bishop Peter, given in the year 1237, when the supreme Pontiff Gregory IX had granted indulgences on the anniversary day of the said translation. Those letters, with Gregory's letters inserted, the praised du Plessis published, volume 2, page 133, in this manner:

[12] elevated and carried about in the year 1234, P., by the grace of God bishop of Meaux, to all deans, priests, and other prelates of churches established in the diocese of Meaux, greeting in the Lord. Know that we have diligently inspected the indulgence of the lord Pope, word for word, in this form: "Gregory the bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons the abbot and convent of the monastery of St. Faro of Meaux, greeting and apostolic benediction. Although he, of whose gift it comes that he should be worthily and laudably served by his faithful," etc… "Desiring therefore that the church of blessed Fiacre, which you assert to pertain to your monastery, be frequented with fitting honors, to all truly penitent and confessed who shall reverently visit the said church on the anniversary of the translation of that Saint's body and up to its octave, out of the mercy of almighty God … we mercifully relax twenty days of the penance enjoined upon them. Given at the Lateran on the fourth of the Nones of December, in the tenth year of our Pontificate." And we, who in the year of the Lord's Incarnation MCCXXXIV, on the feast day of the Holy Trinity, with the divine aid invoked, elevated the body of the most glorious confessor St. Fiacre by the will and petition of the religious men the abbot and convent of St. Faro of Meaux, to whom the church of the said Saint is subject, and caused the arm of the said most glorious Confessor, laid in an honorable vessel, to be carried and shown in the meadows below the village of the said St. Fiacre, and there caused the word of the Lord to be announced to all Christ's faithful who had devoutly gathered for this at the said place, and granted them indulgence and remission of their sins in great part, so far as in us lay: by the will and assent of the said religious, the abbot and convent, we ordain in this manner: that the head of the most glorious Confessor be borne in procession every year, when the year has revolved, on the feast day of the Holy Trinity to the aforesaid place, and there be shown to all who stand by. And we, trusting in the mercy of almighty God, and in the merits and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of Bl. Stephen the proto-martyr, and of all the Saints, though unworthy, to all those who shall come piously and devoutly with their offerings to the said place on the said day of the Holy Trinity and up to the eighth day of his translation, to see the head of the said most glorious confessor St. Fiacre and to hear the divine word, mercifully relax forty days of the penances enjoined upon them, and forgotten sins, broken vows if they return to them, and offense against fathers and mothers without laying on of hands, so far as in us lies; and we command you all that, as often as you shall be requested on the part of the aforesaid abbot and convent of St. Faro of Meaux, you solemnly publish all the foregoing in your churches. Given in the year of the Lord MCCXXXVII, in the month of May.

[13] afterward placed in a silver shrine with the body of St. Chillen, That a precious shrine was made for St. Fiacre after the middle of the fifteenth century is gathered from the receipt of the widow of Pierre le Maistre the goldsmith, which du Plessis produces, volume 2, page 259. It was given in the year 1468, and the said widow acknowledges that there had been paid to her by the monks, the prior and convent of St. Fiacre, the remainder of the great sum of money which had been owed to her husband the goldsmith, because he had for the greater part fashioned the shrine of St. Fiacre. The adornment of this shrine Louis XI, king of the Gauls, increased, Spondanus being witness under the year 1478, number 21, where he has it thus: In Gaul king Louis … covered the sacred shrine of the body of St. Fiacre with silver. The oft-praised du Plessis in his History, volume 1, page 319, describes this shrine and its adornment more fully; and on page 320 he adds that Louis de Melun, bishop of Meaux, when on the VI day of June of the year 1479 he had translated the relics of St. Fiacre and of St. Chillen into two separate wooden shrines, placed each wooden shrine within this one silver one. And that this was afterward restored by order of Louis XIII, and adorned with new ornaments, we shall see below.

[14] Further, for what reason the most precious body of the Saint was translated in the year 1568 to the cathedral church, du Plessis sets forth on page 372. Since the diocese of Meaux was suffering much from the Calvinists, who raged with monstrous hatred against the relics of the Saints, translated in the year 1568 to the cathedral of Meaux: the monks saw that the body of St. Fiacre would be in great danger if it were left in his oratory outside the city. Already in the year 1557, on the XXVIII of December, the Saint's head had been carried off by theft, and was never afterward found. Hence in the year 1565, when fear of new commotions pressed, they hid the body in a certain hut; then they transferred it to the castle of Villemareuil. At last, when a certain canon of Meaux had persuaded the monks that the body could nowhere be more safely kept than in the cathedral church of Meaux itself, and promised that it should be restored when the troubles were quieted, that sacred deposit was handed over to the canons of Meaux in the year 1568, in the month of September, and there placed in the middle of the choir for so long a time until a pyramid was ready, upon which it was set above the chapel of St. Blaise behind the high altar. Thus du Plessis in the place assigned and in his notes, page 684, from various documents; and he adds that the sacred body remained there, even though the Benedictines frequently demanded it back.

[15] In the year 1627, on the XVI of October, according to du Plessis, page 684 — not on the VI of October, as Mabillon has it — the shrine opened rather often, and relics given to others: Jean de Belleau, prelate of Meaux, opened the shrine of St. Fiacre, from which he brought forth a portion of the relics granted to the duke of Tuscany: which duke is said to have erected an excellent temple to St. Fiacre in his dominion, says Mabillon. That these relics were obtained through Marie de' Medici, queen of France, and that others were granted in the year 1695 by the most illustrious Bossuet to the grand duke of Tuscany, du Plessis observes, page 56, teaching that a church was built to St. Fiacre in the grand duke's villa which is called Topaia. In the year 1637 the praised prelate Jean de Belleau again opened the shrine, in order to give a vertebra to Cardinal Richelieu, and on that occasion the Benedictines of St. Fiacre obtained a small particle, as du Plessis has it, page 373. In the year 1643, when Louis XIII, king of the Franks, who venerated the relics of St. Fiacre with wondrous piety, lay in his last sickness, Dominique Séguier, then bishop of Meaux, sent him a particle, du Plessis again being witness, page 373. And the king, who died in that same year, bequeathed by will twelve thousand gold pieces, that the Saint's shrine might be more magnificently adorned.

[16] This was done in the year 1646, by the care of the bishop just praised, as we understand from his French letters in du Plessis, volume 2, page 365 and following. Take a few things from them in summary. The most illustrious prelate, [the relics taken out of the shrine, that it might be more magnificently adorned, and again laid in it:] having received the aforesaid money, in the year 1646, on the III day of January, took down the gilded silver shrine from the pyramid on which it had been placed, the chief persons of the city of Meaux, both ecclesiastical and secular, assisting. When it had been taken down, while the clerics sang the hymn ISTE CONFESSOR, he carried it to the sacristy, where they saw that it was broken in various places. This shrine being opened, the prelate drew out two smaller wooden shrines, in

one of which they found the bones of St. Fiacre, which were fair, sound, bright, and without corruption, and wrapped in green silk taffeta [*], with a white cloth spread underneath; but in the other the bones of St. Chillen, wrapped in the same manner and uncorrupted. Then the sacred relics were laid in another shrine in a safe place, while the silver shrine was being restored and most magnificently adorned. When this had been repaired and adorned, the prelate on Saturday the XXIX of September, the canons and the nobles again being present, laid the sacred bones back into this former shrine with due veneration; and on the following day, a solemn procession being appointed through the city, he set the shrine, after it had been carried about, again on the same pyramid on which we said above it had been placed. It remained there in the chapel of St. Blaise until the year 1723, in which it was translated to another chapel of the same church sacred to the Blessed Virgin, as du Plessis has it, page 373.

[17] a vertebra granted to the monks of St. Fiacre's, The same bishop in the year 1649 gave something of the relics to the monks of St. Fiacre's, who had often demanded back the whole body. That it was a vertebra of the back, Mabillon says in the Acts, volume 2, page 601. Take the prelate's own letters on that matter, which from the archive of the monastery of St. Fiacre du Plessis published, volume 2, page 375, in this manner: Dominique Séguier, by the grace of God and of the holy Apostolic See bishop of Meaux, etc… We make known and attest that we have given and granted to the monastery and church of St. Fiacre, of the Order of St. Benedict, of our diocese of Meaux, a particle of the body of St. Fiacre, drawn and taken out from his most precious and most richly adorned shrine or casket laid up in our distinguished cathedral church of Meaux and most devoutly preserved and honored; and also a small gilded silver casket adorned with crystals and borne by two figures of angels also of gilded silver, in which the said particle is enclosed; that there … it may always be venerated by the Religious of the said monastery, by Christ's faithful, and by pilgrims flowing thither from every side, and that it may be a perpetual pledge of our mindful spirit, on account of the saving help often received in grave sicknesses by the merits of St. Fiacre. In witness whereof we have subscribed these presents with our own hand, etc. Given at St. Fiacre's on the thirteenth of the month of June, in the year of the Lord MDCXLIX. That these relics were solemnly borne thither by the bishop himself, with a train of suppliants accompanying, du Plessis attests, volume 1, page 429.

[18] and other relics of the Saint preserved in various places. To others also at divers times relics of the same Saint were granted, of which I subjoin a few things. Already in the fifteenth century the chin of St. Fiacre was in the church of the priory of Mont-Louvet, of the Benedictine Order, as John, Cardinal and bishop of Angers, makes evident in letters given in favor of the monastery of St. Fiacre in the year 1468, and published by du Plessis, volume 2, page 259. For where he had asserted that the body was kept in the church of St. Fiacre himself, he adds this: only a certain part of his head being excepted, namely the chin, in the chapel of Mont-Louvet, of the diocese of Rouen. Du Plessis, volume 1, page 373, after the various things which we have related from him, subjoins this in French: Finally the abbey of St. Faro (at Meaux), the abbey of St. Fara [] (in the diocese of Meaux), and other churches obtained something of them (the relics of St. Fiacre) at divers times. Arnold Raissius in the Gazophylacium Belgicum, page 444, assigns relics of our Saint to Planques, a village near Douai, which is commonly called Planq. I subjoin his words: At Planques near Douai are shown notable parts of the body of St. Fiacre, confessor and hermit, famous for signs and miracles, who flourished in the year DCXL: to which there is a frequent concourse of people, especially of those who are seized with a most grievous hemorrhoid.* The same author, page 190, among the sacred pledges which are held at Douai among the Preachers, reckons relics of St. Fiacre, hermit and confessor; and on page 118, among the relics of the abbey of Blangy, of the Benedictine Order in Artois, he numbers small bones of the holy confessor Fiacre. I do not doubt that others too are held in veneration in other places.

*. This was done in the year 1568. *. Taffeta. *. Faremoutiers.

§ III. Of what sort the Saint's Acts are: what is read of him in more recent writers is reported and discussed: it is inquired about what time the Saint flourished and died.

The Acts to be published from a manuscript codex, We have the Acts of St. Fiacre in manuscript in a codex of our own and sent from elsewhere. But their author is anonymous and seems to have been so far removed from the Saint's age that in those things which are related of his deeds we freely acknowledge there is little authority. The miracles, however, which in our manuscripts are narrated after the Life, are entirely credible, and seem to have been drawn from older documents, or to have been composed by contemporary writers. Our codex, which is marked ✠ Ms. 88, is wholly about St. Fiacre. The preface to the Life is a eulogy of the Saint, long enough, composed rather in the manner of oratory than of history. To this is subjoined a Life written in some sort historically, and by an older author than the preface, as is easily gathered from the last words of the preface. To the Life are subjoined miracles, and at last an Office and Mass, which are composed from this Life of the Saint, or perhaps from older Acts, from which this very Life may have been gathered. Whatever the case, certainly the hymns of the Office and of the Mass contain the same things about the deeds of St. Fiacre as this Life relates. This Life also agrees with that which Surius published on the XXX of August, and which Mabillon reprinted, volume 2, page 599, except that ours is longer and contains many more miracles, so that Surius's appears to be an abridgment of this. This Life therefore, of which we also have a transcript in which some errors are corrected, we shall publish as better than the rest, and shall collate it with that of Surius and with the manuscripts now to be mentioned.

[20] Other Acts of St. Fiacre our Chifflet sent hither from a manuscript codex of Dijon. Other manuscript Acts. These contain a Life and miracles partly the same as those in our manuscript, partly different ones which were wrought at Dijon in the chapel of the duke of Burgundy. A Life and miracles of the same Saint Papebroch himself transcribed from a manuscript of Monsieur le Maire, if I read rightly, for the word is ambiguously written. These two Lives differ from the first chiefly in two points, namely that they will have Fiacre begotten of the royal blood of the Scots, and attribute disciples to him in the wilderness: of which we shall presently treat. To publish these Lives is not necessary; but the miracles which are read narrated in them, and passed over in our manuscript, I shall subjoin after the miracles to be published below from the first Life. Now we shall proceed to clear up those doubtful points which occur in the deeds of St. Fiacre.

[21] Some think that our Saint was by his proper name called Fefer, Concerning the Saint's very name some doubt arises: for various writers, following Mabillon as their authority, will have him called Fefer by his proper name, not Fiacre, which name they contend was given to the Saint only after the year one thousand. Their reason is that he is called Fefer by the author of the Life of St. Faro, whom they say to be Hildegar, bishop of Meaux, a writer of the ninth century, and by Fulcoius the poet of the eleventh century, whose words we shall give below. Hear Mabillon, page 598, where, having adduced Hildegar's words, he subjoins this: Here several things occur to be noted. First, that St. Fiacre was once called Fefer: by which name also Fulcoius of Beauvais, subdeacon of Meaux, calls him in the Life of St. Faro published in verse in the eleventh century… We think the name of Fefer was changed into Fiacre because of the harshness of the former word, which has happened in the case of other Irish saints. Thus St. Frigorius, the companion of Caidocus, both of whom brought St. Richarius to a holier life, on account of the grimace of the word received the name Hadrian. To these things about the Saint's ancient name various writers have subscribed, and among them du Plessis, who on page 53 affirms that by his Irish name he was called Fefer, but that in Gaul for eight hundred years he has been known by the name of Fiacre.

[22] which appears to us less probable, Nevertheless I do not see why, on the authority of two writers, of whom the first is nearly two hundred years later than our Saint, we should straightway be bound to believe that our Saint's name was Fefer and not Fiacre, since all the others have named him Fiacre. For it seems incredible that the name of a Saint who had long flourished and become known by miracles could have been so universally changed among all writers that the earlier name was wholly abolished, and that the same Saint who for some centuries after his death had been named Fefer should thereafter be called Fiacre by the French, the Scots, the Irish, and at last by all nations — and that indeed in such wise that no one mentioned the change of name before Mabillon. There is added that Fiacre is a name common enough among the Irish, but not so Fefer. Nor do Mabillon's reasons press greatly. For what is said of the harshness of the word Fefrus seems frivolous even to du Plessis, although he followed his opinion. Nay, that change of the name Fefer into Fiacre is contrary to the usage of the French, who are not wont to make the names of Saints longer in their own idiom, but shorter. What is brought forward about St. Frigorius, who received the name Hadrian, is not similar: for St. Frigorius is not so generally called Hadrian that his true name has been abolished.

[23] and asserted without sufficient foundation. Hence I rather judge that the name Fiacre is proper to our Saint: for so he is called in all the ancient prayers, hymns, Offices, and Acts, as also in the Chronicle of St. Denis to be adduced below. As regards the name Fefer (if it did not arise from a fault of the copyists, for in another Life of St. Faro among us in manuscript Festus is found), I suspect that it arose from the common French appellation, which the two praised writers perhaps wished to express with a Latin termination, because at that time the vernacular name was more in use. Whatever the case, it is the same Saint who is named Fefer by the two writers mentioned (certainly as they were published by Mabillon), and who by all the others is called Fiacre, just as the Saint's priory was already called St. Fiacre's in the eleventh century in du Plessis, volume 2, page 15, and indeed the village that arose there as well.

[24] Concerning St. Fiacre's native country the Scots and the Irish contend among themselves, [The Saint's country either Scotland or Ireland: what the Scots hand down about his birth:] each claiming him for their own. To Ireland, which was formerly called Scotia, several French writers attribute Fiacre; but I confess that I have not at hand arguments by which I can establish the matter with sufficient certainty. Let us hear nevertheless what Scottish authors record of our Saint. Hector Boece in book 9 of the History of the Scots, page 173, asserts that he was the son of Eugenius IV, king of the Scots, and writes this about him: To Eugenius there succeeded in the kingdom of the Scots his son Ferquhard.

For Eugenius had three children of the male sex: Ferquhard, Fiacre, and Donald. These, being handed over by their father to the most holy Connan, bishop of Sodor, to be trained in manners and letters, did not in every respect obey their preceptor's admonitions. Ferquhard and Donald listened willingly indeed to the prelate both teaching letters and counseling right things; but, swelling with their royal descent, they did not embrace from the heart such ornaments of the mind, as being of little profit to those who reign. Fiacre, zealously imitating that most healthful pontiff, a pattern both of continence and of frugality, conceived the design of laying aside all human eminence and of withdrawing somewhere where, far from the throng of men, he might wage war with himself, and by such a holy conflict war perpetually for Christ. John Leslie in book 4 On the Deeds of the Scots, under Eugenius IV, has nearly the same, but more briefly; and to these things other Scots generally assent. But the Irish reject these things as false. The French, however, such as Mabillon, du Plessis, and also Le Cointe under the year 652, number 54, relate them as uncertain. Indeed, that Fiacre's birth and his education, as they are related by Boece, might appear sufficiently certain, older documents would have to be alleged, since not even in the Acts which we are about to publish is anything found about them; but in them he is said to have been born of noble birth in the parts of Ireland. Let us return to Boece, who thus continues.

[25] Therefore, having taken a humble garment that he might be the less recognized, and having set out secretly from his country, Fiacre comes to Meaux to St. Faro: when he came into Gaul, seeking a solitary place, he was presented by St. Faro, then bishop of Meaux, with the little field in which he is now religiously venerated. There is a constant report in that region that it is unlawful for a woman to enter the most holy Man's chapel; and that those who have at any time attempted it have been either deprived of their eyes or driven into madness. These things are more certain than the preceding, and are confirmed from elsewhere. In the Life of St. Faro, published under the name of Hildegar, bishop of Meaux, in Mabillon, second century of the Acts, page 618, this is read: In like manner also very many of the nation of the Scots hastened to this region out of love for him (St. Faro) … And so far did he most attentively cherish those Scots for the sake of loving the angelic life, that he even made them heirs of his own goods; and from the relics of their bodies, as the gliding ages have flown by, this province shall shine the brighter by their merits for our protection, as this our Meaux is famous for the gift of miracles of Bl. Fefer. And in a certain territory of his there is held a monastery, situated where it is called Broil, distant three miles from the city of Meaux, which that holy man Fefer received in most ample possession from Faro, Christ's prelate.

[26] There is added Fulcoius the poet in the praised Mabillon, page 598, writing thus of St. Faro:

Among whom he gave blessed Fefer to be his heir. To him he assigned Breuil, by whom, being kindly received, he is given a place to live as a solitary: who founded a temple there. Here he led his life, here likewise he ended it. Now the province of Meaux flourishes with Fefer's signs.

In the Life of St. Faro which we keep in our archives, received from a manuscript of the monastery of Anchin, the following is read of these matters: Toward which Scots indeed he (St. Faro) was so attentive, out of love for their religious life, that he even made them heirs of his own goods; as we have learned that blessed Festus was honorably received by him into a most ample possession by name Broil, in which he built a monastery; and leading a commendable life in holy manners, he rested there, and makes this province of Meaux illustrious with very many miracles. In the Chronicle of St. Denis, which among the Writers of Gallic Affairs Martin Bouquet, priest of the Order of St. Benedict, has very lately published, in volume 3 of the said Work, page 279, among incidental matters there are recorded, to our purpose, the following, which I render into Latin from the ancient French idiom: In the time of that holy Faro there came from Scotia the lord St. Fiacre, and by his holy manners made himself so known to the lord St. Faro that he gave him a place in which as a solitary he might privately lead a holy life. This place is named Broil [], which belonged to the patrimony of St. Faro in the diocese of Meaux. There the lord St. Fiacre dwelt so long as he lived, and there he died as a confessor so gloriously that a vast abundance of miracles down to this day shines forth in this earthly life to his memory and in testimony of his sanctity.* From these things we conclude that nothing among the deeds of St. Fiacre is more certain than that he came to St. Faro, and in the place which he had received from him led a pious life.

[27] The Scots affirm that envoys were sent from Scotland to Fiacre, But not equally certain — if not altogether fictitious — are the things which Boece, where he had related that Ferquhard was deprived of the kingdom of Scotland by his subjects, subjoins concerning Fiacre in this manner: An assembly being then held about administering the kingdom, … it was resolved by the votes of all that envoys should be sent into Gaul who should recall Fiacre to his country to take up his father's kingdom. If they could obtain this from him by no persuasions — because, being perhaps more than fairly delighted with the monastic life, he despised all human eminence — they should go to king Clothar, who then ruled the Franks, and ask that by his authority Fiacre, the heir of the kingdom, might be sent back to his country, which was wavering with many troubles for lack of a supreme administrator. For they knew by report how dear to God Clothar was, how great a venerator of priests, how diligent a cultivator of equity and religion, and how friendly to kings who duly administer their commonwealths. The envoys, executing their commands, after long journeys come into the country of Meaux, where Fiacre was serving God. Being therefore informed, they were speedily brought to the most holy Man by the help of the inhabitants of the place, since they seemed venerable in appearance.

[28] to offer him the kingdom: Fiacre, being admonished from above in his sleep of the envoys' coming, besought the heavenly Divinity with pious tears that he might not in any way be cheated of the delights to which God's kindness had admitted him through the solitary life. The Almighty heard him as he prayed, and brought it about that at the envoys' arrival he should appear to the sight of men most like one infected with leprosy. And so the messengers, coming to Fiacre, when they had seen the man laboring, as it appeared, with a most foul kind of disease, coldly asked whether he wished to return to his country, where, by the abundance of native food rather than of foreign, nature helping, he might perhaps at last escape the wasting he had contracted: saying that they had been sent for this by the chief men of the Scots, that, obeying him in whatever he desired, they might abundantly supply all expenses.

[29] To this Fiacre, having turned away from all magistracy no otherwise than from a foul pestilence, and that it was refused by the Saint: said: You see, I think, that going of my own accord into a private life I have chosen rather to live as a solitary than in the throng of men: although the plague which you see upon me should be reckoned rather an amendment of life and an incitement to humility than any error of nature. Know that a cell, a garment, and herbs prepared with these hands are enough for me. For content with these, there is nothing of human eminence, however my affairs stand, that I should desire in preference to them. Go therefore, and report to my brothers and to the elders of our nation that they should above all reverence God and apply themselves to the observance of religion; and, cultivating what is right, should fortify themselves with virtue and piety, which no force of enemies will ever storm; that I, as you see, have no need of expenses; and that I have come by God's kindness to such a state that a private life rather than a public one henceforth befits my manner of living. All these things Saussay adopted in the Gallican Martyrology. Leslie in book 4, under Ferquhard, content to have narrated the rest, passed over the apparent leprosy. But all these things, since they are destitute of the testimonies of the ancients, and since the Life has nothing about them, are uncertain and little probable.

[30] Nor do those things rest on greater authority which Boece adds about the Saint's sister in these words: whether St. Syra be the sister of Fiacre, wholly uncertain: Fiacre had a sister, a most holy virgin named Syra, who, hearing of her Brother's sanctity, betook herself to him as he led an anchoretic life in the country of Meaux, with a rather large company of holy virgins; who, being confirmed by him with her companions in their holy purpose, went to Gallic Champagne, where by holiness of life and clear signs of sanctity she left a distinguished memory of herself. Mabillon in the Eulogy of St. Fiacre, number 17, wrote the following about these matters: They say that St. Syra was St. Fiacre's sister, who led a monastic life in the convent of Eboriacum or of St. Fara, and built and governed a monastery of maidens near the city of Châlons. They show the site of the monastery founded, where now the parish priest of St. Sulpice has his house, which place not so long ago they used to call St. Syra's cloister, as Desguerrois relates in the Life of St. Syria, matron and martyr of Troyes, who is to be distinguished from St. Syra, who is venerated by the people of Meaux on the X Kalends of November, but by those of Châlons on the X (read VI) Ides of June: which day is sacred not to St. Syra but to St. Syria the matron. That opinion about Syra as St. Fiacre's sister does not seem very ancient, since in the Acts there is nothing about her. Yet I refer it to be further examined on the XXIII of October, on which St. Syra is said to be venerated among the people of Meaux.

[31] Concerning certain other matters pertaining to St. Fiacre the praised Mabillon discusses thus by conjecture at number 16: conjectures about his manner of life and the time of his death. What Rule Fiacre kept, it is permitted somehow to conjecture, but not to define with certainty. He departed from Ireland, which was not yet shaped by the Benedictine institutes — whether already a monk, is uncertain. He is nowhere read to have cultivated a monastery in Gaul, where the Rule of St. Benedict was everywhere received, unless perhaps he lodged for a time in the monastery of Holy Cross. In solitude he led an anchoretic life. There he is read to have received pilgrims, not to have had disciples. His death we place about the year DCLXX. The only reason, I think, for this date is that he thought St. Faro died about the same year 670. But I find neither the time of St. Faro's death sufficiently certainly proved, nor is it established whether St. Fiacre died at about the same time as St. Faro: for he could have died many years earlier or later. Wherefore I have fixed Fiacre's death most broadly in the seventh century, in which we know he lived; nor is it probable that he prolonged his life into the following century.

*. le Breuil.

ACTS

By an anonymous author

From our manuscript codex.

Fiacre, hermit and confessor, in the territory of Meaux in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 2916

By an Anonymous writer.

PROLOGUE

The excellent confessor of Christ, Fiacre, shone forth as a perfect disciple of the evangelical instruction. Preface. For he zealously wedded good work to rectitude of faith. For in his sacred breast he continually turned over that a good understanding is to all that do it — not to those who hear (since hearers only shall not be justified), nor to those who speak, for many speak and do not: whence sound doctrine with unevenness of manners does not avail them to salvation, but good work is reckoned unto justice: He that doeth these things, it says, shall not be moved for ever.

Lest therefore faith in him should die without works, or the working done apart from faith remain fruitless for salvation, he strove to bring into the light of a good restoration those things upon which he meditated in the law of the Lord day and night; according to that word, Let your light shine before men, that the fountains might be drawn forth abroad, and curtain draw curtain, and he that heard might say, Come. Like the turtledove of the holocaust, therefore, turning back its head to its wings, and like the clean animal in the law, so he ruminated by good working what he had cooked with subtle discernment.

[2] The Saint's virtues From his earliest years he goes out from the land of his birth, forgets his people and his father's house, a strenuous lover of his voluntary poverty, which is wont to be the guardian of humility in good minds. The whirlwinds of temptations and the fires of vices the frost of want cooked away: for to many deceitful riches have furnished occasions of doing evil, while they either unnerve [*] toward luxury, or puff up toward pride, or drive men headlong over the precipices of other vices. That therefore he might be made a Pilgrim of the world and a friend of God, perfectly renouncing the devil and all his works, poor he followed the poor Christ. Christ had not where to lay his head. Fiacre avoided the thorns of riches that he might gain Christ. Cleaving also to the testimonies of God, he delighted in keeping them each day; for in him the harp of the virtues, touched by the hand of holy working, uttered a heavenly melody; for knowing that he who offends in one is guilty of all, he strove to show himself a workshop of all good things.

[3] in general No furnishing of the spiritual workshop could be lacking to him in whom fixed chastity finally persevered. In rectitude of faith he labored to imitate Abraham, in fervor Peter; the meekness of Moses, the simplicity of Paul, the patience of Job shone in him. As therefore Apelles produced the image of Helen, so Fiacre skillfully cultivated himself as a field of virtues full of fragrance. Walking therefore perfectly in God's commandments, he crushed the head of the ancient serpent, for he conquered the dragon and overcame the lion: the dragon he conquered by the circumspection of prudence, the lion he overcame by the fortitude of endurance. He trod the world underfoot by contempt and voluntary poverty; he thoroughly tamed the flesh by the exercise of vigils and fastings; all the things that are of the world he put beneath his feet: for he knew that vanity of vanities, and every man is vanity. As the wild ass despises the city, so this Saint spurned the world and concupiscence. If riches flowed in, he did not set his heart upon them, but used them in passing, mindfully recalling that no one can take his delight both here and in the world to come.

[4] These are thy gifts, O Christ, who bestowest grace beforehand he commends that we may will, whose grace accompanies us that we run not to destruction: for it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of thee that showest mercy. Who ever without the help of thy grace could either will well or accomplish the work ^a of a good will? Without thee no one can do anything, but the soul is to thee as earth without water. Blessed is this Saint whom thou hast chosen, whose right hand thou hast held, and in thy will thou hast led him ^b. Thou wast to him shield and protection, thou to him help and exultation; and therefore he faithfully contended and lawfully triumphed, though set in the valley of tears. Intent upon frequent fastings and pure prayers, he wept for the malice of the world, wept for the misery of exile; and since he received from the Lord, from whom is every best gift and every perfect gift, both the upper watering and the lower, he was wholly dissolved into tears, desiring to be dissolved and to be with Christ. And so the Lord, willing to crown his Saint for so great a labor — chosen from eternity, made wondrous on earth — this day led him forth from the prison-house of the flesh, that he might feast with his brethren in heaven. Let us rejoice on earth, because today the angels rejoice in heaven: for if there is joy to the angels over the conversion of one sinner, much more over the taking up of one just man: let our church rejoice, made illustrious by the presence of so great a Patron.

[5] The novelty of his signs and the greatness of his miracles establish belief in so great a sanctity. and his miracles. For to his sepulcher the sick come and are cured; the despaired of come, and receive the consolation of health. For who ever with trusting mind and pure heart, with devout faith, implored his help, and did not feel the benefit of his mercy? Certainly he glows like the morning star in heaven, but to those who devoutly serve him he stretches out the rays of his patronage and benefits on earth. By his merits and intercession so many benefits have been conferred on mortals, so many remedies of sicknesses supplied, that in setting them forth the eloquence of Demosthenes would fall dumb for their very number. Nevertheless, that on his solemnity abundance of reading may not be lacking to those who devoutly keep vigil at the presence of his body, we have taken care, out of many, to touch on a few, out of all, on some, though in a humble style. By the reading, hearing, and relating of these, the fire of devotion shall burn more amply in those who know, the cloud of ignorance shall be lifted from those who know not, glory and honor shall increase in the praise of God and of those who persevere in him. May the unction of the Holy Spirit illumine and teach our heart with the splendor of his grace, may it govern our tongue and open our mouth and fill it with the word of truthful eloquence. Amen ^c.

ANNOTATIONS.

. Perhaps enervant*.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's deeds in his life: entrance into his chapel forbidden to women.

Blessed Fiacre, the magnificent hermit in the territory of Meaux, The Saint born of noble parents in Ireland, abiding under the protection of the most holy Faro, bishop of Meaux, flourished before God with innumerable virtues, as the sacred reading of his acts declares ^a. For he, born of noble birth, sprang from the parts of Ireland ^b; but that, being freed from the care of kinsfolk and disengaged from the tumults of the world, he might lead a solitary life, he left his parents and his country, and, the Lord leading, came into these foreign parts.

[7] [having left his country, comes to Meaux, where he is kindly received by St. Faro,] At that time therefore when the most glorious Faro ^c, having left the warfare of the world, enjoyed by the Lord's grant the pontificate of Meaux, blessed Fiacre with the companions whom fortune had given him sought him out for the sake of hospitality; whom the most loving Faro most willingly received, and, that he might be able more familiarly and expressly to search out the most pious disposition of his mind, granted him to remain with him as long as he wished.

[8] and being asked by him about his country and parents, Gazing carefully upon his simple and religious countenance, he said: I beseech thee, most dear one, that thou make known to me thy origin and country, and the secret disposition of thy mind, whither thou art tending, and by what name thou art called. If thereafter I can afford thee fitting counsel, God being witness, I will gladly bestow it. To whom holy Fiacre answered: Most reverend father, Ireland ^d, the island of the Scots, gave origin to me and to my parents; and because I desire to lead a solitary life, fleeing my country and parents I left them, and I seek some place fit for hermits; and I am called by the name Fiacre.

[9] he asks for a place to live as a solitary, Now therefore I suppliantly entreat thy kindly paternity, that if thou knowest of any little wooded spot in these parts where I may apply myself to sacred prayers, thou wilt not delay to grant it to me. On hearing this, Bl. Faro, being made joyful, said to him: I have indeed not far from here a certain wood in my own proper and hereditary right, which the inhabitants call Prodilum ^e, sufficiently suitable, as I believe, for pursuing the solitary life; and if thou desirest to look upon it, let us go thither. To whom blessed Fiacre answered: As thy paternity commands, so I greatly desire it to be done at once.

[10] which he obtains in the territory of Meaux, Then the most loving bishop led him as quickly as possible to the much-desired place, and looking upon him said: Good brother, this place belongs to me by hereditary right, and if it shall please thee to dwell here, as much of it as shall be needful for thee I devoutly offer and cheerfully grant. At which word, blessed Fiacre presently falling at his feet, and with tears springing forth rendering thanks for the benefit conferred on him, said: Most blessed Father, at the mere sight this place delights me exceedingly, for it is sacred, and utterly remote from all throng of men.

[11] These things therefore being accomplished, refreshing themselves with the nourishments of divine food, where he builds an oratory: retracing their steps they returned together to the city of Meaux. But on the following day, a blessing being asked and leave received from holy Faro, Fiacre returned to the aforesaid place, and, the wood being cleared, built a monastery ^f in honor of Bl. Mary, and built a small house apart, in which he received guests, and in which he himself dwelt.

[12] All things therefore being completed which seemed suitable for the time, he flourishes with virtues and miracles: the kindly champion of God, Fiacre, day by day subjected himself more strictly to Christ's service, grew in virtues, and, having become to himself a stern enemy, mercifully distributed to pilgrims and to the poor what he daily withdrew from his hungry body. And if any deprived of strength in their arms, or made speechless, or contracted by a withering of the sinews, or vexed by the assault of a malignant spirit, or even held by an infirmity of the whole body, came to him or were brought by others, by the mere laying on of his hand, with God's help, they were restored to their former soundness.

[13] The glorious repute of the holy Man was blazing forth, and his miracles, St. Chillen comes to him, with fame proclaiming them, began more and more abundantly to be increased on every side throughout the neighborhoods of Meaux, with the fragrant reports of his virtues. For the most blessed Chillen ^g, who on his way from a Roman pilgrimage had landed in the territory of Meaux, heard the fame of so great a Man and came to him.

[14] And holy Fiacre, receiving him kindly and generously, whom he receives piously and familiarly. when he learned that he was his fellow-countryman and joined to him by kinship of blood, asked him to remain with him some days: which being granted, they conferred together about their native soil and the knowledge of their kinsfolk, and refreshed themselves with the sweetly flowing sentences of holy Scripture. Afterward, commending each other to the Lord, and a kiss of peace being given, they parted from one another ^h.

[15] Indeed, since the fragrant repute of his sanctity was spread on every side, [The Saint is said to have obtained as much of the wood as a trench could enclose in one day,] many came to him from every quarter; and so that he might have wherewith to relieve the necessities of those who came, and might by the labor of his hands relieve the want of the poor, it seemed to him that a larger and more spacious place would be useful and necessary to him for making a garden, for planting vegetables and other kinds of divers herbs. But although Bl. Faro had before granted him as much of his wood as should suit his necessities, nevertheless the humble Hermit did not presume to enlarge the place and make a garden without the pontiff's leave. He went therefore to the bishop,

and asked him that it might be lawful for him to clear about his house as much woodland as would let him make a garden there. To whom the venerable bishop generously granted as much of the wood asked for as he could in one day surround with a trench [*] dug with his own hand in a circle about his house ⁱ; and whatever he should enclose by digging within the trench made by one day's labor, [and to have hollowed out the trench by dragging his staff, and being for that cause accused of magic,] he should possess free and without cavil as if by inheritance.

[16] This being granted, the Saint, bowing his head and giving thanks to the bishop and bidding him farewell, returned to the place of his beloved solitude; and prayer being made, he dragged along the ground the staff ^k which he held in his hand; and — wonderful to say — at the man of God's bidding, at the touch of the staff the earth gaped open and lay bare, and the wood fell utterly on this side and that. Meanwhile a certain woman ^l came up, who, seeing the miracle of the gaping earth, astounded at the newness of the thing, hastened swiftly to announce this same to the bishop, asserting that the magnificent Hermit was a sorcerer, not a worshipper of the most high God but a magician and enchanter. Returning therefore with the greatest speed, the woman presumed to heap upon the holy Man reproaches, insults, and blasphemies, and commanded him by the bishop's authority to cease from the work begun, and announced that the bishop himself was coming. The holy Man therefore, being accused before the pontiff by the woman, ceasing from the work begun, sat down angry and sad upon a rock.

[17] and to have shown his innocence by another miracle: Marvels succeed marvels. For the hardest rock, against nature softened by the divine will, that it might be the more fit for the holy man's sitting, furnished him a hollow place beneath him. And that hearers may give credit to this narrative, that same rock ^m is preserved in the monastery of that same Saint, and the place of his sitting is shown even now for a testimony of the miracle, by whose touch the feeble and infirm have been restored to health. The pontiff therefore, stirred by the words of the aforesaid woman, came, and seeing in the stone the place of the man of God's sitting wondrously hollowed, and the stone, as it were, having laid aside its hardness, softened by the divine will; seeing also that at the touch of that Saint's staff the earth had opened, and the wood had fallen on this side and that, and deep trenches had suddenly been made, he understood that the kindly Hermit was of great merit before God; and thereafter, his virtues being known, he loved him more fervently, and as long as he lived clung to him more familiarly. And the trenches ⁿ made by the touch of the man of God's staff are shown by the inhabitants down to this present day.

[18] women forbidden the Saint's oratory. From that time therefore in which the woman accused the holy Man before the bishop, down to the present, women have not entered the Saint's monastery. For, being provoked to anger by the woman, he prayed that God, the Lord of vengeances, would so avenge his injury that every woman who entered his monastery should incur an infirmity of her body ^o. And so the fathers have told their sons that a certain rich and noble woman, desiring to see what would happen to a woman who entered the aforesaid monastery, thrust her maidservant into it with her hands. Which being done, in the sight of all who were present, she herself lost one eye, while the maid remained unharmed. And in modern times a certain woman of Lagny [p] set one foot in the Saint's monastery, and that foot immediately swelled. And the swelling seized not only the foot but also, rising, the shin, the knee, and the thigh. There are also many other things which keep women from entering the aforesaid monastery. Blessed Fiacre therefore in that same place grew famous by signs and virtues, and happily completed the course of this present life; at whose sacred tomb the limbs of the sick are frequently restored to health, with whatever disease they have been burdened, by the granting of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory for ever and ever.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Latiniacum, commonly Lagny, is a town of Brie on the river Marne.

*. That is, a trench.

CHAPTER II.

A father with two sick sons falls into the Marne, and comes out of the river with them sound: four boys long submerged afterward come up out of the water unharmed.

A father with two sick sons falls into the Marne, A certain man of Montinacum ^a had two sons who had long labored under a grave infirmity; whose father, having compassion on their infirmity, thought to lead them to St. Fiacre, and setting them upon his beast, sat himself in the middle, in such a way, namely, that he had the younger before him and the elder behind him. He came therefore as far as the city of Meaux, and passing through it, came to the bridge which is called the Swift Bridge. But his beast happened to strike its foot against a stone, and falling from the bridge into the river which is called the Marne ^b, it fell; with which also the father and sons, falling together, fell in, crying out in the very fall with a loud voice and saying: Holy Fiacre, holy Fiacre, come propitiously to our aid. By the bystanders therefore, and by those considering the outcome of the matter, a cry is raised, God is invoked, the help of holy Fiacre is implored.

[20] And without delay the father emerged from the waves, and his sons emerged, and St. Fiacre being invoked, of whose life all who were present despaired, especially because there the aforesaid river with its gliding waves with a swift and exceedingly impetuous

course had its passage through winding arches to the mills set beside the bridge. The father, emerging from the waves, raised his head, invoked holy Fiacre more earnestly, saw his sons tossing far from him, had no skill in swimming; no boat was there present; the danger pressed. But because he called upon the Lord out of tribulation, the Lord heard him. For in a wondrous manner, though the water was of such depth that a pole having the length of two men could not at that time reach the bottom, it offered itself, as though against the nature of the element, to be trodden beneath his feet.

[21] The father's head appeared above the surface of the water, and he, coming to his sons, comes out of the water unharmed with his sons healed: and embracing one on this side and the other on that with right hand and left, as though the wave served him, came without difficulty with them to the bank. And so, the father and sons having come out of the water, they said that holy Fiacre had been present to them in their shipwreck; and, that this might be plainly evident, just as they were freed from the peril of death, so at that very moment they were freed from the disease under which they had before labored. Swift fame therefore ran through the whole city, and there was a concourse of people crying and saying: This is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes. Afterward the father and the sons came to the Saint's monastery, gave thanks to God, and made a vow to holy Fiacre; then, joyful and unharmed, they returned to their own homes.

[22] At Noyon ^c, in the river which is called the Oise ^d, four boys drowned in the Oise, four boys were bathing; and while, incautious, they did not at all avoid the depth of the water, they happened to be drowned. Now women were washing clothes on the bank of the river; who, seeing the boys now floating above the waves, now submerged and not appearing, raise a cry. Their cry is heard, and the village which was not far from the river is roused; the cry being heard, the people gather and run swiftly to the aforesaid river. And without delay fishermen were present in boats and sought the drowned boys with hooked poles; but though long and much sought, they could not find them at all. And the aforesaid boys were the sons of two women, who, amid the tumult of the people, learned that their sons were drowned.

[23] Learning this, like mad women with disheveled hair they ran to the river and made tearful lamentation over the unlooked-for death of their sons: and being long sought in vain, they tore their cheeks, beat their breasts with fists, plucked their hair with their hands for grief, poured out abundant tears, drew deep sighs from their inmost heart, and filled the air with cries. And while the mothers lamented from the sixth hour until sunset, the boys, though sought, were not found.

[24] But when, night coming on, they despaired of finding them, the help of St. Fiacre being implored, one of the mothers said thus: Holy Fiacre, venerable confessor, I have heard from many that thou hast great power with God: which I myself have learned by experience; for when lately, languishing, feeble, and infirm, I had come to thy monastery, by the help of thy merits I was restored to health. I ask therefore what thou canst obtain for us from the merciful God: that as he called back Lazarus of four days from death to life, so through thy merits he may give us back our sons alive. And saying this she cried out and burst into these words: Holy Fiacre, show us how much thou canst with God: let us feel thy help in this present necessity; through the grace granted thee by God, give us back our sons.

[25] they come up alive. At this voice the aforesaid boys came up alive. Truly wonderful, O Lord, are thy works, who so glorifiest thy Saints that, the burden of the flesh being laid down, they live happily to thee in heavenly glory, and cease not to be patrons of the earth-born. And so, being drawn out of the river, the boys said that they had been bound by four demons and loosed by holy Fiacre. So great a miracle being seen, there was great gladness among the people, and all who were present glorified the holy name of the Lord.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER III.

Divers women restored to health from various diseases by the Saint's help: a certain man freed from the stone, another from a grievous ailment of the foot.

A sick woman on her way to St. Fiacre, vomiting up a snake, recovers; In the territory of Beauvais at Breteuil ^a a certain woman, afflicted with many pains, was grievously sick; who, when by flying fame she had learned that the Lord of powers wrought many mighty works through Bl. Fiacre, was wont often to invoke holy Fiacre, and more earnestly implored his help. On a certain day therefore, making for the Saint's monastery, she set out upon the journey of pilgrimage. And so, when she was on the road not yet far from her own house, wonderful to say, she vomited up a huge, monstrous, and horrible snake, terrible to look at, and thus by the merits and intercession of the blessed confessor Fiacre she was perfectly and entirely restored to her former health.

[27] another, a vow being made, casts out a toad and is healed; Besides, we saw another woman, dwelling at Montlhéry ^b, laboring under a grave infirmity, who was full of superfluous and noxious humors, and whose belly had so swelled that she seemed on the point of giving birth. She therefore came to the Saint's monastery attended by a company of her neighbors, and related to us in the presence of her neighbors, who bore witness to her narrative, that, having been vexed ^c by many medicines and utterly despaired of by the physicians, she made a vow to holy Fiacre; which being done, she immediately expelled by nature's secret passage a monstrous toad, exceedingly horrible to see, and, by holy Fiacre's help, obtained the health long desired.

[28] In the city of Soissons ^d a certain woman fell into an infirmity so grave a third, a candle being sent to the Saint, that she could not rise from her bed nor put her hand to her mouth: for all her limbs were deprived of their own functions. She was rich, and in hope of receiving health distributed many gifts to physicians. But when, her languor growing heavier, she was worse day by day, being despaired of by the physicians and deprived of the use of her limbs, she more earnestly and more affectionately begged God's mercy in prayer. And on a certain day she ordered a candle to be made of the length of her own body and carried to the monastery of holy Fiacre.

[29] When this had been offered upon the Saint's altar by her servant, at that same hour the sick woman fell asleep in her house, obtains soundness by his appearing to her: and holy Fiacre stood by her holding the candle, and said: Behold, I come to cure thy infirmity; and, the sign of the cross being made, the Saint vanished. And the woman, roused from sleep, the weakness of her limbs being driven off, rises from her bed, walks about her house, calls together her neighbors, and tells how holy Fiacre had cured her. And on the morrow her servant, who had offered the candle to the Saint, returned; from whom the woman inquires the time and hour at which he laid the candle upon the altar, and learned that at that same hour she had become better.

[30] A certain woman of Burgundy came to the monastery of St. Fiacre for the sake of prayer, [a Burgundian woman, having heard of another's healing and of the Saint's miracles,] who related to us with much shedding of tears that she had suffered an issue of blood incessantly for seven years. And although many of the physicians had bestowed much care on her, they could in no way cure her. But on a certain day she received into her house a certain poor little woman for the sake of hospitality; from whose account she learned that that poor woman had been healed of an issue of blood by the merits of the holy confessor Fiacre. She therefore asked her about holy Fiacre, of what merit he was, and what infirmities he cured. To whom she answered: By experience I have learned that Bl. Fiacre is of great merit before God, a physician of all sicknesses granted by God to the earth-born. He cures the sick, those with the fig-tumor, the feverish, the languishing, those laboring under divers weakness. He puts to flight the infirmities of all who implore his help.

[31] The aforesaid woman hearing this said: If what you say is true, he is mightier and more effectual than all physicians: I would have sought no other physician had I heard anything sooner of his powers; and henceforth I will not commit the care of my body to any other physician. To whom the poor woman said thus: With entire faith and sincere devotion, invoke him and implore his help. And she, bursting into tears, said: Holy Fiacre, venerable confessor, loving consoler of the wretched, be the physician of my infirmity; to thee I flee, thee I invoke, to thee I commend myself, to thee I commit the care of my body. She had not yet finished her words: behold, the issue of blood ceased, health came, and thus by the merits of the blessed confessor Fiacre she obtained perfect and long-desired health. [by invoking him she is freed of the issue of blood, and her brother of the stone:] Now this woman had a brother who suffered from the stone, who, being asked and admonished by his aforesaid sister, amid the sharpest pains made a vow to St. Fiacre, and immediately, all who were present looking on, he passed through the generative member with his urine a stone no smaller than a dove's egg.

[32] when a certain man's foot, putrefying from a wound, was to be cut off, There was at Rouen ^e a widow woman, slender indeed in the substance of temporal goods, but very rich in holiness of manners and devotion of faith, as the outcome of an astonishing matter made plain. Her son, while he was intently busy in the wood at cutting timber ^f, handling the tool which he was using less cautiously, grievously wounded his foot: and the pain of the wound so grew that it both afflicted the son beyond measure and pierced the soul of his mother herself. Whence, moved by a mother's affection, as she bore loving bowels, she called in a physician, as was believed, trustworthy, and committed to him the care of her son. He, omitting nothing of what was fitting, took care, as is customary, to check the swelling with plasters upon the place of the wound. But since it is not always in the physician's power that the sick man be relieved, nor does the work of medicine always obtain its due effect, the injured foot swelled violently, and with the monstrousness of the swelling putrefied; and since by the authority of Scripture those members must be cut off which do not feel the remedies, the physician, under the appearance of counsel, declared that the sick man could in no way be healed save by the amputation of the foot. But the mother, hearing the word of amputation, breaking off her voice with sobs, groans, and filling the village with her complaints, cries: Wretched me! At whose cry her fellow-villagers flocked together under pretext of consolation.

[33] by the counsel of a woman lately healed, Among whom a certain woman, who lately had been freed from the infirmity by which she was held, by the help of St. Fiacre's merits, hastened with quick step. She, being full of faith, since she had incidentally heard from divers persons flocking to the aforesaid Saint the astonishing and unheard-of marvels which had been wrought through holy Fiacre, thus consoles the weeping woman with friendly words: Do not, she says, weep, do not grieve; only hear my words, consent to my counsel, which will be salutary for you and your son: devote your son to holy Fiacre; let him profess himself his servant, let him pay him yearly four pence for his head so long as he lives, let him solemnly celebrate his birthday. Upon my faith I promise on behalf of St. Fiacre; I faithfully pledge, and will give whatever surety shall please you, that in a short time your son shall be restored to you unharmed.

[34] he devotes himself to St. Fiacre and is healed. The sick man, hearing this with attentive ear, said: Blessed art thou this day, and blessed the words of thy mouth. Sound is thy counsel; and therefore blessed is the hour of thy coming. And according to the form of the counsel which he had received, he bound himself by a vow, saying: Today I profess myself the servant of holy Fiacre. And bidding farewell to the physician, he turned himself to the suffrages of the oft-named Saint. And drawing sighs from the bottom of his breast, he poured out affectionate and abundant prayers, not without tears, in this manner: Holy Fiacre, venerable confessor, friend of the most high God, thou sweetness of the poor, thou loving consoler of the wretched, thou merciful healer of the languishing, be to me a helper and consoler in this present necessity. Thou alone after God shalt henceforth be my physician and my remedy; and while thou art bountiful in aid to all others who cry to thee with their whole heart out of any tribulation whatever, I trust in the Lord and truly believe that I alone shall not be without a share and portion of thy benefits. Succor me swiftly, come to my aid mercifully: to thee I commend myself, to thy care I commit myself. As the will shall be in heaven, and what is good in thy eyes, let this be done unto me. These things being said, persisting in the devotion he had conceived, he was better and more at ease. Whence it came about that, a few days having passed, by the merits and intercession of holy Fiacre he received full and perfect health, nor did any traces of that disease remain afterward.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER IV.

Divers diseases driven off by the Saint's help: certain blasphemers first punished, then, on repenting, healed.

A certain man wretchedly afflicted with a polypus, A certain man in the territory of Amiens ^a fell into the disease which physicians call polypus ^b. It, bursting out of his nostrils to the size of a hen's egg, deformed and disfigured his face, and made him horrible to look at, foul to smell, and terrible to hear. For the disease had so closed up the passages of his breath that when he repeated the alternations of breathing in and out he seemed to utter the voice of a goose; a stench too, intolerable, arose from the corruption of the blood and matter continually flowing thence. Which was not hidden from him: whence he shunned the sight of men as much as he could. To him one only sister clung familiarly for the sake of service, while all others shunned him as a monster.

[36] But seeing himself held in contempt by all, he turned himself to the suffrages of holy Fiacre, is cured at the Saint's sepulcher; and setting out on the journey barefoot, he labored [*] toward holy Fiacre. From the moment he came to that place, who could unfold the groans and sobs of his heart, who set forth the flood of his tears, who declare the devotion and purity of his affectionate prayers? And so, devoutly visiting the Saint's relics, worn out with much grief and wearied with the labor of the road, at last he cast himself down at the Saint's sepulcher and sweetly fell asleep. Merciful and compassionate is the Lord, who ever looks upon the prayer of the humble and never despised their entreaties, but has turned their mourning into joy, rending their sackcloth. For being roused from sleep he found before him the fleshy lump which the disease had produced from his nostrils, without any injury to the member to which it had clung; and touching his lips and nose with a gentle touch, he found himself perfectly cured. Going out therefore he washed his face with water, and again approached the monument of the Saint to render thanks to God and to holy Fiacre; where he filled the ears of the most high God with the balsam of pure prayer. And so, joyful, sound, and unharmed, no sign of the disease appearing within or without, he returned to his own home. O sincerity of faith, what dost thou not obtain? Thou removest mountains, softenest stones; at thy countenance wild things grow tame.

[37] another freed from the same evil. Of a like disease, but in a different manner, a certain young man, Odo by name, was perfectly cured at the prayers of holy Fiacre. And this Odo the inhabitants at that time of the country of St. Fiacre, small and great, all and each, were able to see, and bore witness to the truth. He, being made sound, remained devoutly for some years in the service of the monks serving God there. But afterward at the village which is called Colummes he took a wife and settled as a tenant. We have seen also very many cured of a like disease through the intercession of holy Fiacre, of each of whom it is not within our power to write. For many thousands ^c of both sexes gather at the monastery of the aforesaid Saint, and each rejoicing relates that by the suffrages of that same Saint he has been cured of divers infirmities. But to describe the manner of the cure of each, the eloquence of Demosthenes would not suffice. O the sanctity of the man! Physicians fail in the cure, and the Saint's prayers drive off diseases. Medicine grows faint, and the suffrages of loving prayer come to aid. Merits are not at hand, and the ardor of sincere faith wrings out the gift. Nature indeed denies, but faith supplies the benefit.

[38] A certain man partly healed at the sepulcher of the fig-tumor, A certain man labored under the disease which we commonly call the fig ^d, nor could any of the physicians, though many had bestowed much labor, cure him. Despairing at last of the physicians, he bade them depart; and placing all his hope in God and holy Fiacre, he made a vow and devoutly sought the Saint's monastery. There indeed, although he did not obtain perfect health as he desired, he nevertheless obtained the greatest relief of his infirmity. As he was departing to his own home, John the monk, who then guarded the Saint's relics, admonished him to be of good heart, and diligently charged him not to apply to himself any medicines thereafter.

[39] when he employs a physician, is worse, and, leaving him, is entirely healed: The aforesaid man, having returned to his house, and not yet perfectly healed, committed himself again to physicians, and began day by day to be more troubled. But when on a certain day the physician was inspecting his urine, the glass vessel in which the urine was cracked, and the urine, with the little vessel split through the middle, burst out leaping violently this way and that, and shamefully drenched the physician, who was terrified at the novelty of the thing. Seeing which, the sick man, compunct in heart, blushed, dismissed the physician, enlarged his vow, and, seeking again the monastery of holy Fiacre, obtained the perfect health which he had long and greatly desired. Health being received, he bade farewell to the brethren of the place, and joyful and cheerful returned to his own home.

[40] certain men mocking their companions because they wished to visit St. Fiacre, Seven pilgrims coming from St. Denis ^e, when they were not far from the monastery of holy Fiacre, four of them said: Let us go to holy Fiacre, since we are near his monastery. To whom the other three answered, saying: We are not fig-sufferers [], and there is no need for any to go to him but those who are fig-sufferers. He has no pilgrims but fig-sufferers. Go you to him, you who have need, you who are fig-sufferers, and we will make for our own homes. Bidding farewell therefore, they parted from one another. And while those aforesaid four were going along the road which leads to the aforesaid Saint's monastery, the other three cried out mocking after them, saying: Go, you fig-sufferers, to the physician of fig-sufferers.* And these same blaspheming words they insultingly repeated rather often. And without delay divine vengeance struck them with blindness, for they were suddenly made blind, so that with open eyes they saw nothing.

[41] And they said to one another: How is it that this day, a little before so clear, has suddenly been turned for us into dark night? they are struck with blindness, but on repenting Without doubt this blindness has come upon us because we blasphemed against holy Fiacre and scorned to go with our companions to his monastery. Let us do penance, let us ask pardon, let us call our companions. They cried out therefore after them, calling them. But those, thinking that they wished to mock them, would not turn back, but went on to the said monastery, and, prayer being made, were returning by the same road, hastening that they might overtake their companions.

[42] But when they had come to the place where they had left them, receive their sight at the Saint's sepulcher: seeing them wandering through the fields and blind, they said: What has befallen you? And they: Because we, senseless and insulting, blasphemed against holy Fiacre and against you, therefore we have been struck with blindness; and what we scorned to do willingly, we are now compelled by necessity to do — to implore the suffrages of that same Saint. Lead us to his monastery, and we will make satisfaction to him, praying and beseeching that the merciful God, with holy Fiacre interceding, may forgive us this guilt and restore the light we have lost. Which being said, they led the blind men to the oft-named monastery; who made satisfaction to the Saint, poured out devout and affectionate prayers, made a vow, and there received the sight they desired: seeing, rejoicing, and giving thanks to God, they returned to their own homes.

[43] A certain one of our brethren, Milo by name, was wont to relate this miracle which we annex as having been seen by himself and by many others. a sick man making for St. Fiacre, Whose narrative, if on account of his own testimony it seems less credible, let there suffice as testimony the not inconsiderable multitude of men and women who were present with him. I, he says, when I was once staying at the village which is called Ruy, on a certain day, as I sat at home and was busied about the care of household affairs, suddenly the alarm of an unwonted cry struck my ears

sounded in my ears. Whereupon, troubled and terrified, I went out into the public street; and I found a man, so far as could be judged, of about thirty years, but lean and thin from the trouble of a long sickness, who was uttering these cries to heaven, praising and glorifying God: Help me, O Lord my God; help me, holy Fiacre.

[44] Astounded at these voices, I joined myself, with the men and women who had been roused and had gathered together, to the man, and on the road asking and wishing to know what was the cause, and what he was suffering as if bereft of his mind. But he, making light of my question and judging me unworthy of his answer, would not cease even for a little from the praises he had begun. And when he drew near to the church of that village, which is next to the road, prostrating himself in the manner of a cross before the door of the monastery, with great supplication he poured out prayer to the Lord. And when he had risen from prayer, I and many others who had gathered for this spectacle drew nearer, asking that he would disclose to us the outcome of the matter. Then he, as if returning to himself from an ecstasy of mind, turning to us said: Why, brother men, do you wonder at me? why do you look upon me, a man to whom it has been given today to see and to hear wonders?

[45] deserted by his companions, the Saint appearing, I indeed, sprung from the parts of Flanders, being held by a long and troublesome infirmity, having heard the fame of holy Fiacre's miracles, set out with companions on the journey to his monastery for the sake of recovering health. Which companions, not bearing the trouble of my infirmity and the delay of the road — since in two days I could scarcely accomplish one day's journey — leaving me alone in the nearest village, departed this morning to go on their way. And when I had sat down alone beside the road and was bewailing my pain, my pilgrimage, the loss of my country and of my companions, suddenly there appeared to me a certain person of venerable countenance, presenting the likeness of a hermit, who began to address me in these words: What doest thou here, good man? why dost thou thus lament, and whither art thou going? To whom I said: Sir, I have just sat down here to bewail my pain, and I am hastening to the monastery of holy Fiacre; but, my infirmity growing heavier, I cannot go further, being destitute of the comfort of my companions.

[46] he is bidden to go on, and, healed Then the person with sweet and gentle address said: Rise quickly, do not doubt, but follow after thy companions; for, if thou wilt, thou canst even arrive before them at the place to which thou art going. After this voice, when he had suddenly vanished — behold, thanks be to God — as though slipped down from heaven, a certain inestimable soundness and sweetness was suddenly diffused through all my limbs. I felt that a remedy had come to me, and that my private parts, which were swollen like a wineskin, had received their natural shape and former state. I, trembling at the sudden change of my body, leapt up and stood upon my feet, and began to run, praising and glorifying God and the Lord, and the mercy and truth of holy Fiacre, who deigned to visit me and to render me the health I had long desired.

[47] and exulting, he arrives before his companions. After this he began, as we looked on, to uncover his belly, and, having no shame, to say with a loud voice: See, see the soundness of my body: see and know how I, who this morning could not move a foot, have suddenly been made so whole and joyful. And he added: Let me go, brethren, let me depart, and do not hold me longer, that according to holy Fiacre's promise I may be able to reach that monastery before my companions. And when, bidding farewell, he had departed from us, not ceasing to praise the name of the Lord and to cry aloud the name of holy Fiacre, we followed him with a long gaze — not walking, but rather running swiftly — marveling and praising God, who alone doeth wonders.

ANNOTATIONS.

. We must add pervenire*. *. That is, infected with figs.

CHAPTER V.

St. Fiacre appears to a certain man, whom he heals and informs that a son has been born to him: others healed: a girl rescued at once from peril to her chastity and from disease.

To a certain man who, after casting away medicines, invokes St. Fiacre, A certain pilgrim came to holy Fiacre, that from him he might deserve to obtain relief of his infirmity, whom a countryman [] of St. Fiacre's received into his house for the sake of hospitality. When evening therefore had come, as they sat beside the fire, the aforesaid countryman, seeing him holding a little bag, said to him: Good brother, what is in this bag? To whom he said: Sir, in this bag is contained a powder which I received from physicians: for often the disease from which I suffer runs with blood. And I, being instructed by the physicians, sprinkle this powder upon it. To whom the aforesaid host said thus: If you were a good pilgrim, you would commit the care of your body wholly to God and to holy Fiacre, despising other physicians and all their medicines. For holy Fiacre is a good physician, and needs neither draught nor powder. And the pilgrim, compunct in mind, said: Truly you have spoken. Which said, he cast the bag and the powder into the fire, saying: Henceforth I will not commit myself to any physician, and I will apply no more powder to the disease from which I suffer. And he added: May the merciful and compassionate God be my physician, and his friend holy Fiacre.*

[49] When therefore on that night, the others being asleep, he had given himself to slumber, [the Saint appears, and, granting him health, tells him a son has been born to him:] blessed Fiacre appeared to him in a white garment, bearing a wooden cross, and the odor of his garments was above all spices; and he said to him: I am Fiacre, brother, whose help thou implorest. And because thou hast cast into the fire the powder which thou hadst received from the physicians, behold, I come to cure thee. Do not doubt, for thy faith hath made thee whole. Moreover I will announce to thee another joy: that thy wife, whom thou didst leave with child in thy house, has borne thee a son. These things being said, the Saint vanished, and left that house full of a wondrous fragrance of odor. And the pilgrim, waking and perceiving himself sound, rejoicing with unspeakable joy, roused his host from sleep, saying: Good host, the divine mercy has looked upon me: the benefits of soundness have been conferred upon me through the loving suffrages of holy Fiacre, who just now appeared to me as I slept, from whose garments a most sweet odor came forth, which you yourself can still perceive. And besides he told me that my wife on this night has borne me a son. Blessed therefore be this night, in which I have received so great a joy, in which so great, so sweet, so unspeakable, so desirable and incomparable a benefit has been conferred upon me from heaven. Morning therefore being come, he came with his host into the Saint's monastery, at whose tomb, when he had given thanks to God and to holy Fiacre, he returned to his own home. And he was accustomed every year to come with his son to the Saint's monastery and to pay the vow that was due.

[50] another, from a grave infirmity, In the territory of Arras ^a there was a certain man full of noxious and superfluous humors, who was so swollen and puffed up that his shining and stretched skin was an astonishment to all beholders: for he suffered anxiously twistings of the bowels, and, enduring such distress, had for four years sought the help of physicians. And though many of the physicians had bestowed much labor on him, they labored in vain. Vexed therefore by the physicians, placing all his hope in God and holy Fiacre, he resolved to hasten to his monastery. But what was the unhappy man to do? So great was the mass of his body that he could not carry himself. Therefore a vehicle is hired, by whose help the aforesaid sick man is brought to the aforesaid monastery.

[51] after visiting the Saint's sepulcher, is freed: He, having entered to the Saint's tomb with much shedding of tears, devoutly offered affectionate prayers, and that he might deserve to receive the benefit of soundness, he suppliantly implored the Saint's help. And persisting tearfully in prayers, he fell asleep there. And after a little while, waking, he was suffering thirst. And going out he came to a spring situated not far from the monastery, of which with great eagerness he drank as much as he remembered never to have drunk in one day. And without delay necessity compelled him to purge his belly, and in that evacuation he wondrously expelled his infirmity and all the noxious humors together. And so, having obtained the long-desired health, feeling no distress of body, he looked round on every side upon his limbs — his legs, feet, hands and arms, his sides on this side and that — and found himself slender, sound, and unharmed. He understood therefore that by the merciful God, through holy Fiacre, he had been restored to health; and bursting into tears for joy, he rendered due thanks to God, and made a vow to St. Fiacre.

[52] another, deserted by his companions on the road, Three young men were journeying together to holy Fiacre, two of whom had long been sick, and through the intercession of blessed Fiacre had obtained soundness from the merciful God. Whence they were accustomed every year to come to the monastery of the said Saint and to bring their vows. But the other, who came with them, was unhappily sick: for he was exceedingly beset by the disease which we commonly call the fig, and was tormented with many anxieties. Very often indeed he was so grievously racked that he was afflicted with no less pain than if his body were pierced with a sword. And he was going with them that he might deserve to obtain from the Lord relief of his infirmity, with holy Fiacre interceding. And it was the week which is called the week of suffering. And those who were whole said to one another: We must so hasten in going that on the holy day of Easter we may be able to reach the monastery of holy Fiacre, and to the divine offices and to the

celebrations of Masses may be present, and may communicate in the Body and Blood of the Lord, as befits Christians at the paschal solemnity. And so they urged the sick man to hasten more quickly; but he, hindered by the obstacle of his infirmity, could not hasten more quickly. Whence it came about that they left him on the road.

[53] And that young man grieved that he had been forsaken by his companions, as one cast off and despised. Whence sighing more deeply, is healed by the Saint appearing to him: and shedding more abundant tears, he more earnestly and more affectionately invoked holy Fiacre, and devoutly implored his help. It happened therefore that in so great bitterness of mind he fell asleep on the road. And as he slept holy Fiacre stood by him, saying: I am Fiacre, brother, whom thou hast so greatly invoked; I have seen thy tears and the contrition of thy heart, and I have come to cure thee. Rise, for thou art made whole; and if thou wilt, thou canst arrive at my monastery before thy companions. These things being said, the Saint vanished. And he, roused from sleep and made sound and unharmed, rejoiced with joy, ran swiftly, and, arriving before his companions, hastened quickly to the aforesaid monastery. And when he had come thither, he gave thanks to God and to holy Fiacre, and related to the monks serving God there, and to the pilgrims standing by, how mercifully and how swiftly holy Fiacre had cured him. And while he was relating the outcome of the matter in order to the bystanders ^b, behold, those who had left him on the road came up, and seeing him were filled with astonishment and ecstasy at what had happened to him.

[54] A certain girl, fair according to the rottenness of the flesh, a sick girl setting out for St. Fiacre falls into peril of her chastity, but grievously beset by the disease which we call the fig, was making for the monastery of holy Fiacre, that through the suffrage of that Saint she might obtain a remedy for her infirmity. And so, while she was on the road, there met her a certain knight, whom at a distance a young man followed sitting on horseback. He, seeing her alone, on seeing her lusted after her, and lust subverted his heart. The more attentively he gazed ^c upon the beauty of her form, the more he was kindled with the fire of lust. Planning therefore to overpower her by force, he seized her and lifted her upon his horse's neck. But she, terrified, said thus to the young man ^d: Spare me, I beseech thee, good brother; spare my infirmity; spare me, who am going to holy Fiacre. Hearing this, the young man made light of her words, and, busy to fulfill his malignant desire, none the less prepared to offer her violence.

[55] Then the girl, set in the crisis of so great an evil, cried out with tearful voice from which and from her disease at once she is freed, the Saint being invoked; and said: Holy Fiacre, friend of the most high God, be to me a helper and defender in this present necessity. And the knight, hearing the girl's cry, turned his horse, and urging him with spurs came thither swiftly, and, rebuking him harshly with many reproaches, freed the girl from his hands. And she, being freed, pursued the journey she had begun. The Father of mercies therefore, who is everywhere present, whose eyes behold in every place the good and the evil, to whom every heart lies open and every will speaks, and from whom no secret is hidden — God, I say, of all consolation, mercifully consoled her. For in that same hour in which through the knight he freed her from the young man's violence, he freed her also, through holy Fiacre, from the trouble of her infirmity.

[56] And that same God, the Lord of vengeances, [but the young man, who had wished to offer her violence, is punished with the same disease] who said through the prophet, Give me vengeance and I will repay, who executes judgment for those who suffer wrong, would not leave the girl's wrong unavenged. For the young man began to labor under the same disease under which the girl had labored. Whence he understood that he had been struck by the just judgment of God. And so the girl, after she was freed from the young man's hands, suffered no distress of her body, but by God's grace obtained perfect health. Therefore, to render thanks to God and to holy Fiacre, she came to his monastery. The aforesaid young man on the following night, while the others slept, could not sleep, but, afflicted with many pains, disturbed all who were in the house with his tearful complaint and pitiable cry.

[57] after confession and penance at the Saint's sepulcher he recovers. But when morning came, he went on to the monastery, in which a priest was celebrating the divine Office. Which being finished, prostrate at the priest's feet he humbly confessed the guilt of his offense; and because he had presumed violently to inflict an injury upon a girl who was invoking holy Fiacre, he asked that his flesh be beaten with rods and that a penance be enjoined upon him. Which being done, he did not return to his own house, but, leave being received from the priest, he hastened barefoot to holy Fiacre. And when he had come to his tomb, he made satisfaction to the Saint, vowed a vow, wept much, and poured out prayer to the Lord, that as, being just, he had exercised justice upon him, so, being merciful, he would show mercy with him. Helped therefore by the merits and intercession of the blessed confessor Fiacre, he obtained perfect health.

ANNOTATIONS.

*. That is, a country-dweller.

CHAPTER VI.

Various diseases driven off, and among them that of a certain man who had begun to suffer on account of blasphemy against the Saint.

A woman healed, A certain woman came to Soissons for the sake of prayer, whom a certain pilgrim, seeing her grievously laboring with infirmity, asked of what disease she was suffering. She answered that she was inwardly beset by the disease which we call the fig. To whom the pilgrim said: The monastery of holy Fiacre is situated near the city of Meaux, in which that same Saint is buried, where from distant regions the languishing gather, and those oppressed with divers infirmities, and by that Saint's merits are frequently restored to health. Go thither, for if thou hast faith, thou wilt without doubt be cured. She answered: I have traveled through many places of the Saints, and I am so wearied and so burdened by infirmity that I can neither go further nor return to my own home. But he said: Make a vow to holy Fiacre, and I promise thee, and will give whatever surety on the Saint's behalf, that in a short time thou shalt be better. The woman believed, vowed the vow, and immediately in that same moment was better, and set out on the journey to the Saint's monastery. And when she was on the road, necessity compelled her to purge her belly. Whence she turned aside into a certain wood; and from her body there was expelled through nature's secret passage a red worm which was longer and thicker than the arm of any big man. Which being expelled, she expelled together with it her whole sickness. And so, by holy Fiacre's help having obtained perfect health, she came to his monastery joyful and cheerful, to render thanks.

[59] At Saint-Cloud ^a in the territory of Paris a certain man was sick as also one man, who suffered most grievous stabbing pains about the heart, so much so that for excess of pain he often lost the use of speech. Constrained therefore by so great anguish, and instructed and admonished by the exhortations of his neighbors, he made a vow to holy Fiacre. He immediately vomited up two worms of wondrous and astonishing length and thickness, and thus by the merits and intercession of holy Fiacre he was restored to his former health.

[60] In the territory of Provins ^b there was a certain man whose generative member was beset by the disease and another: which we call the fig. And though many of the physicians had applied many medicines to him, for two years they profited nothing. Two years therefore having gone by, the aforesaid man came to the monastery of holy Fiacre, made and offered a waxen member like the member in which he suffered, vowed a vow, obtained health, and returned sound to his own home.

[61] A certain rich and noble woman had an only son, a boy grievously suffering from the stone whom it befell to suffer from the stone. And the mother, loving him from her heart, so had compassion on his infirmity that she would in no way allow him to be cut by the physicians. Knowing therefore that holy Fiacre could cure him without pain, she commanded her servants to prepare a vehicle and the necessaries of the road. These being prepared, she got up with her son into the vehicle and came to the monastery of the aforesaid Saint. And when before its entrance the mother and son had gotten down, necessity compelled the boy to make water; but the stone had so blocked the passage of the urine that he could by no means do so, whence the wretched boy was unhappily tormented with many anguishes; and it came to pass that amid the sharpest pains, as if forgetful and insensible, he fell to the ground. His face was pale, and, his body being as if dead, only his breath fluttered in his breast. The mother saw her son dying and poured out affectionate prayers, wept more abundantly, sighed more deeply, invoked holy Fiacre, groaned, grieved; nor yet did she distrust God's mercy. And so she said: Holy Fiacre, I believe thee to be of such merit with God that thou canst restore to me my son. Thou art wont mercifully to succor the wretched and afflicted; through thee the languishing recover; thou restorest to health those oppressed with divers infirmities. How then can I distrust thee, since it has been granted thee by God to succor the wretched? Or what profits it me that thou mercifully succorest others, if thou leave me alone, wretched and unhappy, without a share of thy benefits?

[62] While the mother thus lamented, her servants, who stood weeping by the boy, restored to entire health at the sepulcher: found between that same boy's thighs a stone no smaller than a dove's egg, which had come forth through the generative member, which for the thickness of the stone had cracked, split, and burst. Seeing which, all who were present marveled. And the mother took her son in her arms, and, because it is not lawful for women to enter the Saint's monastery, she stood outside and on bended knees said: Holy Fiacre, behold I offer thee my son, so that all the days of his life he shall pay thee yearly four pence for his head. Then she ordered her servants to offer him at the altar. It was done as she commanded. Afterward the boy fell asleep at the tomb of holy Fiacre, and obtained health so perfect that in the generative member not even a fissure appeared outwardly, nor did the boy thereafter feel any injury within.

[63] a certain man first punished for blasphemy, then healed. In the territory of Paris there was a certain knight, from whom his wife sought leave to go on pilgrimage to holy Fiacre. To whom the knight said: None have need to go to holy Fiacre but those who are fig-sufferers. And mocking he asked her whether she were a fig-sufferer. And when she had answered that she was not a fig-sufferer, he cursed her, adding: Tomorrow

may you be a fig-sufferer. On the following night therefore he was struck with the disease which he had wickedly wished upon his wife; and while the others slept he could not sleep, but, tormented with endless pains, he labored grievously in anguish. The night being past, in the morning, understanding that he had been struck and humbled by God, he said to his wife: The Lord avenges upon me the blasphemy which I insultingly spoke yesterday against holy Fiacre. For I labor under a grave infirmity, so much so that it were better for me to die swiftly than to live longer in such anguish. I must therefore go to his monastery. His wife, rejoicing that God, the Lord of vengeances, so justly and so manifestly avenged the wrong done to holy Fiacre, urged and admonished him to make satisfaction to the Saint quickly. He at once came to the Saint's monastery, humbled himself, asked pardon, and, making satisfaction to the Saint, made a vow and obtained the grace of health.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER VII.

Other diseases healed by the Saint's help.

A canon of the Premonstratensian Order healed; At Prémontré ^a a certain Canon was grievously sick, with whose infirmity the brethren of that place had compassion out of affection of piety. For he was very lovable, of upright life and good conversation. And when he had long been sick and was day by day more troubled, a certain brother named William, sprung from the territory of Meaux, came to visit him, who approached the sick man, saying: Good brother, I beseech thee to hear me patiently and to give credit to my words. There is a certain church founded in the territory of Meaux in honor of holy Fiacre, in which that same Saint is buried, where the languishing and those oppressed with divers infirmities gather, who are frequently cured by that Saint's suffrages. I trust in the Lord that if thou shalt make a vow to him, thou shalt recover from this infirmity. To whom the sick man answered: It is not lawful for me to make a vow without the abbot's leave. The abbot therefore being called, he gave him leave to make a vow. The sick man therefore made a vow, and in that same hour was better; and by the merits and intercession of holy Fiacre suddenly a certain inestimable health, slipped down from heaven, was diffused through all his limbs, and within a few days he obtained perfect health.

[65] A certain woman from England went with her only daughter to St. James ^b for the sake of prayer. and a girl to whom the Saint appeared: And when she had come thither, and, prayer being made, had departed thence, on the return her only daughter fell into sickness, and came to such distress of body that for three days and three nights she neither ate nor drank nor spoke. All who saw her despaired of her life. The mother therefore lamented over her only daughter, and grieved that she had lost the solace of her life, the half of her soul, the staff of her old age. And while the mother lamented, her daughter fell asleep. And as she slept a certain old man of reverend gray hair stood by her, holding in his hand a wooden cross, which he laid upon the sick girl's breast, by whose touch in a wondrous and inestimable manner the girl was restored to health. To whom the girl said thus: I thy handmaid beseech thee, my Lord, to tell me by what name thou art called, who hast deigned to visit me, by whose suffrage I feel that I have received the benefit of soundness. To whom the old man said: I am holy Fiacre, and I have come to cure thy infirmity. See therefore that thou be not ungrateful to me, but, about to render thanks to God for the benefit conferred on thee, hasten as quickly as possible to my monastery, which is situated in the territory of Meaux. Afterward the Saint vanished. She awoke, at once disclosed the vision to her weeping mother, ate and drank, and within a few days obtained entire soundness.

[66] Likewise in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, eternal and true God, one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight, a certain Odo, A canon seized with a grievous sciatica, priest of the most holy virgin Genevieve ^c, almost the last of the novices, when at the vigils of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, by the duty of precentor ^d enjoined upon him, he was inviting his fellow-canons to exult in the Lord by singing VENITE, suddenly began to feel the sharpest stabbings in the hip of his right side. An intolerable pain distressed him, yet he bore it under the constraint of the Office: necessity of place and reverence for his order compelled him to stand, though in truth he feared nothing more than standing. Placed in this strait, by the delay of standing his straits increased. The pain afflicted him the more violently because he was compelled at once to conceal both the violence of the pain and its cause. Sciatic ^e pain pressed him, as though with nails driven into the bored bones, as though a red-hot borer were piercing the vertebra of his hip ^f: infirmity suggested that he should give way to the trouble, shame affirmed that one giving way would be accused of pretending. So great a burning was felt that the pen of the sufferer himself cannot set down his own calamity.

[67] Why then do I linger over these things? He judged it lighter to die quickly than thus to linger long. the help of other Saints being first invoked, The Apostles are called upon, in whose praises he was keeping vigil; but, the time being consumed with groaning in an empty prayer, neither did compassion bring a remedy to the burning of his suffering, nor did the undoubted power of the Saints remove the corruption from the powerless man. The most holy Genevieve being called upon rather often all night long, she was believed to be deferring the health which she wished to bring. The Virgin indeed, most happy in merits, most powerful in virtues, and glorious in miracles, deferred the miracle while she gave place to holy Fiacre. The sick man was heard by the Saints; he was heard as one unworthy to be granted his prayer. For on the preceding day he had negligently read the writings of the most glorious acts of the most blessed Confessor, which he had lately received to correct: for to read and not to understand is to be negligent. And he reads and does not understand who, grasping the construction, does not grasp the instruction. He reads and does not understand who distrusts the faith of the truth. Distrust begets carelessness; carelessness, contempt. And contempt, the grandson of distrust and the offspring of carelessness, provokes the anger of those despised. But the Truth says: All things are possible to him that believeth. And if power follows the believer, powerlessness follows the unbeliever — for contraries agree with contraries — what wonder therefore if the unbeliever becomes powerless, who so looks upon the mighty works of the Saints as passing shows that he does not care for the Bestower of cures.

[68] merely by pronouncing the name of St. Fiacre, he presently recovers. Being thus made powerless, on the following day, when he could find no other remedy but to lie down on his bed, dragging his foot as a hindrance and not as a limb, scarcely reaching the bed, he is laid on his couch ^g. While therefore, the vastness of the pain rising more sharply, holy Fiacre came back to his memory, having rolled his whole body disorderly all over the bed, by chance putting out his hand toward the window, he recognized the book of the most blessed Confessor falling upon his face by the drawing back of his right hand, which he could not hold still. Seeing which, rejoicing as at the visitation of the Dayspring from on high, having suddenly called upon God's Saint by name, at that very naming of the most blessed name he received health. Astounded therefore that the beginning of a hastened intervention had found so swift a succor, leaping up and praising God, with foot now unhindered he returned to the choir of the psalm-singers whom he had left.

[69] [The author teaches that the Saints are to be venerated, and exhorts to the cult of St. Fiacre.] From these things let the discernment of the hearers learn that it is not safe to disparage the virtues of the Saints. For if God is praised in the praise of his Saints, as it is written, Praise the Lord in his Saints, in the contempt of the Saints he too is contemned. But to hear the miracles of the Saints and not to praise them is to disparage; to see and not to proclaim them is to envy. For if he incurs the guilt of envy and the crime of detraction who, seeing his neighbor's virtue, does not extol it with praises, with how great or how many penalties must he be punished who, seeing God's miraculous works, dissembles them and does not exalt them with worthy praises. For it is not lawful to dissemble what is so evidently plain that whoever will not see is envious; whoever wills to see and does not see is blind; whoever sees and does not praise is ungrateful; whoever contradicts the one who praises is not only mad but even most monstrously frenzied. He therefore is guilty of contempt who does not exalt the miracles of the Saints; of whom, if one be contemned, all are contemned, being united by the glue of charity — living stones indeed, polished by hewings that they might be squared to the four virtues and to the squareness of the Gospel rule, built together into a habitation of God, embracing one another as members in the conjunction of one body under one head. Whoever therefore offends one of the Saints offends another also. For no part of a living member can suffer without the neighboring part being saddened by its ills. Which would not happen at all unless the whole spirit remained everywhere poured out into the members for the body's uses ^h. Let us therefore eagerly venerate holy Fiacre, the staff of the infirm, the anchor of the shipwrecked, whose memory is in benediction. By whose merits and prayers may we deserve to have access to the unfading light, which Jesus Christ our Lord alone inhabits, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God through infinite ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

APPENDIX I.

Miracles wrought at Dijon in the chapel of the duke of Burgundy,

by an anonymous author.

From a Dijon manuscript.

Fiacre, hermit and confessor, in the territory of Meaux in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 2919

By an Anonymous writer.

CHAPTER I.

Various healings of divers diseases.

Very many diseases healed in the chapel of the duke of Burgundy, Wonderful is God in his Saints, who gives them power to work miracles, prodigies, and great signs among the people: among whom the most blessed confessor Fiacre, the magnificent hermit, like the sun shining in the days of summer, so shone in the temple of God. It appears most evidently, since he flashes with innumerable miracles, not only in the place in which his most holy body honorably rests, but also in the chapel of the duke of Burgundy at Dijon ^a, where he is most famously honored by the venerable men the dean and chapter, and by Christ's faithful, and the church is adorned. Although the almighty Lord works there through his suffrages secret and astonishing miracles, we cannot tell all the secret ones; but those which we have learned and seen by sure experience we neither will nor ought to pass over in dissimulation; nay rather, to

the glory of God and the honor of holy Fiacre we propose to declare them.

[2] In the parish of St. Nicholas of Dijon a certain girl, namely a Gangrene of a girl Roseta by name, had a cancer ^b in her breast, so that a great part of the breast was consumed and eaten away. She knew not what she could do about so great an infirmity, as one despairing of health. She went to a certain famous physician, begging that for God's mercy it might please him to give her suitable counsel about her infirmity, so grievous. The physician kindly looked upon the girl's infirmity, saw the place foul and eaten away as far as the ribs, and said to the girl: Dearest daughter, I cannot give thee any remedy, because the infirmity is incurable and despaired of as to health; but go with devotion to the altar of blessed Fiacre, and implore the help of that most beloved Friend of God, and he by God's grace will help thee. The girl believed the physician, made her prayer before the image of blessed Fiacre, and a vow that henceforth on the day of his festival she would do no work of her hands ^c, and would fast on the vigil of the feast; and daily she made her devout prayer before the altar of blessed Fiacre. Afterward she used to come to the said physician's lodging: the physician always said to her: Do not let blessed Fiacre alone in peace, but always pray until he shall have restored thee to health, because he is loving and merciful to those who ask him. She did as had been enjoined upon her by the physician: so often she went and so often returned that she received perfect and entire health.

[3] and of a woman: A certain woman had a cancerous ^d breast, and could find no fitting counsel. She spoke with the aforesaid physician for the sake of asking counsel and help. The physician said to the woman: Go to the altar of blessed Fiacre and devoutly implore him, for he is a loving and merciful physician, and cures divers infirmities without pain and without ointments and plasters. Believing this physician, she visited the altar of blessed Fiacre daily, made a vow, and was cured.

[4] erysipelas, In the parish of St. Michael, in the street called es Effrois ^e, Joanneta had erysipelas ^f, that is, St. Anthony's fire, in her breast; which infirmity so pressed the said woman that she could not rest. She heard of the miracles which blessed Fiacre was working in the chapel. Wholly despairing of health, she hastened swiftly to the altar of blessed Fiacre, imploring the said Saint's help, sighing and uttering most grievous sobs. Daily without any interruption she visited the altar of blessed Fiacre, that she might have through his grace a fitting remedy for her infirmity. Blessed Fiacre, who does not spurn the prayers of the poor but most lovingly hears them in tribulation, heard the woman's prayers: through the suffrages of blessed Fiacre she was healed.

[5] a fistula of the breast, The wife of John of Semur the saddler had a grievous fistula ^g in her breast, and could not find fitting counsel according to her wish. This woman, using wise counsel, went daily to the altar of blessed Fiacre, and in tears entreated the blessed hermit Fiacre; and her prayer was heard, so that without any medicine she received perfect and entire health.

[6] a lachrymal fistula, In the parish of St. Michael of Dijon, Isabel, niece of Haymoninus of Moolanum ^h the goldsmith, had a fistula in the lachrymal duct ⁱ. She could find no counsel, unless she should give ten pounds of Tours ^k to a certain surgeon. And yet he was unwilling to take her into treatment, but only to do what he could. By the counsel of a certain good man she visited daily the altar of blessed Fiacre; and on bended knees she prayed to blessed Fiacre, saying: Holy Fiacre, glorious confessor of the Lord, I, disfigured and despairing of health, flee to thee: hear me, wretched and afflicted and destitute of all comfort: thou art the solace of the wretched and the relief of sorrow. Thus she persevered in prayer and obtained her wish, for she was perfectly cured without any remedy, by the help of God and of blessed Fiacre.

[7] a polypus, A certain woman of Canabae ^l had a polypus in her nostrils, foul and horrible to see. She came for the counsel of a certain skilled physician, that he might advise about her infirmity and afford her health. The physician, seeing the infirmity incurable, would not for his honor's sake take it into treatment, but referred her to blessed Fiacre, saying that blessed Fiacre was of such merit and of such spiritual knowledge and power that he healed the languishing, the plague-stricken, and the diseased: Go in peace to blessed Fiacre. The woman said to the physician: Since I cannot find help with you, using your counsel I will go to blessed Fiacre. She did as she said; with the greatest devotion and bitterness of heart she visited the altar of blessed Fiacre, made her prayer and a vow; and so through the merits of blessed Fiacre she received health.

[8] A certain woman of Curia Armilphi had erysipelas in her hand. erysipelas in the hand, The flesh was livid and foul, the sinews foul and corrupted. She could not find a perfect remedy of cure. She, despairing of health, went with tears to the altar of blessed Fiacre, made her prayer and a vow, and placed herself in his keeping; so she returns to her own home, and within a few days was healed.

[9] A certain man of Villars-sur-Ouche ^m was dropsical, dropsy, swollen and puffed up. He sent his wife to a certain famous physician. The physician, seeing his urine, declared him to be dropsical, and said to the woman: Go to the altar of holy Fiacre in the chapel of the duke of Burgundy, in which blessed Fiacre is honored and venerated. Pour out prayers for thy husband to blessed Fiacre: he is a great physician, and works with God's help wonders and great miracles in these parts. The physician taught the woman ⁿ some regimen for her husband, and referred her to blessed Fiacre. The woman, as a lawful wife, departed from the physician with his commendation, went to the altar of blessed Fiacre, and before his image wept bitterly, made her prayer and a vow; and so within a few days her husband was delivered and healed.

[10] In the parish of Blessed Mary of Dijon there was a certain girl a swelling of the neck, who had a great goiter [o] for several years in her neck, and, ever growing, it was descending to the throat. The mother and daughter went to a certain famous physician for the sake of asking counsel; they found the learned physician in the chapel of the duke of Burgundy, to whom the mother said: My lord, I ask you, and by the mercy of Jesus Christ, that concerning the infirmity of this my young daughter you would give her healthful counsel and help. The physician answered: Go first to the altar of blessed Fiacre to pour out prayers, and to do the Saint reverence and honor; and afterward come to me. Prayer being made by mother and daughter, when they came outside the church they came to the physician; and the physician touched the goiter, and it burst in the physician's hand, and shamefully wetted the physician's hand and garments. The physician said to the mother: It seems to me for certain that it does not please blessed Fiacre that I should meddle with this infirmity; from now on I approve and counsel that your daughter be in the care of blessed Fiacre. The mother and daughter, rendering thanks to the physician, departed. The daughter visited the altar of blessed Fiacre and persevered in prayer and devotion; and so without any help she recovered from her infirmity.

[11] A certain girl of Varangae was dwelling in the parish of St. Peter of Dijon, a fistula in the thumb, and had a fistula in her thumb. The first joint and the nail [p] of the thumb were already mortified [] and eaten away, and the sinews corrupted. She went to a certain physician for the sake of asking counsel; to whom the physician said: Visit first the altar of blessed Fiacre, and afterward come to me. And the girl with her mother came to the physician: the physician saw the corrupted thumb, touched the corrupted bones, and the corrupted sinews came away. And she within a few days was healed. She made a vow to blessed Fiacre before his image that she would observe the day of his festival and fast on the vigil [].

[12] In the parish of St. Peter of Dijon there was a certain Beguine [q] of Roura, Jaqueta by name, who had a fistula in her finger. and in the finger, The bones were already corrupted and the sinews corrupted. She came to the aforesaid physician; and by the counsel of the aforesaid physician she made homage and a vow to blessed Fiacre; the corrupted bones and sinews fell away; in a short time she was cured.

[13] and erysipelas in the finger. In the parish of St. Michael of Dijon, Stephaneta, the widow of Blanchetus the tailor [], had erysipelas, that is, St. Anthony's fire, in her finger; who, wholly in despair, came to the aforesaid physician for the sake of asking counsel. The physician, seeing the raging infirmity, left it to God and to blessed Fiacre. The said woman, groaning and uttering most grievous sobs because the said physician had left her destitute of any counsel and even in despair, seeing her finger burning and smoking, departed from the physician, hastening swiftly to the altar of blessed Fiacre, imploring the most holy counsel and help of God's Friend, saying: O holy Fiacre, thou in all tribulations succorest all who devoutly implore thy help: restore to me, I beseech thee, my finger; otherwise I must go begging with this defect: for thou canst do it through the grace which has been given thee by the Lord. If thou wilt restore me my finger, I promise thee that as long as I live I will celebrate thy feast and fast on the vigil of the feast; and now with thy handmaid, wretched and afflicted, do thou thy will []; for I offer myself to remain in thy service. So she departed. On the morrow she first visited the altar of blessed Fiacre, and afterward found the physician in his lodging. And she showed him [] her finger: all the corruption of the sinews and the joint fell together to the ground. The physician said to the woman: Woman, may blessed Fiacre complete in thee what he has begun; go in peace.* The woman departed, and within a few days received health.

ANNOTATIONS.

o. That is, a swelling.

p. By the uncia of the thumb he denotes the second joint.

q. Beguines follow a certain manner of life midway between the monastic and the secular, and today are known in almost Belgium alone. In what way they ceased to exist in France was said in the Acts of St. Louis, volume 5 of August, pages 502 and 503.

. Otherwise nutrix*. *. That is, putrefied. *. That is, on the eve. . That is, of a tailor; in French, couturier*. *. That is, thy will. *. That is, to him.

CHAPTER II.

Other healings.

Moreover a fistula in the hip healed A certain girl of Luseya, Stephaneta by name, brought up in the parish of St. Peter of Dijon, had a fistula in the hip ^a, so that as far as the knee the whole was hollowed out and gave off matter most abundantly. Which girl had endured the infirmity for several years, and could find no remedy. She knew not what she could do; using skilled counsel she went to the altar of blessed Fiacre, and frequented it daily, imploring his help; she made a vow and homage to the Saint, and received entire and perfect health.

[15] Margaret of Salvia had a most grievous fistula in her foot, and one in the foot, and could find no counsel nor remedy. Her mother, having compassion for her pain, said to her daughter: My dearest daughter, I see thee languishing for pain, and I would rather see thee dead than remain in such a state: my dearest daughter, let us go to blessed Fiacre of the lord duke of Burgundy; and I believe that through the grace which has been given him by the Lord he will heal thee. The daughter answered her mother: Dearest mother, I desire nothing else than to visit the precious Friend of God. They arose and visited the altar of blessed Fiacre; they made their prayer and a vow, and within a few days the daughter received health.

[16] John, a squire ^b of Arc, lay at his last at Dijon in the house of his brother, the dean of the chapel; another most grievous disease, nor was there any hope of his health. All things were prepared for the funeral — candlesticks, lights, and all other necessaries, as is fitting. But his brother the dean, seeing that the physicians had left him as one despaired of, wept bitterly, invoking the help of blessed Fiacre; and his prayer was heard: for in that hour the said John was better and recovered from his infirmity, and the said dean believed most certainly that through the merits of blessed Fiacre his brother recovered from his infirmity.

[17] Catherine of the parish of blessed Peter of Dijon had a most grievous lachrymal fistula. a lachrymal fistula, And seeing that for five years she had endured such an infirmity and could find no counsel, using wise counsel she frequented the altar of blessed Fiacre, and made her prayer and a vow, and forthwith received the help of the most blessed confessor Fiacre; for within a few days she was healed.

[18] scrofula and gangrene, In the parish of Blessed Mary of Dijon the daughter of Bartholomew the tailor had most grievous scrofula ^c in her neck: which infirmity is called the king's evil. Likewise a cancer had seized the said girl's breast and bosom. And so by the infirmity she was already almost eaten away as far as the ribs. She could find no counsel about the infirmity: she invoked the help of blessed Fiacre, visited his altar daily in the chapel, with groaning and weeping made her prayer and a vow, and so within a few days was healed.

[19] a danger removed from a coin lodged in the throat, The son of Griphonetus of Dijon, a boy of four years, had a great Tours coin ^d in his throat, and it could go neither down nor up. He had already lost breath and speech. The mother cried out as if frantic: Alas for me, Lord, what shall I do? Most holy confessor of the Lord, Fiacre, consoler of the wretched, restore to me my son, for I languish with grief: by that inestimable power which God has conferred on thee, restore to me my son; and I offer myself and him to remain in thy service for ever. This said, forthwith the coin went down, he recovered breath and speech, and so was freed from so great a peril.

[20] paralysis, Richard of Bera, dwelling in the village of Canabae, was in so great an infirmity that he could in no way help himself with hands or feet; which infirmity he had endured for a long time as best he could: all medicines by the way of medicine availed nothing for his distress. The said Richard, groaning and sighing in such perplexity, had recourse to blessed Fiacre, bound himself to his service, that as long as he should lead life among men he would celebrate his feast and his translation, and fast on the vigils. He was not cheated of his desire: he rose from his bed sound and cheerful, came to the altar of blessed Fiacre doing reverence and honor; and so received perfect and entire health.

[21] sciatica or arthritis, John of Fontaines ^e had for two years endured a grievous infirmity, which infirmity physicians call sciatica ^f and arthritis. The said John could not hold himself upon his feet nor walk except with crutches ^g. He made many pilgrimages, and could find no counsel nor help. The said John's neighbors said to him: Dearest brother, we wonder at thee, since thou knowest, and we have learned by sure experience, the miracles which God works in the chapel of the duke of Burgundy at Dijon by the diligent prayers of blessed Fiacre. Go with devotion to the altar of blessed Fiacre, and invoke his help; and we believe for certain that thou wilt recover perfect and entire health. John believed; on a certain Sunday, as best he could, he visited the altar of blessed Fiacre; prayer being made, he made a vow and homage to blessed Fiacre, and felt himself relieved. He laid one of his crutches upon the altar, and departed with one crutch only and a certain small staff. On the following Sunday he came with one crutch only to the altar of blessed Fiacre; and while he was ^h at prayer and devotion, he rose stronger than before, left the other crutch upon the altar, and departed with his small staff. On another following Sunday he came again to the altar of blessed Fiacre. While he was at prayer and devotion, he rose perfectly cured and laid down his staff, and so, sound and cheerful, returned to his own home.

[22] A certain girl of four years from Talant ⁱ had cancerous scrofula in her neck. The little girl's mother, scrofula, when she could find no counsel for her daughter, came on the ninth day with her daughter from Talant to the altar of blessed Fiacre: the mother made a vow to blessed Fiacre for her daughter, and placed herself and her daughter in the Saint's keeping; and her said daughter recovered from so grievous an infirmity and received perfect health.

[23] Avelina, a Beguine of Maynis Campis at Dijon, had a fistula in her hand, a fistula of the hand, so that in three places it was wholly pierced through; and she could in no way help herself with her arm. Wholly despairing of health, she went to blessed Fiacre and most devoutly visited his altar; with tears she entreated blessed Fiacre and implored his help; and her prayer was heard, for within a few days she received perfect and entire health.

[24] A certain servant of the diocese of Noyon came with crutches from the army of the captive ^k; he had lost the use of his legs. His legs were swollen and puffed up; he could neither hold himself up nor walk except with crutches. powerlessness of the legs, He came with devotion to the altar of blessed Fiacre; afterward he laid down one of his crutches, trying whether he could walk with one crutch only, which he did. He kept vigil in prayer all night before the altar, and in the morning began to walk without crutches, and felt himself wholly relieved. The swelling of the legs departed entirely; he received perfect and entire health.

[25] Brother John, master of the house of Albaripa ^l at Dijon, the fig, had a grievous and horrible infirmity in his hinder part, which infirmity is called the fig. For a long time he had endured his infirmity secretly as best he could; for he knew the miracles which blessed Fiacre wrought with God's help. He came to the altar of blessed Fiacre with the greatest devotion, and most devoutly entreated blessed Fiacre. In a short time all the fig-like infirmity ^m, the excrescence, and the superfluity fell away without any distress; he received perfect and entire health.

[26] The son of John Pinot had a cancer in his forehead, and lastly gangrene and a fistula. and was in great danger; he could find no counsel of cure. He came to the altar of blessed Fiacre, stayed [*] nine days at Dijon, and did penance on bread and water. He had also a fistula in his foot and in his knee. Of all these infirmities he was cured, and so with joy returned to his own home.

ANNOTATIONS.

*. That is, he remained.

SECOND APPENDIX.

More recent miracles rendered into Latin from du Plessis.

Fiacre, hermit and confessor, in the territory of Meaux in Gaul (St.)

From du Plessis.

Miracles Du Plessis in the History of the Church of Meaux, book 1, number 70, briefly relates many miracles of St. Fiacre which are not written in the Acts, and which are either all, or certainly most of them, later than they. These therefore I shall record in this place, and shall translate them from the French tongue into Latin, so that all which we have found pertaining to our Saint may here be held together. Dominique Séguier attested that he had often received in grave diseases the saving help of St. Fiacre's merits; whose words we have already given in the Commentary, number 17. John of Châtillon, count of Blois, in letters of donation in du Plessis, volume 2, page 174, says of St. Fiacre in French: Whose prayers I have often experienced to be salutary to me with God, and by them my health often furthered. After these two du Plessis thus continues, citing the archive of St. Fiacre.

[2] wrought later, Marie de Brichanteau de Senecey, widow of Claude de Beaufremont, who … had been governor of the city and castle of Auxonne, on the VIII of December of the year MDCXXII, at Senecey [*] in Burgundy, was healed by the merits of St. Fiacre of an uncommon ill of the head and shoulders, which was judged incurable. Damsel Françoise de Vieuxpont, her niece, with that intention vowed to visit on foot the church of St. Fiacre; and God heard her prayers: which she attested with the most holy Gospel touched.

Paul Beauvarlet, parish priest [*] at Pecy, of the diocese of Meaux, on the XXIX of May of the year MDCXLIII was freed of a flux of the belly so immoderate and intolerable that from it he thought death was imminent for him.

A certain Religious of Saintes, when she had vowed a vow to St. Fiacre, was healed in the year MDCXXVII. She was thirty-three years old; and already for thirty years her face had been filled with scab and other foulnesses which had baffled all the art of the physicians.

Gilles du Plessis, parish priest at Yvor, of the diocese of Soissons, in the year MDCXXX was restored from an inflammation of the chest, and from a retention of urine in the year MDCIX, while at Paris he was giving himself to the study of letters.

Nicolas de Lavernot, enrolled among the guards of the royal person, in the year MDCXXIX at Blois, where he then was, was freed of a dangerous ulcer, on account of which he had thought of taking his own life.

[3] Jacques Grenon, parish priest at Barbery, of the diocese of Senlis, or very many healings being disabled in his right leg, was restored to entire health in the month of August of the year MDCXXVII, after a vow made to St. Fiacre.

Louis de Cervillien, royal senator of both councils, … whose left jaw had been wholly moved out of its place by the unskillfulness of a tooth-drawer, was healed. His wife was vowing a vow to St. Fiacre, and the jaw, which had begun to pierce his cheek, fell of itself, no pain being caused him. This miracle happened in the year MDCXXVII.

Marie Denis, widow of Antoine de Marvaise, the king's scribe, in the year MDCXIV was freed of an issue of blood by which she had been vexed for six years, and which had brought her to the last extremity.

Nicolas Lefevre, lord of Vaucouleurs [*], … in the year MDCXXVI came off sound from an incurable gangrene which was eating away his left cheek, lips, and nose.

Philibert Pelet, lord de la Plaine, one of the guards of the royal person, in the year MDCXLIII was healed of wounds which he had received in the head and arm in a conflict against the French Calvinists.

[4] Charles Le Comte, parish priest of St. Vincent de Bullion, of illustrious persons: of the diocese of Chartres, in the year MDCXLV was freed of a flux of blood with which he had been afflicted for more than ten unbroken months.

Philippe Hadengue, parish priest at Mirancourt, of the diocese of Noyon, in the same year also and of the same disease was freed.

Marguerite Le Roy, wife of Matthieu Paien, who was in charge of the salt storehouse of Meaux, in the year MDCXLIII obtained the healing of an incurable ill with which her foot was affected.

Pierre de Novion, a noble man, lord of Vey on the Vidula (it is a river of Champagne, commonly la Vesle), was restored to entire health from hemorrhoids and arthritis in the year MDCXLVI.

Louis de Malleville, a noble man, lord of Toussue, was freed of hemorrhoids in the year MDCXLVII.

Anne Fremyn, widow of Claude de Vassière, the king's prefect in the territory of Meaux, was healed in the year MDCXXXV of a violent ill of the chest, and in the year MDCXLVII of two huge swellings which had arisen upon her eyelids and created a danger of losing her sight.

Urbain Potier, priest, rector of the college of Bayeux at Paris, in the year MDCXLV recovered from a dysentery by which he had been brought to the last extremity.

[5] the piety of Anne of Austria, queen of the Franks, toward St. Fiacre: Queen Anne of Austria always attributed to St. Fiacre's protection the driving off of the disease into which king Louis XIII had fallen at Lyons. Everyone ascribed the glory of the healing to his own patron; but the queen herself in the year MDCXLI went on foot from the village of Monceaux to St. Fiacre's, as she had vowed, that she might give thanks to the holy Patron of Brie. She had experienced in her own person how powerful this illustrious Hermit is with God, since he freed her from a troublesome issue of blood which neither the art of physicians nor the industry of surgeons had been able to stop. She believed also that fruitfulness had been given her by God through his intercession; and moved by that belief she gave to his church the consecrated swaddling-bands which Urban VIII had sent her for the use of the infant prince, who afterward reigned with such great glory in France as Louis XIV. Finally this princess used to send every year someone who in her name and with her intention should go on pilgrimage to St. Fiacre. When a great cure was about to be applied to king Louis XIV, Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, came to St. Fiacre's to pray for that prince's healing, and began a nine days' prayer, which the Religious completed.

[6] the punishment which they say was inflicted on Henry V, king of England. To these at the last he adds, from certain historians, the punishment inflicted on Henry V, king of England, which Leslie in book 7, pages 269 and 270, relates in these words: Afterward Henry, having foully laid waste the lands and neighboring domains of St. Fiacre, once the son of a Scottish king, fell into a disease which could be cured by no medicine applied. He therefore, wrestling more sharply with the violence of the disease, is said to have burst out into this exclamation: that the Scots are so hostile to the English that not only in this mortal life, while alive, so long as through the composition of the body they can indulge their feelings, but even when dead and placed in the number of the saints, in heaven, where no place for feeling can be, they still afflict them with some harm. Being therefore carried to Corbeil, and there having died, etc. Others too relate that this happened, and write that Henry suffered from the fig. But upon how certain a foundation this matter rests I do not know.

*. Senecey. . prieuré-cure*. *. Vaucouleurs.