CONCERNING A HOLY ANONYMOUS BELGIAN BISHOP, AT CHAM IN SWITZERLAND,
AROUND THE YEAR 1000.
CommentaryAn Anonymous Belgian Bishop, at Cham in Switzerland (Saint)
I. B.
[1] Zug is a canton, or district, of the Swiss, between Lucerne and Zurich, where there is also a lake of the same name; which both received their name from Zug, commonly called Zug, a town situated on the shore of that same lake. At Cham in Switzerland On the same lake lies, and is subject to Zug, Cham, formerly a village, now a town, distinguished by the name of St. Andrew. a holy Bishop is buried In its parish church a sepulchre is visible, made of squared stone, and upon it the effigy of a Bishop, with crosier, tiara, and the rest of the sacred vestments.
[2] Henry Murer, a Carthusian, in his Holy Switzerland, where he treats of the Saints of the diocese of Constance, chapter 9, writes that he visited that sepulchre in the year 1635, and sought the Saint's patronage, and received the following account from the local Pastor about that Saint: Around perhaps the year 1000 (for no certain date, he says, survives) a Bishop came there from the Belgian lands, a Belgian, accompanied by a single attendant or Priest, on his way to Rome to venerate the holy places. But weakened by the hectic fever dead of hectic fever from which he suffered and by the toil of the difficult journey through those mountainous places, he stopped at Cham while he restored his strength with a little rest. One day he went to the church to perform the sacred rites. When these were finished, as he was preparing to bestow the benediction upon the people after the sacred rites; and to sprinkle holy water in the customary manner, he fell to the ground before the altar, still clothed in the sacred vestments in which he had celebrated Mass, and expired; and was honorably entombed in that church. It is by no means doubtful that the Priest, or whoever was his companion on the journey, before departing, indicated, or even committed to writing, the name, homeland, bishopric, and virtues of the deceased, of unknown name: and whatever else it was worthwhile to know; yet all has been obliterated by oblivion, whether through the negligence of the townsfolk, or through repeated fires of the church and town, by which the writings, and the miracles, and other monuments of antiquity perished.
[3] However, because the people had observed that he was a pious and holy man, and had died of hectic fever, they began in their own illnesses and those of their families, especially hectic fever, consumption, and particularly those of children, to invoke the aid of that Saint, to visit his sepulchre, [he is invoked against hectic fever and consumption by pilgrims, even heterodox ones,] and to honor it with gifts and votive offerings: and many have recovered their health by his aid, and continue to recover even now. For very many flock to the Saint's sepulchre, according to a rite handed down from their ancestors: and not only Catholics, but also those who call themselves Evangelicals, and they carry there their children suffering from wasting disease, and implore divine aid through the merits of the holy Bishop, and obtain it. And there is scarcely a day throughout the entire year on which some people from near and far do not come there, and bring sick children and place them upon the tomb of the holy Bishop; daily: for whom the Pastor administers this ceremony. The sacred vestments are still preserved in which, according to tradition, the Saint celebrated Mass for the last time his relics, and died, though now covered with another cloth. These are placed upon the sick who are kneeling, or, if they are small children, placed upon the tomb as described; and meanwhile the Priest recites over them certain pious prayers and the Gospel.
[4] All these things, moreover, proved by the practice and wondrous events of several past centuries, not only the people of Cham, but all the inhabitants of neighboring towns and villages, both ecclesiastical and secular, attested miracles. testify with unanimous voice, that at the tomb, bones, and vestments of that Saint innumerable miracles occur daily. Thus far, for the most part, Murer.