Lietphardus

CONCERNING SAINT LIETPHARDUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR, AT HUNNONIS-CURIA IN BELGICA SECUNDA,

About the year 640.

Preliminary Commentary.

Lietphardus, Bishop and Martyr at Hunnonis-curia in Belgica Secunda (Saint)

By the author G. H.

Section I. The place of martyrdom. Veneration. Written Life.

[1] The forest of Arida-Gamantia, once a den of robbers, is described in the Life of Blessed Heldemarus the Hermit, founder of Arrouaise, on January 13. This Arrouaise is situated a league from the town of Bapaume in Artois, Saint Lietphardus killed in Arida-Gamantia, enclosed within this Arida-Gamantia, which thence stretched continuously to the river Sambre (commonly called the Sambre). Some part of this forest still survives in the borders of Artois where it joins the territory of Cambrai and Picardy, taking its surname from the neighboring villages. Its northern flank is occupied by the forest of Haurincourt, buried at Trescaut, which must be assigned to the slaying of Saint Lietphardus — from which, for those heading toward the Scheldt, the nearest village that presents itself is Trescaut (commonly called Trecau), noted as the first burial-place of Saint Lietphardus. On the other bank of the Scheldt, when the sacred bones of Saint Lietphardus were translated there, Hunnonis-curia (Honnecourt) became illustrious, translated to Honnecourt, or Hunulfi-curtis, in the diocese of Cambrai but subject to the dominion of the King of France, situated about three Belgian miles from Cambrai. At which place, as Baldericus testifies in book 1 of the Chronicle of Cambrai, chapter 26, Amalfridus, an illustrious man, together with his wife Childebertana, founded a monastery, a monastery of nuns and clerics, which Saint Vindicianus, Bishop of Cambrai, together with Saint Lambert, Bishop of Liege, consecrated in honor of Saint Peter; and there he established both clerics and nuns, and, as is added in book 2, chapter 10, set his daughter Auriana over them. It was formerly flourishing in religion and in wealth; but by that time (around the year of Christ 1070, when Baldericus, not yet Bishop of Noyon, was writing his Chronicle), after it had been given as a benefice to military men, it had devolved to a few canons. When these were removed, Benedictines succeeded them, then of Benedictine monks: introduced by monks from Saint-Bertin and for some time subject to their superiors; then they obtained their own Abbots. In this place, together with Saint Lietphardus, rest Saints Valeria and Pollena, sisters, whose brother modern writers make Saint Lietphardus to be, without any mention in the ancient monuments. They are honored together on October 8 with ecclesiastical veneration. The bones of these three Saints, that they might be safer from the misfortunes of war, were translated from this monastery of Honnecourt to the city of Saint-Quentin; but in its capture in the year 1557 they perished together with the ancient books and authentic documents, so that no trace of antiquity survives there, as Franciscus le Bar relates in his Monastic Treatises, as yet unpublished, volume 6, part 2.

[2] Notwithstanding these things, the monks of Honnecourt daily make commemoration of Saint Lietphardus and the two Virgins in the ecclesiastical office, venerated in the ecclesiastical office, as Molanus writes on the authority of the letters of Eleutherius Pontanus, the first Rector of the Jesuit college at Cambrai, in his Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium, and Miraeus in the Belgian Calendar on October 8. And that on this February 4 Saint Lietphardus is honored not only with solemn veneration in the church of Honnecourt but also in the neighboring territory of Cambrai, the lessons customarily recited at Matins in the ecclesiastical office indicate — which are to be given below, and which are cited by Molanus in his Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium on this February 4. Various manuscript Martyrologies, augmented under the name of Usuard for the use of the Belgian Churches, also record him, recorded in various Martyrologies: the one of Alberg for Canons Regular, the one of Utrecht for Clerics of Saint Jerome, the one of Leiden for the Sisters of the House of Saint Cecilia, the Cologne Martyrology printed in the year 1490, and Hermann Greven in his Supplement to the same Usuard, in nearly these words everywhere: "On this day, Saint Lietphardus, Bishop of the English and Martyr." By some he is called Archbishop. Molanus in his Supplement to Usuard adds the place Honnecourt; Canisius adds the diocese of Cambrai. But Ferrarius and Menardus make him Archbishop of Canterbury, with the latter ascribing him to the Order of Saint Benedict. Saussayus in his Gallican Martyrology says: "In Upper Picardy, Saint Liefardus, Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr, who in the times of Pope Leo III, when he was returning to his homeland from Rome after fulfilling his vows, was wickedly slain by impious men in the forest of Trecaut near Arras. His sacred body was brought to Honnecourt and deposited in the Benedictine monastery of the diocese of Cambrai, where it lay for some time until, shining with the glory of miracles, it was translated to Saint-Quentin together with the precious remains of Saints Valeria and Polena, his sisters." So says Saussayus. Leo III governed the Church from the year 795 to the year 816, a full century after the slaying of Saint Lietphardus, nor should Leo II be substituted in his place, who held the supreme dignity of the Church in the year 683, about forty years after the martyrdom of Saint Lietphardus. Moreover, when the body of Saint Lietphardus was brought to Honnecourt, Benedictine monks did not yet dwell there, but rather nuns with canons subordinate to them, as Constantinus Ghinius well observes after Molanus, celebrating him on this day in his Birthdays of the Saints of Canons. Finally, the sacred body was not translated to Saint-Quentin on account of the glory of miracles, but so that the madness and fury of raging war might be avoided, being deposited there until peace should restore quiet to the countryside. This is also indicated by Raissius in his Belgian Hierogazophylacium, Miraeus in the Belgian Calendar, and Balduinus Willot in his appendix to the Roman Martyrology translated into French, who assigns the place of the slaying between the said Saint-Quentin and the town of Le Catelet — but Saussayus more correctly attributes it to the forest of Trecaut, which we noted above is called the forest of Haurincourt, but at some leagues' distance from the city of Arras. His memory is also celebrated in the English Martyrology, in the Catalogue of Saints of the diocese of Cambrai compiled by Guillaume Gazet, and in the Calendar of the Saints of Belgium with the pious sighs of Catholics published by Dauroutius, and others.

[3] We present the Life of Saint Lietphardus from a manuscript codex of Nicolas Belfort, Canon Regular of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist de Vineis near Soissons. His Life written The author lived after the introduction of Benedictine monks into the monastery of Honnecourt, whose change he mentions in number 5. Perhaps the author was himself one of those Benedictine monks there, for he writes so favorably of the Benedictines that the Canons voluntarily yielded to serve under the Rule of Saint Benedict as a monastic congregation. perhaps by a Benedictine of Honnecourt? And in number 2 he intimates that he lived there in these words: "The outstanding deeds of his most recent miracles among us can serve as evidence of his former holiness." Those miracles he comprised in another book, which we have not yet been able to obtain, and which he mentions at the end: "We must pass on," he says, "to those things by which the Lord glorified this Saint of His within and without, after the most precious pearl of His body began to be venerated in the aforementioned basilica of Saint Peter." These miracles, he says in his preface, he has from those who had seen them or had received them from eyewitnesses. They do not fall within the times of the martyrdom or of the body's translation to Honnecourt under Fulbertus, Bishop of Cambrai, who held his see from the year 934 to the year 956. The author, otherwise diligent, does not seem to have sufficiently grasped the controversies that King Dagobert had with the Kings of the Britons, and therefore they are here explained less favorably — which we shall endeavor to set forth from other writers; and then to indicate how Saint Lietphardus came to be called Bishop of Canterbury.

Section II. The Kingdom of Cadwalla. The Time of the Martyrdom of Saint Lietphardus.

[4] Menardus in book 2 of his Observations on the Monastic Martyrology confesses that it is obscure who Cadwalla, King of England, was, Cadwalla and conjectures that he was a certain petty king in that region. But in truth this is the King of the Britons, most famous for his wars waged against Saint Edwin and other Kings of the Northumbrians, about whom, together with Bede, Malmesbury, Chester, Westminster, Monmouth, Capgrave, Sigebertus, Harpsfield, Polydore Vergil, variously called, and others treat — by whom he is variously called Caedwalla, Cadwalla, Cedwalla, Cedualla, Ceduala, Caduallo, Cadouallo, Cadoualla, Carduela. He was, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, book 11 of the History of the Britons, the son of Cadvan. This king of the Britons, therefore, as Bede attests in book 2 of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, chapter 20, King of the Britons, rebelled against Edwin — while he was ruling most gloriously over both the English and the British peoples — with the help of Penda, King of the Mercians. And in a great battle, Edwin was killed in the year 633, he defeated Saint Edwin, and his entire army was either slain or dispersed. In that war his son Osfrith, a warlike youth, also fell. At that time a very great slaughter was inflicted on the Church and nation of the Northumbrians, especially because Penda was a Pagan. But Cadwalla, although he bore the name and profession of a Christian, was yet so barbarian in mind and morals that he spared neither the female sex nor the innocent age of children; indeed, he delivered all over to death through torments with bestial cruelty. For a long time he raged through their entire provinces, and deliberated on erasing the whole English race from the borders of Britain. and other Kings, And in book 3, chapter 1: "When Edwin was killed, Osric received the kingdom of the Deirans, and Eanfrid that of the Bernicians. Both lost by anathematizing the sacraments of the heavenly kingdom by which they had been initiated. Nor was it long before Cadwalla, King of the Britons, killed both with an impious hand but by just vengeance. Then Oswald, king and brother of Eanfrid, came against him with a small army overcome by Saint Oswald: but one fortified by faith in Christ, and killed him with those immense forces of which he boasted nothing could resist." So far Bede. Saint Edwin is venerated on October 12 and Saint Oswald on August 5. The authors cited above copy Bede.

[5] That Saint Edwin is called King of the Britons is explained thus by Geoffrey of Monmouth: When discord arose between Edwin and Cadwallo, the latter, having lost many thousands in battle and having abandoned the provinces of the Britons to Edwin's army, fled to Ireland. At length, when he had almost fallen into despair of returning, aided by the Armorican Britons he approached Solomon, King of the Armorican Britons, his kinsman (for he says both were descended from the same ancestor Malgo), and asked him for help and counsel as to how he might return to his kingdom. King Solomon committed ten thousand soldiers to him; and when battle was joined, Penda, King of the Mercians, was captured, and having given hostages, submitted to Cadwallo and provided him aid against King Edwin. These Armorican Britons (whom Gregory of Tours, book 4 of the History of the Franks, chapter 4, reports were under the power of the Franks after the death of Clovis I and were called Dukes, not Kings) very frequently made hostile incursions against the Franks, several of which the same Gregory enumerates — enemies of the Franks; as against King Chilperic in book 5, chapters 27, 30, and 32; against Clothar II, his son, and Guntram in book 9, chapters 18 and 24, and book 10, chapter 9. Fortunatus in book 3 of his Poems, poem 8, calls these Britons "plotters."

[6] War of the Armoricans with Dagobert, King of the Franks, As regards this point, Fredegarius in his Chronicle, chapter 78, and the Monk of Saint-Denis in the Deeds of Dagobert, chapter 38, report that in the times of Dagobert, Judicael was King of the Britons — followed by Aimoinus in book 4 of the History of the Franks, chapter 29, Sigebertus at the year 648, and Anselmus the Abbot in the Life of Saint Judoc his brother on December 13 (who calls him Rodichael, son of Rethael, King of the Britons). But Baudius in his History of Brittany and Argentre in his History of Brittany set forth at greater length the war that broke out between Dagobert, King of the Franks, and Judicael, King of the Britons — and Argentre confirms this in book 2, chapter 3, from the manuscript Chronicle of Marmoutier; Baudius in chapter 12 from the manuscript Chronicle of the Chapter of Saint-Brieuc, in a fragment appended at the end of the work, where it is said that in the battle begun under these Kings, Count Guy of Chartres was captured by the Britons. Certainly Dagobert, according to Fredegarius, in the fourteenth year of his reign, peace established: the year of Christ 642, sent ambassadors into Brittany, demanding that the Britons quickly amend the offenses they had committed, and submit themselves to his dominion — otherwise an army would have to invade Brittany. Hearing this, Judicael, King of the Britons, went to Dagobert with gifts, and there, seeking pardon, promised to make amends for all that the subjects of his kingdom of Brittany had unlawfully perpetrated against the Frankish vassals, and he promised that he and the kingdom of Brittany which he governed would always remain subject to the dominion of Dagobert and the Kings of the Franks. The same things are read in other authors. From this war we judge that the wrath of King Dagobert, mentioned in the Life below at number 2, was stirred up against King Cadruel for Armorican auxiliaries sent by Cadwalla. (or Cadwallo, or Cadwalla), when this King, in grateful and dutiful return, repaid the help and aid he had received from the Armorican Britons when he himself had formerly been expelled. Indeed, just as according to Geoffrey, he himself as a youth, raised among these Armoricans, had frequently gone before others into combat with the enemy in battles and had performed his valor famously with outstanding acts of bravery, so in the said incursions against Dagobert — either his son, if he happened to command, or other subjects of his — they may have offended enemy dukes or military tribunes, who long sought an occasion for revenge, and having at last obtained it, misused it.

[7] In the Acts, a son of the same name as the father is called Cadruel; by Geoffrey, Cadwaladr, Cadruel's son confused with Cadwalla, King of the West Saxons. born of a sister of Penda, King of the Mercians. However, while describing his journey to Rome, Geoffrey confuses him with Saint Cadwalla, King of the West Saxons. "Cadwaladr," he says, "having cast aside worldly things for the Lord and the everlasting kingdom, came to Rome, and having been confirmed by Pope Sergius, and also seized by an unexpected illness, on the twelfth day before the Kalends of May, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 688, was freed from the contagion of the flesh and entered the court of the heavenly kingdom." But according to Bede, book 4, chapter 12, it was Cadwalla, King of the West Saxons, who, moved by love of the heavenly kingdom, relinquished his power and, going to Rome, ended his life there. The year of his journey is assigned as 688 in the epitome of Bede and the Chronicle of Worcester, in which he is said to have died the following year on the twelfth day before the Kalends of May, having been baptized on the holy day of Easter Saturday, during the pontificate of Sergius — by whom, according to the Saxon Chronicle, he was baptized, surnamed Peter, and died about one week later; he was the son of Coenbirht, grandson of Cada. The other Cadwaladr in Geoffrey is the son of Cadwallo, grandson of Cadvan, to whom a reign of more than twelve years is assigned, received from his father Cadwallo, who, burdened with old age and infirmity, departed from this world on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of December — after Wulfhere had received the kingdom of the Mercians at his gift. These things do not cohere. For according to Bede, Wulfhere was raised to the kingship in the year 657, and Cadwalla, King of the Britons, was killed by Saint Oswald in the year 633 — which better agrees with the Acts of Saint Lietphardus and the wars of Judicael waged with Dagobert. It is therefore probable that Cadruel went to Rome some years after the death of his father, the slaying of Saint Lietphardus under Dagobert. and that Saint Lietphardus was killed on his return before the peace between Dagobert and Judicael was concluded in the year 642. That many idolaters then lived in Belgium who killed Bishop Saint Lietphardus out of hatred for Christ, we shall say on February 6 in the Life of Saint Amandus, and passim elsewhere. Concerning King Wulfhere of the Mercians, we treat on February 13 in the Life of Saint Ermenilda the Queen, his wife. Saint Cadwalla, King of the West Saxons, is venerated on April 20. His epitaph, placed at Rome by the order of Pope Sergius, is exhibited by the Worcestershire Chronicle at the year 689, which Argentre applies to the said Cadwaladr, King of the Britons, in book 1, chapter 28. Baudius also enrolls him in the catalogue of Saints. These things will be more fully refuted on the said April 20. Some matters are touched upon on February 6 in the Life of Saint Ine, King and successor of this Saint Cadwalla among the West Saxons.

Section III. The Episcopate of Saint Lietphardus.

[8] The Acts, number 2, report that Saint Lietphardus was Bishop of Canterbury, brother of Blessed Onastancius, Bishop of London. Saint Lietphardus, Bishop of Canterbury. What the Franks call "Cantorl'y" is Canterbury, formerly Dorouernum or Dorouernia, the metropolis of the Kingdom of Kent, which under King Saint Ethelbert (whose Life we give on February 24) was made an Archiepiscopal see at the beginning of the seventh century of Christ. Before the coming of the Anglo-Saxons, three Archbishoprics among the Britons are believed to have been: London, York, and Caerleon. We treated the last on February 3 in the Life of Saint Werburgh, and shall treat of York and London on February 7, the feast of Saint Angulus, Bishop and Martyr. But how, in the seventh century of Christ, in the time of Dagobert, King of the Franks, both Saint Lietphardus could have been Bishop of Canterbury and Blessed Onastancius Bishop of London, even Menardus, cited above, admits is not without difficulty. For, he says, Saint Lietphardus is not found in the catalogue of Archbishops of Canterbury (the same must be said of Blessed Onastancius) in William of Malmesbury and others. The reason for this may be that, having resigned the Archbishopric, he went on pilgrimage to Rome and died in a foreign place. not of the Anglo-Saxons in Kent, Just as Blessed Gregory of Tours did not count Saint Arnulphus the Martyr among the Archbishops of Tours, because, having voluntarily abdicated his office for Christ's sake, he wandered as a pilgrim through various places and, killed on foreign soil — namely in the forest of Paris — obtained the laurel of martyrdom. This is how, according to Menardus, we may rightly count Saint Lietphardus among the Benedictine monks: because in those times no Archbishops of Canterbury were created who were not of the Benedictine Order. This is Menardus's conjecture about the monastic state and episcopate of Saint Lietphardus, which, as it rests on slighter foundations, is more easily overturned. And first, according to the testimony of Bede, these are the first Archbishops of Dover (or Canterbury) numbered from the conversion of King Saint Ethelbert: Saint Augustine, who in book 2, chapter 4, lest the Church be deprived of a pastor even for an hour, while still living ordained his successor, Saint Laurence, of whom we treated on February 2. He, in chapter 7, after Saint Mellitus, formerly Bishop of London, had received the See of the Church of Dover, ascended to the heavenly kingdom and was buried in the church of Saint Peter. When Mellitus departed to heaven in the year 624, Saint Justus, Bishop of the Church of Rochester, immediately succeeded him, as is said in chapter 8. And in chapter 18: "Meanwhile, Justus the Archbishop was taken up to the heavenly kingdoms on the fourth day before the Ides of November, and Honorius was elected Bishop in his place — the fifth prelate from Augustine." This Honorius, as is said in book 3, chapter 20, departed from this light in the year 653, and when the Episcopate had been vacant for a year and six months, Deusdedit was elected — by which time, with King Dagobert having long since died, Saint Lietphardus had been crowned with martyrdom, so that he could not have filled that gap. It is better, therefore, for the Benedictine monks to venerate Saint Lietphardus because his relics rested so long in a Benedictine monastery — as we have often observed concerning other Saints. Moreover, the inveterate enmity between the Anglo-Saxons and the Britons would not have permitted such a Bishop of Canterbury of the English to be a companion on so great a journey for the King of the Britons. Finally, no one at London, apart from Saint Mellitus (who was expelled from there), was Bishop there during the lifetime of Saint Lietphardus — so that this difficulty must be elucidated by us in another way.

[9] When the Christian Britons were being more and more oppressed under the Anglo-Saxons, enemies of the true religion, but among those Bishops expelled in the year 586, then in the year of Christ 586, according to the Westmonasteriensis in his Flowers of History, the Archbishops Theonus of London and Thadiocus of York, when they had seen all the churches subject to them destroyed to the ground, fled with many ordained persons (especially Bishops of other Churches) who had survived in such great peril, together with the relics of the Saints, into Wales, fearing that by the incursion of so many barbarians the sacred bones of the ancients would be erased from the memory of men if they did not withdraw them from the imminent danger. Geoffrey of Monmouth relates similar things in book 11, but without distinction of dates. We gather from Godwin, in his Commentary on the Prelates of England concerning Saint Oudoceus, the third Bishop of Llandaff, also of Dover, that the Bishops of Dover also retained their See, together with the Archbishops of London and York and other Bishops, under the Anglo-Saxons up to that time. Godwin reports that Oudoceus was elected after the death of Saint Teilo, his uncle and predecessor, by the consent of the Prince, the nobles, and the entire people, and was consecrated at Dorobernia (which is now Canterbury) by the Archbishop there. Returning thence, he was received by King Mouric together with the Queen, the nobles, the clergy, and a great multitude of the people, who went out to meet him and led him into the church in a solemn procession. So says Godwin from the Llandaff Codex, as Spelman judges in his Apparatus for the Councils of Britain, where he reports that Saint Oudoceus was Bishop around the year 560, and presents various Councils held under him in the years 560 and 563. Saint Oudoceus is venerated on July 2; his predecessor Teilo on February 9, in whose Life we shall say that he was consecrated in Wales by someone who styled himself Bishop of Dover for the exiles.

[10] These Bishops, therefore, around the said year 586 (before which the kingdom of the Mercians, having begun, had completed the Heptarchy of the Anglo-Saxons), expelled from their Sees, never, as the same Westmonasteriensis attests, departed from the faith of Christ while among the Welsh: of the Christian exiles of Kent in Wales: reprehensible only in this, that they always regard the English nation with mortal hatred, as though proscribed from their own borders by them, and are unwilling to share communion with them any more than with dogs. From this national hatred, even after the coming of Saint Augustine and the other Apostles sent by Pope Saint Gregory to the English and Saxons, these expelled Britons maintained their own Bishops, who might preside over the exiled subjects of their provinces. Such we believe were Saint Lietphardus and his brother Onastancius, who governed the exiled Britons of London and of Dover (or Canterbury) in Wales, precisely at the same time when Saints Laurence, Mellitus, Justus, and Honorius — all Archbishops of Dover — presided over the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of those same provinces, after Saint Augustine, while the See of London was vacant after Saint Mellitus. As for the fact that Saint Oudoceus is said above in Godwin and Spelman to have been ordained by the Archbishop of Canterbury, why he is called Archbishop. and that Saint Lietphardus is called Archbishop in various Martyrologies, this occurred either from the pious rivalry of the Welsh, who, lest they should yield to the English in titles, called them Archbishops; or certainly because writers who judged both men to be among the later English Bishops were led into error and called them Archbishops. These Bishops, however, lived in Wales, like many Apostolic Bishops of that century, attached to no fixed See, watching over the exiles of their dioceses who were often widely dispersed. This is our conjecture about the kingdom of Cadwalla and the episcopate of Saint Lietphardus — drawn from the thick darkness of the most ancient Church of the Britons, the judgment of which we leave to the more learned.

Section IV. Summary of the Life from the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium by Johannes Molanus.

[11] At Honnecourt, the feast of Saint Liephardus, Archbishop of the English and Martyr. He was Bishop of Canterbury in England, brother of Blessed Onastancius, Bishop of London. In the time of King Dagobert, he chose to go to Rome with King Carduel to obtain the benefits of Saint Peter. Returning thence after fulfilling the vow of his pilgrimage, the body of Saint Lietphardus he was slaughtered in the forest of Arida-Gamantia and buried by the country-folk at Trescaut. But when miracles followed, he was placed in a worthier location. is illuminated by miracles, However, when his memory was being neglected by the country-folk, Fulbertus, Bishop of Cambrai, decided to translate the sacred relics to his own city — but was unable to do so. For a divine revelation indicated that he was to be translated to the church of Blessed Peter he is translated by divine revelation, which is at Honnecourt, where nuns called to the wedding of the Lamb served God, together with canons subordinate to them who performed what the ecclesiastical order does not permit to the female sex. Afterward, however, when these voluntarily yielded, a Benedictine congregation has been there to this day. They translated the bodies of Saint Lietphardus and his sisters Valeria and Pollena to the city of Saint-Quentin, they perish at Saint-Quentin. so that they might be safer from the misfortunes of war — where, however, they perished in the capture of the city.

Section V. Another Summary of the Life, from the book of lessons sung in the office of the Metropolitan Church of Cambrai.

[12] In the time when Dagobert held the empire of Gaul, King Cadruel gave laws to the English peoples. Against him, the insane King of Gaul burned with such wrath as Cadruel sets out that he would not delay whatever cruelty he could exercise against him. That Cadruel begot a son, heir of his own name, who professed the Christian religion. He, choosing a pilgrimage in veneration of Christ, for Rome, to seek the benefits of the Apostle Saint Peter, decided to go to Rome. He therefore sent ambassadors ahead to the King of France, whom he knew desired his death — since he would have to pass through his territories. Although they brought back not merely a refusal of the requested peace but also threats, by which he might have been forewarned to beware; nevertheless, placing the fear of the Lord above the fear of men, he chose to face the danger of the promised death Saint Lietphardus becomes his companion. rather than to desist from the desire of his decreed pilgrimage. As companion in this devotion and danger, there was present the venerable man Lietphardus, brother of Blessed Onastancius, Bishop of London (whom the English hold in the highest veneration), himself Bishop of Canterbury — on this journey, the King's minister of divine office and holy exhortation; the course of whose past life his compatriots celebrate. But why should I touch upon what is not fully known to us, when I am not going to set it forth fully? The outstanding deeds of his most recent miracles among us can serve as proofs of his former holiness. These men, therefore, having been conveyed with an immense multitude of the faithful into the territories of the opposing tyrant, passed through before the report of the matter could reach the impious ears. But the fury, headlong toward ruin, groaned at the delay and said: "Although they have eluded us in their departure, no slackness of ours, however improvident, nor any evasive cunning of theirs, will deliver them on their return." Therefore, having sent ministers of iniquity in every direction to watch wherever they might pass, when they had fulfilled their vow and were now returning to their homeland, killed on his return, as they came to ^a the forests of arrogance i.e., Arida-Gamantia, the agents of iniquity rose up and slaughtered them all. Among them, they consummated in martyrdom the blessed Bishop Lietphardus of God, who was invoking the God in whose confession he had persevered. His body was buried by the inhabitants of a certain countryside called Trescaut, in a garden under a certain tree. Where afterward it happened that the owner of the garden, not knowing the dignity of the holy body, when cleaning his stables, carried dung to that place. Whence it came about that what had been unworthy of the blessed body was punished with a fitting penalty. For his animals, when no plague harmed his neighbors nor the whole district, were consumed by a severe disease; and he who was by no means the least in possessions among his people, and who surpassed all his neighbors in justice and praiseworthy conduct, was made poorer, as though more abominable to God. All marveled and grieved with him; he himself with his whole household poured out constant lamentations, searched his conscience whether he could find a fault deserving of so great a calamity, and strove to mitigate the divine chastisement with pious prayers and undertaken fasts. But behold, when, wearied by the labors of the day, he had given his limbs to sleep at night, he is discovered by divine revelation. he learned by divine revelation the cause of his affliction, and was warned to transfer the holy body to the church, to be placed on the right side of the altar. Therefore, as soon as the dawn had freed the world from darkness, he summoned his neighbors, reported what he had seen, and implored their help for the transfer of the man. The multitude, rejoicing, immediately accomplished this. From that time, the man who through an unknowing offense had lost all his substance, displaying fitting veneration with a perpetual lamp, recovered more than he had lost.

LIFE

By a Benedictine Monk, From the manuscript of Nicolas Belfort.

Lietphardus, Bishop and Martyr at Honnecourt in Belgica Secunda (Saint)

BHL Number: 4930

By a Benedictine Monk, from a manuscript.

[1] It was the endeavor of our Fathers to commit to memory the praiseworthy service of holy men and the glorious end of their service, so that posterity might learn both to praise God working wonderfully in frail matter and to have an example of blessed imitation. We, therefore, though far different from them in life and knowledge, dare not refuse this duty, praying meanwhile and beseeching that He who can give the use of speech to an insensible stone may deign to sound through the creature which He perfected with the dignity of speech, and that He who does not accept the confession of a polluted mouth may mercifully wash away our impiety. Let no one, moreover, suspect that we wish to commend to our hearers as certain what is doubtful. For in us all incredulity was overcome — we who attacked those who related these things and mocked them as though steeped in fables, until at length they confounded our incredulity: Sincerity of the author in writing this Life: partly by asserting what they themselves had seen, partly by adducing things seen by trustworthy parents, and partly also by opposing the testimony of elders who had been present at the events, which had been to some extent committed to writing — so that it is now more pleasing to learn than to attack, and to venerate than to mock. Let ears that are not incredulous drink in, let pious affection acquiesce: let God, wondrous in His work, be glorified; let the work, venerable in God, be praised.

[2] In the time, therefore, when Dagobert held the empire of Gaul, King Cadruel gave laws to the English peoples. Against him, the King of Gaul burned with such wrath Cadruel's son, King of Britain, sets out for Rome, that he both exercised whatever cruelty he could and prepared his mind for greater, should an occasion ever present itself. And behold, the desired opportunity presented itself to the willing spirit. For that Cadruel had begotten a son of the same name, who, not setting his heart on the riches of the kingdom but choosing a pilgrimage in veneration of Christ, decided to go to Rome to seek the benefits of Saint Peter. He sent ambassadors ahead to the King of Gaul (through whose territories he would have to pass); and when they brought back not peace but threats, nevertheless the man devoted to God, placing the fear of the Lord above the fear of men, chose to face the promised death rather than to abstain from his decreed pilgrimage. Present as his companion was the venerable man Liphardus, brother of Blessed Onastancius, Bishop of London (whom the English hold in the highest veneration), himself Bishop of Canterbury, Saint Lietphardus accompanies him: on this journey of the King serving as minister of divine office and holy exhortation, whose past life his compatriots celebrate; and the outstanding deeds of his most recent miracles among us can serve as proofs of his former holiness. These men, therefore, with an immense multitude of the faithful, having been conveyed into the territories of the adversary, passed through before the report of the matter could reach the impious ears. But the fury, headlong toward ruin, groaned at the delay, saying: "Although they eluded us in their departure, yet on their return, neither any slackness of ours nor any evasive cunning of theirs will set them free."

[3] Therefore, having sent ministers in every direction to watch for their return, when they had fulfilled their vow and were now returning to their homeland, as they came to the forests of Arida-Gamantia, the agents of iniquity rose up and slaughtered them all. Among them, they consummated in martyrdom the blessed Bishop Liphardus, who was invoking the God in whose confession he had persevered. He is killed on his return in the borders of Artois. His body was buried by the inhabitants of a certain countryside called Trescaut, in a garden under a certain tree.

[4] The owner of that garden, not knowing the dignity of the holy body, happened afterward to carry dung there to clean his stables. Whence it soon came about that what was unworthy of the blessed body was punished with a fitting penalty. The body found by divine revelation, For his animals (when no plague harmed his neighbors nor the whole district) were consumed by disease; and he who was by no means the least in possessions among his people — indeed, who surpassed all in praiseworthy conduct — was made poorer, as though abominable to God. His neighbors marveled and grieved with him. He himself with his whole household poured out constant lamentations, searched his conscience whether he could find a fault deserving of so great a calamity, and strove to mitigate the divine chastisement with pious prayers and undertaken fasts. But behold, when, wearied by the labors of the day, he had given his limbs to sleep at night, he learned by divine revelation the cause of his affliction, it is carried to the church at Trescaut; and was warned to transfer the holy body to the church, to be placed on the right side of the altar. Therefore, as soon as the dawn had freed the world from darkness, he summoned his neighbors, reported what he had seen, and implored their help for the transfer of the blessed man; and the rejoicing multitude immediately accomplished this. From that time, the man who through an unknowing offense had lost his goods, displaying fitting veneration with a perpetual lamp, it shines with miracles: recovered more than he had lost. The fame of this, immediately filling the entire neighborhood, attracted the adjacent inhabitants, who, proving by many experiences that profit came from veneration, labored more and more at their supplications and congratulated themselves on being protected by the Saint's patronage.

[5] After many days had by now almost obscured the knowledge of the first translation, and the matter found among the country folk less credence than it deserved, it pleased God (whom no forgetfulness of His own touches) to reveal the merits of His soldier not only to the country folk and the unlettered, but to the princes, the entire clergy, and the Bishop himself, whose name was Fulbert. that it may be transferred to Honnecourt, For in the church of Honnecourt (in which, by God's arrangement, the canons who formerly served having voluntarily yielded, a monastic congregation now serves under the Rule of Saint Benedict), many nuns had been established from its first foundation; and what is not permitted to the female sex in the divine office, canons subordinate to them discharged.

[6] it is revealed to a blind nun, One of these nuns, deprived of her sight, named Restituta (whose life fame, descending through generations, still celebrates), while resting in a light slumber, learned by a manifest vision everything that had been done concerning the body of the blessed man, and what was yet to be done. For she was advised, together with all the Sisters and Brethren, to visit the place where the blessed body rested and to transfer it to their own church. After fasts and devout prayers, therefore, the Bishop was consulted, who shortly after came with the entire city; then having gained her sight all the peoples of the neighboring regions also gathered, and the matter, found to be no different from what was reported, won indubitable credence for the nun. The nun herself also, with her sight restored, merited to see with her eyes the Saint whom she had perceived in her mind.

[7] At the sight of this miracle, the Bishop, asserting that he had jurisdiction over everything that had occurred in the entire parish, was planning to take the discovered body with him. But who will resist the will of God? it cannot be transferred to Cambrai, Who will invalidate the revelation made to the nun? When, at the Bishop's command, the bearers turned their way toward the city, immediately the sun, which had just been shining, was hidden by a rainy density of clouds, as though bringing the darkness of night. The candles were extinguished. Anyone heading toward the city was wearied and unable to advance. A wind suddenly arose; hail and snow, driven by the wind, impeded and detained even the strongest. Moreover, those who had taken up the light burden, finding themselves intolerably weighed down, called their companions to help; but no matter how many came, they could not move the unwilling body — so that they seemed to be held not by weight but by the will of God. Proverbs 21:30 At once the Bishop, knowing by experience what he had learned from books — that there is no counsel against God — was converted from his own mind to the will of God, and now strove not to arrange but to obey God's arrangement. When his forced permission redirected the bearers' course, it is carried to Honnecourt: immediately the candles, which had lost the fire given them by human effort, now received from the snowstorm a miraculous illumination. No heaviness weighed down the bearers; no storm delayed the accompanying people; rather, a solstitial warmth arose, and the snow which had been an impediment on the first path became an aid on the second — a remedy, namely, for thirst.

[8] two blind persons receive their sight, Now while the jubilant gathering, with songs, was escorting the Saint of God, and people of every sex and condition were chanting praises to God, divine mercy displayed a yet greater joy. For when these miracles were heard of all around, two blind persons came and, standing beside the bier, besought the light of their eyes with all the powers of their souls. A twofold exultation grew in them: they rejoiced at being made whole persons, their light restored, and they were touched by the wondrous working of God, which, wherever heard, would be a cause of joy for every believer. a man deprived of the use of his limbs receives health, Behold again, the matter for new praise; behold again, the laudable power of God! While the voices of those praising had not yet ceased, a certain man, destitute of every function of his limbs, was brought forward, saying: "And you, who today have bestowed many benefits, do not close the ear of your piety to me: but may he whose merits intercede, free me — who am bound by my own sins." Before he could even finish such words, he felt new vigor creeping into his limbs; and leaving the service of those who carried him, he leaped down and ran to the bier — and he who had approached being carried now took his turn in carrying the holy body. A Cross erected in memory of the benefit. The people, who had not yet finished their praises for the illumination of the blind, repeated them; and in the places where each of these works occurred, they erected a wooden Cross, consecrating a memory of the deed that endures to this day. Adorned, therefore, by such works, Liphardus was led by the exultant multitude and placed in a certain church of Blessed Laurence, and many sick persons. where, with doubled patronage, many beset by infirmities received their health.

[9] Perhaps it may occur to someone to ask why Blessed Liphardus, so great and excellent a man, chose this place of Honnecourt, until then adorned by no privilege of name or dignity. But if one considers more carefully what has been set forth above, one will very quickly be at rest from this stirring of the mind. For it was said that he had set out for Rome with his King, intending to bring his vows to the body of Blessed Peter; and that on his return, at Trescaut — why Saint Lietphardus chose Honnecourt. not far from Honnecourt (in which both then shone and still shines an oratory assigned to Saint Peter) — he ended his present life by martyrdom. It is therefore not at odds with the Christian faith if we believe that Peter, sweetened by the honeyed vows of this man, wished him (since this occasion arose) to adhere specially to himself at Honnecourt, in the aforesaid basilica bearing his name. For how familiar and intimate to Peter the flock of Martyrs is, Rome bears witness — Rome, purpled with the blood of so many worshippers of Christ following in the footsteps of Peter himself. But let this suffice. We must pass on to those things by which the Lord glorified this Saint of His, within and without, after the most precious pearl of his body began to be venerated in the aforesaid basilica of Saint Peter. And lest we seem ungrateful, let us give thanks to God for what has been set forth, so that we may also grow strong for what follows. Let there be, therefore, praise and jubilation through all eternities to the unbegotten Father, who deigns to be glorified through the deeds of His servants in His only-begotten Son, who with Him and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns as God, three and one, through all ages of ages. Amen.