Virgins Berlindis

CONCERNING THE HOLY VIRGINS BERLINDIS, NONA, AND CELSA, OF MEERBEKE IN BRABANT.

AROUND THE YEAR 700.

Berlindis, Virgin, of Meerbeke in Belgium (Saint) Nona, Virgin, of Meerbeke in Belgium (Saint) Celsa, Virgin, of Meerbeke in Belgium (Saint)

By the Author I. B.

[1] Meerbeke, as Miraeus writes in the Belgian Annals, is a village of Brabant, in the diocese of Mechelen, not far from the Flemish town of Ninove, where these three Virgins, Berlindis, at Meerbeke, a village of Brabant, Nona, and Celsa, rest in the very ancient parochial and collegiate church of seven Chaplains. Molanus has the same in his Index and Feasts of the Saints of Belgium. The place seems to have been famous of old: for in the Division of the kingdom of Lothar, among the places attributed to Charles the Bald, there are Sunniacum, Antonium, Condatum, Metrebecchi, Siclinium (so we read, what is commonly printed as Ticlivium), and Luitosa: for these places, still adorned and famous for their colleges of Canons, are Soignies, Antoing, Conde, Seclin, and Leuze.

[2] The feast of Saint Berlindis is likewise recorded by Molanus in his additions to Usuard, from the Martyrology of that Church, on the third day before the Nones of February, in these words: the feast of Saint Berlindis, At Meerbeke, the deposition of Saint Berlindis, Virgin. Wion and Menard have the same from Molanus, and Ferrarius and Canisius in other words. Galesini adds two others: In Belgium, he says, of the holy Virgins Berlindis, and of Saints Nona and Celsa. Nona, and Celsa. They are also mentioned together in the Annals of Miraeus, the Feasts and Index of Molanus, the Martyrology of Saussaye, and the Menology of Virgins by Lahier. Giles Gelenius in book 4 on the Greatness of Cologne writes Letha for Celsa.

[3] Whence the Life of Saint Berlindis is here published? The Life of Saint Berlindis had been transcribed by Rosweyde from the manuscripts of Lobbes, Meerbeke, and Rouge-Cloitre: we have collated it with a copy from the monastery of the Canons Regular of Corssendonk, and with another (which belonged to the House of the Holy Cross at Hoorn) written out by Theodoric Pol of Venlo, a Crosier, in the year 1477, and with another from Utrecht, though a more condensed one. The author seems to have lived after the thousandth year of Christ: he was certainly not a contemporary of the holy Virgin, since he calls Witger Duke of the Lotharingians; when was it written? which national title was not born until the century after Berlindis; much later still did the Dukes of the Lotharingians, or Lotharians, or Lotharingia begin to be so called. This writer errs in other respects, as will soon be apparent.

[4] Wion writes that Saint Berlindis flourished in the year of the Lord 640. Gelenius places her in the times of King Dagobert, she herself under Dagobert, who died at the beginning of the year 644. The author of the Florarium places the death of Berlindis somewhat later: At Meerbeke, he says, a village of Brabant, of Saint Berlindis, a religious woman and Virgin. Her father Odelard was a Count between Antwerp and Conde: her mother was a sister of Saint Amand the Bishop. dead perhaps in the year 667? She deserved to hear the voices of Angels carrying her father's soul to heaven. She also merited the changing of fish into meat, and of water into wine, on a certain solemn day. Her wooden sepulchre was also changed into stone. She died in the year of salvation 667. Heribert Rosweyde treats of her in his Ecclesiastical History of Belgium under the year 687.

[5] Her father Odelard is said to have served under Duke Witger in the times of Dagobert, in chapter 1 of the Life, section 3. But Witger is said in the Life of Saint Gudula to have lived in the times of King Sigebert, who was the son of King Dagobert. Witger and Odelard could have served under both father and son: but his daughter died long afterward. This can be gathered from her own Life as follows: Odelard offered his own property and that of his daughter, whom he disinherited, disinherited by her father to Saint Gertrude, already dead and becoming illustrious for miracles and publicly regarded as a Saint. But Gertrude died in the year 664, as is known with sufficient certainty. For her parent Pippin, as we shall say on February 21, died in the year 646, when she was fourteen years old: Saint Itta, or Iduberga, her mother, twelve years after her husband: after the year 664 but Gertrude some years after her mother, in the thirty-third year of her age, on a Sunday, March 17, when the Dominical letter was F, which occurred in the leap year 664. Moreover, Odelard survived for some time after making that donation, afterward she lived at least 18 or 20 years: while Berlindis was living at Morselle. She then completed at Meerbeke three times five years plus two, after the death of her father, as is said in section 12: so that from this alone it appears she did not die before the year 690.

[6] And perhaps much later. For before she returned to Meerbeke to bury her father, the monastery of Morselle, as is said in section 9, had been utterly destroyed and burned by the Huns, and had been rebuilt in a modest fashion. indeed 17 years after Morselle was destroyed We do not inquire here whether, while Gaul was being disturbed by civil wars between the Mayors of the Palace, Ebroin, Pippin, etc., some band of Huns was summoned into our Belgium, as in the tenth century; or whether this was an incursion of the Frisians, or of other pirates from the Scheldt, by the Huns. who were then called Huns by the common people, just as formerly all barbarians were called Huns or Vandals, and later Normans and Saracens. But that devastation, inflicted by whatever enemies, occurred not a few years after the death of Saint Gertrude. This seems provable in the following way.

[7] Saint Gudula, as is narrated in her Life, was born at the time when Blessed Gertrude was living most renowned in the affairs of God, and was lifted from the sacred font by her, around the year 655 perhaps. by whom not before the year 680 (as is inferred from the Life of Saint Gudula) Then within the enclosure of the monastery, she was trained in piety by the same holy kinswoman and spiritual mother. After the death of Gertrude, however, she returned to her parents' home. After some time, when both parents had devoted themselves to religion,

her mother, Saint Amalberga, at Maubeuge, and her father at Lobbes, she herself, now grown and her own mistress, set out for Lobbes with her sister Saint Reineldis, to offer all their possessions to God and Saint Peter. When they were not even admitted into the church, Gudula withdrew; Reineldis, the doors having been opened by Divine power, entered, and offered to God the village of Saintes with five hamlets and other possessions. Thence she went to Jerusalem and other holy places with a single manservant and maidservant: after seven years she returned to Saintes (which then seems to have been the name of the place), living beyond the measure of humanity, and until the times of the Huns, as if already placed in an ecstasy of mind, having trodden underfoot all earthly things, aspiring to heavenly ones, she obtained the state of the contemplative life, resplendent with miracles and virtues. Saint Reineldis was killed. So it is narrated in the Life of Saint Reineldis on July 16; and how she was afterward killed by the same Huns. Whoever weighs all these things carefully will acknowledge that her death does not seem to have occurred before the year of Christ 680. Moreover, Odelard was still living at that time, and had perhaps not yet removed his daughter from his company, her brother Eligard also surviving, who was killed by the same Huns.

[8] Having weighed all these considerations, we think that Saint Berlindis died around the year 700. Berlindis was not elevated by Saint Autbert, Whence what is said in section 15, that her body was translated by Autbert, Bishop of Cambrai, and Florbert, Bishop of Tournai, is a notorious error; although it was not noticed by Molanus, Miraeus, Wion, or Saussaye. Saint Autbert died in the year 675. Whence it would follow that Berlindis died in 645, and that her father offered the property to Saint Gertrude in 628, three years before Gertrude was born. But neither was there any Florbert who was Bishop of Tournai. A twofold conjecture presents itself here; namely, that this writer either found in the old records that the body of the holy Virgin was elevated by the Bishops of Cambrai and Tournai, and rashly supplied the names; or that he found the names of Florbert and Adolph, but perhaps by Saints Adolph and Florebertus and substituted Autbert for the latter, and made the former, who was written as Bishop of Liege, or perhaps of Maastricht, or of Tongeren, into a Bishop of Tournai. Certainly there were contemporaries: Saint Adolph, or Hadulph, Bishop of Cambrai and Arras, who is said to have died on May 19, 729, and Saint Florebertus, who is reported to have succeeded his father Saint Hubert on the See of Liege in 727, and this one had a residence at Fure, where his father had died; so that he could as easily have been summoned from nearby to that elevation as Saint Lambert, predecessor of Saint Hubert, was summoned by Saint Vindicianus, likewise Bishop of Cambrai, to the consecration of the church at Hunolcurt, as Baldricus writes in his Chronicle, book 1, chapter 26. in the year 728 If anyone approves this latter conjecture, he will date that Elevation to the year 728. For Florebertus was not a Bishop before then, and Adolph died the following year, in the month of May.

[9] The memory of that Elevation is recorded in the Ecclesiastical Annals on the sixth day before the Nones of May, on which day the Florarium has the following: At Meerbeke in Brabant, the Translation of Saint Berlindis, Virgin, daughter of Saint Odelard the Count, May 2. who herself also was of the stock of the Carolingians. That this author calls Odelard a Saint is stated more explicitly in the Index: Of Odelard, father of Saint Berlindis, Virgin, February 3. A certain manuscript of the Charterhouse of Brussels has the following under May 2 about Berlindis: At Meerbeke, a border village of Brabant, of Saint Berlindis, Virgin. She was born there, and there she rests. Molanus in his additions to Usuard: At Meerbeke, the Elevation of Saint Berlindis, Virgin, and of Celsa and Nona, Virgins. Wion, Menard, Dorgani, Ferrarius, and Saussaye also record their Elevation on that day.

[10] Twenty-three years before the body of Saint Berlindis was legitimately raised from the tomb by the Bishops, that is, seven years after her death, friends and neighbors dug up the sarcophagus, to replace it, if they could, with a stone one, since it was wooden: but they found that by Divine power the wood had been changed into stone. The author of the Florarium believed that the body was elevated at that time, and that the anniversary memory of its Elevation was celebrated on September 9, where he writes thus: On the same day, the Elevation of the body of Saint Berlindis, Virgin and religious woman, of the stock of the Carolingians. Concerning which a great and evident miracle appeared before the eyes of all. For when she had formerly been buried, for want of stones, in a hollowed oak, it was found changed into stone. afterward translated again on September 9. But it is not this Elevation that is celebrated on that day, but another later Translation, or transposition of the relics into a new casket, performed by the Abbot of Saint Ghislain, acting in place of the ailing Bishop, on the fifth day before the Ides of September, as is mentioned in the little book of Miracles of Saint Berlindis, section 8. This Translation is inscribed on that day in the Martyrologies. Molanus in his additions to Usuard has: At Meerbeke, the Translation of Berlindis, Celsa, and Nona, Virgins. The Carthusians of Cologne in their additions to Usuard, Wion, Menard, Canisius, Ferrarius, Saussaye, and others also record it.

[11] Moreover, that book of miracles which we publish here from the manuscript of Rouge-Cloitre was written by someone from Meerbeke, perhaps the Pastor or the Provost. Her miracles written by someone of Meerbeke. This is clearly established from chapter 3, section 12, where he speaks thus: "And there was a certain woman native to our place." And section 16: "There is a parish adjacent to ours, by the name of Wentica." Having testified in chapter 1, section 3, that what he narrates he learned from the report of many faithful people and saw himself. But he appended no chronological note, nor did he give the names of Bishops or Abbots.

[12] It remains for us to inquire about Saints Nona and Celsa, of whom no mention is made in the Life. Ferrarius in his Annotation to February 3 says that Saint Nona is the very mother of Berlindis, Saints Nona and Celsa the sister of Saint Amand: but forgetful of himself, he writes that on May 2 and September 9 the Translation of the holy Virgins Berlindis, Celsa, and Nona is observed. And rightly so, for so most other Martyrologies and the Church of Meerbeke itself have it. In the little book of Miracles, section 14, it is said: "she took refuge in the patronage of the same Ladies"; namely, of these three Saints. And in section 17 they are called "sacred Matrons." But in section 13, "sacred Virgins." And in section 8: Virgins, "They find with the aforesaid Virgin (Berlindis) also the bodies of two other Virgins, so wrapped together in a deer's hide that nothing seemed to be missing except the head of one: these, as they say, were called the one Celsa, the other Nona. Concerning them it is likewise established that they worshipped God most fully in spirit and in truth: as for the rest, because it is hidden from us, let us commit it to God, for whom it is to know all things." In the aforesaid manuscript of the Brussels Charterhouse, not however an ancient one, under September 9, the following is found: "Of Berlindis, Virgin, nieces of Saint Berlindis. and of her companions Celsa and Nona. They were her nieces: this one was the daughter of Odelard, Lord of that place, and of Nona, sister of Saint Amand." They seem therefore to have been daughters of Eligard, and after the death of their father, to have lived with their holy aunt.

LIFE BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR,

from six manuscript codices.

Berlindis, Virgin, of Meerbeke in Belgium (Saint) Nona, Virgin, of Meerbeke in Belgium (Saint) Celsa, Virgin, of Meerbeke in Belgium (Saint)

BHL Number: 1184

By an Anonymous Author, from manuscripts.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

[1] Since everywhere the faithful worshippers of Christ of all nations, relying on and protected by the patronage of all the Saints, venerating them, ask for help from heaven through their intercessions, and venerate with an affection of greater love the reverence of those Saints whose relics are held in their places; I think it not inappropriate to retrace the memory of this Virgin Berlindis, by whose patronage with God we can be protected, according to the measure of a humble style, Saint Berlindis is to be venerated, and in words however unpolished, and to commend her to the minds of the hearers as a pattern of both lives.

[2] This Virgin, then, Berlindis by name, although she was worthy of remembrance according to the dignity of the world, born not of the lowest parents but of the nobler families of the entire kingdom, is nevertheless to be honored by us with a more excellent reverence; she who shines forth venerable before Christ by her merits and by the glorious chastity of her holiness. For she built a pleasing dwelling for her heavenly spouse in her virginity, and laboring in sacred works, laid the foundation of an eternal home for herself in heaven. Nor is it undeserved that this Virgin should be honored by those especially by the people of Meerbeke: to whom she was joined in this life by kinship and familiarity,

or who trace their genealogy from her family, or who, bound to the service of her and her forebears, served in their retinues. For she was a native and lady of the place of Meerbeke, and therefore, watered by the dew of Divine aid through her prayers, it has always flourished and shall flourish.

The earlier parts are missing in the Meerbeke codex; in the Utrecht codex, the entire prologue is missing.

CHAPTER I

The Family, Parents, and Disinheritance of Saint Berlindis.

[3] In the time, therefore, of Dagobert, King of the Franks, the father of this Virgin, Odelard by name, serving under Witger, Duke of the Lotharingians (the husband of Saint Amalberga, who rests at Lobbes, whose daughters were Saint Reineldis and Saint Gudula), commanded the army of the entire Duchy: born of Odelard, a wealthy Count and adhering above all others to the Duke himself, and enjoying his intimate friendship, he arranged with provident and useful counsel all that needed to be done in his household and army. Moreover, his possessions were two fortresses, Humbeek and Asse: of which one, namely Asse, was destroyed by the Huns, but the other, fortified by nature and defended by a multitude of soldiers, remained impregnable. Since, therefore, this man was powerful, enriched both by so noble a lineage and by riches, strongholds, and the dignity of honors -- for he governed the county from the port of Antwerp all the way to Conde -- and Nona, sister of Saint Amand: he took in marriage a most noble maiden, the sister of the blessed Bishop Amand, by the name of Nona. For she was a maiden exceedingly beautiful in appearance, composed in honest manners, chaste in purity, Catholic in faith, and thoroughly instructed in every knowledge of Evangelical doctrine. From her, therefore, he begot a son named Eligard, who was killed by the Huns in the aforementioned destruction of the fortress. He also begot from the same wife a daughter, a Virgin most beautiful of face, notable in form and elegant in person, but more distinguished than all in probity and industry, by the name of Berlindis.

[4] Then, when three years had been four times rolled around after the first night of their union, the aforesaid Nona, his wife, died in the Lord Jesus Christ. she cohabits: with her widowed father; When she had been commended to the bosom of our first mother according to the obligation of human custom, to be preserved for the blessed resurrection, the same man did not wish to be entangled further in the world, desiring to fulfill what the Apostle Paul says: "Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife." 1 Corinthians 7:27 who devoted himself to holy works But while for a long time he devoted himself with his aforesaid daughter, the only Virgin, to pious acts, bestowing the bowels of piety in almsgiving and good works toward all, but especially toward those of the household of faith, God the rewarder of all good things, who scourges and chastises with the lashes of holy correction the children of light not yet tested by the rust of sins, so that when the chaff has been shaken off, the pure wheat may be received on a clean threshing floor -- wishing to prove pure gold refined in the furnace -- struck the same man, as a son, with the paternal rod of manifold illness. For a long illness seized him, and in the illness itself leprosy struck him grievously.

[5] When he had languished, therefore, for the course of many years, with his servants drifting away, wearied with tedium, it happened on a certain day that he remained alone in the house with his daughter only. offended by Berlindis, who excessively abhorred his sores, When he asked her for a drink, she immediately rose, hastily washed the cup, poured in the drink, and brought it to her father: who drank and returned the cup to her. But the ancient serpent, always envious of the human race and ignorant of humility, slightly infected the Virgin with the guise of pride, the root of all evils. For being thirsty, she disdained to drink after her father, poured out the potion, washed the cup again, put in the drink, and thus drank. Which her father observing, he said no word to her; but silently bore it with remarkable indignation, and disturbed with vehement anger, he called his servants, ordered a carriage to be prepared for him at once: mounting which, he went to Nivelles, and there to Saint Gertrude he handed over whatever he possessed in estates, with his entire household of servants and maidservants, with a turf and a branch and a knife with a white handle, and deprived his daughter of all right of paternal and maternal inheritance.

[6] But in that same handing over, a stupendous thing occurred, admirable beyond human measure, she disinherited, he donates all his possessions to Saint Gertrude, to the praise of Him who created all things. For when the same man approached the bier, he affirmed with all obstinacy that he would never give her the estate unless the blessed Virgin herself received it with her own hand. When he cried out three and four times: the hand extending from the sepulchre; "Holy Gertrude, receive this little gift from my hand, and do not spurn me, a sinner, weeping and wailing before you, unless you prefer that I go away to give it to another," immediately, by the will of the Most High Thunderer, the casket in which the blessed Virgin lay opened itself, and the lifeless body extended its hand, and before the eyes of all the people who were present, it received within the casket the branch with the turf and the knife from the hand of the man who was offering them, and remained closed and sealed just as it had been before. Then a cry was raised to heaven, and the Creator of all, who never turns the ears of His piety from the groaning of His own, was adored, and His handmaid, by whose merits He deigned to display so unexpected and so joyful a miracle in the presence of sinners, was venerated with the utmost devotion. after some time he dies. But when the aforesaid man had been purged for some space of time in the fire of tribulations, after the example of Blessed Job, it pleased Him who leaves nothing unrewarded to recompense his patience, and to place his soul, after the toil of labors and sorrows, in eternal rest.

In the Life of Saint Reineldis on July 16, her father is called a Count, by the name of Witger, and is said to have held the office of the Duchy of all Lotharingia. In the Life of Saint Gudula on January 8, chapter 1, section 3, her father is said to have been Witger, whom we understand to have held office in the state of the County. In the other Life of Saint Gudula, section 1: "There was a certain Count, by the name of Witger, in the district of Brabant." We shall treat of Blessed Witger and Saint Amalberga on July 10.

The Corssendonk manuscript had, as if it were an interlinear gloss, "Grimbergh." In the territory of Geraardsbergen there exist Ombergh, or Hombergh, and Humbroeck. Whether one of these is the same, we were not able to inquire.

The Meerbeke manuscript reads "Aschiae." The place is still famous, between Brussels and Aalst.

The Corssendonk manuscript reads "estates."

The Lobbes and Corssendonk manuscripts read "Condacum." Saint Reineldis is said to have been a native of the castle of Condacum, which is situated on the river Scheldt. Certain learned men interpret this as Contich, a large village situated roughly midway between Antwerp and Mechelen. Condacum, a village of Brabant. And it once belonged to the monks of Lobbes, from the donation of Saint Reineldis, as they believe: they certainly still retain some right. Others wish Condatum, or Conde, a town of Hainaut, to be understood, where the river Haine mingles with the Scheldt. But the distance between that place and Antwerp is indeed great, and the monks of Lobbes have no jurisdiction over Conde. But our Brabantine Contich is some miles distant from the Scheldt. Perhaps it once had some fortress situated on the Scheldt, around the mouth of the river Rupel, about nine miles from the port of Antwerp: so that that entire shore of the vast river might be defended by the garrison of Count Odelard against the incursions of barbarians.

Another reading: "not yet."

We shall give the Life of Saint Gertrude on March 17.

Concerning this rite of transferring possession through a turf, or Wazo, and a branch, we have treated on this same day in connection with the Life of Saint Hadelin, at chapter 3, annotation 9.

CHAPTER II

The Holiness and Miracles of Saint Berlindis.

[7] The Blessed Virgin Berlindis, therefore, perceiving that she had been despoiled of her father's goods on account of the guilt of her offence, making light of the honors of this world, and fearing the wrath of the heavenly Judge because she had presumed to show disdain to her father (for she had often heard what is written: "Whoever inflicts injury on father or mother shall be subject to the sentence of eternal death"),

a Concerning Morsella, it is said on January 8 in the Life of St. Gudila, chapter 2, number 8: "There was, moreover, on the border a village called Morzella, distant from their dwelling by an interval of two miles: the church of Morsella, in which an oratory had been built, dedicated in honor of the Holy Savior." And at number 26, it is said that she was accustomed always to frequent the basilica of the Holy Savior at Morzele with most devout visits. And at number 29: "The body of the most blessed Virgin was translated to the basilica of Morzele." But there is no mention of a monastery, except after the body of St. Gudila was translated thither, a monastery, when Charlemagne gathered there a flock of nuns, as is said at number 31 and in the second Life at number 21. But perhaps, just as Berlendis, so other nuns had withdrawn elsewhere, or had all died, or had at that time been stripped of their goods by wicked men, destroyed inasmuch as what Charlemagne had donated, Wenemarus and his son Ermenfridus afterward seized, so that not even Duke Charles himself was able to recover them, being content with the body of St. Gudila, which he translated to Brussels.

b The Corsendonck manuscript reads "canore."

c Thus it is narrated in the Life of St. Severinus, October 23.

d A matta, or mattula, is a mat made of rushes. Mattula. See the Onomasticon of Rosweyde on the Lives of the Fathers.

CHAPTER III

The death, translation, and miracles of St. Berlendis.

[12] Divinely forewarned of her death, she receives the Sacraments: When therefore fifteen years with two more had been completed after the death of her father, and she perceived by divine revelation that the final moments of this life were pressing upon her, she summoned the priests and requested holy oil. Having received it, she consecrated her departure with the body and blood of her Redeemer, and thus rendered her last breath to heaven.

[13] She is buried in a wooden tomb: Therefore her relatives and friends, servants and handmaids, and even the leading men of this region gathered together and came to bury her: and they laid her to rest in fitting manner beside the tomb of her parents. But since they did not have a stone sarcophagus in which to place her -- for there is a scarcity of such in this region -- they felled a great oak standing near the church, and from that same oak they fashioned a vessel in which she was placed. How many miracles the Lord deigned to work through her in that same place, who after many miracles performed there, neither can our mind set forth, nor does our tongue suffice to explain. For many blind persons, their sight restored, returned home without a guide; many lame, their limbs made firm, were raised up from their foundations; hearing was restored to the deaf, the tongues of the mute were loosened, and demons were utterly expelled from possessed bodies at her sepulchre.

[14] When therefore her sanctity, abounding in so many and so great miracles, became famous far and wide, the wooden tomb is found to have become stone; it pleased her friends and neighbors, after seven years, to inspect the sarcophagus, and to see whether they might change it for the better in her honor. In that place a wondrous thing occurred, an unprecedented miracle unheard of by human ears. For when they cast up from the earth the same sarcophagus in which the holy Virgin lay, though it had formerly been wooden, it was found to be stone. A certain incredulous woman is punished: When report of this matter was spread through the region, and lifted the minds of all who heard it to the praise of God and St. Berlendis, a certain woman from the neighborhood, remaining incredulous and affirming that this was a falsehood, came to see, poorly disposed to belief. But as soon as she saw the sarcophagus, she was seized by a demon and fell to the ground. She lay there for three days without consciousness, neither hearing nor seeing, until the most sacred Virgin, moved by the prayers of those standing by, restored her to her former health.

[15] Moved by these miracles, so joyful and so wondrous, the whole region came running with gladness, and in honor of the blessed Mother of God Mary and of the holy Virgin Berlendis

they built the church in which she now rests. Therefore in the thirtieth year after her burial, a church is built for her: the entire multitude of the neighboring regions, inspired by divine impulse, assembled together with two Bishops, namely the Bishop of Cambrai, the body is translated: named b Aubert, and the Bishop of Tournai named c Florbert; who raised her from the sepulchre and placed her in the shrine in which she now reposes.

[16] When moreover God wished to amplify the glory and honor and name of His Virgin, it happened that a certain monk of the monastery of the blessed protomartyr Stephen in the city of Toul saw in a vision a most beautiful youth standing beside him, certain of her relics are taken away by a monk of Toul, and saying: "Arise and go to the province of Brabant, to the place called Merbeke, and endeavor to obtain some of the relics of the holy Virgin named Berlendis, so that in her honor you may build a church in the place which God will show you." Coming to the aforesaid place, he was received with great honor, and remaining there for a long time he was held in great veneration, and at last was made custodian of the church. Therefore on a certain night, when all were sunk in sleep, he opened the shrine, and took from the Virgin as much as pleased him, and departed at a time convenient to himself. Coming by God's guidance into a wilderness, to a place called d Timis that had been shown him from heaven, he remained there, and built a basilica to the blessed Virgin, in which, resplendent with signs and powers and miracles, she shines forth wondrously even to this day. And they are made illustrious by miracles. For a congregation of devout monks established there serves the Lord, and that country is sustained by the Lord through the patronage of the same Virgin.

[17] Therefore it is fitting for those who worship God, who love Him, who believe in Him, who serve Him, to praise, glorify, and bless God, who works such great and almost innumerable miracles gloriously and laudably in His Saints. Epilogue. And that we ourselves may deserve to be preserved and blessed by Him, let us with all the devotion of pious intention beseech, through the prayers of this Virgin whose Life, with the Lord's help, we have briefly traversed in words however unpolished, that we may deserve to attain the homeland of the heavenly inheritance. The holy Virgin Berlendis departed this light and life happily in the Lord on the third day before the Nones of February, and she exults with the Saints perpetually, reigning with Christ, to whom is glory, praise, and honor, with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, through infinite ages of ages, Amen.

a The Corsendonck manuscript reads "passibus."

b The Merbeke manuscript reads "Ausberto"; the Corsendonck manuscript reads "Ansberto." We have shown above that this appears to have occurred more than 50 years after the death of St. Autbert, which took place in the year 675, as we shall show in his Life on December 13.

c The Merbeke manuscript reads "Norberto." The Corsendonck manuscript reads "Nortberto." Neither any Florbert nor any Norbert was Bishop of Tournai. We have shown above that it seems probable that this was St. Florebert, Bishop of Liege.

d Certain manuscripts read "Tumnis."

MIRACLES OF ST. BERLENDIS

by an anonymous author, from manuscripts.

Berlendis, Virgin, at Merbeke in Belgium (Saint) Nona, Virgin, at Merbeke in Belgium (Saint) Celsa, Virgin, at Merbeke in Belgium (Saint)

BHL Number: 1185

By an anonymous author, from manuscripts.

CHAPTER I

Merbeke laid waste by the Danes. St. Berlendis made illustrious by her sepulchre and miracles.

[1] Compelled above all by the benevolence of the venerable Virgin Berlendis, whose merits were made known by divine utterance through the Angel of God, Why the author writes these miracles? let us give thanks, fortified by divine consolation, without which it is vain for us even to attempt anything of this kind and to bring it to effect. For our mind, flattered by the pleasures of the flesh, is entangled in ruinous affairs, with which we daily fall (alas) by deceptions: and thus, setting aside the most useful things, we lean upon the most worthless. But we must come to our senses, in order to illuminate our darkened understanding, so that it may burn more with the fire of charity than grow numb under the murky fog of error pressing upon it. We see indeed two things greatly distinct from one another; let us without doubt choose whichever of them is more excellent. Wherefore let us rightly abandon what is on the left and seek what is on the right. Let us begin, and God will give the increase. For He Himself says: "Begin, and I will complete." And we, gladdened here by grace, let us turn our sluggish tongue to the matter at hand.

[2] After the grace of almighty God, poured forth everywhere, was made manifest, and illuminated many persons of diverse kinds and both sexes, it did not fail the blessed Virgin Berlendis either, because according to predestination He wished to assign her to the region of the living. I say that this willing comes from Him, Berlendis attained holiness by God's grace. lest anyone, despising, should attribute to himself the gift of God, not to God. For He says, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will show compassion on whom I will have compassion." Rom. 9:15-16, Therefore it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Whence therefore it is clear that in this corruptible life the blessed Virgin made little of the things of this world, and with her whole endeavor clung unceasingly to the commands of God, keeping watch with her prudent companions for the return of the Bridegroom, their lamps filled with unfailing oil, and entering with Him into the chamber of the palace of perpetual life, rejoicing perpetually among her equals, and offering before the Lord the prayers of those who devoutly serve her and of all the faithful.

[3] It is evident to those who hold sound doctrine that her death is precious in the sight of the Lord: and lest any unlearned person should waver, her sepulchre, exceedingly heavy, scarcely presses the earth. the signs of her merits bear witness. For even her sarcophagus, though it is of the greatest weight, so much so that it would nearly overburden three pairs of oxen, is so sustained by the hand of God that it scarcely seems to touch the ground on any side. And since we often see stones thus pressed into the earth to the measure of their mass, so that they are sometimes pulled out with great difficulty, what else is to be considered in such lightness of so great a mass, except the power of Him for whom those things that are impossible for us are manifestly easy? But since these things are so, let us return to those things which we have learned from the report of many faithful persons, and which we ourselves have observed.

[4] There was a certain Frederick, under whose authority the community of Nivelles was, except for the Abbess; for she herself commanded all. When he presided over the village of Merbeke in his Provostship, with the consent of the Lady Abbess, and was repairing the same place, which had been destroyed by the impious Danes, among these matters he prepared a book of great value at Merbeke for the use of another of his churches: [Merbeke destroyed by the Danes is repaired: a book sent elsewhere is changed into Greek,] but God contrived an obstacle so that he might not carry it to its intended purpose. For when the volume was sent where he had arranged, written in true and clear characters, it was transformed into Greek by the wondrous merits of St. Berlendis. When this was discovered, the prudent man understood that the book was acceptable to the blessed Virgin: and having confessed his fault, he had it brought back and restored it to the holy place; it is restored. and it immediately shone forth in its former fitness.

[5] Indeed in that same age, a certain man named Guyro, a villager, while he was taking barley from that church for the purpose of sowing -- as is the custom of the country, two soldiers were standing by -- they asked him to give them grain to feed their horses: when he refused, they took it by force, horses choked after sacrilegiously seized grain: and poured it out as fodder for the horses. But at the first bite, the beasts, seized by a wicked spirit, were killed by suffocation. Therefore the soldiers, raging, ran up with drawn swords, attacked the wretched peasant, and wished to strike off his head: yet by divine precaution, through the devotions of the sacred Berlendis, they were unable to do so. A wondrous thing: although the edge of such a weapon cannot sometimes be blunted even by iron in cutting, flesh, by God's providence, blunted it. A servant of St. Berlendis cannot be harmed by the sword: For although they struck three times, only the mark of the blow appeared: but by God's grace there was neither wound nor pain. Whereupon both men, stricken with remorse of conscience, most humbly prostrated themselves,

and creeping on their knees and elbows, with great fear they surrendered their weapons to the holy Virgin in satisfaction. And so it came to pass that what formerly served for the cult of sorrow was afterward, in God, transformed into a mark of glory. Thus does virtue conquer vice, thus dost Thou, O Christ, overcome guilt.

[6] The weapons are hung up as offerings to the Saint. Therefore in the month of August, when the harvests were now ripe for gathering, a certain greedy man was urging his whole little household to labor at reaping, because the day was not shining with its customary fair weather, and he feared that the ninth hour was approaching, the night preceding the feast day of the Chains of Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles. Behold, everywhere the signs were announcing the end of labor, and all were ceasing: but he alone did not stop working. One who violates the feast is punished by contraction of the hand; Some assailed him with reproaches, others with rebukes, others with threats: but not even thus could he be restrained. At length, struck by divine vengeance, he desisted: for the hand with which he had gathered the sheaf was contracted by the sinews. And after an interval of time, on the vigil of Blessed Lawrence, he requested to be led to the intercession of the blessed Virgin. When they arrived there, he is healed through St. Berlendis. what was committed through the enticement of sin was effaced by the merit of the sacred Virgin. Moreover, the limb which had been struck by the act of transgression was rendered healed by the grace of piety.

[7] Nor should it be passed over in silence what happened regarding her sarcophagus. But it is already evident to us that all living things by nature seek the good and avoid evil: just as we hasten to drink to quench thirst, to covering to ward off cold, to shade to escape heat, to the physician to cut short disease, so we hasten to food to drive away hunger. In that time also many who were afflicted with fevers, seeking grace, flocking to the sepulchre of the Virgin, diseases healed by the touch of her sepulchre, were healed either by a salutary or a rash touch of that same sepulchre. There was moreover a certain man afflicted with daily fevers, who, desiring health, besought a certain nun named Rapburgis (for the ecclesiastical things had been entrusted to her) to give him a small amount from the sepulchre of Blessed Berlendis. She indeed, suspecting no offense, rashly ran up and scraped a little from the underside: dust rashly scraped off becomes blood: but when she was about to hand it to the sick man, opening her hand she found nothing except a clot of blood, nor did she give it: for by the mighty power of God, in order to reveal the wondrous things of His saint, the stone had been turned into gore. But since God willed to be touched by a woman suffering a flow of blood, why did He do this remarkable thing with the stone? I believe He did not refuse to heal, but checked the rashness: because although the substance was inanimate, nevertheless the divine hand consecrated it by the merits of Blessed Berlendis.

a Concerning the incursions of the Danes into this region, extensive treatment is given in the Life of St. Gudila, in volume 2 of the Frankish Writers of Chesne, and in his Normannic works.

b The Corsendonck manuscript reads "confracta."

CHAPTER II

The translation of Saints Berlendis, Celsa, and Nona, and miracles.

[8] Not much time had elapsed when, as the appointed term of divine disposition was now at hand, God willed to lay open His treasure, still putting forth shoots from its roots, and so inspired the hearts of certain faithful inhabitants, that since the chest containing so holy a body appeared corroded and consumed by age, her body is transferred into a new elegant chest, they conspired to cast it aside and to prepare a new one, beautifully fashioned from solid wood, fittingly adorned with gold and silver. But since without the counsel of the Bishop this was by no means permitted, they sent messengers and consulted the Bishop. He, having sent a most devout Abbot of Saint-Ghislain, together with a certain worthy Dean of that district named Bono (for the Bishop himself was detained by illness), commanded them to dismantle the old chest; and with faithful witnesses present, to seal the new one without delay. When they had reached the place, and on the fifth day before the Ides of September designated the shrine, with an extraordinary fragrance, suddenly a marvelous fragrance of wondrous scent entered the nostrils of those standing by and refreshed their minds. They found moreover, together with the aforesaid Virgin, the bodies of two other Virgins, still wrapped together in deerskin in such a way that nothing appeared to be missing except the head of one: these, as they say, were called the one Celsa, the other Nona. together with Saints Celsa and Nona, Virgins. Concerning whom it is likewise established that they worshipped God supremely in spirit and in truth: the rest, because it is hidden from us, let us commit to God, for whom it is to know all things. But now let us return to our digression. Likewise they found in a certain corner a small casket which contained certain limbs of an infant excepting the little head, and they declare it to be the little body of a Holy Innocent. Therefore the bodies of the Saints, brought together with praises and hymns and other offerings of the Lord, were reverently sealed and enclosed without delay. But the sacred little body of the Innocent, because it was crowned by a glorious passion, into another, the body of an Innocent Martyr. received a separate little casket according to its small size.

[9] When therefore the leading men desired to adorn the chest with the most precious metal, as we have said, and were unable to accomplish this on account of the scarcity of money, [for the adornment of the new chest, the relics are carried about with the Bishop's permission:] again, with the Bishop's permission, they went around to various strongholds with the holy matrons to augment the supply. And behold, having in their company twenty-four laymen and six clerics, they came to a village particularly poor, called Cymbersaca: and since they had in their provisions nothing but five barley loaves, nor could they find others for sale, nor were offerings given (I believe because thus the unfailing Rewarder wished to set forth His handmaidens), constrained by hunger they at last shared out those same loaves and divided them by lot according to each person. The Lord, wondrous in power, by the merits of the blessed Virgins, as is His wont, changed their poverty there into heavenly abundance. For all who were present were never more sumptuously refreshed by any delicacies of food the loaves are multiplied for those carrying them, and become most savory than there by that bread, seasoned by the gift of God most high: nor did it merely suffice for them, but even was left over: so much so that it abounded both for the poor and for those serving them.

[10] It should also be known that the divine power, readily disposed toward its sacred pupil Berlendis in great things and in small -- small therefore, because it is established that human power can operate both invisibly and visibly. When, by the work of the aforementioned grace, she had waited for some time at the shrine of the most blessed handmaid of God, Gertrude, that is to say in the autumnal season, when the most merciful Virgin is especially frequented by many: it happened that peasants had arrived with a large cart certain things to be offered to St. Gertrude, loaded to overflowing, and had to pass by the blessed Virgin Berlendis: and when the cart was passing by, it was so overloaded that the coupling of the yoke and pole was broken by the draft of the oxen. Behold, those who were present as our heralds by the portent of the broken cart, cried out insistently that the cart should be given over to God's consecrated ones. But those men, by no means complying, some pushing by the pole, others propelling the wheels, were eager to move the cart forward. Yet they labored in vain: for while they pressed on greatly and our people clamored earnestly in opposition, the small shoulders fell from the hubs of the wheels, and the cart being shattered, they stood stupefied, uncertain what should be done. They yield to the people of Merbeke. And when these events were made public, by the order of the Lady Superior it was commanded that half be given to us, and the remainder be reserved for themselves.

[11] Nor should it be passed over, how a certain woman, forewarned in a spiritual vision, received her sight at Merbeke. At the time of the shrine of Mont-Gerard, where above the castle of Tenerum is situated, there was a certain woman long stricken with blindness. Already at that time, either at Micenas, or at Rosbeke, and even at the court of Blessed Stephen, many were seeking the benefit of a cure, and very many the grace of prayer: a blind woman, warned in sleep by St. Stephen, goes to Merbeke; anxious among these three, she was troubled as to which she should rather approach. Without delay, the blessed protomartyr Stephen appeared in a vision to her as she wavered in her choice, clothed in blood-stained garments, and forewarned her with these words: "If you truly seek the health of recovery, you will go to Merbeke, and there you will be healed." Whence, having confidence, on the night of Pentecost she journeyed to that place, and the most blessed witness of Christ kept his promise. On the second day moreover, at the third hour of the day, the Offertory having already been said and the Secret prayers having begun to be initiated, with opened eyes she beheld the lit candles and receives her sight. and the people standing by: and she proclaimed thanks to God with a loud voice. When the solemnities of the Masses were duly completed, there was joy among all, the clerics singing hymns together and ringing the bells, while the laity celebrated f the Kyrieles.

a Hub. The hub is the center of a wheel, into which the spokes are fixed on the outside, and into the tube of which the axle is inserted.

b Concerning the origin, laws, sacred buildings, and territory of this town, there exist three books by Johannes Wasbergius.

c What is here called Tener, more often Tenera, by Vrientius in Sanderus called Dendra, by some called Tenra, the river Tenera, is a river of Imperial Flanders, which flows into the Scheldt at the town of Dendermonde, so called from it, as if "the mouth of the Tenera."

d Perhaps he means the Messines indicated, a celebrated monastery of noble Virgins, two miles from Ypres, the monastery of Messines, founded by Athela or Adela, wife of Baldwin the Pious, Count of Flanders, as Meyerus writes under the year 1065, where he calls it Messinas, and under the year 1062 Mescinas.

e Rosbeke is a village of the district of Aalst, under the Barony of Scornacum, as Wasbergius and Sanderus write, and indeed (as we have learned from elsewhere) famous for the veneration of the Virgin Mother of God. There is however also another Rosbeke, the village of Rosbeke, which is distant three of our leagues from the city of Ypres, where Philip van Artevelde, with his men of Ghent, was slain in a memorable battle by the French, whom Louis de Male, Count of Flanders, had summoned to his aid: [famous for the slaughter of the Flemings, and for the veneration of the Blessed Virgin.] In this Rosbeke also the veneration of the same great Mother flourishes, so that very many flock thither to honor her statue. And they report that in our age this memorable thing occurred: that along the route where her statue is customarily carried in the Rogation procession, during the whole time in which heresy held sway, while all the surrounding places were becoming wild with foul overgrowth, that road, although quite long, was disfigured by no thorns or nettles or shrubs. Concerning which Rosbeke is treated here we do not guess: except that it may be believed that the more distant one is joined with Messines.

f That is, litanies, which begin with the frequently repeated Kyrie eleison.

CHAPTER III

Various healings at the tomb of St. Berlendis.

[12] It is therefore not our intention to make a digression from the benefits of the most sacred handmaid of God, and likewise of a miracle wrought by God, because Scripture says: "All praise is sung at the end." Ps. 75 title. And there was a certain woman native to our place, so constricted in both hands that with her fingers clenched, her thumbs were driven into the flesh down to the hard bones. She likewise, who had been accustomed to seek her living by the use of her hands in spinning and weaving and other feminine tasks, now that the necessary limbs were failing, was sick in every quality of her body: and she who had formerly professed herself to lead the life of a pauper of this world without cause, now earnestly affirmed that she was rich in salvation but poorer with cause in her disability. What more? At length sufficiently wearied and reduced almost to nothing, contracted limbs, upon invoking the Saint, are released, in her anxiety she invokes St. Berlendis with prayers, asking that she might at least be freed from her left hand, and that her right hand at least might have strength enough for her to make the sign of the cross. Indeed the handmaid of Christ kept vigil over her earnest prayers, and on the following night fulfilled her requests with her accustomed powers: but in her remaining limbs the constriction was drawn tighter by this delay. With tearful prayers she begs to be carried before the sight of the blessed Virgin. When she was brought there, she was immediately released from the bonds of her other limbs, and rising up, she praised God with most humble voices, still infirm in the contractions of her left hand. On the next day, as the twilight waned and the sun ascended to the position of the first hour of the day, the whole populace flocked together for the sacred ministry, for it was the feast of the Conversion of the Apostle Paul. And behold, she too was brought in, leaning on the hands of her people, and was prostrated before the altar: devoting herself to prayer, and during the solemnities of the Mass she became as if dead. Suddenly the sacristan ran up and found a rivulet of blood already flowing, and a very great wound on her hand. But he seized water and sprinkled her: and behold, he saw the hand that was formerly clenched now feebly opened. And thus restored to health and strengthened in God she returned to her own home.

[13] There are also things even more wondrous in their occurrence to relate, confirmed by the testimony of several persons. There came therefore the octave of the Lord's Nativity, which is also His Circumcision: and no small assembly of the people flooded in for the morning hymns according to customary rite. And it happened that while the clergy were reverently celebrating the psalmody according to the measure of their small congregation, with the cantor beginning the antiphon as usual during the Gospel, the church, during the time of Matins, is filled with a sweet odor, a most sweet odor arose from the chamber of the sacred Virgins and pervaded all who were present in the church. Nor therefore did certain persons delay in searching every hidden corner of the church, lest some object placed there might simulate a divine manifestation. Incense too was lacking there even at that time; but just as a city set on the peak of a mountain shines clearly on both sides, so the wondrous power of the Lord shines forth clearly even to those who are unwilling. Meanwhile it was poured forth more and more abundantly by God through the whole extent of the church and the space of the church: so that from wall to wall, from the floor to the peak of the roof, there was no corner that was not refreshed: and thus spreading throughout the entire morning, it vanished when the first hour of the day arrived. It should certainly be known that God has revealed the merits of His saints to all: so that they may have no distrust on earth of how great is their glory in heaven, and that their sweet-flowing prayers may serve as fragrant offerings for believers.

[14] Furthermore, a certain boy, an inhabitant of the above-mentioned village, when at a certain time he fell into bed exhausted by illness, burdened by disease, remained bent over and unable to walk by his own strength; he went about leaning on two sticks. When he had endured this for a long time, and did not hope to recover from any mortals, a cripple healed by the aid of the Saints: at last he took refuge in the intercession of those same Ladies; but not in the sight of those dwelling there. And it happened that while he was there devoting himself to prayer before the Lord's Cross, immediately he raised himself up, and standing by himself alone he magnified especially the merits of St. Berlendis: and leaping up he cast away his sticks and went out in full health. On the following day, returning, he brought a light to the sacred place, which happened likewise to be empty of the crowd; and from there he reported such a fortunate event to all whom he met.

[15] And since the remarkable signs of the virtues of the saints were becoming known to the common people, there was a certain man living apart in a village called Udenchem, seven miles distant from our place, who suffered a continuous burning of fire in both his feet. When he had heard the salutary report of healings, he likewise requested to be carried there. Brought therefore, he was placed on the left side of the altar as one enters: and by the benevolent dispensation of God, through the prayers of the blessed Virgin, whom he invoked with special trust, sacred fire cured: although he had come with smoking and putrid feet, immediately beginning to bleed, the fire was extinguished and freed from the stench of burning, and he returned to his own home with joy. Another man also, a peasant of the oft-mentioned place, called Alstenus, who had long been deprived of hearing, had the passages of his ears healed, hearing recovered: and was there restored to his former use.

[16] There is a parish adjacent to ours, named a Wentica, whence a certain Erbenbertus, small of stature, held fast by a crowd of his own people (for, swollen by a raging spirit, he tormented himself especially), was also brought there: but with so ready a recompense, a demoniac liberated: that by the holy Virgins, although he had come raging and insane, he departed restored to his right mind.

[17] What more? It is long and wearisome to relate the wondrous deeds of the sacred matrons, various miracles wrought: by which God made known to the world, together with the other heavenly beings, of how great worth they are to Him: because even though their bodies are still joined to the earth, their spirits without doubt obtain the fellowship of the Saints, as is clear, and demonstrate to us how much they avail in their prayers before our supreme Judge. And since the Lord had fortified His own with this solidity, and more wondrous things -- and, if I may say so, things more unheard of than His miracles -- were bound to be effected through them: let it escape no one that the will of those holy Virgins can in every way be easily accomplished by the nod of God: which is demonstrated in small things as in great, in greater, and in the greatest. For often cattle, because they touched sacred places, cattle not to be pastured in a sacred place, have been seen to be enfeebled by the merits of the Saints. To them likewise

the quenching of fevers, the healing of diverse diseases, and sometimes, what is greatest, the expulsion of demons, and the rendering of thanks have been granted, through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father, who with Him lives and reigns in the Holy Spirit, an equal divinity through all ages of ages, Amen.

a Commonly called Windeke and Denderwindeke, to distinguish it from another Wendica, which because it lies on the Scheldt is called Scheldewindeke.